The Roberts

Stationery card

2011-12-03T10:55:00.001-05:00

Snowflakes Ribbon Christmas Card

Design photo Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

New Blog Home

2009-05-30T17:07:00.003-04:00

I had to get a new blog since I filled up the limit on photos on the other one. New blog address is:
http://earlandgail2.blogspot.com .

Joey's Little Boy Haircut

2009-05-16T18:16:00.003-04:00

I've reached my photo limit on this blog. I'm probably going to be switching to another one. I'll post the info when I get it. But for our last post on Blogger, here is Joey's little boy haircut. It was the first haircut that he sat in the barber's chair all by himself. Usually he's on my lap.

We're still in Asheville. Earl graduated his school on Friday and is now waiting for Monday/Tuesday to complete some required military classes before they'll schedule our house to be packed up and moved. Our house has been shown a few times, but no offers yet. We'll probably get our house packed up in the next week or two, so I'm hoping the house will go faster when all our stuff is out.

Playgrounds and Puddles

2009-05-10T22:29:00.011-04:00

Joey's spent a lot of time with his cousin, Kalyn, playing at playgrounds.

Why do kids love the parts of the playground that are a bit too dangerous for their age? Joey and Kalyn climbed up this thing a billion times!

Aren't they too young to be drinking and driving already?

Does Grandma think she's in a parade? Where's the wave, grandma?

Kalyn and Joey loved taking the ramps at the playground, instead of the stairs.

Hmmm. What's wrong with this picture? ^

Nan, me and Pawpaw after our Mother's Day dinner after church today.

One of the many puddles that Kalyn and Joey found yesterday.

I had to strip Joey down, twice, in this one day. First after the mud fun, then again after the rain puddles.

Jenny, Macy and Paige.

Joey and Uncle Kenny made a mud man.

The kids could not be distracted from all this gooky mud. It was disgusting! They loved it!

More Asheville Fun!

2009-05-04T18:07:00.006-04:00

First off: news about us. Earl called today and said we are going to be stationed in Norfolk, VA afterall. No Georgia for us. :( Earl will have more time off at his job in Norfolk, but it is pricier there. Oh well, now just pray for our house to sell!

Akira had her 3rd birthday party at Lake Louise.

Sandrina, Bradley, Joey and Akira enjoyed the birthday cake.

Sabrina and her birthday girl.

The Wallins: Jennifer, Kenny and Macy, and Paige.

The birthday girl--Akira Grace!

Akira had lots of help blowing out her candle.

Later, we had fun at Earl's parents, with crazy relatives, like Uncle Mike and Aunt Darlene. :)

Joey loves making silly faces for the camera now.

Louise and Collis got this close for a hug: no more.

Shea did a good job of keeping Bradley and Joey occupied watching TV and playing in Mamaw's bucket of toys.

Joey and Bradley teamed up on Aunt Louise.

Bradley and Joey took turns taking pictures. Bradley took this picture of Joey and Grover.

And Bradley took this shot of Mamaw and Joey.

Joey took this picture of Bradley and Louise.

Joey took this picture of me and Bradley.

And, of course, Bradley took this picture of me and my Joey.

Joey likes doing this ciricle with his fingers all the time now.

Dirt, Dirt and More Dirt

2009-05-04T14:57:00.005-04:00

One of Joey's favorite things to do at Pawpaw's house is playing in the dirt. He and Paige usually spend hours digging there. But on Friday, Akira joined in, and Macy even helped out a bit.

Joey's pants were a little too big, so they kept slipping down and showing his inner
"plumber."

Sandrina had went shopping that day, and came home to model her new clothes for us.

Paige turns on the radio in Pawpaw's truck, and dances in the bed.

Joey and Akira found a worm to torture. They fought over it, they buried it and dug it back up. They put in a bucket, then out of the bucket, then back in. They watched it climb up the hill.

It was very hot that day, and not raining like the weather said it would.

We also took a couple small 4-wheeler rides around on the mountain.

Staying Busy in Asheville

2009-05-04T11:15:00.006-04:00

The first day we got to Asheville, we met family at the Moose Cafe for dinner. (Happy Birthday Di!)

Nan and Pawpaw

The whole table

Di was offered a free cobbler for desert since it was her birthday, and would you believe that she turned it down instead of getting it for her precious grandgirls to share?? :) (You knew I'd tease you about that some more, right Di?)

Breanna is Nana's girl!

Joey and Kalyn get along so well. Much different from their first get togethers as babies, when Joey was way too agressive. Now Kalyn chases him for hugs!

Pawpaw and Mom enjoyed our little walk the first night we got to Asheville.

Jason took Joey and Kalyn for a wagon ride.

The kids kept screaming "Faster! Faster!" So Jason got a workout in that day.

Pawpaw, Di and Mom walked Smokey (it's a real dog, not an imaginary one, he's just not in the picture).

Kisses for Grandma.

These kids don't pass up an opportunity to stop and smell the flowers. (They made Jason stop the wagon so they could get out and smell.)

Cupcakes (or cupcake icing) are the perfect end to a fun wagon ride.

Di and her grandgirls.

Joey and Breanna. First, Joey was sitting right next to her. Then she reached over and patted him on the leg, and he scooted away. I asked him why, and he said "Because these are not her pants."

This is just the first day we were here. Lots more pictures, but who knows when I'll get a chance to post them. :)

We are missing Earl. He started his security forces school today. No word yet on if our orders were changed to Georgia or not. I hope to know soon! Our house hasn't had any offers yet. :( We might reduce the price this week.

Our time here is ending

2009-04-27T12:33:00.011-04:00

My pictures aren't in order. This is a ton of pictures from our last few days here, visiting with friends while we can. This is our last week here! We are going to miss everyone so much!

Aiden giving Joey a hug bye.^

Joey and Ryleigh are only a couple weeks apart in age.

Aiden was holding onto Kyle, so Joey took Mackenzie's hand to hold while racing. :)

Earl and Jason

Earl

Joey loved climbing this tree at Erin's house. None of our trees have limbs low enough for him.

Christina, her sister Kim, and Erin, having some yummy homemade pizza Erin made for us.

The kids during one of 2 calm moments, watching TV and eating.

This was their other calm moment--playing in one group, quietly, with no fighting!

I guess Joey and Ryleigh needed some alone time, away from the crowd.

Joey fell asleep on the car ride to our friends, the Port's house, and his fingers were in the sign for "I Love You." When I opened his door to get him out, I saw that and grabbed my camera really quick, but he loosened his fingers just a little before I took the picture. If I would have been able to take the shot 5 seconds sooner, you would have seen his hands and fingers in a very tight I Love You sign. It was so cute. One hand wrapped around his Rescue pack, and the other signing I Love You.

This was the 2nd day in a row Joey fell alseep on the couch for an afternoon nap.

Christina and Landon

Joey crying on the way to church one Sunday.

Our friends brought us over a cookie cake wishing us good luck on the move. We are really going to miss all our friends, the ones who've already moved and the ones we are leaving behind. :(

This was the first day he fell asleep watching TV--which he has never done in his entire life. In fact, if a TV is on, it's a good sign he won't go to sleep. He can't tune it out, he gets so into it, especially his favorites. I'm sooo happy he now lets himself crash sometimes to rest! It's much easier than trying to force him into a nap! Of course, it does make it hard to get him to bed at a decent hour at night...

New carpet!

I love the new vinyl. Wish I had it the whole time I lived here!

We've been working hard on our house still. I painted half of the exterior today all by myself. Earl raked and mowed and raked some more, and weedeated and raked and burned pineneedles today. We have a massive amount of pine trees in our back and side yards. Tomorrow we are going to try to get everything finished up so that me and Joey and the pets can head to Asheville, and Earl can do some final touches before he heads to school in VA. We still don't know for sure if his orders got changed to GA yet, but it looks good. Earl should find out when he reports in, or soon thereafter.

Working Weekend

2009-04-26T23:11:00.009-04:00

Last weekend we got some great help in from Georgia, to help us fix up our house and get it ready to sell. Unfortunately, we had to give them room & board while they were here.
(he he, teasing). Some of these are out of order, but I don't feel like rearranging them tonight.

Charlie helped out in the flower bed.

Earl's mom sat around looking pretty. :)

Earl's dad kept the kids in line and held down my chair for me.

Joey and Earl did yard work ^ well, kinda.

After that hard riding around on the mower (with the blade up), Earl decided he'd slave over a hot grill for us.

They don't even pretend to be working when I pull out the camera.

Joey and Bradley tried to ride the big wheel down the slide.

On Saturday, Bradley went down for an afternoon nap and stayed out the whole night. He was bushed!

Joey taking a drink break, and Louise supervising Grover, who was cutting our new baseboards for us.

The pop up camper we rented from base for the big boys to sleep in. I've never seen one like that before. Cute.

The finished product.

I'm pretty sure Joey never ate one single substantial thing the whole time they were here. They brought him 2 buckets of Easter candy. :)

Even Bradley and Joey worked hard...hammering the garage floor.

They wave like they're in a parade or something, don't they?

Goodbye hugs. Joey cried half the day after Bradley left.

Swinging time before the family left on their long ride home.

