I'm Still Here!


I have a lot to tell you in my next post...be watching for it! I had an adventurous week at Vacation Bible School and fun visiting family this week. Today, Mommy and Daddy and I went to the ocean to have some family time because Daddy's job is about to get really busy. We had a great time! I have lots of pictures to share, but for now, you can enjoy this picture of me with my ladybug.

Daddy is Flying Home...and I'm Pretty Funny

My dad has been away on another plane trip this week, but he'll be home any minute. Mommy and I are so glad. We have stayed busy with Vacation Bible School, but we'd rather be busy with Daddy. And, Mommy thinks I need some wrestling time with Daddy. Maybe that's because of my rowdy attitude at bedtime this week. Daddy won't have any more business trips until October, so I guess I'll have to think of some other ways to amuse Mommy besides stomping while laying in bed and yelling (happily) when she is trying to sing to me.

Tonight, we ran a few errands to stay extra busy. We went to the post office, the drug store, and the library. We had to go to the library because it was time to take back my big pile of books and videos about trains, firetrucks, and tractors. Mommy said it was someone else's turn to read them. I tried to be a good sport about it.

After that, we ate something yummy for dinner: a Teriyaki chicken bowl. I shared it with Mommy and had a great time. And, after that, we had an extra-special treat: we walked across the parking lot to the grocery store that sells yummy cookes for $.20 each. I sang my cookie song and chose a cranberry cookie to eat on the way home. What could be better? Just one thing...Daddy coming home tonight!

(Something else I thought I'd mention...I'm getting pretty good at making jokes. Yesterday I was drinking apple juice, and Mommy and I were talking about apples growing on trees. I said, "Apples come from the tomato factory. That's funny!" And today, Mommy and I had talked about Toto and Grandma's car both being Saturns. Mommy wanted me to tell Grandma about it, so she asked me what kind of car Grandma had. I said, "It's a Corvette." My silly ideas make everyone laugh, so they must be pretty funny.)

Aunt Amanda's Bird


Aunt Amanda has a tiny little bird named Petra that lives in Grandma's laundry room. It has tiny little eyes to blink and tiny little feet to walk on. It has a mirror to look at and a bell to ring along with other toys to play with. I really like watching Aunt Amanda's bird, and I think we might need one to live at our house. Is it too early to start asking for birthday gifts?

Walking with Grandma


I took a little walk with Grandma today. I'm so glad that she knows that my walks are all about the journey, not the destination!

Bookworms


At our house, we love to read. Here, Mommy and I are reading one of the many books I borrowed from the library. Most of them are about trains, tractors, and firetrucks. We love books!

Slumber Party


Here is a picture of everybody who was here for the big slumber party we had at our house last weekend. You can see that it was a big accomplisment to get all of us in one picture. You can imagine how exciting it was the rest of the time. I want to tell you again...we are so happy that our friends came to visit us (and each other!)

Ms. Jetta's Babies

Today, Mommy and I got to go see Ms. Jetta's two new babies, Cora and Peter. I loved seeing the babies! Cora was happy the whole time, except for her diaper change, and Peter snoozed through our whole visit. Mommy got to hold them a lot, and I mostly admired them.


Here they are sleeping in their little cradle. I kept saying, "That baby has tiny little hiccups!" and "That tiny little baby has tiny little toes!" and more, similar comments...you get the idea.


When Mommy holds a baby (or two) in her lap, I like to snuggle in and be a part of the action.


Here are Cora and Peter, the tiny little babies. Peter is really bigger, but Cora looks bigger because she's up on Mommy's lap. They are both smaller than I was when I was born, so it took Mommy some practice to hold them just right. Thanks for a great visit, new little babies!

Congratulations to Caleb!


Congratulations to my little buddy, Caleb. He became a big brother today because his baby brother, Owen, was born. Owen and his mommy, Ms. Amanda, are doing fine and should come home from the hospital today. Congratulations, Caleb!

Our Yosemite Adventure














Farewell, Friends! (A Note From Mommy)


Ten out of twelve of us are in this picture-not bad! :)

Lots of you have been wondering how life has been with lots of company staying with us. It has been an amazing ride! Anna and Brian and their two kiddos, Sam and Katherine, arrived at the airport Saturday morning. We got them home and settled, and Jacob and Laura, Lucas and Cherissa, and their son Maximus arrived here Saturday afternoon. We were all together for the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday.

On Saturday night, all the guys bonded over a sneak peek of Ratatouille, and the gals bonded over giving the kids dinner and putting them to bed. All the adults had a chance to catch up together after the guys got home. The next day, we all went to church together, and then the gals bonded with walking, talking, and food while the guys bonded over naps-both for them and the kids. We grilled out (or as they say here, "barbequed,") and had a fun evening before Jacob and Laura, Lucas and Cherissa, and Maximus had to get on the road for their next destination. I know it brought joy to all of our hearts to be together and see the kids play together, and we had a great time laughing over old times and making some new memories, too.

I've been asked where we put everyone, so here's how it worked when we were all here at the same time: Jeff and I slept in the family room, Jacob and Laura slept in Jeff's office, Jonathan and Sam slept in Jonathan's room, Anna, Brian, and Katherine slept in the guest room, and Lucas, Cherissa, and Maximus slept in the master bedroom. (Cherissa is expecting and deserved the best bed! :) )

Monday was a big "destination" day with Anna and Brian and the kids-we pushed it pretty hard, and except for a few crying jags, we all had a great time. We made some memories in the rental minivan. :) When I get ambitous, I'll post pictures. We had looked forward to this trip for a really long time, and we weren't disappointed! The highlight of the day was driving on very curvy roads on the way home. Jeff was in the very back with Jonathan and Sam, and he taught them how to scream and raise their hands on the "rollercoaster" while Brian drove and exaggerated the curves a bit. The laughter coming from the backseat made the difficult parts of the day worth it!

