Like crazy cat people...but with dogs

The Flood

2010-05-05T20:58:00.001-05:00

The flooding in Nashville definitely left it's mark upon our house, but wow, it could have been a LOT worse! The following videos show how deep the water was around our house. Front yard first, then back yard. Both videos were taken prior to us figuring out how to prevent the water from getting into the house.

As it was, the neighbor whose wood fence you can see in the backyard video ended up tearing down part of his fence due to the pooling it was causing in his yard. Once the fence was down no more water came into our house. We ended up with about an inch or so all along the wall we share with the neighbor - the entire length of the house (in one of the bathrooms and both bedrooms). I'll post pictures when we get them off of the camera.

I won't lie, it was scary because we felt so helpless. The water just kept coming and it kept raining. We received 13 (some areas got 19!) inches of rain in 2 days. Thankfully we live on a hill, so we only had to deal with the water as it flowed down to the lower spots, but the pooling in the backyards due to privacy fences is what got us.

Springtime fun!

2010-04-25T20:09:00.008-05:00

Lots to see in the following pictures for you to enjoy. Here is the Sunday after Easter - The kids were hamming it up outside of the church building. I love their smiles and we have a great time together.

Below, see Ironman. He came to visit one day after Daddy made very technologically advanced armor. Notice the duct tape. This armor had a one-time use. The adorable girl to Ironman's left just wanted in on the photo-taking.

He really does walk around saying, "I am Ironman!" and then you hear him vocalizing the guitar riffs from a Black Sabbath song.

Does this make us bad parents?

Here they are making a fort under Daddy's desk. Notice the plethora of stuffed animals. They all decided to come along on the adventure of hanging out in the fort. Oh, did I mention it is a mobile fort? Notice the box in front - there is actually an invisible steering wheel attached to it and they drive wherever they want.

Our first popsicle worthy day! The backyard is still a mess since it hasn't been warm on a weekend yet to mow it, but it was a beautiful evening and the kids loved their treat.

Notice the bruised lip? He bumped himself while he was jumping around the living room. He is definitely all boy.

I love this picture of K's back. She is diligently working on that popsicle.

And finally - the yard. I'm glad it's finally Spring!

Easter Egg Hunt in the TN Wildlands!

2010-04-05T20:22:00.001-05:00

...aka, our backyard!

Welcome to Spring in Tennessee. This means the grass isn't completely grown in yet because we haven't yet had enough rain, so please excuse the patchy grass. The yard hasn't been mowed yet either, because up until very recently it's been too darn cold and the grass hasn't actually grown! And now you have an understanding of our lack of landscaping, so let's get to the good stuff.

We had an Easter Egg Hunt!

We took leftover candy...let me interrupt myself to say we're not big on eating Candy in our house, so don't be surprised if some of it is leftover from Halloween. Yes, it's been in Ziplocs in the pantry and despite an occasional stale piece, it tastes just fine. I know, I was the taste-tester...and filled the Easter Eggs with a peice of candy per egg. Miguel hid them all over the over-grown yard and the kids had a wonderful time.

Easter Party at Church

2010-03-23T16:17:00.000-05:00

Since I'm in the Primary Presidency at church I had the priviledge to plan our quarterly activity with an Easter theme this year. I was a little worried before-hand we may have bit off more than we could chew, but I think it turned out quite nicely.

First we prepared a set of one dozen Spiritual Easter Eggs for each child (Info can be found here). We then prepared the refreshments of Resurrection Rolls (Recipe here) and milk. Then the cartons of eggs were hidden througout the church building and outside as a scavenger hunt by age group.

It was a good time for all of the kids (we even included the nursery), and here are pics of of my kids at the event:As you can see - Katie crashed afterwards. We spent the afternoon at a friend's house and she didn't make it very long.

Building a Fort - kid-style!

2010-03-14T15:45:00.003-05:00

This was all Josh and Katie (well, mostly Josh):

Katie just wanted to show off her latest Princess crown and Josh's hair is getting really long. This is just after a bath, hair standing with only water holding it up.

Little Engineers

2010-02-28T15:31:00.003-06:00

Last Summer when she and Ranie visited, Grandma Sam brought engineer overalls and engineer hats for both kids. They were pretty big at the time, but the kids seem to be loving them now. Katie asks to wear her "Granpa pants" and loves her pink hat. Josh just likes to go along with her and they have a great time dressed up like Grandpa.

Also - Daddy wanted to play with Josh's Birthday present. Yep, Josh chose it himself...he wanted to be...well, you'll see.

A 4th Birthday

2010-02-22T15:20:00.001-06:00

Yep - a boy around here turned the big #4!!!! No party, cause we're recluses like that, but we skyped with Abuela y Abuelo and ate cupcakes. The kids had a blast and we even wore party hats.

More White Stuff

2010-02-15T19:55:00.001-06:00

We got more snow! I think this is the most we've seen since we moved here and it stuck around awhile. All of the snow you see here appeared in about 24 hours. The last 2 or 3 pictures are the next day after it had snowed all night. Yep, life in Nashville shut down.

I didn't want to just make a long list of pictures, so I fiddled and created a slideshow. No music, so if you feel a need for a soundtrack, click Play on the music player to your right. Enjoy!

The Outfit Grandma Bought

2010-01-17T19:42:00.001-06:00

Here is a post dedicated to Grandma Sam, who bought Katie and outfit "just because" and sent it cause it was cute. Here are the pictures we promised:

First, please note the sparkly, blue shoes. No, this isn't a great shot, but it's the best I can do (I promise they are very glittery). Also, notice the jealous boy with a mohawk trying to edge his way into the center-of-attention. He was wearing half-pajamas, half normal clothes and old, battered, orange crocks. The height of fashion.

Next, let's check out the awesome embroidery on the legs of these pants. Very chic.

Notice the Frankenstein-esque pose of the model.

Again - some boy who wanted in the photos and caused this photo-shoot to turn into some sort of monster-mash. Oh yes, he's put a shirt on over his pajama-shirt.

And finally, the adorable cuteness that are my kids. Yay.

Snow! ...well, a sprinkling

2010-01-08T22:45:00.002-06:00

The kids played in our first snow of the year! They loved it, and Katie ran around until she got cold. Josh played with Sarge (see video) and enjoyed every minute of it.

oh yeah, blame Miguel for Katie's dirty face.

Abuelita's Visit

2010-01-05T00:18:00.000-06:00

Okay, so there won't be any actual pictures of Grandma...There will be pictures of kids doing silly things FOR Grandma and cuting up for Grandma. Also pictures of kids in pajamas purchased by Grandma. Yay for Grandmas!!!!

New Year's Eve

2010-01-02T19:25:00.002-06:00

Just like last year, we had our own little party. I busted out the hats and noisemakers and we seriously considered using the fireworks we purchased last July (and never used due to RAIN). We decided against it, but had cute kids in cute pictures anyway.

Then the noisemakers were used as weapons.

We've already used the fireplace a number of times this year. We had a nice fire and the kids stayed up until 11 pm. Low key and nice. I hope this is how the year will be.

Future Blackmail Photos

2009-12-30T19:22:00.001-06:00

'nuff said.

Christmas arrived!!!!

