Sunday best

The kids are dancing to the "Jammies" song while I am blogging. This is their favorite thing to do before bedtime! It's definitely NOT calming, but they love to dance around like little crazies and do all the actions. :)

I couldn't help but take pictures of the kids before church this morning. They were looking especially cute (at least to me...) :)


I couldn't believe how well they sat there and posed for me. I am way overdue for having "professional" pictures taking of them. Hopefully we'll have some in the next few weeks.
I have high hopes since they posed so well for me this morning.

The kids are about to go to bed (after having a bedtime snack, which is a must for Joey). Joe and I rented Season 4 of 24. So...we may have a long night ahead of us. :)

Sledding

Mere just sent me these from her i-phone...

As I sit here blogging, Joe and Joey are sledding with Dave, Connor and Audrey, while Mere is taking pictures and video.
Kylah and I stayed home so I could clean and Kylah could nap. I'm tempted to go wake her up so we can go sledding for a few minutes, too.
Here is Joey looking like he's having a blast!

Joe called around to try to find a store that sells a sled, but apparently that's not high on the priority list around here. So...he filled one of our air mattresses (the one we don't really use anymore...), and took it sledding. Apparently it's working like a charm, and they're flying down the hill!

Things to do in 2010

I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions, but I think it's a good idea, in theory.
I think we could all benefit from making new goals for ourselves every once in a while (and if some people are inspired to do it every January 1st, then more power to them!)

Anyway, so I've been thinking about some things I would like to get accomplished in the next...hmmmm...I haven't really made a time frame for these things.

In no specific order:

1. Clean out my e-mail inbox.
I currently have 1,575 messages in my inbox. I always think "I may need that later," so I don't want to delete anything. It's come in handy a few times, though! My friend Amy recently cleaned out her inbox (I think she had more than mine in hers) and challenged me to do the same.

2. Print out photos and put into albums.
This is going to be a big one. Seriously, I haven't printed out a picture since September of 2006. I fear that when my kids graduate from high school I'm going to have to go hunting for pictures for them. (Sound familiar, mom?!) :)
Mere, we may have to do this one together...without kids.

3. Work out at least twice a week.
I know for some of you this may seem like an easy one, but between working, spending time with the kids, spending time with Joe and keeping up with housework, it seems like it's hard to find time to work out.
My goal is to go early on Tuesday and Friday mornings before Joe leaves for work. This way I don't have to take the kids to the gym with me (they are in daycare the other days, so I'm sure they would rather not be in another childcare while I work out!)

4. Give up candy and dessert
Done.
I can check this one of my list. I gave up candy/dessert for the month of January. I did it last year, too. I always feel a little pudgy after the many holidays, so this seems like a good way to feel good about myself/fit into my jeans better.
I almost didn't make it through our trip to Hot Springs last weekend (no thanks to you, Katie!) :)

5. Sell our house in Nebraska.
This one I'm hoping gets on the "done" side quicker than some of the others!

6. Read my Bible more regularly.
I don't know about you guys, but I always struggle with reading my Bible consistently. I know it would benefit me as well as my family!

7. Get through more seasons of 24.
We have watched seasons 1-3. We always have to get geared up to start a new season because we get so into it that we can't stop watching it. We've stayed up late many nights in the past to "just watch one more episode."

8. Get involved in a new church.
We loved our church in Nebraska. We really want to find a church here in Arkansas that we can get involved in. We want to be able to use our gifts (mainly Joe singing), serve, get connected with other Christian couples, and get our kids involved in the children's ministry.

9. Not back into any dumpsters.
Oops. I guess I can cross this off the list.
Yep, I backed in to the dumpster behind my office the first day I was there. I didn't hit it very hard, but now I have Deffenbaugh green on my right rear side and a broken tail-light.
Oops. :)
(In my defense it was icy...)

10. Not get any speeding tickets.
I guess you can't put this on your list, can you Joe?! :)


Well, I think that completes my list of things I want to do in 2010. I may think of more, but I'm pretty sure this will keep me busy for a while!

We're getting a huge ice storm right now. The leash for Simba out back has already stuck to the porch. My mom's flight has already been cancelled for tomorrow morning, so she'll be coming to see us next weekend instead! Everyone here is freaking out a little bit. They had a huge ice storm last year that knocked out power for 2 weeks for some people. Apparently one of the Walmarts was out of bread today. People are really stocking up! :)
I'm hoping we don't get it as bad as they are saying we might!

