Jaislynn's 9 month photos

These are some of my favorites from Jaislynn's 9 month photo shoot. The one with her hand slightly behind her back is so her. She does this whenever she has something she is not supposed to have and we are trying to take it from her. She tries to hide it behind her back it is very cute. Her 10 month photo's are even cuter if that is even possible. I will post them soon.

Time to blog?!

I am not posting photos with this post. I just want everyone to know we are indeed alive and well! We have been very busy this summer. I almost have forgot about my blog completely! I have had router problems, computer problems, internet problems, and the breaker that powers it all kept blowing for about a week straight.....so I could have cared less if I had 5 minutes a day to hop online and just check email. That's my computer drama.

I will posting more on what all we have been up to in the upcoming days. I only have 952 photos to upload to my computer and sort, so it will be hard to decide what to share!

Hope everyone is having a safe and fun summer thus far!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

This post is a little late. I tried to get it done yesterday, as you can see I didn't succeed...Hope you all had a GREAT Mother's Day!!!!!



Here are 3 of the very important Moms in our lives! I had to give up on finding photos of the rest of you tonight! You know who you are and I will find them, so you never know when Sharon, Nada, or Grandma Durham will just randomly be in a post.. We love all of you and appreciate you all more than you will ever imagine!!




Here are some quotes that I wanted to share that I have found...



Oprah Winfrey
Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.

Marion C. Garretty
Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.

Strickland Gillilan
You may have tangible wealth untold;/Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold./Richer than I you can never be -/I had a mother who read to me.

Jewish Proverb
A mother understands what a child does not say.

Amos Bronson Alcott
Where there is a mother in the home, matters go well.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much.

Florida Scott-Maxwell
No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement.

Honore de Balzac
The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.

Joshua's Birthday

The morning after he got this game in the mail from Aunt Chawnta.





He was pretty excited to get a package in the mail, and he LOVES playing Hungry Hungry Hippos over and over again! Thanks Aunt Chawnta!!








We got him a little cake to have the night of his Birthday. Chocolate is his absolute favorite!









Here he is with some of his friends at preschool on his Birthday.





This is just inside the door to preschool, he loves the murals on the walls.



We went to Runza(his choice) for his Birthday lunch before school. He insisted on wearing a cowboy hat over a stocking hat. Five year old's obliviously have no cares about fashion, it's just whatever seems like fun to him that day.




He really enjoys playing, and climbing on all the equipment there!




We always do pictures in the bubble!




The evening before his Birthday we made cookies for snacks at preschool, here is the finished result. Josh was happy that we had so many!









He was a big help.....



He loves using the mixer, you can see him smiling if you look close enough.




Sifting the flour was fun too!
We had his party the following Sunday. I will try to post that in the next couple days!

Jaislynn on the move in April.....

I was starting to think that Jaislynn was not ever going to crawl. Here is a video of her scooting, rolling and pushing off a toy to get to what she wanted. She started to crawl a little this week. It is exciting, yet I still am not ready for her to be all over the house yet. I need to find the baby gates!

This is the only sad thing about babies, they just grow up too fast!

March 21, 2009

Papa with his youngest Grandchild, she loves her Grandpa!





Josh & Ethan watching intently.




Jaislynn loves her big sissy!



My beautiful girls.





My whole 6 pack, they clean up pretty good if I do say so myself!




Wedding Party, with Grandma & Grandpa Christner.




Again....only I cut some heads off and people out! My excuse? I was holding a very wiggly baby!



The guys waiting for Jamie's beautiful bride.



Maycee did a great job, and looked beautiful too!




Austin just being himself- ADORABLE!!
This was a GREAT day! Congratulations Jamie & Angela!!

Trying to change...

Joshua at his Papa's wedding, he was one of the ring bearers. This was his third time, he did a AWESOME job!




Next he is testing out how big Maycee's locker is, he was happy that he could fit!



I am going to try to change the way I post. I usually try to upload a lot of pictures and update on weeks, or a months events. I have been procrastinating updating my blog because I knew it would take so long and I have so much to post about, it is just easier to put it out if site, out of mind and just not do it. So this weekend I decided I do not need to post a large quanity of pictures each time, nor try to sum up the last 3-6 weeks at one time. Instead I think I will be able to enjoy this, and update more often if I just do a small post each time. That's not to say I might get carried away and just upload a bunch and have a large post every now and again. However for now I am trying to change so I will be more motivated to update and actully enjoy it more.

