Neisha--n--Josh 2-gether 4-ever

Today is our wedding anniversary. 7 years of wedded bliss. Prior to June 14, 2002, we dated for 9 years. Yes, NINE. We were just babies when he asked me to be his girlfriend at break on April 14, 1993, but goodness, it seems like just yesterday. WE WERE BABIES. When we started "going out", I didn't have a driver's license and my youngest nephew wasn't even 9 months old yet.

We've been through a lot together.

junior high and high school, proms, graduations, college, patrol academy, graduate school, moving, lots of bridesmaids dresses (and tuxes for him, ha). Fresh starts, happy endings; years, lessons, commitment. Ups, downs, friends, pets, babies, grandparents, church, life, death. Memories, friendship, romance, togetherness. Patience, compromise, forgiveness, effort, companions. Sickness, health, rich, poor (and not just money for those two!), cold, warm, joy, sorrow... growth. Making a home, building a life, together. Lucky. Happy. I do.

I've been wanting to post some nostalgic photos to my blog for some time now. I thought today would be a great time to venture into the old photo albums. I won't be doing this often, as it takes some time to sort through the MILLIONS (no lie, I mean, literally) of pictures that I have, and then even more time to scan the oldies. I love to blog and all, but just think of all of the Kodak moments I'd be missing if I spent all my time going through the old stuff to post?!!!

Enjoy. Fortunately for you, I won't hear your laughter through the computer monitor.

First Dance

Destin, 1994, i think

school field trip

with my youngest nephew Travis after my 9th grade beauty pageant;

Travis will be a senior in the fall

after a game, his 11th and my 10th grade year, BCHS

his Senior Prom; my Junior year

Josh's high school graduation, 1996

beauty pageant, my senior year, BCHS

Prom, my senior year

my high school graduation, 1997

legend said we'd be next!

Amy & Duane's wedding, 1999

Patrol academy, 1999

patrol academy graduation, 2000

Just engaged! April 14, 2001

Southern Miss graduation, 2001

Engagement photos

And, I can't seem to get the actual wedding photos to work. I'm tired out. I hate to skip ahead to the post-wedding pictures without first posting a wedding picture! So, I think I will have to hold those, and all the other memories (photos) that I wanted to share until next year. Or maybe I can do another Nostalgic post later on. we'll see.....

Happy Anniversary Josh. I love you too.

big brothers share

Jax loves suckers. As in, candy. You know, candy on a stick. (In the South, that's what we call 'em. Suckers! When we say "lollipop", we are referring to a person - NOT candy. hee hee hee)

And, it just so happens that Jax likes to share his things with his little sister.

Including, suckers!

I think she likes them, too!

Nom, Nom, Nom

Nom, Nom, Nom....

When you're teething, EVERYTHING is sooo good!

Our family is growing more and more!

For Easter, Joy got her very first Cabbage Patch Doll from Aunt Dana. Her name is Tera Leatrice. Hee hee. She is nearly as big as Joy, and they do favor each other a bit. It was so funny to watch Joy inspect her (when we finally got her out of her box - all of those twisty-thingies are sooooo frustrating!)

Who are you? You're not here to get my bottle, are you??? And, what's that funny thing on your head?

Aw, look, now we're friends! Just had to get a few ground rules established!

BFF's Joy and Tera:

never in front

I'm nearly always the one behind the camera at our house. Never in front.

I like it that way.

But as I look back, I have relatively few pictures of me with either one of my children. By just looking at our family photo albums, it always looks like I'm not there for important traditions, events, and milestones. But I was! even if no one else was there, I was there for every single one of those moments because I TOOK THE PICTURES! but I have no proof of that.

I always say I'm going to do better, and start passing the camera over to Josh or someone else, so that I can at least sometimes be in the pictures.... but I wait too late, I delay, or I flat-out forget... OR, the photo participants decide that the perfect time to NOT cooperate is when mom is in the picture with them... so... I end up with an occasional picture, that is "just okay" but at least it is proof that I was there.

