Joshua's first movie!!!!

Joshua got to go to the movie theater for the FIRST TIME today! It was so much fun to go with him (Thanks for staying home with Kayla, Bryan!). We saw "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" -- and Joshua thought it was pretty cool to see Veggie Tales.


Ok . .. this looks a little goofy because the room is actually VERY DARK. He amused himself by trying to get the chair bottom to come up and down -- which of course would fold him up like a little accordion!


Like father like son . . . the arcade in the lobby was a VERY STRONG attraction -- so much so that I didn't know whether we would get into the theater or not! We had a great time together -- I am realizing that my alone time with just Joshua is harder and harder to have, so I treasured this little excursion.


Kayla has finally gone from two naps (one morning, one afternoon) to one . . . which means that that the late mornings/lunch times are REALLY hard for her . . .

. . . she just couldn't make it through lunch!

Fun in the Snow

Doesn't Bryan just look thrilled to be shoveling the driveway????

Joshua thinks it's the greatest thing to have snow! Yesterday morning (Sunday) we had to be in the van by 6:45 am and it had snowed during the night. When I lifted the garage door, I hear "Wow -- Look at the Snow!" Only through the eyes of a 3-year old would one be excited about snow at 6:45am on Sunday morning!!!! I must say, though, it was beautiful driving in!

We felt it was fundamentally necessary to have at least ONE snowman during the winter. So -- Bryan stepped up to the plate . . . hey, someone had to stay inside with Kayla, right?

The finished product . . . so glad you have your mower handy, Joshua! I'm sure it came in handy helping daddy build the snowman!

One other cute story today . . . we were at Wal-mart and the greeter told us that they were giving away balloons. So, I promised Joshua that if we didn't have any fits in the store (quite an accomplishment at this stage) that he could have a balloon. He was an angel and as promised, we got a blue balloon for him and a pink one for Kayla. I SECURELY tied the ribbon to their respective coats and then we left the store. As soon as we stepped outside, Kayla's balloon completely flew off -- not the part I tied, mind you, but the connection between the ribbon and the balloon. I figured we would be ok to keep going and 20 seconds later, the same thing happened with Joshua's balloon -- the string was still tied to his coat, but the balloon was gone. Needless to say, we had a HUGE meltdown and it was going to be disastrous to go back into the store. So, in the van, between crying spells, we were talking about how the balloon went into the sky and I said, "Joshua, it went up in the clouds . . .I don't think you can jump that high." To which he replied, "Jesus can get my balloon for me, ok?"

You just have to smile at their innocence, don't you?

Happy Valentines Day!

I managed to get the kids dressed in red on V-day --- and that was about the extent of our family celebration! I got to spend the evening with Bryan, though . . .at rehearsal! How romantic!

Several weeks ago, we set up Bem & Steve's HUGE tent . . . definitely a winter cabin fever activity! The thing was HUGE -- it barely fit in the room, but the kids thought it was great. I didn't get a picture of the completed project, but this gives you an idea of the size!

Happy B-day Bem! We let Joshua pick out his own card for her -- and it was a "CARS" card that said "Happy 5th B-day!" Joshua was VERY proud of it, though!

My contribution was making ice cream dessert for the clan at our house!

My apologies . . .

I know, I know . . . it's been forever I kind of have an excuse . . . we got a Mac, and for whatever reason, I couldn't upload any pics, so I just didn't post. But, for some strange reason, it worked tonight -- so lucky you!



We've been excited about ANY reason to get out of the house lately . . . so we were thrilled to go to Washburn University to see a "battle of the drum lines" that my brother was in. Picture doesn't do it justice (wouldn't it be nice to have zoom!), but it was a fun evening and our kids were enthralled. We've had so much fun going to hear/see the drum line this year.


Couldn't figure out how to rotate this -- but Kayla has just been cracking us up lately! She turned 15 months yesterday -- yucky shots today. She's babbling so much now -- now I see why the ped. was concerned with Joshua when he was 15 months!

A little peek-a-boo after lunch while I clean up!

Daddy and Kayla

I promise -- I'll try to be more prompt at posting . . . .