It's a lengthy one!

Hi! Here are some pictures! The first one is Jakey at Josie's Kindermusik recital. Notice the watch. Thank you McDonald's happy meal toy for that one! Oh my...

Here's Josie at Manny's for Christmas. Of course it was after Christmas thanks to the hospital stay. My Sister may beat me for this one, but I couldn't figure out how to crop it... Her eye is healing up nicely as you can see!

Snow from our balcony in New York!

Josie has a love of skittles and candies of all kind much like her Mommy!

Some sweet tourist took our picture and some of the tree at Rockefeller Center!

It's the most wonderful time of the year..... This Christmas break was spent getting my cuddle on with Jake and Josie! Seems those two can't get enough of my love bay-bay! :)

I must admit this was a different break for me. We had some crazy stuff going on. I took the week before Christmas break off to go back to the Big Apple with my Sister and my Mama. This was the longest trip yet. I flew there with them on Monday the 13th and came home on my own that Saturday. Mama and Christy had to stay until the next Tuesday. Simply stated I couldn't be away from my JoJo dancer and my babies for that long.

When we first got there one of the town cars took us to the New Yorker (we've stayed there every time) LOVE IT! Turns out to be the coldest week they've had yet and our driver's window wouldn't roll back up after he paid the toll. He just kept apologizing in some attempt at the English language. We were f-reezing and giggling our behinds off!

We got to enjoy New York at Christmas time. WOW! It was sooo pretty! I'll stick some pictures in here. Actually, because I can never remember to do the pictures and then write, you've probably already seen the shots!

One of my goals (for the past 6 years) has been to do a really nice photo album. Then Shutterfly got big and I have been going to make a book for ever. Turns out with my down time in the city that never sleeps I completed the entire year of 2009 & all of 2010 up to December. I also got a start on 2008! So stinkin productive I tell ya. I finished 2010 while I was home sick and that baby is in the mail as you read!

Fear was all over me about that flight home by my lonesome. I just kept telling myself, "Girlfriend you is thirty-fo years old. Get a grip!" I did and ended up sitting next to some "sisters" on the plane. Well that's the lie they told the very nice man sitting next to me convincing him to give up his seat. Those girls were NOT sisters cause I've never loved my sister like that. I mean to each his own, but an airplane is an itty bitty little place to be getting your groove on! Oh and with a stomach ache at that. The one next to me kept breaking what little wind we'd get in that plane all up on me and whining over and over how her belly hurt, ya think?

My Mama spent the entire week of Christmas and Christmas day in Intensive Care! No worries! She's A-ok! Just had us all freaked out a bit. They emptied 4 liters of blood from her innerds. She had a torn esophagus. Didn't get that figured out until after much waiting and wondering and worrying. They gave that 94 pounder blood transfusions and all. But she's back home and doing so much better!

Grampa Levreoy (as my kids call him) passed away Christmas morning. We were heavy hearted and happy for him all at the same time. He got to spend his Christmas with Grandma Iva Lou for the first time in 5 years. Jakey has been the saddest of us all. Nana would take him to Grampa's several times a week. His whole little world has been rocked. He's been full of questions.

This last week of break the kids and I have been s-i-c-k! I won't bore you with all the details, but man we're so ready to feel good again. In a strange way it's been a blessing. I'm such a busy body with goals galore over a holiday and this forced me to be still. That's where all the cuddling came from. I am honestly thankful for all that quiet time. And on my one day of feeling good Jos and I got her closet organized. Perfection! Now if I can figure out a way to keep her from playing in there. :) Just kidding!

Our family had a wonderful Christmas! The kids got their #1 gift choices from the Big Man in the Red Suit! Josie wanted an easy bake (finally Joey can get me in that kitchen) Haha! Jake's been begging for that Big Foot remote control thing at Target since before his birthday. I did not want to buy that joker, but he gave Santa his request with specific details. Went a little something like this, "Umm Santa, even I want a Big Foot Gorilla guy even he's a wittle bit scary, but not that much. That's why you can get him a Target in the toy section. OK?" Who can say no to that? And his reaction Christmas morning was certainly no let down. Jos had torn through like 7 gifts while Jake was still screaming and laughing at the big foot. The let down came after Christmas when his ever so expensive Big Foot ended up under a Diego blanket in his room because it scares him a tiny bit at night. Oh heavens that boy has my heart!

