I've been debating for days on whether I was gonna post these pictures or not, but they are a big milestone for Jalyn, and super cute. I promise he's not naked, he'd just gotten home from taekwondo as soon as he'd hung up his clothes I told him to come and read, so he was in his cute little undies.

This is the first book that Jalyn has read by himself! He was so proud. Jon Michael has been reading chapter books for so long and Jalyn has wanted to read but now he really can say that he can do it. We're so proud of him. He was NEVER interested in learning while he was home with me. Jon Michael loved to do workbooks and I can totally see how homeschooling would work with him, but Jalyn, no way, not interested....BUT in school in a classroom setting he has just taken off and is doing so well (a relief to this mommy!).

He was attempting to be modest and cover his "undies" but I think that might have backfired since he looks naked.

And speaking of Jalyn.....we found this lost dog on the way home from school yesterday. Jalyn LOVES animals, he keeps asking,"If we can't find the owner can we keep him?" I said,"I don't know someone else might want him". Oh my goodness, you would have thought we were gonna be sending the dog to a death squad or something! He was so sad and tears started forming...it was cute. So for now we've got two dogs and the boys are LOVING it.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Happy Fall Everyone! Its been a busy one for us. This post has a lot of pictures, I thought I'd just put it all into one instead of multiple posts.

This is the front porch decorated for the fall. The door banner I've had for a long time, it says, "Give Thanks". God has been showing me so many things that I'm truly grateful for. Don't get me wrong, I'm always thankful but it usually the typical, "I'm thankful my family is healthy, I'm thankful we live in America", etc....But He's really been impressing true thankfulness on me lately and really feeling it not just thinking it.

I had a garage sale a few weeks ago and a neighbor thought these were fake on the porch....I cringed when she asked! That's one of my biggest pet peeves...DON'T PUT FAKE PLANTS IN YOUR YARD!!!! I told her no they weren't fake but took it as a compliment.


I saw Jon Michael on the couch and wondered when I got old enough to have a kid who could just hang out on the computer!!!!

The boys wanted to play in the front yard the other day. I went out later to check on them and this is what I found....them playing with "creatures". (Notice Jalyn's pal, Samson, in the mix?)

YES, creatures meant SLUGS!!! Such little boys! I was gonna say, only little boys, but I know some girls who would think this was cool also.

We went to a tailgate party at a church down the road from us last Sunday. The boys had a great time. Jalyn liked "banging" the frogs with the big hammer.

Jon Michael waited in line for over an hour to do this! He loved it, can you see his smile? I kept asking him if he'd rather go do something else and he said no and then when he was done he said it was worth the wait.

Doing some flips on the bungee thing.

Saturday Jon Michael had his last taekwondo tournament of the year. Jalyn is standing and doing the student oath.

Jalyn keeping busy doing his "art". (Yes, it is a dinosaur! Good job!)

Doing a pattern.

And another pattern.

He had just put his mouth piece in getting ready to spar and I told him to turn around and smile...so funny.

Jon Michael and Christian posing for a picture...I told Christian he should have sparred so he could beat up Jon Michael.

The Winner..(yes, that's Jon Michael).

Again, The Winner.

Final Match.

Final Winner.

He got a bronze in patterns.

Gold in sparring.

He loves tournaments, we've thrown around the idea of traveling next year for him to go to tournaments out of our area. He always leaves meeting a new friend, he says that's one of his favorite parts. I think he likes the sparring just as much though! ( I didn't get a picture but his eye was pretty red after the 3 matches, I asked him if he got punched in the eye, he said, yep...then just walked away like it was all no big deal! I think he even enjoyed that!)

Ok, that's all for now, of course we're busy with school and church and family stuff but this was the biggest stuff at the moment.

Have a great FALL!!!!

Cutie Patooties!

Just a few pictures of the boys this week....they are so cute...and the older they get so much more enjoyable and fun to watch.

Sunday afternoon they were just playing around and decided to be a human burrito....they laughed and laughed while they tried to roll into the blanket.

Jalyn's trying to kiss Jon Michael, which he was only trying to do so that the wrestling would continue...they love to wrestle...I usually have to leave the room b/c they get so rough but at the same time they're screaming they're laughing hysterically.

Such cuties...

Today kinder. dressed up as their favorite character from their rhyming section...Jalyn wanted to be Jack from Jack and Jill....he wouldn't let me wrap the bandage around his head...

This is his Jack face...he's pretending to be hurt from falling down the hill....he did let me put a bandaid on his head, and he told me to fix his hair "flat" b/c Jack wouldn't have worn spikey hair...so cute.

