words to live by

I just wanted to share a few songs that have come accross recently.

One of my favorites,
There's a battle between good and evil by Chris August

Reason for the world by Mathew West


Stronger in the broken places by Mark Harris

The cartoon song by Chris Rice


This little light of mine by Addison Road

Free by Dara Maclean

you are more by Tenth ave north

I love the way you hold me by Jamie Grace

Born again by Newsboy

You lead, I'll follow by Jamie Grace

Hold me by Jamie Grace



I hope you enjoy them too!

skip counting fun

Skip counting seems to be a difficult thing for Tyler, but I don't believe ot has to be. Tyler is very into music and I think if we find some catchy skip counting songs it may help him. I am searching youtube for some skip counting songs that will help him memorize these facts. I know his math sucess depends on it. So if anyone else is interested, here are links to the videos I have found.

by 3's!

by 4's!

by 6's!

by 7's!

by 8's!

by 9's!

Alexis is 8 months

I can't believe my sweet baby girl is already 8 months. The time has just flown by and I don't know whether to smile or cry. (Actually, I've done a little of both.) I love seeing her grow and change each day, but it just seems to be passing me by a little faster than I would like. I took her 8 month pictures on the 2nd, but since she is so darn fast, I didn't really capture what I was hoping for, so this weekend I moved the table out to the living room and set up shop, lol. I took a few of her sleeping. Sleeping babies always look like little angels, but my baby girl is truly my little angelbaby!

Today we said good bye to Lisa and sweet baby Nicolas. I love when we get to visit and it is never long enough, but I am so glad we were able to spend Christmas with her and see my sweet little nephew. Alexis loves you baby Nicolas!

So today, I was watching Alexis dig in her toy basket. It was so cute how she pulled up to her basket and leaned in to get her toys out. I decided to take a picture of her and just as I went to snap it, she stood right on up. She has stood up a few times on her own, but never for long enough for me to get a picture.



Alexis still isn't a fan of baby food. She has never really eaten it, but boy does she come after ours. She loves bananas and pizza. (No, we did not give her the pizza, she sneaked a lick from her bubbas plate.) Today we were having tuna sandwiches and she was determined to get a taste. I couldn't help snapping a few pictures as pitiful as she looks eating the plate, ha!





This afternoon we decided to take a little walk to the park. Tyler rode his skateboard and I was quite impressed at how good he was doing on it.





Caiden of course walked, but apparently got tired of that and decided to just hop on the stroller while Daddy pushed Lexi,lol.





We had a great time playing at the park. The boys always have so much fun at the park, but with daddy, it was even better.

My sweet Tyler modeling my new white backdrop for me. He wasn't really feeling well, but he put on his happiest face for me. He is such a sweetheart and I am so glad that God gave him to me. He makes me smile everyday and I am so thankful for his great sense of humor.



Even though he wasn't feeling well, he insisted on going to his karate lessons. He wants to learn karate so bad and really works hard. During class the instructor asked the class what were some of thier goals. Tyler raised his hand and told the instructor his goal was "to become a true ninja!" Love him!

park day

Yes, that's right It's January and we are in shorts and short sleeved shirts heading to the park! It is a beautiful 75 degrees here in the south and we are loving this perfect weather God has given us.



We took a little walk down to the neighborhood park for a little exercise and fun. Lexi LOVED swinging. I wish had video taped how her little legs were just a swinging and kicking and her precious little squeal.



Caiden just wanted to run and run and run. He ran all over the place, but he did stop for a bit to enjoy "the web" as we call it.



Tyler played in the web most of the time, but we also attempted to see saw a little. And, he showed me how he can "fly" out of the swing. (Don't tell him, but I was a bit nervous b/c he was swinging so high. He was nearly even with the top bar of the swing set)



Lexi is finally getting the hang of eating. She used to stick out her tongue and start blowing as soon as she saw the spoon so that nothing could get in her mouth. I actually had to pry her mouth open with the spoon to put food in and then she would spit it out. She was always grabbing at our food, so I decided to give her a baby mum mum. She didn't really know what to do with it, but she liked putting it to her mouth. Now, she knows what to do with it and she also attempts to eat her food. (at least a few bites) But I'll take that :)This picture was just too cute and I had to share. She gave me this big ole smile while she had a mouth full of mum mum! She is such a happy girl.



