Joseph Stephen - 10 Months Old

Dear Joseph,

Wow! You are such a busy boy right now! I am not exaggerating when I say that you are into everything. You have learned how to open cabinets, so when I am making dinner you can often be found going from cabinet to cabinet opening and closing the doors and taking items out. You also LOVE the dishwasher. If the dishwasher is open, you are climbing in or taking dishes out of the machine. It has gotten to the point that I cannot do the dishes unless you are in your high chair or your dad is holding you! You are also quite skilled at removing practically every toy from the toy box. The toys at the bottom of the toy box present a challenge though. The other day, you reached so far into the toy box that you fell in!

Your vocabulary has continued to develop, as you have added Dada and Papa to the list of words you know. In addition, you have had your two top teeth break through this month. Even though your two bottom teeth seemed to give you a lot of problems, the two top teeth broke through very easily. We did not even realize that you were teething until one day the first tooth top tooth broke through!

We cannot believe how much you eat! It seems as if you are a bottomless pit. You are not a picky eater at all, and will eat anything that we put on your plate. You will even eat food that your brothers will not touch. It does not matter if it is a fruit, vegetable, meat, or grain, you will eat it and you typically request seconds and even thirds! Despite the fact that you eat all of the time, you have only gained one pound this month. Currently, you weigh 22 pounds and are wearing 12 month clothes.

I believe that you are not gaining a lot of weight because you are so active. You are cruising along the furniture and are so close to walking. On occasion, you can even stand on your own for a couple of seconds. It will not be long before we have a walker in the house! You have changed the way you crawl yet again. Instead of crawling on your hands and knees, you can often be found bear crawling with your hands and feet on the floor and you bottom up in the air. I am amazed by your strength because it cannot be easy to crawl like a bear!

You absolutely love your brothers and they adore you! All three boys are encouraging you as you learn to walk and are trying to get you to walk by holding your hands and helping you walk across the room. William has even started to help you. He will drive his little Thomas the Train tricycle next to you, prompt you to grab the back of the bike and start driving. As he drives, you walk along behind holding on to the back of the seat. It is quite entertaining to watch; you and William seem to love the game, as you both giggle the whole time!

I cannot believe how quickly the last 10 months has flown by Joseph. I can remember the day you were born and the events that led up to your delivery like it was yesterday. On April 16th, it will be one year since I collapsed at work and had to be placed on bed rest until you were born. As I reflect on the last year, I am reminded of how blessed we are that we have such a healthy, beautiful, happy baby boy. We love you so much Joseph!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

It is getting increasingly difficult to keep your month sticker in place as you get older.
As soon as I place the sticker on your shirt, you begin trying to peel it off!

We are working on learning to wave at people!

Rest in Peace Sweet Dixie

Yesterday, Dixie was involved in an accident and had to be put down. It would not have been fair to Dixie to try to repair her injuries, as she would have simply suffered too much. It was a very sad day at our house, as Dixie was the most loyal, sweetest, lovable dog we have ever had. She was so good with the boys and was gentle and kind enough that all of the boys could play with her and love on her. The highlight of Dixie's day was always going with Toby. She would sleep on the seat of the Ranger parked in front of the house to make sure that Toby did not leave without her knowing. Toby could not leave the house on a four-wheeler, Ranger, or in a feeding pickup without Dixie riding with him or following close behind. We will miss you sweet Dixie!

William and his "Soup"

William likes to eat soup. However, his "soup" may not be the soup you are accustomed to eating. For some reason, William calls Nesquik chocolate milk mix soup. We cannot figure out how he associated Nesquik with soup, but to try to convince him that it is not soup would be ridiculous. He simply will not believe you! So, every evening when we get his milk for bed, he requests that we get the "soup" and add it to his milk. When he was at Mema and Papa Dan's a few weeks ago, William kept talking about soup. Mom could not figure out why a two year old would want soup so badly and why, when she fixed him soup he was not satisfied. For anyone that might watch William for us in the future, soup = Nesquik! As you can see from the photo, William also likes his soup straight from the can so you have to watch him carefully or he will just cut out the milk and have straight soup!

Steer Weigh-in 2013

February 23 was weigh-in day for the Malheur County Fair steer projects. Matthew decided to weigh and tag two steers and will make the final decision regarding which steer to take to the fair later in the summer. The Black Angus steer (Lloyd) was raised by Papa Mike and the Hereford steer (Harry) was raised by us. To be eligible for the Malheur County Fair, the steers had to weigh less than 900 pounds. Lloyd was the larger of the two and weighed 855 pounds, while Harry weighed 745 pounds. Let the fun begin!

Lloyd

Harry

Daisy

This year, we had the pleasure of attending the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet in Ontario. This is an amazing fundraiser for the foundation. It consists of a very nice dinner, raffles, games, and auctions. The local banquet is very well organized and fun to attend. During the past couple of years, we have taken Matthew and Peter with us, and they have had a wonderful time. The games are fun for the kids, and the foundation even has a gun donated that is given away to a youth in attendance.

This year, one of the auction items was a seven week old golden retriever/yellow lab puppy. From the moment we walked in the door, Peter fell in love. The puppy was one of the last items to be auctioned off after dinner, so Peter spent much of the evening sitting next to the puppy's kennel talking to her and petting her. Throughout the night, Toby would ask Matthew and Peter if they wanted to play games or buy tickets for raffle items. Their responses were always the same - "No, we would like you to save all of your money for the puppy." At one point during the auction, Toby began bidding on an item that he thought the boys might like, and I thought they were going to cut his arm off so he would stop bidding! They were furious that he would even consider buying anything for them other than the puppy!

Finally, the time came when it was time to auction off "Sage." Toby did not tell the boys that he was going to buy the puppy. Instead, he Toby them that he would have to wait and see. As the bidding began, Toby raised his hand and was in the lead. However, as the price got higher, he decided to stop bidding. At this point, Peter, who was sitting next to Toby, placed his head in his hands on the table. I could tell that he was crying, but did not want anyone else to see. It was so sad that I almost started crying! It obviously affected Toby too because he started bidding again. Peter's head was in his hands though, so he did not know that Toby was back in the lead. Finally, Toby was determined the highest bidder and won the puppy! He leaned over and whispered to Peter that the puppy was his. Peter raised head up and was astonished. He was sure that Toby had stopped bidding early in the auction. When he realized that Toby was telling the truth, he leaned over and gave Toby the biggest, longest bear hug  I think Toby has ever received. Then, I was in tears! It was such a happy moment!

Obviously, Peter spent the rest of the evening with his puppy who he renamed "Daisy." She is such a sweet and adorable puppy and has adapted quite well to our crazy home full of boys! 

Peter, Daisy, and Matthew