2009-12-27T20:36:00.001-06:00

It was a good day. My pictures uploaded backwards, so I will tell about the day backwards. While I made a ham (my first time in the 6 years we've been married, 'cause I think they're gross. Miguel likes them though, so this was one of his Christmas presents.) After dinner we decorated another gingerbread house. We really like the gingerbread houses. I think they're going to become an annual thing.

Here is Miguel while we were decorating the gingerbread house. So cute. Typical Miguel picture.

Here's the loot. The kids really made out this year thanks to the budget. Yep, we've put money away every paycheck, just for Christmas. Nope, I didn't wrap a thing. Not one single present. Yep, it's cause I am lazy. Work has been super crazy and no fun at all. I've been stressed out, strike that, I've been stressed-the-heck-out and just couldn't deal with it. I know, selfish mom. I'll get better, I promise.

Here's our Christmas tree. I loved having a live tree this year. The scent wasn't impressive, though, which was a disappointment. I think we'll go live again next year. In the spirit of the unwrapped presents, we didn't put any ornaments on our tree either. We have tons, we just didn't get them out. We only used the ornaments the kids made at church. I like our tree very much.

And lastly - the annual picture of the animals. The pretty one is also quite dumb, but thankfully he is calming down quite a bit. He is lazy and just doesn't learn the same way as the others. It's a really good thing he's so pretty. Sadie (the small one) still follows me around like the wonderful puppy she is. Sarge (the one laying down) is totally Miguel's dog and follows Miguel around the way Sadie follows me around.

Christmas 2009 was a huge success.

Random randomness

2009-12-15T12:41:00.001-06:00

Silly kids, dog update and we got a Christmas tree!!!!

It's a real tree! We had a fake one we inherited from some friends, but one of the dogs destroyed it (sigh). Anyway, I'm really excited to have a LIVE tree and I'm looking forward to the homey Christmas-tree scent in the house. We haven't decorated the tree yet, but it will happen prior to Christmas day. What you see now is what the kids have been coming home from church with. Thank you nursery for providing us with new, home-made (church-made?) ornaments.

Work is nuts for me, but Miguel is feeling pretty good Thank goodness.

Katie has decided to potty-train herself. It's been interesting, to say the least. When she turned 2, she decided she no longer wanted to wear diapers. I haven't bought a package since. We do LOTS of laundry, but stickers seem to be the magic ingredient to potty-training success in the Felix house, especially if they have kitties on them.

Sherman (the "puppy") is HUGE. He's still a spaz, even though he'll be turning 3 next June. He has calmed down a little in the past 6 months, but he still bucks like a crazed horse when he gets excited. When he sees someone outside of our fence he will start jumping and barking at the same time. It's almost as though the two actions are connected, somehow. He'll jump so high his body easily gets above the fence. Thank goodness he's lazy and has never tried to jump the fence.

And after Halloween...

2009-11-30T12:29:00.002-06:00

Thanksgiving!!! I know, these pictures don't seem like Thanksgiving pictures, but they are :)

In the background you can see our never-ending home-improving (new flooring and refinishing the walls - begone wainscotting!).

The kids saw a gingerbread house kit at the grocery store the day before Thanksgiving and we thought it would be a great time. So while I was finishing up dinner (which was fantastic, by the way), Miguel helped the kids with their very first gingerbread house. It was pre-constructed, so they had a great time slathering on the icing and of course, putting on the finishing candy-touches.

Visit from Grandpa..and Halloween

2009-11-12T18:07:00.015-06:00

Grandpa was able to take vacation and came to our house for 2 whole weeks! We celebrated 4 birthdays while he was here. He also spent a lot of time getting used to being around a preschooler and a toddler again, cause it's been awhile for him. He spent a lot of time going on walks and was even stopped by the cops twice! I kept telling him at least he's making memories of good times in Tennessee...haha.

He took walks everyday and on one of the walks was stopped by a policeman making sure he was okay. There aren't many sidewalks here and the officer wanted to make sure he wasn't stranded. The second incident was a bit more interesting. He'd hopped a fence to take some pictures of an historical property nearby, and was caught! Though, in my Dad's defense, he had looked for a formal entrance and ticket booth to legitimize his presence prior to hopping said fence. Nevertheless, he was placed in the back of a squad-car and taken to the ticket-booth (which was quite a distance away, across a main highway, on a separate historical property).

This is the thing great memories are made of.

Halloween was fun - I wanted to make costumes, but work has been insane and I'm grateful to have time with my family and I don't want to squander it with crafts taking me away from them...and I'm lazy- teehee. Katie was Batgirl and Josh was a Jedi.

Here are some shots of good times while Grandpa was here along with pics at the Branch Halloween party, the kids in their costumes, and Birthdays. Enjoy!

Also...Blogger is smarter than me and not allowing me to format today, so I'm very sorry for what seem to be the giant run-on paragraph that is this blog post. Have a great day!

Josh quote of the week

2009-10-30T12:38:00.002-05:00

"Daddy, can we watch Cast Holes on Marbles Marbles?"
"Watch what?"
"Cast Holes on Marbles Marbles."
(TV in the background on the History Channel) "...we now return to Castles on Modern Marvels"

Peek-a-boo!

2009-10-15T20:04:00.000-05:00

I guess they never get too old for this...

Random Tale of Josh and the Gross Dinner

2009-09-10T22:51:00.003-05:00

Gross Dinner is certainly one perspective, though it was admittedly a near-miss for our tired chef (me). I made my mom's turkey-stroganoff over rice this evening, and the kids helped me cook. Since I don't measure the spices, I discovered it's a bit harder to 'eyeball' the amount of the spices in a tiny kid-hand, and ended up with a tad (read: YUCK) too much garlic salt in the gravy. Not to worry, I made enough rice to stretch it out and make it palatable.

Enter Josh, who claims he doesn't like stroganoff (though he loves to help me make it), even though he's been eating it since he was in the womb. We had broccoli with it, which is the bane of his existence; certainly the nemesis of any 3-year old boy (he was once only offered his broccoli at every meal/snack until he choked it down the next day at lunch).

Unfortunately for him, I mixed his broccoli into his stroganoff. In order to make dinner a bit more enjoyable I offered cheese into the mix, which he accepted gladly, stating he would then eat his yucky stroganoff and broccoli. He still didn't touch it until I picked it up and took a bite (which I might add, was quite good, the broccoli along with the extra rice and cheese was VERY good, enough so I may have a new cassarole on my hands...but I digress). Once I took a bite he was super interested in eating it himself, so long as I fed it to him. I don't usually go along with that request, but he was eating it (broccoli included) so I just went with it.

On EVERY bite with broccoli, the kid gagged. I still don't know if this is acting or not. I know Miguel has a very sensitive gag reflex, so it could be real, but I still haven' t decided if I buy it or not, especially since he does it with anything he doesn't want to eat, but I like to give him the benefit of the doubt. His last bite of broccoli was a small "tree" which I knew couldn't be very crunchy, and is the part I like the best. He took it and started chewing *and gagging* all while being praised for his valiant efforts of eating his veggies like a good boy. He gagged, and gagged, and gagged again. And finally...he threw up on the table.

