Jack is 1

Zooming by Mommy's camera!

I had to get Uncle Josh to stand behind so he would smile.

Just a little note about his outfit: my sewing machine is acting up so I used "wonder under" to iron on the 1, and had to hot glue the ric rac (I was desperate). A little bummed that it can't go in the dryer and has to be washed on dedicates. I guess I could go back and sew it on....maybe. It held up great for the day, though.

Jack liked his cake, but was very slow about eating it.

Something to treasure in years to come.

Nothing like green eggs and ham!

Mommy and Daddy - having to take their "sugars."

Uncle Josh and Aunt Kari

Momma Beth and Big Poppa

Grandma and Poppy

First thing to be said: Please don't get your feelings hurt if you didn't receive an invite to this party. We only had immediate family come over and kept it small. With 3 children, I do feel like we sometime celebrate birthdays year round and would like to give our friends a break.

Jack:
He isn't walking yet, but don't underestimate him. He is fast on all fours! Thankfully, he is a really great eater, such a relief. I will have to admit that he is a big time Daddy's boy, and I do get a little jealous at times. He says "Momma" and "Dadda" and loves to put things in his mouth (even dog food). He still doesn't give his kisses away but we are working on that. Also, not really into the whole "bye bye" and waving scene. None of our children really were. I guess we just forget to teach them that. He and Lucy (our dog) are real pals. She endures so much from him, and is very gentle despite his abuse. Definitely a tough guy, and not too much of a cuddle bug. Very messy. He can turn a room upside down in minutes, it's quite astounding. His big brothers make him laugh the hardest. It's still difficult to say what his personality is like, but he seems pretty laid back and fun loving. We shower him with hugs and kisses all day long. He is just so stinkin' cute!

Surprise!

I am posting this picture to show you, Erika, that my camera is smartest in "AUTO", not "P" mode. See how yucky this picture is???

I am married to a 30 year old man!!!! Bahahaha! Don't you remember back in high school, you would look at a 30 year old man and think, "Man, he is old!" Crazy!

I sure do love my 30 year old man so very much! He is really hard to pull tricks or surprises on, but we did it! Yes, that old man got a surprise party in his home town. Yes, that old man WAS surprised! Yes, that old man will try to say that he "kinda knew" we would do that, but that is a lie! We got you got you got you!!!! I love you honey! You are awesome!

H-h-h-horse

Jack is looking at Daddy - probably wants to give him a kiss!

Smile for the camera!

-Coming out of a trot, trying to get him to stop. Apparently, I'm too gentle. Erika told me I could have pulled back a lot more....it's been a while. I had forgotten how incredibly tall a horse was when you are looking down from atop his back, and I didn't want to do anything to tick him off. Falling hurts more than it use to. I could hear the Doc. telling Aaron "so why did you let her _______ (fill in the blank)"

and that's how the pros do it! :)

This week I am teaching the boys about the letter "H" to go right along with horse, obedience, and how we should obey God. They got super super excited when I told them that we were going to Erika's house to feed her horses carrots. Quickly, they started to raid the fridge for other yummy treats. Not willing to give up my apples, we just stuck to carrots. A couple of things to mention here ---- They are WAAAYYYY to comfortable around horses. Black Heart, the white horse, is perfectly calm and doesn't mind them in the least bit, so glad for that. They were walking under him, behind him, playing with his tail, walking in front of him (while he was moving), the list just goes on! If it were any other horse than they could have gotten seriously hurt. Trying to handle the baby, stroller, camera, diaper bag, and keep the boys from getting hurt was a little much. We had fun, but I think we will definitely have a long talk in preparation of rules/dangers before walking back into the horse pasture. Reflecting back on the day, I believe I would have preferred for them to have been terrified of horses.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We love Christmas! I guess everyone does! I forgot to take a picture of Jesus's birthday cake, but Mom made it-Angel Food Cake, how perfect. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was spent in our home. We had a wonderful candlelight service at Church and Mom and Dad came down to spend it with us. Later on that week we packed up and headed to Big Poppa and Momma Beth's house to do it all over again. I never tire of Christmas!!! One more "big" thing: this was Jack's first Christmas. He was so fun to watch. Definitely more interested in the bows and paper, but found his new toys to be attractive as well.