Hot Springs

We had a fun weekend. We felt like our old selves again...we went out of town. :)
It's what we do.

We travelled down to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where Joe's two youngest brothers, Jeff and James, go to school. It was fun to see both of them, their friends (and their girlfriends!), watch James play basketball, and see their church. It has been great to see how much both of them have grown up since being there. God has done great things in their lives, and He has especially brought James a long way. We are so grateful!

I made shirts for Joey and Kylah to wear to James' basketball games.

These are the backs of the shirts. Joey had a lot of fun helping me make them...and he really did stay in the lines (most of the time). :)

Flying high with Uncle James.

I'd like to pretend that my daughter is a little angel all the time, but she's not. She's started her terrible two's early...just like Joey did. But, we figure the earlier they go through them, the earlier they learn that it doesn't fly around here. :)
Here's Kylah getting a 'talking to' from daddy.

Joey got a little help from Uncle Jake.

And so did Kylah.

We had a really fun weekend. We got to hang out with Joe's mom, Grammy, Jake, Katie, Joe's aunt Kris, Jeff and James. As always, there's a lot of noise, a lot of chaos, but a lot of fun. We even toured downtown Hot Springs and learned all about the old bath houses. Maybe next time we'll be able to get one, Katie!
Now I'm working on laundry and getting the house ready for my mom to come stay with us this weekend. Yeah!
(One positive about having a small house is that it's much easier to clean!)

Happy Birthday Esther!

Today is Esther's birthday. Esther has been married to my brother Aaron for over 2 years now (way to go, Esther!). :)

Esther and I are a lot alike, and we have a great time when we are together. I only wish we lived a little bit closer to each other!

Joey loves his Auntie Esther so much! She was there the day he was born, and it was love at first sight. :)

Kylah also loves her Auntie Esther...especially when she gets ice cream from her!

Happy Birthday, Esther! We hope you have a great day!

Golf, Basketball, Fevers and Pee

Joey's been loving playing golf with his new Gator golf (thanks Andy and Kelly!) We think he's the next Tiger (minus all Tiger's recent problems....) :)
We have been loving having Joe home at 5:00! We get to eat supper together every night (which means I cook a lot more), and then we have time to play games, read books, etc. I am loving it, and I know the kids are loving it too! My hardest time of the day has now become one of the easiest.
I also like that our kitchen overlooks the living room, so when I'm cooking I can still watch Joe and the kids. One of the perks of having a small house. :)

The kids have really been getting into dressing up. I should have hit the after halloween costume sales. Well, now I'll know!

On Friday night, Joe and Dave took Joey and Connor to the Bentonville high school basketball game. The boys wore their new JBU jerseys (thanks Josh!) and had a blast! They came home hyper (thanks to the Snickers) and sweaty (thanks to running up and down the bleachers). :)

Josh, did you really have to put Cuatro on the back of Joey's??? :) (That's Joe's brothers' nickname for Joey since he's the Fourth). I've always threatened them if they really call Joey that. Apparently they don't take me very seriously! :)
The boys wore their jerseys to the JBU game the next night too!

After the boys left for the basketball game on Friday night, it was just the girls at home (me, Kylah, Mere and Audrey). It was amazing how quiet it got as soon as the boys left. We had a fun night of the little girls quietly playing, painting toes and watching a movie after Audrey and Kylah went to bed. We told Joe and Dave that it was so hard and that we would need to practice just having the girls a lot. :)

Like I said, when the boys got home, Joey and Connor were still pretty hyper, so we let they stay up for a while. (OK, they actually stayed up until after 11...does that make us bad parents?!) :)
They were rocking out with us on Rock Band. Yep, we have Rock Band and Guitar Hero now thanks to our friends Greg and Amy! Seriously, we are blessed with a lot of amazing friends.

Looking like a natural.

Joey's not feeling so good today. He started having a fever last night after the JBU basketball game, and had one off and on all night. We've just been taking it easy today: watching movies and laying on the couch. I'm hoping he feels better soon! (And that Kylah doesn't get it!) I hate seeing that pitiful sick little face. :(

Kylah's been taking good care of her baby today. She used the cool washcloth we were using for Joey on her baby, and she's been making sure she is well fed. The other night Mere asked Kylah what her baby's name was and Kylah said "Emma" clear as day. So, now her baby is Emma. We don't know any Emma's, so I'm not sure where she got it, but I think it's adorable!