Josh 1 Mom 0

He didn't ask for anything else and proclaimed he was finished at that point. I didn't fight it, though he certainly didn't get any "treat" (read: iced animal crackers - YUM) after dinner.

Oh well. On to figuring out new ways to disguise vegetables with dinner. And, just to let you know, normally when I offer veggies it is alongside something he enjoys eating. So I have him eat a serving of veggies first, then provide the good stuff. I guess I have to switch to fruit on the nights we have an entree he despises...hmmm...that may be my new strategy. At least he will eat any fruit I put in front of him. If he could live on fruit, yogurt, cheese and peanut butter sandwiches, I think he'd be the world's happiest kid.

And the tiredness continues...

2009-09-10T08:15:00.002-05:00

The new person I mentioned in my last post (please take note of the date of that post), has yet to be hired. Yep, still hasn't started. Yesterday I heard final word he is starting on Monday, so hopefully I will be able to have time to think soon.

Tired...

2009-08-07T23:22:00.004-05:00

I'm sorry, I've been working like a crazy person. 2 people quit at work, 1 of which was my counterpart. I am now 8 months into this job, doing the job of a Sr. Technician. Great opportunity. Horrible hours. No fun sinking or swimming.

BUT I haven't forgotten my blog and my few followers.

Pray for me, I think I will be needing it...

Hopefully they will hire someone next week, but then I have to train them AND do the job of 2 people. Why doesn't that sound comforting?

I'm going to bed.

Coming Soon....

2009-07-12T18:26:00.001-05:00

Vacation...yes, you read that right!
4th of July

We really aren't dead, I've just been busy. I'll catch you all up on our un-exciting busy-ness soon.

Josh's Antics

2009-06-20T14:06:00.003-05:00

Josh was watching Phineas and Ferb this morning while playing on Daddy's computer chair. During the commercials he kept himself entertained like this:

Sorry it's so dark, I didn't want him to know I was taking his picture.

They're 3, and He's 2 and They're All Canines

2009-06-16T21:05:00.006-05:00

For those of you keeping track, no human in our family has a birthday outside of February (Josh) or October (everyone else). But we have 3 dogs who all have birthdays in June.

I know, strange to know a dog's birthday. I'll get to why there are pictures of Transformers in a minute, for now I reminisce. Growing up we had rescues or maybe I just had parents who weren't fun. Either way, we never celebrated any dogs birthdays.

Enter married life, and into our lives come Sarge and Sadie. We "Rescued" them from a very nice lady who simply didn't have the room to keep her puppies (which she didn't mean to have) and wasn't going to take them to a shelter. For the first time, we have dogs of our own and even know their birthday! For their first birthday we attended a "family reunion" with a bunch of other pups from the litter. Great fun, not something we would have thought of on our own, but still fun.

Then we have another addition to our little pack of pups, Sherman. The older dogs' 2nd birthday came and went and there was a relatively new baby and a boy being potty trained and things just went on unnoticed.

Now the older dogs have turned 3 and Sherman has finally calmed himself into a decent (yet still annoying) older adolescent at 2. The kids are older and more self-sufficient and we found ourselves in the middle of summer, with nothing to celebrate between Memorial Day and July 4th, so we'll have a DOG BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

Yes, it really is a simple excuse to buy cupcakes and party hats and an even better excuse to buy Transformers for my husband...I mean for my son.

It's always entertaining to put hats on the dogs. Doesn't Sadie look like she's saying, "This sucks!"?

And what birthday party would be complete without a meltdown from the resident 3-yr-old?

Isn't Sherman a pretty dog? See the dirt he manages to constantly get on my walls and fridge? Yet they are all so obedient they will eat from our children's hands (only with adult-supervision).

All in all, the kids had a great time and we enjoyed our little excuse for a party.

Water Guns in the Afternoon Sun

2009-05-31T20:59:00.000-05:00

I love our backyard. The dogs don't add to the landscaping, but it's a wonderfully big space to allow the kids (and dogs) to run WILD, and they love it.

Of course my son loves water guns. He would play with them all the time if I allowed it and he just doesn't understand why not in the house? We had a lovely Sunday afternoon in the backyard after dinner and I was able to snap some photos.

Invasion!

2009-05-30T20:50:00.000-05:00

Okay, not really, but isn't this the biggest ant you've ever seen??? It was in my living room! I can't believe I took a picture of it, but that's how shocked I was to see such a huge ant-looking creature in my house! And please, if it's not really an ant, tell me what it is...

Randomly Katie

2009-05-29T21:57:00.003-05:00

My daughter worships her brother. She follows him around and tries to do anything he does. She will attempt to jump off of the couch, or build something cool out of legos, just because he did it.
Here, she is simply being herself, trying to fit into a box. Why? cause it's there and she puts stuff in it, why can't she get in it too?

I remember sleeping in this very position when I was a kid. Though, I wasn't only 19 months old at the time.

This is what happens when we attempt to tame the mane in a ponytail...it just doesn't want to be tamed.

Notice the black eye? She fell. While trying to be like Josh. Off the fireplace...but she now knows she can jump and get both feet off the ground.

By the way...her current favorite word is, "No!"

Yep - she's headed to be 2, very soon.

What happens when you turn your back...

2009-05-09T22:59:00.000-05:00

My son is a goof-ball, this we know. This is just proof for those of you who haven't figured it out yet.

Poor little girl tries so hard to keep up with her big-brother. She didn't quite "get" the markers part, though some of it had washed off of her face by the time this was taken...thanks to baby-dribbling. See the remnants of green on her chin? And yes, her hair is still pretty wild. She has finally started pushing it out of her face and saying, "Hahr." So cute.

Did I mention they wrote all over the dishwasher too? Thank goodness it was washable markers. When I discovered how easily it all wiped off (thank you, Crayola washable markers), I considered allowing them to write on it regularly. Then reality set in and let that idea go. It's just easier to be consistent this way.

Random House Fun

2009-05-04T18:56:00.001-05:00

The best part of having an old hand-me-down couch.

Katie was getting frustrated because the "fort" kept falling on her...

Cool Kid

2009-05-02T13:36:00.000-05:00

I took Josh with me to the grocery store on a warm spring day. When I turned around to get him out of the car, he had put on his hat and sunglasses all by himself! I think he's adorable...

Our Very Own Jedi!

2009-04-25T13:26:00.006-05:00

Anyone who knows my son, knows he is a bigger Star Wars fan than his father. It is not an uncommon thing in our home to hear Daddy telling us, "I didn't think there was a bigger Star Wars fan than me..."

*Josh's favorite movie is Star Wars: Clone Wars
*He LOVES the Cartoon Network series (it probably helps that he is allowed to stay up late to watch it...hmm...)
*He is fascinated with Ahsoka Tano - Anikan's padawan.

For those of you who have seen the movie, look for similarities between Josh and Ahsoka in these pictures. Those who haven't seen the movie probably won't get it, but I still think it's cute that Josh is trying to be a Jedi...and please excuse the disaster that used to be the living room. This all happened when Miguel fell asleep on the couch. I came out of my office and found this:

Notice the Lightsaber clipped to his belt for quick access?

How about the wristband up around his hand similar to Ahsoka's wrist-wraps?