This was Saturday. Louise and Donna heard that Earl was coming home from work, so they jumped out of their lawn chairs and grabbed Joey's toy garden tools and pretended to be hard at work. They didn't fool anybody.

Donna making Joey plant all the flowers with his new Diego gardening tools.

Staining some of the new interior doors and painting cabinet doors. And that's me, pointing at something important, I'm sure.

Thanks Louise, Donna, Chris, Charlie, Grover, Bradley, Mamaw and Grandpa for coming that long way just to work for us. We really, really appreciate it! All the work you did looks great. Thank you so much!

Stop and Smell the Flowers

2009-04-17T13:54:00.006-04:00

Or just look at them and pretend you smell them:

We have many little lizards running around our house and yard. I found a surprise while taking pictures of flowers: a little guy watching me.

I tried to get a cool photo of a bee hovering over a flower, but I couldn't time it right.

My little lizard friend posed for me to take his picture.

Unfortunately, there are not other flower bushes in my yard that produce different color flowers, so all you get to see are the pretty pink ones. :)

Angie came up last weekend, for what was probably her last visit to our home in Jacksonville, since we are preparing to move.

She brought Kiwi back to us, and Joey was so thrilled.

He loves swinging outside when the weather's nice. I have to push him for hours at a time. I should have some pretty awesome looking arms right now from all that exercise, but I don't think he weighs enough.

When me or Earl is printing anything, Joey hears it start going and runs to sit in front of the printer, patiently waiting for the page to come out so he can get it for us.

He has been also practicing splits lately, for some odd reason.

Another of his recent quirks: he likes to wear one, and only one, red mitten. I think it may be laziness: he found one laying around somewhere one day and never took the time to try to find the match. So he just wears one. All the time.

He says he's happy to get a new house. I guess because all his friends moved away to new houses. Right now, we're in the process of getting this house ready to sell. We've already gotten all the pictures off the walls, are getting new carpet put in on Monday, packing up clothes and clutter so the house is presentable for potential buyers, touching up the paint, laying new vinyl in the main bathroom, getting new living room windows, putting on door knobs and hardware and staining the new interior doors we got to replace some of our old ones, and doing the same for the new exterior door we got for our garage/dining room door, and the list goes on and on. We're leaving here at the end of the month, Earl to school in VA, and me and Joey to Asheville, to give our house a chance to stay neat and presentable and hopefully sell faster.

Joey being Joey

2009-04-10T11:55:00.006-04:00

Joey is getting great at drawing. Unfortunately, he's practicing on everything he's not supposed to. One day he traced most of the lines of the vinyl tiles in the kitchen (with washable marker, thank goodness) and he's written on the couch, on the phone stand, on the kitchen table, and anywhere else you can imagine. I'm very thankful for the person who invented washable markers. But, the mess he did on the table was in highlighter, so it didn't come off as well.

He got a package in the mail the other day from Aunt Darlene. A big puzzle and a Easter book!

Thanks Aunt Darlene! He loves them!

He loves giving his daddy's motorcycle a bath. He also washes my car for me to get the pollen off. He did learn to spell Mom, Dad and Joey. See the cute video below. I promise I gave him no help in this. He did get a little stuck on "Joey" but he remembered eventually. He really blows me away with how fast a learner he is!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter! Sorry we couldn't go to Asheville this weekend, but we did get Angie to come to us for a visit. And next weekend, we have lots of Earl's family coming. They've even offered to help us get the house fixed up and ready to sell. We're putting it on the market at the end of the month!

Family Update

2009-04-01T19:38:00.003-04:00

Joey likes to wear underwear on his head. And nothing else. And wear them to bed that way.

He's feeling better, not coughing as bad as he was a few days ago, but he's passed it on to me. It's a horrible sore throat and a bad cough that gets worse at night.

Joey drew his first real smiley face all by himself today. I didn't ask him to or prompt him in any way, and I wasn't even in the room with him when he did it. He brought it to me right away to show me. I was very impressed. He's come a long way from the squiggly "snakes" he used to draw.

He likes putting his own artwork on the fridge also.

Also, we found out today we're going to be moving to Norfolk, VA (well, in the Hampton Roads area--but Earl's job will be in Norfolk) in May/June. It wasn't our first choice, but we're just relieved to finally know where we'll be moving next month! It will only be about a half hour more to there from Asheville, than it is from Asheville to here now, so not a big difference. The big problem is expensive housing, but we'll leave it in God's hands and let Him work it out for us.

For Better and For Worse

2009-03-29T12:35:00.006-04:00

We took Joey and his friend, Kori, to Monkey Joes last weekend. They had a blast.

It was so cute seeing them in line with big kids. Joey tackled Kori with a hug and they just giggled on the ground.

Joey and Kori climbed up so really high ladders to get to some of the slides. They were very brave.

Potty training went well. I can't take enough pictures of Joey in his big boy underwear. It's so cute!

He was trying to make his Daddy jealous by giving me all his kisses. He looks out of the corner of his eye when he's kissing me to make sure Earl is looking. Earl got a picture this time.

Joey is still taking pictures.

Unfortunately, all the fun at Monkey Joes turned into a sickness. I'm pretty sure he got it from there. Poor guy. Had a fever of 101 on one day. He coughs all night and barely sleeps. This is one of the only times in his whole life that he fell asleep on the couch watching TV. He NEVER falls asleep watching TV. Heck, he never lays down while watching TV, for more than a couple minutes. So we knew he was feeling bad when that happened. I have just a couple cute stories from before he got sick:

I did a high pitch gobble, screech sound (don't ask) while Joey was involved in his drawing on the table beside me. He didn't even flinch, just kept drawing. I said, "that didnt' scare you?" He calmly said, "yes, it scared me." I said, "oh you were just drawing so I thought you didn't hear me." Then he goes, "I did hear you. You were just working, so you didn't hear me."

I cracked up and said, "are you turning the tables on me, boy?" He said, "well...yes."

He says "well" a lot now, before everything and anything he says. It can be hilarious.

This morning, he let me take a picture of him laying on the back of the couch. He didn't stay there long. Just long enough for a pose. He's a little monkey, still climbing anything and everything. And he stands upright on the back of the couch and counts, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, JUMP!" and jumps down. He's fearless.

He still has a crazy imagination, too. We were playing balls in his bedroom floor and he said, "Get close, Mom. Get close like bees." Me: "Like bees? What are bees close to?" Joey: "Flowers. Beautiful, colorful flowers." Then later I asked why he's scared and makes Daddy sit with him at night. I told him there's no animals in the house and not to be afraid. He said there's a good monkey that talks to him and asks him questions. Me: "What questions?" Joey: "Do I have 1 dog?" Me: "What did you say?" Joey: "I said , I have 2 dogs."
Also, the day we went to Monkey Joes, Kori's mom showed me that she knows how to spell Mom and Dad, and Cat, and Kori (and maybe more, that's as far as we got). I was so impressed. So I've been working with Joey to teach him that. He's doing good. Sometimes he forgets and needs reminding, but once you say it once, he remembers and can spell it on his own for a little bit. Till he forgets again.
We are still waiting to find out where we are moving too. Things are looking better for us to get Georgia, but we still don't know. Maybe next week we'll find out something.

Potty Training!

2009-03-18T14:49:00.008-04:00

(Beware: Lots of talk of poop and pee in this blog)

I finally got impatient enough to start potty training. I honestly wanted to wait until he showed more interest on his own, but when I got him to pee a few times on his own, I noticed how clever he is. He loved playing the potty flusher that made noise, so he'd sit down, pee a little, stop peeing, stand up to flush it, then sit back down and pee some more. He obviously had control over his bladder, so I figured he was ready enough. On the first day, I think he only had one pee accident. He didn't poop at all, though. On the second day (yesterday), I made sure he remembered that if he pooped, he'd get to go to the Chick Fil A playground. So that morning, he strained and got out one little drop of poop and was ready to go the playground. (I was excited enough to take pictures of him doing his first poop on the toilet.) I knew he had lots left in him so I took a change of clothes with us. He did pee in his pants at the playground, but it could have been worse, so I was relieved.

Of course, he wanted the camera from me to take his own pictures as he's sitting on the toilet doing his business. After that trip to Chick Fil A yesterday, I stopped offering fun trips as rewards. I stopped on the way home and grabbed a bag of toys from Dollar General that he picked out and and loved and told him he could have one everytime he pooped on the toilet. So, last night, after he was tucked into bed he decided he did have to go poop. I thought he was stalling, but he wasn't. He finally got it all out! He looked at it as I was wiping him and describing it. He was so proud. "Look Mom, it's like a big 1. It looks like a big 'I' too! I did a BIG poop!" He's hilarious.
So, this is the 3rd day of potty training. I let him help me throw away all the diapers yesterday so he could see we weren't going back. He was not happy about that. He hates underwear, he wants his diapers back badly. (I went and got them out when he wasn't looking because they were perfectly good diapers. LOL)

He got his big blue rubbery ball-thing after his first big poop last night (he got to sleep with it, it has a blinking light inside).He got a baseball bat and baseball for his poop from this morning. He has a couple books and some bottles of bubbles waiting for him that he doesn't know about for the next couple days.