Joshua is growing so fast and is so smart, I am amazed every single day by the things he does and says. Last week we went for a healthy lunch at McDonald's ;) and there was a little girl who invited him to sit with her at the little table. They had a interesting conversation. It went something like this.........

little girl: Hi, do you want to sit with me?
Josh: Yes
little girl: what is your name?
Josh: Joshua Dylan Hicks, and my other name is Iron Man, what is your name?
little girl: Brenna, I am 5 yrs old
Josh: Really? I am 5 too, this is my mom, her name is Crystal, and my sister her name is Jaislynn
Brenna: just smiles and eats her ice cream
Joshua: I have a Grandma and Grandpa too, they are my mom's dad and mom, they live in Palisade where I live. My Papo's name is Richard and my Nana's name is Judy.

It went on for about 15 minutes with Joshua proceeding to share a lot of family history, and the names of various members of our family. It was so cute, I wish I could have recorded it! He was trying to make a life long friend, and stuff we really hadn't talked much about he remembers which is so cool. I am very blessed to have such a friendly and outgoing 5 year old!

I can't believe it's already March!

Our life has been extremely busy lately. It seems since January things have been pretty non-stop. Jason is working a lot now so that is a answer to prayer. However that leaves most of the daily stuff up to me. I am in need of a mini vacation like never before!

The kids are all doing well. I am especially proud of Austin! He is doing amazing, accomplishing things I never would have imagined! It's hard to believe this is the same little boy who came to us 9 years ago. He had been so severely neglected and abused that at age 3 he was at a 3 months developmental level. Austin really deserves his own post he is AWESOME!

I am so behind on things I want post. I need to do one just for Austin, and one just for Jaislynn! We had Jaislynn dedicated in January. I have a power point that I made, I need to convert it to video and see if I can post it. I was very happy with how it turned out and I loved making it. I am going to start doing them for all the kids and then turning them into a dvd so they can have memories to watch of the events in their lives.


I have officially given up on putting my pictures in order on here! I thought if I used Internet Explorer vs Mozilla Firefox I would be able to click and drag my photos where I wanted them on the post! Anyone who may have a way that works to actually do this, I appreciate the advice!


Here is Jaislynn after a biter biscuit, she loves to eat as you can see!





She feel asleep in her swing the other day, Joshua once again
made sure she had toys to play with when she woke.





Joshua and Jaislynn were having a snack and he was wearing his cowboy hat, she kept staring at it, so he decided to share with her.

She really liked it, and I think the bib was fitting for the day!

This one's for you Aunt Ta-ta! She will probably be wearing this next winter!

We went bowling as a family a couple weeks ago. Austin seemed to really enjoy himself!

We were blessed to have our favorite nephew join us too! Or as Joshua calls him: E-nan! They had a blast! Here they are getting ready to go get a snack afterwards.

My Mom was there too, I do not know how she seems to always be able to avoid me when I have my camera out. I am going to make a point of getting lots pictures from now on!

Joshua and Ethan just relaxing between turns.

Joshua had the highest score of the night! Pretty good for his 2nd time ever bowling! Guess the bumpers helped too!

He had so much fun! I think we are going to have to do this every month for a fun evening out. Here he was making a funny face because he didn't get a strike!

I haven't gotten the highchair out of the garage and cleaned up for Jaislynn yet, so for now we have been using her bumbo seat with a tray on the table. She hasn't figured out how to get out yet. I will definitely have to have the high chair out as soon as she does! Joshua sits on the table with her and helps me keep her entertained while they have snacks when the older kids are at school.

They usually have a cuddle time every morning before we get started on our busy routines! They both enjoy this so much!

One evening I came into the living room where Josh and Vicki were watching a movie and they had fallen asleep. I thought this was cute!

Cody just avoiding eye contact so he doesn't have to get his picture taken....didn't work this time!

We had a Birthday Party for Chawnta to celebrate her 25 years with us! It was a lot of fun!

There was a snow storm that day, so I stayed inside and made these posters for decorations.

Dad and Uncle Lynn just relaxing after the delicious dinner of sopaipilas, Dad's specialty- words can not even begin to describe how good they were! Thanks Dad!

Joshua helping Aunt Chawnta blow all her candles out!

If your kids are bored just give them a balloon, they'll know what to do!

Jaislynn fell asleep in her rocking chair and she had a hold of the toy bar- Cody actually had me go grab my camera because he thought this was so cute!

Isai and Chawnta looking happy and content after dinner!

More balloon fun! Austin and Maycee can be such hams when I come into the room taking pictures! Such cuties!

Jaislynn in her new activity center. It buys me about 5 minuets to go switch out the laundry, or load the dishwasher. Lately she has been very demanding with wanting to be held all the time. For now I am ok with this because I know its not forever and in a short time she will be almost too busy to be held. It just makes it a challenge to get things done one handed during the day.

Joshua and Jaislynn enjoying a snack together.