Watch Out....Here I Come!

Josie has done a lot of growing within the last week alone. As all of you know she got her first tooth a week ago Sunday, well she did not just stop there. Last Monday, she started to crawl a little bit. It is more of an army crawl, but it is a start. You would think that would be enough for our little girl, but it was not. On Sunday, she got yet another tooth. That makes 2! So, let me recap for you in ONE solid week she got 2 TEETH and started to CRAWL!

Let me just say that we had a little talk about this (Josie and I). I told her that she can not do all of that. Three new things in one week, was way to much for this Mommy who never wants her little girl to grow up, let alone this fast. So, hopefully she tunes it down a little and will not be doing anything new for a while.

Time flies!

Out With The Peas...In With The Sweet Potatoes

Josie was not so fond of eating PEAS, so on to SWEET POTATOES we went. Lets just say the photos say enough.

She LOVES Sweet Potatoes. She can not get enough of them and with her chomper she is growing up so fast.

#1 Swimmer

Swim lessons are officially over. This week has seemed to be like a huge vacation for Brent and I. We have had things going almost every night for the last 5 weeks until this week. So, this week we have been enjoying spending some quality family time together, when we are not busy doing something else.

Josie still practices her swimming skills on the living room floor, which is really funny. Good thing we did not pay our money for nothing, right?! She is just gearing up for the upcoming summer months and swimming in the pool.

I have to say that Josie was the best swimmer in the class her age. She is a natural pro!

Enjoying Spring!

How are you enjoying your Spring?

Josie loves being outside and soaking up the sunshine and warm weather. Everyday during the past week, we have been going on long walks, swinging on the swing set, and doing whatever else we can just to stay outside. She loves to lay with her Daddy in the hammock as long as he will let her.

If only she could talk, she would say, "Who woke me up?"

Wow, those are really weeds, but they look so pretty!

We Have Chompers!

We Have Chompers (teeth)!

On Sunday, Josie officially got her first tooth, makes me want to cry. She has had some white gums for a while now, but one officially broke the skin. She is doing really well. She is still all smiles and such. This only tooth is not seeming to bother her that much, surprisingly. It will not be long now until other teeth start popping up.

Race a Success!

Last night, as most of you know was the big race that we have been working very hard on lately. I am proud to announce that it was a HUGE success in our books. At the race alone, we raised around $6,000. Wow! As far as the total for the entire event, with all of the sponsors and such we raised around $15,000!!!!! WONDERFUL!!! It is amazing how much you can raise for a good cause. All the money raised is going to Parkinson's Ressearch.

I, on behalf of the working Pit Crew, would like to thank everyone who was involved in any way. Without the support and help of all of you would could not have made this event possible.

Don this is for you!!!!! Love You!

Why Haven't I Posted Lately??

I am so sorry to all of my regular blog readers, it has been busy this last week here at our house. Josie is on the verge of crawling, she gets up on her knees and will rock back and forth now, so we decided we needed to shampoo the living room floor. So, over the weekend we moved all of the furniture into the kitchen and I cleaned the carpet. After moving out all the furniture, we realized that perhaps we should go ahead and paint. So, that is what I am going to get done this week. Ultimately this gives me an excuse not to cook all week because I can not get to the stove because my recliner is in front of it. Good thinking huh!

Besides the house situation, I have been working very hard as most of you know on the race that is coming up this weekend. So, that has taken a lot of my time.

I promise that after this weekend I will get back into the regular routine of posting wonderful pictures and such.

Sitting up

Our little girl is doing much better sitting up on her own. She can sit very well with a pillow behind her and even without a pillow most of the time. If you remove the pillow, she will sit there for a minute or so before she falls over. She only falls over is she is trying to pick up a toy or something. We have to watch her very closely however, because if she throws a fit she likes to arch her back even if she is sitting. Before to long, no more pillow will be needed.

First Baby Sitting Experience

On Monday evening, I had a Relay for Life meeting, so Josie spent a few hours hanging out with Papa Dave. This was the first time anyone has ever watched Josie for more than 30 besides Brent or I. Can you believe that Josie is now 7 months old and Brent and I have not gone out without our little one? Well, I guess when Josie was only 2 months old Grandma Debbie baby sat for a few hours, but it was after she had already went to be for the night.

A few weeks ago, I had taken her to one of my meeting since Brent was at school and my father was kind of bummed that I did not ask him. So, this time I asked and he agreed. I fair warned him of what he was in store for, but he said he could handle it. You know he did raise 3 girls. Josie was not the only child he was going to watch, but Jacob also. Boy, he had hands full. Josie who is a handful in herself, but also a 16 month old baby who is now walking.

When we got there, Josie saw Papa Dave and started crying. Poor girl. I took her out of her car seat and she was fine. When I handed her to my father, tears again. We went back and forth for about 15 minutes. You know she just has to warm up. It was getting late and I had to go before I was late to my meeting. I told him that I could take her if he did not think he could handle her, but he said no he would be fine. When I left it just broke my heart. Sorry, Dad. Josie was screaming at the top of her lungs. I felt horrible. However, she does this same thing for Brent when I leave, but shortly after she stops.

When I arrived back, she was THRILLED to see me. A big smile was on her face and her feet were just a kicking. My father was holding her. Imagine that! I asked how long she cried and he asked me which time. She ended up crying for about 30-45 minutes on and off after I left. According to him, the tears were really flowing. I really thought that since Jacob was going to be there she would be ok, but not Monday. She loves playing with Jacob normally. One thing that effected the night was that she was tired and had not taken her afternoon nap when I dropped her off, which means that she would be crabby.