So, at this point, he's only had 4 pee accidents in his pants since Monday. No poop accidents at all yet. We're doing great. I never have to catch him in the act and rush him to the toilet, not since the first day. He always tells me when he has to go. (Except for the few acccidents). And now he doesn't even care about the toilet noises--he never plays the sounds.

His porcupine balls are still among his favorite toys right now. He carries them around in his Cars tacklebox.

Joey is still enjoying taking pictures on his own.

He loves being on top of the kitchen table. He's such a monkey, climbing everywhere. Today, he asked me to take a picture of him squatting on the table.

At church one sunday, the teacher wrote a smiley face on his hand. Now he always wants us to draw one on him. Sometimes, he gets to the (washable) markers first and draws what he says are smiley faces all over his body. (He's having me draw them on his hands--palms and back--right now as I am trying to type.)

He took a picture of me when I first started updating the blog (that was hours and hours ago--it's an all day job sometimes).

Right now, he's writing and drawing. He said he's writing my name and then he wrote lines up and down and said, "A, C, K, E" which is apparently how you spell my name. Then he said he was drawing my other name and said, "H, I, J, K" so, maybe one is supposed to be Mommy and one is Gail, who knows. He's getting very creative and imaginative in his drawing and play. He's always talking about gorilla monkeys coming in his room scaring him (he calls them Gumbrella monkeys) and snakes talking to him, and all the funny things he writes and makes with playdough. He's so cute.

What's not so cute is his persistent waking up at night and asking for drinks and asking for me to stay and look at him sleep. He won't fall asleep with me standing there, but begs me to stay. Most nights I'm up about 2 hours in the middle of the night just standing over his bed and trying to slip away, or sitting beside him while he squeezes my hands. He claims to be scared, but he doesn't act scared, so I'm sure it's just an excuse. I blame Earl for spoiling him. :) I never stayed in his room till he fell asleep. Then one day Earl did it, and Joey expected me to, also and now he won't let Earl do it anymore, and insists it be me.

We still don't know where we're moving. Earl's in the field tonight. He's been trying to get ahold of the people that were supposed to call him back but no luck. So say some prayers for us that we'll get some answers soon and not have to wonder anymore. ;)

Quality Time

2009-03-13T10:04:00.006-04:00

We went to Fayetteville to visit Angela last weekend and I'm just getting around to posting pictures. I have a few new stories to share, too!
This is Josiah (today, he wants me to call him Josiah--yesterday he picked Joey) throwing pine cones at a park near Angela's house.

I've been emailing myself little stories so I wouldn't forget to post them. I feel like I spend most of the day on the computer, so emailing to myself is faster than writing them down. Ha ha. The other day he was playing with playdough, and he said he was making an aligator. Then he said, "remember, I saw an aligator in my bed and it was talking to me?" I said that I didn't remember that and asked when. He said, "one day. three days." I said, oh okay, what did it say? He said, "It was talking to me and it said it loves me."

Angela tried to get Josiah to roll down the hill, but he wasn't having it. He'd scoot on his butt, but wouldn't try to roll for some reason. I missed the pictures of Angela trying to demonstrate.

I'm very excited to enroll Joey in a preschool when we move. He did so good learning so fast, the alphabet and numbers and colors and animals and everything. But now I have no idea what I'm supposed to be encouraging him to learn. I think he'd really benefit to go to a preschool a couple days a week that's an actual school, rather than a daycare. I'll check into that when we move I guess.

Right now, Josiah usually asks me to leave his door open when he goes to bed. For a couple nights he was trying to get me to leave the big light on, too, like he was afraid of the dark, but I don't think he is. We are all still adjusting to the time change. He rarely takes naps during the day anymore. He's using some more unique names when he names his toys and animals. Yesterday, he said an elephant in a book was named "Zoomy." Also, he named his "porcupine balls" (he gets them out of the vending machines at Food Lion, they have strings and are mushy balls with rubbery spikey things on them). He calls them things like "Mommy's friend" and "Bradley's friend."

Earl told me this story when he got home from the store with Josiah:

Earl turned the car too deep and it rubbed.
Josiah said, "You tooted."
Earl said, "No, buddy, I didn't. The car did."
Josiah thought, then said "The car don't have a butt."
Earl said, "No it doesn't, but the car made a noise."
Josiah said, "Your butt made a noise!"

I see he gets his maturity from Earl.

Angela wanted a picture beside the Pet Waste sign. She practically begged me.

Beware, if you're not around, Josiah may blame you for something. He found a paint stain on the garage floor the other day (it was here when we moved in).

He asked me, "Did you do that, Mom?"

Me: "No, Daddy must have did it."

"Daddy, did you do it?"

Earl: "No, I didnt do it."

Joey: "Probably it was Sandrina."

I cracked up. No clue why he decided to blame Sandrina, it was out of the blue.

Josiah likes the window down in the car so he can "taste the wind." He says it's yummy.

Lately, he's been calling us Mom and Dad more than Mommy or Daddy. He's growing up, I guess. He's doing better using the toilet. Everyday, he uses it at least once or twice. He likes to go a little in there, then stop it, then stand up and flush (his training toilet has noises and voices when you flush) then sit down and let some more flow, then stop, and get up and flush again. Then sit down and finish the job. He obviously has control of his bladded. Ha ha. Not sure why he hates underwear so much. I bought him Cars and Diego and plain white ones, and he still hates them. I have to bribe him to get him to wear them. He prefers diapers still.

Go Fly a Kite

2009-03-09T22:29:00.008-04:00

Joey got some more Cars tattoos the other day, and wanted Daddy to put them on him. He likes having tattoos like Daddy.

The other day while riding in the car home from Angie's house in Fayetteville, Joey was playing with his toy snakes in the back seat. (You'll need some background to this first: since my laser eye surgery, my eyes are extra dry in the mornings, and I need eye drops. Joey sometimes hands them to me in the mornings when he's rushing me to get up.) Anyway, he said, "They're all asleep." I said, okay. He said, "They're moving, they're waking up." I said, good. He said, "They take their eye medicine." I laughed.

Another story about the snakes (same car ride). He has 2 kinds of toy snakes, the cobras with the extended necks, and just regular ones. All different colors. Anyhow, he pulled out a cobra and said, "This is a cobra." And I was impressed that he remembered that from when I taught him that a few days ago. Then he asked what kind the other snake was, without the big neck. I told him I didn't know. Knowning his uncle is a reptile genius, he replied, "I'll ask Uncle Bubba." I thought that was so cute.

Joey also got a Cars kite.

He flies a kite better than Earl. :)

We still don't know where we're moving yet. Hopefully we'll find out this week sometime. Right now it looks like Earl will go to his school beginning of May, for 2 weeks. Then he'll come back here and we'll move mid-May, or at least start the process of selling our house and then looking for a new one wherever we're going. That could change, but that's the plan for the moment. They tried to send Earl to Bahrain, in the Middle East, by himself for a year. But once they found out he was married, they agreed to find him another spot. So that's what we're waiting on.

Happy Birthday Wanda!

He's Still Taking Pictures

2009-03-05T11:16:00.006-05:00

Joey still loves taking pictures. I actually enjoy picking up my camera to discover what new "treasures" are waiting for me to see. It's really neat to see the world from his eyes.

He caught me doing laundry one morning.
He had his first sleep over last weekend. Our nieghbors, the Roseberrys invited him over since they were moving. He was the only boy, with a group of girls :) He had a blast and didn't beg to come home. He stayed there all night. Me and Earl actually got a night out to dinner (thanks Louise, for the gift card!). It was nice. It was the first time Joey's stayed away overnight with friends--it's only been family up to this point. He had a blast.

At the moment, Joey's obsessed with posters! He has them all over his walls. First it was Madagascar 2 posters, then Cars posters, then Spider-Man. And of course, he's got a few motorcycle posters from Earl's magazines. Every once in a while, he'll wake up and first thing he'll do is run to my bed and say he wants more posters. They're actually out of stock in all our stores around here of any new ones that he's interested in. He's bought them all out. And that's his form of play, too: He'll come up and grab my hand and say, "Let's go look at my posters." And we do. He tells Earl exactly where he wants them on his wall. We're running out of wall space now. We're hoping our new house has a bigger bedroom for him when we move.

Joey took some pictures of his friends, the Roseberrys. (Who just moved away and we miss them very much!!) When he saw Zoey putting bunny ears over her mom, Joey said, "She's saying I'm 2!" He's never experienced bunny ears before.

This is Zoey and Joey

Joey decided to put green soap in his hair. Lots of it.

We had our last meal out with the Roseberry's and our other neighbor girls while Earl had his formal dinner at work. On the day they came to say goodbye to use because they were leaving town, Joey refused to tell them goodbye. He was almost in tears saying, "They can't leave!" I didn't think it would bother him, I didn't think he'd understand, but he did.

Joey got a biker jacket for Christmas, but didn't wear it till now.

He sometimes watches TV from the ground.

