Christmas Twice! and Grandma's Visit

We managed to have 2 Christmases. One from a secret Santa who brought the kids toys and the normal Christmas.

A couple of days before Christmas, a good friend of ours brought over a few bags of gifts for the kids. She was just the elf for our Secret Santa! So, Santa, if you're out there, Christmas was wonderful and the kids LOVE everything they received.

Since Grandma was coming to town, we originally planned on saving Christmas until she arrived on the 26th. On Christmas morning we revised this plan and chose to open the secret Santa gifts and gifts from my parents on Christmas day, and then everything else after Grandma arrived.

The Plan turned out wonderfully. Josh ran around asking who the different presents were for and he carried presents from under the tree to each person. He loved every minute of it, including "helping" Katie open her presents. It was a lot of fun to see Josh so into the whole thing. He was Mr. Impatient at times but overall, considering he isn't even 3 yet, he did very well. If you ask Josh what he got for Christmas, he'll reply, "Presents" and upon further pushing, he'll say, "Toys".

The favorite gifts of the year: Josh loves the fuzzy lined Crocks he received from the Abueos, and the fancy Lightsaber from us. Katie loves the Raggedy Ann Doll from Grandma & Grandpa and the VTech laptop from Secret Santa. My favorite gifts for the kids were their fleece blankets and the fun bath towels from Secret Santa.

Grandma Lupe came to visit for 5 days and Josh was in HEAVEN. He played and followed Grandma around everywhere. His favorite thing was getting Grandma to "fight" him with his lightsabers.

Katie didn't know what to think about having someone else in the house, and would really let everyone know (loudly) how she felt if she couldn't see a parent in the room. At least she was quite happy with Grandma as long as she could see a parent.

All in all, it was a fantastic Christmas, and very memorable. Thank you very much Secret Santa. You made our Christmas very exciting and put smiles on all of our faces.

A Wonderful Visit with Friends

We had a visit from our friend Susan this weekend and it was fantastic. Josh loves her and talks about her all the time. Katie...well, Katie is going through the I'm-14-months-old-and-only-want-my-mom phase of life, but she certainly warmed up to Susan quickly.

Friday night was the Branch Christmas Party, which included the Christmas Program. Josh was talking about how he was going to be a sheep for weeks. I was getting quite excited, as he did very well in the 2 practices they had. Friday arrived and we finished dinner at the party and the primary kids were all called to put on their costumes. The stage was set and the kids were paraded into the room to await their turn on stage...and Josh was not wearing a costume!!! I didn't understand until I noticed he wasn't very interested in participating. Oh well...maybe next year.

We did, however, manage to get his "sheep-hat" onto Katie.

Saturday was a full day of standard Saturday duties (such as grocery shopping and picking up dog food) as well as heading out to Target (just because) and ending with checking out the Christmas lights at Opryland Resort. They have 3 huge indoor gardens within the hotel which they dress for Christmas every year. It's fun, crowded and we were quite excited to take Josh this year. Miguel stayed home with Katie while Susan, Josh and I headed out. Josh stayed in the stroller the entire time (an amazing feat). He "ooh-ed" and "ahh-ed" and seemed to really enjoy himself. His favorite thing about the Christmas season seems to be the "Christmas Yights."

The weekend ended with my speaking in church (oh the horrors!!!), and a relaxed evening making Banana-Blueberry bread and enjoying the company of Susan. Somehow I even managed to work in a nap after church! It was a busy, enjoyable weekend and we can't wait for her to return.

ABC...Spaghetti-os?

We recently were given some canned goods, and with it came 2 cans of Spaghettios. My kids have eaten spaghetti, but never from a can, so I decided it could be amusing to see how Katie and Josh reacted. Josh didn't really care, he ate it because it was dinner. Katie doesn't care what she eats, so long as she gets food.

While we were eating, Josh starts singing the ABC song and Katie starts singing and dancing along. We thought it was funny so we captured it on camera. Josh was quite irritating as he attempted to be the only star of the show (as usual).