Tuesday, we took it easy and ran a few errands. Jeff had to go to work, and we kept ourselves busy while he was gone. In the evening, the kids stayed home and played with the babysitter while the adults went to a celebratory meal. It was Anna and Brian's eighth anniversary, and ours is in less than a month. We enjoyed every moment of a special meal that would have been lost on the kids.

We are so thankful that all these dear friends got to be together at the same time. Things are really quiet here now, and it's a great time for a nap.

Where will we all meet up next?

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!


I have the best dad in the whole world! (Here I am with my dad when I was five months old. I adore him even more now than I did then!)

They're Here!


The first of my visitors are here! Time for a nap for all of us...

Let's Do This Again!

Today, I had a great adventure with my two little buddies and their moms. We went to play in the "mountain!" Ella had been there before-you know how Ms. Jen is always doing creative things with her-but Jared and I had never been. We had the best time!

There were so many fun pictures that we made them very small. You can click on your favorite ones to make them big. And, as you probably already guessed, I'm the one in the hat.

Mommy was proud and surprised that I was brave and ran around in the water all by myself (as you can see in the video below this post.) I have a feeling we'll be doing this a lot more this summer. Why don't you come join us?



















Playing in the Big "Mountain"


Ms. Jetta Had Her Babies!

Great news: Ms. Jetta had her babies this morning, a boy and a girl. To read about them, click here.

Ms. Jetta and Mr. Phil had four daughters already, and they didn't know whether their twins were boys or girls. So now they have another girl and a boy. Everybody is doing fine! Ms. Jetta and Ms. Jen were due around the same time, so that means that Ms. Jen will probably have a baby sister for Ella soon!

New Curtains

Now that a lot of the painting is done, Mommy has gone to work putting curtains in the painted rooms. I like our new paint and curtains. Some friends (especially Graham's mommy) have been asking for pictures, so here they are!


These are the new valances Mommy made for the kitchen. You can see that she needs to clean up the kitchen. Daddy helped her pick out the fabric.


Here are the curtains in our guest room. Mommy copied these from the Pottery Barn Kids catalog. You might remember them from Mommy's Creative Memories room in our old house.


Here are the valances that Mommy made for the playroom. (You can see that there are still a few things to put away before my buddies arrive.) This fabric used to be a swag in the living room of our old house. If you look closely, you can see the dragonflies.


Here are the curtains for the living room. Mommy cheated and bought these, and Daddy and I helped pick them out. She plans to get some pretty tiebacks for them, but right now she just has string.


Here I am in the family room with our new curtains. Mommy cheated on these and bought them instead of making them, too. She had Daddy's help picking them out. Great Grandma was the first guest to see them, and she really liked them! We think that it softens the bright red color a little bit.

Mommy and Daddy think that this house is slowly starting to look like our home. We all hope that our friends will feel comfortable here. So, if you live nearby, we hope you'll drop in and make yourself at home, and if you live far away, we hope you'll plan a trip to see us!

For My Train Loving Buddies

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07212.html

Look at this, little buddies:
These Thomases and friends have been recalled because there's lead in their paint. See the link above and the picture below for more details. Thanks to my buddy, Nathan, for letting me know!

Why We're Excited

We have some visitors coming to our house on Saturday, and we're getting really excited.

Way back in 1993, Mommy made some friends at college. Over time, the friendships grew, and Mommy and her friends graduated. Mommy was really sad that she and all her friends were going in different directions, but God gave her a happy surprise by having these friends keep in touch and have many more adventures together over the years. Later, the friends got married, and all the husbands and wives became friends, too. Along the way, my buddy Sam was born.


This is a picture of the friends who are coming to see us on Saturday, minus a few who weren't born yet: Maximus, Katherine, and me! We're all going to sleep here on Saturday night. This picture was taken in March of 2004 while Uncle Jake and Aunt Laura were living in the girls' dorm where Mommy and her friends went to college, and Aunt Laura was taking care of all those girls.

Mommy and Daddy and I are so thankful that God has blessed us with dear friends like these, and we are so excited to see them, catch up, and make some more memories together!

A Big Trip and a Huge Post

As promised, here are lots of pictures from our trip to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa's birthdays!


Here I am eating dinner with two of my cousins (Daddy's cousins' kids) who I met in January, Kali and Molly.


Kali and Molly and I had a great time running around a nursery with some of the grown-up ladies.


I let their sister, Baby Gabi, use my stroller so that Kali and Molly could drive.


The nursery owners had a dog. I fell in love with the dog and gave her lots of pats and hugs.


I think she loves me, too!


I love this dog!


All of our traveling made me very tired, and I took some really good naps in in Aunt Connie's and Aunt Linda's basements. Dark, cozy basements make for great naps. Molly and Kali had fun with Mommy while I slept.


Here are the birthday boy and girl. Grandpa's hat says "60 and Still Cookin'".


Kali and Molly love books just like I do. I was a good sharer and let them read my firefighter book. All weekend long, I played that I was a firefighter and Aunt Connie's couch was the apparatus.


Grandpa and I went fishing together, and he helped me catch my first fish!


But, fishing was not quite as exciting as the steam engine and train I saw in the distance. I had to go see them!


Here I am being the engineer...


and the brakeman on the caboose.


I got to drive my first John Deere tractor that belongs to Uncle Jerry and Uncle Bill...


and my first RV, which belongs to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Don.


All the activity and loss of sleep made me cuddly.


Grandpa helped me to wear the right team's colors.


I had a great time being entertained by Zack, Carson, and Spencer.


I loved running in the fields and talking about the cows!