He took pictures of me getting ready for Church (I didn't know he was snapping photos of me) and of our bathroom:

I never remember to write down half the cute things he says and does, but I do remember one from this past week: We were talking about something, I don't even remember what, and I brought up one of his aunts (Sorry, can't remember which one) and he interrupted me to say, "I love all my aunts!" I told him that was great and I'd tell them all what he said.

And as far as updating on our moving: Right now it looks like we're supposed to find out tomorrow where we are moving to. As it stands now, Earl has most of April off to sell this house and buy another. Not sure if it will stay that way, or if he'll move his time off to after he finishes the security forces training school mid-may. I'll let you know when I know.

Christmas in Feb!

2009-02-23T09:45:00.006-05:00

Thanks for all the Christmas presents we just got. Joey loved having Christmas in Feb! I was trying to shoot videos and take pictures and help Joey with the presents, so I didn't get nearly enough photos. The videos show his excitement a little better.

Playing with his new shaving bath toys.

The Curious George rocker was fun for him.

Peeking in the bags.

Happy about the Thomas the Train ramp.

Can't wait to open the Cars craft kit.

Here are the videos of him opening some too.

If you don't watch any of these but one, you have to watch this one:

Angie's visit and new fishies!

2009-02-20T14:10:00.013-05:00

I have so much to update about, and I'm sure I'll forget most of it. Joey still isn't interested in potty training--I'm not forcing him yet. Maybe soon he'll be ready on his own without me rushing him. We had such a fun visit with Angie this past weekend. I'm sad knowing we're going to be moving this summer and then she'll be deploying later this year, too. About our move: we still don't know where yet, but it should be late May, early June that we go, depending how fast we find a new house.

Our big flat screen TV has been broken for a month now (we just got it replaced last night). This is how Joey had to watch movies^ on my laptop. We had a back up TV, but it's old and we didn't have the remote or any way to get it in "AUX" mode for the DVD player.

She doesn't let me take many photos of her, so I have to sneak them sometimes, or hound her till she gives in. I took a photo of her doing my dishes because I didn't think my mom would believe me if I told her Angie did that.

Trying to do her reading for work, and I'm pestering her.

I think this was our shopping day this weekend. She's trying to get ready, and I'm snapping pictures and Joey's playing in the bathroom sink (his new favorite place to play).

Getting slightly annoyed at me^

Getting a little more annoyed at me^ But she's so pretty! Who can blame me for taking her picture? :)

^Fell asleep, missing one sock. He's so cute!

He thinks I'm crazy.

Joey and Earl matched on this day.

^Think Earl's looking slimmer? He lost 22 lbs the past 2 months. He has really strong will power. If only I did... :)

He's had a really bad cough this past week. Most nights he coughs all night long, then lets me get some sleep in the wee early hours. One day, he took a 4 1/2 hour nap because he got no sleep the night before (or the following night, since it was a late nap). He seems to be better today.

Kmart was having a nice sale^ so Joey got a new Diego sweatsuit, among other things that added up to way more than we intended on spending that day.

Joey is still taking pictures. He's kind of obsessed with shadows now. He got a new Thomas the Train book that came with a flashlight, so you can shine it onto the pop-ups and see their shadow.

Joey's friend, Zoey, is moving away to CA in about a week (they're the best neighbors! we're going to miss them so much), so she gave him her goldfish. Everytime Joey was at her house, he'd run straight to the goldfish tank and watch it endlessly, so she knew he'd love it. We bought a tank for it, and bought a friend for him, too. Of course Joey named the goldfish Bradley. We bought a betta for his room, and he named "her" (actually it's a male, but don't tell Joey) Angie (she harrassed him until he started naming other toys after her, so it was in his mind I guess...he he, kidding, Angie. It wasn't harrassing, it was just, well, pathetic begging, really.) So then when we got the new goldfish to share Bradley's tank, Joey tried to name that one Bradley too, until we explained how that would be confusing. LOL Then he named it Orange.

I took this today^

So now we are the proud owners of 3 new fish. I didn't have a picture of the betta yet. I'm going to try to set "her" up in a bigger bowl/tank.

Orange is actually black and orange, and Bradley is the big orange one.

It was thundering the other night and Joey had just gotten in bed when it started. He called me in there to say he was afraid. So he got to come sleep in our bed. (Thor and Lars and Kiwi are also afraid of thunder and usually we have all of them on the bed during storms, too. But on this night, it was just Lars and Joey).

I was sure I had more stories to share, but they've slipped my mind. I have photos of Joey opening some late Christmas presents, so maybe I'll remember by the time I post those later.

In our free time...

2009-02-14T22:14:00.006-05:00

I took Joey to the park last Sunday after church:

Joey's still playing with my camera:

Joey took this picture of his daddy.

He took this picture of himself

Aunt Donna mailed Joey some tattoos! He couldn't wait to put them on.

Adam, Ryleigh, Joey and Mackenzie at playdate last week.

Mackenzie, Garrett and Joey

The kids having too much fun.

My sister Angela is visiting with us this weekend, and we're having a blast. Me and Earl got to take our own Sweetheart Ride on the motorcycle today while she kept Joey. (It was supposed to be a Sweetheart Ride with the Harley Davidson, but we skipped the group ride to the grill and did our own ride.) And Earl watched Joey while me and Angela went to a movie (He's Just Not That Into You). I wish I had tons of pictures of her and us and Joey, but she's not into humoring me and my camera-happiness. We hope to find out in the next couple weeks where we will be stationed for sure when we move this summer. We're just eager to know, so we can stop wondering and start planning.

Beach Day in Feb

2009-02-12T09:22:00.006-05:00

One day was pretty sunny and we took the kids to the beach just to play and run around. Of course the sun went down by the time we got there, so we froze our butts off. But the kids had fun.

Joey and the Day girls^

Mackenzie, Allie and Adison, and Joey

Joey giving Adison a hug.

I imagine he's contemplating the meaning of life.^

Christina

Joey giving Mackenzie a hug.

Me, Christina and Angela.

We're so very sad that Angela's moved to Quantico, but I know we'll run into each other again soon. The Marine Corps is a pretty small world, in the big scheme of things.

Gunny Roberts

2009-02-02T13:47:00.014-05:00

Today was Earl's promotion to Gunnery Sergeant (Gunny). Me and Joey went to watch, and I got to pin on Earl's new rank. If Earl had his way, it would have been a very small get together, inside, with no audience. But the fellas had a different idea.
Earl's Captain and 1st Sgt reading his promtion. Earl's Battalion Commander actually took the photos of the ceremony. He volunteered. (You don't usually see that in a LTCOL.) He was a such a nice guy. And anytime he saw me standing alone, he came over and thanked me for coming and talked to me.

Ha, they all look so stiff. Joey said "Look at all those mans," when we got there. Then we saw them at attention in formation he said, "They're all standing still," and his voice sounded so amazed. Like he had no clue what super power would allow someone to be still.

Me and Rob pinning Earl's new chevrons on. And Joey watching. :)

Getting his promotion certificate.

Getting congrats from the guys.

Joey took the following pictures all by himself. He learned how to use the camera. :)

His new Yo Gabba Gabba shoes.

In this one, you can see him in the rear view taking the picture.

I don't think he did half bad. He made his camera-happy mom proud.

Girls night, playdates, cooking and naps

2009-01-30T17:16:00.006-05:00

I got my car back yesterday from the shop. She's good as new. I'm very happy to have a car again. Last week, I forgot I didn't have one. I made a doctor's appointment for Joey, got us all ready and was walking out the door before I realized I had no way to get there. Luckily, my friend Bonny was already on her way past my house, so she stopped by and got us.

We had a dinner out, just the girls, last weekend. Our last group get together before everyone starts moving away. ^ Christina, me, Mandy, Bonny and Angela.

Christina, me, Mandy, Bonny, Olivia, and Angela

Another silly group photo ^
Ryleigh and Kyle at a playdate last tuesday.

Joey was Kyle's little shadow the whole playdate.

Hanging with the Day girls (who are moving this week!) :(

Ryleigh, Allie, Mackenzie and Landon

Angela, Bonny, Erin and Christina

Helping me cook (not sure what the above pouty face is about).

My sweet sleeping Prince today. He doesn't do regular naps during the day anymore, but sometimes I can get him to fall asleep on my shoulder and then lay him down like this.

Earl gets promoted to Gunny on Monday the 2nd. Me and Joey will go watch his little ceremony.

Joey's still doing his cute funny things. He uses "think" and "thought" all the time: "I thought my flashlight was in my room." "I think it's getting light out." It's pretty funny hearing it come out of his mouth.

Also, he's obsessed with making up words. It's a cross between gibberish and spanish, I think. He'll just repeat the same made up word over and over again. Sometimes he'll play along when I say "What's that mean?" and he'll answer, "jublo means mublo" or something equally silly. He finally got his last two 2-yr molars in, so he's sleeping so much better these days.

He's naming more of his toys these days. He has a lot of toy frogs. The other day I asked what their names were, he named the first one Bradley, the 2nd one Joey, the next 2 were Mommy and Daddy. Then the next 3 were Mandy (even though he only knows 2 Mandy's). After that, he got bored with naming them. He made sure the Joey frog was the biggest though.