Disclaimer - Katie does usually wear clothes while eating, but since it was a spaghettio experience we were trying to save on cleanup work. She was tossed directly into the bathtub after she was done.

These silly kids were playing underneath Miguel's desk the other day and I thought it was cute. They have such happy smiles, I know, I'm biased, but I though the world would enjoy this.

Miguel asked me to include this picture because of how happy Josh looks!

A Trip to the Park

It was cold, but we had a fantastic time. The playground was wet, but Josh didn't care because for some reason he's quite a cautious child...I suppose he is his father's son.

I took the kids to the park at the local library. It is the closest park to our house and it's a pretty good park, as far as new parks go. I miss merry-go-rounds and equipment you can hurt yourself on. I miss slides that are hot from the sun beating on them. I don't like fiberglass slides that shock you as you scoot yourself down, and cause your hair to be standing on end by the time you're at the bottom. Oh well, I'm sure kids find ways to hurt themselves on the new stuff too. It's a good thing this park-thing isn't about me. Ok, I'll get down from my tiny soapbox and move back to the topic I started with.

Anywho - Josh ran around climbing everything. Katie was quite content to watch Josh as he climbed and ran and hollered, "Come on Mama, over here!" as I followed him around. Katie isn't scared of the swings. Josh didn't want to go on the swings unless he was on my lap. It's the same with slides, he isn't interested unless he has someone with him. I'm sure he'll grow out of it. He will go on the smallest of the slides at the park, though. At least that's a start.

Notice the mohawk? I wonder if it will last the winter. It's pretty cold here already...I guess we'll see.

Our Recent Visitor

I don't know why, but I never named her. I don't know why I assume she is a her, either. She's huge. Seriously, the biggest spider I've ever seen in my life. I know, I'm a wuss from California and the country bugs and animals are new for me. I didn't believe my eyes the first time I saw one of these spiders. This spider is, seriously, at LEAST the size of a silver dollar. Big enough to make me shiver just looking at the pictures.

They are called Yellow Garden Spiders and other than being extremely gross, they make the coolest webs I've ever seen. HUGE webs with zig zags and they're amazing. Nothing in the bushes when I come home from work, and a nice bug-trap when I leave for work the next morning. I know, I contradict myself with my amazement at the industrial nature of spiders, and just how completely creepy they are to me. The web in this picture is nothing compared to what we had earlier this summer. At one point we had 2 of these spiders living in these flowers which line the side of the house. They made webs easily 3 foot tall. I keep expecting to open the front door and have a web on the front porch and one of these giants in the middle of it. Yep - made myself shiver again.

These pictures are from this morning as I was getting ready to leave. She had moved her web almost onto the front porch - finally at an angle I could capture digitally for the world to see...well, at least, the part of the world who reads my silly blog.

And it's begun...

PIGTAILS!!!! You have no idea how excited I was to give this a try. Her hair is long, but still not long enough to put all up into the pigtails, but I think she sure looks cute.

I included the picture with her eyes closed so you can see how insanely long her eyelashes are...all thanks to her father. Josh's are long as well, if not longer.

by the way - Josh's mohawk is back...pictures to follow...

The Goofy Kid Turns 1

It has arrived. Katie is 1 year old. We don't do parties right now, but we always are sure to buy cupcakes and sing Happy Birthday. Thursday night we all sat around the kitchen table and turned Katie loose on her first cupcake. It was very fun and a very nice bright point amidst our current trials. We all had a wonderful time and I must say, those cupcakes disappeared quite quickly.

I took this week off of work and it has been such a blessing. Amidst struggle, we have managed to pull together as a family more closely than ever. I am eternally grateful for my loving spouse, my beautiful children and the Gospel in our lives which allows us to grow together and feel more joy than I know how to express.

8 Things Tag

I was tagged. I know, it's like one of those chain letters I always delete (yes, I really do always delete them and I'm still alive, have all of my limbs and none of my pets have come up missing. It's a shocker, I know). Even with the chain-ness involved with Blog-tag, I am a sucker for surveys, as long as I have time to complete them. Today, I had time.

