Trip to KS

 We went to Wichita for Easter weekend and had alot of fun. We stayed pretty busy seeing family and friends. I was totally overwhelmed with all of the baby boy gifts we received.  Tons of clothes, and even a car seat and jogging stroller! One of my students made this KU pillow for the baby's room!

 We colored eggs at Grandma's and Jeff's artist sister made him this Jayhawk egg.

 One of my close friends had a baby shower for me, it was fun to see everyone and different to see so much blue =)

 We are not super big on Easter gifts, but Jeff got this Mickey stuff for Josie to find before church.

 After church we had a little family outing to Botanica to check out the new kids garden and enjoy the warm weather. Here I am at 24 weeks. My mother in law asked if I was sure I was due in July.  I am also shocked at how fast I have gotten big this time around. I don't like this front view, not very attractive =)

Josie is 4 now and loves to tell everyone from friends to strangers.  She is super sweet and we hug allllll day.  She loves to play and pretend and can do almost anything by her self.  She is really excited to have a brother in July saying, God wanted us to have a boy this time. She is constant material for my status updates on Facebook.



4 years old, the party

 We had Josie's 4th birthday party at the place she does gymnastics.  It was such a fun party and all I had to do was show up with a cake! We invited 21 kids and 16 came. Wow, did she ever feel loved.  I was really proud of her, she spent time with all of her friends.

 There was a huge bouncy slide, a big swing hanging from the celing, a foam pit to jump into, and trampolines everywhere.   

 We managed to grab her for a family picture, it was hard for her to give up those precious seconds to play =)

 A few days before the party she asked me if she was going to get presents all for her, and boy did ever.  She was totally overwhelmed by gifts, each one seemed better that the last.  She was, and still is in total toy heaven.  She helped me put together goody bags for her friends and was excited to hand them out too.

 She picked out her cake at the grocery store a week before and told every. single. stranger. she passed by she was getting her birhtday cake. 

 So much fun with friends. This birthday was so much fun now that she totally gets it, and could be a part of planning it.  So I have a week left my three-year-old and then on the four. So grown up, she even wrote her own name on all of the invatations!

So Proud

                                            

 Josie has been in a gymnastics class since she was 10 months old.  She has continued with it and added a recreational cheer class last year.  I have coached cheer her whole life and she has grown up around the sport (yes I called cheerleading a sport) and cheerleaders.  Its no wonder its her favorite thing to do and so far won't try anything else. 

 So since she won't play soccer or be on a t-ball team, take a dance or ballet class, all things I'd love her to try. She has not had nay games or recitals for us to watch. Until Sat March 17th, 2012.  Josie and two teammates did a one min cheer routine.  They rocked it, all three of them did every bit of that routine, dance, jumps, cartwheels and even two simple stunts. Did I get it on video, nope, I was the coach so I was too busy telling them what to do and where to go.  Josie had her big moment when she bridged up and kicked over. (she can backbend kickover, but it made her too nervous and I wanted her to be comfortable)  It was awesome and I was soooooo proud, and dad, who was watching, had some tears in his eyes.  They preformed in front of parents, and all of the other teams of older boys and girls.  When Josie kicked over and stood up with such a proud look on her face, the gym went nuts, yelling and screaming.  It was awesome. Let me tell you I get a super proud feeling every time any of my teams are out there, but when it was my daughter it was awesome.  Wow, it was something I had never experienced before. I love her so much!

And don't worry, NO THE LITTLE CHEERLEADERS DID NOT WEAR THE TUMMY SHOWING UNIFORM!!! They looked cute in their full uniforms.  I just didn't get a pic of her in that one, this one is for dress up, don't tell my mom or Jeff but I think she looks pretty cute =) After the  show Josie and her teammates tried out for the competitive team. I am excited to coach them next year!

Its a BOY!!

