Visiting Heather and Drew

We were able to go and visit Jason's sister and Brother-in-law in Austin. We had a lot of fun with them and always enjoy our time there! Thanks Heather and Drew for a wonderful weekend and for taking us shopping, to some very fun parks, and for all the yummy food!! :) Here Brody is with Aunt Heather and Uncle Drew having fun at a play area in Ikea.



We went to a park that had a huge sand area for the kids to play in. Lilly and Brody had a good time playing in it! Brody is showing Lilly how the dump truck works. She really likes to play with him and watches what he does.

Uncle Jeremy is playing with Brody in the sand. Here he is filling up his dump truck with some dirt.

We then went to a fun splash park. There were a ton of kids there! It was very hot outside so it was nice to get in some water. Brody however wanted to go and play on the slides in a different area of the park.

Kaylee enjoyed her time there as well. Here she is taking a nap at the park. (Don't worry we buckled her up before we got in the car!) She is now very interested in toys and likes to hold them. She gets very upset when she drops them and lets us know that she wants it back! :)

We went to a fun restaurant that had a really cool play area for kids. Needless to say Brody did not want to eat, he just wanted to play!!!

Kaylee also wanted to get out of her car seat and play with Brody and Lilly! It was really hot outside so it was nice to be able to stand in the shade. I just have to brag on myself for a minute--- I got this little hat for her at Gymboree for 19 cents!!! Yes that is right 19 cents people, what a bargain!

We ate at this yummy crepe place! This place was featured on Throw Down with Bobby Flay as one of the best crepe places to eat at. It sure is yummy and has a very fun atmosphere.

We went to another fun park by their house. This park had a really cool climbing wall to climb on. Lilly and Aunt Holly came on it with Ja and Brody.

We went to a huge outlet mall to try and find some good deals. We were able to get some good things and Brody loved all the little kid rides they had through out the shopping center. I think this pic is a good one of the three of us, you can tell Brody is really enjoying himself! :)

Here he is on another ride. This was our way of rewarding him for his good behavior while we were shopping! Some of them we put money in, and some we just let him get on. A two year old boy will only shop for so long, so this was a fun thing for him to do while we were there.

They had some motorized boats that people could drive and Brody loved watching them! Here he is just watching the boats go. (I think this is a really cute pic!!)

We had a great time and were so glad that we got to spend some time with Heather and Drew! Brody had a great time with them and LOVED pretending that their stair case was a train! Thanks to everyone who rode on the "train" with him!!!

This past week has been pretty uneventful! We have played outside a lot and seen a lot of our family. It has been nice to just take it easy for awhile and enjoy spending time as a family. Jason was gone a lot the past 7 weeks for work. He took a new job and had to do some training out of town. We are very excited about this job and believe that the Lord gave it to him at just the right time in our lives, however 7 weeks of training out of town did not sound so wonderful to us! :) If it had not been for our family offering their support, our wonderful friends who called me to see how I was doing and set up great play dates so that we could get out of the house, and to my sister who I would call during the day when I needed an adult to talk to, I don't think I would been able to make it!! :) A great BIG thanks goes out to each and everyone of you!!

Brody loves it when we put Kaylee in his bed with him before he takes a nap or goes to bed. I got this good picture of her holding on to Brody's Teddy ( his favorite stuffed animal). You better watch out bud, little sis has her eye on Teddy!! :)

Kaylee doing some tummy time while looking at her black and white cards. We are in a program called Parents as Teachers. It is a program that provides materials and information on what your child should be doing at certain stages in their lives. I have really enjoyed doing it with Brody and am glad that Kaylee will now be able to do it as well. My Parents as Teachers lady gave us these fun black and white cards for Kaylee to look at, saying that it is good for them to look at these. Because of the contrasting color they can see them better then other things. Kaylee has enjoyed them and it has helped give her something to focus on during tummy time. I really like how she made these cards and it would be easy for anyone to do. All you do is print off black and white pictures and put them on fill folders.

I thought this picture was cute and funny! Brody was offering Kaylee some toys and for awhile she was really into it. She would grab them from him and put them in her mouth. But towards the end I think she got a little tired of him sticking the toys in her face and shaking them. :) In this pic it looks like she is saying... "Ok mom I have had enough of this, please come help me." :) --- What a good big brother though!

Brody being a little ham for the camera!

We celebrated Memorial Day with Ja's parents and family. Brody got to play outside with his cousin Lilly. Here he is pushing her around in this car. He really liked pushing her and ridding in it! (Thanks Kristin and Michael for letting them play with this!)

What a cute pic!

Our trip to the Zoo!

Today we decided to go to the Zoo! We had a lot of fun and enjoyed going in this beautiful weather! We were able to see a lot of animals and something else that Brody just loved!!! I bet you can guess what that is........

This was Kaylee's first time to go to the Zoo and yes she was awake for a lot of it. :) She did sleep on and off, but was able to see some of the animals. :) She is now 3 months old and still likes her stroller!! Praise the Lord! She is so much fun to play with and gives you a big smile every time you smile at her. She likes to watch Brody play and enjoys it when he talks to her. Just this morning Brody was telling her that we were going to go to the Zoo to see all the animals. He then told her that Noah was going to be there. :) This cracked me up!! We have been talking about Noah and reading the story of Noah's ark in his Bible. And when we told him we were going to the Zoo we talked about how Noah had two of every kind of animal that we were going to see at the Zoo in his ark. So of course in his mind why wouldn't Noah be there as well! :)

We ate a picnic lunch there...... You can tell that Kaylee is glad to be stretched out on her back enjoying the cool breeze!

So most people go to the Zoo to see the animals, most kids talk about their favorite animal that they saw, however when we asked Brody what his favorite animal was that we saw he said the train!!! Um son that is not an animal!!! You can imagine Brody's excitement when we saw the train! Here we are looking at it. :)

Kaylee and I riding the train.

