The Weekend and Past

I was going through pictures tonight when I realized I was way behind on the blog :). I have about a month of pictures for everyone tonight! Don't worry, some of them are just adorable!

Here is Jefferson after he learned to army crawl! This is when I figured out that life with a boy is going to be much different than I expected... Note to self... Must hide all electrical outlets! Don't worry, this was removed from him after I took the pics.

And this is when he turned the TV off with it!

A few weeks ago I washed Matt's car. Jewell decided she wanted to help :). She did a great job washing the hood! She was just adorable!

We typically don't have Home Group in the summer so we had extra time for a little adventure one weekend. We went to Ashland to eat yogurt and explore Lithia Park.

We shared this with her ;).

Jewell LOVED the ducks at the park! She was even quacking at them.

I LOVE getting Daddy/Daughter pictures. I think it would be neat to put them all in a book one day. Maybe when Jewell gets married. Then she'll have her own book of memories with the first love of her life :).

We found some deer. Jewell was getting pretty close to them until she heard a motorcycle go by. It completely freaked her out. Then she realized we weren't right next to her, so she refused to leave her Daddy's side the rest of the time at the park.

Here is Jefferson just hanging out.

My Mom got this outfit for Jewell for her birthday. I had to post it for her :). She certainly looks like a big kid now doesn't she!

I attempted to get a cute pumpkin picture with Jeffers...

And here's Jewell instructing him on what he should be doing.

On Sunday evenings we have Home Group with the young couples from our church. Tonight was "football night" so we dressed up proudly with our Broncos gear. Don't worry, we did not play or watch football for Home Group :). We did however enjoy a good time of fellowship, prayer, and discussion from the morning service :). Jewell was NOT in a good mood for these pictures. I guess that's just what happens when you have double ear infections, again!

Ah, memories. I'm so glad I was able to share them!

8 Months

I'm afraid I have news...yep, Jefferson is growing up! I can't believe he's already 8 months old! Did I really have a newborn and a 16 month old at home 8 months ago? I sure did!

Jefferson is overall a very happy, very well fed, little boy. This last week was a bit difficult because he wanted to keep up with his sister. However, he's only 8 months old and is unable to walk!

The 8 Month Rundown:

• Eating: Jefferson eats 4 bottles a day. I feed him solids around the same time we eat so he typically doesn't eat solids and bottles at the same time. Jefferson does not like chunky food. He WILL gag on it. Therefore, he hates homemade baby food. He likes the flavor of puffs, but sucks on it and then spits it out. Oh boy...
• Sleeping: Jefferson is a 12 hour sleeper. But he is SO ready for bed at 7 PM, which means I'm up at 7 AM. I'm hoping to switch it to 8 PM next summer.
• Moving: Jeffers taught himself how to army crawl this week. I caught him heading towards the baskets in his cute little crawl. My silly boy then emptied the baskets. A little later, I caught him pushing all the buttons on the cable box. Soon after that, he was pulling the power strip out from underneath the television set. Of course his first moving endeavor was to destroy things!
• Favorite Activities: Mr. Chubbers favorite activity is to try and mess with absolutely anything Jewell is holding or playing with. The little man decided he was going to learn that early. He still likes to pull her hair too so we often hear the phrase, "No Jeffson!" Poor kid...
• Talking: Jeffers babbles quite a bit in the mornings :). His favorite babbles are ba-ba-ba-ba, and da-da-da-da. This always makes his Daddy smile!

We love our little man! We are proud of his accomplishments, and we are sure he will soon be running around with his big sister sometime soon.

Trying to escape...

Oh, this is so much better Mom! I found a way off the couch!

A Special Dedication

I'm not sure if we announced that we did officially decide on a church out here. We now attend First Baptist Church here in Oregon. We have come to really enjoy the different ministries they have, and we love the preaching.

Today our church had a Baby Dedication for the families who have children that haven't been dedicated to the Lord yet. We were never able to do this for Jewell in South Carolina, so we decided to dedicate both of the kids at the same time. I'm so happy we were able to do it this way.

Two other families from our church Home Group dedicated their little ones as well. I think that made the whole thing even more special. :)

I'm a Big Kid Now!

What an exciting weekend we've had. Not only have the kids been extra cute, but Jewell overcame a huge obstacle! That's right, she can play on the playground equipment at the park!!!!!!! Yes, I'm more than thrilled about this. I usually try to take the kids to the park by myself while Matt is at work. But this weekend we all went together. Jewell usually requires a lot of help, so Matt worked with her a bit, while I played with Jeffers, and then we switched. Today, it all finally clicked! I think it helped that I wasn't holding Jefferson while helping her go up the steps.