On Wed we had our 20 week ultra sound.  I was excited and praising God to be this far along in a pregnancy and ready to the baby again, ANND find out the sex of course.  It was so different from our experience with Josie.  I was just so shocked to hear, well its  boy, and then to hear the tech call him, a   him and he and his for the next 10 min.  Everything so far looks good and healthy.  Jeff and I didn't do anything special announcing Josie was a girl so this time, we made our parents wait all day and told them and Josie together on skype.  We had Josie pull out a Little Bro onsie.  And as soon as she saw blue she said, "oh my goodness" in a NOOO, ITS NOT A SISTER kinda way. It was super funny to see her face at first.  Then about 30 sec later she was thrilled and still is talking about her baby brother. It helps that a bunch of her friends have or are having little bro's too. I was nervous and first, I mean I've had 4 years to get used to a girl =) but the more I think about it I am more and more excited for a new experience, and maybe saving money in the clothes department =)  Josie is busy being three and will be four in three weeks.  She must have been super tired to sleep like this >

Amy and Susan

                                                

Josie and I go out for lunch every Wednesday after her school and before Bible Study.  This week we went to Panera.  It was packed and full of women out together in pairs.  We sat down and Josie says, "mom lets pretend we are both mommies going out to lunch together, I will be Amy and you can be Susan".  She played her part the entire time we were there.  She told me about her two kids, how old they were, their names,, what they like to do.  It was crazy how she kept it up, and she did almost all of the talking.  There were four ladies eating next to us and stopped  talking to listen to her, til she noticed and was a tad embarrassed, but went right back to it.  I love how creative she is, and how much she loves to play and pretend.  I try really hard not to laugh at her, even though she is so funny at times =) We are one month away from four, and while I can't believe her life has flown by so fast, I love her more and more every day and I just can't wait to watch her grow up!

New Years Eve and Christmas

 Every year Jeff grows a beard for two months this year he made it three. Ugg, I don't like it! Our 7 year anniversary was Dec 30th and his gift to me was shaving it off. Little did I know he would keep that horrible mustache for a whole week! So Josie and I joined him for this fun picture.

 We spent New Years Eve with Jeff family and Josie had a blast.  She stayed up til midnight and took her noise maker outside and yelled HAPPY NEW YEAR!! We all had some sparkling apple cider and she drank every last bit and then picked up the bottle and chugged out of that. Hope its not a look at her future! Haha!

 We spent a weak and a half at Jeff's family's house in Wichita for Christmas and had a lot of fun.  We played with old friends and Jeff and I got to see some friends as well.

 Clearly Josie had a great Christmas.  She got the Barbie Jeep she had been asking for.  She loves it, but it is tough learning to drive. 

 We get p.j's for Christmas Eve every year, these are Jeff's picks.

 Josie and the tree, so excited to go to bed so she could get up and open all of those gifts!

 Our family of three, Josie's 4th Christmas and her last extravagant one, for reals, this year was nuts.

 Candle light service on Christmas Eve, such a precious picture, although I was freaking out letting her hold fire by her self!

Thanksgiving 2011

Jeff and his pig! We do a gift exchange every year and every year Jeff gets a gift thats not so much his favorite, but hey Josie loves it and plays with it all the time.

The kids all get a gift from each family and Josie got some cute stuff =) Last year she got this same pair of boots from Aunt Linda which she loved and wore so often they now have holes. When she opened them she was very confused, she said, "what!!!! I already have these boots, ugg!!!" I reminded her how much she loved them and how her old ones were thrown away. After that she was thrilled and excited! She's a funny girl! She also got her first remote control car. It is Strawberry Shortcake and she took it for show and tell the next Monday! Thanks Aunt Sue!

The Hall crew! My beautiful cousins and Aunt Sue. I think she looks way to young to be my aunt ;)

While most of the U.S.A was black Friday shopping places like WalMart and Target we went into town. Yup, no long lines for us at the General Store and Soda Fountain.

We are an extended family of cheerleaders and Josie was thrilled to get tossed around by her cousins =)

Here is the cousin crew with grandma and grandpa (missing Ricky Jr. and Trey, and Kim) We are all so old and attractive!

The Hall, Johnson, Jackson crew. (missing Trey) Jeff's beard makes up for the missing person =)

Lots of Football, most important was the A&M Texas game. A&M lost, sorry Williams boys!

Josie and I decorated the tree for my grandparents, she had a blast!

Puzzle time, we always set up a puzzle and sit around and try to get it done, this years was too hard and didn't get finished.

So many people to cook, I didn't have to lift a finger =) It was super yummy!

Poor Lauren, Josie followed her around non-stop!

Our Christmas tree we cut down on my grandparents land!