Payton's First Bite.

Well now that Payton is 6 months old Jennie has decided to start her on some cereal. Here are some pictures from the other night. This was her first time trying the cereal and I think she had some mixed feelings about how it tasted.


Just sitting and waiting.


Not sure what to think about the cereal.


Last chance to back out.


The face says it all. Gotta love that first bite.


Well maybe it isn't that bad.


Never mind, it is horrible.


Gotta love that face.


Here comes a little back out.


Whew, I made it.

I wish I had enough space to put all the pictures. There are some that are priceless. There were times when she didn't seem to mind and then others when she wanted nothing to do with it. It must be growing on her as she ate a little more last night and didn't seem to mind as much. I just had to put some of these on as we thought they were funny.

Maddux gets his yellow stripe belt.

Today Maddux tested for his yellow stripped belt and passed with flying colors. He was the first in his class to get it and is well on his way to his black belt. He has come a long way in a year and a half. I think we are going to have to move him into the next level class as there are times he becomes bored and goofs around. I started noticing this over the last month or so. When Shihan has to take time to explain things to the other kids, stuff that Maddux already knows, he tends to drift off and start doing his own thing. We will see what happens over the next couple of weeks. Anyways, just wanted to post some pictures from this morning.



Here he is shaking hands with Shihan after receiving his belt.



Working on some sidekicks and adding a couple of punches afterwards.



Protecting his head with the upper block.



I took Brooklyn and Nolan with me this morning to give Jennie a little break. Payton had a rough night last night which means that Jennie also had a rough night. Both Payton and Maddux had doctor appointments yesterday and both got shots. Maddux got one but Payton got three and I know her legs were sore which turned into a rough night for her. She woke up a couple of times screaming in the middle of the night. I was not at the appointment yesterday but I hear it was quite comical. Maddux had to get one shot and he was fine until the nurse pulled out the needle. He had his pants down, so they could shoot him in the leg, and he was sitting on Jennie's lap as she was going to comfort him. When the needle came out he started swinging his legs up and down saying, "I don't like shots, I don't like shots," over and over. I wish I could have been there in person to see it. They finally got him to settle down and he took the shot no problems. Didn't cry or nothing. It was just the thought that scared him more than anything. Payton was a trooper although as I mentioned as the day went on her legs got a little sore. Results from the appointments are that both kids are fine. Payton was 28 1/4 inches tall and weighed 21 lbs. at 6 months (Brooklyn only weighted 20 lbs at a year); she is a chubby little girl. Maddux couldn't remember his weight but says he was in the 60 lb range. I don't know if that is accurate or not but he is a solid little healthy boy. Anyways, we are blessed that all kids are healthy and growing as they should be.

Brooklyn is still loving school. She is very good at art and loves math (she must get that from her dad). She is always bringing home Math Superstar sheets which the kids can do for extra practice. I don't know how many of the other kids bring those sheets home but she seems to have one every day. She needs a little help, mostly to focus, but is quite good at solving those problems. She also loves to read. Her school has incentive for the kids to read each month. If they read three books and write little book reports each month they are given a free personal pizza from Pizza Hut. Brooklyn is to the point right now where she can read the book and do the report all by herself. She is going to be one smart girl. She has also won a couple of contest this year in her class. She won a hula-hooping contest for all the kids in her class and was the highest jumper in her class (some of that may have to do with the fact that she is also the tallest in her class). Anyways, she loves school and is one smart girl.

Nolan is still getting into everything. He is a handful and needs to be watched all the time to make sure he isn't doing anything he shouldn't be. His favorite thing to do now is say "what" after every question. I think it is just a game he plays to see how many times you will repeat the same thing over and over. It is cute the first couple of times but gets old fast. Finally you just have to ignore him and he will stop.

Payton is getting bigger and bigger everyday. She is making all sorts of noises and smiles all the time. She has just started to roll from side to side. Hasn't quite figured out how to pull her arms out yet so she doesn't get all the way over but that won't be long. She loves the other kids and they love her right back, some times too much. They love to get right in her face.

Anyways we are all doing fine and hope you are as well.

Maddux 2nd Birthday Party

Well as if one birthday party wasn't enough, Maddux had his second birthday party yesterday. His dojo decided to throw him a karate birthday party for him and 12 of his friends. They all came for a free karate session and then had pizza and pop afterwards. They did a lot of fun stuff and got to run around and get tired. It was kind of cool because we had the whole place to ourselves and the kids could run all over the place.



They made Maddux an honorary black belt for the day and let him lead the class with Shihan. I think he had a lot of fun although he liked to see what everyone else was doing rather than lead. They went through some punches, blocks, kicks and then had some fun punching and kicking sheets of paper. Then, unbeknown to me, Shihan had Maddux and I put on padded helmets and gave us padded swords to spar with each other. You could hit anywhere on the body or head to get a point. First he let us just practice striking each other. Then he made me go down on one knee to spar. Finally we had a little tournament with the first one to accumulate three points was the winner. The points were decided by all of Maddux's friends so I never really had a shot. They did give me one point but I lost 3 to 1. I guess that is how it should be at his party. The party lasted about an hour and a half and I know all the kids had a fun time. I am sure that his teacher does that to try and bring new students into his dojo but it was really a nice gesture of him and I know Maddux enjoyed it. Here are some various pictures from the day.



Brooklyn working on her back break fall. It is meant to protect your head when you fall.



Working on their front kicks which was probably their favorite thing to do.



Practicing their knife-hand strike.




Maddux being awarded his black belt.



The start of class. They have to sit in seiza and show that they can sit still.



Maddux bear crawling towards the paper to hit. He is actually very fast this way.



