side by side

This is a picture of both of us at 3 months old. You be the judge.....













and here's a pic that best matches the pics in the previous post below. It's a pic of me and my hot Auntie Jana.

9 months old

Our Baby Girl is 9 months old already! Time sure flies when you are having fun. She has been such a good baby, and has been so much fun for the boys. She is crawling all over the place, pulling to standing and is working on standing on her own these days. She LOVES watermelon, barbeque and corn on the cob. I think she may always be a Tennessee girl at heart, no matter where we live. She has learned how to really voice her opinion, and can rival the noise level of her brothers. She loves to wrestle with JT, but JT has a total melt down when she tries. It is funny, because DB can totally pummel JT to death and he giggles about it, but when Baby Girl comes near, it is all over. She is definitely Mama's little girl, and usually can be found within 5 feet of me at all times. She is just lately starting to venture out a little bit on her own. She is beautiful and wonderful and healthy. We couldn't ask for more.

An accounting......

As I sit here at the computer at the end of a wonderful summer day, I have just looked around at my mess of a house and was wondering what on earth I have done today? So, here it is, an accounting:
--I jumped out of bed and sprinted outside to get the garbage to the curb before the garbage man drove off. Quite an abrupt ending to my night.
--I raced cars up and down a ramp, determining that it doesn't really matter which car you choose, if you race while JT is looking, the ramp will randomly move/sink/be flown into the sky.
--I held a very intense WWE tournament in the toy room, in which I came out victorious.
--I got in my exercise by mowing the lawn--front and back! The boys cheered me on from underneath the tramp.
--Listened to the beautiful sounds of my boys playing together while I recovered from said exercise.
--I made a loaf of zucchini bread and 12 zucchini muffins which are just about gone already.
--I set the Shoff family record for number of nerf bullets deflected by a light saber. (4 out of 8!!) DB was a close second with 2.
--Read up on what it takes to become a Jedi Master.
--I served up a 3 course meal for a picnic dinner....watermelon, hotdog/hamburger, popcicle.
--I layed on the blanket and stared at the sky looking for space.
--I did some outdoor pilates with the help of Baby Girl.
--I watered the lawn and DB at the same time.
--I ate a whole slice and a half of watermelon. I'm not talking pizza slices here, I am talking the entire diameter kind of slice of watermelon. Oh how I love thee!

I suppose it matters who you ask, but I think it was a productive day. You can't tell that by looking around my house, but I don't recall ever yelling or wanting to kill someone!! There was even a point after dinner that everyone was playing well and giggling that I didn't even dare move. That is why I didn't get the edging done. That will have to wait for tomorrow. I wasn't about to let today get ruined by something so insignificant.

Sum Sum Summertime!

It has been quite a hectic month to say the least, mostly just because it is summertime and if I don't keep us all busy, one of us is bound to.....shall we say....pass on to the next life in a hurried manner!

Benny Boo--Not much to report on him except that he works a TON, shocker, I know.....but he got the job in Orlando over about 60 applicants, so his work is paying off and we are happy about that. Maybe one day soon I will introduce myself and our children to him again.....

Amanda--I reached a personal best today on the treadmill, 2 miles in 25 min. Not great, but better than I have been doing. I Love my nursery calling, singing songs and figuring out ways to entertain them long enough to listen to me sing. But when they start singing with me???? That is a huge payoff.

DB--has really enjoyed the Kid Fit class at the gym on Mondays and Wednesdays. Excercise for 45 min, swim for 45 min. He is meeting new friends and enjoys the physical activity. He is OBSESSED with Lego Star Wars and XBox and has been staring into his Lego Magazine for 3 days now.

JT--is really getting the hang of swimming, didn't swallow half the pool today! We are making progress. His skin is a daily battle that he endures well. He has enough patience ONLY for that. He has discovered that I respond quicker when he "whistles" at me. He puts his fingers in his mouth and just screeches at the top of his lungs at the highest pitch possible. Annyoing. Endearing.

Baby Girl--celebrated her Independence this weekend by finally figuring out how to go FORWARD, which I am happy about, but this new development has left the boys reeling. She has some very protective brothers....protective of THEIR OWN STUFF!!! She hates baby food, thinks she is a grown up already and is a happy girl as long as I am within 5 feet. Oh, and this girl LOVES her some barbeque! There is something to being born in TN.....

We.....meaning I am cleaning the house constantly to keep it viewer friendly so that we can hopefully sell this baby soon. Ben will probably have to move to Orlando at the beginning of September, and we would like to move with him (we are wierd that way....)

We had a great 4th of July this year! On Saturday we went to a pig picking that was delicious! It was in a rural part of TN that was just beautiful. There was also some pickin' and grinnin' going on, and the host had on a real corn cob hat to match his overalls! It was amazing!! Then we went to Beech Lake for fireworks on Sunday. There were about 50 people from our church there, so I deemed it an appropriate Sunday activity. We had music, watermelon, we didn't have an opening or closing prayer, but I thought it was a great Fireside! I am actually really sad that we won't be around next year to do the same thing. It was a perfect Southern 4th of July with country music about independence and God and America. The mayor of the town wasn't afraid to say "God Bless America" and was supportive of our Troops. In the news you only hear about people wanting to take God out of everything, but I really think that there are far more people out there that aren't willing to give Him up so easily. That just doesn't make the news.

I love summertime.....library and zoo trips, reading new books, swimming, running through the sprinklers, watermelon, cheap fruit at the store, painted toenails, watermelon, fireflies, garden fresh veggies, baby tans (you know, the kind where their creases in their chubby little arms is white but the other parts of their arms/legs is tan?), coolers full of yummy stuff, fireworks, staying up late, I sure wish I could add sleeping IN to this list.....We love the summer!