6 months old

John Mark turned 6 months old yesterday. It's amazing how fast the time is flying! He is getting so big, and becoming so independent. He is playing by himself more and more. He is also trying to talk so hard. It mostly comes out a hilarious "BBBBUH!" sound. I tried to get it on video, but I just couldn't do it justice.

We went to Central High this weekend to spend some time with my family. We had lots of fun seeing family there. It's always so nice to go "home." I was telling mom that every time I leave Central High, I listen to the song "Faith My Eyes" by Caedmon's Call. There is a line in the song that sums up my heart as I turn onto highway 7, heading for my home in Edmond. It says:

"Hometown weather on TV
And I imagine the lives of people living there
I'm curious if they imagine me
They just want to leave I wish that I could stay."

Part of my heart will always be in good ol' Central High, OK.

John Mark is also becoming quite the wiggly sleeper. I know, I know... I have no clue where he would get a trait like that. Definitely not from me... :o) He moves all over the bed and it's really funny to see how he ends up each morning.

Finally, here is a cute link of John Mark eating and playing with his daddy.

white trash bash

This weekend we celebrated the birth of our good friend, Chris Howell. How did we celebrate? With a white trash bash... complete with white trash clothes, funyuns, slim jims and a NASCAR cake! We were going to have John Mark be white trash and only wear a diaper, but considering the layers of snow and ice outside, we opted to dress him normal. Please note (as if you couldn't) that the snow and ice did NOT stop my husband from wearing his coaching shorts. We are so cool.

We had a blast hanging out with everyone and playing THE NAME GAME! If you've never played this game, it is most addicting. I'm not even kidding. I now find myself constantly thinking "oooh... i should have been (insert cool name here)". Pathetic, I know. But what do you expect from a girl wearing sweats with pockets and a scrunchy?

This is my friend Allison's little girl, Finley, being white trash with nasty teeth. :o)

In non-white trash news, we went to the doctor today to have John Mark's ears checked. He's fine, just has a little bit of a cold. They weighed him and he is weighing in at 19-4. He'll be 6 months old on Sunday. I can't believe it. 6 months going on 16.

I hope everyone survived the winter weather, and is thawing out nicely wherever you are!

ICE STORM 2007

Well... it has been quite the icy weekend here in Oklahoma. Starting early Friday morning, we've been stuck inside the house because of the winter wonderland outside our warm walls. By Sunday we were suffering from some serious cabin fever. We ended up bundling up and taking a walk around the backyard just to get some air.

I think that John Mark is even sick of being stuck in the house. He's been quite the grumpy little bear these past few days. But yesterday when we finally got out, he was much happier. I think that maybe he got his mom's inability to sit still or be in one place for too long. Not to mention that Micah and I were running out of things to entertain ourselves... and John Mark! :o) We have played a lot of video games (micah), read a lot of books (stephanie), cleaned out an entire closet and room (stephanie), watched a lot of movies... eaten a TON... and cried (john mark).

I don't really have much to post. I mainly wanted to get these pictures out there. Hope you are all enjoying the winter wonderland and staying warm!

more adventures...

John Mark is becoming quite the little noise-maker! He has learned how to suck in his lower lip and make a funny "tooting" sound. This picture is him making his new noise. He also loves to stick his tongue out and then suck it back in to make noise. He's a funny, funny kid!

For those of you who love a good poop story ( and really, who doesn't?), have we got a story for you! Last Friday, I had come home from the gym and fixing myself some lunch. Micah was playing with John Mark, then he put him into his exer-saucer to play. John Mark did okay for a little while, then he started fussing. I thought he just wanted us to play with him, so I didn't immediately run to his rescue. Bad idea. When I walked around to where he was playing, I quickly noticed that he was completely unable to stand up because his feet were sliding around in the bottom of his exersaucer. I'll spare you any more details (you get the picture...) and just say that 1 hour, 2 baths, a load of laundry and an entire roll of paper towels later- the house, mom and little boy were clean. :o)

John Mark is also becoming quite the little cereal "eater." I use the term eater loosely though, because cereal "player" would be a much more accurate description! He really does eat it much better now that we broke out the high chair. It is still the messiest experience of my life though... Here is a bunch of pictures that we took of him the other night when he was eating.

Christmas!!

Well, I am finally getting around to adding some pictures from Christmas. The weekend of Christmas itself was full of family time. We spent Saturday evening with Micah's parents opening presents and some fun, Scene-It action. Then on Christmas Eve we went to Crescent to Micah's grandparents house. The only pictures that I got there were of John Mark with his great -grandpa Rigdon, and his Aunt Emily. Christmas day we got up early and went to Pawnee with my parents. It was the first time that we've ever had Christmas at Aunt Carol's house. The day was spent with way too much food (of course) , presents, and of course tons of laughing. I think I laugh harder with my family than any other people in the world. From there we went to Central to spend a few days with mom and dad.

Here is a picture that is everyone at Christmas on mom's side, and all of Micah's family at Christmas. Of course I took a million pictures of John Mark, but I'll save those for another day.

I hope that everyone had a Christmas that was full of joy celebrating the birth of our Savior, and that this new year will be filled with faith, hope and love.