Mom! Look what I can do!

Brendan decided he didn't want training wheels anymore. It took one day of wobbly riding and then he got it! It's his new favorite thing to do. I can't believe how fast he picked it up. Now he wants to go to Uncle Ron's and go off jumps!!!





Wyatt had fun too!

(He didn't have a nap today!)

Life's Little Blessings

I was reading my sister, Rachel's blog today and noticed 3 tabs at the top of the page. One in particular I hadn't noticed before. The tab said "O Happy Day". Of course, I clicked on it to see what the heck it was. There I found about a weeks worth of entries containing 3 things each day she had in her life to be happy about. I thought it was so great to read and I thought it was probably so good for her to be able to find those things in life everyday and highlight them. Instantly I commented and told her I was going to start doing it too. Then I clicked over to my blog and started thinking about it and thought, "Oh shoot. What did I commit to?" I really do think it is a great idea and I want to make an effort to remember each day the things that bring joy that I have to be thankful for. So here we go...hopefully the first of many.

3 things that God has blessed me with today:

1. Good friends. (A couple of college friends are taking me out tonight to celebrate my half-birthday, since my 30th birthday really sucked! (Thank you Cody.)

2. A great husband who is capable and loves being with our kids!

3. A house that is officially sold as of yesterday!

It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name...

Psalm 92:1

James 1:2-4

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers (and sisters), whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything

Thank you for reminding me, Sara K.

New Backpacks!

Just wanted to show off the kids new backpacks and lunch bags (Thank you Kim!). They got them for their birthdays at the end of summer and they love them. They carry toys all over town with them. They have matching suitcases just their size too. Hopefully we will get to use them real soon! You'll also notice their matching new duds. They just got those this weekend. One great thing about Arizona is that it is still quite warm in October. Everything I bought for the kids was 80% off because it was summer stuff. I think we can still wear shorts at 85 degrees? Aren't they just cute?? :)

A Jojee Visit!

For those who don't already know, my sister Joanna (along with my other siblings), became an aunt when my little boy Brendan was born 4 years ago. She quickly became known as Auntie Jo-Jo. This was mainly because it was easy for a little baby to say. In fact, I think he said Da-Da first and then Papa and then Jo-Jo (My dad swears he said Papa the day he was born). Mama and Nana came last. :( Those darn "M" and "N" sounds are harder to make! Anyway, all by himself Brendan started turning his Da-Da and Ma-Ma words into Daddy and Mommy and for some reason, unknown to us, he decide to do the same with Jo-Jo. She is now affectionately knows as Jojee. My sister Rachel somehow ended up with the name Yay-Yay...figure that one out! Kind of like Ray-Ray I think. The kids still call her that even though they are perfectly capable of pronouncing the name Rachel.

Anyway, Jojee, as she is known by the nephews and the rest of the family for that matter, came to visit this last week. She just left tonight so I thought I would post some pictures of her visit. Mostly they are of the kids because they were the best part of the trip!

First there were presents. Lots of presents! The boys woke up to these cute little gift bags full of goodies and an invitation to come swimming at Jojee's hotel. When they got there, there were more presents from Nana and from Great Aunt Nancy and G.G

Yippie! Swimming!

One of the days we went to the McCormick Railroad Park. Notice I'm wearing a sweatshirt!!!! It was actually cold one of the days. Well I don't know if "cold" is the right word, but there was a little chill. It was short lived. Today it was 97 degrees. That's right...97. Tomorrow....99. FYI...IT'S OCTOBER!!!!! Good News, it is cooling down, slowly but surely.

Anyway, the train park was a blast... for the kids AND us!

One great thing about Phoenix are these "splash" parks that are all over the place. The kids LOVE them and there's nice comfy chairs where we can kick back and watch from the sidelines. This splash park happens to be surrounded by Cold Stone, Starbucks and Paradise Bakery! (We try not to go there too often! :) )

I know most of the pictures are just of the kids, but the sheer joy on their faces was their response to having their beloved Jojee around again! It was hard dropping her off at the airport tonight. Brendan cried for a long time not understanding why she had to go and why we couldn't go too. So we are just starting another count-down until another "beloved" Auntie, Uncle, Nana, Papa or good friend comes for a visit and a whole lot of fun!