Body Art . . .

Recently, over a period of a few days, Cole went on a
"Body Art Spree!"

Fortunately, this is not permanent marker! Whew!
Cole & I were playing in the garage & I ran back
inside to get something & by the time I came back
out this is what I found. The little rascal!
To Coles right is a large mirror that
we frequently let him draw on with
dry erase marker & we've never had
a problem with him drawing on himself
till then. And he also drew on his little
tike's car & probably a couple of other toys, too.
He's a fast one!

And this one is furniture marker.
I believe I was in the shower
while he did this one.
Thought that one was well hidden
but obviously not!

Can't miss the back side! :)
Its moments like this when ya just gotta laugh!

Stars on a Saturday Morning!

Two Saturdays ago, Jace took me to Walmarts monthly "Saturday Morning Meeting"
for a morning date. All employees are welcome along with their families
to come & hear the latest business report mixed with a lot of fun!!

For instance, on Black Friday, at one point during the day,
WM was selling a Million dollars a SECOND! Unbelievable!

So here is WM's top executives of the company.
I think its so great that the higher ups talk & mingle
with anyone, anywhere in the company.

So this years Christmas meeting theme was "Battle of the Pans"
as you can see from the pic; a funny spin on last years theme being
"Battle of the Bands" where the top exect. played Guiter Hero against
each other & even brought in the American Idol singer David Archuleta to help out.

Here's the fun surprise guest!
I was soo excited! Jace was laughing at
how excited I got! He said it was cute!
She was fun to see in person & super upclose.

They also brought in 3 other chefs from the Food Network
to be teammates for the top executives "Pan Battle".
That right there is the Neely's with Rachel.

Everybody was laughing & having a good time!
In the background on the right is Walmarts
current CEO, Mike Duke, whom I got the pleasure
of meeting afterwards. He is very friendly & nice!
When we walked away, Jace said, "you just got
to meet one of the top business men in the WORLD
of one of the top companies in the WORLD". Pretty cool
I thought!

And here's the major reason as to why I was soooo excited
to go, besides the fact of being able to go on a date with my hubbie! :)
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
(Ok, I didn't really scream like that in the meeting, but I was
very excited!)

Tim talked about his new movie out with Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side" & how
different it was acting in front of the camera in a movie & trying
not to look at the camera as opposed to all his music videos & staring
at it almost constantly.
He also sang a song for us off his new cd & a beautiful song
about Joseph being a father to Jesus.

He is a good family guy with good Christian values.Even if we'd have paid to see Tim in concert,
we would not have been able to be as close
up to him as we were.

And afterwards I got to go up & sit on the stool where Tim McGraw
sang & said, "I'm never washing the jeans again!!"Needless to say it was a blast! And after that, Jace
took me out to eat at a breakfast house where I talked
Jace's ear off about random topics. I guess I was enjoying
the company of another adult without kiddos, although
I still missed 'em. Would you believe, I'm actually starting
to out talk Jace in our conversations these days, which
we tease about since Jace can be a talker. :)
Thanks honey!! It was a great date!!

When I've had enough



When I've had enough, there's always someone there for me. My Heavenly Father watches over me, for many times throughout the day the spirit helps me out in my role as a mother, wife, & homemaker & was reminded of this recently when I bore a simple testimony to Cole of the Holy Ghost & as I did so I was overwhelmingly reassured that He is there for me many, many times a day when needed.

But it is also usually through another person that the Lord meets our needs & when I'd had too much for the day, a few nights ago, my sweet husband stepped in without a word & took care of our needs.
He bathed Cole & got him ready for bed, he made dinner for us, & then did all the dishes & cleaned off the counters. Even with him having extremely long & tiring days at work right now, he's still so great to help me/us out where ever & whenever he can.

This last weekend he also was so great to take the time & finish making our garage a real fun playroom/workout space for the winter & brought in the trampoline. Which I'm so grateful for since we don't get out much these days with the twins, & especially with it being too cold to even really play in the yard or at a park. This way, Cole can really get all of his energy out!

So, THANK YOU honey for all your help!!

Being Mary & Joseph



This last weekend our stake had a live Nativity
& Christmas concert going on & Jace & I were
ask to play the part of Jesus' parents
along with one of the twins, but we
brought both so we'd have a backup
in case one was having a fit.

Grant got to play the part of Baby Jesus since he's
usually the chill one. And he did such a great job!
Hardly fussed at all!
We had a ward member watch Merrill while
we did the Nativity & he was a good kiddo too!
And our good friends the Hoffmans so kindly
took Cole for the whole night so we wouldn't
have to worry about him running around.

Jace got to grow out a little beard for almost a
week for playing the part. He looks pretty darn
good with a little facial hair too!
And now you know what I'd look like with long, brown hair!

All the little kiddos loved crowding around
the edge of the hay to see baby Jesus.

