kentucky....

Okay-- I'm a month late, but over July 4th weekend, we had a wonderful time visiting (and meeting) Brett's extended family at the High Family Reunion in Tompkinsville, KY. Since it was quite a drive, we made that our family vacation-- and had a wonderful time!

Joseph sleeping in his new "big-boy" carseat-- with Matthew's foot also gracing the picture =)

seeing the ducks march in at the peabody hotel in memphis, tn

Matthew and Joseph watching the ducks (they loved it!)

we drove through Erin, TN, just so I could get a picture (I know, cheesy, but it was fun to see other parts of KY and TN besides I-40!


The house that Brett's Grandma grew up in-- so neat!


The house that Brett's granddad grew up in (we seriously had to hike through a jungle to see it)

Erin, Joseph, Matthew, and Brett at Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage.

cruise!

Last week, Brett and I took a 4-day cruise to celebrate our 5th (can you believe it?!?) anniversary-- a couple months early. Many thanks to my mom and dad (aka Nana and Papa) for watching the boys-- we had a wonderful time just relaxing and getting some much needed sleep. Here are some pics from our trip =)


our cruise ship- ecstasy


waiting in a very long line to get on the cruise....


our pretty flowers waiting for us when we got to our room! (thanks mom and dad!)


our first day


formal night (of course we had to dress up!)


Brett on one of the pyramids (now in ruins)

mayan ruins-- the stones I'm on led to an 8 mile trail to the beach


the beach in cozumel


miniature golf-- hole in one!

our dinner table-- great fun getting to know 2 other couples- one from colorado the other from michigan (our waitress was in the middle)

Little Things

I thought I would just post a few fun things that have been happening lately--

Our family is going to be taking a trip to visit Brett's extended family in Kentucky in July. Matthew LOVES watching the "kitty-cat movie" (aka Shrek II). He got to watch it way too much when mommy and Matthew were sick a couple of weeks ago. Because of that, we are having kitty-cat movie detox right now, and I told Matthew he could watch it when we go to Kentucky (we got a really neat car-DVD player-- i'm so excited!). So now-- Matthew keeps asking when we are going to Kentucky!

We went to a wedding 2 weekends ago, and Matthew sat through the whole thing (and devoured 2 lollypops in the process)-- but he was quiet! Unfortunately, Joseph didn't even see the bride come in- so he and Brett watched from the back.

Tonight, we had a picnic- on our living room floor! I put down a tablecloth, and Matthew showed everyone where to sit (by plate color). Joseph kept trying to eat my plate (this is before Brett brought the pizza home, and Matthew did not appreciate it!) It was so much fun doing something different, and then we went to the park to play afterwards. I love nights like tonight.

That's all I can think of! Night night!

Joseph's first birthday

Well, I can't believe it's already been a year since we welcomed Joseph into the world. I'm amazed how much he's growing-- he's getting close to walking without help, says a really cute "uh-oh!" and last night he and Matthew were playing so cute together-- both of them just laughing-- it was so fun to watch them interact together! So, here are a few pictures of Joseph's b-day (he absolutely devoured that cupcake-- if I ever figure out how to post video, it will be of that!)


Happy Birthday Joseph! (Brett had to hold his arms so he wouldn't devour the cupcake to soon!)

Joseph loves his present!


before.....

after......I think he liked the cupcake!

it's beginning to look a lot like february?

My mom said it snowed a bunch back in 1985, but nothing like this!!! Yesterday, it kept snowing, and snowing, and snowing some more-- big flakes creating a Christmas wonderland, but in February. So today, the boys and I had to experience a little of it (in some of the pics, you'll notice the boys are in a laundry basket- I tied my old jump rope to it, and pulled them around the neighborhood-- you can't imagine the smiles I got from them both- wish I had pictures of that!)

the two cutest boys ever (I'm not biased or anything...)

our backyard (see how much snow is on the table?)

front yard- Brett couldn't even get his car up the driveway last night, and had to park it out front!

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