The Costephens Family

2009-05-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

We are very excited that it is getting warmer out and staying dark later. We are hoping to get to know more of our neighbors as we are out more this summer. Joe is taking great pride in cultivating a beautiful lawn. This summer we'll work on keeping the new grass healthy, cut (trimmed and edged!!) and weedless, and we'll worry about planting next year!

Annabelle has now started escaping her room in the middle of the night and coming to our room. She doesn't appear to be scared, she just asks, "What are you guys doing ? How's brother? May I have some milk? She just wants to chat. Then Joe takes her back to bed. Needless to say, her night escapades were cute at first, but now we have put a cover over the door knob in her room so she can't escape! She is really enjoying coloring with markers and playing outside. She had a great time getting to play with Aunt Joy and Uncle Brad-a-ley this week.

I do believe Jayce is starting to feel better. This week he is a lot calmer, happier, and just more comfortable. We are THRILLED! He is sleeping for a 6 hour stretch at night, eating and "talking" to me for about 30 min. and then sleeping 3 more hours. It's not "sleeping thru the night", but it is much better than it was. Jayce is VERY jabbery and he makes so many different sound combinations already. Hmm...another talker like Annabelle?

Annabelle-isms:

Do you love me Nana? You're my woman.

After dancing with daddy she said, "Oh, the house is spinning now."

To daddy as he left for work, "Bye, baby!"

Uncle Luke likes to eat crackers and be on the cross. And I like to press his belly. (what?)

oops...Annabelle got a little carried away with the bubbles!

Jayce is VERY ticklish!

Yes...he already zones in on the TV, just like daddy!

Yeah, he's big enough for the jumperoo!

"Amazing grace how sweet the sound... I once was BLONDE, but now I see"

Annabelle playing dress up with Nana

2009-05-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

We have been home now for almost a week from our first family vacation with our 2 kiddos. They were amazing troopers in the van and we only had to stop about every three hours. I was a bit worried when the day before we left for Minnesota Annabelle could barely make it to Nana and Poppa’s house ( a 30 minute ride) without asking to get “unstuck” from her seat because it was taking to long. I thought…oh sister…you don’t know what it coming to you tomorrow!

We had a great time hanging out with Gigi and Papa for the week. We played, shopped, ate, baked and slept a little! Joe and I also got to go out on a date which was very refreshing. It was great to get to see Joe’s great grandma who is 98. She was thrilled to meet Jayce.

Jayce is still adjusting to life it seems. We are hoping that within another month his colickiness and belly issues will be outgrown. Poor little guy. At 3 months he is 16.9 lbs…and he is a crazy sleeper! The poor boy does gymnastics in his sleep all night…no wonder he wakes up so much at night. He is still very visually stimulated and loves to stand and bounce. He is just so snuggly!!

Annabelle is now able to open doors all by herself as her latest accomplishment. She now comes bouncing out of her room in the morning and after nap and announces “I’m awake!!” Sometimes she comes out and asks “Am I awake?” She has a new taller stool so she can wash her hands and brush her teeth without any help and we have caught her many times standing there just looking at her self in the mirror smiling at her self and making faces.

Enjoy the pics!

Learning how to golf

Playing Pat a cake with Gigi

Annabelle doing dishes with Papa

Jayce and Great Grandma Kathy

Annabelle was hooked on peeling and sucking the jice out of the Mandarin oranges. Her poor little finger nails were bright orange!

Handsome boy

Bandaid fashion statement

Playing at the aprk in Gigi and Papa's neighborhood

Making (and eating!) chocolate pretzels with Gigi

We got a double stroller!! And Annabelle was enjoying her huge strawberry sucker!

PLaying with daddy in the pool at the waterpark

Jayce grinning from ear to ear!!

This is the light on the wall that caused Jayce to grin from ear to ear!!

Yeah Poppa! Annabelle liked Poppa's dress! She cheered real loud as Poppa got his MBA this past week.

MOmmy and Annabelle feeding the ducks at the park with Nana on her birthday

2009-04-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! What a great day of celebrating! God has truly blessed us with a wonderful family and we are very grateful for his blessings.
A lot has happened the past month...too much to try and update it all, so we'll hit on the highlights.

It has been a sad time in our family as we have had to say goodbye to my Granny Lucy, or Gusta Granny as Annabelle calls her. Whew...it's tough trying to explain it all to a 2 year old. She certainly has helped us all cope a bit more with her sweet innocence. She asked if Jesus gave Gusta her medicine in heaven to make her all better, she showed Gusta her new Cinderella sunglasses at the viewing, she said she liked Gusta's blue "bed", and she blew Gusta lots of kisses. What a sweet little girl. Though it has been tough, it was wonderful to have all of the famliy together....all 9 million of us!! We had a good Easter together today at Uncle Hank's house and Granny would have been so happy to see all of her kids getting together and having a great time.

Annabelle and Jayce are doing well. Jayce did a fabulous job being baby Jesus in the Easter pagent. He was certainly the star! He still has an uncomfortable belly and is not an award winning sleeper, but his sweet smile and laugh make up for it all! He adores the ceiling fan, playing pat a cake and swinging. He is wearing 6-9 month clothes already at 12 weeks. At his 2 month appointment he was 14 1/2 lbs and 22 1/2 inches!! He is probably at least 16 lbs. now. AH!!! He has a wonderfully annoying spot of "stick straight up" hair on his head...it's an Alfalfa sprout on the side.

Annabelle continues to amaze us with her maturity. She actually puts herself in time out sometimes if she thinks she has not been a good listener! She loves playing in her playroom, eating strawberries (plain or chocolate) by the dozen, and playing with her friend Sophia.

