ENGAGEMENT PICTURES!!!!

Sorry, Jerry. I posted them first... I WIN. : )

This is my favorite.

Amanda here,

First, an update on Jolie:

Our poor baby. She has the yuck virus that's going around. Complete with throwing up on mommy's shoulder, non-stop diapers, and fevers high enough to rush us to the Emergency Room. This is day three of this business and I'm about fed up with it. Honestly, I'd much rather be at work! I'm taking her back to the doctor tomorrow and telling him to fix her!

Next, an update on wedding things:

I finally put my foot down on bridesmaid dresses. I picked the ones I want, in the color I want, and I don't want to hear any of my bridesmaids complain anymore! I ordered their shoes to go with the dresses. No complaints about those... I also ordered my dress for after the ceremony. Jerry and I may have come to an agreement on our honeymoon destination too! How exciting!! My goal for this week is to get a design finalized for announcements and invitations. Shouldn't be too difficult, right? We are having Engagement photos done this Saturday : ) You know... Every time I see Jerry, I get more and more excited to marry him.

What sound does daddy make, Jolie?

Amanda here...

An update on Jolie's vocabulary is due. Our animal sounds include fish, kitty, monkey, owl, and we are currently working on puppy. However, Jerry and his wonderful sense of humor have made up a sound for mommy.

Jerry: Jolie, What sound does mommy make?

Jolie: Mommy?

Jerry: Yes. 'I'm mommy! Blah blah blah.'

Amanda: Har har har, Jerry.

So, we are working on another sound.

Amanda: Jolie, what sound does daddy make?

Jolie: Dadadada?

Amanda: No, ooh ooh, ah ah. Same as the monkey!

I am very thankful that I have Jolie and Jerry. Jolie makes my heart smile. Even when she's being naughty. Because I know that ten minutes from a fit she has, she'll come over and give me a big hug and kiss. I love her sooooo much. I never thought I'd love being a mother as much as I do. I am very blessed to have Jerry as the man to spend the rest of my life with. He makes me laugh, he cheers me up when I'm sad, he makes me appreciate the little things. Most of all, I love watching him with Jolie. He shows her just as much love as I do. Her eyes light up as soon as she sees him. I know that he wouldn't treat her any differently if she was his own. But you know what? As far as he and I are concerned, she is his. I'm overjoyed to be marrying Jerry. I can't think of a better start to our soon-to-be marriage than the one we've had.

To Jerry: I love you, hun. You make me very happy. Thank you for wanting to share your life with us : )

We are engaged!

So it's been a week, and lots has happened. Turns out blogging every other day is hard when you're busy enjoying your time. But to sum up, after the holidays I convinced Amanda to marry me. (Wasn't too difficult to convince her. ;)

I'm more excited to be married to Amanda and Jolie than I have ever been about anything else in my life. I know there will be many stressful times in planning, but even if every day from now until July 31st is just insane with planning, it's all worth it for the chance to stand there and marry my love.

So if things get busy and we don't write often, that's a good sign because it means we're getting stuff done and getting closer.

To Amanda: Thank you for saying yes! I love you and Jolie very much and am the luckiest man alive! Muah!

Jerry

Family Picture!!

December 30th, 2009.... ish!

Jerry - 27, Amanda - 22

Jolie - 16 mos.

A Growing Vocabulary

From Mommy and Daddy, to milk, to making monkey noises... Jolie is learning to talk more and more every day. It's soooo much fun watching her!

Lots and lots of Christmas...

JON AND HIS NEW TACKLE BOX

JOLIEBEAN OPENING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

MOMMY AND JOLIE ; )

JOLIE AND TAELOR PLAYING WITH BOWS

JACOB, GRANDMA & JOLIE

Well... three down, one to go! Last night consisted of a gift exchange at Jerry's house. I'm not sure what the exact number of people that were here was, but it was close to twenty. Children and crazy adults everywhere! Jolie found a little boy about her age to play with. They ran up and down the hall screaming at the top of their lungs. But it was a happy scream. One of those screams that hurts your ears but you don't want to tell them to stop because it's so cute. The kids opened their gifts first. Jolie got some yellow pajamas. Soft and cuddly ones. Then we did the gift exchange. We ended up with an M&M desk lamp... not my first choice unfortunately. However, Jerry's mom was kind enough to give us the blanket I was after : ) That ended well.

Next, we headed to my house. Lots of presents. Jolie made out like a bandit. Complete with a guitar, monkey weights, a new wardrobe, and a toy that blows balls into the air. Jerry left my mother's decked out in Dallas Cowboys gear. My favorite part was the stockings. My family is BIG into scratch tickets for Christmas. So, all of us sitting at the table scratching away... I ended up with about $80 in wins. Yay! It was ten o'clock when we headed back to Jerry's for the night to play Santa. We didn't even make it around the corner and Jolie had fallen asleep. We made it back here and everyone put the kids' Santa presents together while I put the finishing touches on Jack's (Jerry's dad) blanket. That damn thing..... my fingers hurt from hand-sewing all of it. But the blanket was a hit. He's been napping in his chair with it all morning.

This morning we were all up and opening presents by 8. I've never been at a present opening that took three hours... paper and boxes everywhere. Kids tired of opening presents. Wow...

But now, Jolie is napping, others are eating or sleeping. Tonight will be Christmas dinner and more presents with my grandparents and cousins. Then another dinner at my mom's. Gotta love that holiday food.