Cousins

Here are more cousins. Bailee, Josh, Audrey and Andrew had a fun time decorating cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. They are just getting reacquainted, as the girls have been living in Japan for the last couple of years. We are happy to have them back!

Grandpa & Cousins

When all else fails...swipe pictures from your Mother's blog!

I love this one of my Daddy with his grandkids. Gillan and Andrew are big buds and Gracie and Josh play together a lot. Those pairs tend to favor one another in looks as well. Perhaps it may only be coloring (hair, eyes, skin), but still...I think it's amazing.



Gillan had a good time driving the crew around on the Kubota. He's quite good at it too. They had grand adventures "being farmers" over the weekend.



You'll notice these pictures were taken earlier on in the eye cut ordeal! Hence the white tape!

Aunties

I did an absolutely HORRIBLE job of taking pictures of all the family over Christmas, but I did manage to get this cute one of two of Craig's "little" sisters. They are 14 and 12 years old. They look so grown up now. When we got married Shauni was just 2 and was supposed to be our flower girl. It was naptime and she cried and fell asleep! She looked adorable though... Kyli was 8 months old and a little bald cutie. Look at 'em now! Where does time go?

Karaoke!

Here it is, the long awaited moment! Joshua and Andrew have enjoyed the karaoke and so have we. The only problem is that some of their favorite CARS songs are too fast and even though Josh can read the words on the screen, he can't read that fast! So, they have been opting for the slower songs OR they will just listen to the songs while they play with their CARS!



They do sing the lines they know loud and clear though (with the biggest hick accent you ever have heard!) It's funny.

Christmas Drama

I'm a little unsure of where to begin with telling about our Christmas. Not that there is just tons to tell, but I'm going to tell things a little out of sequence because this picture gives you just an idea of what our most exciting moment was. Now keep in mind, that this picture was taken after a good two days of healing!



On Saturday night, Andrew refused to stay in his own bed. He and I struggled literally "ALL night long!" He kept perching on the edge of the bed next to me. I did NOT push him out, I just didn't leave him room for much comfort. In the wee hours of the morning, he fell. I felt bad and pulled him into the bed with me and we both got the best few minutes of sleep of the night. Then I got up and headed for the shower. Andrew got up not long after and Craig busted into the bathroom asking if I had seen his face! He had blood smeared all over and looked like he'd been boxing. I felt like we had! Apparently, when he fell, he had gashed his eyelid open on my nightstand. We debated on stitches, but decided on liquid bandage and butterfly strips. From the looks of it, it's going to heal up nicely. We just might need some scar medication for awhile.

Wouldn't you know this would happen at Christmas when tons of pictures would be taken!? I'm just thankful we didn't end up in the ER!

Life is a Highway!

HA! Look what I did! I figured out how to add music to my blog!!! Am I a genius or what? No not really... Anyway, this song seems especially appropriate since this blog is mostly about Josh and Andrew. This probably would have to be their all time favorite movie. I like it too and I think Rascal Flatts rocks! Hope you enjoy the song.

P.S. This song makes me SO excited for Christmas morning. I better not share the details now...since I have a reader in the house, but trust me, it's going to be SO MUCH FUN! {Hints: Andrew and karaoke} I will HAVE to figure out how to put videos on here because I know it will be great!

Whoops!

So, this morning I was getting ready for church, thinking that Josh was already up eating breakfast. (I thought I had heard he and Craig talking.)

I went in to check.

He wasn't there.

I asked Andrew where he was.

He says, "in bed."

"Oh no," the thought crosses my mind....

"Is he sick or is he just like his Mommy and doesn't want to get up?"

What actually happened is he got up and tried to eat breakfast, but it hurt his lose tooth too much to eat, so he went back to bed! So the tackling down to wiggle began and when I finally got a hold of it, I gave it a good yank and it came right out. I was so excited! It was fun! He wasn't happy though....

He didn't want me to pull it and it hurt. Okay...I can accept that. Then we go to the bathroom so that he can rinse his mouth and I can rinse his tooth. Stupid me did NOT close the drain and rinsed the tiny tooth right down the drain! How terrible is that?

He is crying hysterically and I think it's because I washed the tooth down the drain. NO he's actually still crying because he didn't want me to pull it out in the first place. After a shower and a good teethbrushing....it wasn't mentioned again!

Strike up the Band

Thursday we had a neat opportunity to visit a Middle School Band room and get familiar with all the different instruments. The boys loved it!

The Little Drummer Boy

Tuba Cheeks

An Andrew Funny...

Tonight we were watching the World Magician Awards (or something like that...who knew there was such a thing?)

Anyway, one of the stunts was a girl handcuffed inside of a burning bus. When she escaped she was on fire and she ran to be hosed down with the extingishers. I said, "she didn't Stop, Drop and Roll!"

Andrew began to tell me how, if he was on fire he would "Drop, Stop and Roll." He then said, "If your house is on fire, you just run out. If the whole world was on fire...(pause)...we'd all have to go to Heaven!"

CRACK ME UP! He's so smart!

What's wrong with this picture?

"You better get those problems done or you're not going to get to dig a ditch today!"

Strange quote eh? It actually came from my mouth today! Is that backwards or what? With normal kids it would go more like this...

"You better get those problems done or I'm going to make you dig a ditch today!"

But no, not in our house! Our kids actually LIKE to dig ditches and they had a perfectly good opportunity to do so today. My Dad needed to find a water line. It ended up being great ammo to prod Josh along with his school work. As he was digging, I realized I should have brought the camera for a picture to go along with this post.

One thing I learned about Joshua today...he has a good work ethic (when it is something he enjoys, like ditch digging). He worked so hard even when his brother quit and headed for the trampoline. He said, "Andrew gets to have all the fun." AS IF, I was holding him hostage and MAKING him dig! He just kept right on digging, stopping periodically for a break and then he'd say, "I better get back to work." I was SO proud.

Now, if only I could get him that enthusiastic about handwriting....

Wall Flowers

Last week we had a new first. Roller skating! I can remember as a kid hugging that wall for dear life. There was nothing more unnatural than being on wheels. Eventually, I became a decent skater, but never great. I debated on skating with the boys on their first time at the rink, but decided someone should be steady on their feet. I was comforted greatly by the fact that I was by far not the only parent on the rink with shoes on!

Christmas Cuties

I can't believe it is already December! Time really does slip away so quickly. It seems just as you get the decorations all packed away, it's time to get them down again.

The boys are very excited about Christmas this year. They really are at fun ages for the Season. Still little enough for the fun of Santa, yet old enough to begin grasping the true Reason for the Season. Somewhat anyway... Joshua told me the other day that "Christmas is not about wanting things, it's about giving your love." I'm not sure who told him that, but I like it. We're trying to explain things a step further by telling him that we give our love because God first loved us and gave us Jesus. Of course he still wants things, but I'm happy to see he is developing a heart for giving.

And tonight, we were having a conversation about God and Heaven, when Andrew explained things like this... "God takes your heart and puts it inside Him and then when you get to Heaven, He gives it back." Not bad theology for a 4 year old if you think about it... God protects our soul and nothing can snatch it away. He's holding onto it for us until we can be with Him forever! From the mouths of babes...