We are now trading in a car and have graduated to a mini van. It was quite an amazing deal and Annabelle is thrilled that it has a "little TV" in the van! We are looking forward to having it on our trip to Minnesota next week! Pray for us!!!

Annabelle sayings:
"The boy gets the boy out, and the girl gets the girl out." (What Annabelle says each time we go to get out of the van. I get her and Daddy gets Jayce)

Ooopsidoodle spaghettios!

Are you my sweet girl mama? Daddy is my sweet boy and I love him so much!

Mommy, close the bathroom door so the boys don't come in. That would freak me out and it would be hysterical!

Jayce's blood pressure is 46 pounds

Can we go to heaven and see Gusta Granny now?

Enjoy the pictures!

Annabelle loves to drive!!!

Looking at the mobile in Jayce's bed!

Annabelle "helping" with laundry!

Cutting the grass with daddy

Watching the NCAA championship

She loved putting the Easter grass in her toes!

Give me Easter candy, too!

Update, only 1 week after the last update!!

2009-03-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

It has been a good week around the Costephens' house. We are all pretty healthy, minus the runny noses. Thankfully Annabelle has "chilled" out in her reaction to the "snot sucker" bulb and tissues so she has actually welcomed our help in ridding her of her runny nose.

Jayce is really enjoying bath time each night as he smiles when the warm water is poured over him. I think it must feel calming to his poor little tummy. He is smiling a lot more and has quite a cute little laugh and coo. He is quite amused by the ceiling fan and the hair dryer. He will be two months old this Thursday!

Annabelle is getting to be quite the big girl. We have had a few break throughs in regrads to nap time and bed time. She has always fallen asleep well...as long as we lay near her and sing until she gets very drowsy. Needless to say, the ritual was becoming quite time consuming, so she now is falling asleep by herself with music playing and tears on her part, but she has transitioned very well. Nap time has not equalled sleep per say, but she is at least resting in her room by herself giving mommy a little break. She has had lots of fun opening and closing plastic Easter eggs, screwing and unscrewing things with the screw driver and playing golf with Daddy outside. Since the soy fields are cut down behind our backyard Joe is having fun hitting golf balls 150 yards or so and then he and Annabelle go find them in the field!

Joe and I have been working on our Easter pagent for church. It's quite a production...and for some odd reason I am having a bit of a hard time memorizing the songs... maybe sleep deprivation ?! Joe is John the disciple, I am Mary and Jayce is baby Jesus. It's only fair, since Annabelle was baby Jesus just after she was born! We are praying for no "explosive" loud diapers from him at any poignant, serious moments, but there are no guarantees.

Annabelle always wants to make sure we each have a treat after dinner, and she picked out a sucker for Jayce to have after his nap!

Jayce is listening intently as Annabelle talks to him about his thumb. He as a "chocolate" thumb! He has a drak brown birthmark on his left thumb nuckle.

Annabelle smiling from ear to ear, because brother was just smiling and laughing at her!

The family getting ready for bed.

March Madness

2009-03-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

Wow! Another month has gone by! The past month has been quite an adventure around our house. We are grateful that God is the great physician and sustains us even when we are at our weakest. We were visited by the stomach flu for two weeks and have spent the last 2 weeks building up strength again. (Needless to say, somehow I didn't take any pictures for about 2 weeks!) Poor Annabelle had it the worst, then it was passed to Jayce, then mommy, then Nana and then daddy. We had many firsts the past few weeks... Annabelle's first trip to the ER, four days later Jayce's first trip to the ER, "Glow in the dark" lime green "yucky diapers" from Jayce, and a week long Cinderella marathon (the only movie Annabelle wanted to watch while she "throwed up" ). It was such a hard thing to see Annabelle so "out of it" and weak for a good week and a half, but she has now regained all of her "energies" and she is "all better now." The only "scar" that remains is the tape residue from where she had blood drawn. She thinks the left over tape goo is her "bloods" and if we try to wash it she gets quite hysterical and proclaims that "I need my bloods, don't wash it off." Her prayers are now laden with pleas to God that no one will "throwed up" any more. And she is specific "Dear God help us not to throw up in the bucket, or the toilet or the bed or the floor!" One of Annabelle's favorite things to play with now is all of my old Barbies! She plays and plays and plays, dressing, undressing and making them talk. It's so much fun to watch!

Little Jayce man is still working out all of his tummy issues. Due to his, what seems to be, constantly upset stomach each time he eats, he doesn't sleep very well. So we have needless to say tried everything in the book, but probably only time will straighten out his little belly. Last night somehow he finally decided to sleep and went from 9:30 pm to 4:20 am...almost 7 hours! This was a huge shock and a blessing, since he has been consitently waking up 2-3 times a night! We are praying that it wasn't just a one time deal. I feel like a new woman today! Even with all of the vomiting and diahrea Jayce was 12 lbs. 6 oz. at 6 weeks!! And 23 and 1/4 in. long. He is our moose man and is thriving in regards to growth. Hopefully he will slow down at some point! We have had a few "real" smiles each day the past week so that has helped counteract the painful grunting times! Jayce really enjoys tummy time!

We are greatly enjoying the warm weather the past few days with wagon rides, playing ball outside, taking walks and having the windows open. Annabelle didn't seem to notice bugs last year, but it looks like this summer we are going to have to calm her down in regards to bugs "touching her!"

Annabelle"isms" the past few weeks:

Can I help you load the disher machine mom?
My panties just look glamorous don't they?
I am going to go down the slide on my esophogus!
Momma I'm wearing my dancin' dress!
May I hold you momma? It's fabulous to hold you!
Can you get married to daddy again and wear your Cinderella dress?

