Happy Father's Day

N - South Dakota

Recently I made a weekend trek with several friends to Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota and North Dakota . We had a great time - camped out, saw Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, Devil's Tower and even the geographic center of the United States.

Evidently we made quite an impression on the good folks of South Dakota, so much so that they decided to honor us in a somewhat peculiar way.

Here is us posing for the artist.

M- Sleepy Swinging

Joel is a very schedule oriented child.  He likes things to be done at a certain time and certain way.  Everyday after lunch he lays down for his nap.  Today, I thought I'd take him outside to swing to get him good and tired.  He lasted approximately 3 minutes before this happened.  

N - First Pic

In case you haven't heard, Mary is prego!  Here is the first picture of Joel's little brother or sister.  The little one is expected to arrive on January 22, 2010.  We are very excited, as is Joel.  He just doesn't know it yet.

M- Just a picture

Uncle Mike took this picture in McAlester.  I wanted to share it because I think he actually looks sweet instead of incredibly ornery.

M- Birdbath fun

Our backyard lacks what Aunt Dana's does not... TOYS!  I know that over time we'll accumulate a lot of them so I'm not worried about it.  Plus, Dana lives down the street so any time we feel like playing outside, we just go down there.  Ironically, while there are a lot of toys to play with, Joel's favorite is the birdbath.  On a bright note, we've never seen a bird use it, but Joel on the other hand leaves soaking wet often.  Here are a couple of pictures that Uncle Mike took.

M- Such a boy

I don't know how to describe this kid as anything other than "all boy". He's always dirty, getting into trouble, being stubborn, and getting hurt. Here's a classic picture of him with two black eyes that his uncle Mike took. This was after a couple of days, so they had both started to heal at this point. He got them by climbing on things he shouldn't have been climbing on like bowls and coffee tables, and by running into a column he didn't see because he was too busy looking behind him as he ran. Just had to share.