Post your vote...

Little ZJ was the subject of an argument between my 2 best friends today. One claims that he "looks nothing like the other three, he has different eyes and face" and the other maintains "he's obviously a Jak baby". So now it's your chance to vote. Is he a carbon copy of Numbers 1-3, or does he look completely different? We'll let his adoring public decide...

Dinner and a Show

AJ and EJ are our family "hams". They love to play to the camera and try to get every one's attention. AJ climbed up on the window seat after dinner and started doing a dance for us and it only took about 30 seconds for EJ to join in. They were singing a nonsense song and dancing a la Riverdance. Quite the amusing end to dinner time. Maybe they have a future on Broadway!

(BTW, those are Daddy's hearing protection for the shooting range that EJ is wearing.)

Zach Jak is 6 months old!

Yes, we're showing our team support in these pics too! Zach has really started to develop his own personality over the last week or so - he makes his opinion known when he doesn't like something (like screaming every time you try to put him in his car seat), he giggles and giggles at his siblings (especially if they are bouncing a ball around the living room), and he is a mellow, happy little man for the most part. We're so blessed to have him as a part of our family!

Boys and Girls

Mom is upstairs changing the toddler when the 5 month old starts crying.
If you are a 4 year old girl you go to the fridge, get the bottle, heat it up, get the baby out of the bassinet and feed him.
If you are a 6 year old boy you yell up the stairs "MOM! The baby is crying! You should come check on him!" and continue reading your book.


Mom reminds you to "use your manners".
If you are a 4 year old girl you say "Brother, please let me stand on that stool for a minute, please"
If you are a 6 year old boy you say "Sister please let me stand on the stool, or I'll hit your nose!" (His response to Mom's "issue" with his manners? "I SAID please!")


You're in the shower with Mom/Dad.
If you're a 4 year old girl you want to clean every part of you meticulously and check out every nice smelling bath product you see. And don't forget the conditioner and in-shower lotion!
If you are a 6 year old boy you wash your hair (kind of) then flop down on the floor of the tub and pretend you are a fish.


There is no way anyone can tell me that boys and girls are born the same and the only thing that makes us "gender specific" is culture. It's simply not true. They are very different in temperament and their way of approaching life from the moment they arrive...

"Yes!"- This Is a Fun Outfit to Be In:

All,

Even the most junior member of the Irregular Regulars can now smile without it having to be a body function.

No matter what your "Hurricane Toddler" sister (ENJ) dishes out- you still have a smile on your face and a spring in your wiggle.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do...

XO

The Lower Rates:

Loved Ones and Bloggers,

Now for your viewing pleasure we present the best photograph yet of all of our younger Company members.

Yes- If you did not guess it yet- the whole group believes in pinstripes and interlocking NY's.

A formal copy of this picture will be going out to the primary folk and please feel free to request one if you don't get one in the next two weeks or so.

Hopefully this fall we will have a full muster of the entire Company including the Command/Headquarter section.

Take care and God Bless.

XO

She makes me laugh!

AJ has been making me laugh the last few days so I thought I would share some of her recent "funnies".
She calls gymnastics "flipping-nastics" and if something is going to last a long time she says it "will take all day-night".

Mom - "AJ what do you want for breakfast?"
AJ - "Dirty pebbles please."
Mom - "Uhhhh...."
AJ - "You know momma! Those brown cereal things!"
Mom - "Oh! You mean Cocoa Pebbles!"

AJ - "Hi there Zachary Skyscraper!"
Mom - "His name is Skyscraper?"
AJ - "Yep! And you're Momma Pasta Noodle!"
CJ - "AJ, you're nuts!"
AJ - "Momma! He called me peanuts! I'm not peanuts!"

Mom (after AJ tearfully showed us her 1/32 inch scratch, and spent 15 minutes trying to convince everyone she was too injured to do her chores) - "AJ, you are such a drama queen."
AJ (crying hysterically) - "Momma, I'm not a drama queen. I don't know what that means, but you're not being nice!"

Daddy's Kiddos

"The Babies"

EJ's expression in this picture is sheer excitement. She's probably thinking something along the lines of "Wow! They finally left him where I can reach him! Now I can play with him, and kiss him, and give him my paci, and pat him on the head, and poke his nose, and kiss him some more!" (All of which she proceeded to try to do per her daddy's report).

I've started verbally dividing the children up into "the kids" and "the babies" (e.g. "Daddy, you pick up the kids, I'll get the babies"). I'm going to have to stop myself soon or EJ and ZJ will be 10 and 11 and I'll still be calling them "the babies"!

Happy Belated Birthday EJ!

We have a family "tradition" of doing our kids' portrait and footprint at 6 months of age and a formal portrait at 1 year. We wanted to share the portraits we had done for EJ's first birthday. You'd never know that she spent the entire photography session on the verge of tears and trying to climb into my lap. The photographer used every trick in the book to get a good shot, and I think the results were great (of course I'm biased! I'm her mom!).

Happy Valentines Day!

Unfortunately, EJ was sleeping when this was taken, but it's a great picture of the other little ones.

I can't tell you how many people after hearing the ages of our kids have paused with a shocked look on their faces and said "Wow, y'all must be really busy". That's the understatement of the year! Yep, we're pretty busy but we're a big, happy family.

Keeping Others Safe from Themselves:

Ponder this in our current state of society...


Why is it that it is perfectly fine for young men to go out and celebrate the coming of the New Year in denim jeans, button-down shirts and jackets while the fairer gender finds it necessary to wear tight fitting, thigh-high and above, low-cut dresses with stilletto heels??? In 40 degree nighttime weather???"


Does going out on New Year's Eve mean one leaves their brain at the door?

Rhetorical question I guess, since the numbers of ladies wearing the above mentioned outfits way out-number their more sensibly dressed sisters.


Something I, your "socially-observant public servant" found while working downtown "A-town" here in Central TX on New Year's.


I tip my hat to those young ladies that dressed elegantly while having half a cranium in the cold nighttime temps....


Oh... this is a Christian-based blogsite so the only pictures you will get are of your fine "XO". Not the best picts, my Assistant Chief took them on his I-phone.


XO

Not Quite A "Rock of Gibralter":

All,

Well my beautiful wife is too kind with her praises since I feel I got off lucky to some extent.

I only had to worry about the three older ones (KJ, CJ and AJ) and fortunately got lucky since EJ had got the same sickness a couple of days before everyone. ZJ stayed healthy- Praise God!

My wife also did not have a chance to blog about our Christmas Day evening... Yup, you guessed it, the same malady that afflicted my dear wife, eldest son and eldest daughter hit me later that evening. Nasty GI "bug" coupled with a fever and chills- something I would not wish on anyone.

Two days later (and after some wonderful care from KJ) I was finally back in the world of the living.

Christmas 2008 will not go down as one for the old scrapbook, unless a sick and vomiting family is you idea of a scrapbook. Oh well, good bye to 2008, hello 2009.

Just another year for a family that believes in freely sharing our maladies.

Take Care and Welcome to 2009...

XO