Time with Daddy!

Big shoes to fill.

Jeremy is such a Daddy's boy!

It's so sweet for me to watch how much he loves to be with Bobby.

Happy 29th Bobby! SURPRISE!!

Bobby turns 29 this year! I gave him a SURPRISE party! 

Highlights included: 

Bobby has always talked about wanting a "adult piñata" that can be hit with a metal bat.
A friend helped make a pinata durable enough!
Filled with KING size candy bars, of course! 

All the Hottie Wenches dressed to Kill!

Bobby's gift from his parents:
The first block and motor for our block wall!
Great idea!
(UPDATE: wall was finished 2 years later!)

Bobby's sweet, sweet grandparents! 

Ppppppppoker!

I will say. . . this will be the last surprise party I throw for him! It was so stressful planning, paying for and putting things together behind his back! I had to make up a few lies to get through the planning process! ti was much too difficult! I am happy I did it, just once though! We had a blast. 

Our Little Traveler!

Reunion

In mid April, we got sad news. . .  a brother Bobby served with in the Marines was killed in Afghanistan. SSGT Jeremy Smith. We decided all of us should go to Texas for the funeral. So .... with plane tickets, a rental car (complete with mapped directions to and from where we would be in Texas), a hotel, and only 2 suitcases (yes .. seriously.... I packed us light) we headed to Arlington, Texas.
Jeremy was an amazing traveler. He slept most of the plane rides. He was such a trooper with being off his nap and eating schedule! The trip turned out to be bittersweet:

I just can't get enough sleeping baby pictures! 

Bitter: The reason for the short getaway was tear jerking. Something about seeing a coffin with with an American flag draped over it, tugs at the heart strings. Meeting and watching Jeremy's wife, Rachel (her blog), was like seeing someone live my worst nightmare. I couldn't come up with words that seemed enough to comfort her. She cried when I introduced Jeremy to her and the reason for his name. After seeing how touched Rachel was, knowing Jeremy had been named after another Jeremy both her husband and Bobby served with, we decided to get in contact with Jeremy Bohlman's You can read that post here.

Sweet: It was two-fold .... One being the amazing patriotism of the citizens in Texas is indescribable! The Patriot Riders (a group of men and women that come to support military families at funerals,  they ride motorcycles with American flags flying off the back), stand at attention, each next to an American flag, for the entire wake, ceremony, and burial. During the procession, they stopped the freeway, a 4 lane freeway!! People who we on the other side, not stopped by police, pulled over and put their hands over their hearts for the whole procession (which was about 3 miles long!). It was so sweet! The next day at Walmart a lady recognized Bobby as being one of the Marines on stage at Jeremy's funeral (it was televised). I am just in awe. If there is ever any reason to move from California .... to Texas it will be!

The 2nd reason it was sweet: We got to see most the guys Bobby served with. It has been about 5 years, AND we got to meet the Dizzle's little boy, Max.  The Dizzle's lived out here when Bobby was enlisted. Ben and Bobby were deployed together. I got to be pretty close to Sam when the boys were in Iraq. It was sweet for our little ones to meet and pay together!

This experience makes us happily look forward to many more family vacations with Jeremy!!

Top Left: Future Marine
Top Middle: Sitting like agog boy in his own seat
Top Right: Riding the bull
Bottom Left: Daddy playing in the airport
Bottom Middle: There was a park at one of the airports we has a layover!
Bottom Right: Sleepy family!

Have you seen a cuter 11 month old dressed in a suit?
I KNOW! Me either! He is THEE cutest! 

Jeremy turns 1!!

From birth to one year! Crazy for me to see! 

I can NOT believe our little 5lb 12oz boy is already one year old!! Time really does fly! He is weighing in at 20.6 lbs and measuring 28 inches. We had plenty of friends and family that came to celebrate.

Top: Playing in the sand
Middle Right: While we were singing
Middle: This is pretty good!
Middle Right: Daddy what are you doing?
Bottom: These are so fun toys!

A visit from "way up deah, huh"

Downtown Disney

We had such a great week! My cousin and his fiancé' flew out (alllllll the way from Portland, Maine). We had such a relaxing week! It was the first time they met Jeremy and they absolutely fell head over heels in love with him!

We did SO many fun things!
This was hiking up Mt. Rubidoux

I just love that picture of Jeremy!
We planted our first garden while they were here!

Chris has a great talent of making videos! Here is the one from their trip!

New in the Mini-Mart Household....

I thought I'd have time to post more often! At least, once a week! Yikes! I have fallen behind!
Well, the past few weeks have been busy!  Our "shockproof" camera broke when Jeremy dropped it! So bare with the pictures from my phone.....

• I will start with Jeremy...since that's why most of you tune in! .... He just amazes us every day! God has given him such a sweet personality! He is very curious! I could sit and watch him learn all day long and not get anything done! He is finally over his viral infection. It lingered for 4 weeks! Kinda my fault..... I forgot about a prescription the doctor called in the last time we were there! Bad Mommy!! Poor guy, was sick for 2 weeks longer! But we got the right one and he is much better. We are back on his regular schedule. He learned how to "High 5"today. I only showed him a few times this morning and when we went to have lunch with Daddy at work he remembered! Makes a Momma proud! He is a great eater. He has eaten everything we have given him, so far! Including artichokes! He loves them, seriously devours them. He still hates pureed food (I tested it and he spit it out at me!) As long as we give him chunks, he's happy. Still no teeth! 10 months old and not teeth! Daddy thinks he's waiting until he's done nursing.... What a sweet boy! And what a little talker we have... go figure..... he just babbles all day long. Loves when random people (in stores, at church, on walks....) talk to him. He just blabs right back. Little J has also learned he can control the pitch of his voice and loves to hear his echo! Our playroom echos and he loves to squeal in it to hear himself. It really is cute....I'm sure when the high pitch gets old I will not be saying that and I will be asking him to use "his inside voice." Ha!

• Bobby was able to finish the wall unit he has been working on! It's huge! And perfect! I feel like there is a place for everything now! I was going a little nuts with all our stuff every where. I am so thankful for the skills my husband has to build and fix anything! 
• We have had the pleasure of a playdate every week with Ashlynn. She has been coming over once, sometimes twice a week. Jeremy just loves her! He gets so excited when she comes over and they play together so well! Last week I over booked myself with having Jeremy (of course!), Sierra, Ashlynn, a physical therapy appointment, and picking a friend's kids up from school all before 2pm....on a day Bobby was working!! I called my mom!! Thank you so much Mom for helping out last week! 

They are so sweet together!

• Sierra's special day is Tuesdays! She comes over for a sleepover and we take her to school on Wednesday mornings. Last week we got to have her stay with us a few days! We loved it! Jeremy also loves her company! He laughs a deep little belly laugh when he sees her being goofy! It melts my heart! 

Well, there is the nutshell of the past few weeks! We are anxiously waiting for Chris and Elise to come visit and met Baby J! We are sure to have a post about their visit!
Thanks for tuning in! XOXO

Our Little Monkey can be trained to.....

WHOA! Watch out.... Jeremy is on the move. And he claps his hands! This week has been packed of milestones.... It seems like everyday he is learning new things. We love to watch his expression when he's putting something together in his little mind!
Here is his clapping:

Jeremy's first steps were at Sandals, our brand new church building. We couldn't think of a better place! We didn't get those on video because we were so caught up in the moment! This video of him standing is right after the first steps:

And the 2nd set of first steps!!

Thanks for tuning in and keeping up with our little family!