Remember When...

Jay, remember when you only weighed 7lbs 6 oz? My how you've grown in just a short year to 22 lbs.

And how your dad and I would fight over who's turn it was to hold you?

And how you had to eat every 2.5 hours?

And how you depended on me for EVERYTHING. Now your independently telling me what you want, and can go where ever you want.

Remember when you would let me hold you and snuggle you for hours? Now you don't sit still for a minute.

You have changed and grown. And our love for you has deepened. We feel so blessed to call you our son.

Jay's 1

Our Big BOY turned 1.
I wish that time would stand still so that he won't grow anymore. We have TRULY enjoyedevery minute of the last year.

Jay got a tractor. He loves it! He pushes it around the house and makes the car noise with his lips. Its SOO CUTE !!

Jay loved his cupcake.
Thank you Aunt Cathy and Uncle Bob for his gifts. The kids enjoyed watching to see what is going to hatch in the water.
Jay's Milestones:
He signs: more, please, water, eat, milk, he knows what cracker is but can't do it yet.
He eats just about everything that we eat. He feeds himself. He's starting to use his spoon.
He still only has 4 teeth.
climbs up and down stairs. We've started calling him Houdini because he can get out of everything, or climb on top of anything.
He still carries his bat around everywhere he goes and has discovered chasing the girls. He likes to hit them with his bat. (we're trying to stop this bad habit but it's funny to see the girls scream and run from him)
He pretends to talk on the phone. He puts it up to his ear.
He loves to dance
TOUCHDOWN - he raises his hands above his head.
waves hi and goodbye to everyone
Says GO, Go, Go
He mimics our sounds.
He's a laid back snugly little boy that we just can't get enough of.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!!

Fitting it 'ALL' in

We have had a packed couple weeks around here. With school starting next week we're trying to cram as much as we can into what little summer we have left.
There's a dinner theater here that is playing Aladdin. We took the girls last Monday and it was FABULOUS!!!! "We had a wonderful time. The girls LOVED every minute of it.
A friend of ours invited us over for a pool party. We spent 4 hours in the water. It felt so good to just cool off. It's always a fight to get our kids out of the water.

Friday we took the kids to the Rodeo. We ate greasy food, saw lots of animals, had mud thrown at us by a wild bronc, and saw some crazy stubborn Bulls. I always have enjoyed the rodeo. Thank you Call's for a fun night. Before we left I bought the girls pink cowgirl hats which they love, and i found a cute one for Jay that he loves.

I LOVE this picture

The girls with Dallas, and Jay in the back
Saturday night we had an outdoor movie night, complete with treats and great company. It was really fun, but really hard to get everyone up for church the next morning.
I've been gearing up for Girls Camp. I leave tomorrow morning for the week. Jay's birthday is while I'm gone. I feel terrible about that. We'll be celebrating it On Sunday (he doesn't know the difference; that's what I keep telling myself)
Then school starts next week. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed with Camp planning, shopping, school shopping, grocery shopping for my own family and getting my house in order for people to come and stay with the kids. I now feeling confident that I got everything done, and that we should all have a smooth week.

Family Photos

While we were in Coeur d'Alene My sweet/fun/BUSY friend took our family pictures. She is truly talented. Thank you Cassie We love you.

This is a Favorite. As Jay IS the Focus of Our FAMILY.

Yellowstone

We took 4 days off and headed for Yellowstone. There wasn't much relaxing going on, as we packed our days with animal watching, shopping, sight seeing, hiking/walking, bike riding, ice cream, and lots of driving. Jay has Earned the nickname "Bear" He didn't appreciate Yellowstone as much as the rest of us. My mom will be making him a shirt that says
"I put the YELL in Yellowstone" All in All He did well. We can't complain too much.

This picture is at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.
Jappy put up his hammock. The Kids enjoyed it

Nana and Papa dressed for fishing. They didn't bring back any fish. So Sad.

Our BIG BOY. He loved playing in the DIRT, Finding ROCKS to put in his mouth, and picking up STICKS.

The girls took part in the Jr. Ranger program. They had to visit a certain amount of sights and fill out a packet of activities. They did a ceremony honoring their achievement. They loved the attention.

Enjoying Old Faithful with Nana and Papa

Looking at the elk.
Brooklyn enjoying the Smells of Yellowstone.
Our "Bear" and a Bear print

The girls LOVED having Nana and Papa there. They loved having an audience to sing and dance for. They surely did A LOT of that.

We saw LOTS of Buffalo, elk, eagles. and a Big fish in the river. We visited Old Faithful 3 times, along with many other Geysers, and Hot Poole's. The girls did NOT appreciate the sulfur experience of Yellowstone. It made us laugh every time they plugged their noses. We had a great time and plan on returning. (When Jay's a little bit older)

Crawling is not for Him

Jay has really taken off with walking. There is no stopping him now. He stands on his own, and is constantly on the go. He is so proud of himself and just smiles. He has also figured out the stairs and goes up and down. This makes things a little bit less stressful. We have been more brave with the foods that we give him. Hard boiled egg whites, gold fish, cheese, mashed potatoes, all fruits, and steamed broccoli, and cauliflower He's content to sit in his high chair as long as he has things to put in his mouth. He has picked up a new sign this past week 'all done' and he's been blowing kisses. He got his third tooth, and the fourth will be coming through very soon. I love the stage he's in now. He entertains us all day long.

He turns the Big 1 next month.

Our trip North in a Nutshell

Everyday was packed with some kind of activity. We roasted Smores, visited with friends, and family, went to the beach walked the boardwalk, had ice cream had our family pictures taken, Thanks Cass your amazing!! And had a big 4th of July Bash.
Two of my brothers came to town during our time there. The kids had lots of people to entertain them. It doesn't seem that I did very well with taking pictures. but I'm sure the others will share their pictures. WON'T YOU.


When we got there we took the kids to a park that has a place for kids to enjoy the water. It has several fountains, that the kids can run through.

Jay mowed the lawn with daddy and soon after starting was sound asleep.

Everyday Papa had the 4 wheller out and hauled kids around the field. Jay also enjoyed it.

We spent some time at the lake. It was Chilly!! but the kids didn't mind it. (Silly Papa)

Check out that Hair. It's the wind look out on the boat

We tookk the girls to drive the go carts. We thought for sure mady would be tall enough to drive but she was a few inches short. Hopefully next year.

Nana got out the kiddie pool and girls never wanted to get out. Nana finished Mady's swim suit while we were there. Mady has waited almost a year to wear it. Thank you NANA Mady loves it.

The girls picked strawberries one morning in their Pajamas. Mady and I found a snake. It scared us!!! Then we realized it wasn't real. Thank goodness

At the parade. You can't see the girls shorts but I made them. It was hot the entire time we were there and nobody got sunburned. YEAH!! That night we watched the fireworks from the boat. The kids and the adults enjoyed it.

We were loaded and ready to go. Poor Duncan didn't want us to leave, or he wanted to go with us. We miss you too buddy.

We also took the girls (my brother and sister in law) to Silverwood which is an amusement /water park. Brooklyn rode her first roller coaster. She didn't like it, we'll try again next year. Mady on the other hand rode several and LOVED every minute of it.

Jappy and I went to my class reunion. There were lots of people that didn't come that I would have loved to see. I still got to catch up with several, that I hadn't seen in awhile. Why is it that you are so close to someone in high school, and then you graduate and you never see them again? They did convince me to get on facebook, so I'll be getting that set up this week, thanks to their peer pressure.:) We had a fun trip and never seems like it's long enough to do everything we want. Thanks everyone for watching our kids, and spending time with us we had a BLAST!!