A Joyful January

Six Flags Over Texas: Holiday in the Park

 We had a great day at the park. I think our favorite part of the night was the Six Flags Dance Party :)

Ballet

 The dance studio took two weeks off for Christmas break so Jenni was really looking forward to the start of January and getting back to ballet.

Tap

  J's dance studio added a tap class for the younger girls so Jenni J has started tap class. When she was being fitted for her first pair of tap shoes, her eyes were sparkling with excitement! She kept saying, "Mommy, can you believe I'm old enough to do this?!" Hard to believe my sweet girl is growing up!

Bible Study Fellowship

We are thankful that BSF has resumed after Christmas break. It was wonderful to be back in our groups and learning more from the book of Acts. Joshie loved seeing his leaders again and Jenni was so happy to be back with her leaders and all her friends. Jenni and a few of the older classes of children have been practicing a few songs to sing to our large group of ladies and she is very excited about the special day!

Building a Bird Feeder

 Two of Jenni's favorite things - her daddy and one-on-one time with her daddy. Jenni had been wanting to build something with Eric so when we saw a bird feeder kit at Lowe's, we knew that was just the project for the two of them! I have fond memories of building things with my dad so I know Jenni will enjoy looking back on projects she and Eric work on together!

Joshua's First Car

 We bought Joshua's car for his birthday one evening. He was so excited he could hardly wait to drive it. Since it was dark and freezing outside, we had him ride his Hummer around the garage for the first time. He loves it! Little Man has no fear!

Best Friends

 Tickling Joshie

 I snapped a few pictures of the two best buddies before their bedtime.

Joshua's Daily Phone Call to Papa John

 Chatting away

 Me: "Joshua, who are you talking to?"

Joshie: "Papa!"

 Sweet little man

 Serious topics are discussed :)

 After a nice phone call, Joshie is ready for bed!

Sweet Joshua loves his Grandpa dearly - so dearly that he keeps his cell phone nearby so he can make a pretend call to Papa John whenever he needs to chat. Joshua's phone calls are quite serious. He makes sure people are quiet around him, he babbles, pauses (as if Grandpa's talking back to him), and then laughs. And as a side note, Grandpa John is the only person Joshua makes phone calls to! The best of pals those two!

Family Night

 Joshua enjoyed his bowl of gummy bear toppings without the ice cream :)
We had a fun evening playing at the park, dinner at our favorite hamburger place and ice cream for dessert!

Joshua turns TWO!

 Our little man is growing up! Oh, how we love him so! We celebrated Joshua on his birthday and will have his party in February. To see pictures from his birthday, click here.

Jenni turns FOUR and a HALF!

 Who doesn't like celebrating a half birthday? :) Happy Half Birthday to our sweet, special girl who brings so much joy to our lives! To read Jenni's answers to her questionnaire, click here.

Girls Date

 J dressed in a yellow dress (since Belle wears a yellow dress), wore her Belle dress-up shoes, and asked for her hair to be done like Belle's - some hair down and curled and a little up in a bun. :)

 3D glasses

 Jenni and I went to see Beauty and the Beast 3D. It was Jenni's first "real" movie at a movie theater and it was also our first time seeing a movie in 3D - very cool! After our late night movie, everything was closed except for Steak n Shake, so J and I went there after our movie for more girl time! :)

Family Day

 Since it was the day after Joshua's birthday, he got to have the chicken on his head at lunch and the waitresses sang Happy Birthday. Joshua was slightly confused by the chicken on his head :)

 For the most part, whenever we are at a park, Joshua prefers to sit in a swing nearly the entire time. He likes to relax and think :)

 Love these pictures. Joshua couldn't stop staring at his lollipop when we were walking to the car. But once he looked up and noticed Jenni was walking by Eric...

 He ran as fast as he could to catch up...

 And made sure that he was the one holding his daddy's hand :)

 Church, lunch, pony rides, candy store and playtime at the park :) 

Joshua turns TWO (again)!

 Grandpa and Grandma came to visit and wanted to celebrate Little Man's second birthday with him so they brought a cake to celebrate! We had a lovely time catching up. Jenni enjoyed spending her time with Grandma chatting and putting princess puzzles together. Joshua enjoyed all his time with Grandpa playing cars and being boys.

Rodeo Day

 Joshua was looking around trying to find where his nap went. This boy loves his naps and was a sleepy little guy for a good part of the afternoon during his normal nap time.

 Riding the Ferris wheel

 The animals acting as if they hadn't been fed in a while:)

Enjoying some popcorn at the rodeo. This boy has an easy life :)

We had some fun family time on a beautiful January day. We spent a little bit of a time at the carnival, fed the animals in the petting zoo, visited the stock show where the kids loved seeing the different animals and learning about farming, visited the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame (Jenni was in awe!), and ended the night at the rodeo which we all enjoyed.

Gavin's Dedication

 On the drive to Austin, Joshua was either yelling "PAPA!!!" or jabbering about baby Gav :) He adores him so. Joshie enjoys getting the chance to feed Gav his bottles. That's what buddies are for :)

 Joshie being a little helper

 

Sweet picture after Gavin's feeding

 We traveled to Austin for sweet baby Gavin's dedication. We had such a lovely time and Andrea did a wonderful job cooking and decorating for the train themed party!

Pond & Park Play Date

 The kiddos and I went to the park late one evening to feed the ducks and have some fun on a cool evening!