Enjoy a few pictures...mainly of Jayce, because he is a stationary target!

February Already?

2009-02-06T16:50:00.001-08:00

Annabelle comments to her brother this past week:

Look, his eyeballs are awake!
Hey, he likes me!
Hi sissy brother!
Your my bro, Uncle Luke is momma's bro.
It's okay bro, momma will feed you soon.
I don't want to see your poop. It's yucky.

We are continuing to enjoy adapting to our newest addition. We have had Joe's mom with us the first part of the week and she will join us again next week. But, we have also had a few days of "normal" life where we have survived with just mom, dad and kids! We actually did pretty well I think. We have enjoyed being blessed by having meals provided by MOPS and our small group at church. Annabelle continues to do very well helping us with her brother (or sissy...which she calls him frequently). She always comes to his aid when he cries with lots of kisses and hugs. We have only had 1 real outing (today)and I had myself, Jayce and Annabelle dressed and fed and out of the door by 9:30 am! I was pretty impressed with that. We came to Nana and Poppa's since it was such a beautiful day! We went to the park and had a yummy steak dinner in honor of Joe's 29th b-day which is the 10th. Jayce continues to grow which is evidenced by his developing cheeks! He certainly is a more frequent eater than Annabelle, so I feel as though I am nursing all day long! He typically goes to bed around 10:30 and wakes up at 1:30ish, 5:00 ish and 8:00ish to eat. So as long as he eats quick and goes right back to sleep I am getting decent sleep. He grunts extreemly loud all night long as he is having issues with his "gases" as Annabelle puts it. Hopefully he will work all that out soon! We have also "enjoyed" changing Jayce's outfits multiple times a day as he is a random projectile spitter! Annabelle maybe spit up 5 times total all of her babyhood, so needless to say having a towel always handy is not something we were used to. But hey, it makes life interesting. Well, enjoy the pictures. We love you all and are thankful for all of the well wishes and prayers.

Life is "snow" much fun with 2

2009-01-28T15:31:00.000-08:00

We are continuing to adjust to being parents of two! We have actually had it quite easy the past few days, because my mom has been helping out at our house since we got home and for the past 2 days Annabelle has been "snowed in" at Nana and Poppa's house. I know it has been tough for her to have all of the attention and unlimited play time! Though we have missed her dearly it has been fun to be able to have one on one time with Jayce. Real life starts tomorrow when Joe is at work and the three of us are at home! We managed to get Jayce to the Doctor yesterday before the snow really set in. He is now 21 inches long and 7 lbs. 14 oz. We were pleased that he already regained his birth weight plus 2 oz. in just a week. I guess he's getting enough to eat! Joe and I were both "christened" by Jayce yesterday. He got me in the face during diaper time and he soaked through his outfit and got Joes' stomach while we having our "date night" movie last night. Thankfully he is having more awake time and we are getting to see his dark blue eyes much more. And we are pleased that his "belly button thingy" fell off already, so hopefully Annabelle won't run and hide each time we change his diaper. This weekend Joe's mom will be coming in town for a few weeks so again we will be enjoying the extra help and support. Enjoy the pictures!

So snuggly...he has big hands like his daddy and sister.

I see eyeballs! His cheeks are starting to fill out. We'll see is he "beefs" up as much as his sister!

No, I won't wake up to eat, Mommy!

Annabelle squealing with excitement as she saw her brother today after a 2 day break!

Annabelle: " Yes he has a tongue!"

Annabelle's suprised face

Annabelle's happy face

Adventures in the snow at Nana and Poppa's. They said she wasn't too interested at first, because snow was getting on her shoes!

Helping Poppa sweep the snow

She was thrilled to call and tell us that she got drug around on the sled!

She picked out her hat and scarf all by herself.

More Pictures of Jayce

2009-01-23T20:01:00.001-08:00

Hey to Everybody,

Jayce is home and doing well. Thank you so much for you prayers and for the calls and emails. We are adjusting to two kids; one who sleeps, and one who sleeps in two hour slots. Sarah is doing well and taking great care of our baby boy. Annabelle is pitching in and holding Jayce and worrying about his belly button not looking normal to her. He is eating well and we look forward to more and more awake time. Feel free to call us.

Daddy and his boy

Wide eyed

Annabelle: "He has itty bitty toes!"

This was Annabelle's best picture she has even taken! It is centered and it actually has people in it, instead of the ceiling or floor.

Annabelle enjoying her first chocolate covered strawberry! She is hooked. Thanks to the Meford's for bringing us a great dinner.

2009-01-23T19:58:00.000-08:00

What an angelic little face, Jayce!

Sound asleep

Annabelle: " Hi, my name is Annabelle"

Annabelle:" He makes funny noises!"

Annabelle: "I'm watching Cinderella with baby Jayce."

My Kids

2009-01-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more pictures of Jayce, Annabelle, and Daddy.

Our Baby Boy

2009-01-20T07:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an eventful day. Sarah and I showed up at 6:30 am and didn't get going with being induced until around 1:30 pm. Here water was broke around 630-7ish and from there it was a matter of hours until the baby was crowning. We had to hold off pushing for an hour due to the doctor being with another delivery. But our boy is well.

