2009!!

I can't believe it is already 2009! This past year has flown by. It was quite an eventful year for our little family. Here are a few of the highlights! In March, we purchased our very first house in Rexburg, Idaho. In April, we welcomed our newest addition, baby Natalie, to our growing family! In July, Mark and I graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho!! In August, Mark was hired on with URS Washington Division and we moved to Avon, Ohio (very unexpected...so in September we rented out our brand new home we purchased).



It feels like the more little munchkins you have the quicker the year goes by! 2008 has been a very busy year for us and we are excited to see what is in store for us this upcoming year! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!' (Christmas pictures are coming...they are on my moms camera so I am waiting for them to get e-mailed to me!!)

Does this look like a football to you?

Josh is a funny boy. He likes football. Mark plays it with him quite a bit. Josh likes to put both his hands on his knees and say "FOOTBALL" in a gruff tone of voice (well I guess about as gruff as a two year olds voice can get!). It is the cutest thing! The other night I was giving Josh and Natalie a bath together and Natalie had pulled herself up so she was standing leaning on the side of the tub. Josh was playing and then all of a sudden he looks at her bum, grabs one of her cheeks and says "FOOTBALL!" I was cracking up and said thats Natalies bum Josh, not a football. He shook his head, grabs it again, and says "FOOTBALL" (in that gruff tone of voice)! It was funny! I don't know what it was about her little cheek...but to Josh it was a football!

I love my little monkeys!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I love everything about it! I love putting up decorations, I love listening to christmas music, I love buying gifts for my family, I love taking plates of goodies around to the neighbors, I love making gingerbread houses, I just love absolutely everything that has to do with christmas. When we got back from Thanksgiving we took all our fall decorations down and got the christmas boxes out! We put on christmas music, I lit the cinnamon candles (don't you love the smell of christmas too?!!), and we started putting it all up! Mark always puts the tree up and I do the rest of the house! Josh and Natalie were very big helpers too! Here are some pictures of all the christmas fun taking place at our house!!

The kids helping Mark put together the tree.

My little bucket heads!

Josh thought it was pretty funny to put it on Natalies head too!

Josh ran around with his and Natalies stockings or "socks" as he called them on his feet!

He wore them all night!

Decorating the tree.

The finished product...

We are all ready for CHRISTMAS!!

"I'm a Monkey Mommy"

Josh's newest craze is being a monkey. No matter where we are or what we are doing he finds a way to be a monkey. In Target I usually get those monster buggies that seat both kids and Josh, of course, won't sit he likes to stand and hang/swing on the bar saying "Mommy, I'm a monkey" followed by a screaching "Ooo-ooo, Ahh-ahh". Heads are turning in the store to see what that horrific sound is! I then proceed to ask him to be a quiet monkey so he then whispers "Mommy, I'm a monkey" followed by the same loud screaching "Ooo-ooo, Ahh-ahh". Oh well, whatever makes him happy!!

Yesterday, I hear Josh yelling "Mommy, I'm a monkey" over and over from my bedroom. I can only imagine what he is doing this time. I'm a little nervous, I walk in and he has climbed onto the tall dresser in our bedroom and is jumping off of it saying "Ooo-ooo, Ahh-ahh." Luckily, we had to move our lovesac into our bedroom so we could put our Christmas tree up in the sunroom so he was landing in the lovesac. It actually looked like a lot of fun!

I love this age. Josh has such a cute little personality and is learning new things so quickly. He amazes me. He always adds some excitement to my days! I love you my little monkey!

What a cute little monkey!!

I just love this kid!

He also likes to prove he's a monkey by hanging on the doorknobs!!

Thanksgiving

What a great holiday Thanksgiving is! Not only is it a time to sit back and think about all the blessings in your life but you get to stuff your face while you do it! This year we went to Mark's sister Michele's for Thanksgiving. His sister Cindi and her family drove in from Virginia and his Mom was there as well. We had a great time playing games and eating all weekend long! Josh had a ball playing with his cousins. There are 5 kids in Cindi's family and 3 in Michele's and then our 2 made 10 little munchkins running around and it was fun! The weather was fantastic so the kids spent most the weekend playing outside. On Friday the boys stayed home with the kids while all of us girls went out and hit the sales!! We took advantage of this time without the kids and stayed out until 10 that night! It was a nice relaxing day!!

Mackenzie, Carter, Audrey, Lauren, Tyler, Josh, Connor, and Jonathan

Drew, Lance, and Mark sneaking turkey before the feast!

Josh, Audrey, and Lauren (they are twins, aren't they adorable!!)

Who Needs Pockets?

Mark forwarded this video to me and I thought some of you would get a kick out of it! I don't know how this mom could stand there and watch her little girl do such a thing! I know I would be freaking out...how about you??

Fun at the Science Center

So my good friend Haylie stopped by today because she wanted to show me this cool application she found where you can do fun collages with your pictures. This is BAD news! I thought blogging was addicting enough...no I was wrong. This application is way too much fun! It is like scrapbooking but digital and for your blog. I LOVE IT! So this is my first little creation and I am sure there will be many more to come!! Thanks Haylie for having patience with me and my 2 little munchkins as you taught me all the tricks!

A couple of weekends ago Marks sisters family came to visit. We had a great time with them! It was a rainy weekend so we took the kids to the Great Lakes Science Center in downtown Cleveland. It was a lot of fun! There is this great kids section there and they really enjoyed playing. I don't know who enjoyed it more though, the kids or the dads! Mark and Lance filled up this big bucket with the balls and then had all the kids lay under it and dumped the balls on them!! Josh loves being able to play with his cousins and asks me all the time if he can go to "Shells" (Michele's) house. It's so nice to live just a few hours away!!