Merry Christmas Auntie JuJu!!!!

Merry Christmas from all of us!

Brotherly Love

With the season of Christmas upon us, I thought it would be appropriate to share some photos of the brotherly love that is blossoming in our house. How fun for us parents when we get to see our children truly embracing one another as friends! Christmas is in 2 days... stand by for more pictures soon!

Blessings,
Joanie

Happy 8th Anniversary to us!

Wedding Day - December 9, 2000

Summer Vacation at Apple Canyon Lake, July 2008

Celebrating Joanie's birthday in February 2008

Happy Anniversary, dear Chad! I love you very much and have had a wonderful 8 years being married to you! I love our family, our home and our life together very much. God has blessed me beyond what I could imagine! I look forward to our special lunch date tomorrow!

Love you! Here's to many, many more years!!

Happy Birthday to Sara and Jessi!!!

Here is a video to Jessi from the kids... we got to sing Happy Birthday to Sara last night!

Have a great day, you two!

Guitar Heroes and Daddy's Helper

Playing Guitar Hero with Daddy!

Eric Rocks!

OK, this is not Guitar Hero, but Caleb was very helpful to Daddy yesterday.

He didn't even know he didn't have paint on his roller!

Now here's the best part... the family band!

The Haircut

Anna looks a bit more mature these days... her new shoulder length hairdo is to blame. I am glad it looks nice, though I was sad to see her long locks fall to the floor. Eric took his scissors to the back of her hair Monday, so Tuesday she was off to the salon. Thankfully it is much easier to wash and brush, and it will grow back. She has been going around touching the back of her hair, and saying, "Mommy, it is already growing back, I can feel it!". Yes, it is dear. Just a lot more slowly than you think! She must have had about 7 inches cut off.

Caleb was not about to be excluded from the photo shoot, so he climbed up onto the ledge and held onto that pumpkin too! You can't really tell it, thankfully, but for his last haircut about 10 days ago, he screamed and threw such a fit that the girl had a very hard time getting him cut. I am still finding little stray bits of longer hair everywhere on him!

A crazy month

It has a been a crazy month here... so much going on this fall! Here are a few shots of some things we've been up to!

Eric's class took a field trip to Soergel's Orchards

Eric and his best friend Grant listen to the lecture about the parts of an apple.

Eric and Grant pretend to drive the huge wooden jeep

Some of Eric's classmates gathered on the "train"

We attended a Fall Festival last Friday at a local church.
Caleb wasn't quite sure what to do with his balloon sword!

So we had a pumpkin, a princess, and Spiderman. Eric's friend Grant was "The Thing".

Eric's last soccer game of the fall season was last Saturday. Here he is goofing around before the coin toss.

The much anticipated TROPHY! He was very worried that he had to score a goal to get one. I told him every player gets one, if they simply show good sportsmanship.

Thank you for our new outfits, Gramma Debbie! Photo of Caleb in the cute Cookie Monster outfit coming soon!

Happy Birthday, Dear Chad...

Happy Birthday to my dear sweetie Chad!

We made Daddy open his presents after a breakfast of homemade blueberry and chocolate chip waffles!

Thanks, Grandma Debbie for the Bass Pro Shops gift card!

A fly fishing rod and reel from me and the kids!

An awesome fish cake made by Grandma B.!

Happy helpers blowing out the candles! And notice the cool Under Armour Fishing Shirt from Uncle Brian!

Amazing "Alien Sushi" gummy candy from Auntie JuJu!

I Lied

Ok, so Caleb DOES NOT do better staying in his bed at night. Last night he climbed into bed with us at 3:00 AM. Tonight when I put him down, 5 minutes later I heard him say, "Look at me, Eric... I'm naked!". Yes, my crazy 2 year old took off his PJs and had his diaper yanked halfway down his rear trying to be naked. Why?? Because he can, I suppose. Same reason he came out of his room 5 more times at least this evening... because he can! Lord, help me.

Big Boy Bed

As you read two posts ago, Caleb learned how to climb out of his crib recently, so he has been moved into the toddler bed. So far, keeping him IN IT is quite a challenge, especially at nap time at 1:00 in the afternoon. I basically have to camp out in the hallway to escort him back to bed until he finally falls asleep. At night he does a little better because he's just worn out. It occurred to me that I had never taken ANY pics of the kids as they were sleeping, so for posterity's sake, here are a few bedtime shots of my 3 little ones.

Horsin' Around at Dani's Graduation Party!

Eric gets the first horse ride at Danielle's graduation party

Cute little cowboy

Anna is ready for her ride next

Am I really OK up here??

Lil' Partner Moseys along...

Caleb LOVED riding the horse and was not scared a bit!

Fun on the seesaw with cousin James

Cowboy Caleb takes a turn on the seesaw too

Congratulations, Dani! We are proud of you and excited for what your future holds! Thanks for hosting us at your fabulous party!

My world has turned upside down

Caleb in the porta-crib at the hotel in Indiana

Why, you ask? Because Caleb has been up in his room for the last hour, supposedly napping. A few minutes ago, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Caleb has LEARNED TO CLIMB OUT OF HIS CRIB!!!! Aaaagggghhhhhh! I was dreading this day. No more keeping him conveniently contained! Little bugger! I took him back to his crib and 2 minutes later he was downstairs again. Guess he didn't accidentally "fall out" the first time. I guess he will soon go into his toddler bed that is already waiting for him and I'll have to try a gate in the doorway. Betcha he'll climb over that too! Pray for me!!!

My Anna

Anna and I enjoyed some time alone together this afternoon. Caleb was napping late and Eric was at a soccer game with our neighbors. She was helping me make dinner and got the task of buttering the french bread slices for garlic toast. She worked very hard at slathering butter all over every piece and really stuck with it. I told her she was best bread butterer EVER and asked her how she became such a great cook. She replied, "Because you teached me, Mommy. You're the best Mommy EVER".

Now if this mother of a normally sassy and willful 3 1/2 year old wasn't blown away by her kind compliment! Thanks, God. I need more Anna moments like that. I guess that I means I need to carve out more one-on-one time with her too. She really thrives on that. As our middle child, I know she truly gets lost in the middle sometimes. Eric is doing new and exciting things every day (and getting to do them first) and Caleb is still young enough that he demands more attention (read: diapers, messes, saving his life from daredevil acts, etc.). Poor Anna just takes care of herself most days and could really use more time with Mom and Dad. Today was motivation enough to make that time!

I love you, Anna Banana!

Move Over Beckham...

Eric's Playing Soccer Now!


Eric's first day of soccer practice!

Taking a break!

Eric scored a goal in the first quarter of his very first game!

Way to hustle, Eric!

Learning to toss in the ball.

Eric listens to his coach.

Happy Birthday to my Big Boy!

It has been an amazingly busy week! Eric started kindergarten on Tuesday, and turned 5 years old on Friday! We had his party on Saturday and Eric and his friends, siblings and cousins had a BALL on the slip-n-slide! They also played a dinosaur scavenger hunt game, mauled a poor duck pinata brought by our friends Paul and Kim, and enjoyed the awesome blue dinosaur cake made with love by Grandma B.

Click here to see the complete album! In the picture above, check out the cool monster truck shirt from Grandma Diane and Papa Lee that Eric insisted on wearing even though it was 85 degrees!

We are amazed at how quickly the last 5 years has gone. Eric has grown and changed so much! We are blessed to have him in our lives. Here's a look back:

Eric at 1

Eric at 2

Eric at 3

Eric at 4

Eric at 5