Daddy and Brody on the train, the whole time we were on it, he was making his train sound, the boy loved it! :)

Here he is studying the train tracks...............

Yes to those of you that are wondering, we did see the animals as well and he liked looking at them, but he loved looking at the train! Thank you Lord for making all the animals and for making trains! :)

Our new Nephew!

Introducing my new nephew Drew Manning Stogsdill! Here are the proud Mommy and Daddy with their very cute son! (Doesn't my sister look great!) I think this is a very cute picture of the new family! One day cute pictures like this will be hard to get because he will be running all over the place. :)

What a little cutie! Congratulations Amy and Eric, we think you have a very cute son! We love you Drew and are so glad that you are in our family now!!
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Going a little out of order...
This is us at the Hospital before Drew arrived.............




We were in Branson when we received the phone call that my sisters water broke, so we made a side trip to go see our nephew being born! Really it was great timing because we were already packed and Ja was off of work for a couple of days, so it worked out great! We made it there in plenty of time and were able to be with her. We want to thank my mom and dad for helping out with our kiddo's while we were there. As you can tell in the picture above Brody was having fun with Marmee on the "train" (everything is a train these days). My dad and Jason watched him and Kaylee while I was able to be in the delivery room while Drew was being born! There is just nothing like see a baby being born, I am so glad that I was able to be there!

The proud mama with her very cute son. He was born at 10:18 pm and was 7lb 11oz and 19 inches long. I think he looks a lot like his daddy and is going to be a tall boy!

Uncle Ja and Brody meeting Drew for the first time.

Me the proud Aunt with my nephew.

Brother and Sister with their new cousin Drew. They are going to have so much fun together! Kaylee is 2 1/2 months older then Drew, but yet in this picture she looks so much bigger then him. It is amazing how fast they grow!!

Marmee and Pops with their grandchildren.

Happy Mothers Day!

This weekend we went to a going away party for some of our friends Erin and Achile, they are going to be moving out of town and we are going to miss them so much!! It was fun to be able to do something special with them and the rest of our community group.

Kaylee and I were there as well. :)

Brody and Addison had fun "driving" the car that was there and doing some other fun games that they had there.

I think this picture is so cute and funny! I was taking a lot of pics of them together and each time Brody would look away or do something silly, while Jasmine was just looking into the camera and smiling!!!!!! Brody rarely does that! I guess you can really tell the difference between boys and girls! Brody has no time for taking pictures and Jasmine has the smile down and knows how to look good and work it for the camera!

Brody loves giving Kaylee kisses. Here he is giving her a kiss and helping me get a good picture of her before church. I tried to get a good picture of him, but he was not having any of that! :)

I have some Irises that come up in the spring each year, so I have taken some pictures by them every year of Brody. Here we are in 2007.

Here is Brody in 2008. I remember thinking that I did not know how I got such a good picture of him because he was actually looking at the camera and smiling!

Here we are in 2009 on Mothers day. I tried to get one of just Brody, but again he was not having that so.... at this age I just take what I can get! :) I think it is a cute picture.

Kaylee was dedicated at our church today. We were so glad that we got to do this and take a step in front of everyone saying that we are going to raise her in a Godly home and teach her about the Lord. We pray that she will come to know the Lord at an early age and that she will follow His guidance in her life and trust in him!

Ja, me and Kaylee at church after we dedicated her. (Thanks Julie for taking the pic!)

We were so glad that Ja's parents were able to make it and be with us as we took this step! Grandpa took this picture and I think it is a good one. Brody was very surprised to see them when we went and picked him up from his class. We are so thankful for both of our mothers and the influence, guidance, friendship, and love that they have given to us! Happy Mothers Day!

Our Family Trip to Branson

This past weekend we took a little get away and went to Branson. We knew that Brody would really enjoy it and as it turns out he loved it, even though it was rainy and cold.

Here Brody is ridding on the train. This was of course our first stop and he loved being on there! It is fun to watch him experience things that I did as a child as well. He loved the loud train whistle and talked about this for days.
His other favorite thing to do was ride all the rides! Even though it was raining, the kiddy rides were still open! There is nothing like sitting in a pool of water and ridding a ride in the rain! We thought this would bother him, but he loved it! He got to ride all the rides this time since he is a little taller, and he says his favorite was the tea cups! :)

We were lucky to find a place to sit under a roof so that we could feed Kaylee and not get her all wet! She did great and definitely has Ja's layed back personality! She is a go with the flow kind of girl, we will see if she will always be that way. :)

We got smart and bought a poncho for Brody and one for us. Whoever rode on the rides with him wore the poncho so that we did not have to get soaking wet! :) It was definitely a fun day even though it was raining!

That night we did a little shopping and watched a water show. It was fun and nice to get away for awhile!

We were planning on going back to silver dollar city the next day however we got a phone call in the morning and found out that our vacation was going to take another route, so we loaded up the car and headed to my sisters place because we were going to meet our new nephew!!

(I will post pics of that after she has posted it on her blog).

Taking pics

So what do you do on a rainy day??? We (Brody and I) were working with Kaylee on her head control. She is getting better about lifting her head up for a long period of time. I think she likes to look at what Brody is doing! :)

Here she is sitting in her bumbo. She was doing really good in it and set in there for a long time.

Brody was taking pictures of Kaylee with his camera since I was taking some with mine. I thought this was so cute! He got this camera as a gift from his friend Jasmine when Kaylee was born. Jasmine's mommy knew that my camera would be out a lot and to let Brody have his very own so that he can take some pics as well. Well Julia he loves it and loves taking pictures with it. :) Kaylee on the other hand was done taking pictures!

I think this is a cute picture of her!