Josie Ryann is reading! As a matter of fact she's gotten quite good at her What is a Princess book. She tells me the other day, "Mommy, you know I love princesses more than Taylor Swift!" Well alright she can love em as long as her little heart desires. She's going to be 6 years old this month. Oh yea, your eyes didn't deceive you, 6! Sigh....

I hate to give you Jeanne overload, but I figure you have the choice to quit reading, right? Yesterday we were headed to Dr. Albino's office. I'm in the passenger side in the Villages when I peek my blue eyes over to the little old lady in the car beside me WITH HER HAT ON SIDEWAYS (like the brown boys wear sometimes as Josie says)! She was big pimpin. I was like Joey check out Gramma's hat. We chuckled, well laughed pretty hard. Jake was really giggling when Josie busts out with, "Y'all are being mean about that lady! That makes me sad." The little holy spirit in the back seat made me feel terrible. I tried explaining that we weren't making fun of her, but WE WERE which made me laugh again. This may sound horrible to you. I'm sorry. But that junk was cracking me up. So Jakey says, "Even I'm sorry Jos cuz I been laughing at that lady." What am I going to do with that sensitive youngster? I mean if a villager chooses to wear her visor sideways she's begging for attention. :)

I guess I'll wrap it up for tonight. Tomorrow is our first day back after the break. I am so going to miss my cuddle time with Jake Landon and him saying, "How you gon hold dat and cuddle me? Put it down!" Whatever my that was at the time. That day it was my super cute MacBook Joey got me for Christmas (with the lip gloss smear all over the screen from my baby girl)! At least it wasn't permanent marker!

Where oh where have we been?

Here's my baby boy! Always in a playful mood!


Josie's first day of school! Joey and I may be all smiles on the outside, but on the inside,well that's a whole nother story!

That's my beautiful children at Mickey's house! Look at Jasmine. She even has shoes to match, but we couldn't wear them to Disney (didn't want to mess them up)! Jake's got his "Go Fast" shoes on. He wears them with everything.....

Jaker's first day of preschool! He was a little hesitant, but now he loves him some Mrs. Debbie and Mrs. Kadi!

The Lake & Sumter Style magazine came out and took a gob of pictures of our family for the article about the Wheel. They gave me a cd of the all one million shots! Here's one of them!

We are here. We are here. We are here. That's a few lines from the movie Horton Hears a Who! My kids love that movie. They call it horton hears an who! I have missed blogging dearly, but haven't made time for it! I'll just put some snipits in here and a few pictures.

Josie loves Kindergarten! She totally excels at it! My baby got STAR student the first month of school. She's crazy about her teacher and has so many sweet little friends. The child has never had her card changed (no surprise, you know how she loves rules). She's so very 5 years old. I'm constantly telling myself the best days aren't over or yet to come. They are right now, in this very moment! These are the best days so I won't be sad because my baby isn't a baby anymore.

Jakey Landon is officially 4 years old! Now this one has had me heaving over the fact that he is no longer free and a half free quarters. That's what he's been telling everybody! He is soooo growing up on me. Saturday he came into our room at 6:45 (Praise ye the LORD!) and stuck his leg up on the side of the bed. He's like "You see dat mama? Dat's my leg. Even it's bidder! Even dat's why I'm 4 now!" Most sentences begin with even. He still doesn't sleep through the night, but he's much easier to soothe....most of the time. He is apparently a good little boy at preschool! He, too, has never had his worm moved off the green apple! Jakers proudly gets a piece of candy daily for staying on green! His very best friend is Caroline. I'm so thankful Jenny & Craig put her in there with Jake.

We celebrated his birthday on Thursday at Nana & Pa's. He wanted a Mater birthday. Saturday we went to Disney. Kids LOVED it! I'll say no more. Tuesday we celebrated at Mama's. He's partied out!

Joey & I are enjoying the jobs God has placed us in, though some days I'd just like to be a Duggar and pop out babies! :) It's been nice catching up! Until next time....

Only clowns and super heroes can draw good with their left hand!

Here's some of what's been going on lately! My sweet little 5 year old broke her wrist on Saturday! She begs me to push her high to the sky. You've heard it before, "Higher Mommy, higher!" So.....I did! And as you can see it didn't really pay off :) Well, the urgent care and the Musculoskeletal people will get some jack from it! This is the only picture of her looking that pitiful! Really, she's been full of smiles despite the pain. Oh, and very unlike me when it comes to attention. Josie is SO embarrassed that she has a "boo boo" arm. She doesn't like us to say broken! The real cast today kinda helped with the embarrassment thing though!