8 THINGS I AM PASSIONATE ABOUT:
*My husband - he's my best friend
*My family
*The Gospel
*Having fun!
*Good Stories (books, movies, whatever)
*Music - most every kind
*Bettering myself
*Sleeping

8 WORDS OR PHRASES I SAY WAAAY TOO OFTEN:
*That's retarded (I am working to eliminate this one)
*Shut-up! (as an exclamation of surprise - not a command)
*Whatev
*So...
*Anyways...
*Babyhead (as a name, exclamation or simply trying to get my way)
*Um...yeah
*Anywho

8 THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE:
*Get better about Serving others
*Be better about Loving others
*See my kids married in the Temple
*Serve a mission
*Visit Europe - especially the UK
*Earn my Masters Degree (it'll happen, even if I am old and gray)
*Have a car that is fun to drive, and simply not practical
*Take a nice long vacation

8 THINGS I HAVE LEARNED FROM MY PAST:
*Forgiveness can be earned.
*Hard work is rewarded, but not always in the way you expect.
*Having faith is hardest when things seem easy.
*Forgiving yourself is necessary.
*The right path is seldom the easier one.
*It doesn't matter what people think of me or my actions.
*I can't do it alone.
*Blessings come in all shapes, sizes and people.

8 PLACES I WOULD LOVE TO SEE:
*Alaska
*London
*Scotland
*Sunrise on a beach
*Hawaii
*The Caribbean
*The Grand Canyon
*Yosemite - it doesn't matter that I've already seen it, I want to see it again and again

8 THINGS I CURRENTLY NEED OR WANT:
*New paint in my house
*More energy
*More discipline
*Stress relief
*"How-to" knowledge
*A money-tree - it HAS to exist!
*Focus (as usual)
*More storage space

8 MORE PEOPLE I TAG!
*Jenny L.
*Carol M.
*Sarah W.
*Chaundra W.
*Karla H.
...yeah, I don't have enough people who read my blog, so 5 will have to do.

Kids are funny!!!!

The Josh stories continue. The other day he was running around the house killing robots with his lightsaber (pronounced "lightZaber") and he decided to run up to Miguel and say, "Excuse me sir, I'm hot. The air conditioner is broken."

Where does he come up with this stuff???

Katie is now pulling up and cruising around on the furniture. She is still crawling around after Josh everywhere and always needs to know where he is. It is lots of fun to watch her explore. I saw her pick up an old cell phone Josh plays with now. She held it to her ear! She also picked up one of her barrettes tonight and tried to put it in her hair. They really do grow up fast. She is trying to talk now, and will say, "Hi Daddy" when you prompt her to. She is VERY determined and it is not nearly as easy to distract her as it was Josh, but she is still very easy-going. More pictures for your enjoyment.

Joanne's Job Update

I found a new job!!! Ok, not really a "new" job, but a different job within the company I am currently working for. I'll be in a very different role, so I am VERY excited.

For the last 7+ years I have been a part of the Corporate Service Desk at FCG, taking phone calls and providing technical support to all of the employees of the 2500 employee company (hardware, software, network - you name it, we fixed it). Since moving to Tennessee in '05 I've been the supervisor for the group. In April '08 FCG was purchased and we became CSC, which is a 90,000 employee company and already had a Corporate Service Desk. My department was eventually eliminated, but I was asked to stay on in a similar role on the Global Outsourcing Service Desk (glorified name for an outsourced Help Desk call center). I currently supervise 20+ people and would eventually be the liason to one of the Health-system clients we support.

Recently, I've really wanted to do something different. While transitioning into the new role I realized how much I missed the technical-side of things. While management has it's perks (I have my own office, for example), I craved a bit more flexibility than a 24/7 (including holidays) call-center allows. Upon finding out my department would be eliminated, another manager sought me out and asked if I would be interested in joining her team, back in a support-type position with an easy route into a project management-type position. This role would also put me back into the realm of Monday-Friday work, with my occasional turn on call for overnights and weekends and I'd one again have my holidays back.