Joe spent a lot of time organizing the garage yesterday. We can fit the Pilot in there now!!
Joe found a lot of things we've been missing the past few weeks. We now have scissors and curtain rods! Yay!

One thing I've been wanting to find is our little potty chair. Kylah has seemed really interested in wanting to go potty, but every time I try to put her on the toilet she doesn't want to sit on it. I've been wondering if she would want to sit on the little potty chair.
Well, today when she said potty, I asked her if she wanted to go potty, and she said "Kay." (Her version of OK).
We sat her on the potty chair, and when she got up a few minutes later there was pee in it!! I don't want to get my hopes up, but maybe she'll want to potty train a little sooner than her brother did!?

Did you notice the new shower curtain I got for the kids' bathroom? I love it!

Name change

Yep...I did it.

I changed the title of my blog.
I figured I should make it official.
I will keep the blogspot address the same as it was previous...just so you know.
Have a great weekend!!

Officially in Arkansas

Well, for those of you who were wondering where the Manthe's have been...we finally made it to Arkansas! I haven't been able to blog, because we haven't had internet at home (thanks for letting me use your computer tonight, Mere!) I also haven't had my phone (I left it at Joe's parents' house), and we haven't had cable either, so we've been spending our time getting our house put together.

Speaking of our house...it is tiny, but it's cute. We have a ton of boxes in the garage, but that makes us so thankful that we have a two car garage with this little house! I think it will make us so thankful when we finally do get a bigger house someday (if our house in Omaha ever sells...)

I can't say the trip down here was very fun, since we had to drive in snow the whole way and it took us about 8-9 hours total, but we were thankful when we finally arrived.

Joey was a little confused the first few days and kept thinking we would be going back to our house in Nebraska, but now his prayers include thanking Jesus for being in Arkansas, so I think he gets it now. Kylah doesn't seem to notice too much.

I'll start my job on Monday. I had lunch with the doctor I'll be working with today. She seems really nice and laid back, so I think it will work out well. We'll be actually splitting time at the office, because she is cutting back to part time. I'm excited to get started there!


Here's a few pictures of the last week...

Amy and Greg were such a good help to us those last few days in Omaha. They spent all day Friday (their day off for New Year's) with us helping us finish boxing up everything and taking furniture apart. And then they came back bright and early the next morning (when it was -7 degrees!!!) to help us load up the U-Haul.
We had a good time those last few days, and we even planned out a weekend for them to come see us here in Arkansas, so we all have something to look forward to!!
Thanks again for all your help, guys!

Joe and Greg took a lot of time planning and packing up Joe's TV. It was his little baby through the trip, but it got here unscathed! (Thanks to Grammy's big TV box...thanks Grammy!)

We also had a lot of help unloading the truck in Arkansas.

We had quite a few little helpers (7 kids running around to be exact!) But it still went really well, and the kids had a blast. Luckily, all the guys helping us unload the truck were daddies, so they were good about dodging the kids!

Brian and Joe played basketball together in college. I played volleyball with Brian's wife, Christine, so we are glad to be living close to them again!

Joey discovered this Mr. Incredible outfit when we unpacked. He's been wearing it nonstop.

Joey and Kylah went sledding yesterday in our backyard. It was the perfect little hill for them.


We've already made friends with our neighbors! The lady that lives next to us seems really nice, and she and her husband have two girls. The ten year old helped Joey and Kylah sled in our backyards yesterday. They had a blast, and the little girl seemed to have fun too!

Joey and Kylah made their first little snowman yesterday. I thought it turned out pretty cute!

We've been seeing a lot of these superheroes lately...

Joey and Kylah have been having fun with Connor and Audrey.

Singing the "Jammies" song with everyone before going to bed.

Well, it's now 10:15 pm, and none of the kids are actually sleeping. Maybe it was the crazy song we danced to before we put them to bed... :) We're watching the football game, but it doesn't seem too exciting.
We're supposed to be getting Internet on Saturday, so hopefully I'll get to see your comments! But, we were also supposed to get cable on Sunday...and then today...but since Arkansans don't do so well with the snow/ice, they weren't able to come hook it up yet. :)