This is what Jake's been up to! Just taking a bath like regular 39 year olds. Yeah, 39. He's decided he's been "free a long long time and now he's firty nine!" And did you know the Statue of Liberty is also known as .....Jesus? True stuff. Just ask Jakers! There was a picture of her at our school library and Jake was like (whispering) "Look Mom, it's Je-Sus!"

Joey and Josie at the Orthopedic Specialist today! See..... all smiles!

Here's Jos with her HOT PINK cast! She's so excited to have her friends sign their first and last names along with birthdates :) Don't think all the info will fit! How about you?

She got pretty upset Sunday when she was trying to draw because she's an amazing artist...fo rizzle! Well she comes running in the bathroom where I'm bathing the 39 year old and grumbles, "Ugh only clowns and super heroes can draw good with their left hand!" I'm like for real babe, clowns? She pipes up with some knowledge I was unaware of, "Yes clowns! They practice drawing circles A LOT Mommy!" I just went with it and told her to act like a clown and get to practicing.

I know there's so much more to say, but I can't do it all in one post. So here's the scoop on my sweeties! I've got more sweet memories to post!

This is Josie's take on the tumble!

This is Jake just talking craziness!

I'm still here!

Hi! I am still here. I wanted to let you know that the Wheel of Fortune episode will air on Thursday, May 27th. It's on channel 9 at 7:30! Woo-hoo! Tune in to see how I did!

The kids are beautiful and wonderful and I will eventually update this blog :)

I'd like a "J" Pat!

Does that sound familiar to anyone? It's a quote from the Wheel of Fortune game show! Guess who's going on the Wheel???? I am!!!!!! Joey and I fly out March 4th for my taping on March 5th! I'm so excited! Sorry it's so short! I'll post all kinds of stuff about Josie's birthday and Jake's traumatized two front teeth soon!

Enjoying It All!

Josie dressed up as Belle!

Jake at 5:30 a.m. on Christmas morning!

Look! He's sleeping.....on the hallway floor.

Look at those shoes. I had to add this one. It's supposed to be after the next one...oops!

Rock star Jos! Check out the things on her legs. Oh my! She pieced this little ensemble together all by herself. Man, was she proud!

I've just been enjoying these children of mine! Life has been ever changing, but oh so wonderful!

Josie is growing up so fast. She'll be 5 on the 31st! Where oh where has time gone? My child is learning to handle those emotions of hers. She does a better job at being self controlled than her mama does!

She's always pretending to be somebody... Princess Tiana, a girl named Aerial but not the princess and her husband is Eric, but not the prince. They have a daughter named Beauty. Eric's a pretty good man! He washes the dishes and is a big help taking care of Beauty! Her imagination is quite amazing.

She's got a song in her heart that she loves to sing loudly. Josie can make up some beautiful ones. Sometimes they're Jesus songs. Other times she's a rock star. We never know from day to day.

She still adores dressing up. I am crazy in love with that child! And every night I have to say "Best little girl" and she says back " In all the land!" We've done that for as long as she could speak.

Jake is officially potty trained! Oh yeah! You heard me right. We've had no accidents. Now we've had several "on purposes" though! Like the other day when he got off the couch from cuddling with me to lean his sweet little 3 year old head on the foot rest. He looked me in my eyes and said, "Hey Mama!" My heart melted and I felt all funny inside until I heard the sound of pttttt. I was like, "Jake, what's that sound?" He comes back with "I...I...I..dunno Mom." That's when I realized that little joker was peeing all over my floor. YUCK! I fussed at him to stop and he just busts out with "Awww, don't say dose words at me Mom!" I tell him "Don't pee in my floor and I won't say those words at you!" By the way those words were simply just stop peeing on my floor. So after I clean up pretty much every drop, I have him come over with a paper towel to do his part. He says "Ugh, that's asugusting mom!" Too funny that boy!

Now if we could just get him to drop the kids off at the pool and not in his unnerwears! He's done it several times so I know he can. That sneaky little codger is quick though. He'll run and hide in the playroom. Next thing I know there's chocolate nougats in his Diego drawers. So...we've taken the 4 wheeler from him until he poops in the potty again.

Yes, he has a gas powered 4 wheeler. Joey's idea. I was totally against my 3 year old, who at the time still wore Huggies Supremes, getting a 4 wheeler. I have to admit he's really good at it and Joey is ALWAYS right beside him when he's riding. There's a governor or something like that on it. That beast only makes it to 5 mph! Josie's super cute when she rides too! Their helmets rock!