Jayce Alan Costephens
7 lbs. 12 ozs.
20.5 inches
Time of Arrival: 10:23 pm on 1-19-09

2009-01-16T18:40:00.000-08:00

We are continuing to enjoy life in Godfrey, IL. The last couple of months have been full of fun and excitement, as is certain when you have a now 2 year old around! The biggest event has been Annabelle turning 2 on December 14. She (of course) requested a chocolate cake with Slimey on it. (the worm from Sesame Street!) She loved hanging out with friends and family, blowing out candles on every food she ate all weekend long, and opening presents. Christmas was very special getting to celebrate with all of our family for several days in a row! We sang happy birthday to Jesus A LOT and opened presents over four days, a couple each day, because she just enjoyed playing so much that she lost interest in opening.

We are continuing to get excited about what God is doing in the life of our church and how God is providing for our needs. He is so faithful and he is growing our family’s confidence in his provision and grace for our needs. Joe and I are both enjoying all of the books we have read, due to not having TV and internet. We never thought we could survive, but it’s pretty fun! We have also enjoyed date nights renting movies at the Red Box. We finally have a few neighbors and there is another house going up across the street, so it’s nice not to feel so alone.

Most recently, Annabelle has become fascinated with Cinderella. We have showed her parts of the movie and she is just enthralled! She loves Cinderella’s dress, “Gus Gus” the mouse, the Bibidy bobidy boo lady, how the prince says “Come back Cinderella” and how the prince and Cinderella fall in love, get married and live in the “Casserole! (castle!) ” She never ceases to amaze us with how fast she has grown up. She has an amazing vocabulary and conversation ability, an almost scary good memory, lots of energy and gentleness and she has mastered potty training and the “big girl bed” with ease. We are certainly blessed and she keeps us in stitches!

Baby Co number 2 has been trying to come for a few months, and even had us in the hospital today thinking I was in labor. Sadly, I am blessed with lots of strong contractions that don’t do much more than keep me exhausted! BUT…I will be induced on Monday morning the 19th and we will do our best to keep everyone posted. Annabelle especially can’t wait to hold her little brother or sister and she is really looking forward to changing diapers, giving it a bath and snuggling. She has also been practicing “breast feeding” since she has seen one of our friends at church nursing her new baby. So needless to say she has had a lot of very funny questions about it all! Oh what fun!

Enjoy a few pictures of our cookie decorating and Annabelle's b-day. We'll post our new addition in a few days!! Maybe then I will learn how to do all of this from Joe's computer at church, so I can be more frequent! We love you all!

'Lil Pumpkin Head

2008-11-07T20:07:00.000-08:00

Annabelle was thrilled to get the mail yesterday, because she had a present from Ms. Carol in "'Tucky!" She walked up and down the sidewalk saying "My present, my present..." After a few minutes she sat down on the curb and finally asked to open it. She pulled it out and immediately put it on. It was a VERY blustery day and she was so excited that when she put the hat on, her hair no longer was blowing in her face!! What a concept! Yes, just like she does with the rain and the sunshine, she kindly tells God "No blowing, please!" when it is windy. Thanks Carol for brightening our day and thinking of our little girl!

"Hi Carol"

"Cheeseburger. "Maybe someday when she smiles she won't do it so goofily!

Pure joy!!

Fall Festivities

2008-11-04T13:29:00.000-08:00

Well, Annabelle and I are at my parent's house for the night, so I have a chance to update you on our life. The geeky Social Studies teacher in me couldn't stand the thought of not watching all of the election results come in tonight. I'll probable watch it into the wee hours of the morning. Thankfully it's only every 4 years! It's so exciting to watch the states get colored in and count up the electoral college votes! (Thankfully since we only get one channel (PBS) at home we have been exempt from all of the political commercials and bantering!)

Fall has certainly been an enjoyable time for us. We don't have trees in our yard yet so thankfully it hasn't meant raking leaves. Instead we have just enjoyed all of the beautiful trees around us. It is sweet to see Annabelle get so excited about all of the colors she sees. "Red, yellow, orange!" It has been nice to enjoy the weather by taking walks, going to pick apples and pumpkins, looking at the moon and twinkle stars at night and playing with "messy" toys on the front porch. We enjoyed our churches trunk or treat the night before Halloween and then we had a good time going trick or treating in my parents neighborhood. We learned that in Godfrey people don't trick or treat on Halloween, just the night before. On Halloween there is one of the largest Halloween parades in the U.S. Who knew? Annabelle was overjoyed with all of the candy she got and was certainly not shy about walking up to people's doors to get more candy. We learned that she doesn't like clowns at all. They are "Scary and make Annabelle sad and cry." She enjoyed wearing her costume (a hippie) and she loved telling people that hippies say "Peace, Man!" She couldn't quite get the peace sign down with her hands so it looked more like the "L" for loser" sign! Oh well. God is so good to us and we continue to thank him for his blessings. A big blessing to us is that Joe's grandma and my granny are still with us. They have both been through quite a lot, but for now God still has them here to bless us. We love them very much.

Annabelle has enjoyed Nana and Poppa's Backyard this fall. Here she is eating a scrumptious chicken nugget dinner while telling Miles "Shh...no barking!"

Annabelle sliding into a pile of crunchy leaves Nana raked up for her. Thankfully there are lots of leaves for her to run through at Nana's house!

This tree looked like it was on fire it was so red!

Annabelle showing off her pumpkin that Gusta Granny painted for her.

"I like this little one!"

Just posing in the corn

What a big girl!

Annabelle painting the pumpkins we picked (and she preceeded to paint her hands and feet, too!)

The finished product! The front's look pretty, but Annabelle wanted to keep the "original"mud on the back sides of the pumpkins.

Our little hippie!

Flower children

Annabelle with her first piece of candy she got from trunk or treat. She was satisfied with just one sucker for about an hour!

"Wow! They have the best candy!" Annabelle had the most fun getting candy from Nana and Poppa's house becasue she got to pick as much as she wanted.

