When did this happen????

Yesterday was Joshua's big 8th month birthday. Can you believe it? So before it's March (barely, I know), I'm posting the latest monthly installment of his Tonka Truck pics.

He's just so relaxed... or bored... or just looking at me like I'm nuts... because I am...

And so big he's apparently also growing out of his socks/pants/jacket! Actually, they all fit, it just looks like they don't here because I snatched him up and ran out to shoot this and it took me all of 1 minute to do it all since it was FREEZING and threatening rain. Thus, my neglect led to his unkempt attire and my ugly backyard for the backdrop. I'm so creative this week. *note sarcasm*

And this one just cracked me up (what could he be thinking?):


HOPEFULLY... Jeremiah is finally well and Joshua stays well. I am REALLY getting tired of these four walls!!!! I feel like I've been stuck in the house for the entire month of February! ACK! I think I was able to get out about once a week for an average of 2 hours at a time. I'm turning into a vampire. I'm talking about vampires. I need to get out more...

Mommy Moment:

I was in the shower when Joshua woke up this morning so Daddy got him out of bed and took him to the living room. When I walked in, Joshua gave me a big smile and giggle then speed-crawled to me. He stopped halfway and got a strange look on his face as he examined me. To make sure it was really me? Maybe he noticed my new haircut? Then he squealed and raced toward me again and gave me the biggest hug ever. Ahhh... it's so sweet to have someone so happy to see you! I love being a mommy. :)

More food... more simple food.

Now I'm craving raspberries as well as more simplicity...






Mommy Moment:

One day we'll all look back on this and laugh.

Before Daddy could snatch it away, it made it into his mouth. He had a line across his tongue and then this beauty mark...

I was half tempted to draw another line like it on the other side to give him one of those funky mustaches... nah...

I'm so ready for summer! I found some blueberries on sale and snatched up a bunch. Now I'm really ready for some summer around here!

I decided I needed to take some pics of something other than my kids and was recently inspired to try my hand at shooting food. Not really an easy task so I thought I'd start small. Really small and simple...




Now I'm also longing for simplier days...

I just wanted to give you a little glimpse of how my sweet Jeremiah's mind sees things...

He and I were sitting on the couch and Joshua came up to us much like in this picture (much like he always does):

Jeremiah giggled and said, "Joshua is coming to get us!" I jokingly played dumb and said "Where?!" and Jeremiah replied, "Right there! Under the lamp!" Can you see the lamp in the background? When holding this image as a print in your hand, you can describe that, yes, Joshua is under the lamp. But in real life, the lamp is too far away to be seen that way, right? Not to Jeremiah. He has always viewed things this way. Isn't that amazing? I will never forget the first time I noticed this. Jeremiah had just turned 2 and drew some pretty amazing things. A friend of mine told him to draw her coffee mug and he drew it with and oval for the top opening, at the exact angle it was on the desk to him. I know many adults in art classes that cannot get this concept still! This kid blows my mind everyday and I love to see things through his eyes.


Mommy Moment:

Have you ever done this? Be honest!

Someone is going through that clingy stage where if mommy disappears from his sight he freaks out. I ducked behind the table to pick something up off the floor and you would have thought I left him at the mall! He went nuts and even Daddy couldn't get him calmed down until he saw me again. And he clung to my neck like he'd never let go! You remember this stage? Well, whiney-butt was extra fussy so I took him with me to get the laundry. It's not easy to hold him on your hip while getting clothes from the dryer and our stuff is in the garage and I wasn't exited about setting him on the floor so I put him in one of his top ten places to be - in the laundry basket. Then I loaded him up with towels and we ventured back inside. A good time was had by all...


CONGRATS!!

Congrats to Rebekah! Yes, it is from the Brady Bunch. I had that song stuck in my head while posting the pics! Sorry about your overdose while on bedrest... lol Send me your e-mail addy at jfphotography@bellsouth.net and I'll send you the code. Happy Flickr-ing!

Where is that song from? The first person to tell me gets a free Flickr Pro account. (Just because I have one and will never use it!) You can start up a new account or add on another year to your existing account, whatever works for you!