Typical Evening in Our Home

(Ok, so this picture totally goes with the stuff at the bottom of this post but I can't get it to move its just stuck right here!!! Its Jalyn exercising with me while Jon Michael is building with blocks in the background.)

Yesterday I loved how our evening went after school. Just thought I'd share a few pictures. I was folding clothes on the love seat and looked across the living room and the boys were each doing their own thing and it was nice to see them settling into our evening routine.

Jon Michael doing homework.

Daddy and Jalyn reading his library book.

Then after Jonathan left for bible study I took a break from housework and did my P90X workout. I haven't done it in awhile b/c I've been plagued with bladder infections again and its impossible to do jumping and all the things required...goodness, I can't even walk or sit sometimes when I'm having bladder issues, so P90X is totally out during those times. Anyways, I've really wanted to get back into working out and just got over my latest infection so I decided I better jump on it while I could even though my body is still so worn out from being sick.

Jalyn LOVES to workout! He has his own dumbbells and he uses the bands when he can't do the exercises with the weights, its so cute! Here's a few pictures from that.

This really is one of the exercises, you put your feet in a chair and do incline pushups...he loves it and always asks if he's doing it right.

(This is where the picture at the top was supposed to go....Jalyn was doing another weight lifting exercise and he said, "Momma, I can feel the burn a comin'!" Really that's how he said it, "a comin"....it was so funny!!!!!!!)

This is Samson while I workout....a dogs life....so sweet....

You know you're getting old when....

Interesting title, huh? Well, it's official, Jonathan and I are getting old...how do I know?

We BOTH forgot our anniversary yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We knew it was coming up and even talked about the fact that we only had today to go to lunch b/c Jonathan is working everyday this week. We just didn't realize the actual date was yesterday.

I mentioned it to Jon Michael this morning that Daddy and I had forgotten our anniversary...he was so mad at us!!! He loves birthdays and anniversarys. He told us that we need to go to a movie or dinner or on a date....I love that! Then he said we needed to b/c then he could have a babysitter and that's always fun...selfish motives, of course!

SO, we've now been married 13 years (that in itself says we're old)!!!

Jonathan paid me a huge compliment last week, he said he couldn't ever marry anyone else b/c no one would take care of him like I do and it wouldn't ever be the same.

I love him.

Can I say that again? I love him. I love that he loves me and our family. I love him.

We've been through a lot in the past 13 years, good and bad, but it has all made us stronger and more grounded in our marriage. There is no one I'd rather go through life with, he really is my best friend.

I love him.

Busy Boys

Things are busy around our house...as they are at yours I'm sure. Jalyn was home sick last week (you won't be able to tell from the pictures!) so housework was put on hold, as it should have been, and some close and personal time was spent together. We had a garage sale this past weekend and that kept us busy preparing and actually holding it...the kids had a great time hanging out during the sale though.

He had a temperature but with the new swine flu rules he has to be fever free w/o med's for 24 hours and it had only been 12 so he got to hang out at home with me. Since he was feeling fine we did our own school work. He loved making his own letter book.
Sitting on the coffee table putting his book together.

This is his new smile...as tight as he can get his lips...so funny....

Practicing his letters...apparently proud and clapping for himself!

He had a few moments he didn't feel 100% so that required VERY close contact, sitting on the couch while he played super hero's on my leg.

These are my friend Genelle's boys...we did the garage sale together. Even the youngest boys are facinated with weapons!

And he's pretty good at defending himself! The boys thought it was so funny that Giani wanted to play with them.

Jonathan started the motorcycle and it startled the little man.

He loved pushing all the buttons...such a boy.

Testing Time

Jon Michael belt tested again this past Saturday. He is now a red tab. To get to black belt he has red belt, black tab, and then black belt. So he's getting close.

Patterns.

The front row and back rows started in different positions so during their patterns it was like a choreographed dance...very cool.

Jalyn playing with a super hero during testing.

Doing kicks...double front kick....seriously I don't know what its called but that's what it looks like to me!!!

This is the only clear self defense picture I could get b/c when he was taking them down or punching they were just a blur.

Two on one sparring, Jon Michaels the one in the middle. He had so much fun, he kept talking about when he got one of the others cornered and he kept hitting their head.....such a boy.

Getting ready to break....two solid boards...

Finished breaking...two broken boards...

Mr. Webre signing his boards.

Mr. Dillan signing his boards. You should see the stack of broken boards he's got in his bedroom!