A Fantastic February

Red River Ski Trip

 We had a fantastic time skiing and relaxing in Red River. To see pictures from our trip click here.

Ballet & Tap

Ballet and tap classes are going strong. Jenni learned that she will be a starfish in the upcoming "Under the Sea" recital. She is learning the dances for the recital and makes sure she practices at home daily. Jenni loves dance and takes it very seriously.

Valentine's Day

Sending you love this Valentine's Day!

Soccer

 4-year-olds doing Jumping Jacks. Precious :)

 Joshua patiently waiting to turn 3 and join a soccer team of his own :)

This little guy is growing, growing, growing.

 Spring soccer practices have started! We are looking forward to the many weeks of practices and games and see J enjoying the sport. Jenni has the same coach this season and the same team of girls plus one new girl so it will be great for J to build on those relationships. Joshua is also loving Jenni's soccer practices. Little Man enjoys running on the sidelines and kicking the ball around in open spaces. Life will be a bit more interesting when both of these little ones have practices to go to :)

BSF

Jenni's BSF highlight this month was that she got to sing on stage one morning in front of all the ladies. She was thrilled! She also enjoys helping others during Bible study time. Joshua's BSF highlights this month included Bible story times and times of singing. Little man loves to sing his songs. Getting ready for BSF in the mornings Joshie hums the tune to Jesus Loves Me. Very sweet.

Cousin Love

 Sweet, sweet Gavin. I think he was a little shocked from all the attention :)

 Joshie giving his little cousin a kiss.

 Joshua wondering if Gavin would like to play trains with him :)

 Mr. Gavin Michael visited us to help celebrate Joshua Gabriel's birthday. Oh, do we love Gavin! Such a precious, adorable babe and he sweetly allows the kids to love on him.

Joshua's 2nd Birthday Party

 Joshua turned two on January 14th but we had his party this month. To see pictures of his big day click here.

Fun Day

 Best friends :)

 Little Man now goes down the big slides behind Jenni

 Static-y hair from the slide :)

Standing on the merry-go-round and going around and around isn't enough for Joshua anymore. Once the merry-go-round is spinning, he likes to walk around it, weaving in and out.

The kiddos and I had a day out one beautiful Saturday. We went to lunch, had frozen yogurt, and a pretty play date at the park.

Oh Baby!

 Jenni is SO looking forward to finding out if she will have a brother or a sister!

 Joshua is looking forward to having a baby in the family. Sweet little guy has a lot of love to give!

We were so excited to share the news this month that we are expecting our third babe this August. We feel so blessed and are extremely happy with this joyous news.  To read more about Baby #3 you can click here.

Sweet Snapshots

 Jenni loves looking through pattern books

Joshua was being a mischievous little boy while Eric was traveling, so I told him that we were going to take a picture of him and send it to daddy so daddy would know how Joshua was behaving. Little Man heard his daddy's name and instantly smiled for a sweet photo. :) 

 Grandpa & Grandma gave Joshua a basketball hoop for his birthday. The kids love it! Jenni is tall enough to stand on the floor and shoot. Little Man stands on a chair for an extra boost :) And since we have two miniature basketball players and only one miniature basketball, we also use a miniature soccer ball to shoot with :)

Sweet Jenni J in pink

 Eric came home with tulips and Gerber daisies for Jenni. The smile on her face :)

Sweet Joshua, we love you!

Overheard

Jenni stopped skiing at the top of the slope...

Jenni: "Why did I decide to do this?"

Me: "Jenni, it's always good to try things but maybe this one we will wait to do again."

Jenni: "Maybe I'll try it again when I'm 5...or 6 or 7."

Jenni talking about her wedding...
Jenni: "Can I please wear a pink wedding dress?"
Me: "Jenni you need to wear a white dress, but maybe your bridesmaids could wear pink dresses."
Jenni: "Well do you think my husband would at least think about getting me a pink diamond ring then?" :)

The kids were drawing and coloring...
Jenni: "Do you like my drawing?"
Joshua: Shakes his head no.
Jenni: "Joshua, you really don't like my drawing?"
Joshua: Shakes his head no again.
Jenni: "Joshie, you should be more encouraging."
:)

And an all too common thing for me to hear in the car these days...
Jenni: "Joshua, please stop singing so loud. I can't hear my own voice singing!"

Jenni thinking about life as an adult...
Jenni:  "Maybe after college I'll live on the same street as you." :)

Jenni: "Mommy, let's sing this song together."
Me: "I don't know the whole song. I only know a few parts of it."
Jenni: "Then let's do some teamwork singing like we did teamwork cleaning today. I'll sing the first verse, you sing the second verse, and Joshie can sing whenever he wants." :)

An Update on Jenni

Jenni continues to love putting puzzles together. She now puts 100 piece puzzles together at a time and is quite focused while doing so. She loves writing letters and drawing pictures for others. And she really enjoys playing hide-n-seek with Joshua. And sadly the day has come that my Jenni is maturing and now calls me "Mom" more than "Mommy." Ah, I didn't think this day would come so soon - sweet girl is growing up.

An Update on Joshua

Joshua enjoys playing trains on his train table and building with his legos alone in his room for a nice amount of time. The sweetest thing to hear is when he calls for Jenni when he is playing in his room alone and wants her to join him. He is such a good helper cleaning up his room and helping Jenni pick up all her puzzle pieces at the end of the night. And now that he is two and over the stage of being Mr. Independent, he enjoys sticking by my side throughout the day (hurray!).

An Update on Baby J

Baby J is a healthy, growing babe with a strong heart! We are so thankful for good progress reports from the doctor!

We are looking forward to the month of March, the start of spring, and watching Jenni play in her first spring soccer game.

Joshua's 2nd Birthday Party

 Joshua's birthday wreath

 Oink! Quack! Neigh! Moo!

Our little buckaroo is turning TWO!

 I asked Joshua if he wanted to be a cowboy or a buckaroo and he definitely wanted to be a buckaroo :)

 Menu:

 BBQ Beef

Smoked Sausage

Calico Beans

Mac 'n' Cheese

Fried Okra

Southwestern Pasta Salad

Fresh Fruit

Texas Toast

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Marshmallow Fondant Toppers

Lemonade

Peach Tea
Water

Joshua's Farm Animal Cupcakes

I made marshmallow fondant using my sister's recipe. I love the results of all the sweet animal faces.

 

 Chex Mix Party Favors

Recipe found here

 Dessert: Peach Cobbler and Vanilla Ice Cream

 Sweet birthday boy

 Joshua being very shy while we sang Happy Birthday :)

Little Man, Little Man, we love YOU! We celebrated Mr. Joshua Gabriel's second birthday this month. What a wonderful time we had celebrating with family, catching up, eating yummy food, and spending time with some of our favorite people! The theme for Joshua's birthday was a combination of a barnyard/farm/cowboy theme. Little man loves to be a cowboy and loves farm animal noises so I figured we would go with that idea for his special day.