Happy Birthday, Luci!

We had a party for Luci. She turned 5 on March 26. My camera ran out of battery, so I didn't get a picture of her eating it. She's too fast.

She's the best dog ever and a great walking/running buddy.

The Door

Olivia found some play keys and decided to see if they would open Isaac's door that she locked. They didn't. And I then realized that Isaac had the only "key lock" doorknob in the whole house. So Isaac spent the day in his pj's and took a nap in downstairs in our bedroom.

Justin came home and saved the day! Although he couldn't take the doorknob off, or use a credit card, he made the comment about wishing he could go thru the window. Lo and behold! I just so happened to open all the windows first thing in the morning! So that is the avenue we took.
Here's Olivia happy to be in Isaac's room. Needless to say, we took a family trip to Home Depot and bought Isaac a new doorknob. Now all I need is a butterknife to open an accidental locked door.

NASCAR Races!

Justin's Mom and Dad came for a visit over the weekend and took us to the Nascar races in Bristol, TN. It was super loud and lots of fun. This is a picture of the stadium when we first got there.

This is where we sat.

Here's a bunch of cars zooming fast. Actually, I think it was slow because they were behind the "slow car that makes people go slow for car/track clean up".

It was fun to watch how fast the car crews worked to get the racers back on the track. This is Carl Edwards, the Columbia Missouri racer we were cheering on. The knoxville racer Tevor Bayne was racing too.

Here's the winner. Kyle Busch. He did some cool spins at the end.

Here's what the winner got. Plus some money. Here's some more of the visit. We hiked thru House Mnt. and saw some fun stuff.

Isaac and Olivia were riding a horsey to town.

Just sittin.

After lunch on the deck. I think this is the first time Gramp and Nana have visited and it didn't rain a drop.

Isaac in a bucket.

Shark Attack

Justin has finally convinced me after almost 4yrs. that I need to get rid of some of my teacher things....seeing as it takes up a major part of our storage space in the garage. So I'm going thru all my boxes and come across one with some of my science things. As I pull out this thing from a bag, I see huge shark eyes staring at me. AHHH! Some of the juice it was in had leaked out of the jar, which in my opinion made it look even more like it was going to come out of the jar and bite me. I also found shark teeth, bird's nest, bird scull, dried beetle bugs, and bones of a rat stuck on a glue trap. Yes, I guess it was time to clean out some of my things.

Our neighbor John hunting seeds with Isaac and Olivia. Olivia is sure that we are going to grow a tree in our yard. I'm not so confident of this.

Cute picture of Isaac playing in the neighbor's yard. Justin wore that hat when he was a little boy. Aw.

Color time. Justin is drawing the garden he hopes to plant soon. What a visionary.

Febuary pictures

Friends over enjoying the alligator teeter totter that the kids got from Gramp and Nana. Thanks!

Olivia and static balloons. This particular day the balloons were sticking everywhere, even on the walls. Twas fun.
Justin needed a haircut, so he let the professional do it.
Then he let the expert do it. Yes, being of the same gender makes you an expert.

We had a fire one night. Isaac likes marshmallows NOT in the fire, Olivia likes them warm, but not burned. I like them on fire. I'm not even sure if Justin had one. The kids got to bring out their flashlights. I wish I had had one so I could have seen the Luci poo I stepped in. Darn.

We are on an elephant kick. Here are some of the elephants they/we have colored. And we've read lots of elephant books too. I think our next pet is going to be an elephant.

Justin had pudding with the kids while I was gone on an overnight visit with a friend staying in Gatlinburg. I think somebody liked it.

Defining "quish it".

Man do I wish I had a recorder for this one... Ok, I (Justin) am with Isaac and Olivia by myself today and just before leaving the library about 10min from the house, Isaac obviously has a dirty diaper. Just to make sure, I ask him and I get the confirmation.

