New Photos From Jai

Christmas 2008

The Christmas tree before the kids came down.

Autumn looks like she is ready to dive right in.
Here they are getting ready but had to stop for a few pics.

Noah spent a while on his gift but eventually he got his John Deere Tractor out and started riding. As a matter of fact I think he stopped right there and didn't really open much more.

Autumn must have went thru like 6 diapers on Christmas day with her new Baby Alive. It drinks from a bottle then pees it out. It was fun watching her change the diapers.

Noah's new hat from cousin Ellen, Uncle Chris and Aunt Jenn

Autumn just looks so cute right here.

Tim opens some gifts at his parents house. Too bad it was all part of Ann's nasty game to gross him out.

Noah can knock people out with his new wooden car.

Autumn and her big mouth! This was at Tim's parent's house.

We all had wonderful Christmas and we hope you all had a good one as well. We hope that the New Year is filled with joy, happiness, good health and most of all Gods wonderful promises for each and everyone of you.

Noah at Greensboro Children's Museum

I got to spend the day with Noah and we went to the Greensboro Children's Museum. Here are some pictures of Noah there. He rode all over the museum on the yellow bike pictured below. He also climbed up on the bike by himself. Speaking of climbing, Noah climbed all 14 steps to the second floor of our house on his first attempt on the stairs tonight - time to get the gate out again!

Bye Bye

Bye bye - it's Noah's thing.

Autumn's Message To Her Cousins

I just figured out that I can upload videos. Here is a message to Alexa & Clara and a message to Ellen.

Christmas Preparations

Autumn's A.F.O. (Autumn's Famous Omlette)

Kids playing in the dogs beds. We doggie-sat for Gram & Pop while they were away for Thanksgiving.

Autumn fell asleep watching The Polar Express with her Scooby Doo and her Polar Express book.
Autumn hangs the first ornament on the tree>

Daddy still fluffing the artificial tree.

Noah inspecting the tree and lights.

Noah wasn't able to help too much with decorating but he did get in on the homemade gingerbread cookies.

The lights from the outside.

Live Christmas Concert featuring two great strummers.

A short video.

Thanksgiving '08

Autumn made two bowls of dip.
Mom & Autumn ran the kitchen.

Autumn & Dad hide in a sheet fort while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Noah found us in the fort.

Everybody who wants Christmas gifts waves to Santa at the end of the parade.

Halloween 2008

Autumn and her friend Peyton went trick-or-treating with their mothers while Noah and I stayed home to give out candy. The girls filled up their buckets in under an hour and we've just about given out all of our candy.

Outside Pictures 9-13-08

More Fun On The Trampoline

Another Prayer Answered

Autumn has been praying for a trampoline and a baby sister lately. Thanks to a coworker and her husband, we now have a trampoline in our backyard. Autumn has also recently prayed that one of Maria's coworkers would not need surgery when it appeared that she would. Maria's coworker didn't end up needing sugery. Autumn also prayed that her grandmother would get more kittens and kittens appeared at grandma's house that same day. So, Maria and I are really hoping that Autumn prays that her baby sister won't come for a while!

Thanks bunches to Mike & Angela for bringing over the trampoline and staying to set it up for us. Autumn, a few nieghborhood kids, and I jumped on it until it was dark. We had a blast and hopefully we'll sleep well tonight!

First Day of Daycare

Actually, it was Noah's first day and Autumn's second day. My mother always took pictures of us on the first day of school, usually waiting with the other neighborhood kids at the bus stop. With that in mind, I asked Maria to take a couple pictures of our kids today before she dropped them off at daycare. Here are a couple...



This last one is Noah at daycare just after Maria dropped him off. I'm happy to report that his day got better.

Unofficial End of a Long Summer

Yesterday was Autumn’s first day back at daycare after being out for more than a year. Our neighbor, Carrie, dropped Autumn off yesterday morning and Carrie said Autumn marched in like a trooper. Autumn is a very social person and though Maria has done a tremendous job of keeping the kids active over the past year, I’m sure Autumn just loves being back in daycare with her friends.

Noah’s first day of daycare is today. He didn’t start yesterday because he had a biopsy scheduled at Duke. The biopsy went well. The doctor who did the procedure said that his heart function was excellent (better than good). Because they tried to go into Noah’s heart through his groin, recovery took a bit longer. When we first saw Noah in the recovery room, his nurse was struggling to keep him on his back. For the next three hours, it was up to Maria and I to keep him on his back. That was not fun. Noah also had a board strapped to his leg so he wouldn’t bend it. Somehow, he managed to kick the board off a couple of times. He wasn’t having any fun, either.

Noah is feeling much better today, though, and is in daycare now. Maria said he cried when she droped him off, but she feels that he’ll do all right. We’ll post more news and pictures of his first day at daycare later.

Maria is also getting ready to get back to teaching again after being out with the kids for a year and a half. She seems slightly more excited than overwhelmed right now. I know that she’s ready to get back to her profession and her friends again.

As for me, I mowed down all but a couple of tomato plants in my first vegetable garden and am looking forward to applying what I learned from this year's near failure to next year’s improved garden.

The messages I get when I'm away

This one came with the caption "Things got too quiet and this is what i found! Oh and there is a tractor in the toilet. Yeah i get to fish it out. Incase u r wondering it's #2"

The explaination on this one was "Check out my new do. thats right mama put mousse in there! it ain't going nowhere! lol!!!"

This one entitled "Mmmgood!"