"Thanks for going trick or treating with me, Uncle Brad-a-leee and Aunt Joy!"

Fun times!

2008-11-04T13:01:00.000-08:00

Children are such great entertainment! You don't have to leave home and it's free fun! We are thouroughly enjoying our precious little girl who is growing up way too fast! She is well into the "mine" stage and "I do it all myself, please" stage. Who taught her that she was almost 2? We have been seriously potty training for a little over a week and she is doing very well. She likes wearing her big girl panties (except for nap and bedtime! She certainly isn't ready to go diaperless then!) She absoultely loves people...her family especially. In the past week she has gotten to see Uncle Luke and Aunt Ashley, Uncle Brad and Aunt Joy, Nana, Poppa, Gee Gee, Papa and Papa Don. She just loves to be around them all and she gets quite hyped up! She has also picked up on the fact that I call Joe, "Joey" and "Baby doll." So it isn't uncommom for her to be heard yelling through the house "Come here Joey, baby doll!" Thankfully I love my husband and call him nice names! The pictures will show you some of her other fascinating adventures!Enjoy.

Annabelle rediscovered the swaddle blanket from Gusta Granny. It certainly doesn't fit quite like it used to.

Annabelle using the swaddle blanket creatively! She is Mary with baby Jesus.

Annabelle trying to walk in the swaddle blanket. She is so excited to wrap the new baby in the blanket. We practice quite often.

Yes...our daughter is smelling our feet. One night she took all of our socks off and played with our feet for quite sometime! Now if only we could get her to massage our feet.

Annabelle loves to be outside! Her daddy took her up to the park by our house one night for a date!

Annabelle sitting pretty in Aunt Ashley's hat! What a beautiful girl, huh?

"Look at my tongue, mom!" Annabelle was out on the front porch with buddies Sophia and Emma and they were playing with rice! Hey, it's a cheap toy that cleans up easily.

Annabelle loves her daddy! She also likes "case". (an old pillow case from my parent's house) She enjoys trying to walk around the house in it without falling down.

Yet another month gone by!

2008-10-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

Well, since we are technologically obsolete at our new house in the country, I have a pretty good excuse why I have not posted in a month! Since we are at my mom and dad's tonight, I thought I would post a few pictures from the past few days. (I don't know why everything is being underlined, but oh well!) I've decided not to stress about updating all of the weeks gone by...we'll just start with now! The Costephens' clan is doing well! We are greatly enjoying our new home and are so blessed by being there. (Pictures will be forthcoming!) Things are going great at church and we are very excited about what God is doing! We are growing to love the people very much. I am enjoying working occasionally at the community college by our house at MBU's extension campus. Joe is actually going to get to be Professor Costephens in January when he starts teaching Old Testament History for Missouri Baptist University at the extension site. We are really excited about that opportunity. Miss Annabelle is keeping us in stitches as she is quite the goofball. She never ceases to amaze us with all she is capable of doing and saying. There is no stopping her! It would take forever to recap all of the Annabelle"isms" of the past month, so I'll just do a few from this week so far. Annabelle has been saying "nope" a l0t and I asked her who taught her to say that and she told me "Noah, God and Jesus told me to say nope." HA! She has also really enjoyed the construction noise surrounding our house. She wakes up in the morning and and announces "Little guys go bang bang at Annabelle's house." She loves to wave at them and tell them to get off of the ladders and roof's because it's dangerous. Thankfully they are quited amused by her. She had become quite used to saying "Miles no barking" while we were living with my mom and dad. So now, whenever Joe coughs, she says "No barking daddy!" Her favorite activities are playing play dough all the time...playing babies, helping mommy bake, and "being crazy!" She is still very excited about the upcoming baby. She asks everyday to open up mommy's belly button! We are so blessed by her sweet spirit and her love for others. She also has started reminding us "All things possible with GOD!" Well, I hope you enjoy a few pictures from our recent adventures!

Annabelle covering Nana with "lil stickies"

Wow, I can hold crackers in my toes!

I made a play dough necklace!

Dang flies keep getting in my playdough!

Cutting playdough is hard work!

What a big girl!

Are they clean yet?

Keaton and Annabelle riding the tractor at Eckart's Orchard

Daddy and his little pumpkin!

This apple is so juicy! Annabelle would eat apples all day if she could! (And she loves to dip them in peanut butter!)

Big Bite!

Annabelle finally got brave enough to let the goats lick her!

Little fugitives!

Mommy, Daddy and Annabelle petting the ponies. Later we saw the sign that says not to pet, because they bite!

Already September!!

2008-09-08T19:47:00.001-07:00

Wow...it has been a whole month since I have updated...sorry. Life is going well for us here in St. Louis/Godfrey. My Granny has been very sick and we have been spending time getting to see her in the hospital. It has been a blessing to be close to family. Annabelle just loves getting to go to Gusta's hospital (now Gusta's nursing home!) She also got to see Joe's grandma in the hospital and she is quite good at cheering up people who are feeling pretty yucky! All is well with baby number two. According to the ultrasound the baby is growing well, has all of it's parts and should come sometime late January. We were able to stay strong again and not find out the sex of the baby. We hope Annabelle can be patient and wait a few more months...she has tried to feed my belly button a bottle and she keeps asking if she can hold "little baby." I'll share a few more cute Annabelle accomplishments. She has certainly mastered her colors and now she seems very interested in shapes. She also counts 1-5. She needs to slow down, because if I do end up homeschooling her I don't know what I'll teach her in kindergarten! She is also putting together really good sentences! "Happy Birthday to you mommy!" "Allison made that for me." "Where did the lid go mommy?" She is still very interested in the moon. Whenever she see's it she asks if she can hold it! She knows the answer, because as soon as she asks me she shakes her head "no" and says "it huge!" She has such a sweet heart and many times will be playing and then come over to me and say "Amen Gusta" which is her way of saying we need to stop and pray for Gusta or whomever. The other night we were leaving Brad and Joy's apartment and it was raining very hard and Annabelle was getting quite wet. She looked up at the sky and said "No thank you!" Of course in her mind if you use your manners you get what you want, but unfortunately God doesn't stop the rain just because we ask nicely!
She is also starting to tell people "I love you SO much!" Let's see...we close on our house in two days and are very excited to get to move in and get all of our stuff out of storage. Annabelle loves going to her empty house and dancing on the carpet and hiding in the empty cabinets/closets! Thanks for reading my ramble! I will post pictures tomorrow...I'm heading to bed now!