I can't believe Alexis is already trying to walk. When Santa brought her this walker, I didn't think she would use it for awhile, but she actually enjoys pushing it around. But if her baby is in there, she takes her out. I mean, what kind of momma would she be if she just left her in there all the time like that?

Today, Lisa came over with sweet baby Nicolas to take some newborn pictures. He is so precious and did so good with his first photo shoot :) Especially being an old man, lol. (I usually do newborns under 2 weeks, but he is 2 months!!)





After Nicolas's pictures, we took Tyler to his first karate class. He has so much fun. He was absolutely adorable yelling "YES SIR" as he jumped to standing!



Every time the class had to yell something, Tyler could be heard over everyone else. He worked so hard to impress the instructors. I was really impressed at how well he listened and that he didn't try to talk to everyone.



After class, he went to the instructor and waited in line to ask him something. When it was his turn, he asked, "when can I test for my next belt?" The instructor, smiled and told him testing was every 9 weeks. Gotta love that enthusiasm!

Time flies

Time flies! How cliche, but how true! It seems like yesterday we were taking maternity pictures and now, I'm planning her first birthday. (Yes, I realize I am doing this 4 months early, but these parties require lots of work so I need a head start) I attempted 8 month pictures with Lexi, but with the tree up, the lighting in the house was horrible and it was actually cold outside, so no way we were doing that. So, I will repeat them this weekend, but I had to get a few snaps to document her 8 month birthday!



At 8 months, Lexi has her 2 bottom teeth, and the top two are breaking through any second now. She pulls up on everything and sometimes will let go for a second or two. The longest I have counted was 4 seconds. She doesn't lose her balance and fall, she just realizes she is standing so she sits... silly girl.



She cruises around her toys, the furniture, people, really anything she can hold onto. She got a push behind walker for Christmas that she likes to walk with. But once she sees her baby doll in it, she rescues her baby :) Lexi loves babies, both dolls and real ones! She wants to kiss all over her new cousin Nicolas.

Today, we let Caiden have a try at the bb gun. He has a little way to go with the aim, but he was so dang proud of himself :) He kept saying, "I can't believe I shot the gun! I missed, but it's ok." It was precious!

Today, Kyle and Tyler set up the "range" (upside down sand/water table) and lined up the bad guys (army men) and gave the bb guns a little workout. They had a great time and it seems that Tyler is quite the sharp shooter! He hit his army man on the first time. If you look closely at the picture you can actually see it mid-air!



Lexi had her first taste of carrots with dinner. She really resists baby food, so we have had to take it VERY slowly with introducing new foods. She seemed to like it ok, but then she wasn't too sure, lol.

Living in the county has its perks. We never have to travel far for an awesome fireworks display! I snapped this shot real quick while the three kiddies were watching the fireworks out the backdoor.



We blew the horns at 10:00 and were off to bed.

I am claimimg 2012 as OUR YEAR! I just know that God has something good in store for us :)

2011 in review

2011 brought us many blessings. One of the biggest blessings our family received this past year was the birth of Alexis. She is such a sweet and happy baby and her brothers can't get enough of her! We have enjoyed watching her grow and learn so many new things.











Our little family in April 2011



Our family in June 2011






Tyler joined a new coop in January. He took an art class and loved making new creations. I think he really found his inner artist!



We had an awesome Easter. The boys were excellent egg finders :) I was quite impressed at how well they worked together.



We even squeezed in a fun little picnic...



Caiden had his third birthday this year. The party theme was dinosaur train, one of his favorite shows. He loves dinosaurs and tractors/diggers/or any other big machine :)






Tyler had a Tony Hawk skater party. Lots of friends came to celebrate with him and we took it to the streets! We didn't let a little drizzle of rain spoil our fun.






We had a great visit from Grandma and grandpa Rogan in October. The weather was beautiful and the boys loved playing at a new park.

This is just a picture comparison for fun. This is me and my Lexi. Do you think she looks like me... even just a little????