Future Rock Stars!

JC brought home some fun music that he is learning at school and Julia and Ethan were rocking out to it, they were too cute to not take a picture of, so I thought I would post it up for everyone! Ethan wanted to wear his swimsuit on his head, so that is what is on his head!

Fun photos

Here is the latest!

This is our new home!

This was taken in April 2008.

Julia's dance class photo!

Julia and Ethan were in the small town of Willard's Fourth of July parade for our church! They loved being in it, but when it was done were very sad that they didn't get to watch the parade.
Julia and Ethan figured out how to ride their new bikes in one day!! They are unstoppable now!

This is our front yard!

Blowing out the candles for his 3rd birthday! June 29, 2008

I am excited to share all that is going on here. Everyone has done so well with the transition of moving and getting to know each other. I will start out with introducing my husband Chris Erbe to anyone that doesn't know we got married July 12th of this year. We moved from Springfield to Lincoln, AR while the children were out with their Dad and Kathryn. They had a nice summer with them and came home to our new home here. JC had about 2 weeks before school started to get settled and comfortable and was ready for school. He attends Lincoln Elementary and his teacher is Mrs Winningham. He rotates through different classes and teachers throughout the day so doesn't see her much. He likes school and has made lots of acquaintances. He has a classmate right next door that he enjoys playing with. Julia has done fabulously here, she loves being outside and playing on the new swingset that Chris' grandparents purchased for us, thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Ethan has grown two inches in a month. He loves playing on the swings and in the sandbox! Julia and Ethan are taking a tumbling class and love it! Ethan can do sommersaults like a pro and is learning how to make those long legs of his stretch out and balance. Julia has almost perfected the cartwheel and both of them love to hang on the bar. JC has started martial arts and is looking forward to learning more. Cub scouts is starting up again now too and he is very excited for that as well.
We have loved going to the lake with our new friends Garry and Tina and their daughters Eb and Augusta. Augusta is Julia's best friend. They are two peas in a pod. Ethan is doing really well in the water now and will swim a little in the lake now which is great. We have enjoyed going to family barbecues, hanging out at new friends houses and going out for breakfast on Saturday mornings! We have a great ward that is brand new with a large primary. The children enjoy it very much. Ethan is the best behaved child in nursery and he loves to go to class.
We all enjoyed celebrating our wedding with an open house in Springfield with Beth's friends and family and then a fancy ring ceremony and reception here in Arkansas. The kids were absolutely beautiful all dressed up and JC as the ring bearer, Julia as the flower girl and Ethan as the leader of the procession.

8 Month recap!

It has been a great 8 months! We have all gone through a lot of change and fun.

The beginning of the year started with the children meeting Chris, and everyone seemed to hit it off well. Chris took us off-roading in the huntin' lands of Arkansas. Our friends have some land out in the middle of nowhere with a beautiful creek and tons of trees in the Ozark Mountains, to our Utah friends they are hills, and just as beautiful as the mountains in Utah. JC, Julia and Ethan all had a lot of fun exploring and enjoying being outside on a rare warm day in February.



Easter was cold, but fun when we participated in the Willard, MO annual easter egg hunt. All three children got a ton of eggs with lots of candy and toys.


Julia had fun with these glasses from the Easter Bunny.


Can you believe that JC is 9 years old!! He had a great birthday this year with lots of presents and parties.



JC enjoyed cub scouts and art lessons and his best friend Brayden. He still loves everything about animals and has practiced so that he draws them very well. He also really enjoys creating airplanes and rockets with his legos.
Julia had so much fun with her dance lessons and spending time on the farm. Her coordination is improving and she loves putting on her makeup and dressing up. She found a new friend in Arkansas, her name is Augusta and they have so much fun being girls together. They will play for hours and hours.
Ethan has gone from a toddler to a strong and sturdy 3 year old. He loves sports and can kick a ball farther than me and throw one farther than me too! He is also 2 inches taller than JC or Julia were at his age! He loved playing with his cousin Julie everyday on the farm. He loves playing with his trains and tracks.