For those of you unfamiliar with Ahsoka - here she is at wikipedia

Monkeys in my House

2009-04-22T20:38:00.002-05:00

The other night hubby and I were sitting around talking, and my kids just started doing silly things. Yes, this is normal, but we'd never seen them do these particular things before. Enjoy...

This one isn't great, but it's the first time we ever saw this. I have no idea how she thought of it. She also likes to swing her legs from chairs, or stand with her hands on two tables (one hand on either side of her) and lift herself up and swing her feet.

Josh joined in because we were laughing so hard at Katie. Even better - I think Josh has his shorts on backwards...I'm not complaining, it's hard enough to get him to put his clothes on after he goes potty, so I'm very grateful he's not naked.

And here we were trying to get her to do it again and get a good shot of it, but by this time she was tired . It is still quite silly. Enjoy.

An Easter Entry...finally

2009-04-13T17:59:00.002-05:00

Easter was enjoyed by all this year. Miguel told the kids the Easter-bunny poops out candy-filled eggs. He was hoping Josh would repeat that one in a public place, but to my relief, Josh kept it to himself.

Anyhow, it was an excellent weekend. I can't believe how different it is living here from where I grew up. People wish each other a Happy Easter at the grocery store, or the drug store or Anywhere! People don't worry about being Politically Correct here; it's truly my kind of place.

On Saturday the kids went to an egg-hunt at Church. We had a light brunch of blueberry muffins (Josh's absolute favorite), then a short ending to our Walk With Christ activity we'd been challenged to participate in at home. Finally, the egg hunt began!

There were only 3 kids under 4 at church for the activity, so Katie and Josh and another little boy got a head-start in looking for eggs. Thankfully they limited the number kids could pick up to ensure everyone received the same number. Josh took off and was able to truly participate well. Katie didn't really get it but enjoyed picking up the eggs and looking inside of them.

On Sunday, Miguel wanted to have our own Egg-hunt, but the weather was dreary. Not rainy, but colder and windy. So in the early evening, eggs were hidden in the living room and the kids had a ball.

That pink dinosaur on the bookshelf behind Katie is her Easter Basket. I was VERY excited to get both of their baskets on clearance last year after Easter. This year we bought Josh a cool Star Wars bucket to use as a basket, and surprisingly, he chose to use Elmo.

It was a good weekend.

Laughing Out Loud

2009-04-10T14:57:00.002-05:00

Another laugh thanks to the 3-year-old:

Some Background. Miguel and I are trying very hard to teach our children appropriate uses of words which can be used in a derogatory manner. "Retarded" is one we've often used in slang and we are working hard to break these bad habits. Josh does not hesitate to correct us when we use the word, telling us it's not nice.

Today Josh was watching Little Einsteins. The show uses musical terms, and today used the word, "Retardando"

Josh says, "Das a bad werd"

He's got a great memory, that kid.

Random Pictures

2009-03-31T18:59:00.000-05:00

Here is a recent one of Katie, I think she has peanut butter on her face, but I think it's a great picture anyway.

And one of Josh. I think it captures just how much Miguel has managed to corrupt him.

Josh-isms

2009-03-30T15:20:00.003-05:00

Just from today:

Miguel is cleaning up after the 3 dogs in the backyard, into an old USPS flat-rate box. Seeing this, Josh asks,
"Are we going to send the box of poop to Grandma in California?"
"No, Josh"
"Why, cause she will be mad?"

After Miguel picks himself up off the floor from laughing so hard, Josh runs back into the house to use the restroom. In an effort to get back outside as quickly as possible, Josh opens the backdoor and Miguel realizes he has nothing on but shoes from the waist down.
"Josh!!! Go put your clothes on before you go outside!"
"Why, cause I will go to Jail?"
Later in the day I asked where Josh got the idea he would go to Jail. I guess Miguel told Josh a few weeks ago he needed to put clothes on when he went outside or the police would take him to jail. I guess he remembered...

I love this age. It's my favorite kid-stage.

Those Bedtime Sillies

2009-03-08T19:32:00.000-05:00

Yep, Katie is officially a silly kid. The other night I heard banging. Over and over again, bang, bang, bang. It was too soft and shallow to be josh kicking the wall from his bed, but it was obviously someone kicking something. I checked the kids and Katie was kicking the bed rails.

This is a pretty common position for her in the crib. She usually falls alseep at this angle, even though she is taller than the width of her bed. I've even found her with her leg sticking out between the bars - asleep!

The kids sing songs, especially songs by Taylor Swift or The Killers. Yes, Josh knows a lot of the words, and Katie sings along. You know when it was Katie who chose the song because she always sings the opening theme from Super Why! It's really cute, Josh just joins right in.

One night they were laughing a LOT more than normal, and I was curious what they were doing. When I got in there, here is how I found Katie:

Nope, she's not sitting on her feet. She has her feet dangling between the bars. Sorry it's blurry, I didn't realize when I took the photo in the dark. She was having a great time.

Josh felt left out so I took his picture in his bed too (see above). He LOVES his Star Wars comforter, and he took my Scooby Doo blanket from me a long time ago. He does not sleep without the Scooby Doo blanket. The antics in the evenings after lights out never cease...

Silly Kids

2009-02-28T20:48:00.002-06:00

I originally took this video to showcase Katie singing the theme from Super Why. She sings it constantly. Of course, per her norm, she stopped singing it and started singing more nonsensical things once I turned on the video. Instead, listen to Josh. He's talking about the playdoh man he smashed. I didn't notice at the time, but I watched it again and found it to be pretty cute.

Playdoh Time!

2009-02-23T20:37:00.002-06:00

These pictures were taken the weekend before Josh's birthday. He loves playing with his playdoh. We love it too. He has such a great time. Katie eats it, which is kinda gross, but she loves to poke her fingers in it. She also will fill some of the little cookie-cutter things with the playdoh, then push it all out. I didn't catch any of that on film though (can you really say, "on film" anymore? This whold digital age stuff is messing with our sayings...).

This picture is the result of my making the coolest little guy with a tall mohawk. Josh kept saying, "It's me, Mama, it's me!" I ran to get the camera to capture his coolness, and this is what I came back to. The results of a 3-yr old "helping:"

Katie sat in her high-chair with us and played a little. Mostly though, she sat and sang her little nonsense songs. I tried to take video of her singing the theme from Super Why! but you can't tell that's what she was singing because, of course, she stopped as I was filming. If you can't tell from the picture, I cut Katie's hair. It started with my giving Josh a haircut, no problems. Then I thought it would be great to cut the stringy baby-hair ends off of Katie's hair, so I barely cut any off. It was uneven, so I had to go back for more. Uneven the other way, so back for more. Needless to say, I won't be cutting her hair again until she can sit still for a decent patch of time (I think Miguel would kill me if I cut her hair again - he wasn't home when I did it).

I did try and make a new little playdoh man, but it just didn't turn out the same. I didn't bother with the mohawk, but Josh still liked him. It was a good day.

