Poor little guy!

So, we found out today that Joshua has his 4th ear infection in his 7 short months since he was born. Fortunately, I think due to his thumb sucking, the last two haven't seemed to bother him a whole lot. He had his first back in November - when he was about 6 weeks old. The last three have been in the last 2 months. So . . . now we take him to an ENT for a follow-up/consultation :o( His pediatrician said it doesn't mean tubes for sure, but it's a possibility. Apparently short Eustachian tubes can be inherited - and Joe had tubes put in when he was little. So, we'll see!

The Birthday Princess

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Madie LOVES Cinderella and was very excited about her gifts!

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"All I want for Chrithmuth . . ."

This post is about a month late, but after literally months of wiggling and agonizing, and hanging on by threads, Joey finally lost his two front teeth. The first was knocked out when I tried to wiggle it - Joey panicked, knocked into my hand, and out came the tooth. Then he flipped out over the blood (and a bit of anger over mommy "pulling" it out) after which Gracie concluded she DOES NOT want to lose any of her teeth! The second came out when he was playing basketball with Joe and some friends, and Joe knocked the other one out. Somehow, there wasn't any anger at Daddy- go figure!!

My Favorite Things!!

One of my FAVORITE sounds - a laughing baby!
Joshua loves his jumper and was learning how to jump himself forward and swing back.

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"So much to do, so little time??"

My sister just emailed me this poem. My mom had the last stanza of this poem in a framed needlework in our hallway growing up. I've often thought of it during these years with young children, and enjoyed reading the entire poem. It was a timely reminder of how fast these little ones grow up and how short our time is with them. It's easy to think of the "stuff" of life and how much we have to do and there never seems to be enough time. But these little lives that God has so graciously allowed us to be a major part of? There is so much to do - so much to teach them about our wonderful God and who He is - and so little precious time!

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockabye, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peek-a-boo).

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

-- Author Unknown

Joey's 7th Birthday (. . . oh yeah . . . and my 30th . . .)

Joey turned 7 years old on March 8. Yes, he was born on my 23rd birthday. Ah, I was so young!! He had a good birthday. For those of you who can't tell what it is, that was my best attempt at a blue Lego cake. He liked it, so that's all that matters :o)

And Joshua had his first taste of blue icing - he was sucking it off his lips and fingers for a while :o)

And, since your 30th birthday only happens once - at least if you're honest - my mom surprised me and flew out for a quick visit. We had a nice time, and I enjoyed that she got to spend some time with the kids. This picture is of when we took my mom downtown Indianapolis to walk around and have some dinner - and, yes, she actually let us get a picture of her!

Gracie's Day With Daddy

We've continued in a tradition that my dad started with us. Every year, Joe takes each of the kids on a special activity of their choice - just them and Daddy. Gracie LOVES animals, and this year she chose to go to the circus with Daddy. Of course Joe said she enjoyed the pony rides and big blow-up slide more than the show itself :o)


And Joe was surprised to look behind one row and down a few seats from where they were sitting and see Indianapolis Colts' center, Jeff Saturday - there for a day with his family. Joe didn't get his autograph, though. He said he was bombarded and he didn't want to bug the guy while he's trying to have a day with his kids.

Victory!

Okay, so the swing has these cute little animals on the side to entertain the baby. Don't you think that's kind-of cruel to put those interesting little things sewn onto the side where the baby can't get to them?? Well, Joshua figured out how to get the little giraffe, and boy did he enjoy it :o)

"oh . . . nevermind."

Okay, so we said we weren't going to get another dog until Joshua was at least 4 years old, and we said we would get an older dog - not another puppy. Nevermind. Joe and I actually saw this puppy at two different times and then he mentioned him to me. We both went back two different times to look again - without each other knowing. Well, when Joe went back the second time, he was getting ready to walk away when they reduced his price by $70. Who can walk away from a deal like that? So, Monday afternoon Joe came home with Sampson (we call him Sam). His tag said he's a "lab-golden-shepherd" - basically a lab/shepherd mix. He's about 8 weeks old and we are working on training him to be an indoor dog. We tried the outdoor dog thing a few years ago, and that was a complete flop. So, to those of you who haven't already laughed at me and are wondering, yes, I am crazy. But isn't he cute?? Of course that wasn't the exact thought that was going through my mind as I was cleaning up after him and then chasing him this evening! Anyway, here he is! Joey and Gracie absolutely love him, and Madie is getting used to him. Joshua is clueless that anything is out of the ordinary.

Gracie's Birthday

On February 8, our Grace Elizabeth turned 5 years old. Everyone tells you that "they grow up so fast", and it is so true! We used "magic relighting candles' on her cake - that is why she looks confused in her second cake picture :o) Her present from Daddy and Mommy was her very own pet hamster, which she named Hermie. You see, for any of you who haven't met her, Gracie absolutely LOVES animals. So, since Joey is allergic to cats, and since we had decided we were not going to get another dog until Joshua is older (at least 4 years old, we told the kids, but stay tuned to the next post!!!), we thought a hamster would be a great pet for her to have. And she loves him, although she is frustrated that he seems to spend most of his day buried in the bedding.

And this is Gracie's big party with her friends. We continued my parent's traditions of having parties with the immediate family every year, and then a big party at age 5. Gracie chose a "doggie" theme.

