My own photo shoot

I entered Jake in a photo contest on Regis and Kelly again this year. Here are some of the photos from our own little shoot...

This is the one that was entered in the contest

Not enjoying Mom's photo shoot

How sweet is this one?

Trying to hide by the table

He's just a hunka hunka burnin' love...

When you become the parent

Since Jeff's Mom passed away just over a year ago, I feel like there have been some role reversals in the relationship between Jeff and his Dad. It's hard to see him go through all the changes involved with loosing a spouse, especially when he was so dependant on her. We've tried to be supportive but it's not always easy. I feel like in so many ways, Jeff has become a father to his father. He looks to him for advice, support and daily care.

He is making some tough choices right now and while we dont' always agree with him, we still have to respect him. All we want is for him to be happy but to also follow the will of God and what He desires for his life! Pray for our family as we continue to deal with this situation!

Mother of the year

I will NOT be winning this award! Today I was doing things around the house, taking care of 4 little boys and talking to my mother on the phone. Then it hit me... Josh got out of school 10 minutes ago and I totally forgot! Thank goodness we live about a minute away. I had to run out of the house with kids that were half dressed and shoeless. I called the office and asked them to let him come out to the van so I didn't have to walk up. Ugh, some days I just can't get it all together!

This life of mine in 2009...

Looking ahead into this year...

I will celebrate my 28th birthday!

My hubby and I will celebrate our 9th Anniversary!

Jacob will celebrate his 2nd birthday!

Seth will celebrate his 5th birthday!

Josh will celebrate his 8th birthday... how did that happen?

Seth will start Kindergarten and Josh will start 3rd grade... I'm not old enough!!

My Mom will celebrate her 2 year fight with breast cancer and all that goes into that!

My Dad will hit the BIG 5-0!

We are praying that my sister finds the Man of her dreams!

My BIL & SIL will come home from South East Asia... can't wait to hug them!!

We have lots of friends having babies and I can't wait to cuddle them close :o)

We will continue to pray about how God might grow our family!

These are just a few of the major things that will go on. I don't want to bore you with all the little details of our life :o)

I know God will continue to love on us and bless us in major ways and I can't wait to see how He plans on doing that. We'll have our share of ups and downs but that's what makes life such an adventure!

Christmas Morning

There's a First Time for Everything

My kids have never been to see the snow. I know, it's so sad since we live about 2 hours from where it snows each year. We set our goal that this was going to be the year and we made it happen. A couple weeks ago we loaded up and headed north with my parents and sister. The boys couldn't wait to get there. We were all pleasantly surprised that they lasted almost 4 hours in the wet, cold snow. It was a wonderful day and they were exhausted by the time we were done!

Are we almost there?

Making snow angels

Seth by the snow dude

Poor Jake... all he could say was "Uh, oh!"

From the snow he was made and to the snow he returned

What a long day...

Pieces of Ethiopia

My friend Julie recently went on a trip to Ethiopia to pick up her beautiful children. Before she left we talked about what she might bring me back. We decided the nativity set would be best but I also added that I would love to have a little traditional Ethiopian shirt for Jacob. Unfortunately they were out of the nativity sets. However, she was able to find an adorable set for Jacob. It's really cute and fits him perfectly. Here are some pictures of him showing it off...




Thanks Julie... you're so thoughtful ;o)

The Dentist Update and Pictures

I finally figured out how to get the pictures downloaded and onto the blog. Anyway, Seth did great at the dentist. It only took two nurses and I to hold him down and get the meds down his throat. Then we sat in the waiting room for almost an hour waiting for the meds to kick in. He finally said "I'm feeling weird Mama, kind of dizzy." I knew it was working and wondered if they would let me take some home :o)

Not sure if it's good or bad but they didn't let me go back with him. They said he was very fussy and cried during most of the procedure. His spacer is a nice shiny silver and he loves to show it off! Now we're just working hard not to pop it out. Here are some pictures from Grandma's house when we got done...

Eating pudding but pushed it aside so Grandma could get a good picture

Enjoying his pudding but having a hard time with that fat lip

Poor guy could hardly keep his eyes open

Grandma has all the good stuff...