Fast forward to this week. I've interviewed and been offered the position. My offer letter arrived yesterday and I'm going to accept on Monday morning. The new job has me client-facing, something I've never dealt with formally (my "clients" up until recently had always been the employees of the same company I worked for - and in my current mgmt position I hadn't yet been assigned any specific accounts).

Starting October 13th, I'm going to be doing system support for the various Meditech software systems used by at least 2 of our clients. My manager would like me to eventually (like, as soon as I've mastered the systems) move into a Clinical Application Analyst role which includes Project Management and Development of customizations for the systems. All of this will be very new to me and I'm very much looking forward to the challenge of learning again! Yay!!!!

Thanks to everyone who remembered me in their prayers as I waited for this job offer. I will be working from home after my initial training is completed, so I now have close to 2 more hours to spend with my family every day which I would have spent driving! This will be a huge blessing to our family.

Our Little Rock-Star

A little background. Josh is recently potty-trained (YAY!!!!) and received a "microphone" as one of his goal rewards. For the most part, he walks around the house singing ABCs and "Tink-o Tink-o It-o Star" into it, and his voice echoes out of it.

The other night we were sitting on the couch and he grabs his microphone and starts singing. I suggested he get up on 'stage.' The kid knew immediately what I meant, and here is the result:



He stopped performing the complete songs by the time I grabbed my camera (I should be more prepared), but you heard him right, he says, "Thank you! Thank you!" at the end, followed by what we think must be a "closing prayer."

Battle of the Beans?

Ok, so it wasn't really a battle. The outcome just made it look like a battle. Katie is a fantastic eater. She will try anything and usually wants more; she eats until she is full then starts playing. The other day we treated ourselves to Taco Bell (I know, I'm not a healthy mother - shoot me). Katie had some pintos and cheese. She fed herself - see for yourself.

New Picture of Josh...as promised

Yes, my babies are WHITE. Both of them have that porcelain-looking skin that makes me jealous.

I cut Josh's mohawk off yesterday. He doesn't miss it, but I do. I'm not used to this new look of his. It won't last long, I'm sure the next time I cut his hair his mohawk will be back.

...Sorry for the awkward angle, I'm not good at self-portaits.

Latest catchphrases

Josh says:

"You know better than that!"

(growling like a bear) "ARRR-JAYYY" - his favorite movie right now is Over the Hedge

He had an entire conversation with a calculator as though he was on the phone yesterday...
"hello - I want, want, pepper ok? pepper please thank you. get some more pepporoni pizza. thank you sir. want macaroni and cheese you guys. thank you sir?" - and yes, anyone who knows us can easily infer "pepper"= Dr.Pepper...he wants to be JUST like Daddy.

Katie's new sound is sort-of a growly noise, almost like a cough. She does it over and over and cracks herself up with it. She grins and only has her 2 bottom teeth. It makes all of us laugh. She walks along the couch now, up and down. She FINALLY figured out how to get from crawling to sitting, but won't put her feet out in front of her yet. She just sits on her feet. She'll pull herself up and will lower herself down. Her clothes won't stay clean because she's constantly crawling everywhere. She wants to be where Josh is, and Josh's goal in life is never to let Katie play with his toys, though he never gets away with it (hence, the "you know better than that" quote above...he must hear it a lot :D ). Katie is now 10 1/2 months and eats WONderfully. Sometimes I think she eats better than Josh, because she'll try anything and then keep eating it. I think he's happy to go to bed without food at times, just so he doesn't have to eat what I've cooked....hmm...maybe I don't blame him, sometimes.

Josh has finally had a growth spurt, and quite the spurt it was. He went from wearing 18-month pants (for what felt like forever, I might add) to 2T in what felt like a week. I now have to buy him new church clothes, and for some reason I still can't find him any black church shoes anywhere. His speech is much clearer now, he doesn't sound as much like a baby anymore. Yes, they really do grow up fast.....

(stay tuned, I'll put a picture of josh up shortly)

Standing Up

Yep - Katie is officially pulling herself up. I was even able to be there today for the very first time she did it (a rarity since I work full time). I took pictures...

