Santa's checking his list

Well it is that time of year when parents can use the threat of no presents as a motivational tool to get the kids to clean a little bit more around the house. We planned to use this tool to its fullest potential with our little girl because she actually knows how this whole christmas thing works now but we had no idea that it would work so well with J.J. The allure of a grand haul delivered by santa claus due to his excessive good behavior and a sparkling abode has him in a cleaning frenzy. Too bad CHRISTmas only comes once a year.

Bah Hum Bug Baby

Maybe its a growth spurt, maybe we keep him up to late at night or maybe he just doesn't like outdoor fun. I'm not sure what it is but every time we have gone to play in the snow J.J. has fallen asleep. That is why I don't have any cute pictures of my little man flinging snow. Sorry, but as you can see it is not my fault.

Sharlee the snow Devil

Sharlee would not even put her feet on the ground when it snowed last year but this year she is loving it. The only thing I don't like about taking her out to frolic in this winter wonderland is the fact the she is a snowball throwing machine. I should have known that I was in for it when we were driving in the car up to pinevalley and I asked Sharlee if she was going to make a snowball. She said yes. I asked her if she was going to throw it at mom and she said,"No, I'm going to throw it at you daddy!" At least Shanda thought it was funny.

True to her word every time that we have been out together snowballs have been hurled... at least her throwing arm isn't that good yet.

Snow makes me happy

What can I say snow makes me happy. It doesn't stay too LONG so I don't have to shovel it and it doesn't make driving HARD either. Plus, with all of the extra cuddling I recieve form the freezing wife certain PARTS of me do love it when it snows.

"I got robbed!"

Well Shanda put three of her pictures in the fine arts division at the county fair this year. She got a reserve sweepstakes and a blue ribbon with this beautiful rose done in pastel.

She also recieved a reserve sweepstakes and a blue ribbon for the picture of this handsome man and his fish done in pencil.

And she won a sweepstakes and a blue ribbon for these beautiful vegetables done in pastel.

We looked at all of the other pictures while we were there and I must say that I agree with Shanda when she says, "I got robbed!" I mean just look at these vegetables, that picture of me are you kidding I'm gorgeous and you dont give me a ribbon that says grand champion??? COME ON. And whats wrong with the rose? Have you never seen flowers before? Don't you know that you won't find a more perfectly executed pastel drawing of flora anywhere else in the wourld??? Sorry... just had to get that off my chest. Thanks. Anyway we had fun and Shanda made just enough money to pay for our parking at the fair and a cup of breadsticks. Yeah!

Petting Zoo

We can't get Sharlee to stop screaming and release her death grip on us long enough to pet anything with four legs ever since bandit gave her a kiss when she was younger so we thought the petting zoo at the county fair would be a waste of time but we gave it a shot anyway. J.J. loved it!

I think he probably had more fun here than any other place that we went while we were there. He just kept going back and forth from one goat to another determined to pet them all.

Sharlee let me take her in the goat pen but she made sure that I didn't let anything touch her while she was in there.

J.J. had fun looking at the cows and horses and other animals there but once he found out that he could touch these ones we didn't go anywhere else. He had a blast.

Day out and about

Well Shanda and I had the day off together so we decided to get everyone all gussied up and go to the swimming hole. I just think that the kids look so cute in their sunglasses.

Sharlee was actually in a good enough mood to Shanda take a picture of her
and I finally got on the blog. Woo hoo.
We went shopping to get some stuff for lunch. It s real easy to shop these days we just let the kids drive a cart around and we throw stuff in off the shelf as they move by it.
Once we got to the park there was no stopping the kids. J.J. had a blast playing in the water fountain and chasing Sharlee all over the park. Shanda and I also had fun and enjoyed the nice long nap that the kiddies took later on that day.

The Interior Decorator

Shanda was trying to get J.J. to sleep the other day while I was at work. As she was doing that Sharlee was busy in the front room arranging cereal, carrots, a loaf of bread, and broccoli on an improvised place mat in the front room.


When Shanda finally got J.J. to sleep and checked on Sharlee she thought that her little creation was so cute that she took a picture and called me to tell me about it.

Pizza Party

Well Shanda came back from the store today with all the fixings to make some pizza. The kids were not going to let mom do something on the kitchcen counter without thier help so they immediately pulled up thier stools and started piling on the toppings.

J.J. and Sharlee did a wonderful job working on thier own pizzas.

Of course not everyone likes the same toppings. J.J. decided that he didn't want any olives on his pizza so he took all of them off. Even after mom put them back on again they were promptly removed.
As you all know children can be a little impatient sometimes and J.J. is no exception. While he did a very good job with his pizza some of the toppings never had a chance to make it to the inside of the oven.
Thats okay though. We love these little monsters.

J.J.'s First BOO BOO !

It was a good one. I was doing my usual routine this morning, going to the bank to put in my tip money from the night before, when Sharlee decided that she wanted to see mom. The hospital that she works at is right across the street from my bank. Convenient I know! So, the children and I zipped on over and piled out of the car to go see her. They both looked so cute today because I actually got them to wear their sunglasses and leave them on.

However, it didn't last long because J.J. had not taken more than 2 steps from the car when he tripped over his sister and fell face first giving the pavement a kiss with his forehead. I didn't even have to look to know that it wasn't good. I grabbed him and rushed into the hospital, once again I must point out how convenient it is that we were at a hospital, and grabbed a few tissues.