Also... I was considering posting some random posts about photography and/or photoshop... you know, tips & tricks and stuff. Would anyone be interested? Let me know if you think you'd like to see that here on the ol' blog. Shoot, let me know if there is anything else you'd like to see here. I'm sure you get tired of always having to look at my kids again!

On to the pictures... we had a warm day a couple weeks ago and I decided that being cooped up in the house with two sick kids was getting very old after several days. So we ventured out for a wagon ride around the neighborhood. It was fun seeing both of them sitting in the wagon! Jeremiah looked so grown up compared to my last memories of us on a wagon ride.
*sniff sniff*

"What's the over there? Ooooh, leaves!"


"Oooh, and some in here too!"


"I'll get 'em!"


I wonder what they are looking at...


I have no idea but I love looking at this face...



(I'm throwing this one in because it cracks me up when babies sit like this... little old man...)


I love looking at this face too, but this one doesn't like my camera...
"Mommy! Don't picture me!!!"


Fine, I'll 'picture' sickly little Joshua...
(I love this camera!)

(Don't you love it when there is so much chub in the cheeks that they sag? lol)

And I'll 'picture' the pinecone you found...


And try once more to get a picture of you...

"Pleeeeeeease stoooooooooop!!!!"

Mommy Moment:
Jeremiah is sick... again. This time it's his turn to "toss his cookies" everywhere. Ugh. I told him not to touch Joshua because it might make him sick too. They played for a while then Joshua gagged on his saliva or something and ended up spitting up all over himself. Poor Jeremiah said, "Uh, oh... he's sick too. I touched him." :(

(Yes, I did explain to Jeremiah it wasn't his fault!)

No, sir, it won't be long now. Joshua is really getting into pushing his little cart around to practice walking. He looks so funny walking with his short little legs! It's just too cute! Jeremiah loved this little cart thing and pushed it around everywhere. He was walking at 10 months. Joshua is almost 8 months but will likely be walking without it in another month or so...

He's also taken to climbing on it. Well, climbing on everything but when Jeremiah piled up a bunch of stuff in the room and Joshua has trouble getting through it, he tries to go over it!

"What? Who me?"


And away he goes!


Jeremiah always wants to "help" (but really, I think Jeremiah just wants to have a turn pushing the cart too!)...


It's funny to me to see how much taller Jeremiah is. He was always my little baby boy and now he's such a big brother. Joshua plugging along while Jeremiah cheers him on...


Joshua secretly loved Jeremiah's help! When he got to the end of the hall, Jeremiah whipped the cart around and then pulled Joshua up to grab on again and off they went! Joshua giggled the whole time. He loves to be with Jeremiah no matter what they are doing!


Mommy Moment:

Katie sent me this piece of flair:


They don't really think that, do they?

=)



Have a great day!

I've been going through a lot of old pics and will try to post some oldies but goodies that haven't seen my blog. Here is one I found that has Mommy Moment written all over it...

Just wanted to keep the blog alive for those of you that do check in every day (mom).

Have a great weekend!

Joshua has actually had these two teeth since sometime in January but I have yet to tell you all about it - sorry! His two little front teeth popped out early January and he's still gnawing on everything in hopes the top ones come in soon. He didn't whine or complain about these two coming in, I hope the same goes for the rest! Aren't they so cute?


He uses them to chew on Daddy's PJ's...


"Who, me?"


"Awww... not ME..."


"I'm so sweet..."


And just a few snaps from me playing with my camera...


Happy Kid...


"Okay, Mom... that's enough pictures. Pick me up."


Mommy Moment:
Jeremiah's idea of humor at his ripe old age of four:

"Look at me, Mommy! His feet fits in my nose!" followed by his hysterical laughter.
Niiiiiiiiiiiice...

Remember those cute little "Fancy" girls I posted a few posts ago? Here is one of the big sisters. She wanted a few quick snaps for her V-day card. I don't know how it ended up but I know it had something to do with her Valentine being *almost* as cool as her shoes. Can't go wrong with a pair of Chucks, now can you? :)

Miss K is so beautiful! I wish I were as cool as her shoes...