Josh's 3rd Birthday

2009-02-17T20:13:00.003-06:00

My boy turned 3 yesterday. I took the day off of work and we had a great time. We had a full day, first we took the car to get new tires. We walked over to the store while we waited for the car and Josh got to choose his birthday present. Oh My Gosh. Talk about a kid-in-a-candy-store. He wanted everything (of course!). He finally settled on a new Star Wars action figure set. He was hopping up and down and loving life. By then it was getting to be lunch-time and Josh's next choice was where we ate lunch. He kept saying he wanted McDonald's, and Miguel and I kept laughing. He thought having chicken nuggets, apples and chocolate milk would make the perfect birthday, until I suggested Red Robin and then he wouldn't let go of it. We suggested alternatives, but he'd made up his mind. I thought it was the perfect choice.

I was pretty excited he chose Red Robin because I thought it would be great fun for the staff to sing to him. As soon as we were done eating we started hearing the cheering and clapping of the staff all coming to sing to him. He looked all around trying to see what the fuss was about. When the waitress set a big hot fudge sundae in front of him, his face was priceless. These pictures do NOT do it justice. He was mystified and slightly embarrassed and completly loving the attention. He got a balloon too. He loved every minute of it.

At that point we went home for naps for everyone. The kids were pooped becuase we'd done so much in the morning and they ended up napping late. After they woke up, we went to the store and got cupcakes. He chose "Green ones!" We were all set for a quiet little get-together around the webcam at home in the evening. He knew we'd eat the cupcakes after dinner.

We had Josh's choice again for dinner (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut in squares and triangles, with blackberry jam, bananas and milk). After dinner we grabbed the cupcakes and settled down in front of the webcam so Grandma and Grandpa Felix could help us sing Happy Birthday and watch him get messy and gross from the frosting. I'm a terrible mom, because I didn't even realize I didn't take pictures of him with his candles and cupcake. I was so excited to have Grandparent participation I didn't even consider saving the moment forever in time. At least we got pictures from Red Robin.

After getting quite messy and staying up a little bit too late, he finally went to bed. We will be buying him a big-boy bed very soon and he talks about it all the time. He can't wait to give Katie his crib and share his room with her.

It was a good birthday for my Josh. He had a great day.

Kookie Katie

2009-02-08T22:16:00.004-06:00

I wish I had a video I could post here to prove how Kookie she really is. She is 16 months old now and adorably contrary. Examples:

*She never performs on command.

*She runs when you tell her to come.

*She can make a "Ma" sound, but if you tell her to say, "Mama" she says, "Daddy" - it never fails.

*She never wants to be the "only kid" - if Josh is sleeping while she is awake, she goes out of her way to wake him.

*She will try and scare you if she gets the chance, by sneaking up on you and saying, "BAH" in your face. It works, ask Miguel, she has scared him.

The only other word she says perfectly clearly is "Doggie" which she also knows the sound they make (ask her, she'll tell you... unless she doesn't want to). She knows a monkey sound and will do most things asked of her; She will even clean up when you ask her to, unless she thinks you're asking her to perform, then see above.

The other day I noticed she looked especially tired at dinner. I got up and started to clean up dinner and when I turned around, this is how I found her:

Josh's Bedtime Adventures

2009-02-04T21:09:00.000-06:00

My son is turning 3 in a little less than 2 weeks, and he's just recently figured out how to climb out of his crib. This is something I was not looking forward to, but because of, we have discovered what a good boy we have. He won't get out of his bed unless he hollers out a request for permission and he gets it. He'll even cry in the bed if he thinks no one is around to answer. This is his doing, nothing we "trained" him on.

So we've decided since he's able to climb in and out himself, we'd give up on the 1 diaper-a-day policy we have (only at night) and give FULL potty-training a try. It's been amazing. It's been about a week, and as long as we wake him up before 6 am for a potty run, he's kept his bed dry.

Generally, in the later evenings (as in, after he's been put to bed) he'll ask if he can go potty, we'll tell him yes and to get right back into bed, and he does. Last night, on the other hand, I heard some rummaging around in his room after he was done in the potty. I didn't really pay much attention becuase he was pretty quiet and very quickly fell alseep.

At some point in the late evening I went to check on him and found this:

I about woke him up as I giggled and called Miguel to see. I love my little boy. He's getting a big-boy bed soon, and he's very excited. I wonder how that will work if he manages to do this with a CRIB??!!????

We're not dead...yet

2009-01-31T14:29:00.000-06:00

I promise I have more entries coming...they are currently in development. Do not give up on me just yet.

Coming soon:
Josh's birthday!
Kookie Katie
Josh can get out of his own Bed

and probably more, but that's all i have planned for now...STAY TUNED!

New Years Eve Mega-Party!

2009-01-05T16:09:00.001-06:00

Ok, so it was only our little family and it ended when the kids went to bed at 8, but it was a great time. I made the best Nachos ever, we ate junk food, wore silly hats and the kids made a lot of noise. Miguel opted to get the kids noisemakers - on purpose. He also watched football and we all listened to some great music. It was a fantastic time.

Miguel and I made it to the New Year...barely. We were both worn out from the Mega-party...ok, we're just getting old.

Katie looks a bit possessed after I removed the red-eye, but aren't they cute? Yes, that is a temporary tatoo on Josh's arm. He is potty-trained but we're still occasionally rewarding him with stickers and tattoos...Star Wars themed, his favorite.

Here are our most recent full-family pictures!

This was the best of the photos...which I agree isn't saying much, but we're all in it! Katie was trying to escape and you can't tell that I'm pinning Josh down too. Good times. I fully respect those who've braved the professional studio; it was easier taking pictures of the 3 dogs together than those kids.

Christmas Twice! and Grandma's Visit

2008-12-31T15:03:00.006-06:00

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

2008-12-14T22:02:00.013-06:00

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?

2008-12-01T14:44:00.005-06:00

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.

2008-11-18T19:35:00.000-06:00

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

2008-11-02T23:18:00.007-06:00

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

2008-10-31T21:33:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-10-25T08:30:00.000-05:00

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

2008-10-18T12:55:00.008-05:00

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

2008-10-06T07:46:00.007-05:00

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!!!!

2008-09-30T21:01:00.003-05:00

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

2008-09-27T21:18:00.001-05:00

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

2008-09-22T21:11:00.000-05:00

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?

2008-09-15T20:55:00.000-05:00

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

2008-09-02T13:52:00.002-05:00

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

2008-08-29T16:11:00.003-05:00

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

2008-07-16T15:41:00.000-05:00

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

2008-06-23T19:28:00.005-05:00

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

2008-06-16T08:43:00.003-05:00

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

2008-06-01T21:02:00.005-05:00

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

2008-05-31T21:40:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-28T09:24:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-27T08:48:00.000-05:00

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!

2008-05-10T15:12:00.005-05:00

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

2008-05-06T15:28:00.001-05:00

Need I say more?

Local Desktop Support

2008-05-02T15:01:00.000-05:00

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?

2008-04-30T15:25:00.002-05:00

...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

2008-04-28T10:18:00.004-05:00

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

2008-04-13T10:02:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-29T10:34:00.001-05:00

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...

2008-03-12T09:07:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-11T10:56:00.001-05:00

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

2008-02-27T10:44:00.002-06:00

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...

2008-01-10T21:05:00.001-06:00

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...

2008-01-09T20:49:00.000-06:00

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).

