Happy Spring!

We love Spring!!! The weather has been teasing us with beautiful sunny days and then snow or rain, but we sure enjoy the sun when we get it!

Jocelyn loves playing on top of the play house (especially with her friend Landon) usually pretending she is some type of superhero or characters from Bolt (Penny and Bolt).

The backyard has been so wonderful for the kids and for mommy! Along with the yard came a couple fun swings that the girls love! Jocelyn was making funny faces while this picture was being taken...another favorite past time.

Bella just loves this swing! It is "her" swing! She could sit in here for hours and just sing her little songs. One day she laid her head back and said something about wanting to sleep in it! A swinging bed sounded perfect to her. Fond memories came back as I remembered that as a baby the only way I could get her to sleep was in the swing.

Dinner outside! Seefood anyone?

Walks to the park and "fishing" in the stream.

The girls love to ride there bikes! Jocelyn is very agile and fast with her bike! The other day she was even doing tricks (she would lift her feet up and put it on the middle and swerved left to right). She actually taught herself how to ride her two wheel bike when she was four (almost five). She wanted to ride a two wheeler so badly and I would try to help her but it just wasn't working. So, I told her to keep trying and she would figure it out. She practiced in the backyard on the grass and obviously she got it figured out and now she is unstoppable.

Bella on her little bike! So Cute! She trys to keep up with Jocelyn and ends up dragging the bike behind her sometimes because she gets a little frustrated. I think she needs a bigger bike!

And we can't leave out hanging out with our dear and a little crazy friends Cori, Landon, and Trent (not in pic).

Just me and B. hanging out while the boys (Marc and Trent) kicked the soccer ball around and the the kids and Cori played on the swings.

Need I say more? Life is GREAT!

Come on baby let it snow!

Pre-Christmas we got a lot of snow, and more snow, and more snow, snow that is still covering our backyard snow. Jocelyn at first was all about playing in the snow and now in January that interest has gone dormant. Anyway, looking back...

Look her eyes are crazy with excitement!

Oh, now she is gitty!

Jocelyn made long distance friends with the kids across the street! She said they were making The Tick (one of her favorite cartoon hero's inherited from her dad) and they inspired her to make her own.

Pretty impressive don't you think!

Jocelyn and Bella working on their snow masterpiece. The snow was perfect for making a snowman and snowballs!

Our very own Frosty the Snow Man! By the time we got him done it was snowing like crazy and freezing, but it sure was fun! Marc was sad that he had missed out on the fun. That darn work!

While Jo played outside in the snow Bella liked to go inside and get warm, maybe eat an orange, and of course put the peel in her pocket! Isn't that where you put your orange peels?A few days later Jocelyn decided that Frosty needed to go to snowy heaven, and she had a great time tearing him apart!

Happy Birthday Jocelyn!

My baby turned 5...in December! I learned a lot about what not to do and therefore what to do to make a happy birthday girl and mommy! Because if the birthday girl ain't happy ain't nobody happy! We had decided to celebrate Jo's birthday after daddy got home and that's when she would open all of her gifts from us and her grandparents. Well, let me just say it was a miserable day! Poor Jocelyn was so anxious to open her presents, so all day we had lots of crying and asking if daddy was home yet. So from now on presents will be done Santa style...as soon as she wakes up! Of course I am sure there will be issues going that route too but we will have to live with those! I just felt so bad because of course she was excited and I was so frustrated with her little cute self. The important thing is that the day ended on a happier note!

The sweet little birthday girl anxiously watching out the window for her daddy to get home. I don't know how long she sat there but if she would have waited the whole time she would have been there for at least a couple hours. I tried to tell her that it was going to be a long time but watching for daddy made her feel better...temporarily at least.

After a lot of drama and crying I had had enough and it was time for her to go somewhere else before I lost my mind. I talked her into laying down and resting which luckily she did.

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

Jocelyn loves Batman so naturally she requested a Batman party. I have to say it was fun to plan a party that had nothing to do with princesses or fairies! Because super heros are just no good with out a costume everyone got a cape (just fabric cut and tied) and masks.

Marc helped the girls turn the paper they decorated into a paper airplane for one of the games.

This was the target that everyone was aiming for. Great bat sign Marc!

There were other games and activities but I didn't get any good pictures of those. But we did get some of the "eating of the cake and ice cream".

Here we have all of Jocelyn's friends. Terra, Landon, Savana Jo, Corrine, and Maggie. The sad thing is that most of these kids will move before her next birthday. Jocelyn keeps talking about her next birthday and who she is going to invite so I told her she will have to make some more friends in Kindegarten.

