Less than 24 hours...

till Jamaica!!

We are so excited to go on our week-long vacation with Dave and Meredith. We have been planning this vacation since last June (you know, between pregnancies and nursing babies!!) We have always said (since both of us couples have been married) that we would go on a really fun vacation together around our five year anniversaries. Well, the timing didn't work out then (thanks to Kylah and Audrey...), but now it has!

We'll be taking Joey and Kylah half-way to Kansas tonight (mile marker 65 in case anyone knows the route). Joe's dad is meeting us there, where we will transfer the kids, give lots of kisses, try not to cry (me and/or Joey), and then drive back to Omaha in a quiet car. Then we will try to get a few hours of sleep, get up at 4:30 am, leave the house by 5:00 am, and get to the airport for our 6:40 am flight. We fly to Memphis where we will hook up with Dave and Mere, and then fly to Jamaica!

We are planning on having the time of our lives. Between having the time of our lives, I'm sure some of our conversations will consist of talking about our kids. :)

I'm not sure if I will be able to post at all while we are there, but if not, then I'll be sure to have quite the post when we get home!!

See ya later, mon!

Blankie Man

Joey's still our little blanket man. He is in love with his blankets. They are his comfort, and he loves nothing more than to cuddle on the couch with his blankets and his mommy.

I went in tonight to say goodnight after my volleyball game, and this is what I saw...

How funny is that?! He didn't even wake up when I snapped these pictures.

Saturday night we had a get together with our journey group from church. Joey's little friend Olivia has the same yellow big blanket that Joey has (although hers is actually yellow and not dingy cream.) :) Anyway, I was holding Olivia's blankie for some reason. Joey came up to me, and asked me if that was his blankie. I asked him if it looked like his blankie. He grabbed the blankie, held it to his nose, took a big smell, and said, "nope." It was hilarious!

T-minus 4.5 days and counting until Jamaica! Can you tell I'm a little excited?!

Y-U-M-M-Y

Joey thinks it's such a treat when I drive through McDonald's drive-thru for a kiddie ice cream cone (free!). Kylah got her first experience with her very own ice cream cone! She didn't quite know what to do with it at first, but it didn't take her long!

I made them finish their cones on the front steps, because they were both quite messy. :)

She loves it...and I love those yummy cheeks!

These are the kind of things we do for fun around here. Yup, those are Joey's underwear on their heads! Joey especially thought this was so funny.

Having a little "moment" together. :)

Joey has a new thing with always wanting to hold Kylah---which Kyah is not too fond of. I let him hold her at times, but lately he's actually been trying to pick her up off the floor. I quickly let him know that wasn't going to fly.

If anyone wants to come play with us, we have plenty of underwear to go around! :)

Remind me never to take the kids to the doctor alone again!

Kylah was quite the little cutie today. I love when I know that Joe will come home and just think she looked adorable. Today was one of those days!

Kylah had her 12 month check up today (even though she is over 13 months old.)
Here are her stats:
Height--31 inches (90%)
Weight--20 pounds, 9 ounces (40%)
Head Circumference--18.5 inches (85 %)

It is so hard to get a good picture of Joey and Kylah together, but this attempt was ok.

And look at this little angel face.

Who would have known he was going to be a little terror at his 3 year check up today?! He has never had any problems going to the doctor before, but today he wanted nothing to do with getting checked out; he didn't even want to be weighed!

I think he is remembering the times I had to swab his throat to see if he had strep throat. He thought everything his doctor was doing was going to hurt. (He didn't even get shots today!) The funny thing is, his doctor never has swabbed his throat; I'm the only one who has. Anyway, I was that parent with the kid who thrashes around and won't let the doctor do anything. Fortunately I'm not that parent who does nothing about it. Joey was being held with my death grip so he would hold still to let her do what she needed to do. Good thing he only has to go once a year. Hopefully by next year he'll remember that he likes going to the doctor!

Here are Joey the Terror's stats:
Height--37.5 inches (60 %)
Weight--32.2 pounds (50%)
(hard to know how accurate these are considering he wouldn't be still to let the nurse do it!)

special Papa time

Val and Esther get the prize! They guessed right about what Joey did with Papa yesterday. (I think Val knew from Joey talking about it, but I think Esther just guessed right.) :)

Joey got to use his new fishing pole and went fishing! Apparently they trudged through the mud and climbed fences to get to the pond, but they made it. (My mom and Kylah went along to watch and take pictures too. My mom was a little sad that she forgot to take a picture of Kylah.) :)

The first thing my dad promised Joey (last Christmas, and Joey's been talking about donuts and fishing since then!) was donuts.


Gotta love that chocolate face! And yes, Joey does love his Papa!


Papa started by teaching Joey the basics of fishing. Joey even got to get the worm ready to put on the hook.

Then Joey got to sit by himself and see if any fish were biting.

Doesn't he look like a pro?!

