No computer

So we haven't had our computer for about a month, but I found these pictures in a draft that I apparently started before Christmas. Maybe sometime I'll update with more pictures once we get our computer back from the shop. It's speedy service I tell ya.

Olivia has a new favorite. Washing windows.

Family Band. J on the sax. O on the kazoo. I on the spoons. Music to my ears!
Here's cake #1. And this is what Luci did to it.

Here's cake #2. We ate it on Christmas. Not all of it.

Decorating our first gingerbread house. Sure liked the pre-made-everything. All in one box...although the taste was close to box taste too. I don't think Olivia noticed.

We made marshmellow snowmen. Turned into a snowman village. It was fun for a day. They got pretty hard and Isaac wanted to keep eating them.

Look for more postings soon.....once we get our computer back!

SNOW

It snowed last weekend! It was only for the morning (melted by 3pm), but it doesn't matter because I love snow! Here's a few pictures.

We made snow angels! Justin had to help.

We made snowballs!
And check out the vertical on Luci! She LOVES catching snowballs in her mouth.

Here's proof of how good she is!

Isaac stayed inside and slept. I wanted to stay out as long as we could and Isaac did not have the appropriate snow attire for an hours time. If it snows again, then he'll get to play too!

Cooking 102 (Katie) and a Cool Ride

Who knew that a bag of peas would melt on the stove after you turn the burner on!!! WHOOPS! I managed to save 1/2 the bag, and Luci enjoyed some too.

Here's one smart cookie. What a ride!

Thanks Syd for taking these pictures for us!

A Fan Favorite

This has got to be one of the funniest 'mascot fight' video clips ever! (From YouTube - Just under 1 min) Ladies, if you need to cheer up your sports fan hubby, let him watch this.

Football Mascot Fight
(click this link)

I'm smiling just thinking about it. Enjoy.

Hiking Princess

Justin and I took another hiking date. We didn't see all the beautiful leaves on the trees, but we did get to see them all on the ground covering all the rocks and roots on the path. That was fine with me because I usually spend a lot of my time looking at my feet anyway...so I don't fall off a cliff or something. It was still a beautiful hike and waterfall. (Henwallow Trail 2.2mi)

Set the camera on a log.

Our church had activities for the kids. All the girls were princesses (daughters of our King and loved very much) and the boys were pirates (full of strength and courage that comes from God). The kids were super cute. Olivia made a tiara and got a "worth wand". Then when she came home, she went next door to the neighbors house. She wanted to stay and help pass out candy. Justin went back later to pick her up. Her first "choice" babysitting! Isaac had a rough day of teething and went to bed early. There was no dressing up for him. Next year.

Walk? or Crawl?

Here's a picture of Isaac on his hands and knees. He is still trying to figure out if he wants to crawl or not. He's starting to pull up too, usually on me and his crib. We lowered his crib one notch today just in case he figures out he could actually pull up all the way...and then out.

This particular time Isaac was in his walker, he was moving around all over the place and running into anything and everything. This is just a small portion of the stuff he was doing. It was really cracking me up.

I Need A Blower...Whooo....Whooo

So I'm out sweeping the curbs and sidewalks with Olivia after Tami mowed the day before. After about 15 minutes of work, I tell Olivia; "I need a blower." She responds with puckered lips, "Whooo, whooo," in the direction of the clippings. What a helper. Had to share.

H:12:5 Huh?

For a long time I've (Justin) strongly believed that God reveals Himself in very real ways through our daily life experiences. He as proved that belief over and over again to me. Whether you see it and benefit from that or not depends only on your willingness to look and see it, but it's there. I have NO doubt in that.

My 2-1/2 yr old daughter Olivia has been potty trained for awhile now and during our bedtime routine, we take one last trip to the potty before laying down to sleep. After a successful potty and saying our good-nights, the lights were out and I was downstairs with Tami. After 5 or so minutes, Olivia comes out of her room and says, "I have to go potty."

Immediately, I remember the night before when the exact same thing happened. I told her she just went, but we sat on the potty just in case. Nothing. So we ended up sitting face to face on her bed having a talk about telling the truth that ended in an apology and forgiveness.

So, before even trying to potty this time, I told her she just went and that she needed to go back to bed. After hearing my command, she stated with a little desperation-whine a second time, "Daddy, I have to go potty." So I climbed the stairs and before even heading to the potty, we had a talk on the top step about honesty, telling the truth, and I gave her a quick reminder of what happened the previous night. In our conversation, I stated that she would get a spanking if she didn't go potty this time. I followed the statement of discipline with a couple questions that, I hoped, would get her to fess up before it led to the spanking. No luck. So, we walked to the potty and sat.....and sat......and sat. During this time, I said a quick prayer of desperation in my head, "Lord, PLEASE let her go potty. I don't want to spank her."

