Thanks Nana!

Look what arrived today. Normally I don't even answer our front door because we get tons of solicitors trying to sell us a Kirby or a security system. I need to put up my no soliciting sign I bought! Anyway, I looked through the blinds and saw someone wearing purple shorts and holding a large box! FedEx delivery! So I put Michael down and headed for the door. The box was quite large, I wasn't sure I'd be able to carry it. Well it was lighter than I thought, lighter than Michael- I can definitely handle this. The box was addressed to Michael. We opened the box & out popped a big overstuffed yellow bunny! Michael sure likes it. I was surprised by how big it was. Thanks Nana! Michael loves his yellow bunny! I made the video just for you so you could see how much he enjoys it.

6 Months Old

Happy 6 months Michael!




Sitting for about 5 seconds, about to fall backward.
Bulldog drooling!

This picture just makes me smile!

Michael's first day of life.


I agree with Emily about celebrating the first half birthday! Happy First Half Birthday Madelyn!!! I don't think there will be any cake involved, but maybe a nice dinner for mommy & daddy. Michael is 6 months today. I can hardly believe it. He is growing up so fast! He'll be 1 year old in only 6 more months! Hard to believe!

Today I took him in for his well baby check up and shots. He was smiling at the doctor and slobbering all over me; you'd think he'd have a tooth budding, but not yet. In the waiting room he'd pretty much smile at anyone that would look at him. He seemed more excited to see them than me at the time. The doctor told us he was in the 60th percentile. I figured he'd be higher up than that but I guess there are much bigger babies out there. He actually did really well with his shots. He cried for about 10 seconds during and after each shot. I gave him his pacifier & comforted him & he was just fine. He's a brave little boy!

I have to share this story. While we were waiting for them to call us back for his shots there was a family of a brother & sister. They were probably between 6-8 years old. The dad told them that if they didn't cry when they got their shots they would get lunch out. Then almost immediately after he did the sister started crying. He told her it was okay and cuddled her. You know he felt bad for saying that. They ended up going in before us to get their shots. Sure enough when they came out the little girl had tears rolling down her cheeks. Poor girl. I sure hope her daddy still bought her lunch, especially because he helped bring on the tears in the first place~

Here are the official stats:

Weight... 18lbs 7.4 oz

Height... 27.17 in

Head size...17.52 in

Happy Easter

Here are a few pictures of us today at our friends, Dirk & Laura's, for Easter. Thanks for taking pictures Laura! Joe was there but we just didn't think to take any pictures of all three of us. We were just trying to get Michael to smile! I think he was ready for his nap!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner! Laura made a ham with pineapple & potato salad. I brought green bean casserole, deviled eggs & ice cream lemon cake sandwiches, which were actually called Whoopie Pies. Here is a recipe for some, but not the ones I made. These actually look better!

I can't believe Michael will be 6 months already on Tuesday! You can definitely tell how big he is in these pictures, especially in the one where I'm standing. I'll post his official growth on Tuesday after his check up.

Bigger and Braver in Texas

I remember crickets at home always making noise in the bushes. When you would try and look for them they would stop chirping. So you couldn't find it. Not in Texas! They just come right into your home. Of course there isn't much in the way of hiding in our yard- no good bushes. This is the first time I've seen one in real life. Lately I see a few a week. These disgusting crickets keeping coming in my kitchen! Too bad they make a huge mess when I squish them. Oh well I guess I needed to sweep and mop the floor anyway. Are the crickets this big in WA? I don't imagine that they are because of course... everything is bigger in Texas.

My First Tag

ABC's of Me: Tagged by Jan
A. Attached or Single-Definitely Attached
B. Best Friend(s)- I have lots of really good friends but Melinda is my best friend.
C. Cake or Pie-Cake for sure! I'm not too much of a pie person.
D. Day of Choice-Friday, the beginning of the weekend- duh!
E. Essential Item-Conditioner, did anyone see Survivor last night? They sure missed their shampoo and conditioner.
F. Flavor of Ice Cream- Choc. Chip Cookie Dough!
G. Gummy Bears or Worms-Umm Sour Gummy Worms and Choc. covered Gummy Bears.
H. Hometown-P-Town, WA
I. Indulgences-Lately it's been a shower.
J. January or July-July, I like it hot!
K. Kids-1 cute little boy!
L. Last movie I saw in theatre- The Bourne Ultimatum- Fantastic!
M. Marriage Date-June 12th, 2004
N. Number of siblings-4 Brothers and 1 Sister.
O. Orange or Apples- Apples- Green or Yellow! No Red!
P. Phobias or Fears- For Joe to leave to Iraq
Q. Quote- "I just put my feet in the air and move them around." Fred Astaire
R. Reason to smile- Michael's smiling at Joe when he gets home from work.
S. Season- Summer, I said I like it hot, plus the sun!
T. Tag 4-Hmm don't know if 4 people read this? So I'll tag 3. Emily & Melissa & Laura
U. Unknown fact about me- My drivers licence says I'm 5ft 2inches when in fact I am actually 5ft 1inch. Hey what's wrong with that? People lie about their weight on their licence all the time or don't update it~MOM. :)
V. Vegetarian or oppressor of Animals- I eat meat!
W. Worst Habit- Picking hair or fuzz off of Joe- He hates it!
X. X-rays or Ultrasounds- Ultrasounds~while pregnant, to see life inside is amazing!
Y. Your favorite Food- Pizza!
Z. Zodiac- Scorpio- Today's Horoscope~Use that positive social energy to show your friends a good time -- they deserve it and might not even realize how good they've got it until you point it out. Life is sweet, so enjoy it!

Joe's project

No Michael is not the project... just a happy baby.


Hard at work in the 90 degree weather!


