Happy New Year!

On New Years Day I got together with two of the first great friends I met when I first moved to Arizona. It has been a long time since the three of us were together. Actually the last time we were together was before we all were married and had kids - 7 years. We had a great time and all of our seven kids did too.
Tonja and baby girl, Gianna - born just 25 days after Jaelyn.

Keri and Tyce - 8 months. Jaelyn.The big kids playing red light, green light.


Left to Right: Elias (Keri's), Ryonn (Tonja's), James, and Jacob

Jacob Today

This morning, Jacob brought Josh his wallet. It was clear that everything had been taken out of it and put back in by a 3 year old. We were asking Jacob, if he put everything back in. He said "yes, except for one dollar," he held up his finger as he said it. We said "Oh yea?" He said, "It would not fit so I threw it in the garbage." Oh Jacob... Needless to say, Josh went digging and fished out a 5.

After Baby

I have started a new blog. Check it out. It is about my weight loss journey post Baby #3!

www.postbaby3.blogspot.com

I am counting on you to hold me accountable!

My Babies at Two Months Old

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas!
We had lots of visitors. Josh's parents, sister and Grandma Shirley all came from Washington to share Christmas with us. His Uncle Bruce and Kathleen came from Washington too!
And Santa came from the North Pole!

He brought the boys a Nintendo DS,

And he brought Jaelyn (and her mommy) an infant/toddler bath tub!

Aunt Stephanie held Jaelyn for us all of Christmas day
while the boys played with their new toys.
Grandma Joan and Grandpa Cork hosted a wonderful Christmas dinner,
and then on Sunday they took us bowling at their recreation center.
Grandma Shirley and Grandma Joan took care of Jaelyn for us while Josh and I bowled.
We left for an afternoon lunch at Macayo's.

And then it was back to the recreation center for some miniature golf.
Jaelyn put on her leopard pajamas and after a fun filled day it was off to bed!

Jaelyn Smiles!

Jaelyn's first smile was about 2 weeks ago, but it wasn't until the last few days she has been doing it consistently. Here is a VIDEO of her at 8 weeks old!

"I am going to be a great dad!"

James said today, "I am going to be a great dad because I am going to YES to EVERYTHING!"

Las Vegas

We just returned from meeting my sister in Las Vegas. She has not seen the boys in over a year or met her new niece yet. The drive was great. Jaelyn slept the whole time and the boys did great as well thanks to not being able to sit next to each other anymore!

Friday night we went out while Bethany watched the kids. She woke them up at 10PM and kept them up until 230AM so that she could play with them. You can imagine how well behaved they were the rest of the trip.

On Saturday, we got all dressed up to go see Santa. Jaelyn was in her beautiful Christmas dress and did not spit up on it at all!

And the boys did not get their shirts or pants dirty in the least bit. Santa, however took a dinner break while we were in line and wasn't going to be back for an hour. So we decided to take a family picture (our first of the five of us) and call it a night.

It was then Jacob asked me why I call "baby sister" my sweetie pie. I told him because she is my sweetie pie. For the rest of the weekend and still now, he tells me "Your sweetie pie is awake mom." "Your sweetie pie is hungry."

Bethany watched the kids for us AGAIN so Josh and I could have a nice dinner in Vegas. We are there so frequently, I have stopped taking touristy pictures, but I couldn't resist this one from the new bridge that connects to the newly opened city center.

We attempted Santa pictures the next day after we checked out of our hotel, but I didn't think having Jaelyn in her dress the four hour drive home would be such a good idea so the official Santa pictures are more casual than planned.

The trip was short and I was not ready to leave. I realized I had not played any games with Bethany and insisted we drive back to the strip so that I could play with her for an hour before we left. So I did and I hit the Jackpot playing the Deal or No Deal penny slot! The lady next to me had been sitting there playing it for five hours trying to hit it. I cashed out and we hit the road, but not before I won $50 more dollars playing craps.

It was great to see Bethany and Joey, however we did not get to see them together because when we were hanging out with Joey, Bethany was watching the boys for us. We will have to try to meet up with them again there in early 2010 while we still are offered free rooms.