January 2011

Hey all! Here are some fun pix of our January! We had a fun month- we had a good amount of snow (at least for Fayetteville- one storm we had 4 inches!), Joey had his boy cousins visit, and he got to meet Curious George. He is growing like a weed, and talking even more.

As of today, Jonathan has been at BMW for 1 year! One year down, one year to go! We've joined a church and are making friends. One thing about this town is that people are used to families only being here for a short time. We are looking forward to see where the Lord will send us next.

I am still working at Panera, but depending on Jonathan's school schedule, I won't be there too long. He's already taken a placement test for Fayetteville Tech CC to study Electrical Engineering. We're waiting to hear back...we're pretty sure he's gotten in but waiting to hear for sure and to see what his class options are, since he can only go at night.

Other than that, nothing much is happening here. We've been very happy to see so many family members the past few weeks and looking forward to seeing lots more in the upcoming weeks!!!!

Love,

J,L&J~

Joey trying out an early Christmas present

THANK YOU AUNT DENISE!!!!

sorry about how the camera turns up on side- so you'll have to turn your head!!!!

December and Joey's Visit with Santa

He did so great with Santa!!! We had Woofie and a cookie, so all was well in the world!

My sous chef- this is what he had to pull out of the cabinet so he could crawl in. The child is obsessed with the blender- but not to worry, its not plugged in. he will put who knows what in side, then put the lid on and make a sound like he's blending. He likes to make Mommy smoothies =)

He looks so old here!

Joey has been full of surprises the past few weeks!!!! He has been a blast. Discovering everything- and quite the little sponge. As if he didn't follow me around before, he's been glued to me- and to Woofie. That dog has not left his side. He is doing better with his eating and is now well on the road to feeding himself with utensils!

He is weighing in at over 28lbs (its not official, just on our bathroom scale!) and we've measured him to be about 34 inches. He is talking NONSTOP, but we love it. Still loves anything with wheels, big trucks, school buses, and Elmo & Big Bird. Oh yes, Thomas the Train is always a fav. Joey can sing the first 3 notes of Sesame Street pretty much on pitch almost every time. He has started laughing (on his own) at the funny parts, it is so cute!!! Tonight, he's expanded his vocabulary with 3 words!!!!! He is so funny.

The boys have been adjusting well to me working so much. I've been working about 20 hours a week. I was supposed to be dining room/greeter but its turning out to be more like cleaner/dishwaster/maid all rolled in to one. I have met some good people there but its a lot more work than they let on. The store closes at 9, but most of the time we don't get out until 11 or later!!!! We've broken all the records for Panera.

Well, we will write more later. Hope this finds everyone well!!! Enjoy the photos!

Fall 2010

He always hides in the corner when I'm chasing him!

Sweet boy- he loves his belly button!

Joey and Daddy at the Pumpkin patch

Sitting on the tractor's BIG wheel!

Paging Dr. Drake

Here are a few photos I've taken so far this fall. The PJ ones were taken this morning, sort of an impromptu photo shoot! Joey is definitely becoming more vocal and is extending his vocabulary! He knows all of his grandparents, aunts and uncles by playing the matching game and he can even say some of their names. He's starting to put some words together like, "Keys for car", and "put shoe on/off" and "ba-you" which is his, "i love you". We've been going outside and playing soccer, swinging in the hammock, blowing bubbles, checking our ever growing tomatoes. He is a blast and is definitely keeping us entertained. For Halloween, he's going to be a chest xray! Stay posted for pix from that! When we took him to the pumkpin farm, he absolutely LOVED it. He has a book about pumpkins and he has been reading it constantly for several weeks now and loved being able to actually touch the pumpkins in the field.

His latest favorite thing is trains. He loves to throw his arm up and pull the whistle and say "choo choo". We found some Thomas the Train videos on netflix and anytime we go near the tv he starts "choo chooing", indicating that he wants to watch. We've been able to go to Barnes and noble quite a bit during the past few weeks, where they have a giant train table in the kids section. We can barely pull him away even after we've been there for over an hour. After only going twice (I think), right after we walked in the door of B&N he started "choo chooing"- he already knew where we were. His memory is incredible. He is getting more and more in to reading. He'll go over to his book basket and pull out a book that he wants you to read and come bring it to you and then sit in your lap. He's gotten to the point that he'll show us certain things in the books as we read, like we'd shown to him in the past.

Hope everyone is well. Talk to you soon!

J,L,J =)

Tony turns 1!!!!

I'm so embarassed- my last post was in JUNE!!!! Just wanted to send out some very cute pix of Joey and two of his cousins, Mark and Tony. We went to Tennessee to celebrate Tony's first birthday!!!! What a wonderful time we had. Joey had some playmates and I had some personal time with Ali. Don't let that fool you though- we were always baking or cleaning up after the boys or doing something to get ready for the party. Saturday morning, the 4 of us kids and Ali's husband ran a race. It was my first competitive race, and it was so much fun! It was 4 miles, I ran all of it, except for about .5mi which was up 2 large hills. We had such a great time together!

Happy birthday, sweet Tony!

Joey at the party and with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Nini at the partk

The birthday boy with Linds

A picture of the two oldest!

Joey and Mark playing at the park!

Happy birthday Tony!!!!!

Joe Joe's first (real) haircut

Business in the front Party in the back

Pre haircut pose (note the wings!!!)

post hair cut

being a ham for the camera!

Some updated Photos!!!

In Hilton Head Island with Beeba, Granna and Matt

At the beach with Papa and Boggie:)