Before Christmas we were challenged with keeping him away from the gifts under the tree. He would rip all the labels off and feed them to the dog. I thought I had gotten it all straightened back out but Big Poppa opened up a box full of brightly colored footed onesies. We had a good laugh about it anyway!

Reluctance

So, I almost wasn't going to write this but I suppose it is a baby book thing. Ok, here we go....ok, I'm ready now......well.....I'm really going to do it this time.....ugh.....this is so sad....

JACK GIVES AARON OPEN MOUTH KISSES, AND HE WONT GIVE ME EVEN ONE!!!! NOT ONE!!! In fact, he offers me his cheek instead. LUDICROUS!!!! Can I just rant for a moment? I mean, really?! REALLY??!!! I'm Mommy. I'm the greatest ever! I feed him, play with him, bathe him, change his diapers, wash his clothes...and he is still nursing which means there is that unspoken bond thing. I just don't get it....I'm speechless. What a Daddy's boy he is! But don't worry. The day that he gives me a sweet open mouth kiss you and the rest of the world will know about it!!!!!

Ouch

I love how Christian placed a piece of chalk on each rock (in the background) in various colors so that there would be absolute clarity for Ben during this project. Christian took charge, and didn't want to leave any room for error. Just a side note: Ben colored them exactly the way he wanted to, and it caused some serious conflict that day.

Every little boy needs a slingshot. The boys love these and have been gradually improving their skills. Of course, with slingshots, come rules; 1. Don't aim it at the house. 2. Shoot it from this point back. 3. Never point it at a person/dog. 4. Squirrels and birds are fair game, but not if they are near a house.

I wanted to take their picture pulling it back, but to my surprise Ben actually had a rock in his as I placed myself in front of him with full trust and made sure that my very expensive camera was squared up with him just so......right after I took the picture he released the tension and I was taken by surprise to find a rock meet the side of my head at an alarmingly high velocity. Ouch. The first thing that came to my mind was unfortunately far from Godly, but I just gasped and tried to just bite my tongue. Needless to say, that little boys got a stern conversation and had to put his slingshot up for the rest of the day.

Oklahoma

Practicing on the way...

Sung Jack to sleep.

Sanctified went to Oklahoma for a singing. Christian and Ben stayed with Momma Beth for the weekend, but Jack came with us - we are a package deal right now. Jack was SOOOO good. Oh, what a sweet 3rd child he is. Thank you Lord!

Family Time

We're sitting around the dinner table and Christian asks "Can we do a campfire and tell stories tonight." I think we have started something here. The boys really enjoy our time outside, sitting around the fire. I have encouraged the boys to tell stories. They are pretty comical. This has definitely become a family favorite and we try to do this this at least once a week while the aie is crisp.

Thanksgiving

Hanging out at Momma Beth and Big Poppa's house.

Thanksgiving dinner at Beth's house and then back at my house for the weekend. Lulu came up for the holiday which was definitely a treat.

Bat Boys and Stunt

Face paint + Boredom = Bat boys

I thought this was a creative stunt. I proudly showed Aaron these pictures expecting him to be equally impressed with his creativity....I was wrong. I wouldn't say that he was "horrified" but something close. Maybe concerned. He was concerned that the possible large splinters could go into his hand/wrist, and possibly cause and immense amount of pain and merit an emergency room visit. Did my fearless, manly, and "Let him be a boy" husband just say that? Ha! Um...okay. So no more sliding down 4x4 posts with a stick stunt anymore.

Ice Skating

Points to Momma Beth for going on this adventure. Our co-op school made a trip to the ice skating rink. Beth joined us for this trip and it didn't occur to me until she was out on the ice, that perhaps this wasn't the best idea for her. However, her old ice skating days came back to her and she taught the boys the way of the ice. Christian learned impressively fast. Ben was like a noodle at first but Momma Beth was able to get him to skate as well. Christian spent most of the time going around the rink like a pro....perhaps a hokey player in the making. He was REALLY bummed that I didn't get a picture of him out there on his own. In my defense, I was preoccupied with the baby, and trying to keep him warm, get him feed, and nurse him while we were there, tricky. Thank you so much for going with us! We had so much fun and I'm really thankful we didn't have to take you to the hospital!