Spring Days

So it seems like these days every chance I get I'm shooting a photo of the kids. At home, at the park....you get the picture. (get it? "get the picture"..ha.) Now seriously, I love these little slideshows that Picasa does, it's so easy to put lots of pictures together without having a really long post. Here are a few of the blog worthy.

Emily Crawls

From previous posts, you know that Emily has been doing push-ups and getting ready to crawl fora while now. Well, last week (on Mother's Day, aw.) she finally managed to go forward! Thus, SHE CAN CRAWL! Her first efforts were less than graceful (no pun intended), but day by day she's improving. Here she is after a week. Take a look....

I know this starts a whole new chapter in parenting 202 for us, but you can't help but be proud and cheer her on as she tries so hard! So I guess it will soon be time to break out the baby gates, de-accessorize my coffee table, put locks on all the cabinets and maintain a constant watch for anything on the floor I don't want in her mouth. I'm tired just thinking about it! But non-the-less I'm so proud of our baby girl! Way to go Em. WAY TO GO!

Mother's Day Pics

My parents got Ryan and I a new camera for our anniversary, so I've been trying to learn how it works! It's taken a few days longer than I had wanted, but here are a few pics from Mother's Day with the Poe side of the family.

Be sure to notice the pic of the Ryan's grandparents with the four great-grandkids...that's Jillian protesting the picture!



We really had a great day and were so glad that Sonny and Joyce were in town to celebrate. We celebrated Grandma (Nanny to the kids) Joyce's birthday too. It had been a while since we all hung out as a family, so some family time was due. It's crazy how much these events have changed with all the additions to the family. It seems like we spend most of the time wrangling our kids. I didn't even get to beat Sonny in cards! (Next time, Sonny, I promise.)

Happy Anniversary!

Today Ryan and I celebrate 9 years of wedded bliss!

It’s pretty hard to believe that 9 years have come and gone. It’s even stranger to think that we’ve been “together” for 13 years (we started dating in 1995). We’ve spent nearly half our lives together! Sometimes it feels like we’ve packed a lot of life into these 9 years, other times I think that 9 years is a long time.

I can’t really remember when Ryan and I met. We grew up together. We probably met in the nursery at church or something. Our memories of each other stretch far back into our childhood years. Not many couples can say that! We didn’t really become good friends until high school. We started dating in 1995 and by 1999 we were just a couple of kids getting married. We weren’t even 21! But the rest is history, a great history.

So what do we have to show for all these years?

• We’ve moved 5 ½ times in 9 years. (The ½ is for moving into Steve and Sandy’s basement for 2 months.)
• We’ve lived in 2 apartments, 3 houses and a basement!
• Been to Disney World twice, but only once with kids.
• We’ve attended 3 universities between us ( and one of us still doesn’t think he’s done :)
• We’ve only had one pet, a beagle named Lucy (whom we’ve managed to disown and pawn off on my parents, who would now like to disown and pawn her too! Poor, misunderstood Lu.)
• We’ve owned 6 cars, but have only had car payments 3 out of 9 years! Praise God!
• We’ve got 2 great kids.
• I have 2 scars to show for having those 2 great kids. :)
• We’ve made a lot of great friends, whom we’ve enjoyed sharing our lives with.

It has been a busy 9 years, never a dull moment! I love how it’s turned out and look forward to how the story will continue to unfold.

Getting to Heaven...on a rocket?

Funny Story.

As I said in my last post, my parents came for a visit from Missouri. Some of our friends here in Indiana have met me dad, Vince. Short history: about 18 years ago he was in a motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed, so he's in a wheelchair, which is now normal to me and I can hardly remember him before.

Anyway, back to the funny story. When kids ask my dad why he rolls around in a chair all the time he usually (jokingly) responds, "because I'm lazy." Kids fail to see the humor, but usually leave it alone. This time we explained to Jake that Papaw Vinny had an accident and that he can't walk anymore, but that he's okay and not really very different from anyone else.

A bit later Jake asks Papaw, "can you just try to walk?" so my dad responds, "well, I'll probably walk again when I get to heaven."

After a moment of thought Jake's response was, "well Heaven's pretty high up so I think you're going to need a rocket!"

Kids, they say the funniest things!

What's New?

We had a great day last Tuesday. The weather was so beautiful and Grandma and Papaw Vinny were coming from Missouri, so we had a lot to be excited about.

Jake and I went for a walk in our neighborhood. Jake loves to ride his bike on the trail.

We noticed that there was a mommy duck with 6 ducklings in the pond. So we went home and got some bread. We fed the ducks for a while and then headed over to the play ground.

Jake is getting more and more brave at the playground. He loves to go down the slides and climb the ladders to get up.

Today I helped him climb the rock wall. At first he was pretty reluctant, but once he got started he was a natural. He looked down for the next foot hold and did really well holding on. He really loved that he had conquered the rock wall and hardly wanted to leave it.



Later that day we went and picked up my parents from the airport.
This is my dad, Vince. He's decided to grow his hair out....I lovingly told him I prefered it short. :)
But in the end I must accept that the men in my life do whatever they want with their hair. :)
Emily and Jake really did great with my parents. Since we only see them a handful of times a year, I never know how warm Jake will be. He really missed them when we were gone. He had a hard time in the car on the way home last night because he thought that Papaw Vinny and Grandma would be waiting for us at home. That broke my heart. We'll just have to have another visit soon, I guess.

Me and Tree Boy

So, I don't usually blog about myself. Don't ask me why. But since my sis-in-law decided to spill the beans on her blog that I was on the news with Tim "Tree Boy" Bush, I decided, "why not?" so here I am with Tree Boy after the interview we did on WTHR13. I designed the kitchen for St. Margaret's Guild's Decorator's Showhouse. It was a really fun project and I am proud, but I hate being on TV, so I could've skipped the interview. Thanks, Jen, for the shout out on your blog.


By the way, I had to get up at 4:15 AM, that's right 4:15am to get ready and drive down to 42nd and Pennsylvania for this! So I hope the publicity drums up some business, because there's only one 4:15 on my clock and this better be worth it! Ha!

Baths and Laughs

These bath pics of E. just make me smile. She loves her bathtime so much more than Jake did. I think I learned some lessons with Jake that are coming in handy the second time around. Jake always hated getting water on his face, so with E. I make sure she gets water on her face, and she doesn't seem to mind it. She loves to be on her tummy and splash in the water. Everytime she does this she ends up with her face in the water. It seems to surprise her, but she doesn't cry. This is good prep for going to the pool this summer.

Jake was out back in our lush garden of a back yard (yeah, right.) throwing rocks. (Such a boy!) E. thought it was pretty funny, so I caught a couple of moments of it on tape.