Our "weekend" project that lasted a month

2009-01-27T18:03:00.004-05:00

We never get things done in a timely manner around here. We planned to just redo the vinyl flooring in the bathroom, and replace the quarter-round. Then I decided to go a head and put up some permanent shelves. Then I though, well, might as well paint now before we put up new shelves.

The old floor looks like it had been there since the house was built in the 70's.

Then I realized when I was about the paint that the old paint was really flaky, so we had to get rid of that first, and sand and spackle and blah blah blah.

We decided to go ahead and replace the toilet while we had it out. Our old one had lots of scratches inside it.

Finally, a month later, we finished it:

The End.

Josiah's First Snow

2009-01-20T16:26:00.003-05:00

It doesn't usually snow here in Jacksonville, so this is the first time Josiah's got to play in it. It wasn't much, but we did get an inch or two today. (And it's still snowing).
Before we went outside, Joey was holding the dog door open to let the snow come inside. He told me, "I want to touch it!"

At first, he didn't want to step in the snow, he stayed on the walk.

Thor and Lars miss snow. We used to get many many feet of it when we lived in northern CA, and they had a blast. This is the first time they've seen it in a few years. Thor is our snowbunny, actually.

It was coming down pretty hard.

Once he figured he could make footprints, that's all he cared about.

Earl tried to show him to throw snowballs, but Joey wanted to play catch with them instead.

Throwing a snowball at me (wanting me to catch it).

Our little bitty snowman.

Mmmm, hot cocoa!

All in all, Joey loved it! He didn't want to come in to warm up. We had to drag him in. He must have had fun because he took a nap for the first time in days! (He's sleeping now actually).

See, I told you so...

2009-01-19T14:29:00.003-05:00

Remember the picture I posted on the last blog of Bradley in a helmet when Earl was driving? Now you know why. This is what happens when Earl drives:

I felt like saying, "please take care of my baby" as the wrecker was pulling off. :-) I love my durango. If they can fix it, I'll be happy. If they total it out (I don't think they will) then I'll still be happy cuz I'll just go get another Durango.

This happened last night around 6:20pm. It was rainy and wet outside. On the trip out the grocery store and McDonalds, we had to lay on the horn multiple times for negligent drivers pulling out in front of us. This time, someone pulled out of a gas station in front of us, and Earl kept the horn blaring and swerved, but couldn't stop fast enough. Our passenger side front side rammed the other SUV's rear driver side lights, and they kept going. Earl was driving, and me and his mom were in the car. I was in the front seat, and had a close up view of the license plate, but it didn't dawn on me to remember it, I was just watching us make contact and lights exploding. LOL We waited for the cops and filed our report and called the insurance company. A local repair shop loaded up my precious Durango a few minutes ago and took it away to get an estimate. I feel like I should have named my car. But now I can just call it my precious Durango.

But we're all okay, and Joey and Bradley were both home with Grandpa and Aunt Louise, so they didn't have to go through it.

Ohhhh, my poor Durango. :-(

Family Weekend

2009-01-17T20:48:00.008-05:00

Earl's parents, his sister Louise and his nephew Bradley are all here for a fun weekend visit. When Joey found out Bradley was coming, he was counting down the days. Then, one night while we were laying around in his car bed, I told him he should give his red teddy bear that santa gave him, a name. Joey thought for just a minute and then announced the bear's name is Bradley. :-)

Is it sad that I take my camera to the supermarket?

They were kind enough to pause their wrestling to say cheese for me.

Bradley knows the stakes when Uncle Earl's driving.^

Grandparents and their precious boys.

He turned his head right before the flash.

Louise and Bradley both trying to fit in the crab face hole

Cute Joey the crab

Mamaw's turn!

He's a jumper

Best buddies!

I see a resemblance^

Seahorses

Bradley the crab

Louise the crab

Oh yeah: Joey finally jumped up to the 10th percentile. He now weighs 25 lbs! He's sick right now, with a cold. But hopefully he'll get better in the next day or so.

Oh yeah: Happy 44th anniversary to Earl's parents (it was on the 15th).

Getting Back Into Routine

2009-01-14T17:09:00.006-05:00

Now that the holidays are over, and Earl is back to work, we're trying to get back into a normal routine.

This is Joey before Church last week.

We're still trying to find ways to keep his hair looking halfway decent as we're growing it out.

Part of getting back into routine is hanging out with friends again. Christina and her kids, Mackenzie and Landon came over for dinner the other night.

We're getting at the point where all of us are starting to get orders and move away, so I'm stressing out about losing my buddies.

^Joey seems to like blondes that play his drums. Or just blondes.

Christina, pregnant with baby #3!

Joey and Mackenzie

Then today, Mandy and Kori, and my friend Kelly came over for lunch.

Awww, Mandy, how mean...holding that yummy chocolate chip cookie just out of Kori's reach.

Cute as a button.

Silly kids.

I was trying to catch Kelly ^ making a funny face while she was telling a story, but she caught me.

Mandy

See what I mean? ^ Blondes that play the drums.

This was funny. Kori was on the hood of the car, jumping up and down screaming " S, S, S" (no idea why). So after a while, Joey thought it was a challenge and jumped up to join her screaming "R, R, R!" I got it on video too!

My work starts up again soon, so I'll have less time to play on the computer, and play with Joey, and take pictures. Darn it. ;-)

Racecars and Sunsets

2009-01-10T20:39:00.004-05:00

I took Joey to the doctor on Friday. He's had this little lump on the side of his neck for many months now, so I finally went to make sure it wasn't serious. It's not. They said to watch it in case it gets bigger, but from what they can tell, it's a non-cancerous tumor called Lipoma, which will need no treatment unless it gets bigger or somehow bothers him.

He's obessed with counting the kisses he gives me. He gives me one and says, "I give you one kiss, Mama" and holds up his finger. Or he'll give me a bunch, and when he's done he'll tell me, "I gave you 5 kisses, Mama." Precious. He's also obsessed with people's favorite colors. If he doesn't know yours, he'll either ask, or assign you one. And he remembers them all! I have to hear all the time what color Kiwi (our cat)'s fave is (yellow) and Aunt Angie, and Daddy and Mama, and Joey (red), and Garrett (his little friend that he hasn't seen in ages, but still thinks his favorite color is Orange), etc.

This is a cool sunset Joey pointed out to me the other day.

It looks like fire.

Joey playing with his Cars racetrack set that Uncle Bubba got him for Christmas.

In the above and below pics, Joey claims he's looking for animals. He was doing that silly pose, and I have no idea how it relates to animal hunting. Usually when he's looking for animals, he has his bincolulars on.

The Spirit of Erwin High--Marty Fullington

2009-01-07T08:56:00.006-05:00

As everyone knows, it's been a tough few months for mine and Earl's family, with the many losses. But I have one more to add, not family, but a former teacher of mine at Erwin, Mr Fullington.

I was lucky enough to have him for English for 3 years, from 10th to 12th grade. He was a different kind of teacher--and if you ask any of his former students, he was the best. Ever. He never assigned an assignment that he didn't do right along side his students. Every essay we wrote, he did too. He genuinely cared for each of his students. He inspired them, he brought out the best in them, he celebrated their differences and unique talents, even if previous teachers were discouraging.

He also wouldn't let you get away with something less than your best. I remember a couple times he pulled me out of the middle of class with a recent assignment (which had a passing grade) and asking me, "What's going on? Are you having a hard time with this specific assignment? This isn't your usual standard of writing." Then I'd have to embarrasingly admit that I hadn't put much time into it, probably did it quickly that morning or crammed it in the night before. Geez, it felt terrible disappointing him.

He took many students under his wing, like family. I know some that had him at their wedding, some who used to be regular guests at his house, or vise versa.

When I was in 10th grade, I remember praying that I would get him again for 11th grade. He just made me want to do my best. In 11th grade, I begged him to take on AP English, since that's where I was going, but he refused. He said he was sticking with regular senior English. I was bummed. But it didn't stop me from begging. He was adament: No way. Then I show up for my first day of AP English, and guess who it is. Mr Fullington! I was estatic! AP English lasts the entire year, not just one semester, so I got a double dose of him that year.

He made me want to be a teacher. For a long time, that was my career goal. Not to be an English teacher, but to be a Wonderful English Teacher, like he was. I changed my mind eventually though, but never gave up on my love for writing, which he encouraged and nurtured, as he did with all his writing students.

He was also a music reviewer. Actually, one year we spent portion of our class time daily on students bringing in their own music choice with lyrics copied for the class, and we'd analyze them.

I know he was also in the Army, which you'd never guess by looking at him. ;-)

I could go on and on, but I'm being pretty selfish. But a blog like this comes in handy when you have so many wonderful things to share about how someone touched your life.

My prayers are with his family and loved ones at this tragic time.

Here's the link to the Asheville Citizen Times article on him, published today.

And a small tidbit about the memorials:

Remembering Marty Fullington
A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday in the gym at Erwin High.
A funeral service will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Cathedral of All Souls, 9 Swan St., Asheville. A celebration reception will follow the funeral in the church's parish.
Donations can be made to The Marty Fullington Scholarship Fund, 175 Bingham Road, Asheville NC, 28806.