One day he'll sleep through the night on a regular basis. It's always something with him. His foot gets stuck in the bars, he can't find his tissue, the shadow from a picture frame is scaring him, he wants to sleep wif me, or his latest and greatest I might add....his head was stuck between his crib and the safety rail. Poor boy had red marks on his neck for hours :) I mean, who gets their head stuck like that???? But when he says, "Just, I just yuv you Mommy," everything washes away.

Joey has a new job. He's outside sales for Wesco. He's also working on his bachelor degree at UF. Go Joey! Josie was so afraid those boys were going to knock him down on the football field. She didn't quite get that Daddy wasn't going to be a Gator football player :)

My job is fun! The kids are s-u-p-e-r, super that's what they are. Super super! Clap clap! Super super! Clap clap! Man, that's like all the way back to 7th grade cheer leading tryouts right there! Teaching is a fulfilling job! It's wonderful to see the difference God makes through you in those children!

I'm really just taken back by all God has done for this family of mine! I sincerely love my husband and he loves me. My Josie and Jakey are my world! They amaze me :)

Enough for now......

**Update** Jake had a victory poo this morning! Joey refused to give Jake his underwear back after a much needed poop attempt. It worked. Jake got mad, sat down on the potty, and dropped a big ole lincoln log! Hallelureyah! He's on his 4 wheeler as I type.

A day in the life!

I'm home today! It's Monday and I'm usually at work, but my Josie is sick (again)! Talk about tis the season. Tis the season alright.... fa la la la la, la la la la! for pneumonia and asthma, and ear infections and coughing until my child pukes, and REAL vomiting, and sleepless nights...wait I always have sleepless nights because my son is Joey Jr. in that aspect. The sweet codger refuses to sleep through the night. If he does I'm in there checking his breathing :) Even though he and I have had numerous talks about Mommy having to get up and go to work he simply doesn't care. He always makes for the best stories, though!

We head to the doctor around 10:30. Leave around 12:45. And we're headed home. I got them some nuggets from Chic-fil-a. Being that we weren't going to make it to the house for lunch. Picture this: Jake, Josie and I are in the van. It starts out with the 12 days of Christmas. You know two turtle dougs and a partridge in a pantry. Jake's wigging out because he wants me to cover him perfectly with his blanket and get his teddy because he's dropped it for the umpeenth time. Josie's coughing and coughing in her seat in between questions about me getting her a chica-wawa. I'm sure you've heard about those cute little dogs. Formerly known as chiuaua's. About that time she yells out "I'm gonna frow up!" I pass the chic-fil-a kids bag to her. She chunks up what little protein value she just received and requests a wipey! The phone starts ringing because Joey wants to know what the dr said. But, we did it. We landed safely at home despite the never ending Villages traffic! I know my guardian angels be working them some overtime!

Oh sweet Lord! I had to interrupt this quick blog to clean up the entire glass bottle of antibiotics that was just prescribed to Josie. Seems it was accidentally dropped by Josie onto our freshly mopped floor. Little brown shards of glass are lingering everywhere. We'll be wearing our shoes for a while!

Josie was being Dr. Albino today. I got to be her patient. She was acting out everything exactly as it occurred just a few short hours ago. I have been diagnosed with several problems. Double ear flections, a chin flection, and eye flections. Seems my nose was all clear. How do I know that? Well let me tell you the highlight of this pretend game. Sweet girl stuck a q-tip up my nose to re-enact the flu swab! I literally had to plug my left nostril, blow as if to spew a booger on her, and pant like a dog! "Ok Mommy, stick your tongue out and breath like this Hah-hah-hah!" Her words exactly!

Back again! You have no idea what just occurred in the past half hour. Another interruption. Seriously. Jake got a hold of the children's Tylenol, bubble gum flavor. Apparently, "The policemans gave it to him!" No wait, "It's was dos boyz" Umm on second thought "He only had a cup." Yeah, that's what he's telling me as I realize the sticky all over his toy gun that I've been pretend shooting him with is Tylenol! I know you may be wondering, "Why were you pretend shooting your son?" Well, he was pretending to be a deer and wanted to be my supper so I had no other option! So, which is worse that he got the Tylenol or that I pretend to shoot him??? Needless to say he's fine. I called poison control and all is well!!

I can't even believe this craziness! On that note I think I'll call it quits and go supervise my children :) It's never ever boring being at home!