I'm challenging all of you Camera Queens to work your way in front of the camera at least once in a while. We all know that the photos won't be as creative or as colorful, or capture the moment as well as it would if you were taking the photo yourself... but hey, at least you will have something to make that family photo history complete, proving your contributions from both behind and in front of the camera!

sweet dreams

Disclaimer: I am not a professional blogger, baby product expert, or professional product reviewer. I do not get paid money, tokens, recognition, attention, pats-on-the-back, doggie biscuits or ANYTHING for giving mention of products on my blog. Any recommendation of products or services on my blog is based on my honest opinion; not an attempt to gain anything for myself.

I have mentioned on several occasions how BLESSED we are to have two children who are wonderful sleepers. Aside from a few nights, both Jax and Joy have slept all night without waking, and without any other significant issues since they were each about 1 month old. This should mean that Momma and Daddy are also getting plenty of good, quality sleep. Well, that would be the right idea, in theory, but it is coincidentally during those sleep episodes that I get a lot of things done around the house. I am trying to do better with "just leaving it until tomorrow" but it is hard to do, knowing that "tomorrow", chances are, at least one of them will be awake and demanding attention during the day.

Nevertheless, when I do get in bed, I fall asleep almost literally before my head hits the pillow. I have no trouble going to sleep because I am always tired from the day's events and happenings. And, I am able to sleep through the night, without waking, thanks to our video monitors. Jax is 3 1/2 years old and I STILL depend on the monitor. At any point during the night, I can look at the video monitor and see clearly that he is ok in his toddler bed in his room. Joy is still sleeping in the bassinet beside our bed in our room for now, but she is just about ready to move to her crib in her own bedroom. When she does, we already have a video monitor ready for her, too. I do not see how anyone with children can sleep peacefully themselves without one of these monitors. We have the Summer brand video monitors and we have nothing but positives to say about them. There are some other brands that I do not have experience with, but we felt Summer was a reasonable priced product ($99 at Target). (they make great group gifts for expectant moms!) It is definitely worth a Bejamin to be able to sleep without worry! We plan to continue using our monitors for several more years. During the day, we can use them to monitor the children playing, while I am in the kitchen cooking, for example. I just can't say enough about these video monitors. I'm so thankful for them.

I took these pictures because I wanted to be able to always remember how sweet Jax looks when he is sleeping .... I didn't intend for the photos to turn into a Product Review, but for those of you who have no experience with a video-type monitor, I knew an explanation would be necessary for these photos.

As I was getting into bed in the wee hours one morning, I noticed the monitor screen, and how Jax was sleeping so peacefully. I loved his peaceful, innocent expression that I could see on the screen, and I immediately got up and went to retrieve my camera to make the image permanent. I love how you can see his little temporary tatoo on his arm. He insisted that he and his Daddy have matching Tow Mater tatoos earlier that evening, just after bath time. Ha ha.

Perhaps more than anything, these video monitors remind me to "count my blessings" each and every night before I drift off to sleep myself...

Sweet Dreams, everyone!

5 months

So, what's Joy been up to lately?

well, first and foremost, she has been really "into" her toes! She has discovered her feet and loves to use her toes to massage her gums! ha ha. No teeth yet, but with all of the drooling, chewing, and massaging with her new discovery, we suspect that a tooth or two are not too far away!

She was 5 months old on the 9th of May. She's rolling over well (both ways), and is making great strides in the sitting up area. She is sorta like those Weebles things... she can sit unassisted for a while, but eventually, she just sorta topples over; it's really cute and funny for us, but i'm sure frustrating for her! She is contantly "talking," cooing in her own language, and sometimes even gets rather loud, as if she is fussing. ha. She is still a wonderful, wonderful sleeper! We are so blessed for that. If we don't wake her, she can easily sleep til 11 a.m. or later without waking at all! She can get any place that she wants to go in her walker! - she is very good at Walker Navigation. She loves to "stand" up and sit up; as a matter of fact, she now thinks she is too big to lay down and play. She is still taking Similac Advance Early Shield, and has had no problems whatsoever. She can almost hold her own bottle, but hasn't quite mastered that yet... but she's practicing! Joy loves to be outside, and she loves to watch her big brother and other kids play. She is looking forward to the day that she can officially join in on the fun!