Kicking off the new year

2009-01-06T08:30:00.007-05:00

Me and Earl actually stayed up to watch the ball drop this year. We don't usually. We're such old fogeys. We are usually asleep by 11:30 at the latest. But we made it this year, and watched Robbie Kneivel do a jump after midnight.
Josiah goes through phases with his Christmas toys. For at least a whole week, this yellow Hummer was his favorite (he still plays with it everyday--he loves opening the doors). He drives it around saying "This is my Hummer Pawpaw George and Nana got me!" over and over and over again. He knows what the hood is, and knows what's under the hood (engine).

We went to a little get together wtih some families of the guys Earl works with the other night. It was nice, although I didn't get to socialize much since Josiah couldn't be trusted alone on the bounce house or trampoline or tire swing.

This is Earl's friend, Burns, that will probably be moving with us to VA when we go. They're both doing the same job. We still don't have definite word that we're going to Chesapeake, but we're hoping so. Earl (and Burns) report in for the school for security forces (their new job) in May and it should only be 2-3 weeks long. Then Earl will come back here and pack up me and Joey and we'll take a few weeks off probably before permanently moving to VA (well, permanently meaning about 3 years).

Joey got to ride a tire swing for the first time.

And was on a huge trampoline too! He loved it. We had to wait for the big kids to get off before Joey could get on. He wasn't happy about waiting.

Earl and some of his buddies and co workers--some of the staff nco's.

Joey loves chocolate pop tarts.

He definitely watched too much TV the past couple weeks while Earl was on leave. It's the only way we got to get a couple extra minutes in the mornings before having to get up.

Joey continues to amaze me everyday with his speech. It may or may not be average for his age, but he just surprises me with how he uses his language. Like the other day he said, "I hear Kiwi, but I don't see her." (I don't think I've ever heard him use "but" and he used it correctly!) I'm just so impressed! His sentences are really filling out and becoming proper, not fragments. He asks thinks like, "Can I take my Rescue Pack in the bookstore with me?"

On a sad note, Earl has a brother in law in the hospital. He has many ailments, including problems with his heart, lungs, kidneys and brain. Please keep Gary and his family, especially his son Charlie, in your prayers.

The End of 2008

2008-12-31T10:48:00.005-05:00

Earl had duty while he was supposed to be on leave, and this was the uniform he had to wear. I love this uniform. I do love the Dress Blues, but knowing how uncomfortable they are to him, I might actually prefer this uniform instead. He's so handsome! He starts a Gunny's course next week, and he's not looking forward to that. It will last almost 2 months.

He should be picking up his new rank, Gunny, in the next couple months. Probably before he finishes this course.

I wish I could say Josiah loves his new red bike that he asked Santa for. But he's only tried it twice. He refuses to pedal. He'll rest his feet on the pedals but expects me to push him or the bike to miraculously go on its own. He does let me put his knee pads on, though, so he doesn't get hurt.

He still loves his swingset, but has no desire to sit and swing. He loves swinging on his belly instead.

We're enjoying the mild weather. It doesn't feel like winter at all...yet.

I've stopped counting how big Josiah's sentences are getting. The other day I tried, and he just keeps going and going. "I got down from the bed and got a boo boo right here, right there." That's a long one I have an example of. But he's very long winded when he wants to be!

We got another package of Christmas presents in the mail the other day:

Thanks Aunt Donna! This is Curious George in a Bunny costume. When Earl said "he's in a bunny costume!" Joey said, "He have a bunny costume to hide from the hippo." (I assume he saw an episode we didn't....otherwise, what the heck?! LOL)

Thanks Mamaw Ann and Grandpa!

Thanks for the Thomas sticker sets, Charlie!
More playdough! He loves playdough.

We're just enjoying these last few days of Earl having off. Happy new year everyone!

A Video Post!

2008-12-26T09:08:00.003-05:00

I have a few I wanted to post, so here they are:

The first couple are just Joey talking to me in his room.

The next couple are Josiah and Angela playing with his new Christmas present from her--the guitar.

And this one is Joey and his little friend Ryleigh climbing a fence and playing at Ryleigh's house. Joey stops to give Ryleigh a quick squeeze during their play, then carries on like nothing. LOL

Joey with his new drumset:

And this is an older one (from October) of Joey and his Uncle playing the harmonica:

Santa was in town!

2008-12-25T18:48:00.007-05:00

Yup--Santa ate the cookies and drank the milk!

Thanks Mom!

Thanks Uncle Bubba!

Joey loves his Hummer from Nana and Pawpaw George!

Playing swords with Daddy.

Thanks for the games Grandma Teri!

Awesome shirt, Ray! Thanks!

Joey loves all his new tools!

Thanks for the sweaters, Mom. Earl will use them for church!

The dogs got Christmas presents too!

Joey loves his Backyardigans Big Top Circus play set.

Joey is sitting on this gift while opening it.

Wow! Thanks Uncle Bubba!

Earl got a flashlight from his parents, but Joey demanded that Daddy share.

Opening the basketball hoop from Macy and Paige.

Thanks for the car, book and stickers, Brian and Hollie!

Thanks Mom! Needed the jewelry box!

This is the toy ^ that Joey was playing with in Marshalls that day that he lost Green Daddy.

Christmas was a blast! Me and Earl both agree that we went overboard on the presents this year, he really didn't need that much, but in future years we hope to have lots more kids, so this may be the only time we get to splurge.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I didn't get pictures of everything Joey opened, but we do thank everyone so much for the presents! He has been playing all day! He's in the bath now and then off to bed. I feel like I've been cooking and cleaning all day, but don't worry, I'm about to relax and watch a movie with Earl as soon as Joey is sleeping.

Nite nite!

Fun at Angela's

2008-12-25T10:26:00.010-05:00

Angela lives only 2 and a half hours away, and still we don't get to visit enough. We did squeeze in a couple days before she headed to Asheville.

Lunch at Jason's Deli

After he did push ups, he helped Aunt Angie do sit ups.

Josiah dancing with his arms. Not sure where he got that.

Angela's Christmas tree^ he he.

Josiah helped me blow out my birthday candles on my Coldstone Ice Cream Cake.

A guitar, which isn't half as loud as the next gift Angie got him:

Who else besides an Aunt would get a kid a set of drums for Christmas!!? He took to them right away. He does pretty good, besides it being so loud. He may be a natural.

Earl's gift from Angie--a new Harley belt buckle. He put it on immediately.

This is Angie's face when she saw her gifts from Joey and Earl. (Because she had just pointed them out to us the day before and said how much she liked them). I will now start posting all pictures of Angie with funny faces, because for my birthday (or was it Christmas?) She made a set of coasters, each one with a picture of me with an absurdly funny/odd/weird face. She did throw in a pic of her and one of Joey, but for the most part they were all of me. For obvious reasons, I'm not posting them here. :-)

Modeling her gifts (Which she didn't take off until bedtime pretty much)
Baking Christmas cookies:

It was a fun visit. I am currently thinking about cleaning up the mess in the living room that is Josiah's Christmas presents. Christmas dinner is started in the oven, Josiah is hanging on my neck as I type. He's still in his PJs. I'll start posting some Christmas photos later on today or tomorrow.

Josiah's new bed

2008-12-23T16:45:00.002-05:00

Josiah's in a big boy bed now. (Thanks Merritt for giving us the bed!).
It uses a twin size mattress, and has a removable hood that has a steering wheel on the dash. Joey loves playing on it. Earl does too, apparently:

I'm going to decorate it a little more like Lightening McQueen soon. But it works now. Joey thinks it's him so that's all that matters. (It's not really--it's just a red race car).

We're spending a couple days with Angie right now, so I'll post new pics from that visit soon!

The Christmas Season!

2008-12-20T22:29:00.011-05:00

Joey's doing and saying a lot. And I wish I wrote all the funny things down so I could remember when I'm updating the blog. Once he said he was going to ask Santa for a tattoo for Christmas (after studying Earls). And I'm exhausted and should be sleeping, so that's all I can think of right now.

At Earl's Christmas party.

At first, this is as close to Santa as Joey would get...just close enough to point out the bag of candy canes.

Joey and his friends, Morgan (above, and Zoey (below)

At a Christmas hayride.

They had awesome lights!

Not sure what this is about^

Yes, Santa rides a Harley (Earl and Joey in the background)

Finally, the 4th Santa we've seen this year and Joey finally tells him what he wants for Christmas! But he still wouldn't sit on his lap.

Joey and Allie having fun jumping the curb.

Earl and his buddies, Jason and Chris getting ready to ride out.

The fellas.

You wouldn't know it's December here, but the warm 70-something degree weather! We went to the Ports' house to hang out until the guys were done riding.

The kids destroying Erin and Jason's house.

Watching some TV.

Joey and Ryleigh.

Exhausted after a hard day of playing.

Marine Corps Ball Proofs

2008-12-18T10:21:00.003-05:00

I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to repost the proofs here--probably some kind of copyright violation. But I just wanted to show some of the professional pics since we won't be able to order enough to send out to everyone (I'll give you a link to the prices and you'll see why).