Can you guess what he's building yet? Yes that's our grill
in the background. It was our Valentines Day gift to each other.


Almost done just need to glue and nail the top. (Anyone need
a microwave? It's the start of our yard sale pile). The shelving is
on the left that Joe purchased.


Finished project with peg board hung too!


Last week Joe decided he wanted to organize the garage. I told him we could do this if we sold a car or found some way to save a little money. So he came up with the idea to sell his gun that he has owned since he was a police officer in GA. He pawned it and made $275. He bought a storage shelf with part of the money and fit most of our things on it. He has been talking of making us a deck in our backyard. It would be nice to barbecue in the back and not in the front, where all the neighbors see us. So we went on a shopping spree with the rest of the cash! Well I shouldn't say WE because it's not my kind of shopping, but I was there. We loaded up a cart at Lowe's with a table saw and a few other little things. This weekend Joe decided he wanted to build a workbench. I decided this would be good practice before the deck. He was outside in the garage pretty much all day on Saturday building this. It turned out great. I'm actually quite surprised by how sturdy it is. The mask he's wearing is actually a cap that he'd use for his hair while wearing his helmet for his motorcycle. I came up with this idea when he said he needed something to cover his face. It'll work for now, but I think he's going to bring home a mask tomorrow from work. Good Job Honey! I also included a picture I took of Michael last week while feeding him rice cereal. He loves his highchair! You can see he's enjoying himself.

Squeeze those cheeks!

Everyone is always telling me they want to pinch/squeeze Michael's cheeks. So here you go... Don't worry I got him to smile too!

The proof is in the pudding... or video

This week Michael has decided to roll over. Last night we went to this lovely gals house and layed him on the ground to show everyone. He didn't do it. So here it is. I think he was a little tired last night, especially since he fell asleep shortly after we started our movie.

Can you spot a fake baby smile?

This post here inspired me to make my own.

Mc Rost

My brother McKenzie went to Scotland last summer and brought this back for Michael. I couldn't decide which picture I liked of him wearing it. I liked them all. It says "Mc Bunny". Thanks Mckenzie! He loves it, especially since Daddy served his mission there.

Here's a pic with the toes in the mouth. Don't you wish you were this flexible? I wish I was.

Yardsale Finds

This past Saturday Joe, Michael and I went yard selling. I decided togo to our ward's boyscout yardsale to raise money for scout camp. We discovered that the whole neighborhood was having a yardsale weekend. They could only have a yardsale that weekend so everyone was having one. That area of town is very ummm picky? I would rather say upity. You have to drive 20 mph. What's funny is that there is a school in the area and they have the 20mph school signs. WHAT IS THE POINT!!! You have to drive that slow everyday all day anyway!
So back to my yardsale finds. I bought four sleepers for Michael for only $2. They were asking $1 each but thanks to my mom's instinct in me to ask for less , I did!



Michael is wearing the fourth one. He is wearing 6-9 month PJs. They're so cute on him! I'm proud of my find. Especially since he is going through clothes so quickly. I'm almost out! More yardsales here I come!










I also found this Bunt? Boont? Bonk? No Bundt, BunD-T! Bundt Cake!!! The Bundt Cake pan was only a buck!

I can only think of this movie when I look at my bundt cake pan. It's one of my favorites. I have to repeat the line from the movie everytime I say bundt. Bunt? Boont? Bonk? BunD-T? BundT?

This is for Grandma Shoemake

My mom loves this video of Michael so I posted it just for her. I had put him in this a few days earlier but I caught his first actual "jump" in it here. It's funny that it doesn't even phase him what he did.

Our First House

Here are a few pictures of our home. We just moved in the middle of January. We have made a few improvements or should I say Joe has made them. The improvements aren't huge but they are a necessity.
Our eat-in Kitchen. You can't see it here but there used to be a white dishwasher! There was a mistake in color of the original buyers. We now have a black dishwasher.

The picture on the left is the view from the front door. We have a lot of painting to do!

The picture below is our after of one of Joe's projects. We don't have a closet or shelf near the front door so next to our storage and back door we had this space. Joe filled it with two shelves & a coat rack that match our food storage shelves. He was very proud of himself. He is on his way to becoming a fix-it kind of guy.

Bowling

Michael went to his first bowling alley over the weekend. Unfortunately he was not able to actually bowl. He didn't seem to mind that we left him in his carseat the whole time. I'm sure it was because he was on the bench and could see us all. He didn't even mind it when it got dark and the florescent lights came on. He just sat there and smiled like a good boy. Joe and I went with our good friends Dirk, Laura and their little boy Hayden. We had a good time but we all stunk. Only Dirk broke 100. I don't remember our exact scores but I did get second! I shouldn't be too proud of this considering I didn't break 100, but I actually beat Joe!

Gotcha where I want-cha now I'm gonna eat-cha!

Michael is finding his toes are all too cool. I didn't capture it in this picture but he is starting to suck on them too!

Windy...

This morning I woke up to rain beating on my window. I knew we should have turned off the sprinklers last night! This is what I found...

Has anyone seen my garbage can?

There it is three lots down!

Yes, I went & got it but almost got blown away in doing so.

This is not something you want tipped near your home. Can you tell what it is? I didn't want to get any closer than my front porch.

So much for recycling! Our recycle bin in our backyard fell & it is now everywhere. You'd think we have a dog & it found the garbage can! Can you see our measly grass? Joe has been working so hard to grow us some grass in our backyard. We're slowly getting there. Hopefully by the time Michael wants to go outside to play on the grass he'll have some in the backyard.

Trip to Georgia for Michael's baby blessing/Thanksgiving

Blowing Raspberries with Mommy

This is my favorite video of Michael thus far. It makes me laugh everytime I watch it. You'll have to ignore the fact that I look scrubby. Hope you will all enjoy it.