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Funny, Funny Kids!

You know sometimes when you're kids say something that totally catches you off guard and makes you just laugh out loud? Well, these are a couple of those "kid funnies" from the last couple of weeks. Hope they bring a smile to your day!

EEEEWWWWWW!!!!!

If you're anything like our family, you've been battling colds for the past couple of months. Well, our "girlie" Madie is very disgusted by all of the things that have been coming out of her nose lately. Sorry to be so graphic :o) Well, last week I was cleaning out her nose and she gave her usual response of "EEEEEWWWW!!!!! That's disgusting!!!" in her little 2-year-old, totally repulsed voice. I (the one who was actually have to "handle" the stuff) responded with "You're telling me!" to which she replied "No, I'm telling the boogies!!!"

Big Brother's Watching You!!

A week or so ago the kids were sitting at the kitchen table waiting for their meal. While I was preparing it, I had to tell Gracie to stop saying something. A few seconds later, Joey pipes up with "Mommy, Gracie's doing what you told her not to do only quietly so you won't know she's doing it!" In our house, the rule is you are not allowed to "tattle" unless the person is going to injure themselves or someone else, then we teach them steps to take to resolve the issue before running to mommy and daddy. So Joey was instructed. However, I couldn't let Gracie's actions go without correction, so, with my back still turned to the kids while I continued to prepare the food, I said, "Now Gracie, remember, even if mommy and daddy don't see what you do, who always sees everything you do?" And immediately came her sheepish reply, "Joey!"

Snow??? . . . SNOW!!!!!!!

Well, probably about two weeks ago now, we finally got our first snow. It wasn't even enough to cover the ground, but the kids tried to make snow angels anyway! They turned out more like grass angels :o)
Then, after they had pretty much swept up all of the snow off of the front lawn, they decided to have a "race".

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share PhotosTheir snow suits had more grass than snow on them after we went in from playing in the "snow"!
THEN, last weekend, we got some REAL snow!

And in case you're wondering, yes, that is our fearless Joey hiding behind is younger sister as he and daddy were having a snowball fight!

And we can't forget about our little Joshua!
The top left picture is actually of what Joshua was doing while the kids were out playing in the snow. The bottom right is a week or so ago when Joe was able to use the projector to project a movie onto our wall for the kids to watch one night. It was huge to them, and you can see Joshua's amazement!

Roller Coaster Buddy

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share PhotosSo far, Joe, Joey and Madie hate anything like a roller coaster - Madie's never been on an actual roller coaster, but, from the time she was very young, she used to tense up in my arms and stop breathing every time I went down stairs and then would often cry once we got downstairs and she had started breathing again. Also, when she was still crawling, she used to turn around and back up (like she was getting off a couch or something) putting her legs first to go down a literally 1-2 inch change in floor level at Joe's parents' house. Now, on the other hand, Gracie and I LOVE roller coasters or any other fast rides. One of my favorite memories of her is at the fair this past summer when she went on that swing ride (you know the one that just flies the swings around in a circle) for the first time, and went all by herself (I was 8 months pregnant or I would have gone with her) because she really wanted to, but no one else would go with her. Joe tried to talk her out of it, but she really wanted to go. We all just stood there and laughed - almost to tears - watching her giggle in pure delight as she whipped around over our heads! Anyway, a very long explaination to say that Gracie and I are very excited to see that we may have a new "roller coaster buddy" in Joshua as he seems to love "flying" around!

For all our New England relatives!

GO COLTS!!!

(notice Joshua's pj's in the previous post!)

"Where is Thumbkin?"

I'm not sure how many of you have heard this song before, or maybe even sung it to your little ones, but it is a little song that kids sing while wiggling their thumbs. So, to answer the question - Joshua found him, and he's been enjoying "thumbkin" every chance he gets!

What?!?!?

Well, we'd like to introduce everyone to "Petrie" - not quite sure on the spelling, but this is what Joey named his new lizard. He was a Christmas gift from his Grandma McDaniel. We were a little surprised, too :O)

So, he got a lizard? Not really worth blogging about, but as you can see in the pictures, Petrie has got a weird hat on. You see, for those of you who are not very familiar with lizards - as I am not - you should know that lizards EAT live crickets. So . . . why in the world would this stupid cricket be sitting on the head of the creature that wants to eat it - and why would the lizard be letting him. The answer: I DON'T KNOW! But I thought it was a funny picture anyway.

Joshua's first hair cut

BEFORE

AFTER

Now, don't worry, he's still got quite a bit of hair! We just trimmed around his ears and the back.

"Thank you, Papa & Grandmom Jordan!!!"

The girls had so much fun yesterday using the "Build-a-Bear" gift cards they got from their grandparents for Christmas. I thought it would take a while for them to decide what they wanted, but they were both surprisingly quick and decisive. Gracie chose a stuffed dog, which she decided was a boy, of course. She dressed him in blue jeans, baseball cap, jersey and Sketchers. Madie had no trouble deciding on her pink, fluffy bear, which she dressed in a Cinderella outfit (of course!!). She also bought her bear a little, blue, sparkly purse to go with her outfit. They really enjoyed it, and I don't think Gracie has let "Boston American" out of her sight since she carried him out of the store!