July 22, 2008
Kelly's Wedding!
Still trying to play catch up here, from all the events that have taken place this summer. On June 7th, I was honored to be in my cousin Kelly's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding with a gorgeous bride and some good looking bridesmaids, I tell ya! And what a fabulous weekend. We got to spend all day at a hair salon getting our hair did and makeup on, while snacking on double stuff oreo's. It doesn't get better than that. It was so much fun, all of us getting to catch up and spend the day together, all we did was laugh! We had some GOOD meals that weekend too. We had a bridal luncheon, rehearsal dinner, and dinner at the wedding! YUMM-O!

My cousin Shanna and Me!

I was honored to have been in Shanna's wedding a couple of years ago too! I have always looked up to Shanna and Kelly, they both have been very special people in my life. And I was honored that 8 years ago they were in my wedding as well! We have always been close and I will always treasure our memories we have made girls!


Jolee loved holding my bouquet after the wedding!

My cousin Dawn and Me!

Family picture at the reception!

Remind me to thank my mom for taking this one, but hey that's me!


Cute little picture of Jolee with her Granna and Pappy! She loved the reception, because she got to eat cake!

So sweet Jolee and her Daddy dancing together!

There is no way for me to capture this picture, this is just me every time I'm with Uncle Philip, always laughing!


Aunt Andrea and my brother Joseph, looking good at the reception!


She passed out way before the reception was over. That night wore her out! I don't know if it was that she had a sugar drop from eating all that cake, or the dancing, or it could have been from her hollering.."Hey Mommy! while I was up on stage during wedding". She finally got removed from the sanctuary! (Sorry about Kelly)!

Me and my brother!

Granna and Pappy holding their grand kids, so their parents could dance!

Aunt Pam and Uncle JoJo!







Nemo Party!
The weekend of Jolee's real Birthday, which is May 26th, we had a combined birthday party at Grandma and Granddad's house for Jolee and Audrey. Jolee turned 2 and Audrey turned 3! They each had their own Nemo cake, we had pools set up all over the place, and we played and ate and had lots of fun that day!

Weston and Jolee at the party!

Jolee was in love with her cake, that's all she talked about that entire weekend! She would say... Jolee's Memo take, translation...Jolee's Nemo cake!

Jolee doing her silly face!


Jolee's new ride, she got a princess tricycle from Pappy and Granna! **Notice the juice in her trunk, it is a plastic bottle with juice in it, which she calls "Pappy Juice", that's the first time she had had a drink like that and well Pappy gave it to her, and so now it is known as Pappy juice. She will go to the fridge and say Pappy juice please!

Some of the cousins and friends that where at the party!


A family picture with our birthday girl!

A family shot of Audrey with her cake and family!

Jolee still making different faces for us. This is her "kissy face"!



Pappy and Jolee with her Nemo cake! A friend of Pappy's made this for us, I bought the cake pan and she baked it and decorated it! It was YUMMY!! Didn't she do a great job?


I don't know why, but as everyone was singing "Happy Birthday" to Jolee she flipped out and started crying! Which is weird, because now she walks around singing "Happy Birthday" to herself or she wants you to sing it to her even though it is not her birthday!


Jolee opening some presents with help from her cousin Abbie!

We got some great presents! I mean my house looks like Showbiz and all , well I guess I just dated myself by saying Showbiz, because it is now Chuck E Cheese!

We had this great water slide set up, and everyone loved it! Except cousin Alex, this is him going down it, looking at that face, I don't think he asked to go down it, seeing that he is the same age as Jolee and all. But if you look closely you can see Alex's daddy in the picture and well that says enough! **Sorry, Uncle Philip I sold you out!**

We had a wonderful time with all of our family and friends!






July 21, 2008
Harmony Highlands 2008!
(Our Preschool class)

The last week of June we were in Alabama at Harmony Highlands Singing School! What a blessed week it was. It is the only vacation of the year that Silas takes a whole week of from work. After the week is over your exhausted, but a good exhausted if that makes since, we get such a blessing from it every year. We make new friends and get to see old friends, we sing, we laugh, we have devotionals, we eat (really good), we play, it's just an all around wonderful spiritual week with no tv's, no radio's, no computer's, just a bunch of people at a campground learning to sing praises better to our Lord!


Mom, Morgan, and Myself along with all the wonderful parents teach the preschool class. This year we had mostly 2 year olds in it, some younger, and just a few older ones. We had a wonderful time, but the joke became when someone asked us how class was going and what we were learning, the answer was...we are learning to sit in our seats! I mean think about it, about 15-20 2 year olds! It was challenging at times, but so much fun!

(Granna and Jolee giving Eskimo kisses)

Jolee absolutely had a blast this year! She was so good all week and loved every minute of it. She sang her little heart out all week, and participated in every thing (I was shocked, she definitely has come out of her shell)! She played so hard that week and met so many new friends, she still talks about Singing School and her friends and all the songs she learned!