Mommy Moment:
One night we were brushing Jeremiah's teeth as we got ready for bed. I said "You have such cute little teeth!" He returned the compliment: "You have nice big teeth!"

Jeremiah was working on some basic math and Joshua was sitting contently in his seat gnawing on a wheat biscuit. Ahhh... School Days at the Fowlers. It was so calm and peaceful (shocking, I know). I wanted to capture this little moment from this morning.

I took it with the focus on the student, then on the good little brother because I loved both perspectives and the story they each tell...




This book is way too easy for him. He breezed through the lessons then made up some new things to do that were more challenging!


I know you're jealous. You've always wanted to go to school in your jammies, right? I get to teach in mine. :)

Mommy Moment:

Daddy has introduced Jeremiah to some old school cartoons like Pop-eye and Yogi Bear - lots of slapstick comedy that J just LOVES. Today, the boys were romping around, destroying the living room (their daily task) and Jeremiah was holding up a big popcorn tin (their new fave toy - thanks, Papaw!). He pretended it was really heavy and said "I'm SO strong!" I said "Wow, you sure are! How did you get so strong?" His reply: "I eat my Spanish!" I love it...

Jeremiah definitely holds our hearts in his hands.


I made a B-day cake Wednesday night for a kid in the youth group and Jeremiah was so excited! (My son loves cake!) I had planned to make a Valentine's cake for us so we went ahead and made it too so Jeremiah could have some cake and eat it too! Here he is sampling the icing...


He was having so much fun he even let me take his picture without too much fuss...
(sorry about the horrible kitchen lighting)


My silly boy...


No matter what the occassion, a cake is not complete without candles (according to Jeremiah!). So he added some candles to his mini heart cake and then asked me "Mom, can you put flames on my candles?" I love the way his little mind thinks! lol


He made a wish for candy (then got some later that night from his teacher at church!)...


His second (3rd?) cousin Brittany was visiting and was able to join in the chaos, er... um... I mean "festivities"...


She asked if Jeremiah would be her brother (she is an only child). He said "sure" and so began the story...


She helped him get cleaned up in the bathroom and he told her that her arms were dirty. She explained that they were freckles. "Ohhhhh... fweckles... right."


Where was Joshua during all this? Just hanging out like a good boy playing in his *whatever this is* and looking out the window...


It was super windy that day and the top to Jeremiah's turtle sandbox flew open and a bucket took off down the street! (Daddy found it today! haha) It flew off again and I went out to put it back on so more buckets didn't blow away. As I was walking back to the house, I thought the top would fly off before I made it inside but it waited a few moments longer. As Brittany and I watched, it flew off the sandbox and took off down the street! I didn't know if I'd catch it then it turned and went down another street! Luckily it wasn't very far so I got it back and put J's basketball goal on top to secure it. We are just goofy here...

I wanted to do something different for Valentine cards. Jeremiah had a V-Day party with his homeschool group so I made up these...

The second page has this: "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Hebrews 10:24" and the last page says "From Jeremiah and Joshua" They actually turned out pretty adorable, I was impressed! Thanks, Britt, for helping tie all the ribbons!

Tomorrow, we are having a Valentine's Dinner at church then we are watching the movie Fireproof. We didn't have many desserts planned so I got inspired and made a White Chocolate Raspberry Cake with fresh raspberries - can't wait to try it! Then Jane helped me decorate some chocolate covered strawberries...


And then cut out Brownie hearts and decorated them with powdered sugar...

They turned out so cute! Again, I was impressed. Usually, I end up burning something or just messing everything up!

It's been a fun, busy week and I'm looking forward to the weekend. I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day and remember Your Truest Love and all He's done for you.
~Love you!

Mommy Moment:
I was getting Joshua ready for bed and Jeremiah decided they should both play in the crib first. After romping around making tents and lots of giggling, they settled down just for a moment and snuggled up. But only for a moment before Joshua crawled away and Jeremiah resumed his hopping around...