"Oh Happy Day!"

Well I have to say that I've gotten a break the past couple weeks. Colton and Beckett have been playing together quite nicely. I still get playtime, but can manage to hide out if I want. Along with playing together has definitely brought out the issue of "SHARING." It's a hard concept, even for me.

Cole has been singing a lot lately. It's very cute. He sings songs from his music class (which ended last week) as well as Jesus Loves Me, the ABCs, and my personal favorite, Oh Happy Day.

Beckett, as you can see in the pictures below, is EVERYWHERE! He climbs up on a chair, gets down, crawls to a shelf, stands up, gets down, crawls over to me, climbs OVER me and then heads into the kitchen for some more standing and sitting and moving. PHEW! I like to watch Colton on his tricycle chase Beckett around the kitchen. It's pretty funny and they both laugh hysterically.

"I can't!"

I guess it's about time that I update my blog, huh? I have been so lazy the last two weeks. I tell ya, running and playing at the farm really takes it out of me!

My Joersz boys have been SO cute lately. This last week they have been playing together quite a bit each day. Cole will take out tons of toys and set them in front of Beckett, all while running around and making little Beck laugh & squeal.

Jon was out of town last Thursday-Monday for a church youth group trip to Panama City Beach, FL. (NICE! I would have loved to run around on the beach) We really missed him, but definitely got by. Oma even came down for a visit to keep us company.

Beckett is on the move---all the time. Emma says it's a little exhausting! Trust me, it's exhausting for this canine too (He loves crawling all over me!) Sometimes I go out in the backyard to relax. I have officially found my favorite chair to sit under during meals, by the way. Colton has gotten much better about not dropping food, but Beckett is quite the mess. I LOVE IT! Normally I'm sent out back at dinnertime, but breakfast and lunch are fair game.

Colton is speaking very well lately. He can say full sentences, though we can only understand the main words. "Can't" and "don't" are favorites at the moment: "Cole, do you want to go pee pee in the potty?" "No, mommy, I CAN'T." Speaking of the potty, Cole went pee pee on the potty once this last week. It's a step!

So far this weekend has been really relaxing. It's been nice spending time together as a family.

our week at the farm

There are so many pictures to go through today...are you READY? I tried to consolidate the pictures into daily collages, but some are just too cute and need to be on their own. We had SUCH a fun week. It started off Monday morning when we drove up to Virginia. Lacey and the kids were already up at the farm and so the kids got to play that afternoon. For some reason, the Keigley kids are sort of scared of me...maybe because I'm so big. I tried to stay away from them, but sometimes just couldn't help myself from going up and giving some love- they're just so cute!

We had a good time on Tuesday. Cole, London, Mosely & Bergen had a fun time playing together. The weather was AWESOME. We were outside a lot and went on a walk in the afternoon. Look at these cute wagon babies!

The kids played in the sandbox and definitely needed baths that night. The babies got baths together, then the 2 boys and then the 2 girls. It worked out quite well. Baby Izzy got her first bath on Tuesday as well! Wednesday was another one of those beautiful days. The kids had a picnic lunch while Oma, Papa, Stin & Luke planted trees by the playset and sandbox. Oma got an alphabet foam mat for the kids and they played on it all week. Mosely started putting a foam square over her head and it caught on. The kids also liked taking the edges off and called them their "ninja swords." Cole had a blast with it. (and Beckett liked chewing on the ninja swords too...)

All week long, Lacey & Emma took turns feeding both Piper & Beckett at once. (It was a real time-saver and we think they liked it too.) Piper loved hitting Beck on the head and stealing his cheese. Beckett tried many new foods this week and absolutely loved it! Every night before bed, Cole called Jon to say goodnight. The bottom right pic is of Cole kissing the phone. Cole and Bergen shared a bedroom this week. Every morning they would get up and play so well together. They especially liked drinking their "coffee milk" with papa in the morning.

Jon finally got up to Virginia on Friday. We were so glad to see him! Lots of people arrived at the farm on Friday actually. Abbey and Morgann drove down from New Hampshire and came over to play on Friday. We went on another walk down the pond road with the babies in the backpacks. The girls loved picking flowers, Colton loved playing in the dirt and throwing rocks, I loved running up and down the road, and we all loved looking at the snake that Uncle Kevin found on the side of the road!

Ah, the day we looked forward to all week! Saturday was our family's annual fourth of July party. The party had a bit more of an intimate atmosphere this year and everyone had a great time spending it together.

One of Cole's favorite parts of the day was playing in the ice tub!

It was supposed to rain all day Saturday, but ended up only raining for a bit and then was great weather for dinner outdoors.

Jon & Emma

The guys had a blast playing paintball this year. They played all morning until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Those paintball guns scare me...but probably not as much as those fireworks they shot off after dark.

Thanks for spending the time & looking at all my photos and reading about our fun week. I'm definitely spending a lot of time catching up on my sleep. Barking at those cows all week can really take it out of you! (Sorry Oma!)

home again.

Ahhh....the soft carpet of home between my paws. We just got home this afternoon from spending a week at the farm. I've hardly moved from my dog bed...Emma and Jon say that I'm OUT! But I would like to quickly share a glimpse of our fun week in Virginia. We had a blast playing and spending time with everyone. The Fourth of July party was great (though I spent a lot of it cooped up in the barn....) After I sort through all the photos, I'll write some more posts filled with cute photos and stories of the boys from the past week.
p.s...note those two top teeth that Beckett has recently aquired. what a cute smile!