There's a reason I've been slacking on the posting...

...and that's basically because we've been super busy lately, I hosted a baby shower for my lovely cousin Jamaica today, and we just bought 9 acres of land to build a house on this week!!! We've been talking about building a house ever since we got married, and we figured that we might as well take advantage of the incredibly low interest rates that are being offered right now. So, here we go! Obviously, the house will take quite a while, but the land is a step in the right direction! We are pretty excited about it, even if it is just a big hunk of land with a well and some electrical wires.....oh yeah, and let's not forget the giant conrcete foundation that was left by the last guy who wanted to build his house on this particular piece of property but then ran out of money. Yeah, the same foundation C.J. gets to attack with a jack hammer and a loader....we'll keep you posted on how successful that endeavor is! But really, we are super excited and thankful for the doors God has opened up for us. I'm sure I'll keep you updated on the happenings in the "future home" department. For now, I guess we'll just continue letting Owen wander around the property getting incredibly dirty from the massive piles of dirt everywhere and accumulating more scrapes and bruises from falling off of a concrete foundation over and over...

On a different note, my cousin Cory and her daughter, Ashley, were among the guests at the shower today. It was so fun to see them and while they were here, they were kind enough to let me take a few pictures of them. Aren't they a darling pair? Cory, there are more in Picasa if you click on the link by the photos.

From Cory and Ashley

From Cory and Ashley

From Cory and Ashley

From Cory and Ashley

From Cory and Ashley

From Cory and Ashley

P.S. Pics from the shower to come....hopefully!

I think spring might actually be on its way!

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

P.S. I've noticed that I'm accumulating quite a few pictures of Baby Jack...I think that's probably because he's the only one that will sit still for more than half a second so I can take a picture!

A sneak peek...

So I was trying to hold off on posting these until I could edit them with photoshop, but I just can't hep myself. C.J. ordered photoshop for me thanks to a co-worker's student discount, and it's supposed to arrive later this week. I will probably re-edit these and add a few more when it arrives, but for now I thought you all should enjoy how stinking cute Jamaica is pregnant (even if they are edited with lame 'ole iPhoto). So enjoy these for now, and more to come later...

From Jamaica and Baby

From Jamaica and Baby

From Jamaica and Baby

From Jamaica and Baby

From Jamaica and Baby

From Jamaica and Baby

From Jamaica and Baby

From Jamaica and Baby

From Jamaica and Baby

Just a cute picture...

From Blog Photos

Candyland...

One of Owen's favorite things to do lately is play Candyland. Granted, he needs some pretty substantial guidance to play the game properly, but it just boggles my mind that our little boy could even be old enough to begin to play a board game. He asks to play it just about every evening before bed time...and typically we give it a whirl. He's still working on getting his colors down, but he is certainly enjoying the process. Here are a couple of pictures of Owen and Daddy playing the other night:

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

Oliver and Owen

Oliver came over to spend the day with us today so that his mama could get a few things done around the house. While he was here, we ventured outside in the FREEZING cold to spy on a street sweeper that was just down the road. Although they did enjoy watching the street sweeper, I think they had even more fun getting all of the passing trucks to honk at them.

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

Here they are requesting a "honk, honk" from a passing semi:

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

Catching up...

So I know I have been pretty inconsistent with blogging lately, but I'm trying to get back with it, I promise! But to fill you in, this past weekend I had the privilege of going to our church women's retreat in Leavenworth. It was really nice to get a little bit of a break, fellowship with other women, meet new friends, and enjoy a change of scenery. Me being away for a few days also meant that Daddy and Owen got to spend the whole weekend just having guy time. At some point, they apparently went to Big R to see the baby chicks they get in every spring....Owen LOVED them. He told me all about them when I got home. Here is a picture from Daddy's iPhone of Owen enjoying the chicks:



Also, a few days ago, or maybe more like a few weeks ago, we needed to go to town one afternoon to run some errands. We were thinking it would be fun to go out to dinner while in town, so when Owen woke up from his nap I asked him if he thought it would be fun to go to a restaurant for dinner and what he wanted. Well, his answer was pancakes. Since we didn't really have any specific place in mind, we decided that we might as well indulge him and let him have some pancakes. Off we went to Denny's...and I seriously can't even remember that last time I was at Denny's...probably in college after Dickerella's or something of the sort. Anyway, we get to Denny's and show Owen the children's menu and his face seriously lit up. They had, I believe, 4 different pancake options on the menu complete with a picture of the dish. After a bit of deliberation over whether he should choose the alien pancake or the mini pancakes covered in strawberries and whipped cream, he chose the latter. And I think it's pretty safe to say that he thoroughly enjoyed them! Here he is taking in the oh-so-healthy goodness (also taken with Daddy's ohone):


By the way, the children's pancake meal was only $2.99 and on Tuesdays kids eat free. I have to admit, I think we might be back because sometimes its just fun to see your child enjoying life!

lunch date...

Today Owen and I went to town to meet Joy for lunch (which, by the way Joy it was REALLY good to catch up!). Since we were a bit early, we took a little walk around town and I took a few pictures:

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

For those of you who aren't around Owen very often, one of his favorite things to do right now is play "ready, set, go." He gets down in a squatting position with his hands on the ground and then takes off, sort of like a very rudimentary track move. Well, here is a pic right out of the blocks:

From Blog Photos