VBS week

2008-08-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

Life with Annabelle sure is fun! Her excitement and energy never cease to amaze us. This past week at church was VBS every night! All Annabelle talked about was "V-B-S!!!" When we got finished every night at 8:30 she would jabber the whole way home about "Jesus born" and "God made moon." "Jesus, bible." How awesome! We thought it would wear her out, but no...she was pumped up until about 10:15 each night! She also has really become attached to Pastor Steve and lets us know that at church she wants to see "Pastor Steeeeve!" We had a Dr's appointment to check out how the new baby was doing and Annabelle was thrilled to get to hear the "puh puh" of the heart beat. When the Dr. asked her who was in mommy's belly, she said "Jesus!" Ha! We had to explain to him that it was VBS week and Jesus was on the brain!! Well, here are a few pics of this week, including our house progress. We close 1 month from today!

Annabelle and Nana in "Annabelle's house!"

The kitchen is looking good! I am most excited about this room!!

The sidewalk has been poured all around the house...it's just waiting for Annabelle to drive her car on it.

"Hey Daddy! I'm playing too!!"

"Hmm, was it the yellow or the red button daddy said to push?"

"Oh no, Thomas! There is a crack in the train track!" Granny Gusta was in the hospital this week and Annabelle certainly enjoyed getting to go see her and have her read her a book! She was very concerned about her and kept asking about her nose, because of the oxygen tube!

We went to Sears Appliance Outlet this week and bought a new washer and dryer!!! Yeah! Annabelle had the best time! I guess they don't get a whole lot of little bitty kids in an appliance store, so they really made over her! They gave her a big red balloon, and she squealed with excitement!

Number 1 Fan!

2008-08-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

Annabelle is still quite the Cardinals enthusiast! She is now equipped with a Cardinals cheer outfit and pom poms so things will only get more intense! She still yells as them to score a home run. She also shouts "YES!" when they make a hit. She also likes saying "Pujols!" It certainly is entertaining to watch her even when the Cardinals are not playing well, which happens on occasion! We hope you enjoy her spirit!!

Annabelle and her girlfriends

2008-08-02T18:17:00.000-07:00

It is so much fun to watch our little girl play with other little ones. She just gets so excited when she has some one her size to play with. Hopefully that will bode well when baby number 2 arrives! Annabelle never ceases to amaze us with her verbal skills! She has become quite a little parrot, repeating EVERYTHING we say! Her new favorite phrases are "No barking, Miles!" "Good stuff!" "I'm Annabelle Jolea" (emphasis on "Jo"). She also thinks it is fun to call us by our first names. The other night as I was putting her in bed, I told her "I love you Annabelle." She responded "Ohhh, Sarah!" Well, I hope you enjoy the pictures. We really appreciate you checking out our blog and for leaving comments!

Annabelle and Sophia (from church) "swimming". Annabelle enjoyed the water as long as she was confined to the pink boat! She also had fun scooping water into the boat.

"Just catching some rays!"

Annabelle and her good buddy JuJu. (Julianne) Annabelle was thrilled to see Julianne and Allison Mobley when they came in town for a visit. She cried really hard when they left!

Big girls sitting pretty!

Annabelle cheesing and Julianne zoning!

"Say hello!" Annabelle couldn't quite understand whay Julianne didn't talk, except for "Daaa." We had to remind her that only big girls talk.

Oh, pat, pat Julianne!

2008-07-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

We have had a nice week. We had an exciting 7 yr. wedding Anniversary on Monday, with Joey getting his stiches out! Now he can shower whenever he wants! We also got to see my dear friend Stacey Sisk and her crew (Jaden, 3, Zeke, 2, Violet 1 month) Annabelle enjoyed having all of the kids to play with. Other than that we have just been enjoying playing, shopping a bit, dancing to Daddy's cell phone tunes, watching Cardinal baseball (which Annabelle adores!) and saying the ABC's. Annabelle actually pronounces them all really well! She has also become attached to her Thomas the Tank engine book! We read it several times a day. I hope you enjoy all of the pictures!

Joey and Violet...she's hungry!

"Daddy, if I kiss her will she be all better?"

"Oh, pat, pat baby."

Say cheese cowgirl!

"Fine, I'll share my car with you Jaden, but I'm not happy about it."

Playing in the water!

Annabelle, Zeke and Jaden washing the "Man-mobile"

What a precious face

Annabelle reading her Bible to her babies!!

" Here you go Miles! Don't tell Nana!"

Picking weeds

Annabelle and her goofy smile!

"Where's Annabelle?"

"Here I am!"

" Do I look cool or what?"

SMILE Annabelle!