After the ordeal was over, Hebrews 12:5 became more real to me . Talks about 'God disciplining those he loves.' After Olivia finally went potty after about 4 minutes of sitting (Thank you Lord!), I came back downstairs to Tami and stated to her how thankful I was that she went because I really did not want to spank her. She brought the incident back up the next day and said that's probably how God thinks when we are in the midst of temptation or sin. Because His love is SO much greater than we offer our own kids, how much more then does He not 'want' to punish us, rather, so wants us to do right. Unfortunately, like Olivia, loving discipline is just what we need at times to bring us back to a life of righteousness and blessing. What a good and loving God we have anxious to have relationship with us.

Are you living your life looking for God to reveal Himself to you? He wants to be found by you every day.

Wanna Hear A Joke?

Louie was shipwrecked and lived alone on a desert island for years until he was finally rescued. Before leaving the island, he gave the rescue party a tour. "I built myself a house. That's it there. Here's the barn, and over there is the church I worshipped in." A rescuer asked, "What's that building over there?" Louie sneered. "That's the church I used to belong to."
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We should have a way of telling people they have bad breath without hurting their feelings: "Well, I'm bored. Let's go brush our teeth." Or, "I've got to make a phone call. Here, hold this gum in your mouth."

Hocz, Cosby, & Pumpkins

For Justin's bday present, I got us tickets to see Bill Cosby at Miami University in Ohio. Pre-kids we used to watch Bill Cosby episodes and laugh hard all the time. We even own the whole first season! We made a weekend of it and stayed with one of my friends from high school. The pictures are of the weekend, but there's no Bill Cosby...didn't take a camera. Darn. He was old, but still funny.

Olivia really liked playing with Eliza. She even had a Dora dress-up doll and a Dora blow up bed that Olivia got to sleep in!

We went to a pumpkin patch while there.

Hocz Family. Todd, Kristen, Eliza, & Garrison.

We saw chickens!

We fed the goats.

Pet the pony and sheep.

The pony ate a leaf out of Olivia's hand.

We walked through a corn maze. Eliza did a great job getting us to the other end!

We took a hayride to get to the pumpkin patch.

Family pic on the hayride.

The hunt for the perfect pumpkins. Hocz's found some.

Isaac got to enjoy the action too.

I washed all of Isaac's seat covers. Olivia had a ball climbing in and out of his walker.

Isaac and Luci hanging out.

Birthdays and More

Justin had a birthday Sept. 4! This is the only picture I got of the whole thing. Eggs for breakfast!

However, his parents, aunt/uncle, and 2 cousins were able to come for a weekend visit. We went hiking in the smokies. This picture is of Aunt Jackie, Uncle Doug, Chad, and Cameron at Clingmans Dome (well, the bottom of it anyway). It's the highest point in the Smokey Mountains. On a clear day you can see super far (22 miles on an average day). We saw lots of clouds, but it was still cool.

We also went hiking on the Laurel Falls trail. We saw a bear.

Here's the gang at one of the Appalacian Trail heads. Justin REALLY wants to hike this trail over spring break. I want him to go with someone....you know...for bear safety....any takers?

See the Dome?

Olivia and Isaac did really well for the day of being outside in the rain/drizzle. Isaac got the nice stroller ride. Both trails we hiked were paved. Olivia got tossed around from person to person for the longest piggy back ride known to kids (L.F. trail 1.3 miles one way, plus 1/2 mile to the top of Clingmans Dome). I thought it was sweet when she fell asleep on my back up the Laurel Falls trail. Memories.

Monday morning before they left to drive home.


We also went to a splash pad. Olivia LOVED it. Isaac will love it.

Part of the playground at the splash pad.

So Justin got a new camera for his birthday/side job. Which is cool, except now it's super hard to post pictures on here cuz they are all so dang good! Here's a few I couldn't pass up. And if anyone wants family pictures, event pictures, wedding pictures, etc let Justin know! He needs some practice! He will travel (say to Missouri) if his expences are all paid for by the picturees. He he.

My sweetie.

I love to get his kisses.

Alright. Open wide. I'm gonna shoot.

More pictures from the splash pad that I didnt' want to take the time to rearrange.

I had to help her get used to the water at first.

Then it was OK.

Then she became a pro.

Just some more random pictures:

This one is for you, Heather! Gotta LOVE Sid!

These flowers were at the edge of our garden. They have grown enormous over the summer.