2 months in

2007-12-30T13:19:00.002-06:00

It's been 2 months now, and everyone - including all 3 dogs - is still alive.

Sherman is bigger than Sadie - he passed her up a while ago, and he's only 6 months old. His paws are huge, and I get the feeling he'll eventually pass up Sarge in size as well. Right now it is a bit irritating to have a 55lb puppy running around and he is a spaz and a half. When it comes to food, he is the most enthusiastic animal on the planet. But if he is sleeping, I truly think a nuclear bomb could go off and he wouldn't care. He isn't deaf either - he responds to sound anytime it is in the Kitchen. He loves Josh, though it's probably because he drops the most food on the floor and often will simply feed Sherman just because he likes to have his hands licked.

Sadie and Sarge have calmed down into normal dogs. Sadie is always the first to bark when there is something wrong and she always does the rounds at night to be sure everyone is accounted for. She is a very sweet dog and loves me the most, always laying down next to me and on the floor at the foot of the bed while I'm sleeping. Sarge is like a normal dog now that he is on the anti-inflammatory medication and glucosamine for his hip displaysia. He jumps and plays and can almost run as fast as Sadie. He is most definitely Miguel's dog.

Josh is talking more and more all of the time. He loves Sherman and will feed him at any chance (as stated before, just because he likes to have his hands licked). He can't say Sherman - he says it as "But-ton." The other day I heard him say, "shower" and he said it correctly so I asked him to say, "Sure" he repeated it. I asked him to say, "men" he repeated it. I asked him to say "Sher-man" and he said, BUT-TON. He looked quite proud of himself.

Katie is prettier and prettier everyday. As a mom, I am required to say that. She won't smile for the camera yet as she is quite interested in what is going on when we get the camera out. She looks quite interested in things though. She still has a head full of hair which refuses to be tamed.

Christmas was fabulous - Josh loves his scoot around toys and Elmo doll. Katie loves her clothes. The dogs are still working on their big rawhide bones. Life is good for us right now.

Our first "project"

2007-12-20T14:52:00.000-06:00

We wanted Josh to make our Christmas cards this year, so I bought some markers and construction paper and a few Sesame Street stickers.

He contributed to some of the best Christmas Cards ever! We really enjoyed watching him too. It was his first adventure with markers. Crayons are for every-day, and markers are for special occasions.

Thank goodness for washable markers.

In their spare time

2007-12-19T09:30:00.000-06:00

Daddy and Josh Rock out with Rockband!

and yes - that is Katie crying in the background...I guess she doesn't like to rock.

First Family Visit

2007-12-19T07:53:00.000-06:00

The first weekend in November - including Halloween - we were happy to play host to my mom and my sister's family. I was quite excited because it was the first time I was going to see my nephew Gavin, and also because I hadn't seen them in almost 2 years - and Philip I hadn't seen in over 2 years!

We didn't have anything planned...just wanted to hang out. The house was (as expected) a complete zoo with 5 adults, 3 kids and 3 dogs in our small space, but I thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent together. Miguel and Philip played Guitar Hero 3. We all stayed up late every night and managed to sleep in late in the mornings (yes, even Josh). We even had pictures taken of the kids together, with Katie in her beautiful, handmade blessing dress (thank you again, Mom).

We didn't do much for Halloween. People don't seem to go trick-or-treating here. It is more common to see the various church parking lots (any denomination) filled with "trunk"-or-treaters. In fact, our first 2 Halloweens here we never even saw any kids out. We did take pictures of our kids in their costumes though. Gavin made an adorable tiger, Josh was Yoda (yep, again) and Katie was decked out in the pumpkin gear.

We actually went to the Zoo one of the days they were here. It was great! Nashville has a much better zoo than I expected. We ended up buying a membership and for the next year, the Felix family now has something to do that won't cost anything but the gas to get there - and thankfully, it isn't far.

After a week, they all went home and normalcy has returned to our home. Josh misses the excitement, I think, but not the chaos. He has been able to return to his regular routine, which my sanity appreciates.

Katie has arrived

2007-10-18T23:45:00.000-05:00

Kathryn Elizabeth was welcomed into this world after an uneventful labor. I will spare you the grisly details (though there aren't many).

She weighed a healthy 9lbs and 7ozs and is 21 inches long. She was 4 days past her due date, arriving on October 16th. She is a bit jaundiced-looking in one of these pictures, but we are hoping we don't have to deal with a return hospital-stay like we did with Josh. So far she is nursing healthily and is much more alert than I remember Josh being.

And yes, she has 2 chins and no neck...

The most common question we have been posed is, "How has Josh reacted to her?" Here is the answer:

Miguel's Birthday and a Baby Update

2007-10-09T01:04:00.001-05:00

October 2nd was Miguel's 27th birthday. To celebrate, we went out to dinner for some good southern food. He received a few cards, some games and accessories for his Xbox and a Star Wars Collectible. As always, Miguel's birthday started on September 29th with a "King-for-a-day" event - in other words, we watched College Football all day and he got to choose everything we ate. He even decided no cake, but Key-Lime Pie. I admit I appreciated this as I could buy the pie and cake would have meant my having to allow my feet to swell up to humongous as I baked a cake. His birthday then continued through October 3rd, with his choosing special things for us to do and his being treated even "specialer" than he is normally.

For his Birthday dinner actually ON his birthday, we didn't go too far, because we are still waiting for our 2nd child to make her appearance any day now. We don't often take pictures of Miguel and myself - especially not me in my huge-condition. But, I figured a birthday and probably our last *big* outing before the baby comes, is a good reason. So here we all are.

I've even included a "belly-shot" for you to ogle. I am officially 38weeks, 4 days pregnant in these pictures. That is exactly the day I went into labor with Josh. We'll see how long this one decides to cook. Just so you all know, I predicted this child would be late when I first found out I was pregnant. I figured Josh was such an easy pregnancy, a short labor and an easy baby that this one is bound to be a hellish pregnancy (which it hasn't been, but it's not been as easy as Josh was), a crazy delivery and then the child will be a hellion and drive us completely insane. All because we had the "easy" one first.

I am now 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant and it just seems to keep going. Every day for the past 10 or so days, Miguel has said, "Tonight's the night honey, get ready." But nothing happens. I certainly haven't had the urgent feeling of needing to get everything ready yet, so I think we may truly be in for the long haul.

So here you go, the belly-shot you have all been waiting for:
And for those of you comparing the 38 week shot from last time with this one, please note, I am wearing the same pants in both pictures. I didn't think to try and get me from the same angle. And yes - I feel much bigger this time.

The Joys of a Good Rain

2007-09-30T00:37:00.000-05:00

We've had quite a dry summer out here in Middle-Tennessee. You see, in the Mid-South, when you don't have a good thunder-booming rainstorm at least every other week, you manage to earn yourself the title of "drought" even when it's rained a few times and even if the lawns are all still green. This is quite a new philosophy for this California-girl. I like myself a good rainstorm, don't get me wrong, but when you have 3 dogs and the back-yard looks like you have 3 dogs, you end up with...

...mud.