I dabbed at his forehead to get off some of the blood and I knew he would probably have to get stitches. It wasn't bleeding very bad but it was deep. I took him over to the nurses station on Shanda's floor and they grabbed her while a doctor looked at J.J.

We eventually ended up at the instacare and J.J. did get stitches. The nurses and Shanda had to wrap him in a sheet and hold him still, it took three of them, so the doctor could stitch him up. He screamed a lot.

There is a humurous side to this story though. Thanks to the fact that J.J. had been awake since 5 this morning he was very tired and he actually fell asleep before the doctor was done stitching him up. He is one crazy kid. I didn't get any after pictures of him yet, they will follow soon I promise, but I did get a before. Not for the faint of heart. And for all of his grit and hanging in there so tuff the doctors gave him and Sharlee a popsicle.

We made sure to explain to him that there are easier ways to get a popsicle.

Sharlee's Birthday

I know that this is kinda late but I finally got them on here. We had Sharlee's birthday party at the new warter pad on main street. It is right next to the tabernacle where the library used to be. Amy was in town for the weekend and Sharlee had a blast playing with her cousins. We want to say thank you to everyone that came to the party and Sharlee loves all of her new clothes and toys. As you can see from the pictures she was in kind of a grumpy mood that day. Girls will be girls I guess. Anyhow we had fun and everyone got to work on their farmer tans a little bit too.

Catching UP.

Holy cow I haven't written on this page or posted any pictures for a long long time and I am sorry. Needless to say a lot has happened that none of you probably know about since I haven't told you anything. First of let me just say that the children are doing great.

Daddy has child proofed the cupboards in the kitchen now so there have not been any exciting spills as of late. It has been wonderful. J.J. had a birthday and is growing like a weed! He is almost as big as his sister now and we are all going to the doctor on Monday to find out how big and healthy we are. I will be sure to post the official results.

Sharlee also had a birthday. She is getting to be a big girl and she is POTTY TRAINED we are loving that! It's nice to have one less daiper to change.

I am going to summer school in preparation for next semester and working like a dog at Winger's.

Shanda is loving her job as a C.N.A. at the I.H.C. river road hospital. The only part that sucks about our jobs right now is getting to and from them. We have purchased bicycles and a cute little buggy for towing the children behind to save on gas. It is fattening our wallets and shrinking our waist lines but D%#N is it hot.

All in all we are doing well and have no complaints. We love you all and hope that your families are also doing well.

Fun at the Park

We took the kids to the new water park in town on main street today. J.J. fell asleep on the way there so Sharlee had to start the fun off all by herself but once J.J. woke up they had a ton of fun together. They love taking bath's so we figured they would be fine at the park. We also got a bonus because someone showed up with their pet pig! Sharlee was to scared to go and stand by it though so we don't have a picture of it

Cookie Monster

We also decided that J.J. loves cookies.

Look Who's Cookin'

We decided to bake cookies last night and Sharlee wanted to help so we let her. She mixed in all of the ingerdients while mom scraped the sides of the bowl and she even helped put the cookie dough on the cookie sheets for baking!

Peaceful moments

J.J. has his peaceful moments but we usually don't see them becasue were asleep too.

The real reason my daughter comes to see me at work

Winger's has a gumball machine in their foyer. If sharlee dosn't get a gumball when she comes to see me then she just wants to go home. She puts the quarter in and turns the handle all by herself. She used to let us bite her gunballs in half for her but now she keeps the whole thing for herself. It isn't such a sweet deal anymore.

It's Official

It has finally happened. J.J. is walking more than he crawls. The kids has got some wheels but he hasn't quite figured out the brakes so he runs into things and falls backwards every once in a while. Anyway you slice though he is still cute.

Bees are cool

The flowers are blooming here at our house and Sharlee thinks that bees are the coolest thing since dvd's. Everytime we come home she makes sure to tell me that she sees the bees unless it is dark becasue I told her that they are sleeping so she would stop going out there to check on them after 9. She hasn't been stung yet and I hope it doesn't happen because right now bees are about the only bugs she isn't afraid of.

Like father like daughter

Anyone who knows me will understand. I think this picture is awesome.

BIG HEAVY

I just think it is so cute when kids start to do new things. I love to see the personality develop in Sharlee more and more each day. Recently she has been helping put away the groceries, bring you your shoes when your getting ready to leave and cleaning up the house. It is nice. It is also very cute because anytime she picks something up she starts saying "Big Heavy" over and over again in her little cartoon voice. I just love it.
This is a little video to show you what I mean. I put J.J. in at the end and I think that anyone who watches this will agree he is a serious eater. Even when Sharlee is just about to jump on his head he ignores her and keeps on eating. No wonder the kid is so huge!

"Wingin It!"

This is about a month old but I wanted everyone out there to know that I fit into the chicken suit at Wingers. I stood out on the street waving at cars for about 2 hours in that thing. I guess now you can really say that I have chicken legs.

Our Wonderful Children

As you can see. Our children love to have fun. While I don't mind a good romp I would appreciate it if they could find a way to entertain themselves that was a little less messy! If you will notice J.J. is wearing different clothes in both pictures. Yes, you guessed it. They did this more than once.