As we approach the car to leave, "Isaac, Daddy will change your diaper when we get home. We'll be there real soon, ok."
"But I have a poooopoooooo," in a semi-whiny voice as he reluctantly climbs into the car, "I want to change it right theerrrrre," pointing to the front seat.
"I know, but we're real close to home and I'll change it right when we get in the door."
"But I'll quish it," as I'm assisting him in getting into his seat.
"It will be ok. We'll be home really soon," as he's sitting.
"Ohhh, I quished it," he reports in a disappointed and somewhat whiny voice.
I'm holding back some hard laughter at this point.
So we're on our way home and after about 3min of silence, Isaac repeats, "I quished it, Daaaaaad."

So we made it home and got the quished mess cleaned up. I was pretty pleased however, after hitting WMart, Hobby Lobby, and the Library; that was my only diaper/bathroom 'duty'-request from either of them. I was also reminded about making diaper access easy when dressing your kids. I'll avoid a onsie, coveralls, and a sweatshirt next time. That can make diaper changing a real chore....unless you discover the buttons up the legs of the coveralls BEFORE you're done! Sheesh.

Is It Worth It??? ...Uh...Yup.

I really can't count the number of times that, during conversation with my two kids, that Olivia has made comments that reflect the wisdom she's gaining from all the time and effort my wife, Tami, is putting in as a stay-at-home-mom. (Thanks Babe!) I truly wish I had a book of all the Godly things Olivia has said over the past year.

Just this evening, my son, Isaac, was practicing the word "no" at the dinner table. Like a good, loving big sister, Olivia took the opportunity to obviously respond, "Ok, Daddy", at the next opportunity and I jumped on the teachable moment. I rewarded Olivia with some positive praise and told her how good it was to obey her mom and dad and left it at that. Meanwhile, Isaac was enjoying repeating everything Olivia said, except with a "no" in front of it; a wonderful attention seeking behavior let me tell you. It was pretty darn funny, but not a good laughing moment if you know what I mean. Olivia decided to interject her own wisdom by telling Isaac that he would be "blessed by God" if he obeyed God, Mom, and Dad. Wow....preach it girl!

A Family Word Collage

The Slide

So after experiencing the speed and force exerted on the body, it was determined that the children would indeed NOT be using the slide for sliding purposes. However, race car track races and baby doll sliding were permitted.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY TO ISAAC

Isaac turned TWO last Saturday!...which is great because any time events are talked about on a day of the week, Isaac's answer is always "on Saturday". So when he said his birthday was on Saturday, he was right! We had family and a few of Isaac's friends over to celebrate. They played balloon volleyball (as in this picture), tennis ball hunt, and pass the ball to a friend and drop it in the bucket. It was definitely fun to watch.

He got fishing gear from Grandma and Grandpa. They love it, especially since they went jug fishing with Dad last summer.

Here he is blowing out his birthday candles. Our party was "ball" themed since he likes balls so much (sleeps with a football and plays 'soccer' a lot). I made the cake for him, he helped a little.

Here he is opening presents. You can't see him very well, but you can see all the kids that came. Thank you everybody for all the gifts you gave. They were all a hit!

Hugging Grandaddy as a thank you for the gift. Isaac showed lots of gratitude for his gifts. It was very sweet.

We went to Toys R Us later this week and he joined the birthday club. He got this balloon and a few other small gifts. He took the balloon everywhere, even inside taco bell for lunch. Grandma was with us and bought these umbrellas for them. They went outside with them, even though it wasn't raining. I think they played with them out there for 1/2 an hour.

Here they are washing dishes. They have graduated to each of them having their own side of the sink filled with water. I thought it was funny how Isaac was washing...check out his feet.
We took them to a park for a picnic the day after his bday. They like to play restaurant through these playground windows. We use wood chips as money and food. It's amazing to see the kid crowd it brings as we play with them. Other kids jump right in and order too.

Olivia was pushing Isaac on the swing and he was liking it. Can you tell?

Happy Birthday to Isaac! We're so glad you were born!