Sleeping beauty

Tyler went to check on the kids before he went to bed and this is what he found...Joelle got out of bed for some reason but she didn't get very far. So cute. She is still trying to get the hang of sleeping in a big girl bed.

Love that look

I just love the look on Joelle's face in this picture. She is such a doll. I never get enough of looking into her eyes. I love my boys more than anything but I feel very blessed to be the mother to such a precious and darling daughter. She really is sugar and spice and all that in nice!

Blue eyes?

I know it's still too early to tell for sure but we are thinking we may have ourselves a blue eyed boy this time. Dane's eyes are hazel like his dad's, Cody and Joelle have the same beautiful brown eyes, but it looks like Boone may have his mama's blue eyes. I was reading online that a baby's eye color can change all the way up until they are three years old, so we shall see.

Penelope Pitstop

The other day Tyler took Joelle's picture after they went for a bike ride. When he saw the picture he said "She looks just like Penelope Pitstop!" I really didn't know what he was talking about. He asked, "Don't you remember that cartoon 'The Perils of Penelope Pitstop?" I didn't so we went and looked it up on the internet...and what do you know, she does indeed look just like Penelope Pitstop!
(As a side note, I love how you can just run to the computer if you have a question about anything...no matter how random).

Tori

Our beautiful Tori. I had my doubts in the beginning about whether or not we had made a mistake rescuing Tori from the German Shepard Rescue farm in Ennis Texas. She kept escaping from our backyard and running away and barking in the middle of the night. She doesn't do any of those things anymore. She calmed down as soon as she decided to adopted us. She gets a little strage sometimes and starts pacing the backyard for no apparent reason but maybe she knows something we don't. She has always been great with the kids. We love you Tori. You're a great dog and we are so glad you are a part of our family.

Wow!

Wow! They actually sat still and posed for a picture...and what a great picture it is!
They are too cute for words!

Bed time

Normally I hate bed time around our house...kids are whiny, it's chaotic, I'm tired...but the other night we were all having a good night...so I took some pictures to remind myself that it is not always a three ring circus. These are the times that make being a mom so worth it. These are the moments that will one day make me miss this crazy time in my life when my kids were little.

Boone - "Coo" .
Cody - "I want to give you a hug Mom. I want to kiss you Mom. I love you Mom!"

Dane - "When I get big I'm never going to go away from you Mom. I'm going to stay right with you. Because I'll always be your baby. Right Mom? Even forever! Your my best mother Mom!"

Joelle - "You the best Mom!

Live Laugh Love

Summer reading program

When I was a little girl my mom had a summer reading program for us. If we read a certain amount we earned a reward at the end of the summer. I remember one year I chose to go to the Nut Tree restaurant in Vacaville, California. It had little train you could ride, a sweet shoppe with huge lollipops and every flavor of candy sticks you could think of, and other fun stuff.

Dane started learning how to read last year in Kindergarten and I didn't want him to loose what he learned over the summer so I decided to do the same thing with him. Cody was having trouble making it to the potty on time so we make a deal with him too. The rewards they chose were the Mario Brothers Galaxy 2 game and a wireless network adapter for the XBOX 360 so they could unlock the Marble Blast, Fish Frenzy, and Zuma games that came with the XBOX.

They got the Mario game after successfully completing the first month and the adapter at the end of the summer. I am very proud of both of my boys for working so hard to accomplish their goals. I love you boys...good job!!!

My angel girl

My beautiful angel girl ready for church.

This little piggy...

I thought Boone's toes were so cute peeking out from under his blanket that I just had to snap a few pictures. There are not a whole lot of things more precious than baby toes.

Another one bites the dust

Dane lost another tooth. It was just barely hanging on and he wouldn't let me touch it...he didn't trust me...but he did let his dad pop it out for him. He was so excited to get a $2.00 bill and three gold dollar coins from the tooth fairy. The "tooth fairy" ALMOST forgot to bring him his money...wouldn't that have been a hard one to explain?

A whole lotta pink!

A whole lotta pink!

How cute is she?
Joelle's two new favorite sayings are:
"You the best Mom!" and
"You betcha!"

Two months

Here is Boone at two months. He has just started to coo and he smiles easily now. He has rolled over from his belly to his back a few times but he can't do it consistently yet. He wasn't too excited to be having his picture taken as you can see from the last picture.

"I'm not really enjoying this mom".

"Hey! What part of 'I'm not really enjoying this' did you not understand? Quit taking my dang picture and feed me lady!!!"

My boys

The boys saw me trying to get some pictures of Boone smiling and they wanted to get in on the action. I love my boys! I'm so blessed.

First day of 1st grade

Here is my baby on his first day of 1st grade.

Dane doing his "cool" pose.

"Now stand normal so we can get a nice picture for Grandma and Grandpa".

Dane standing in front of his school. I didn't think I would cry this year. I totally lost it after I dropped him off for kindergarten last year, but I saw the mother of a kindergartner crying and I got a little emotional on the walk back out to the car. It's just that it seems like he was just Boone's age YESTERDAY. I haven't really been able to pick him up anymore for quite a while now. Kinda sad.

Bed buddies

Cody has grown out of his toddler bed and Boone needs the crib that Joelle has been sleeping in, so I decided to have Cody and Joelle sleep in our queen sized guest bed for the next couple of years. I went upstairs, to check on how their first night of sleeping in the big bed together was going, and this is what I found. It looks like Joelle decided to take her half of the bed out of the middle.