Not just mud - but red clay that makes itself quite obvious as the wet dogs have shaken their coats in the ecru/almond-colored kitchen. Let's just say, I wait for it all to dry, sweep up what I can and then take bets as to when it will rain again and if it's worth it to mop now or later. Sadly, we end up waiting, but inevitably it rains the day after we mop. It's like when you wash your car. But I digress.

So this year, we're in a drought because it's only rained five times instead of twenty-five, and we FINALLY had our first good rain of the season. Sarge and Sadie, though they may be part Labrador, don't seem to appreciate the rain. Sherman, on the other hand, really seemed to enjoy it. And the mud. And rolling in it.

This picture was after he had already dried off quite a bit. Notice the ground is not soaking wet? We usually wait for them to dry and then brush them, but this was bath-worthy.

At least they left some of the mud outside...After Sherman's bath, we waited for the tub to dry completely and I was able to use a brush and dust-pan to sweep up the dirt Miguel washed off of him out of the tub.

We're still not out of the drought and yes, our lawn did eventually die along with everyone elses'. I no longer make fun of our Southern Drought, and I did learn a lot about perspective this summer. I also learned a third dog doesn't really make things that much worse when you have to clean up the mud after it rains.

Josh's Headwound

2007-09-22T00:07:00.000-05:00

Josh managed to get his first big boo-boo.

Background. My son is 19 months old. He runs everywhere he goes. He doesn't look where he is going most of the time, and like most toddlers, runs into walls and trips over toys and dogs. Somehow he has never managed to whack his head on the brick hearth. I know it is something which is bound to happen, but hasn't yet. He takes off, picks up speed and then WHAM! runs into the wall because he turned around to look for Dad or a dog.

More background. We keep Josh out of the bedrooms and bathroom during the day. He has pretty much free reign of the rest of the house (within reason) but we don't leave those rooms open for him to roam around in. When we're in those rooms with him it's no big deal. When we want to leave those rooms we aren't willing to chase Josh to get him out. At first he thought we would be up for the "let's chase Josh" game, but he soon learned otherwise, I know, we're no fun. We've managed to train him so he will exit the room when we turn the lights out and tell him we're all done.

And now for the main event of our story. Josh was with Miguel in the back bedroom (his own room) and was busy getting into things. Miguel was done with whatever he was doing in there and had turned off the light and was calling Josh to get him to exit the room. Josh takes off at a run (as always) and we hear, THUNK and Josh starts wailing. This is highly unusual for Josh, as he is most often a thunk-*dazed-look*-pick-myself-up-and-try-again kid. Miguel immediately turns on the light and picks Josh up. Josh already has a blue line running down the middle of his forehead.

It turns out - Josh was running in the general direction of the door, tripped over a fan we had *not quite* scooted into the corner and hit his head on a corner right next to the doorway. Smack-dab in the center of his forehead, he has a vertical line.

We immediately start to try and ice it because it started to swell right away, but Josh was much more interested in playing with the baggie of ice than he was in putting it on his forehead (first clue he was fine). He also learned the word, "Ice" that night and often asks for it in his drinks now. We figured we needed to watch him for awhile to make sure he didn't have a concussion or anything and after awhile I felt like the worst mom in the world.

I mean, who else would crack up and say, "My kid looks like an alien from Star Trek" when her baby has a ginormous bruise/goose-egg on his head, and continuation bruising on the tip of his nose and middle of his upper lip?

He was so pitiful when he was crying. Then 5 minutes later he started acting normal and I was telling Miguel to get the camera so we could document our son's alien-look. Miguel was not having any of it. He agreed with the "worst mom - EVER" idea when I went and got the camera myself.

It's really too bad, the pictures don't do it the justice it deserves. The second picture is a bit blurry, but it shows another angle. He really was pitiful, and I felt bad for him. Obviously it hurt, but nothing permanent and he's all healed and on to other bruises....for now.

Josh and Sherman update

2007-09-10T11:11:00.000-05:00

Josh updates - Josh likes to "kiss the baby." He'll come over and kiss my tummy whenever I say that. In fact, the other day Josh was laying on the floor and Sarge was near him. I told Sarge to kiss the baby in an effort to get Josh's face washed. Sarge tried to lick him, but Josh was too busy struggling to push Sarge out of the way to stand up. He finally made it up and pushed Sarge aside and came over and kissed my belly. I laughed pretty well at that when I realized what had happened.

Late last week Josh just started talking more and more. He says things we've taught him on his own rather than being prompted now. He woke up from his nap on Saturday and told Miguel, "What's up?" We really have a great time with him.

I'm not sure if Josh really gets it that there is a baby coming into our house soon. He recently started pointing to babies and saying, "baby" but other than kissing my belly, he seems pretty clueless. We do our best to mention the new baby coming and that Josh's going to be a big brother. We've tried to stop referring to Josh as a baby - just a little boy or big boy when he does something grand. I don't know what else we can do, so tips are welcomed.
Sherman update - As you can see from the pictures, he's getting bigger and bigger all the time. The introduction pictures were from when he was 6 weeks old. This post's pictures he is 13 weeks. He's doing really well with his training. He is only pottying outside (if only baby humans could potty train by 13 weeks...) and he is learning from the older dogs all the time. He already knows he needs to wait until he is told he is allowed to eat something before eating it. He seems very smart is is OH SO CUTE!!!

I suppose that's everything new for now. No sign of the new baby coming yet. I'll be sure to have Miguel update this when she decides to show herself to the world.

General Family Update

2007-09-10T10:42:00.001-05:00

I've been waiting for something cool to report before updating this site, but nothing cool has happened recently. We're boring people, I guess.

My belly is getting bigger and bigger. I swear, at 34 weeks along this time I was as big or bigger than I was when I delivered Josh. All of my maternity clothes are already too tight in the belly. I wonder what I will wear to work every single day. Thank goodness there are only 3 more weeks of having to figure out what "business casual" means when I'm big and full of baby. One of these days I will take a better picture so you can all ogle the belly, but until then, this one will have to suffice (the dogs are Sarge and Sherman).

Let's see - oh, we have a sad update on the red Houdini-dog we fostered for awhile (see Felix Family Animal Shelter entry, I dubbed her Houdini after that entry was made, as she just appears and disappears from our fenced backyard). She was running around the neighborhood the other night and was hit by a car. She was still alive and not visibly bleeding, though she wouldn't stand up. The person who hit her (a police-man, actually) went and let her owners know what happened. They came and got her and were asking around if anyone knew of any 24hr vet services. It was really sad. She had sort-of become the neighborhood dog. Everyone in the neighborhood knew her and she just roamed around and visited everyone. There was a bit of a confrontation between the owner and a dog-lover from the next block over. Miguel asked the owner if he was going to keep her in his yard now. The owner didn't care for that and started spouting off. The young guy from the next block over chimed in about how irresponsible it was to let her roam around and then Miguel was holding the kid back telling him to calm down. The kid went BALLISTIC!!! trying to get to the owner. It was funny to see this kid go from a normal mature person into ghetto-I'm-gonna-kill-you mode. As funny as it was, it still was sad to see Houdini taken away so obviously in pain. As annoying as she could be, we miss her.This picture is Josh holding Sherman's tail (not an unusual event) and Sadie getting ready to teach Sherman a lesson.