Sis. Poyfair in our ward did a great job putting
it all together. The narration ran & then played
beautiful music as we walked back through
the room with the baby in our arms.
There were many smiles & even some sweet tears
from peoples faces.

Even being in Mary & Josephs shoes for a small moment,
its still hard to imagine the depth of how hard their
circumstances were at the time & also how in awe
they must have been after Christ was born!

We are so grateful to our Savior, Christ the Lord,
for the life he lead & died for us!

3 Month Pics. . .

(Give or take a week in between)

Merrill (left) & Grant (right)
Easy to tell apart these days since Merrill developed
a little strawberry kiss mark on his left eyebrow.

Playtime can be funny a lot of times. :)

The boys sure like looking at Cole & smiling at him when he comes to see them.

Chubby baby legs! They are bulking up fast!

More & more smiles & laughs everyday - I love it!

They pretty much live in bibs b/c of their spitting up,
but it has greatly improved (or reduced) since adding
rice cereal to their bottles. I highly recommend it!
1 tsp. for every ounce of milk

Grant smiles!

Merrill Smiles!

Sleepy boys hanging out while we eat dinner.

Did we mention it gets loud around here at our house?!

Tummy Time work outs!

Thanksgiving day Bear outfits

Little Church men

Oh! They've now gone 3 times
in a row without a night feeding?! Still gotten up
to put them back to sleep but they've gone from
approx. 7 or 8 pm to 6 or 7 am.
We'll see if I can get it to stick!

Choose-This-Day

This short video message from President Eyring was a wonderful
help & reminder to me today to know that even though I may
only be able to do few things to serve outside my home,
I know that I am doing the most important work right now
that the Lord would have do with in the walls of my own
home by serving my family daily.
And that hard as things seem today,
if I choose to serve the Lord this day,
they will be better in the next day.

(Click on "Choose This Day" to view video clip)

Choose-This-Day

I choose JOY this day!

I pray that it may uplift you as well!

2 Blessings . . .

Our baby boys Merrill Justin Stapley & Grant Delbert Stapley
were blessed on Sunday November 1, 2009
by their daddy Jace Stapley in Centerton, AR.
Both of them were so great & didn't make a peep during the
whole thing.
Jace & I each carried a boy up to the front & I waited with
Grant in a near by pew while Merrill was blessed & then we did
the switch off.

We are so grateful for these wonderful little spirits that our
Heavenly Father has sent to us. They are definitely different
souls with different personalities already.
Merrill's the feisty one & Grant's the the chill one.
Both have the most contagious smiles when they so intensely stare
at you & then give you that big open mouth, toothless smile
with a little baby squeal every now & then.

We were grateful to have
Grandpa & Grandma Stapley come out for
the blessing of the twins ( it was Thyrles 1st time out to AR.)
Thank you Thyrle for assisting in their blessings &
Roberta for helping us to get all set for their blessings!
We were sad to miss having my parents there
( due to my sister Brecks wedding) & the rest of
our families, but are so glad to be able to share photos
of the day! :)

Mr. CocoNUT being soft & sweet for the moment.
He sure is a boy, but is oh so huggable too!

Boy, oh boy, oh boy! . . . Do we have our hands full!
What 3 little boys can do to melt your heart!

2 Pumpkins & A Spider!

My Growing Boys . . .

Merrill & Grant are now just over a month & a 1/2 old & growing
like little weeds!

They're really starting to love to look around at things.
And still lots of eating & sleeping too.

Cole is really starting to do well with them. He now
runs to give them their binkies when ever they cry &
will kiss the tops of their heads.
It was cute to see Cole the other day going back & forth
between the two bouncers to give both the crying babies a bink.


Time on the computer these days are few & far between &
everyday life is indescribably busy just about every single
moment of the day.
Hats of to all moms! We've got a big job!
And especially those who have experienced
twins! Lets just say its . . .INTENSE!!


And moments like this these days, outside, are few & far between
for me. I so enjoyed spending this time with my toddler just
taking a walk with him & Jace & exploring our neighborhood more.
He's growing so fast too & talking more & more everyday.

Daddy sure loves his Little Big Boy & Coco sure loves him too!

The New Additions . . .


Welcome to our Family baby Merrill & baby Grant!!

Arrived: August 31st, 2009
@ 9:29 & 9:33 AM
Both Naturally.

Merrill Justin Stapley
5 lbs. 7 oz.
18 in.

&

Grant Delbert Stapley
4 lbs. 10 oz.
17 in.

So much to tell & so very, very little time!

With Grant out of the NICU now, things are
crazier & busier in a different way from before he came home.

Double the feedings, burpings, diapers, bathes, changes of clothes
& so on & so on, & so forth!

The days are filled to the brim with caring for these little
twinners & Mr. Cole.

They are good babies! So far, no collic or reflux
from either of them. Thank heavens!

Merrill on the left & Grant on the right.
They don't look exactly the same so
that makes it so much easier to tell them
apart.

More to come later!
That's all for the moment!