December 2007 - images from my phone

Jude with his little friend Ryleigh
The guys reading Cars with Jonah in his classic pose

I love these house shoes..Anita picked them out for him from the church for Christmas. Jonah received the Mater version.

Jonah "vegging" out.

Independence Day 2008

This picture was taken on my cell phone so it's not the best quality, but the boys went to the Independence Day Parade in Wentzville dressed in their flag t-shirts and camo cargo shorts..they were so cute. They waved their little flags around until the parade participants started throwing candy out. Their little cheeks got some sun. Oddly enough, most of it faded by this morning! Their skin must be more forgiving than mine. I'll post parade pictures later..check back.

jonahandjude.com transfer complete

Finally all the data from jonahandjude.com is transferred and complete.

This is what the front page of the original site looked like. Jude was just a wee one. :)

Jonah, Jude, Courtney and Shaeley, November 2007

Jonah cheesing and Jude needing sunglasses.
Mom's flowers still look like that..they grow on until it freezes.
My sweeties. Praying you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families! God Bless!

Shaeley, Courtney, Jude and Jonah. & Callie.
These are Jonah and Jude's best buddies..Courtney and Shaeley. Courtney looks like a model in this picture..the perfect smile. She gets lots of practice because her mommy loves taking pictures of her sweeties..maybe I need to pull the camera out a little more often! hehe
We couldn't get Jude to keep his fingers out of his mouth. He's ALWAYS teething.
The boys.

Oh Lookie! Jude doesn't have his fingers in his mouth! And they are both smiling at once..lucky mom.

Jake and Charlann's 40th Anniversary Celebration

We surprised Jake and Charlann with a 40th Anniversary party in October and this is a family picture of us all. Ken and Lisa and their children Victoria and Grant were adopted in long ago. From left to right: Jake, Rachel (Kent's wife..they were married this past March!), Kent, Charlann, Lesh, Jonah, Jude, Victoria, me, Lisa, Kenny, and Grant.

Being that it was their ruby or 40th Anniversary, we celebrated with lots of red.

The entry table..we had actually started tearing down and then remembered we had not taken pictures of that table, so we threw a few things back on it! :) It was a crazy day.


The cake was italian creme with cream cheese icing. Delicious.

November 2007 - Jonah-3 and Jude-1

November 2007 - Jonah-3 and Jude-1
What a busy fall season we have enjoyed so far! We had our church ground breaking ceremony, a trip to Louisiana for to throw a surprise party for Lesh's parents, (we also got to visit with dear friends in Louisiana too: Pastors Terry and Junelle Bushnell and Pastors Kenneth and LaRae Hasty and family.), our Annual Harvest Party, a visit from some great friends from North Carolina, and this week, our Ladies Fall party. Things don't seem to slow down for us, so we snuck away for two days to Branson this week and enjoyed them..all except Jude being sick! Thankfully, Monday evening he started feeling better and we were able to sleep all night Monday and Tuesday evenings...thank you, Jesus.Jude is verbalizing more and more and can understand most of what we say to him so that is helpful. His vocabulary isn't extensive, but he pokes out a new word every once in a while. He can say "no" quite well when he needs to. He also understands when I tell him I'm going to spank him...he grins and laughs and stares..almost as if he's waiting for me to chicken out in a game of chicken. I can see him mentally saying, "now..hey..you wouldn't do that to me. I'm too cute." Ha! He also refers to me as "DaDa!" He refers to Lesh as "DaDa" too, so I'm not sure what he's trying to tell me. heheDon't ask about Jonah and potty training. He does it when he wants...end of story. On the toy front, he's been carrying around the same "little red truck and little brown jeep" (that's what he calls them too) for nearly two months now. To say that he is obsessed with them would be an understatement. He sleeps with them, takes them to church, out on errands and plays with them constantly. And watch out if Jude gets his little paws on them. Is this normal? Does it mean that he is insecure and we are bad parents? hehe!! Maybe it is separation anxiety delayed..and with cars instead of parents..because parents aren't as cool as toys. (I'm already getting that "Don't talk to me in front of my friends" look occasionally. He also refers to me as "Mom" now. I guess it's preparation for what is ahead. Nevertheless, his Hotweels are peeling paint because he's handled them so much. Both he and Jude have a million toys and end up playing with the same 8 or 10 Hotwheels..I'm ready to ship all the other things out! :)

Jonah and Daddy driving "The Duck" in Branson on Lake Taneycomo.
































Jonah looking "baby-ish" to me. I think Lesh is more excited about driving this boat/truck than Lesh is. :)











My very handsome and sweet husband. We're celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary this month. Being married to him has been a fun adventure.









Me and the snuggler. He loves to play with my hair while he sucks his fingers.

July 2007, Jonah-3 and Jude-1, Part 3

I'm getting more regular!! :)
Jude can follow commands really well! I asked him to touch his hair, my nose, his ears..he could do it all. Then I saw him pick up a little piece of toilet paper on the floor of our bathroom and put it in the trashcan!! I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but he sure looked like he was doing it with purpose. I sure hope so..we need someone around here who has time to clean! :)
This is the funniest..Lesh made me some brownies after the boys were in bed this evening. I'm staying up to do bookwork and I told him it would inspire me to work harder. hehe Anyway, I took a bite and had already finished chewing it up. I decided to check on Jonah since he was supposed to be falling asleep to "Jonah" - the Veggie Tale movie. I got in bed with him and kissed him on the cheek and he said "what you got in your mouth?" I honestly replied "nothing". He said "open your mouth so I can see". (We had a small night light on in the room.) So, I opened my mouth and he said "You got some chocolate in there?..a little bit of chocolate?" I laughed and said "No." He laughed and said "uh huh. You do have some chocolate in there. I thought so," as if he was amused that I was trying to keep it a secret. I about cracked up. There was nothing in my mouth, so I guess he identified what I had eaten by my chocolaty breath. How do 3 year olds get so smart??!!