More photos!

Hello! We are all doing well. The children are growing up so fast! We are enjoying a very dry winter, no snow yet! And it is very very cold, but still finding fun things to do and having lots of friends to play with. I have managed to put some more photos together. JC loves to create art and Julia loves to play the piano, lessons are in her near future, maybe when she is 5. Ethan loves trains to almost an obsession. He loves cars and trucks too!

Photos of the finished house

Summer!

July and August were busy, fun months! The children had a blast playing on the farm, going swimming every day and being kids. They were able to go to Las Vegas with their Dad and Kathryn to visit Matt and Kim. Then they spent 3 weeks with their Dad and Kathryn. They had such a great time. They loved swimming, exercizing, playing, going to the zoo, visiting friends and just hanging out. Jamey and Kathryn were married at the end of their stay and the kids loved being involved in a wedding and all the excitement around that. They were so glad that they got to see the entire Cecil family, they loved being with Sitto and Poppy and their aunts and uncles.

We came back to Missouri in just enough time to get JC ready for school. We did some last minute school supply shopping and got to meet the teacher right before school started. His teacher is Dale Nichols, the only male teacher in the whole school, JC's best friend is also in the class and he also knew some of the other children. I am so pleased with how well it all worked out for him. He loves his teacher and class. He is doing fantastic getting A's and B's on all of his assignments. He is loving cub scouts and did well in the pinewood derby that Grandpa and Dad helped him with. He is also loving his art classes every Monday afternoon. He keeps busy. He has also made friends with the 8 year old boy down the street. His name is Zachary and they have a lot of fun riding bikes up a ramp that they made and playing outside in the dirt and near the animals. JC loves having some freedom to ride his bike up the street since we live in such a low traffic area he can ride safely and goes up to the neighborhood by the school to visit with a few friends up there. He has really matured in the last two months and is becoming more responsible and helpful around the house. I love it.

Julia is still the farm girl. She can check for eggs like a pro now. She will even reach right in under the chicken and grab the egg, never mind that the chicken is there! It is hilarious, the hens don't mind her though and seem to trust her. She loves to help Grandma clean up the manure in the horse paddocks and is always outside near the horses.

Ethan is growing up so fast. He is very much in the middle of being two. He pushes boundaries and is trying to assert some independence. He is starting to show interest in potty training. Every time I change his diaper he goes potty and does fantastic. He doesn't want to wear underwear or anything like that yet, which is fine. I think he is doing really well already. He is completely into trains now and thank goodness for all of JC's old Thomas the Tank Engine toys. Ethan plays with them constantly and is able to build some track for the trains to go on. He asks me to make a track and then he alters it. It is fun to see him figure out things as he is learning how things work. He catches on quickly and gets into trouble. He also loves to climb and will be found on the top of the fences or ladders. Of course we are right there, but he lives for the thrill of climbing. His favorite food is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and will eat 3 halves at one sitting.

We have moved to the property now and are living in the barn where my parents were living. They are camping out in the house. It now has drywall, floors and electricity. We are priming and painting it right now. The light fixtures and toilets are going in the rest of this week and next. It all looks so nice and beautiful. It was fun to pick out the colors of the walls. JC's room is a almond color to be a backdrop for the jungle mural he wants on his walls, Julia and Ethan's room is a light lavendar. My room is a deep passion pink of all things! The living room is toasted coconut and the kitchen/dining area is blue! Who knew I would be so wacky on colors, but it is fun and we can always change it if it looks terrible! We anticipate being able to move into the house in the begining of October when the floors are finished and cured.

The pigs were taken away today to be harvested (slaughtered) the proper term is harvested now, we look forward to home grown pork, the kids have done really well with all of that and they seem to understand that the animals purpose is for food. I have been really impressed with that. I am loving being in school and I am learning tons about animal science.

The photos are from the Pinewood Derby and Julia and Ethan goofing off!