Evie Kaye ~ 5 months old

Growing like a weed is an understatement!  Evie Kaye is having so many firsts and she is such a delight!

Enjoying starting to drink out of a sippy cup.

Yummy oatmeal!

Rocked to sleep.

How did she get over there?



Look at her go!

Whoops! What a neat trick!



Emma Ann ~ 20 months old

Emma Ann is as busy as ever!  She's also as dirty as ever!  We spend most of our days outside working in the garden and they migrate between there and the playground. 

Here Emma Ann is trying out Evie Kaye's new swing.  I think it wil be more fun once installed!

What a grin!

Her new trick.

What a helper!  I love her sweet heart!

Emma Ann enjoying being in the back of Dada's truck.  There are not many times that I look at my children and say, they look just like me or Robert.   I see small traits in all of them that remind me of us.  But this picture for sure is Heather Ann Tanner.  I have several pictures of me at that age where you couldn't tell us apart!



Mrs. Jennifer

We were so sad to leave Ethan Jay's speech therapist, Mrs. Ashley in California because she was great.  I was anxious that Ethan Jay's new speech therapist wouldn't be as patient with him or as loving but yet firm.  Well I must say, we could not be happier.  Mrs. Jennifer has been amazing for Ethan Jay.  He has improved by leaps and bounds and loves her dearly.  He is excited for each visit with Mrs. Jennifer even though he may not be as eager to do his work.  We are so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful support to help Ethan Jay along.

Ethan Jay ~ 31/2 years old

Oh my sweet sweet Ethan Jay, how I do love the!  He feels things so deeply, just like his Momma.  He can be so very excited about something, love something with all of his little heart, be greatly disapointed when something doesn't quite work out like he would like it to, or deeply saddened about a loss or even his wrong-doings.  He is as silly as can be and as quirky a kid that I have ever meet.  I see so much of me in him and I guess that is why I get frustrated so often.  I see not only the goodness of myself in him, I see the sin also.  I love him with every inch of my heart and feel so blessed that God entrusted him into our care.  I never know what he is going to come up with, what he is going to build, what I am going to find him getting in to, what he is going to say, or how he is going to brighten my day!  He is constantly growing and learning and his speech has improved tremendously.  What a blessing and light in our life he is!

He was oh so proud of his very pretty artwork that he did with these "stickers".  Even when I was trying to peel them apart before they got too stuck together he was upset that I was messing it up.  After we had a little talk and I explained what they were, he was very upset at his mistake and helped me stick them on. 

The empty wrapper.

Our little drummer boy!

Instructions for making:

One very inginuitive little boy.

A Curious George episode.

A Tupperware bowl.

A rubberband.

An old belt.

Two Straws.

Ta Da, You have a little drummer boy!

Pretty awesome!



I'm just going to start by saying that we don't own a single gun in our home, real or fake.  Ethan Jay has never really been around a gun or watches shows where they have weapons.  But somehow this boy knows all about a gun.  Robert says that it is ingrained in a little boy, I don't know.  But this is his latest edition that he constructed out of his robot pieces.  Pretty realistic, huh!?!?

There are so many times when discipline is clearly needed, but I am also astounded at what has happened.  I mean that he was able to engineer this without me knowing is a pretty good start.  I didn't realize that fingernail polish was such a good glue, but the whole thing had to be trashed.  I thought it was pretty amazing!  Where did he come up with this?

And I wonder why things like this happen.

I had checked on this pot 3 times to see why it was not boiling.

After about burning myself all 3 times I finally realized that I had the wrong burner on!

I might need a nap!  Maybe in another 18 years!





Park Day!

We have a great little park not far from our house.  The kids love to go and it is always such a special treat!

Ethan Jay meet a sweet friend and they had a blast playing together.

Evie Kaye doing what she does best, snoozing!



My little helpers!

Our trash cans and baby pool that had originally held the baby chicks needed to be cleaned out.  And who better to clean them out than my children!  They loved every minute of it and I enjoyed the help!  I am trying to find more and more ways that the kiddos can help out around the house.  Sometimes it is as simple as putting their clothes in the dirty clothes, helping me unload the dishwasher or picking things up off the floor.  Ethan Jay is also a master washcloth folder.  We have pretty much stopped using paper-towels around here and use washcloths instead.  I bought an 18 pack of white washcloths at Walmart for just a few dollars and use them for washing faces and hands and cleaning up spills.  So we go through alot of washcloths around here and Ethan Jay has been the perfect helper in folding them!

Baby, Baby, Babies Everywhere!

 I found Ethan Jay pouting and holding his baby.  He had put a band-aid on her head and told me that someone had given her a bobo!  He also needed to change her diaper he told me and he found more bobo's!

Do you love his trying to be mad face!

Still a little mad.

I think he's over it!

Emma Ann trying Evie Kaye out in her baby doll cradle.

My Uncle Michael made this cradle for me when I was a little girl!  It sure is getting some good use!

I think she almost fit's in it!

All covered up and ready for night-night.

A little snuggle time in Emma Ann's bed.

I can't tell you how many times I find these two like this.  Of course it freaks me out but all the while they are both giggling away!



Garden Update!

Our garden is doing wonderful!  I can't believe how great it is doing, the weeds also!  I have such a hard time keeping on top of those little buggars!

Here Emma Ann is "helping" us in the garden!

Look at our bounty!  Crazy!

Something has obviously been enjoying my bean plant.

Tiny little okra!

Look at those watermelons!

Onions, or at least I hope they are down there!

Pimentos.  They look so beautiful now, but I have to wait patiently for them to turn red before picking them.

Silly me, no one told me that growing okra the size of a baseball bat is not a good thing!  I thought that I was master gardener!  This one was not tasty at all.

An eggplant almost ready!