Sweet Snapshots

I do love my cheerful girl.

 I love my little man.

 The little ones were trying to keep each other warm as I was pushing the shopping cart to the car on a very windy day :)

 I found Jenni sleeping like a babe with her "sleep doll" tucked under her arm. Grandpa and Grandma gave Jenni four little dolls that are dressed in pajamas for Christmas. Jenni sweetly refers to them as "sleep dolls" and sleeps with one or more most nights.

 Jenni trying to talk us into staying up later :)

Jenni J always gives us this face to "prove" she isn't sleepy :)
"Mommy, do you see how open my eyes are? I'm not sleepy at all!"

A seriously tired girl :)

Little Man growing up :)

We are extremely thankful he is sleeping so well in his bed! Such a nice transition from his crib.

Overheard 

I walked by Joshua and smelled something funny...
Me: "Joshua, are you a smelly boy?"
Joshua: Shakes his head no. "Man."
Me: "Joshua, are you a smelly little man?"
Joshua: Nods his head yes.
I do love my boy little man!

Jenni: "Joshua, you are always going to be my little prince."

As I was tucking Jenni in bed...
Jenni: "Thank you, Mommy. The day was really good."
Me: "What was your favorite part of the day?"
Jenni: "Dinner. It was really good. I love you a lot."
I do love my sweet sleepy girl :)

Me: "Goodnight, sweetheart."
Jenni: "Mommy, you call me sweetheart so I'm going to call my children sweethearts, too."
Me: "That's sweet, Jenni."
Jenni: "Do you think when I'm older it will be confusing because we will be calling all our family 'sweetheart'?" :)
I l-o-v-e my super sweetheart girl.

Our conversation after BSF...
Me: "Joshua, did you sing some songs at Bible Study today?
Joshie nods his head yes.
Me: "Will you sing a song for us?"
Joshie starts singing Jesus Loves Me.
(Little Man is always surprising us!)

My particularly favorite thing to hear in the car these days...
Jenni: "Joshie...don't sing so loud!"

Jenni: "Do you think God will come to my birthday party?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Jenni: "Do you think He will be watching my party from Heaven?"
Me: "Of course."
Jenni "That would be great if He sang Happy Birthday too!" :)

Sweet Jenni J: "I love you, mommy. You are a great mommy for a little girl like me."
Melt my heart :)

Me: "What did you learn at church tonight?"
Jenni: "God has a great plan for me!"

Jenni: "Mommy, will you curl my hair like Grandma's today?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Jenni: "I want you to curl my hair to look just like my grandma's. I love her."

One morning after BSF...
Jenni: "Today we had a special blessing in class."
Me: "Who was it?"
Jenni: "We had a new teacher who is just a blessing!"

After countless times of telling Jenni she cannot marry Grandpa, her daddy or her brother we are still having the same conversations. And the conversation usually ends with "Not fair! I love those boys."
Jenni: "I do not want Joshua to marry any one!"
Me: "Why?"
Jenni: "I want him to be mine! Forever!"
Me: "Jenni, you cannot marry your brother."
Jenni to Joshua: "Joshua, will you be mine?"
Joshua: Nods his head 'yes.'
Jenni: "Joshie says yes."

I had an awful, awful headache when I woke up one morning and decided that we would not go to BSF because I couldn't picture getting myself ready and the kids ready. I had kept all the lights in the rooms off my head hurt so bad. The little ones were eating breakfast...
Jenni: "When are we going to start getting ready for Bible study?"
Me: "My head is hurting so bad that we are going to stay home."
Jenni: Bursts into tears. "We have to go, Mommy! I was wanting to learn more about God this morning!"
So of course we had to go with my sweet girl reminding me of how it important it was. And even better, the headache was gone by the end of our time at church.

I noticed a movie I had watched as a child and asked Jenni if she wanted to watch it with me. This was her shocking response...
Jenni: "You had a TV when you were a little girl?!"
I can't wait until Jenni realizes I was born in a different century than her...

Jenni and I put puzzles together quite often. I put the final piece together...
Jenni: "Mommy, you did it! You're a genius!"

An Update on Jenni

Jenni has been enjoying working on puzzles, card games and board games in her free time. She especially loves working on her puzzles during "quiet times" of the day, in the early morning while Joshua is still sleeping and after nap time when she wakes up earlier than Joshua. Oh, and Jenni has been dreaming lately and remembering her dreams. Her new thing to do is to wake me up in the middle of the night to talk about her dream. For example, I'm awoken in the middle of the night by Jenni telling me that she dreamed that one day she was dancing in the "big kids' class" at ballet. "Do you think my dream will come true?" "Yes, Jenni when you are in high school and if you practice really hard, you too can be in the "big kids' class." :)

An Update on Joshua

Joshua is enjoying being two and being a little brother to Jenni. He enjoys chasing her around, trying to make her laugh, and playing with his cars and trucks while Jenni plays next to him with her princesses. He loves to sing songs in his little toddler voice and he especially loves yelling out "BUG!" to try to scare Jenni any chance he gets. And he loves loves loves cars. Cars in his pockets. Cars in his side door of the SUV. Cars in his bed. Cars in my purse. Cars. :)

We are looking forward to the month of February, Joshua's "big family" birthday party (as J calls it), celebrating my mom's birthday and all that February has in store for us!