It's the simple things...

Gideon is sitting next to me brushing my hair with a My Little Pony comb.

Juliette has been saying goofy things like "Doggone it!" "Oh my gosh!" and "Dang it!" I'm going to have to watch what I say very carefully.

Now, Gideon is setting next to me, putting the camera to his ear and saying hello.

Now, he's holding it up to his eye, getting right in my face saying, "Cheese!" or some gurgle that sounds like cheese.

Speaking of cheese, Juliette was in the fridge asking me if she could have some and brought me the 1 lb. wedge of parmesan we got at Sam's yesterday...uh, no cheese for you.

Julie calls panties candies.

She is very excited about her new "dancing dress."

Gideon is leaning against me now, putting his head on my shoulder...such a cuddler (he also smells like poop, but oh well, I'll get to that later.

He's pressing the buttons on the camera and saying "uh-oh."


I'm so blessed with these kids! I love that I can have conversations with Juliette now, this Mommy thing gets better every day. I'm so blessed to be able to stay at home with them! I better take the camera from Gideon before he starts deleting stuff.

Happy Ballerina

Naked smiles

I'm going to smile really big!
Ray makes this face sometimes

Nonny's Next Bestseller

Why did God make Juju?

God made Juju for many reasons.
God made Juju because Mommy and Daddy had so much love they needed a very special little girl to share that love with.
God made Juju because he knew he was going to made Gideon and that he would need a very sweet and smart big sister to look up to.
God made Juju because Nonny and Poppy needed someone very, very special to make the world seem all better.
God made Juju because he has wonderful plans for her and that she is the only little girl that can do all the things that God wants Juju to do; like sing songs about Him, and help other little boys and girls know Him better, and help Mommy and Daddy to understand how very much God loves them by sending them the best little girl in the whole world.
But mostly God made Juju because sometimes he just likes to show off.

Nonny's Night Night Book for Juju

Why did God make nighttime?

Nighttime is for sleeping so that everybody and everything can work and play during the daytime.
If birds didn’t sleep at night they couldn’t fly and sing pretty songs when it’s daytime.
If dogs didn’t sleep at night they couldn’t bark and chase their tails when it’s daytime.
If cats didn’t sleep at night they couldn’t meow and chase furry little mice when it’s daytime.
If cows didn’t sleep at night they couldn’t chew on grass and make milk when it’s daytime.
If horses didn’t sleep at night they couldn’t run and buck when it’s daytime.
If pigs didn’t sleep at night they couldn’t play in the mud and oink when it’s daytime.
If chickens didn’t sleep at night they couldn’t lay eggs and scratch in the dirt when it’s daytime.
If mommy and daddy didn’t sleep at night they couldn’t play with Juju and
Gideon or take care of them when it’s daytime.
If Juju didn’t sleep at night she couldn’t run, or play with Gideon, or take care of Elmo, or help Mommy, or play outside, or color, or draw, or jump up and down, or watch movies, or visit friends, or go to the store, or give hugs and kisses when it’s daytime.
So God made nighttime so we can sleep so that we can do all the things we want to do in the daytime.

Pictures from Nonny's

Juliette loves the tire swing, even if Elmo was being strangled.


Brown feet, White feet

Juliette and Paw-Paw, well she calls Granny Paw-Paw, so I guess this is...

Juliette and Granny




Too pooped to party...she's still recuperating














I feel bad that I don't have any to post of Gideon, especially since he's usually the easier one to photograph. I guess that's a testament to the fact that he is much more mobile than he has been in the past. He didn't stay still long enough to get a good shot.

Pool Day

Happy, happy boy! He finally likes water!




A couple of nuts











We bought a new blow up pool and the kids had lots of fun in it this afternoon. They have been extremely bored since coming back from Nonny's. They just follow me around the house all day and ask to go back to "the other house." It's hard for a 3-year old to understand that the "other house" is 500 miles away. They needed a distraction! Tomorrow we have friends coming over to distract even more.

Insomnia Cooking

I haven't been able to sleep well lately, so I made another blog to post recipes. You can go back to my profile and click on Insomnia=Cooking Site or go to http://insomniacooking.blogspot.com

I ate too many chicken nuggets

...and I watched too much Elmo

I'll just feed myself!

Mr. Fix-It

First, you've got to have a plan.

Think really hard.

Time to get to work.

That was fun!

Army brats

Every time I get a good picture, I realize after I get them on the computer that she has something on her face. Things would be a lot easier if she wasn't addicted to ketchup.


Juliette is very proud of the picture they made. She just put it on the refrigerator and said they did a good job.

Dear God...

It's been really nice having Daddy around the last few days. We had a retreat for the residency program and then he has been on leave the last three days also. So today we went to Chucky Cheese's and Juliette had lots of fun. I'm sure Gideon did too, but he's a little young to express that. He did have fun being tickled tonight though and asked for "tickle." So after watching the American Idol finals (of course) we put Juliette to bed and asked her if she wanted to pray and she said "Dear God," and mumbled some then said, "Thank you for the mouse," (what she calls Chucky Cheese), "Amen." As I type this she's singing Happy Birthday Chucky Cheese's. She's a rascal sometimes, but she's so darn cute!

