The Sticker Bandit Strikes Again!

The sticker bandit's latest victim.......






This happened right before church this morning-- at least they were occupied while we finished getting ready! The sticker bandit (aka Matthew) also struck last night while we were watching the cowboy game-- Brett and I had stickers all over our hands and faces- beautiful!

Merry Christmas!

Joseph is asleep, and Brett and Matthew are out, so I thought I'd take a few minutes and update y'all on what's been going on with our family.
It's been a couple of crazy months! Brett's work has been non-stop, and we've been busy (fun-busy) with parties with friends, family, and work people. Matthew was in his first Christmas program, and Erin also sang in her church's adult program. We took Matthew for the first time to Six Flags with Nana also, and had the best time! Joseph is now commando crawling, has 6 teeth!, and is now sleeping fairly consistently in his crib (in the same room with Matthew, which is a big answer to prayer). Matthew is picking up more and more words everyday (his newest words are toothpaste and pineapple =).) , and loves running around the house, reading books, and watching the movie, Cars. We had a great Christmas (and a white one!) with my parents and brother and his wife, and also enjoyed seeing my cousins and aunt and uncle who are in from Africa. Here are a few pics of the last few weeks!


it was a white Christmas (just a little cold though!)


I actually took this with our timer-- not too bad =)


Matthew's first time on the carousel-- I think he liked it =)

Joseph at the arboretum


Matthew's first program (he's in the middle in the red-striped sweater)


celebrating with the Myers-- Joseph, Matthew and Camryn

update and taking a break

who is who? same outfits, same drum-- can you tell? (answer at bottom)
I'm not too good at this blog thing, or keeping it updated, so I am taking a hiatus and from the computer in general (some people watch too much tv, I "watch" too much blog/facebook. In the meantime, hope the update helps! (PS-- I'm going to turn the computer off for at least a week, so if you need me, give me a call!)

Superman and Yoda at the arboretum


Superman!

The boys about to watch the UT/OU game

**Joseph is on the top, Matthew is on the bottom. =)

it's been a quick month....

Well, both boys are sleeping (which is an amazing thing!), so I thought I'd update our blog with what's been happening this month....
-Joseph has been sleeping better (although he has a cold right now, so he's not sleeping as good right now), and for the last 3 nights, the boys have slept in the same room! (Although, Joseph usually wakes up screaming at midnight because of his cold, so we bring him to our room-- but it's progress!)
-Matthew started his Mother's Day Out one day a week-- and is doing just great-- I love hearing from his teacher each week how good he does, and that he is well-behaved!
-Matthew is talking more and more-- and last night, he wanted some cookies, and I asked him, "what do you say when you want more cookies?" And he said "cookies, pease" (which is his word for please), and my heart just melted =).
-Brett and I actually had a date night a few weeks ago-- the cheapest date ever! We went and saw "Up" at the dollar movie, used a gift card at on the border, and then got some ice cream-- we had so much fun!
Everyday is a new adventure, but (most days) it's a lot of fun...

little blessings

Every night, we pray for dinner before we start eating. A few weeks ago, we were in a hurry to eat because Brett had to get to a meeting. So, when dinner was served, Matthew wouldn't start eating, and held out his hand-- he knew we were supposed to pray first-- isn't that wonderful!?!? We prayed together, and I silently thanked the Lord for the special moment from Matthew.

One last story--yesterday evening, we were getting ready to go to a concert, and Matthew points up to the table, and says Bible (which was still there from church). And then I had him take the Bible and go tell Daddy-- which he did as well. It's so nice to see all this repetition paying off! =)

team tooley hits hot springs

We just got back from a great week in Hot Springs, Arkansas. This was our first vacation for our family of four, and we had a great time getting away, not having to cook, clean house or do dishes! We didn't know what to expect with the boys, (driving, not being home, different foods), but they did pretty well-- our motto this week was- "someday we'll laugh about this!" We visited a beautiful garden, toured bathhouse row (can I just say I'm very thankful for our modern bathrooms!) Bathhouses were really popular in the early 1900's because of the natural hot springs there. There was a lot of tile, and personally, looked a little horror-movie-creepy to me, but it was very interesting! We also finished up the week visiting Lake DeGray, eating dinner there and walking around the "beach." Here are some pictures from our week:




we had the best homemade icecream-- they even had a little toddler-sized cone that Matthew loved!










we took this pic with the timer-- not too bad!

Matthew's 2nd birthday!

Well, I can't believe my "baby" is already 2! We had a fun party for him- complete with hot dogs, watermelon, and brownies (his favorite foods!). It was a wonderful evening with family and friends.


this was the best family shot we got!


my sweet Matthew


yummy cake!


Lions, elephants, and giraffes, oh my!


Blowing out his candle-- hooray!