Christmas time is here!

Just the beginning of a VERY fun season to come!

Random Fall Fun

Here's hoping the autumn weather lasts a little longer!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!

Happy Birthday and Anniversary

Happy 40th Birthday to Mike and Happy 45th Anniversary to Art and Danna! We had a wonderful surprise celebration on October 16th! Here are some shots of the fun!

Even more pics

Some more pics

Oh my!

Well I must go tell Mike it has been more than 3 months since I last posted. Shame on me. Catching up on the last 6 months would be as follows- We remain busy all the time; Emma is fast approaching toddler-hood, or at least she wants to since she is already crawling and pulling herself up on things at the age of 7 1/2 months; Joe is the best big brother ever- he loves Emma so much but he is beginnging to see that she will take "his things" and that is not sitting too well. I am taking much of September off work since the outcome of the convention did not go so well, and I am spending time with the kids, and attempting to get our house free of clutter (aka- baby items we will never need again!) Sorry it is only one post, but here are LOTS of pictures of the kids over the past several months. ENJOY!

Random

Maybe Joe was too hot, maybe he is telling me his pj's don't fit- but either way, only my son would strip himself out of his pajamas before falling asleep on a cold winter night! I should have made a real bet, because I told Mike that Joe would wake up in the middle of the night and be cold.... Joe did wake up at 1:30AM, partly because he was cold, partly because he heard Emma cry. Oh well!

And the top picture is Joe and me getting rid of our cabin fever! We had been cooped up in the house all day so after Mike took the snow blower down the drive way and helped some neighbors, it was time for Joe and me to clean off the cars and move them so Mike could finish the driveway. Since I do not have a winter hat, Joe kindly gave me the crazy one he "stole" from his Uncle Greg. During our walk through the neighborhood I got some weird looks- but whatever - I was not going to tell Joe I wouldn't wear it! :-)

Family Fun

Lots of family visits this past weekend! FINALLY Uncle Chris, Aunt Cheryl, Bella and Brie were not sick and able to see Emma for the first time! Papa John had a blast playing with the kids. Aunt Dionne, Steven, Aunt Corinn, Eva, Amelia and Dominic came too and had fun visiting Emma and playing trucks with Joe. Despite the cramped quarters in our house, it was great to see everyone and let all the cousins play together. Looking forward to Easter!

Siblings

Already they are plotting against their parents!!!! And Joe enjoyed reading to Emma about peek-a-boo baby! Emma was enthralled with Joe! :-)

Hanging out

Emma was having some fun last week hanging out around the house. Looking forward to when we can get out and do some visiting, but need to make sure everyone is healthy first!!!!

The birthday continues!

Joe's birthday week of celebration continued with a party at school on Thursday. Aunt Carolyn made the very cute (and yummy) Elmo cookies! And then on Sunday we went to Merrill for the final birthday party. Again Aunt Carolyn scored big with the tractor cake! Joe had a wonderful time and thinks birthdays are all about "my cake"!!!!!

Joe's early Birthday

Our big boy gets lots of birthday parties this year! His first was today with momma's family. Joe helped bake his cake and had a blast. He could not wait to eat it once it was cooked- I had to tell him it was hot all day yesterday. Poor kid! Many thanks to Grandma Lori, Papa Lee, Grandpa John and Great Grandma for the gifts and spending time with us today.

Settling in at home

Emma is settling in just nicely! She is a very good sleeper, not even flinching when her big brother comes running down the hall yelling for her!!! She is sleeping about 4 hours at a time, eating well and is quite content in her new home! Little does she know the chaos around her :-)

Emma Ann DeShone

Emma Ann joined our family on January 31 at 1:16PM. She was 18 days early and just like her brother, came with little warning! Thank goodness Grandma Danna could come stay on a moments notice, and Aunt Corinn was able to fill in for a short bit with Joe. Clearly she was tired of the hospital and napped the entire ride home!

Gone so long!!!

No excuses for the delay- oh wait, full time jobs, toddler, pregnancy, etc.!!!!!!! Anyway- here are a few new pictures of Joe from around the holidays. His first bubble bath, chillin' in Aunt Carolyn's hat and the BIGGEST sucker ever from Aunt Bethie during her visit home in January. Some great memories for Joe before his little sister arrived!