This is Joel

This is what Joel does, the kids love to watch him

Joel and Brianna, April 4, 2007

For some who may not know my husband this is him. He has been in the arborist business for almost 6 years now. Three years ago he started his own business doing tree work, it is called Napoleon Tree Works ( very original). He still works full time with Davey Tree as well. These past two months he has been away in New Jersey working. He comes home on weekends and leaves again monday morning at 5am. I am glad to say that this is the last week he will be there. For those of you who know what it is like to be without your husband it is very hard. Especially if you have kids and hardly any family around. You get very little adult contact ( except for that annoying neighbor of yours). I am so glad he will be here, at least to sleep. Joel is a great dad, he loves to take his kids fishing, four- wheeling, camping and pretty much anything that has to do with outdoors and fun. We are proud of who he has become.

My Babies

I just realized that some of you may never have seen my little ones so here they are in all their glory. Jereme is 5, Jordon is almost 3, and Brianna is 8 mos.

Goodbye Binky

As you can tell Jordon has been a binky maniac. It was his best friend, and frankly could solve any problem in life. Well, he lost it. Of course I would have been willing to go and get ten more, but Joel insisted otherwise. He is too old he says. I say he is so cute with it. Getting rid of the binky means he is getting older and turning into a little boy. This of course means that I too am getting older. Well, the past four days Jordon has been binky free! The first two nights it was nothing but screaming and crying. I don't think I have ever heard the phrase " I want my binky" so much in my life. Finally by the third day he forgot all about it. Occasionally I will find him with Brianna's binky in his mouth and he just smiles. I did, however, finally find his binky today. It was behind his carseat in the car. I was so excited I almost shouted " Look what I found!" It was probably a good thing I didn't. I will miss the binky, but I won't miss the midnight hunt for it.

A Very Clean Butt

So today I continued the cleaning up from Thanksgiving. This is probably the least favorite of my many chores in life. Give me a vaccum, a toilet brush, a rag to dust, a diaper to change, heck I'll even spackle and paint. But when it comes to doing the dishes I would just rather not. I love to cook I love to bake, I just need someone else to clean up the mess. My husband tries to help, but I am so anal, for lack of a kinder word, that I just have to go and clean up behind him. So back to my cleaning the kitchen, I noticed that it had been kind of quiet. This is never good in a house when children are awake. I began to investigate. Jereme, good, on the couch watching TV. Brianna, okay, on the floor eating paper.... don't ask. Jordon, standing there... looking suspicious. I asked what he was doing and he said " I don't know". I then asked do you need to go to the potty ( we are potty-training). He informed me he did not. Okay, maybe everyone was just being good. I walk in to the laundry to put a load in and glace in to the bathroom. Instantly I noticed not one, not two, but a mountain of wet wipes peaking out of the toilet. " WHO USED ALL THE WET WIPES.... JEREME!". " I DIDN'T DO IT JORDON DID"...."JORDON... WHY" " I DON'T KNOW".. Now something to note. Our toilet in the downstairs bathroom can handle about one sheet of single-ply toilet paper at a time, before it explodes and hits the floor. So who do you think had to go fishing. Thats right me! I cleaned it all up just in time to walk up stairs and find that he had done the same thing to the toilet upstairs. Just Great! This toilet can handle a little more. My husband remodled this bathroom and put the toilet in that can flush an enormous amount of golf balls in one shot. However, do not be fooled. It can not flush 50 wet wipes in one shot. Next time I buy a toilet I want the vendor to tell me how many wet wipes can this baby flush, not golf balls... seriously like I want to flush golfballs.. then again if you have kids anything can happen. So once again I went fishing. I do have to say.. I am glad that I have stressed wiping enough and it got through to Jordon. Now all I have to do is stress how much!

It's Us

So I have decided that it would be faster to keep everyone updated this way. I have made efforts in the past, but all have failed. Each year I would take all the kids including the oldest ( joel, my husband) to get their pictures taken in hopes to send it out with a letter that was supposed to sum up our past year on one page. Who was I kidding? By the time pictures are half way thru my choices are as follows, a crying pose, a nose-pick pose, a half the family pose, a "i have to pee pose", a forced smile pose, a Hyper pose, a where did the child go pose, or a "its time to go I am done with this" pose. You may say that this is common for small children, however most the time they are not the problem, it would be my husband. I think that if he could pick one day each year to eliminate it would be this day. And back to the whole summing up our lives on one page thing, well it might go as follows. Joel works and likes to play with toys, Jereme is Spiderman and you must refer to him as this whenever he is in costume. Jordon, what can I say about Jordon.... he likes to make messes, play in the toilet, dump juice on the floor, rip flooring up, color on the walls, water the carpet, and just about anything that involves making mom frustrated. Brianna is an angel and gets alot of hugs and kisses. Me, I don't know I think I lost my self some where in all the confusion, maybe I should wear a costume too and leave all craziness to my husband. Help us all!! I do love my family and wouldn't trade them for anything which is why I am sharing our lives with you all. Enjoy