Happy Birthday to CJ!

Today Colby turned one! I can’t believe it has been a year already. For some reason he seems like he should only be about 9 months old. I think that is because he was three months old before our family was whole again. It is almost like life around here didn’t start until Ken came home for good. In this short time he has been such a blessing to us. He is so happy and easy going. I think he takes after Ken. Definitely not me. Even during his 4 or 5 ear infections with trips to ERs and Dr. offices he has been great. It took us a while to realize he had a problem because he was so happy.

But now, here we are. He started walking just over a month ago. He has 4 teeth. He is still sucking away at that little thumb but we are working on it. It is still kinda cute. Tonight we had cake and ice cream with our family. My brother and his family and my dad and Donna came to celebrate with us. Colby was great with his cup cake. He didn’t want to wait for the song to be over to start eating. He got PJ’s and a grinch doll that he loves. He is so adorable I just can’t stand it! We had a lot of fun. Wish you all could have been here with us.

Jared’s first day of school!!!

Today Jared started kindergarten! We took him to school and got him settled in class. He has the same teacher that Chloe had. When we got there he seemed shy and quiet but he was ready to sit at his seat and play with the girl next to him.

Jared was able to ride the bus home with Chloe from school. When they got here, Reba, Colby and I were there waiting. The bus driver said that he didn’t want to sit in the star seat. That is the front seat on the bus. She said he almost threw a fit over it. I can see Jared doing that. Here he is with a stranger and she is telling him to sit in a certain spot. Poor kid probably thought he was in trouble. So she helped him sit in it.

 
Jared seems to really like school and after they got home I really realized how much I enjoyed the peace of them both being in school. Now we are back to the normal sibling bickering. I love school!

Chloe’s Haircut

For those of you who don’t know I have had a hard time letting Chloe get her hair cut. She has never had it cut, just trimmed. I was listening to the radio a while and the Super Nanny was on. They         had different callers calling in and asking questions. One of the callers was a young girl and she asked what she could do to get her mom to let her get her hair cut the way that she wanted to. The mothers response was that she didn’t want her child to have a hair cut that she hated later on in life. The Super Nanny responded with the fact that we all have hair cuts for our youth that we don’t like and wish that we didn’t have but that is just the way we grow up. At the time of the hair cut we like it but styles change and that is why we don’t like those wonderful hair cuts of our youth. After I heard this I began to think of why I didn’t want Chloe’s hair cut. I didn’t want it cut because I like long hair. I felt bad because I wasn’t even worried about what Chloe wanted and it was just what I wanted. After much thought about I talked to Lisa and we decided that Chloe could pick out a couple styles that she liked and then we would choose from them. I think we got a style that looks really cute on her. She looks a lot different now. I think that she looks a lot like Lisa did when she was young.

The first picture is the style that we liked and then the rest are of Chloe getting her hair cut and what she looks like now. Hope you all enjoy.

This is the style that we all thought that would like good. We hope that you all think that the hair cut looks as good as we do.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the final outcome. What a different look this is than the one that she had before. Still just as beautiful though.

Colby Walking

So I am about a week late on getting this posted but hey atleast it's only a week and not longer. Last week at church I was sitting in the hall with CJ and wanted to get a video of him standing without any help. To my surprise he decided that he wanted to walk while I had the camera going. This is not that footage but one that I took with the camera today instead of the one that is on my phone from last week. It is amazing how much more he walks now that he did last week. CJ is starting to stand-up using the furniture or something near him and then just take off walking. He usually doesn't get very far but it is nice to see that the desire is there. Hope you all enjoy.

Test Page

I am trying out a blog writer and seeing what can and can’t be done with it. This a our wonderful boy and his favorite thing to eat. We thought that we needed to share this with all.

                     

The link below is to my facebook account. It is a video of CJ walking with the assistance of a walker. I thought that you all would like to see that.  

CJ Walking

Santee Part one

For those of you who know us (or have read this blog at all), know that we stink at taking pictures. Even if we do take pictures we still stink at putting them on the blog. Luckily we went on vacation with people who aren't as bad as we are and they were willing to share their pics with us. We had forgotten to even bring a camera. (Are you REALLY surprised????)

We have already said that we went down to Santee with the Jones family. Now we can show you what a good time we all had. This montage is just for Day 2 of our vacation. Day 1 was spent driving, getting groceries, unpacking and just being happy to be together again. No pictures of that. Sorry. Not even the Jones clan is perfect. Close but not there yet.