Overall, I do not think Josie's first babysitting experience went very good for Josie or Papa Dave. Perhaps, next time will be better. We can only cross our fingers on that.

Sorry Papa Dave, Josie was such a little booger.

Is It Mice...No Bunnies!

As most of you know I am deadly afraid of.....MICE. I hate small rodents, but most of all MICE. They give me the hee-bee-gee-bees. I mean who in their wildest minds would not strongly dislike these small, fast, hairy animals with long tails, and can go about anywhere in the smallest places.

Last winter, we had a mouse that was living in our hose box outside by the back door. YIKES! We did not know this until Spring when we went to use the hose and all the water came spraying out of a few holes that the stupid mouse had ate through. So, we sprayed foam insulation in the center of the box and I PRAYED for no returning mice. Well, when I was cleaning out the flower box, yet again a stupid mouse had lived in it all winter. The mouse ate through the foam. My goodness what more can I do. With this being close to the door, you can tell I fear that someday Brent or Josie will leave the door slightly open and a mouse will run in the house or something. Brent knows that if we ever encounter a mouse in the house, I am moving out until a mouse specialist comes in and finds the little varmint, disposes of it, and makes sure that there are no others anywhere in the house. Can you tell I really hate these little creatures?

Some people dislike snakes (well I do to, probably about the same as mice, but I see mice more often than snakes), I dislike mice.

Well, on Saturday, I was outside doing my yard work cleaning out my flower box up along the house when....I just about lost it. I was raking and all of a sudden these little black things started trying to jump out of a small hole I had uncovered when raking. I think I jumped about 10 feet in the air, screamed like a little school girl, threw my rake and ran like @!&# for the door. I yelled in the house to get Brent to come outside and dispose of these creatures. I was hyperventilating. There are animals that I would not want to be dead, but when it come to small rodents dead is the only way to have them or in a zoo all caged up. To make a long story, short comes to find out they were not mice at all, but....BABY BUNNIES. They were so young their eyes were not even open yet and there were about 6 of them. I still will not get very close, because they at this point remind me of mice, but at least I can let out a big sigh of relief.

This photo is a little hard to tell, because I refused to get close enough. But in the center you can see some white circles and that is the bunnies ears.

Fired Up And Ready To Go...To Indiana

We knew that today was going to be just perfect outside and there is tons of yard work that needs to be done, the garage needs cleaned out, and the list goes on and on and on of outdoor chores. So, what did we do...called the recruits. Grandma Debbie has been getting on us for months now to let her watch Josie, while Brent and I go out or something. So, what a perfect time to play our sitter card. Right? Wrong. Yesterday, I called Debbie to see if she would be up to watching Josie, but much to my surprise she DECLINED. WHAT!!!! She was heading out of state to campaign for her one true love (sorry Terry) Obama. She is Obama crazy. I think somehow, someway, he has brain washed her. She goes everywhere and does about anything they would need for him. Any other time or event she would cancel to spend time with her BEAUTIFUL GRANDDAUGHTER, but not this time.

So, since she was gone we played outside and had fun, while still getting some of our work done. We called Grandpa Terry and invited him over for dinner and much to our surprise...he ACCEPTED! Josie was thrilled to see him, as he was to see her. Here are a few of their wonderful play time photos.

Oh, really Grandpa well...my tongue is this long. (If you can not tell, Josie is sticking her tongue out at him.)

This is Josie's reaction to the news that Grandma lost her wallet. "OH NO, GRANDMA LOST HER WALLET!"

Grandma Debbie are you feeling GUILTY yet?!

(This posting was all in fun, no hard feelings.)

Swing Set

Today, Josie was dying to go outside and play. It reached 65 degrees outside and was gorgeous. We would be considered bad parents if we were to say no, so outside we went. Of course, we had to break in her new swing set given to her by some close friends. Thanks Brad, Sherrie, and Austin! Josie loves it.



Josie loved her new swing that we bought for her. It is a little big still, but before to long it will work just perfect. So, while she broke in the swing, I broke in the slide. Sorry, no pictures of that!


Spring is here to stay! YEAH!

So, how did you spend your beautiful Saturday?

Itty Bitty Bikini

Josie has sported her one piece swim suit now to swim lessons for the past 3 weeks, so it was time to change things up a bit. We purchased Josie her very first bikini! It is so cute. Brent told her she could sport a bikini until she was 15 and then after that back to the one piece. I told him it will probably be a lot younger than 15.

Swim lessons are going great. Only 2 more weeks left. Time flies when you are having fun. She kicks her feet, goes under water, and puts her face in all on her own. She is such a good swimmer.

I need to make a correction to my previous posting of Josie being like the next Amanda Beard. It was brought to my attention that Amanda is not so innocent. She had been photographed a little playboy style. I just knew she was an Olympic swimmer and that is what I meant by my previous comment. Below is the only playboy photo my little girl will ever have done. The photos were taken for Easter.

7 Months Old

JOSIE IS 7 MONTHS OLD ALREADY!

On Tuesday, April 2nd Josie turned 7 months old.

We can not believe it. Can you?

Blow Out

Josie has had her fair share of blow outs in her life time. You know the time she let it all go on a good white towel. Well, today she did it again. I was downstairs doing laundry and she was playing on the living room floor. By the time I was ready to come upstairs with a load of clean laundry she was crying. I went to go pick her up when I noticed she had let it all go and it was all over the back of her jammies. When I lifted her up it was all over the front of her jammies and to top it off all over on my carpet also. Yuck! I know I need to shampoo my carpet, but I really do now.

What a little stinker, literally!