2008-07-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

Help!!! Annabelle's smile has gone goofy! Today we took her to see Granny "Gusta" and each time we told her to smile she scrunched up her face so silly!!! Hopefully she will return to normal smiling soon!! Enjoy!

Big Smile!

Cheeseburger!

3rd times a charm?

"I see you Gusta!"

The past week or so...

2008-07-17T20:13:00.001-07:00

We have had quite an interesting week or so around here. The men of the house (Joe and Poppa) are both laid up so Nana, especially, has been busy taking care of the invalids. Thankfully Joe gets his stitches out on Monday and Poppa gets to see a new back pain Dr. on Monday. Hopefully they will be new men after that! We also had fun having Gigi and Papa here from Minnesota for a retirement party...so Annabelle got lots of hugs and kisses! Annabelle has adjusted pretty well to daddy not being able to do much. At first she didn't really know how to respond; it was almost like she was mad at him or scared of him! But she has certainly softened up a lot. She takes good care of him, giving him lots of snuggles, ice packs, and she knows to get him his tray to eat on. She has suddenly developed and "owie" on her left knee too, and she needs it wrapped and iced with her Hello Kitty and Cars ice packs!!! Well here are a few pics to update you on the week!

We have a driveway, front walk way and part of a sidewalk. Inside they have mudded and taped everything!

This is the view from our front/side porch. The building you see across the field is our church! Talk about saving gas money!

Annabelle has gotten in the morning routine of eating her mini wheats and reading the paper with Nana. She really likes the funnies!

Playing a tune on my harmonica!

Joe's cousin, Shelley, just has baby number 2! Adam weighs just about 6 lbs. Annabelle just adored him!

"Look mama! Little fingers!" Annabelle loved playing with Adam's fingers and kissing him.

Joe and Annabelle proping up their knees and icing them!

"Look Maggie, I have a bandage just like daddy!"

Annabelle kissing daddy's owie

Annabelle loves taking Miles on walks around the house. He is such a good sport!

New House

2008-07-09T06:37:00.002-07:00

We have had so much fun getting to watch our house go up. Joe is able to watch almost daily progress, being that church is just across the field from our house. We all typically like to visit at least once a week. Annabelle even gets excited now and starts saying "House" as we pull into the subdivision. It is amazing how quickly they have progressed. I guess when you know what you are doing, building a house isn't that difficult! As of today, inside they have dry walled everything so it finally feels like home. They are hoping to have everything finished in about 5 weeks. They like to let the house "rest" for about 3 weeks before we close, so that should happen the first week of September.As soon as we are in and settled....come visit!! This was the house the beginning of June.

Annabelle playing in her dirt back yard!

This is the house today! Almost everything is done on the exterior.

This is a shot of one of our favorite features...the porch. Annabelle already thinks it's pretty cool to play on the front porch. All we need are rocking chairs and it will feel like Cracker Barrel!

Co2

2008-07-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

As most of you may know we are expecting baby number 2! We finally got to go to the doctor today and all is well. We really felt comfortable with the new Dr. and trust that he will take good care of us. There was a very strong heartbeat and I was measuring about 11 1/2 weeks. That gives us a due date of January 25th. Annabelle enjoyed listening to the heartbeat and playing with all of the doctor's stuff, but I don't think she really understands there is a baby in my stomach. She will soon enough though! Just keep Baby Co2 in your prayers. We have our ultrasound in 8 weeks...sorry we are not going to find out the sex of this baby either! We love surprises!

Just doing my thing...inside!

2008-07-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

Annabelle has had so much fun playing at Nana and Poppa's house. She is getting quite an imagination and she is very good at entertaining herself with whatever she can find! She is also starting to talk in 2-3 word phrases. She says "I love you!", "There you go!" "Eat your food" "1,2,3" "A,B,C. " "I big girl." She is also enjoying all of the Cardinal baseball we have been watching. She stands in front of the TV and yells "GO, GO, Homerun!" She evens knows when to clap and cheer! Also, this past month she is showing an interest in going potty on the big girl potty. Of course her signal that she might have to go, is to walk up to the potty and say "chocolate!" We gave her a bite of chocolate the first time she went and she never has forgotten!

She has also been a very sweet girl to her daddy this month with his "Owie" on his knee. She has given him lots of snuggles and ice packs. He has his surgery on Friday the 11th so hopefully all will go well and she'll remember to be gentle with him! Annabelle helping Nana fold laundrey...she had a great time trying on nana's panties!

"Just watching the fish screen saver on the computer!"

"Look, I'm making Annabelle soup!"

Eating her nightly scoop of icecream. Ever since she tasted chocolate ice cream she has not turned back! She takes after her daddy!

Annabelle making coffee in her kitchen. She loves to serve us food and drinks!

Just doing my thing...outside!

2008-07-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

We have had a lot of fun playing outside this past month in the very warm weather. Annabelle would stay outside all day if we let her! She enjoys running in the grass, picking and watering the flowers, taking walks with the dog and of course playing with all of her toys! "Don't I look so big in my car!" (She says "car" like she is from 'Jersey!)

"HA! I love water!"

"Gee I'm thirsty!"

"I'll figure out how to get a drink out of this thing!"

"Whee!"

Attempting to fill up a bowl to go and water the flowers

"Life is good!"

Fishies and Sharks!

2008-06-03T20:14:00.001-07:00

We had a fun adventure today. We discovered that there is an underwater aquarium under the Mall of America and decided to take Annabelle out for a fun time. She made lots of fish faces and she "chomped" at all of the sharks! She was not about to actually touch them, though. We have really enjoyed our time in MN and will be heading back to St. Louis tomorrow. Should be a fun drive!!