Bed Time Sillies

Getting ready for bed can be a crazy time in our home with a 2-year old and an 8-month old. We laugh and play a lot, and Josh can get Katie to make some of the best smiles and silly faces. It is becoming more common for them to play together and often make each other laugh.

The evening of this video (taken about 2 weeks ago), Josh was being quite silly and Katie was loving it. I often wish for the energy of a two-year old.

Our Little Missionary

Sunday we had visitors. Elder Golightly is going home to Idaho sometime this week and came by to see us to say good-bye. He and Elder Pearson had a fun time visiting with Miguel, sharing war stories about various experiences from Missionary-life. Josh was feeling a bit left out. He was wandering around the room trying to get attention however possible. He found his tie, which hadn't been put away after church. He brought it to me and was trying to clip it onto his t-shirt and he asked for help. I clipped it onto his t-shirt and he climbed up onto the couch in between the two missionaries. He then started gesturing and being as animated as they were, mimicking them, laughing when they would laugh. It was quite a funny site to see, a miniature missionary with a mohawk!

Summertime

Summer has finally hit in middle Tennessee. The Magnolia trees are in bloom. I hear the 17-yr cicadas are returning, but have yet to see any evidence (though I'm not upset about that, as I hear they are messy and stinky as they die off). It's averaged 80+ degrees the past week - in between thunder storms, of course - and muggy is an understatement. This is the life.

I don't know how this happened, but I haven't ever noticed the blooms on our Magnolia tree before. I notice trees, I enjoy their beauty, and to think I never noticed giant white flowers on a huge evergreen tree before? I think I must be walking around wearing blinders or something. Oh well. I noticed this year, that is what counts. It only took me 2 years...

Legos

Josh loves his Legos. He goes on these kicks where all he does is play with his Legos every day. He loves monsters, dinosaurs and cars and usually builds something along those lines. Here's one of his creations. He was quite pleased with himself.

Below is a random, Josh-playing moment. I like this video because Josh is concentrating on building a Lego-creation, but you catch a normal, Josh-talking moment as well. Miguel was playing with the cable on the TV, causing the screen to go to static. Josh had been listening to a hockey game...

Josh's latest phrases

Daddy has taught him, "I'ma beat you!"

While watching a movie the other day, I was humming along. He turns to me and says, "Be quiet please."

While getting ready to eat cupcakes and see friends, "Oh goodness, I'm so excited!"

The other day he wanted yogurt as a snack, but had already eaten his daily allotment. He said, "Yogurt, please?" Daddy said, "No." Josh replies in exasperation, "I say please!" (no, he didn't get the yogurt)

We were out of yogurt one day and he wanted one. Daddy had already explained they were all gone. He pushes Daddy toward the door and says, "Go store, buy yogurt."

When leaving the room, "See you later!"

Memorial Day Goofiness

My daughter is a goofball. She makes some of the funniest faces! Her favorite thing lately has been sucking on her bottom lip and chewing on her tongue - what a weirdo!

Memorial Day was wet outside, and it ruined all of our plans. We had planned on putting the kids in their swimsuits and going to a friend's house and having water fights and outdoor games after grilling some ribs and stuffing ourselves. The rain meant we could only stuff ourselves. I guess that's not too bad.

Josh LOVES their kids. The closest one to his age is 7 and they run around and make lots of noise together. I bought some cupcakes on Saturday and Josh was tortured until Monday. He asked to eat cupcakes and go to the friend's house (and eat cupcakes!) until Monday after his nap when we finally went. It was still fun, even if it was raining.

Sitting...finally!

We have been blessed with 2 extremely easy-going kids. So easy-going, I expect the next one to be a holy-terror, turning itself into a demon at-will (remember Jack-Jack?)...but I digress.

Katie is quite content to lay on the floor and watch Josh run around the room. She does this from her back, occasionally turning over onto her tummy to push herself up to get a better view. She enjoys sitting in the Bumbo as well, but we know it isn't helping her to strengthen her core so she can sit on her own, so lately we've been trying to give her time to sit up.