Joey follows Papa to a new fishing spot. (Notice the cute fishing hat the Grammy got for Joey!)

Waiting for the fish to bite.

He got one!! He was a little timid to actually touch the fish...I love that he is gripping his shirt, but is still so excited.

I absolutely love this picture. He is so proud of what he caught.

The count of the day was five! Joey called me at work when they got back and was so excited to tell me that he caught FIVE fish.

Looks like now Joe and I will have to find a pond to take Joey fishing at.

Look who's three!

Our "little" Joey is three today! We actually celebrated his birthday yesterday with all of his grandparents. My parents are in town visiting, and Joe's parents and Grammy drove up yesterday evening just to celebrate with us. We had a blast!

On the way in to Pizza Machine.

She's not the birthday girl, but she is pretty cute with Gramma!

One of the many games Joey got to play. The games would keep his attention for about a minute, and then he was off to the next one.

This was one of Joey's favorites. He got to drive the train all by himself.

Grandpa volunteered to take Joey to start playing games while the rest of us finished eating. Of course they found the basketball game! :)

Another of Joey's favorites. This was a ride similar to one at World's of Fun that Joey rode, but this one actually went even higher. You can tell by the expression on his face that he is loving it. He did miss Mackenzie and Bella as his riding companions, though!

Playing air hockey.

Joey loves his Nana and Grammy!

Grandpa is trying to talk Joey out of going on the little roller coaster. (which really did go fast---it was not a kiddie ride, and we were all sure he would be so scared)

But, Grandpa couldn't talk Joey out of it...and away he went.

Kylah had fun on some rides, too.

She was born to drive! My mom even put the money in so it would go, and Kylah loved it!

Kylah loves Papa's whiskers! She couldn't stop touching his face. It was adorable.

Kylah is still definitely a mommy's girl.

Gotta love Joey's affectionate gesture with Grandpa.

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Back at home, and time for some cake and presents.

I borrowed this cake pan from Joe's mom to make this super cute froggy cake. Joey loved it, and he had been waiting for his froggy cake for a few weeks!

Blowing out his birthday candles "all by himself."

Time for presents...Joey even gets excited when he opens cards. This one's from Grammy, who gave him a fun bag full of goodies!

Joey got a new bat and tee-ball set from daddy and mommy---with strict instructions not to swing the bat in the house!

Joey got a fishing pole and tackle box from Papa and Gramma. He was so cute when he opened it because we said, 'Joey, do you know what it is.' And he says 'it's a, it's a, it's something.' He was trying so hard to figure out what it was!

He got a whole loot bag full of fun stuff from Grandpa and Nana, including a LeapPad!

We had such a fun celebration of Joey's birthday, and we are so thankful that so many of his family was here! Thank you all so much for travelling all the way to be here for his birthday! It means so much to us!

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Look for another fun post tomorrow. It involves something fun Joey got to do with Papa today with one of his new gifts. Can you guess what it is?

How to eat yogurt like Kylah...

Does anyone remember this post?

Well, tonight was Kylah's turn to experience the wonderful world of feeding herself yogurt. She must be a little younger than Joey was because she doesn't really do well with the spoon yet.

But, who needs a spoon when you can do this??

Yeah...this is good! (I love to see her little teeth when she smiles big!)

Wow, I can't believe mommy's letting me do this!

Just thought I'd throw one in from Joey back at that time.


Bottom's up!


What?! I don't see anything on my face!


After I took off her shirt, I realized yogurt kind of makes a good hair gel too!

I think Joey was getting a little jealous, because all of a sudden he asks me to take his picture and started eating his yogurt straight out of the bowl too.

He also wanted me to tell him how silly he was like I was telling Kylah---which I obliged.
Does anyone else think Joey looks so grown up lately? (And I think he's looking more like his daddy everyday.)

Funny Joey Story:
Those of you who know Joey well know that he sleeps with three blankets: big blankie, blue blankie, and little ni-ni---(like night-night)... (it's funny he still refers to his little yellow blankie as his 'ni-ni'...this is what he called his blankies before he could say the word.) I've digressed...

Tonight we apparently put Joey to bed with only his two blankies, and no little ni-ni. I heard him in the monitor asking for his little ni-ni. I hid it under my shirt like a belly and walked in his room. He thought it was so funny. I asked him what was under my shirt. He pats the bump..."Kylah?", he says. :) No, Kylah's sleeping in her crib, silly. What could it be? "A baby?" (Apparently he remembers me being pregnant!) No, I say. Maybe you should peek and see. He gingerly lifts up the bottom of my shirt and says with a giggle, "it's my little ni-ni!" We of course had to repeat this a few times---which he has to do if he thinks anything is funny.

7 days of wearing underwear for Joey! I'm loving it!


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Today is my parents' 32 year wedding anniversary! Happy anniversary! (And, no, my mom did NOT just call and remind me that it was their anniversary. But, she did tell me that I'm not obligated to call them on their anniversary...phew!!)