Videos!

We figured out that we can get a little video of the kids on here if we use our web camera. Enjoy!

Here's Joey singing the "Praise Song" from Patch the Pirate. (you may need to turn your volume up.)

And here's the real Joey. (you may want to turn you volume back down.) :)





Kylah showing us that she can say a lot of words!

Happy 80th Birthday Grandma!

My Grandma recently turned 80! We celebrated with most of the Manes family on Saturday. Grandma requested ribs, and we were so glad she did. My uncle Pete outdid himself once again with these ribs! Mmmm-mmmm!!

Here's the birthday girl with her cake. Joey was so happy to help put the candles on the cake and sing happy birthday "to my Nona..." (the great grandkids call her Nona).



For her birthday present we framed a picture of the four of her kids (who aren't often all together), and she loved it! I heard a "this is what I've always wanted." So sweet!


Grandma and her four kids.


Nona with all of her great grandkids. (This was the best we could do!) :)


Joey loving on his Nona.




Andy and our sweet nephew Michael. (Sweet again after he was crazy on the Prednisone!!)


Mommy sure loves her Kylah...and I think the feeling is mutual!


Papa got in some good time with his 3 grandkids. Joey and Michael loved to wrestle with Papa.


The three cousins watching Max and Ruby on TV. You gotta love that relaxed pose Kylah has!



Kelly, mom and me.



Me and Dad on Thanksgiving.


Just a sweet picture of Kylah.



Dad and the 30 pound turkey he brought in his duffel bag on the plane.



There's the food czar---uhhh, chef--- himself there in between Andy and Joe.



The little boys (Joey and Michael) had a blast playing football with the big boys.



Must have a cup of hot chocolate and cake after a hard game of football.



A face of pure bliss.


After a weekend full of activity---and super late nights for the little ones---they were ready for a good night's sleep. Notice Joey on the floor and Michael in Joey's bed. Joey was so excited to have Michael sleep in his room that he offered Michael his bed, and Joey slept on the floor. He sure does love his cousin (aka buddy). :)


We had a super fun weekend, and we were so thankful to be able to spend time with my Grandma on her birthday. I brought a little of the Manthe family to this Manes get-together by making Nana's famous rolls (these are always a must-have at any Manthe get-together). I think the original recipe came from Joe's great-grandma. It's been around a while. Everyone loved them on Thanksgiving...so much so that I had to make another batch for the birthday celebration on Saturday!! Thanks for the awesome recipe Jennifer!



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So, as I started this blog this afternoon, Kylah brought Joe's MP3 player to me to listen to. She's seen her brother put these earphones on before, but she's never actually put them on. Once I put them on and turned on the music, she was jammin'! How cute is she?!


And here she is singing away with the music. She seems to love to sing, so maybe she'll be a good singer like her daddy.


Whew...is anyone tired after reading that marathon of a blog post? I am after writing it!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family/friends. I know I have a ton to be thankful for this year.

One of those is healthy, happy children. Speaking of my children, here was Joey's prayer before supper tonight: "Dear Jesus, thank you for ours day. Thank you so much for ours supper. Thank you for us to sell our house so we can move to Arkansas. And thank you for Christmas and we can open our presents. Amen"

more girl time!

On Wednesday, Kylah and I got to have some girl shopping time! It was so much fun. (Joey spent all day with my dad doing errands and shopping, etc., so it was just Kylah and me. )

I had forgotten how easy it is only to have one child!

We had a wonderful time at Target--eating and shopping--, and then we went home and took naps. :)

Mommy loves you, Kylah Sue, and I hope to have many more fun girl days as you grow up!

(This was our attempt at a photo of ourselves.) :)

O-ey

Our sweet baby girl has now started saying Joey's name.

She says "O-ey". It could be one of the cutest things in the world to hear. Especially since it is the first thing she says in the morning when I get her out of her crib: Oey? She adores him (and the feeling is mutual!) I realized how sweet Joey often is to Kylah when I heard them playing before bedtime. He kept calling her sweetie: Here's your book, sweetie. Here's your blankie sweetie. I love watching them together. The other night I walked downstairs to get them for supper, and they were both sitting on the couch watching Curious George, and Joey had his arm around Kylah's shoulders. It's the little things in life that makes being a mommy so great!

A permanent vacation

This was sent to me in an e-mail from a friend of mine (we'll refer to her as C). I thought it was too funny not to share!

The other day, someone referred to being a stay-at-home as a permanent vacation. I laughed and told her to call me after she had three kids. :)


So, on this day of my permanent vacation, I...


Woke up early to work out before the kids were awake.
Had a card and gifts ready for my sweet hubby on his birthday when he walked out the door at 6:30.
Cleaned up puke that soaked through the bedding all the way down to the mattress when J woke up sick.
Gave the kids a bath.
Let M hop out while I scrubbed down J, at which point she started to pee, trailing it through three rooms of the house before I caught her.
Did 4 (and counting!) loads of laundry.
Chatted with our realtor, who just happened to tell me she was showing our house this evening.


And all of that was before 9:30.


In my mind, vacation looks a little different than this. Maybe involving a beach. And no puke. :)


I agree C! And I'm not even home everyday. (A lot of times I think my days at work are much less work than being home, even though I love being home!)

Girls' night

Why is it that kids love to play with toys that aren't really made for them?!
Joey saw the exersaucer in the storeroom the other day, and both kids have been playing in it nonstop since then!

Joey's at Cubbies right now, but trust me, he has also spent a ton of time in this toy lately too!

Mommy asked me where my belly button was...
there it is!

She loves to pretend to talk to daddy on the phone.

Kylah and I have been enjoying a little girls' night while Joe is at choir and Joey at Cubbies. It's so much quieter...hmmm... :)

Currently, she found a bag of balloons to play with.



And is trying to blow up a balloon. :)


Oh how I love her thick hair with those cute little curls in the back. Isn't it gorgeous?


And now the little princess is in bed, and I'm watching Husker volleyball. Good times.

We woke up this morning

Why, you say, is waking up this morning such a big deal?

Well, I say, because we sure are glad to be awake (and alive) this morning. Last night around 2:00 am, Joe and I were awakened by an alarm going off. We went out of our room to investigate. It wasn't the smoke alarm. It was our carbon monoxide detector! We have actually never heard this before, so we were a little surprised by it. You see, we had made a fire earlier in the evening, and before bed, Joe shut the flue thinking that it was fine since the fire had been out for a few hours. Boy were we wrong...and boy are we glad we have a carbon monoxide detector.

All we had to do was open up all the windows in the living room and kitchen and turn on all the fans. The alarm didn't go off again, and we went back to bed (hoping we had gotten all the fumes out of the house.)

Good to know that our detector works. And, good to know that we can hear that detector with our door closed and our sound machine on!!! (Funnily enough, the kids slept through the whole thing even with both of their doors open. And I just did spell-check, and apparently funnily is a word!!)

Thank you, God, for keeping our family safe last night.