Today I put her down and she sat like this for the long enough for me to go get the camera and snap a few photos.

Little Gamer

Need I say more?

Local Desktop Support

Miguel salvaged an older desktop computer for the extra parts he has been wanting. He opened the case, unscrewed the part he wanted and turned his back for a moment.

When he turned around, Josh had unscrewed other screws left in the guts of the computer.

See the pile of screws just below Josh and the computer? Josh did that (we made the neat pile so they could be seen in the photo).

So if anyone thought our 2-year-old wasn't talking clearly enough, or have as large a vocabulary as some other toddlers his age, let me ask you this: Can your toddler wield a screwdriver successfully?

Sherman's a lap-dog?

...or something.

He is all of 10 months old and will do anything to get our attention. One night he wanted Miguel to play with him. Miguel didn't want to right then, and here is what Sherman decided he would do about it.

Josh's Movie Reviews

So Josh has reached the stage of wanting to watch movies. We really try and limit his TV intake to less than 2 hours a day, so up until recently he only was allowed to watch Sesame Street and Curious George. Sometimes he can watch Clifford. Since he has started asking for movies he sometimes sneaks in more TV than that, but since the weather has warmed up a bit it doesn't matter, he wants to be outside all the time. When he is forced to come back in (due to rain or Daddy's exhaustion) he is usually allowed to watch a movie since he missed his shows due to chasing the dogs and picking flowers outside.

He loves Monsters Inc. He asks for the "Moh-ster Moo-yee". He also loves The Incredibles, which he has named, "The Supers." At the suggestion of multiple friends, we finally gave in and bought Cars. He likes it and you should see his eyes light up when he sees the characters from Cars on anything. He sings it, "CAAAaarrs." His favorite movie right now, hands-down, is Enchanted. Yes, some may say it is a girl movie. He LOVES it. He calls it "Princess." It's hilarious to see how excited he gets. He asks to watch it all the time. When we finally put it on, he immediately gets excited and says, "Dinosaur?" For those of you who haven't seen it - he is referring to the dragon at the END of the movie. Every time he sees the wicked queen he smiles and gets excited because it means it is closer to seeing the "Dinosaur." So though it may be a girlyish movie - he loves it for the Dragon, all 5 minutes of it. I must admit it sucks me in every time he watches it. No matter what, Josh always says, "Again?" when it ends. Not even waiting for the movie to end, but once the dragon is gone. I absolutely love the movie. The songs are very catchy and you can find so many references to Disney classics in it that its just lots of fun. Miguel likes it as well, though I know watching it every day will kill any affection he may have had for it initially.

Due to watching Enchanted and learning the word Princess, he can now pick out princesses. We were at Target (only the best store EVER) and we cut through the little girls' clothing as a shortcut and he grabbed an umbrella and said, "princess?" It had Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) on it. I cracked up.

Somewhere recently he has also picked up on the phrase, "so cute." I was looking at a magazine last night and he saw a picture of a baby. He smiled and said, "Baby. Aww....so cute."

The Mohawk Returns

Yep - Josh has a mohawk again. So much fun. People stop us all the time to tell us how adorable he is. I tend to agree.

Here is Katie for those who want to see how she is changing.

Busy Busy Busy

Josh is officially potty training!!!! He started this himself. We had originally planned on doing a "cold turkey" weekend, as he was exhibiting all of the signs of being ready. We were getting ready for it, stock-piling Elmo and Thomas the train underwear and really talking up the potty, when one day Josh just took his diaper off of himself and went poo in his little toilet! We haven't ever done the cold-turkey training, but he has been going on his own in the toilet multiple times during the day. It seems to me when we really push it is when he regresses. So we've been leaving him in diapers and he'll just take it off to go potty. I'm so excited, it's great. He's been using LOTS fewer diapers. Maybe one of these days we'll put him in his big boy undies...I'm sure it won't be too long.