She is such a happy baby, and we are enjoying every minute of it. Despite all of the warnings from others, and even despite of my own experiences parenting Jax, I still cannot believe HOW FAST time flies by! Both of them are growing soooo fast!

happy birthday, Josh

Sunday was Mother's Day, but it was also Josh's day. He's not a mother, but he was celebrating on Sunday because it's also his birthday. Yes, he's another year older - and another year wiser, as some say. :-)

Happy Birthday, Josh! We love you!

Easter - finally!

Yes, everyone has posted their Easter pictures by now. Heck, y'all have probably already printed them too, and put them in the photo album and put them away in the vault for permanent storage by now. Well, I'm a little late. What else is new? I'm always late. But I'm posting my Easter pictures anyway.

This year, at church, we had a carnival-type atmosphere for the children's easter party. The weather was great, and we really enjoyed not being cramped up inside in the little bitty fellowship hall. Hopefully, by the time the next children's function rolls around, we will be in our NEW fellowship hall! Jax (and all of the other kids, too) seemed to like the games and the free-flow style of the activities.

That's cousin Gavin who served as Jax's sidekick throughout most of the party. Boy, the mischief those two can get into!!! They are exactly one year and 2 days apart in age. And, both all BOY!

sack race don't these bunnies look mischievious??

Yes, we do have a lefty! :-)
activity room: making easter and birthday cards for Felder and Easton, who could not attend

and, Joy's activity of choice:

snoozing!

Jax not cooperating with Easter photos:

Joy not really cooperating with Easter photos:

Or, maybe it was the bunny that was the culprit. ha.

here's all the kiddos, just before the traditional Egg Hunt

And, the race is on! They're off to find that prize egg!

Jax found a few eggs... Joy was content to sleep through it all. But that' s ok, cause Jax volunteered to give her all of the pink and purple eggs that he found.

Jax got to hunt eggs with the extended family also. Both sides. he never got tired of hunting eggs, though and he always remembered to share with Joy since she was too little to hunt eggs for herself. :-) Sweet boy!

Jax was proud of his found treasures. However, he was a bit confused to find a few REAL eggs in his basket. Ha - What's this world coming to? Kids expect the Easter Bunny to hide plastic only these days ... nothing like when i was a kid, when there was ONE plastic egg, the "prize egg," and it was giant! - recycled from someone's new pantyhose container from Easter morning, hee hee hee. Anyway, we helped Jax peel one of the real eggs that he found, but he was not interested in tasting it. Once the bright orange shell was gone, he lost interest and tried to pass the edible egg off to me... yuck... i don't eat them either! Ha. Daddy to the rescue on that issue! ha

Anyway, Joy was happy to sit and visit with Aunt Dana while Jax and the other bigger kids were hunting. Next year, she'll hunt eggs and eat the real ones too, thank you very much.

On to the next family Egg hunt...

Oh, wait, I didn't get any pictures worth sharing of that one. Drats. I hate it when that happens. I guess toting one around, and chasing after another makes it hard for anyone to get good photos, especially in a high-speed event like Egg-Huntin' in the country! I got great video on my camcorder, but no good still pics. Maybe next year. I guess I'll end my so-long-overdue-that-it's-actually-plain-ole-outdated Easter post with some pics of Jax and Joy dying some eggs on Easter Eve, and then discovering their baskets on Easter morn. Happy Easter everyone!

The sweetest sounds to mortals given

Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven

--William Goldsmith Brown

happy mother's day!