It's been a while since I've written,

but we have been very busy. We moved out of town and are loving it.
We got two new dogs, Chihuahua's and one of them just had puppies, so, for now, we have 8 dogs. The kids have started a new school year and we are using a Charlotte Mason approach and have been thoroughly enjoying it.
I don't have much time this morning, but I'll leave a picture of the puppies.

Mike has been working hard!

And I am so glad that he has! I have a very nice looking kitchen now. I am so happy with it. It looks like a whole different house. We've been updating it slowly over the past four years, but the counter tops really had a big impact. I don't know that there's much left to do in the kitchen, maybe just the back splashes. It really does look nice!!!

Everyone is doing well and growing. Josiah is so cute! Of course, they all look cute at his age, and our kids all look very much alike. I am really having to keep the baby pictures well-labeled. So I'll include a few pics with this post. Enjoy!

Lots of changes for our New Year!

So, I finally took the time to download a more recent picture of myself. Jacob took it yesterday, in fact, Jan 11. I like it because Josiah is in it too. He is 3 months old now!

I have decided to cut out sugar. I thought I would just stop eating desserts, etc., but with the way I am I had to go out and buy a book about it. Turns out that our food supply in America is just overflowing with sugar and it's STILL not good for us. So over the next month or two I hope to have sugar out of our house. Fortunately, Mike agrees with me and is supportive of this decision. In fact, he is happy about it too. He has always wanted to limit sugar anyway. I am so glad that we agree on this. I already feel better from just not eating dessert type sweets. The kids haven't complained a bit and don't seem to notice the difference.

We are having a family conference at church later this week, followed by a teen conference. I am so excited about it (www.the-war.com). I have been able to go to church much more regularly now with all the kids and hope to be back to our regular every service schedule by the end of this month. After having Josiah I did slow down a bit, but am getting stronger and more organized daily.

Wow, it's been a while.

We have been so busy. December went by so quickly! It started with a trip to Lubbock to see my mom at the beginning of the month. From there we went to San Antonio to visit the river walk. Mike's mom met us there and we had a great time. Christmas Eve we went to my dad's. And lastly, Christmas Day we spent in Odessa with my Aunt Barbara. Whew!

Tomorrow we start getting back to our regular schedule. I am actually excited about getting back to school in the morning. The daily grind is so much sweeter after a nice break like that.

The kids are all doing well and Josiah is growing like a little weed. He's strong and alert. He's really very sweet and he just loves his older brothers and sisters. Jacob holds him often and Jenna can get him to laugh easily. Ryan and Rachel just want to kiss his head, but even they are caught singing to him and wanting to hold him at times.

So, after everything starts getting back to normal, we decide that we're going to go to Florida in May. I am excited about going, but wow, is it quite a bit of work and planning. Mike's grandma has a hard time traveling, so we're going to her. She hasn't seen the kids since Jenna was born, and that's too long for any grandma. Mike's mom will be happy to see them again too. One visit at Christmas really isn't enough. We are going to visit Disney while we are there and Mike is going to try and do some repairs at his grandmas house. I'm sure we will be ready for home after this trip too.

I'm still working on getting some updated pictures. I did recently open a Facebook account, so if anyone wants to be my friend, you can check out the pictures I posted there too.

I caught one!

A smile that is. People say that babies don't really smile til they're at least a month old, well, I have proof that little Josiah is the exception. He has been the smilingest (I know that's not a real word) baby ever since he was 4 days old. What a sweetheart!!! Now tell me people, does this look like gas....I think NOT!

I was in the paper today.

Well, my short claim to fame was begun and ended in a day, haha! My midwife and I were in the local paper in an article on homebirth. Josiah looked very cute, they caught him in a yawn. I wish Rachel would have been smiling, but she still looked cute. If anyone is interested, here is a link to it. http://www.oaoa.com/articles/midwife_21957___article.html/birth_cockrell.html

Other than that, just normal stuff going on here. Little Josiah is three weeks old today and doing very well. He had gained over a pound at his 2 week check up. What a healthy little (big!) guy. He is sleeping a little less during the day and getting better at sleeping at night. All of the kids want to hold him all of the time and they love him so much already. I am happy about the amount of energy I have this time after having him. I am attributing that to a healthy diet and continuing my vitamins. I also was able to rest much more due to a very wonderful group of ladies at church who brought us dinner for the first two weeks after Josiah's birth. I can't begin to express with words what a wonderful and sweet blessing that was! I look forward to even more energy to return after the first 6 weeks have gone by.

It looks like we will be going to San Antonio for Christmas. I have to get out of here and I'm tired of foiled attempts at a short vacation of some sort. I have always wanted to see the Riverwalk all lit up for Christmas, so that's what we are going to do. I'm so excited already. We also may visit Six Flags or Sea World. Most likely Six Flags because we haven't been there yet.

Whirlwind September Ending!

Yay, we finally have a new baby. He is beautiful and healthy! What a blessing. He weighed 9 lbs. 11 oz. and is our biggest baby yet. He was born Sunday evening, the 28th, at about 9:55. I'll type more later, but for now I'm pressed for time.

Also, Jenna turned 6 today and is having a very happy birthday. She got to go to the store and pick out a toy with the money her granny Trish sent her. She picked some bath doll and really likes it. I made her a Candy Land cake about a week ago, just in case I had Josiah, and it turned out to be a good strategy, so all went well.

I added a few pictures for you all to enjoy. Hope to be writing again soon! Sorry this post turned out a little less than perfect.