My job is changing. For those who don't know, the company where I have worked for the last 7 years was recently purchased. Since my job is at the corporate level, not the client level, it's being eliminated. Thankfully, they have a job they want me to stay on and do. At this point I plan on staying with the company no matter what, but I am certainly looking into what options I have so our family can have what it needs. I must admit I was disappointed at not being laid off because the severance package would have been FABULOUS. But I know a job for the long-run is better than a big payout in one shot. The job I get to do won't start until I am transitioned off the job I've been doing since moving here. That means I don't have any dates when things will change. It's all very fluid and my whole department is stuck in limbo. We've been dealing with new software roll-outs and all kinds of fun things. It's been very, very busy and quite stressful.

I know we'll be taken care of. I just hate the lack of structure it will take during the "transition."

We still have 3 dogs. Sherman is easily the largest and still the most spastic. I can't wait until he calms down. He's FINALLY not jumping on me as much, so hopefully we'll be able to break him of that. He recently discovered barking at the neighbors could be fun. Sarge has taken to chasing birds and airplanes. Sadie can still jump the fence and has proven it a few times again recently. Life is good. Here is a picture of Sherman.

Hair cuts...

The snow returned last night and I went to get my hair cut again. I say again because I chopped it all off about 4 weeks ago. I liked the hair cut I got, but didn't LOVE it. I went back today to get it done again, and it's worse. sigh. I don't think it looks terrible, just not as fan-tab-ulous as I'd hoped. Today's haircut will grow into what I want pretty soon, I think, so I'm kinda excited.

Here is how it was after the first cut - not great pics, but something...

I really liked the back of it best - and it looks a lot different in the pictures than when I came home.

It looked much different today when I got home. They gave me the "messy" look and I HATED it. I brushed it out immediately upon getting home and it improved immensely. I like the length, but not really the style. It just isn't what I was looking for. A problem with never having had short hair before - or a haircut which I needed to "maintain" - is that when they ask me what I want, I don't know what to tell them and I just can't visualize it. So I tell them to do what they want. In today's case, I'm not thrilled with their choice. The best part? It's just hair and it will grow back soon enough.

Here is how it turned out - and look, there's Katie.

I am officially letting my hair grow out until I can get it into more of a bob and less of a pixie. Here is another one of Katie, just because she is so darn cute.

One thing I must say I do like about the short hair. I have to style it. Most would think this would be a down-side, rather than a perk. I find it to be wonderful. Since I'm still losing baby-weight and don't often take time to put on make-up, I love it that I can feel cute because I have to take the time to do my hair. I haven't ever "styled" my hair daily before. I was a wash and wear girl - usually with my hair still quite wet when I would leave the house. No longer an option, but I'm not sad about it.

Snow Days

Snow finally arrived in late February for us. Josh was in HEAVEN. He watched the snow fall from the window and couldn't wait to go outside in it.

Once outside he was running around, throwing snow at Miguel and just plain being a little boy. After awhile he started flipping out. He kept saying, "Hands broken!" and holding his hands up. He hasn't learned "hurt" yet, but we now know he knows when something isn't working right - it's broken! Since then he's learned "fix it!" which leads us to prompt for a "please." He's so much fun right now.

Josh's vocabulary is growing so much all of the time. Lately he has discovered movies and loves to watch Monsters Inc. When it is over he says, "Again?" He says, "Macah" for Grandma, we don't really understand why. He is consistent too, as he calls both grandmas Macah.

Birthday #2

Josh turned 2 in Mid-February and he picked out his own cupcakes. There was no hesitation - he chose Cars immediately. He's never seen the movie and he will still usually pick Cars over other characters.

He has taken to asking for Cupcakes at every available opportunity as well. If he hears the word birthday, he asks for cupcakes. It's very fun.

...And yes, the icing got all over the place.

And the embarrassment continues...

I've been trying and trying to find a good picture or video of Katie smiling or laughing and this is the best I could do. This is the first time I put Katie in the tub with Josh and let her look around. Don't worry, the bubbles cover everything...

And the Potty Training begins...

Josh decided he wanted to use the potty like Daddy. He went into the bathroom, grabbed a magazine and sat there...
...and nothing happened. It's a beginning, and a fabulous blackmail photo (if I do say so myself).