Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Happy Faces

Another short summary of our life. Everybody is still alive and doing well. We all stay busy and the boys sure keep us entertained. No telling what the future holds, but we sure are enjoying what we have right now. Too many blessings to count, but we try to count them every now and then. Wish we could see more family more often, but for now, this will have to do. Love and hugs to all of you, and we will see all of you again, eventually. PS, Congrats to Rachel's cousin Dale for completeing Ranger School without recycling (you can check out the link to his page and see what he is up to next)


Isn't he just the cutest and happiest little baby you have ever seen. Jerry loves to smile, A LOT! He has the cutest little laugh and laughs all the time too, he sounds like he has the hiccups when he gets really going. Now he can roll over both ways, but tends to get stuck when he gets there, which makes him none too happy. The exersaucer is his favorite toy because he gets to stand up and see everything around him. This kid will wear your arms out wanting to stand up and see everything. He is such a mamma's boy and watches mommy everywhere she goes, but he has no problem letting other people hold him. Tyler says that Jerry doesn't like him because he gets fussy when Tyler is holding him and I walk by. What can you do?


Thomas loves his baby brother and is a huge help. He can tell you what Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore say. When he started doing Piglet, baby Jerry laughed and laughed, so now, whenever Thomas starts to play with "Baby Brother Jerry" he says "Oh d-d-d-dear" to try and make him laugh again. Thomas is all boy and all energy. The other day he was playing outside and Tyler looked out to discover him sitting in a pile of dirt playing away. He gives lots of hugs and has discovered how much fun it is to play with blocks/duplos. Daddy helped him build a good strong base for a tower (about 6 inches high) and Thomas made the rest of it almost as tall as mommy. It was so tall he couldn't reach the top anymore, even standing on his stool. There would be a picture of it up here, but it was one of those days when I had not made it to the shower yet, and since I am the editor, I vote no picture.


Thomas has also discovered dandilions and how much fun they are. He ran around the yard finding every one he could and blowing them all away. He doesn't look at all mischevious here, does he. Not to mention his obsession with having his picture taken - he has to see every picture after you take it, thank goodness for digital cameras. Thomas also loves to play with his "new friends" (anyone who will play with him that isn't family) and loves to see pictures of his cousins. If we are lucky, he will know people's names by the time he meets them.

Tyler is, well, Tyler. He works and takes care of all of the family. I caught him and Jerry taking a nap the other day and it was too good a photo op to pass up. Jerry has this silly habit of sticking his feet up in the air then kicking them down and in the process kicks the blanket off. The only way to get him to sleep is to lay down with him and hold the blanket down on him. Unfortunately, most of the time the person putting him down falls asleep too, hence the cute daddy-son picture. Tyler loves his new job and it is going very well. He likes the people he works with and they actually put up with him. His latest favorite topic of conversation is that the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. Poor Becky got a phone call after the first goal (not that she cared, she just put up with her brother calling, as usual).

Rachel is decorating cakes again, and actually taking a class to learn to do it the right way. For Tyler's birthday she made a peppermint devil's food cake with peppermint buttercream filling that had pieces of peppermint in it and a peppermint chocolate ganache frosting. That was one of the best cakes ever, really. Since the entire family is eating at least one cake a week now, she is trying out all kinds of fun new ways of doing them. The rainbow cake is a yummy yellow cake with a chocolate pudding filling. That one didn't stay around too long either. Are ya hungry yet?

Random bit of info for you. Rachel also mowed the grass for the first time in her life. Yep, the entire front and back yard, all by herself (and it only took 2 hours). And now she swears that a riding lawn mower IS a good idea and admits that Tyler was not just being a weenie complaining about wanting one.