On another note, I can't believe Taylor Hicks won. He reminds me of my dad, the Beatles haircut, even the goofy dancing!

Water Babies

Gideon is the anti-water baby. He had just finished screaming in this picture. Can't blame him too much, the water was cold, but Juliette didn't seem to mind much. Look at that chubby tummy. He's finally getting some fluff.
I had to drag her back in the house after three hours of this. She also tried to hose down her friends that were over yesterday three times. She got in a little bit of trouble, especially by the third time. When Megan was leaving she told her mom, "We were really good, but Juliette was so bad, she did all kinds of stuff!"

Winkin Noggin?

Look Mom, it's Bubblefoot
Gideon's first Oreo

Juliette has been asking for the Winkin Noggin movie over and over. We finally figured out what it was. On the Veggie Tales Daniel and the Lion's Den movie there's a song..."We could lock him in a dungeon, we could let him rot in jail..." So it wasn't Winkin Noggin, it was We could lock him.

The Tricycle

Juliette loves her "bicycle" that Granny got her. She doesn't get the concept of "tri"-cycle. She has had a lot of fun riding Elmo around on it. She's gotten very upset when it fell over and Elmo "got hurt." Granny...it cost $20, so we were able to accessorize it with the tassels and horn and buy a big purple ball. :)

The kids have enjoyed watching our baby birds that are in the nest on the back porch. There's five babies and it seems like all the mommy and daddy bird do is fly back and forth all day long feeding those babies, and I thought MY job was hard.

Insomnia stinks

Everyone but Ray seems to be suffering from insomnia lately. Gideon was up from 12-3 a.m. last night! Anyhow, we had a fun and busy day. I'm surprised I can hold my eyes open. We went to the Waco zoo with a bunch of friends. Lindsey and I rode together. Her son, Reed seems to have a crush on Juliette. He calls her his honey. It starts early! Anyhow, I was so excited about taking pictures and very dissapointed when my battery in the camera died as soon as we got there. :( We had fun, Juliette thought the bears swimming in the water and playing with each other were hilarious. Gideon just rolled around in the stroller and smiled like usual.

Then we got back and painted the deck! This has been my never ending task, but I'm so proud of myself. I'm learning how to do all sorts of things. Barbara and Gina helped. They're cheap labor. I pay them in DQ Blizzards. Juliette was asking, "What are you doing?" so much that we started counting the times and finally gave up. To keep Gideon occupied I gave him his very own caramel sundae to eat himself. He has been very interested in eating with a spoon. He loved it. He was a big gooey mess afterwards.

Dad pulled out the guitar tonight and he and Juliette had a father-daughter sing a long. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, 123 Jesus Loves Me, and the ABC song were hits. Julie used the pic while Ray did the chords. She dropped it in the guitar once. "QRS, uh-oh." Really cute. Later she said she "broke DFG."

Then, off to bed with them. We were coloring in her princess book and she said, "Mom, I want to be a princess." How wonderful to tell her she already is, she's a daughter of the King.

An interesting week

"Look at me Mom"

















It is much more fun to play the drum from the inside.











I didn't realize how urgent it was to keep up with the blog, but my mom claims she's addicted. Anyhow, I'm proud of myself...I've stayed sane all week with Ray being gone until 8 to 11 o'clock every night. Not only that, but I've learned to do all kinds of useful things. I've successfully learned how to start and use a push mower on my own and how to jump the battery on the car. I also had to use the electric hedge trimmer. When I did that last weekend, Julie was looking out the window yelling, "Are you crazy, Mom, are you crazy?!" She also cheered on Poppy fixing the deck, "Good job, Poppy!"

Julie also got a boo-boo that she is very proud of. Donna pushed her down her driveway on a skateboard and she skinned her elbow. She has been showing everyone. Since washing it made it feel better, I think she thought it would make her diaper rash better too and when she had a bath yesterday, she was sticking her butt out saying, "Wash butt please Mom." and trying to look over her shoulder to make sure I did a good job (I guess).

We went to some furniture stores Wednesday while Gideon was with the babysitter. Julie had to tuck Elmo into the beds. I'm glad nobody minded. We had a fun girl's day out. Julie really enjoys looking at shoes too. She tries them on and is very particular. Then she says, "No, this one's too big, this one's too little..."

Then Friday, we had three moms and 8 kids over to play. It was a very noisy day.

Gideon has been talking a lot more. He says, "Pees Mom" all the time, sometimes he points or says eat and yesterday it sounded like he said movie. I don't know if it would sound like he's talking to anyone else, but it sounds like it to me.

Poppy the Hero Part 2

Hole-y kids having fun thanks to Poppy


Gideon, offering a peace offering to Frizzy for taking his deck. The blanket is his favorite possession in the world. Karen, it's the one your mother-in-law made.

I got a comment from Lisa! Ash, thanks so much for forwarding the site. Does anyone have Shelley, Cat and Jeri's address?

By the way, it's 10:45 and Ray isn't home from work yet. The next two weeks are going to be interesting. Internal Medicine stinks.