We started out by my going down the slide WITH her. It was a bit of a big slide on that side of the equipment anyways. All of a sudden, she took off! She started climbing on her own! Then, she went down the slide by herself. By the end, I didn't even have to follow her around. It was funny though, she went to the slide by herself, and she went down the slide on her tummy. She always thinks that's safer because we taught her how to go down the stairs at home that way.

While Jewell was learning to play, Jefferson was enjoying a little photo shoot with Matt :). Who says you have to spend several hundred dollars on professional pictures? My husband can do it all! Love love love it!

What a fun weekend/adorable weekend of enjoying our children.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Last Friday (forgive the late post...we've been having major internet issues that were finally resolved today), Matt turned another year older. Yep, that's right, he is now 28 years old. His sister Stephanie and I think it's hilarious that it's the first birthday away from his Mom :). It's more like a family joke actually... But still funny to us.

We had a blast with a few friends that came to celebrate with us. We have come to get to know Matt's bosses family pretty well, so we invited them over for grilled steak and cheesecake. I of course insisted that Matt blow out all 28 candles.

I gave Matt an Oregon Ducks has for his birthday this year, but we decided we'd save up for an iPhone 5 as his real gift. He's pretty excited!

Our Angel Turns 2

This past Thursday our little girl turned 2 years old. She is getting so big! This year has been full of changes in her little life. She learned to drink out of sippy cup, crawl, and walk! She also moved across the country. But the biggest change was probably welcoming her little brother into our family :). She's done just splendidly. We love how innocent and sweet she is when learning new things, or trying to communicate with us. Jewell has entered the typical "Terrible Twos", but those moments are always put in the back of our mind when we hear her say things like, "more please, thank you, daddy...w'are you?, love you, kiss!, baby...sleeping!, and AMEN, etc. No matter how "terrible" a moment may seem, there are always those moments that melt your heart.

Milestones: Jewell can walk! She started walking at 20 months. She can count to twelve and attempts to count to 20. She knows all of her letters and points out words. She has the basic shapes down now, and almost knows all of her colors :).

Sleeping: Jewell still takes a 3 hour nap and sleeps for 12 hours at night.

Favorite Activities: Reading, playing with the neighbor kids, nursery :), blowing bubbles, taking baths with Jefferson, coloring, walking her baby stroller around, playing with her kitchen, and loving her Daddy! What more could a Mom ask for! I'm so thankful for the Daddy/daughter relationship they have already.

This year we decided not to throw a big party. We think she'll enjoy one much better next year. We are definitely looking forward to it!

Her big present from us this year was a play kitchen. She hasn't stopped playing with it either! She just loves acting like she is cooking, especially when I cook dinner.

Here are some pictures of our little family party :). We gave her the kitchen after she woke up that morning. We just couldn't wait! You'll notice some of the letters are missing from the cake pictures. Jewell was much more interested in telling us the names of the letters on her cake and then eating them, than actually eating her cake! Love it!

We love you so much Jewell!

7 Months

Oh goodness. This is SOOOOOOOO late. So so so late. Poor Jefferson. He's already 7.5 months old and I'm just now updating his friends. Such is life.

Jefferson is doing so well! I will have to take the typical elephant picture later because I'm struggling to keep him still for the picture :). Love it!

So here goes....

• Eating: He takes 4 bottles a day. 2 of the bottles he drinks 5 ounces and the other 2 he drinks about 6. Yes, he finally quit nursing. He just wanted to look around the entire time! So I dried up. He also has solids 3 times a day, but hates vegetables with a passion.
• Sleeping: Jeffers is a great sleeper. He sleeps from 7 PM to 7 AM and takes 2, 2 hour naps. I'm so blessed!
• Milestones: Jeffers sits up great now! He loves to play on the floor. He is desperately trying to crawl, but isn't quite there yet. He is also grabbing things better with his hands and using his thumb more often. He isn't too into reading yet, preferring to eat the book rather than look at the pictures.
• Weight: I'm pretty sure he's thinning out now. Which is a nice thing for Mommy! He's about 20 lbs so I'm not worried.
• Clothes: He wears 12 month clothes. He has outgrown every 9 month pair of shorts or one piece outfits except for body suits. Typical boy!
• Little brother things: Well, Jewell learned what it's like to have a little brother. He pulled a rather large chunk of her hair out this last weekend. Oh goodness...

Jefferson is just as sweet as can be. He's a big Mommy lover and well, he adores his sister! He laughs all the time, and loves long stroller rides. In fact, I think we need a new double stroller (I bought mine used for 15 dollars) because he's trying to escape the one I have or pull on Jewell's hair. We just eat him up each day, and thank the Lord for His great plan for him to be our son.