Like I said, they're pretty expensive so we're just getting a couple for ourselves. If you really get the urge to order some, here is the link: http://orderpicture.com/index.php3?client=NEW_2523492441&event=Dec_6_Marine_Ball&event_cat=All&password=

I believe our pics start on page 9. You have to click on the picture and enter an email address to be able to see the picture bigger or to order prints. The company is called New Bern Photography.

The Dancing Roberts Elves

2008-12-16T22:22:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Trees, Santa, and the Garlands

2008-12-16T14:01:00.004-05:00

Decorating the tree:
The finished product

Joey's helping hands

Christmas tree shopping:

We tried getting Joey to sit on Santa's lap, but he wouldn't. He was all talk until we got there. We worked on him all day, talking about how nice Santa was, and how Joey needs to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas (a red bicycle and red boat), and how he can sit on Santa's lap for just a minute and mommy will get him back, and the whole time Joey's agreeing and acting excited, but he flipped out when the time came. Here are some outtakes:

They tried putting a stool beside Santa, but Joey still wasn't interested.

He had such a grip around my neck, I couldn' t get him off (Santa was NO help, either).

The rest of these pictures are from our Asheville visit when we had dinner with our friends, Ashley and Bobby, and Joey's little girlfriend, Evie Mae.

Joey likes to make up new positions for the sit 'n spin.

Evie Mae came and sat between Joey's legs to see the book.

The Garlands ^

Bobby and Earl

Evie Mae was very excited to hug on Joey.

1/9 Marine Corps Ball 2008

2008-12-15T14:21:00.007-05:00

We had our Marine Corps ball a week or so ago. I didn't get a lot of pictures. We didn't do a whole lot of socializing that night, but I did get some. I didn't even see all of my friends there because we mostly stayed at our own table the whole time. Dinner was pretty yummy, though. Not sure if it was because I was starved or if it was indeed delicious. It was held in Greenville, NC and my wonderful, amazing sister Angie came to our house to watch Joey all night so that we could stay the night in Greenville and not have to drive back.

Us getting ready.

This is my favorite ^ picture.

The Yoders

The Cloughs

The Gills

Earl and some of his favorite LTs. (the 3 photos below)

Earl always ends up with closed eyes in pictures. I think he must be a slow blinker.

A Hodgepodge of Photos

2008-12-14T11:04:00.011-05:00

I'm way behind on posting all the new photos I've taken. Well, not ALL of them, but posting as many as I can without going too far overboard. Here's a ton from the past couple weeks.
Paige dancing.

Macy, getting so big now.

Joey, Nana, Macy and her daddy Kenny.

Dad and Earl

I caught Wanda playing doctor even after the kids had walked away. ;-)

Macy and Sandrina (who just got her learner's permit: YAY! congrats Drina!)

Paige and her mommy, Jennifer.

Joey and his Pawpaw

Donna

Charlie and Joey

Joey giving Aunt Donna goodbye hugs.

My handsome Earl and his dad.

Grover, Joey and Aunt Louise (Aunt Weez)

This is Aunt Donna babysitting Bradley and Joey while we shop (the only quiet moment she had apparently). She woke Joey up early that morning, not letting him sleep in. And she woke him up everytime we tried to lay him down for a nap that day. SOOO--we left him with her for a few hours so she understands what happens to him when he's sleep deprived. he he he. It's only fair, right? ;-) Did I mention that she called us every few minutes asking when we'd be back and letting us know Joey was very cranky? So we stopped and had a bite at McDonalds before we came home. he he.

Louise trying to cozy up to my mom.

Ray cozying up to Earl's mom.

My nephew Charlie, being silly.

Earl in his daily attire ^ PJs and boots.

Instead of "bang bang" or "pow pow," Joey says "shoot shoot" as he points the gun at you.

Crazy Aunt Donna. I think she's singing the flying purple people eater song.

Deja and Joey

Me and my Jenny.

Jenny and Kiara.

Kiara and Joey hugging.

My friend from high school, Paula, was in town from Louisanna and it had been over a year since I had seen her last, so she literally met up with me in a parking lot of a closed bakery so we could catch up a little bit.

The four of us.

Paula and her cutie, Sadie.

I have even more photos to come, but I'll go ahead and post this blog in the meantime. We are glad to be back at home, but sure do miss our family and friends. Wish we lived a little closer to see you all more often. And we never get to visit everyone we want to, so we apologize for not having more time to squeeze everyone in.

Remembering Faye

2008-12-13T11:31:00.001-05:00

Taken on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Earl, Faye and Bradley.

In Loving Memory of Faye

2008-12-07T23:24:00.003-05:00

In Loving Memory of Angela Faye Foulkrod

This was taken last Saturday, on the day we celebrated Thanksgiving with Earl's family. Faye passed away this Saturday the 6th. She was one of the most loving people I've ever known. She's going to be missed so much by her husband, Arron, and her two boys, and all of her family. She was very open in her love and adoration of her family. I never saw her once when she wasn't talking about how much she loved someone or everyone.
She's already missed so much.

More Thanksgiving photos

2008-12-07T23:06:00.006-05:00

Thanksgiving dinner at Ryans Steakhouse

My crazy brother in law, Mike.

Joey and Aunt Darlene

Some Thanksgiving pictures

2008-12-04T17:42:00.009-05:00

This is only a small part of the Thanksgiving pictures I have to post. When we first got to Asheville, we went to Earl's parents.

As most of you know, Earl's sister Faye ^ is in the hospital. Their family can use your prayers right now.

We spent Thanksgiving day in SC with my Granny. We missed Pawpaw, on this first Thanksgiving without him, but we felt him there. ;-)

This is my cousins Trish, Jennifer and Allen, and my uncle Jerry. (And Joey's head in the bottom corner of the pic)

Joey and his Pawpaw

Allen and Earl thought they could break pecans by hand.

Trish

Allen

Joey and his 3rd cousin, Quantavious

My uncle Johnny

Like father, like son ^

The boys gathering around an engine.

Granny and Jennifer.

Judy, Trish, and the little boys.

I know this picture of Joey is blurry, but he looks so much like Earl in this photo that I had to post it.

Uncle Arron and Joey

Earl's mom and brother-in-law, Arron.

I have many more, but we'll be driving home tomorrow, so I don't know when I'll get to post them.

Madagascar Animals, a Truck and New Pipes

2008-11-25T09:13:00.003-05:00

Joey's been collecting the Madagascar happy meal toys. (Madagascar is his favorite movie right now--can't wait until part 2 is on video!) This morning, I found him playing with them in his cereal.

Joey likes to climb us. He says "Daddy, I climb you. You're a ladder!"

This is Joey inside Earl's new truck (drinking my root beer). He loves getting to ride upfront. He loves looking at the red and green lights.

Earl had to get a truck for a couple reasons: we just need a truck, and Earl really needs a back up vehicle other than the Harley (although he won't admit it). He still loves to ride it, even in rain and freezing weather.

This is without the camper shell ^

Also, we sold the Camaro and Earl took the money straight to the Harley Davidson and got new pipes for his Harley. His old ones were chrome, and Earl wanted louder ones that were black. ^

It looks good, huh? And they are very loud. I don't have handy pics of "before" but I"m sure you can find them on one of our old blogs if you really want to see.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111 - That was Joey. He loves to type now. We have to set him up a blank page so that he can type to his heart's content.

Oh I just thougth of a funny story. When Earl and Joey were playing in Joey's room the other day ( I was here at the computer working, and could hear them through the baby monitor), I heard the funniest thing. They were playing normally, then all of a sudden Joey tooted and jumped up and said "I hear a noise out my butt!" It was so funny. Earl cracked up and sent Joey to tell me. And he did.

Hilarious. He acts like he's never realized that he's done that before, but he most certainly has. He talks about it plenty when he "toots." I can't get him potty trained, but he'll do that on the toilet for me. Ha ha.

Okay, that's enough fun for one day. We're headed to Asheville for Thanksgiving tomorrow (what a busy weekend it will be). Can't wait to see everyone we can and eat all that delicious (or "dewichious" as Joey says) turkey.

Gone Fishing

2008-11-18T22:34:00.011-05:00

Lounging around the house.

Joey Long Legs

Daddy promised Joey a trip to see horses after Church last sunday. Joey rode patiently with Green Daddy:

This is before the horse show started. Earl and Joey checked out the area. I took these pictures far away from the warmth of the car. :-) My zoom on my camera isn't so bad afterall.

Watching the horse show, eating an oatmeal cookie.

He's addicted to Dew just like his Daddy.

Me, my baby, and his Green Daddy.

Joey referred to this horse as "orange legs."

Okay, now the fishing part. Joey, out of the blue started talking about going fishing. Not sure if he saw it on TV or heard someone talking about it or what. But all of a sudden for days all he wanted to do was go catch fish. So sunday night we went and bought him a fishing pole that he had asked for last time we went to Wal-Mart (a Lightening McQueen fishing pole) and tackle box. He had fun for HOURS playing with that pole and box that night.

He went to bed pretty easy that night because he knew he was going fishing when he woke up.

He learned how to cast and reel it in himself. He was very proud.

Daddy gave him some equipment for his tackle box.