Vacation in Minnesota...thus far

2008-06-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

We are having a great time visiting Joe's Mom and Dad in Lonsdale, MN. We were also able to see his 97 year old Great Grandma as well! She was quite entertained by Annabelle! We really have just been relaxing and taking it easy. We had a trip to IKEA!!!, to an outlet mall, to a park, and a walk through downtown Minneapolis by the riverfront. Joe and I will tackle the Mall of America tomorrow! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

We'll Get Back on Track!!!

2008-06-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

Yes....we realize that we are a bit behind! We have had a great time being "homeless" and that has meant no computer!! (Well, at least no computer that I know how to download pictures to!) Hopefully in the next day or so we will be up and running again! We have officially departed Goshen, KY (though we are still there in spirit!) and we are vacationing in Minnesota with Joe's mom and dad. I'll post vacation pics soon as well as our new church /"home" pics.

St. John Church Family-
We would love to hear from those of you who visit our blog! We are excited to be able to keep our St. John family up to speed on our life (and Annabelle's pictures....we really know why you have logged in!) We love you and miss you already.

Sarah

Dynasty Buffet

2008-04-05T19:12:00.001-07:00

Tonight was (possibly) our last trip to daddy's favorite Chinese buffet. While daddy and Granny enjoyed the seafood buffet and I ate my honey chicken, Annabelle created a concoction of tapioca and little bits of bread.

Annabelle had a wonderful time smeling the flowers. She crinkled up her nose so cute and took a big wiff and said "Ah!" I didn't have the heart to tell her they were plastic!!

New Adventures

2008-04-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

This week Annabelle discovered how cool a fork is! She is quite a pro as she jabs her waffles, english muffins, and fruit bars! Hopefully she will branch out to foods other than bread soon!! She tries most solids like noodles and chicken, but she politely takes them out of her mouth once they touch her tongue!

Annabelle also had another first as she played with bubbles with daddy!

Ice Cream

2008-04-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

One of Annabelle's favorite times of the day is her nightly scoop of ice cream (light, of course!) I guess she gets to eat about half of the scoop and we get the rest!

As you can see she opens her mouth REALLY wide and doesn't appear to get brain freeze as she inhales it! She certainly has Caby blood in her!

Baby Dolls

2008-04-05T18:51:00.000-07:00

It has been precious to watch this week as Annabelle has become very nurturing to her babies. She loves setting out all of her babies and giving them a drink, feeding them with her spoon, and wrapping them in her blanket. What a good little mommy!

Dental Hygiene

2008-04-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week Joe and I had dentist appointments that were, lets say, not very much fun! If I were still a kid I would not have gotten to pick a prize from the "no cavity box!" Apparently Annabelle has now taken it upon herself to see to it that her daddy and I have a better trip to the dentist next time! She also enjoy's brushing her 3 1/2 teeth!

Chess, anyone?

2008-03-30T20:38:00.001-07:00

As I was going through the ottaman today trying to pack we came across the chess set Linda (Granny) had got in Russia. When I opened it you would have thought I had bought Annabelle the world! She was so thrilled to see all of those little people she could hold and talk to!

" Oooh...good move, Costephens!"

"I think I'm ready to beat daddy!"

Joe Huber's Farm

2008-03-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

What a great day! We ended our Saturday by heading to Joe Huber's in Starlight, IN, about 50 minutes away. It was a beautiful drive, great food and lots of fun. Allison, Stephen and Julianne (7 months) Mobley joined in on the adventure! They are great long time friends we will really miss when we move!

The 40 ft. slide off the back of the barn was quite a hit! We each got to go down several times! Joe and I are realizing how fun it is to be a kid again! Annabelle certainly seems to be a thrill seeker, like daddy!

There weren't a whole lot of animals out tonight, but the girls were still amused!

We were told that the ducks are known for biting, so we had Annabelle pose with the stone"quack quack" instead.

Little did we know the temperature was going to drop while we were there, so Julianne was wrapped snuggly in her blanket!

We had a fabulous dinner and we had a first...Joe shared his food! This may not seem like a big deal, but Joe doesn't like to order one meal and share it to save money. But the rumors of the big portions satisfied him and we shared a half chicken dinner with lots of sides! It was quite a break through...and it didn't break the bank! Annabelle was thrilled just to lick the lemon slices. She was also seconds away from squirting the bottle of homemade apple butter straight into her mouth...who needs buiscuits! Thankfully we stopped her just in time!

The girls also had fun starring out the big windows at the ducks and we finished the evening off with a nice ride on the mini John Deere.

Fun at the Park

2008-03-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

We had a great time enjoying the spring weather at Creasy Mahan park tonight. It was so beautiful! We are detetrmined to go there as often as possible before we move!

Annabelle got to go down the slide for the first time (and about 20 times after that!) Her squeals of delight probably were heard all around Goshen. As you can see, she wasn't too fond of the bouncy animals, but we had fun!

CANDY!!

2008-03-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the Chase family at church, Annabelle had a very tasty Easter basket! She wasn't too sure about the texture of the Peeps, but she liked the chocolate.

" Praise the Lord for chocolate!!"

The Easter Bunny?

2008-03-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

"Hmmm...so that's the Easter Bunny? I don't think I want to get any closer!"

Easter Egg Hunt

2008-03-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

Annabelle went to her first Easter egg hunt at our church on Saturday. It was quite blustery! She got the hang of it really quick! We had to remind her that the limit was 10 eggs! She seemed most interested in opening and closing the eggs!

Welcome to the Costephens Blog

2008-03-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I are excited to share what's going on in our lives and to show everyone how Annabelle is growing up before our eyes. More to come soon!!!