Thanksgiving 2008

I am still playing catch up but I guess it doesn't matter when it gets done, it only matters that it does! We haven't been home for 4 years or so for Thanksgiving so I was so happy to have my sister and her family come and join us at our house for Thanksgiving! They came out in 2005 and my sweet sister pretty much made the whole dinner as I laid on the couch and intermittently ran to the bathroom to throw up...I was pregnant with Bella at the time. Needless to say it was a wonderful Thanksgiving without any throwing up and lots of family time! My sister and I made the dinner together and it was yummy! I can't believe after all of that work that we didn't think to take a picture. The only thing I did take pictures of apparently are the kids.


As we were preparing for our Thanksgiving dinner Marc tried to help keep the girls entertained. So, the girls made turkey's using their hand prints which all turned out very cute! Here Bailey, Jocelyn, and Paige are crafting!

Bella's finished turkey...gobble, gobble!

Bailey with her Turkey...Gobble!

Paige showing her version of the handprint Turkey.

After we ate our dinner we took the kids to see a movie. We planned on seeing Madagascar 2 but they were sold out. We saw Bolt instead which I thought was cute but Marc didn't like it as much. The critics that matter loved it however!

After Thanksgiving was over we took everyone to Kangaroo Zoo to let the girls get some energy out. We love this place or anyplace like it!

Unfortunately, this is the only clear picture that I had of Paige. She was upset but not for long!

All in all we had a fantastic Thanksgiving and thank you Jackie and Clint for making the drive out here to spend it with us! We sure love you guys!

From The Mouths of Babes!

Kids come up with the funniest and smartest comments/ questions that can leave you either laughing or stuck with your jaw dropped wondering how to respond. Here are a few samplings.

1. This is a conversation I had with Bella as I was changing her diaper before picking up Jocelyn from Preschool.

Mom: Hey Bella do you want to go pick up Jocelyn from preschool pretty soon?

Bella: No

Mom: What do you mean? Don't you want to pick up Jocelyn from Preschool?

Bella: No, Jo is heavy!


2. This is a conversation I had will Jocelyn while she was looking at a book she insisted on checking out from the library about Dogs (owners manual type). There was a picture of a dog who is pregnant and there is a drawing of the puppies in her tummy.

Jocelyn: How did the puppies get in the dogs tummy?

Mom: uhm...well how do you think they got in her tummy?

Jocelyn: I don't know how did they get in there?

Mom: How do you think they got in there?

Jocelyn: Did she go to the puppy temple?

Mom: No, there isn't a puppy temple and you don't get babies in your tummy from going to the temple. You get married in the temple and after your married you have babies. She moved on from that and luckily I didn't have to say much more just yet.

3. Jocelyn, Bella, and I went on a field trip to Macey's grocery store with Jocelyn's preschool. When they were leaving all of the kids received a balloon. Well, Bella let go of hers and off it went. She was pretty upset. Jocelyn tries to comfort her sister and then says "It's OK Bella Jesus will catch it."

Congressional Raise

For those of you that are friends with me (this is Marc by the way) on facebook you have probably already received an invitation from me for the group I created but I felt this was important enough to mention it on our blog. Every year the United States Congress gets the chance to vote on their own pay raise. First of all, this seems completely wrong to me. There are very few positions where you get to decide on your own pay raise but that is the way it is and changing this is a topic for another day. For 2009 congress has decided 2.8% pay raise is appropriate. That is on average $4,700 per congressman. Now I don't know about you but in our current economic situation where money is tight and every industry seems to be asking for a bailout it seems odd that our senators should receive a pay raise. Especially such a substantial pay raise.

I encourage you to write your representatives and ask them to stop the madness. Not all representatives support the pay raise. If you would like to sign a petition you can go to http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-congressional-pay-raise-for-2009.html.

I am now officially done with my rant.

Teenage Girl in Training

Accessories are a MUST! It really is all about the accessories you know!

Mall shopping...also a must! But, the key is to look cool while you are doing it!

Most importantly, mastering and LOVING the telephone...these days the cell phone! Doesn't it look like Bella is talking to the boy she likes and Jocelyn is telling her what to say? Ha, Ha, right now the only cute boy she will be talking to is Daddy!

Halloween 2008

Halloween is a like a long play with many acts. First you have pumpkin carving- Act 1- used to build up the anticipation for the rest of the play.Act 2- trying to figure out what to be for Halloween. We found these witch hats and brooms at the dollar store a month early but I figured I should grab them. The girls agreed they wanted to be witches...then comes Act 3....

Act 3 Changing our minds....Jocelyn decided to be a Snow Princess instead and Bella stuck with the Witch for at least the church party.

Act 4... The final Act- TRICK-OR-TREATING


The girls were resting up in the car before the final scene of Halloween commenced.

Trick-or-Treating...and yes another costume change was in order. Luckily we have these costumes on hand so they can have as many costume changes as needed. Jocelyn was Cinderella and Bella a cow (with their friend Landon). All very cute I might add! We didn't go very far (maybe a block) before it started raining quite heavily, so enough candy had been collected and we were all happy to seek shelter inside. Besides, they were all quite tired.

The End