Kiwi watched the excitement from her safe place on the computer desk.

On Monday we went to Maysville and did some fishing!

Refusing to keep on the hat and keep the jacket zipped, even though it's freezing outside.

This duck just approached us, waiting for us to feed it, I guess. This is Joey being very still so he won't scare it ^

This is the second spot we fished. Joey found a comfy place with the chips and drink.

More ducks: Joey fed them chip scraps.

He kept asking to go swimming with them.

Me and Joey fishing.

It looks like I've caught a fish ^ but really I just got hung up , again. None of us caught anything (except for the minow Earl put in the net and let Joey think he caught. That was cute.)

He discovered some of the bait.

When he got bored of fishing, Earl let him release the bait. He picked them up one by one and tossed them in the lake.

He actually liked holding them.

Exhausted on the ride home.

I pulled out my camera to take a picture of him where he kept pulling his hood up. He saw the camera and said "I run away!" And he did.

I don't know, he just looks to me like he's about to rob a candy store on his "bike." He's a hoodlum.

Ketchup face.

We'll Miss Nala

2008-11-17T18:21:00.004-05:00

Nala, my sister Angie's cat, escaped from Angie's apartment and ended up getting hit by a car.
:-( Angie has had Nala since she was weaned. Nala has gotten to live with both us and my Mom while Angie was training with the Army, until she got settled in. She finally got settled in, and had only had Nala a few weeks when this happened. It's heartbreaking. Nala was such a sweet cat!

She was a big girl, but not exactly fat.

She had her own personality. She didn't let my dogs bully her around. She gave as good as she got.

Lars tried his best to make her his new play pal, but it didn't work. She couldn't play ball with him.

And they kept their eye on one another.

Joey has known Nala all his life! She lived with us when he was born. She was so good with him, especially when he was a baby and loved crawling all over her. She never once scratched or hissed at him. She was gentle. All my neighbors loved Nala and how friendly she was.

She will be missed.

So sorry Angie, I know how much that little furr ball meant to you.

In Joey's Room

2008-11-12T10:00:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I had my hair colored: I'm a red head now. I'm not posting the "before" pictures, because I'm aware it looked much better before. I don't want to compare the two colors, I just want to enjoy being a red-head for a while. :-) and Earl loves it, so that makes me feel good about it.

This picture makes it look like I have really red hair. In my mirror, I only see brown. Except my roots. Earl says I'm crazy. This picture is not what I see in the mirror. So I'm confused. But I'll give it a little more time before I run to the salon and say "fix it." (Also, I'm aware I need a tan. Red hair really brings out my paleness).

When I came home with red hair yesterday, Joey (who says his favorite color is Red), said that my hair should be blue, and his hair should be red, and daddy can have green hair.

Joey isn't as addicted to Green Daddy as in the past. He sometimes forgets it when we go somewhere, or when he's playing. Sometimes he's even laid down for a nap without Green Daddy.

This is in Joey's room this morning. He's back to waking up in the middle of the night and wanting my bed, so we end up waking up next to him in the mornings. He cuddles for a minute or two, then steps up on my pillow, so he can reach the shades over our headboard, and he pulls open the shades and says "It's getting lighter! The sun turned on the light outside!" I love it.

Another cute little story: we went through McDonalds drive thru last night (for the second time, looking for that darn Lion toy from Madagascar), and as Earl's giving the speaker box his order, Joey bangs on the window in the back and asks for the window to be put down. Earl puts it down and Joey holds out his Hippo from his previous happy meal, and yells into the speaker box "I gotta have a happy meal!" over and over again. He was placing his order. :-)

Playing with the blocks this morning.^ He recognized numbers 2 and 3 on his own, with no prompting from me. So we're making progress on learning numbers. He's not as motivated as he was with the alphabet.

A Quick Picture Post

2008-11-09T13:41:00.004-05:00

Donna (Earl's sister) wanted a closeup of Earl's award that he got. Here it is (it says "Cruisin' Against Domestic Violence) :

Do you see where Earl placed his award? It used to be on his dresser in our bedroom. But when I went looking for it to take a picture of the closeup, I noticed he moved it to our (messy and cluttered) mantle. In front of a certain photo:

(That's a picture of Donna and Louise--Earl's sisters. Ha ha!)

These are Joey's new Lightening McQueen slippers. He loves 'em.

This is Joey and his friends, Allie and Adam who came over to play with him one day.

And this is Joey last night. He didn't take a nap yesterday, and Earl went out to Arby's to grab us supper, and Joey fell asleep on the ride home. He wouldn't wake up when Earl got him out (It was only 6:30, so I didn't want him asleep for the night yet). I kept talking to him, asking him if he was going to wake up and he'd say "No." It was funny. He finally woke up to eat some curly fries.

No pants, big pizza eating, sink playing, red-head-baby lovin' Joey

2008-11-04T19:51:00.009-05:00

Joey is disappointed that Halloween is over. He convinced me to let him wear his monkey costume again last night. He didn't want to take it off for bed. He talks about Halloween all day now, about wanting to be a brown monkey again.

We had our friends, the Cloughs, over the other night, and Joey and baby Saylor bonded.

She's such a serious little baby, until she gets that huge grin, but I didn't catch it on camera.

This is an almost grin ^

I was trying to take a picture of Bonnie and Ben and Saylor, but Joey apparently thought his car was more important at the moment.

I sat him on the sick while I was cutting his fingernails the other day, and he didn't want to get down.

This is with the light turned off ^ but with my flash, it looks well-lit. It was pitch black, I couldn't even see his face when I took these pictures.

With the light on, he loved making faces at himself in the mirror.

I couldn't pick just a few pictures to post, so I had to post almost all of them. He's just so darn cute.

This is Josiah hiding his face from me. He was in time-out for hitting me. And he positioned my back support cushion as his pillow and got comfortable.

Earl brought Joey home a big slice of pizza for lunch. I'm pretty sure it's bigger than Joey's head! And he's still in PJs at lunch time. :-)

He's talking SO SO much. Non-stop. All day chatter. He's very repetitive too. He'll say the same thing over and over and over again, even if you respond each and every time. He just likes to hear himself talk, I think. (Reminds me of his daddy. he he)

Boys and Their Toys

2008-11-02T20:28:00.009-05:00

From the title Boys and Their Toys, you'd probably think this blog is about Joey.
Nope! Earl and his buddy Chris couldn't wait to get their new Harley's broken in really good, so we drove an hour and half to Clinton, NC this past weekend for their Toy Run/Bike Show/Car Show fundraiser for U-Care, who helps out victims of domestic abuse.
We had to leave at 8:30am, so it was freezing outside. This is me and Earl.^

Michelle and Chris.

It's getting warmer, and Michelle's smiling bigger! ^

I like to take pictures while riding, it gives me something to do. :-)

Chris and Michelle mulling over their vote for people's choice award for the car show. (i forgot to get a picture of those cars)

Earl

This is my favorite picture of Chris and Michelle^ She looks like a speed demon. :-)

Earl and Chris

Chris and Michelle^

Me and Earl, on a pit stop during the group ride.

The bikes in front of us on the group ride.

Michelle took some pictures of me and Earl while riding too!

This was our "rest area" at the half way point of the group ride.

Earl.

This Michelle and Earl with their spoils--they are very lucky people. We had raffle drawings and they both won, but me and Chris did not. Michelle won the hat. Earl won a gallon of paint (lol, obviously couldn't bring that back on the bike, so he gave it away), and some t-shirts and an Advance Auto Parts gift card, and a tire rotation, and a makeup brush set (gave that to Michelle's little girl, Allie). Earl and me had 4 raffle tickets. At first I held 2 and he held 2. In that first round of drawings, he won with both his tickets. Then the next round, when I was holding the tickets--nothing. Then the 3rd round, when I gave Earl the tickets to hold, he won them both again! Not sure why he hasn't won us the Powerball lottery yet, though.

Both Chris and Earl got an award at the show. They were so proud (and we're proud too!). Chris won Best in Show, and Earl won (i think) the people's choice award called "Britney's Choice" (or maybe it was just her choice? I don't know. She's the high school student that organized the event that day. Earl wonders if she was choosing the bike or him. he he. Anyway, they weren't too clear on what the awards meant so the important thing is that he won. He has that award on our dresser in our bedroom. :-)

Walking away with the awards.

The bikes with their awards.

More award posing.

Me and my honey.

Thanks Angie for watching Joey (and Allie). We appreciate it soooooo much! When you have kids I'll watch them all day every day whenever you want! (I say that because she claims she'll never have kids) he he.

Halloween

2008-11-01T20:38:00.006-04:00

This was Joey's first time trick or treating.

My little monkey

My friend Kelly and her daughter, Zoey, and me and Joey.

He wouldn't put his pumpkin up to get candy from people, he wanted to take it with his hand and put it in his pumpkin himself. But he had no problem saying "trick or treat." Also, he wouldn't carry his pumpkin off the ground, he let it drag, getting a little hole in it. But he wouldn't let us help carry it for him. And he had mittens on the ends of his costume, but wouldn't wear them to keep his hands warm. It was a crazy fun night.

Angie and Joey.

We had a lot of fun!