(Jolee coloring a craft on baby Moses)

(Daddy and Jolee heading up to general assembly)

(Brother Bryce and Sister Helen leading a round in general assembly)

This was Jolee after the 2nd day of Singing School, she was exhausted and asking to go to bed at night. Silas's Aunt and Uncle were very gracious and let us borrow their camper for the week. It was wonderful, it helped out so much, Jolee was able to get her naps during the day and she thought it was the coolest thing ever, she called it...Jolee's tamper (camper)!

Every year the kids paint a note and this year the note was back to Do! Jolee loves painting, she painted her Do purple, yellow, and blue! Yep, I do believe she was the only one that used that many colors, but hey it was her project and she asked for the colors by name! It looks so cute and is hanging in her room!


(Granna and Jolee playing ball during break time)


(Jolee doing rhythm sticks in class)

(Jolee and her Pappy in the camper)

Jolee and Me in our matching and oh so cute Singing School shirts this year! That is all Jolee wants to wear now are her Singing School shirts! She says... Jolee wear tinging tool tirt!


I was amazed she never skipped a beat, she was singing and doing all the motions and was loving it! Here she was singing...Hammer, Hammer, Hammer!

Audrey and Jolee doing rhythm sticks, they had a lot of fun together that week. They pretty much hung together all week!

Jolee getting a little rest while sitting in Grandma's lap!

We had such a wonderful week together as a family, we got to eat all 3 meals together, we played, we sang, we just had a wonderful time all week! Jolee would wake up every morning singing the "Good Morning" song! We are still singing all the songs we learned by her request and she still asked to go to Singing School. She grew up a lot that week, she stood in the lunch line and held her own plate, she started drinking out of big cups instead of sippie cups at meals there, she showered in the big girls shower in the dorm, she thought she was something else that week, I tell ya! We are all looking forward to next year!

We knew she had learned a lot in class and had paid somewhat of attention in the assemblies, but on the way home from Singing School in the car when she started singing the scale all by herself, we were shocked and amazed! We knew she knew Do, Re, Me, but didn't know she could sing the whole scale all the way thru! So below is a video of her doing just that! But before you watch it, let me set the scene, we were in the tent last weekend waiting on the rain to pass, when I decided to film her singing it, but it wasn't till after I got it uploaded that I realized she was in her panties! So excuse that, but enjoy!


video



A Camping We Went!
(Our tent)
Saturday, when Silas got off work we headed down to a little Island and went tent camping. We had a wonderful time just being together as a family, without any tv's, radio's, or computer's. We spent real quality time with each other talking and playing with Jolee.
Silas asked for a tent for Father's Day and well that's what he got.

(Daddy putting the tent up)

Being our first camping trip as a family, I think it went very well, the tent was really easy to put up, and we only came away with one broken strap and a small hole in the floor. I'm not an experienced camper or anything but I think that's pretty good, for some people who didn't know what we were doing. It started raining as soon as we got the tent put up, so we sat inside and talked about how wonderful it would be to take a nap, but that wasn't happening with Miss. Jolee she was way to excited to sleep... so we sang some songs while waiting on the rain to stop so we could go to the beach, the one she kept asking for, is her favorite church song "hody, hody, hody" a.k.a. "holy, holy, holy"!

(Jolee doing the splits)

She had a blast in the tent, she jumped up and down on the air mattress, she ran around in the tent, and well I let her run around in her panties, because dude, it was HOT, a little rednecky you might be thinking but people we were camping in the woods!


Jolee jumping on the air mattress!

Before heading to the beach that evening, we had a picnic and Jolee loved that, we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and chips.

Us girls!

Daddy trying to get a little rest while working on his tan!


The beach was fun! Jolee is a beach girl, that's all she asked about all day...when go to beach, I'm ready daddy! The waves would knock you down they where so strong. We ran on the beach, dug in the sand, played in the water, and also Jolee and her Daddy flew a kite.

This picture is great! This is a serious, these double stuff oreo's are GOOD kind of picture!

Not to much to do when it gets dark and your in a tent, and of course we forgot the cards to play, so Jolee and I were in bed at 9;30 while Silas stayed up studying by flashlight. We were up by 6AM the next morning tearing down the tent and heading back home to get ready for church, so after church it was brought to my attention I was a little grumpy and needed a nap. So now that I am rested up a bit, I will say..... through the heat, through the rain, through the not sleeping well that night....

We had a wonderful family outing. And yes, we will go camping again!!




July 14, 2008
All in a weekend!
So as you know, the weekend of the 4th my brother and his family came down for a visit! It went by way to fast, but boy did we fit in some fun stuff...the zoo, the beach, swimming, and the boys went to daytona! So since I already posted on the zoo, this post is what we did the rest of the weekend!
On Saturday we went to the beach and had a wonderful time, HOT time, but wonderful time! We all played in the sand, played in the water, and watched as Jolee ran back and forth from the water to the sand over and over again!!

Jolee and Me playing in the sand!

My nephew Mr. Cool!

Aunt Pam, Uncle JoJo, and Weston at the beach!

