Playin' in the Mud!

What can I say? You're only a kid once! :) Jacob and his buddies were a muddy, wet, happy bunch that day. Haha!:) Needless to say he went home wearing nothing but a diaper and bathtime took place immediately upon arrival.

Guess what.....

It's a BOY! We are very excited--Jacob will have a little buddy soon!:) Anywho, enjoy the photos, love to you all!

~Lisa

A little bit of Joy

Matt's brother, Travis, has this on his blog and it makes me happy. Watch it.
http://video.yahoo.com/network/100000089?v=4816051&l=100022574

Since we had Brycen, Ava has had to take on some new responsibilities around here. He...He...He..., Just kidding!

Brycen Andrew Oakes

So here are some pictures of our handsom baby BOY! We love him dearly and are so excited for all the fun to come. Love you guys! Thanks for all your prayers and support!
~Drew, Mandy, Ava and Brycen

ABC's and 123's

Jacob is starting to learn his letters and numbers! It is so much fun hearing him say them-- he especially loves this website we found called starfall.com--it's very cute and perfect for kids learning to read!
This video was taken about a week ago, but last night Jacob was counting from 4 to 10 without help and kept saying "five fingers!" Aaaa!!! :) They learn SO fast! We were pretty excited! I don't think he understands what it means yet, but he's getting the idea and the sequence anyway.:)

Happy Easter and Fun April Picts!

Easter Hunt and BBQ with our friends!

Hello All!

Don't kids just make holidays the BEST!! We had sooo much fun with Jacob this Easter-- he did 3 easter-egg hunts--two with friends and the other on Easter Sunday with our family here! It was so cute to watch him. He was just fascinated with openning the eggs-- every time he would pick one up, he had to open it and empty the contents into his basket before moving on!

Hope you enjoy the photos AND CONGRATS TO THE NEW BABIES!!! What a wonderful season of life! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Couldn't resist adding these to the blog just for fun-- this was taken after a morning of playing in mud puddles--happy boy! :)

As you can see we kept the egg hunting pretty easy for them.:)

Easter Treat Baskets-Cheese! Jake is currently fascinated with anything that has a propeller-- we are constantly hearing "airplane!" or "helicopter" from him anytime something with a motor flies by--he played with this little fan until it broke! :)

Hugs! These two are best friends--Jacob asks to play with Mylie every day! He loves his cousins and is especially tender and sweet with Sharie's new baby Brynlee--always giving her little kisses and soft pats on the head:) I hope this continues for his new sibling on the way! :)

Anywho, Happy Easter! Love to you all!

~Lisa and Jason

Welcome to our World - Brycen Oakes... Sounds like Mandy had a pretty good delivery of only 3 hours / 8lbs 9 ounces...

And...I might say a very good looking young man!! ;o)..

Congratulations Ava---you have a new baby brother and he's a cutie....just like you.

40 weeks!

I think Ashley looks a lot better than I do - But that's okay. She's always a HOTTIE in my book :)
( Ava wanted to be just like her Mom!)

Anyway - the race is on...

The Day of Delivery Approaches

Ashley and Mandy are quickly coming to that time of delivery and we are all anxiously waiting to see that it all goes well.
I just couldn't resist this one last picture of a beautiful expecting mother who's also anxious to move forward from this heavy protruding burden to time when she can carry him in her arms.

We find out hopefully from Lisa next week what her new baby will be. What wonderfully exciting times these are!!

We love you all!!

Steve and Sue

Jacob's Prayers

Just had to put a little journal entry on the blog today. Jacob is starting to say his own prayers lately-- it is so precious! Usually at meal-times I'll start to say a prayer and he just jumps right in and repeats everything I say as best as he can. He gets so smiley and proud of himself. It is very sweet.:)

I Finished The Easter Dress!!!

So I wanted Ava to have something special for Easter and something just for her when the baby was born. So I tackled sewing! I was a lot of work - and a lot of picking-out and starting over - BUT I FINISHED! Ava says she feels like a princess. When she walks down the stairs, the dress trails behind her and she loves it! I'm just glad it turned out. I just love to see her face light up when she sees it!

Jacob Updates and Fun Picts

Sooo.... I think the pen won. Jacob has been getting more and more interested in "coloring." We just always have to watch and make sure he ONLY colors on paper. He especially loves drawing airplanes with big scribble circles when then fly- "jjjzzzooom jjjzooom!"

Jacob's most recent favorite food is Ramen Noodles-- it's so nice and easy! I can give him a whole pack and he will scarf it!

It's a hat! (aka orange peel!)

What a handsome boy! Jake has quite the fashion sense-- just so you know, in this next video of him dancing, the outfit was his idea, not mine! He even asked me to loop the beads around his ears!

Best Friends!!

This was SO CUTE!! Jacob LOVES to help Daddy--they are putting together his new toy-bin shelf and Jakie was actually putting the screws in the holes for Daddy! I love it!!

Aren't baby giggles just contagious!

Love you guys! Hope you enjoy these updates on our lives!!

Funny Story

I tried to get pictures without success, but I have to share this story if only for posterity! Last night Jacob and Jason were attacking me with zrberts and Jason suggested to Jacob that he give himself a zrbert-- on his belly! Jason and I laughed until it hurt watching Jacob try to do this. Getting lips to belly is pretty tough for an adult, but for a toddler it's even more impossible. He pulled up his little shirt, tucked it under his chin, and proceeded to try and lift his little round belly to his face. It was so hysterical! His belly turned into a series of little fat rolls before he finally gave up and went back to giving me zrberts on my arm. I tried to get out the camera and have him do it again, but it didn't work. Oh well. Next time you see Jacob, or any other toddler, get the camera ready and ask them to give themselves a zrbert on the belly-- be prepared for some laughs!

Maui Wowie

Hey everyone. We had a WonderFUL time in Maui this last week. I got the pictures in the wrong order here but below are a few of the best.





Here is from the last day on the North Shore. The waves are HUGE!

On the road to Hana, Sue and Kimbre got out for a quick walk in the jungle.

This is just one of many turtles we saw everytime we went out snorkeling. What a thrill to see these beautiful animals - How graceful, how utterly exciting to see!

On the boat to Mollukini, it was a very blustery day, much too rough for snorkeling so we took an extended tour of the shore and dove in sheltered bays. At the end the sparrow just know there are leftovers to be had.

Here is a spotted puffer fish.

An a varigated spiny urchin. These came out pretty good.

Below is a SilverSword that grows only on the top of the volcano in Maui.

Everything's OK with Kimbre...

Here we all are for a night out in Lahaina of authentic Hawaiian cuisine.

On top of the world!! What a site!

Ava...

The weather here is finally starting to look better - so Ava wanted to get outside nd ride her bike. We've been working on it and now she can pedal and steer pretty well. But just in case...

I am going to be BUSY!!!!!!!

SO... I just made the best bargain sale ever! We have 2 JoAnn's fabrics stores that are closing and moving into one HUGE store - so today... all of their fabric left over was 95% off!!! So I went a little nuts. However... I spent a total of $25.99 and I SAVED $428.03!!! YOWZAA!