Brooklyn punching the paper. The kids love this because it makes a loud sound when you hit it.



Brooklyn giving the paper a giant front kick.



Bubba taking a swing. Look at the look on his face before he hits it. You can't tell me he isn't having any fun.



Again working on the front kick.

Well I am sorry to disappoint everyone but that was Maddux's last birthday party of the year. Two was more than enough and he is a very lucky boy. We are grateful to have him in our family and look forward to having him start school and baseball this year. He has been waiting for quite some time.

A little sledding & a Birthday Party!!

Yesterday Jennie, Tacie and I took the kids sledding. It was the first real snow that we have had all year and the kids have been dying to go. We probably got a good foot in less than 24 hours and the hill was perfect. We have gone to the same one over the last couple of years as it is close to the house and perfect for the kids. Yesterday was the busiest I have ever seen it with probably at least a hundred people sledding. Anyways we had lost of fun and can't wait to go again. Here are some pictures from our day.


Brooklyn standing by her sled getting ready to go.


Brynnley just after push off.


Addysen and Maddux well on their way.


Cannon going head first. The best picture of day was not taken because Jennie doesn't get out of the car. I laid on my belly, then had Cannon lay on top of me, then had Brynnley lay on top of Cannon and we all went down. Surprisingly everyone stayed on.


Nolan laying in the snow with Kenzie heading back to the car in the background. It was kind of funny to watch the Nolan and Kenzie try to walk in the snow. Every time they took a step the snow would be to deep and they would fall down. I think we did get each of them to take a couple of runs down the hill but then they had enough and headed to the car. I think they just got tired of walking and falling down. The fact that the other kids really didn't want to hang around and help them up the hill may have also had something to do with it.


Cannon and Maddux getting ready for the hike back up the hill. Someone really needs to build a little lift to take everyone up. It would make things a lot easier.


The hike up the hill is well worth it on the way down. Now if they would only open their eyes they could see it all.


Brooklyn towards the end of the day. It was funny because at the end of the night she had little snowballs hanging from her hair. There is just something about her hair and things getting tangled in it.


Brooklyn, Kenzie and Addysen on their way down.


Maddux dusting off his sled after a wipe out.


Cannon must think he is on a bull or something.


Maddux coming to a stop after a ride down.


Nolan just hanging out and loving life.

Just in case the kids weren't tired we then took them to McDonald's to have some dinner and burn off any energy they had left at the playground. Some interesting drama going on with a couple of other families that were there but we won't get into that. Our kids are extremely lucky to have their cousins only 15 minutes away and able to see each other all the time.

Then today was Jennie's birthday; she turned the big 33 (or according to her the new 18). After Church we went over to her parents to have dinner and cake. Her mother made her favorite, macaroni and cheese. We then had some cookie cake (a new favorite, thanks to Maddux), opened some presents, and just hung our for a little bit. A nice day just spending time with the family.


Jennie and Payton getting ready to blow out the candles.


A tradition with the family is whenever there is a birthday each of the kids get to put a candle on their piece of cake to blow out. Here is Maddux blowing his out. It gives them a chance to have a little fun no matter whose birthday it is. Here's to wishing Jennie a great year.

Happy Birthday Maddux!!!

Thursday was Maddux's 5th birthday. It is hard to believe that next year he will be in school. I took the day off of work and took him shopping in the morning and then we had a birthday party for him at Bounce City. He had some gift cards to spend so he went and got lots of superhero stuff. I took him to a game store and let him pick out his own present from mom and dad. Of course he picked out the Batman game for Wii. It doesn't matter what superhero it is, he loves them all. He then had 15 of his friends to Bounce City to jump, play and eat until they were tired. It is the perfect place because you really don't have to keep an eye on the kids because they really can't go anywhere and there is really nothing that they can hurt or break. They all had a blast and I am sure that they were very tired that night. The time goes by so fast and the kids are growing up so quick.



Here is Maddux with his birthday cake and his hillbilly teeth. Just one of the many presents that he got.



King of the world.

This is actually the first of two birthday parties that Maddux will be having so stay turned for more pictures. His karate dojo is actually throwing him and 12 of his friends a private party with fun, food and karate. It should be fun.

Maddux, we wish you a happy birthday, love you and are glad that you are a part of our family

Daddy and me.

Last night Brooklyn took me to the CAVs game to watch Lebron James. It was just a father and daughter night out and we had lots of fun. The CAVs played the Charlotte Bobcats and like every other game I have been to this year, the CAVS blew them out. I am starting to not like going to the games because in the 4 games I have been to this year they have blew the other team out and Lebron James has not played a second in the 4th quarter. We did get Daniel "Boobie" Gibson bobbleheads to add to the Lebron ones. We ate lots of food, did lots of things and had a very good time. I don't get to spend as much time with Brooklyn doing things so anytime we can go out and do something we have a lot of fun.



Brooklyn had them paint GO CAVS on her cheeks and then proceeded to have her hair painted with the CAVs colors. Luckily it came right out this morning in the shower so she didn't have to go to school with it.



We had very good seats to the game as this is the only way to watch it. The nosebleeds just aren't the same as floor level. You get to see a lot more when you are up close.



This is how she stacks up to Lebron. Not quite there yet but by the time she is grown she could be close.



Moondog is usually the favorite thing of the evening when we go to the game. Here is Brooklyn standing next to a picture of Moondog, the CAVs mascot.

We got home around 10:00 which is late for a school night but Brooklyn got up and ready without any problems this morning. Now Jennie can't use that as an excuse when I want to go to a game. The kids are the perfect reason for me to go see a game. Anyways we had a lot of fun and can't wait to do it again. In another year or so I will be able to take Nolan and get to a couple more games a year.