This was Weston's 1st time at the beach, and I think he really liked it, especially when he got to get in the water and splash around! I think he is going to love the water just as much as his cousin Jolee does!

This was Daddy's 1st time at the beach with us this year, and he loved playing with Jolee in the water! The girl loves the beach, she laughs and runs around the entire time she is out there!

Jolee on one of her running spree's!

How adorable is he? Oh I just love him! Weston was chilled out in his little tent on the beach, we were so worried about him getting burnt, but his poor mommy got burnt enough for all of us!

*******************************************************************************

Gentleman start your Engines!!

On Saturday, after getting back from the beach, the boys headed down to Daytona to watch the race! They had a great time and where so excited. You should have seen them when they were picking out their seats and when they called to let us hear the cars passing by on the track they sounded like 2 little boys on Christmas Day so excited and pumped, it was great! I was amazed, it was loud and it sounded just like it does on TV!

**Pappy these next pictures are for you**




Thanks Guys for making the trip, I know it was challenging with a 4 month old, but we loved every minute of it! Joseph and I have always been close and I'm so thankful that even though we are grown and married with children we and our families still love being together! Come back soon! We miss ya'll!



July 10, 2008
"Monkey Luvin"
We had a wonderful time last weekend when Uncle JoJo, Aunt Pam, & baby Weston came to visit us. Jolee is absolutely in love with her little cousin or "tousin" as she calls him. The room that he slept in while he was at our house is now known as Weston's room!

We celebrated the 4th of July at the Zoo. It was so much fun, HOT, but fun! Jolee would say "Look Weston, it's manimals"!



"Jolee and her Daddy looking for some animals" Probably more monkey's!

The Roberts gang looking at some huge fish! Weston really enjoyed looking at them, he squealed and had his arms and legs just a moving, he was so excited!


My brothers adorable little family!



And my adorable little family!

Have I mentioned it was HOT that day yet? If not, Dude it was HOT! We downed whatever we could find that day, water, cokes, shaved ice, what ever we could get our hands on to drink, we were doing some sweating!



So the carousel ride didn't go so well. She said she wanted to ride it and picked out her horse she wanted to ride. But she really didn't want to, I don't think. And the reason I came to that conclusion is because the whole time once the ride started she was grabbing onto me and her head was buried screaming..."I don't want it"!


After the ride had finished, she was clapping, as if she loved it, saying...Jolee ride horse!

The girl loves her some "manimal's" as she calls them! She went right on in with her daddy picked her out a goat and started brushing it! She also to the top of her lungs across the way was saying...JoJo watch!! And Baaaaaaaaaaa-ing!


Before I could take this picture of Weston, his daddy said let me fix his hair and gave him a nice little Mohawk! He is precious Mohawk or no! We miss you guys so bad, but are so thankful we got to spend some wonderful quality time with you. Hopefully tomorrow I will get the beach pictures up!





July 8, 2008
News Alert! News Alert!
Can you guess what hurdle we are trying to accomplish at our house by the above picture of M&M's? If not, maybe the picture below will help you!

That's right we are potty training! Jolee has started pee-peeing in the potty! Yea for Jolee!


Doesn't she look so cute in her little panties? Too grown up, but cute! On the 3rd Uncle JoJo, Aunt Pam and Weston came to visit and we had a wonderful time. You would not believe the stuff we fit into one weekend. We went to the zoo, the beach, swimming, and started potty training Jolee. Joseph and Silas some how also squeezed in a trip to Daytona to watch the race on Saturday night as well. I have pictures to post of all that soon too.


It was great having them here as reinforcements for the both of us during this potty training ordeal. And that meant she also had her very own cheering squad, every time she would pee-pee in the potty, there was clapping and cheering while dancing around, stickers were given, and M&M's were eaten.


But Dude, this potty training thing is HARD with a capital H-A-R-D!!!


You have to definitely have nothing else planned to do because it takes all your time and energy, I have found out! She is doing pretty good though. She hasn't yet told me she needs to go, but I have started really watching her and learning her body language and also every time the timer goes off that means... it's time to go pee-pee in the potty like a big girl. And yes, when we hear that timer go off we run through the house to the potty hollering... its time to pee-pee in the potty, pee-pee in the potty, pee-pee in the potty!!


The only time she screams like in the above picture is when she actually is peeing, I guess maybe it's the new sensation, or just a 2 year old's attitude, I don't know. Is that normal to all you mom's out there who have gone thru this already??? Then she gets so excited, she takes it and flushes it, then picks out her sticker to go on her cute little "I did it " chart Aunt Pam made her, then she gets her hand full of M&M's and does the potty dance!!


I am very proud of her, she is doing great, I think! She got to go to Target and she picked out D-D, Ariel, and Elmo panties, she loves wearing them! We have definitely gotten a lot of one on one time in as she sits on the pot and I sit next to her reading books, singing songs, and just being silly. But I will say, I miss alot of her milestones that she has already accomplished, but I don't think potty training will be on that list!


Jolee doing her "I pee-peed in the potty dance"!