So... On day 2 we played at the pool, took a walk down to the boat dock in front of the condo and then we let the kids have another swim time in the big tub in the condo. They had so much fun. After the bath tub swim we decided to be really nice and let them stay up and watch a movie and have popcorn. We were hoping that by letting them stay up late they would sleep in late. Have you met my children. They don't let us sleep in. It was worth a shot though.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A week of Fun in the Sun

This last week was one of fun and enjoyment. For those that don’t know we have a time share and have used it over the last 5 years and have enjoyed it a lot. The thing that I wanted to change with it is that we always went to one or two different spots when we have about 200 places that we could use it at. So about 5 months ago we where talking to some wonderful friends and decided that we wanted to go to some place new and use the time share how it was meant to be used. After much thought and looking we decided to go to Santee, SC. This little town sits right next to Lake Marion.

No there is not a lot to do there but when you are with friends do you really need a lot to do to have fun? We didn’t think so either. We left Friday the 16th of July and headed to our humble abode. Not so humble since it was a 3 bedroom condo and looked ritzy. The only day that didn’t see any water/pool time was the travel day. We where either in the pool, on the lake, or at the beach. Yes, the beach did come in to play because we had to travel to Charleston to do some shopping at the outlets there (Great deals! $1.99 for shirts and stuff at The Children’s Place) and then we decided to add the beach in as well.

We got to the beach at the perfect time. We got there around 5pm when everyone was leaving. It was great not to have to worry about the kids on a busy beach with lots of people. We just let them run around and do what they wanted to do. We were there for about 2 hours and then went off to find a spot for dinner. The locals told us to try out the local crap shack. (Or crab shack if you like seafood.) So we did. After a very long wait an hour and a half or so, with tired and hungry kids we finally got to sit down and order up. The food was ok but not worth the wait.

I am very sad that the time had to end. We love spending time with the Jones clan. I hope that we end up near them so that we can spend more time together. They are the next best thing to family. Looking forward to another trip to a not so far location with them again.

Rick has a great idea to build a compound and we would share the backyard. We think we should meet in the middle and build it in Ashville NC. We are all for it. If only we could convince our families to all move close by…….. (hint, hint)

Pride

I know everyone wants pictures but I am not good at that(in case you haven't noticed). I do, however, want to tell you all how proud I am of my family. Ken is now back home and we are all adjusting pretty well. Ken started his new job at Massage Envy yesterday. He has been offered jobs at every place that he has interviewed at. Now maybe he will believe that he is as good as I say he is. Before they went to bed, both Chloe and Jared asked me separately when Daddy was coming home. I kind of expected this. It was so sad though. I feel bad that they are scared that he will leave and be gone for so long again. This is just another phase in the adjustment process.

Chloe gave her first talk in Primary Sunday. She and I worked on it together. We prayed before we started and we came up with the same things to say. It was a great experience. Jared's teacher told me that he kept telling him "That's my sister!" while she was giving the talk. They also got up to sing in sacrament since it was Mother's Day.

Jared is preparing to start kindergarten in the fall. He has had his physical and shots and keeps telling people that he will start school soon. He goes to preschool twice a week. He has quite a few good friends now. He loves to go on playdates.

Reba is getting really good at signing. We are all learning with her. For those of you that have not talked to us in a while, she can hear. We got her a sign language book and she was always bringing it to us to read so for her birthday we got her some more. We all have fun with it. I can't believe she is 2!

Colby is sitting up and getting up on his hands and knees now. Pretty soon he will be crawling (unless he starts walking first). He loves to stand up. He is so smiley. He laughs at everything. His favorite thing to play with is his brother. Jared likes to roll all over the floor with him. I hope they will continue to be best friends as they grow.

I have been busy getting things in order for everyone. I am trying to keep the schedule that we had before Ken came home and still let Ken be a part of it. There are chores and homework, playtime, friends, activities, my friends, etc. Life, you know?

Guy and Marilyn came out in April. While they were here we remodled 2 bathrooms, built a porch, painted the front room and went for a trip to the Outer Banks. We had a lot of fun and did a lot of work. I am so grateful to them for coming to help us. There is still a lot of finishing up to do but we have great looking bathrooms, a wonderful porch, and a pretty front room.

And now... back to our regularly crazy life. Hope you all are doing well.