Miguel and I have both been recently released from our callings at church. Miguel was definitely sad about it as he really enjoyed teaching the Gospel Doctrine class. I was more sad than I thought I would be; I was the Enrichment Counselor in the Relief Society (aka - 2nd counselor). I'm not crafty in any way, so I was surprised to be put into that calling in the first place, but I learned some things. As much work as it was, I enjoyed working closely with the other sisters in the presidency. We'll see where we both end up next. Our little branch isn't big enough for us to be out of callings for too long.

That's it for now. I will post Josh updates separate, as I'm sure it'll be long. More puppy pictures to come as well...Sherman is getting SO BIG!!!!

Introducing....Sherman

2007-07-30T10:22:00.000-05:00

So Miguel did it. He got himself a puppy. Wait, before Miguel gets defensive, Miguel got Josh a puppy. A little boy black lab puppy - very possibly a pure-bred. We found him on Craig's list and they wanted $50 for each puppy. I guess the dad is pure-bred, AKC registered, and has no family history of hip displaysia, thank goodness. The mom they aren't so sure about. She was a rescue who was supposedly spayed - HAHA - and also supposedly pure-bred. Regardless of blood-status, I wasn't about to pay for a puppy. Haven't you heard the saying, "There's no such thing as a free puppy?" So I said no. Miguel eventually talked the guy down to $30 and Miguel is paying for everything - shots, neutering, etc - out of his own allowance (yes, our budget gives each of us an "allowance").

Anywho - after 3 days of namelessness, I suggested Sherman. Miguel wanted something which started with an S to go with the other dogs (Sarge and Sadie), but we couldn't think of anything we both liked. I remembered Rocky and Bullwinkle and the "Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman" cartoon. I thought it would be funny to have a puppy named Sherman, and Miguel agreed. His reasoning was different from mine, though. He wanted to name him Sherman after General Sherman, as a slap-in-the-face to any Southern-pride rednecks. This makes me laugh, at least. Regardless of our reasons, we finally decided on a name and it's Sherman.

Sherman follows Josh around and pulls at his clothes. Josh thinks it is great to have an animal smaller than him. It hasn't taken Josh very long to learn to be gentle, so he hasn't tried to pick Sherman up by the hair (yes, hair, not skin) recently. Josh pets him nicely and loves it when the puppy "plays" with him, though the little needle-teeth come out sometimes and Josh occasionally ends up crying...oh well. They'll both figure it out. It's fun to watch Josh carry the dog toys around and the puppy chasing him with his little puppy run.

Sadie loves the puppy. She licks him and makes sure he is safe. She comes and gets us when he cries. She plays with him and lets him play with her. Sarge, on the other hand has taken awhile to warm up to the puppy. He would growl at him at first, but has since started playing with him and even allowing him to sleep next to him, so long as it isn't on his bed. He won't allow the puppy to take his toys either. It's pretty funny to see the 70lbs dog growling at the little 3.5lbs dog; and funny to see how stubborn the puppy can be. Sometimes it takes Sarge grabbing him by the neck and knocking him over before Sherman will belly-up.

Sherman is taking very well to potty training. As long as we're paying attention to him, we don't have any accidents in the house. He even lets us know he needs to go out sometimes, whining at the back-door. He's only 7 weeks, so we know we have a while of inconsistency to go, but we're pleased so far.

So no more dogs for us. At least, not until we have a bigger house...

Like a creepy cat lady, but with dogs...

2007-07-24T08:28:00.000-05:00

Our house has recently been a foster home to random animals within the neighborhood. Miguel jokes that we are becoming "that family with all the dogs" and we'll end up with a huge pack of them and end up destitute. Ok, so we're not seriously that insane. We do like to help out animals when we find them or even foster for a few days when we discover or suspect mistreatment. We haven't kept one...yet...but I know it is coming, as Miguel seems to be on the prowl for another dog. I'm ok with our getting another dog, but I'm not interested in helping to house-train another puppy. We'll see what happens.

So our most recent acquisition has been a yellow-lab mix named Bella. She is awfully cute, has short short hair and is very energetic. Miguel found her on craigs' list and thought she would make our fun little family a bit bigger. She is about 14 weeks old and was kept from having to go to the pound when her owner was deployed to Iraq. The family who took her has 2 small kids and must not have had any idea what it would be like to house-train a puppy without a fenced yard. They decided as much as they loved her, it was time to pass her along because they couldn't handle her.

So our crazy-family enters the picture. Bella seems to get along with the other dogs ok, but she seems to be quite high maintenance. She won't submit to the older/bigger dogs (stubborn little thing), she gets upset if she is not able to sit on the couch and she has no concept of the word No. She doesn't act as though she has ever been disciplined, she digs and she is aspiring to become Houdini - she attempts to leave the yard at every available opportunity. She also proved her previous owner exaggerating when he said she is just about potty trained, as she gives no indication of needing to go outside, and when she is outside, she won't do her "business" until we've come back into the house. We kept her for about 3 days before Miguel decided he didn't want her and passed her along to someone new - someone without any other dogs and with older kids to tire out the high-energy animal. Bye Bye Bella, as cute as you are, I won't miss you.

We handed Bella off to her new owners on a Saturday morning. The following Tuesday, Miguel was in Petsmart and had both Sarge and Sadie with him. He sees Bella, but doesn't think it is really her because the owner is not who we handed her off to. Miguel is a bit puzzled because our dogs aren't going crazy, it's as if they know this little yellow thing, and Miguel mentions to the lady that we were fostering a dog who looked exactly like the dog in her possession. She looks a bit embarrassed and admits her husband found the dog with no collar and after having her for a couple of days decided they love her and want to keep her - but asked us if we wanted her back. Bella looked extremely pampered and happy, so Miguel told her the people we gave her to don't deserve her if they can't keep her in the yard and he let it go at that (and no, Miguel isn't heartless, but this dog was such a handful that I'm sure it's better this way). So Bella has hopefully found her permanent home.

Life at a Year and 5 Months

2007-07-10T11:55:00.000-05:00

My son doesn't watch much TV. He is usually much too busy pulling all of his toys out of his toybox and spreading them about the part of the house he can get to. Occasionally he stops and will look at the TV - especially if he hears Elmo. In the mornings it is usually childrens' shows on TV or the news, depending on whether Miguel is watching it or not.

In addition to Elmo, Josh also likes a show called, "The Big, Comfy, Couch" which is about a clown and her doll who hang out on the Big, Comfy Couch and talk about various child-friendly, educational things - like having a bad day, or being rude, or sharing. There is usually a song (my fav being about your belly button), or dance routine of some kind and the main clown usually reads a story at some point. At the end of the show, she always cleans up after herself (my favorite part), claiming, "I made the mess, so I have to clean up, it's only fair!." But I digress...

This was the first TV show Josh ever showed interest in, so whenever we think of it we'll turn it on in the mornings. At the beginning of the show she always does a stretch routine on this big rug that looks like a clock. Recently, Josh has taken to joining in. When Loonette says she is going to do her clock-rug-stretch and lays down on her rug, he'll lay down and put his legs in the air. He doesn't really follow along, but when Miguel and I realized what he was doing we cracked up. I guess he does it whenever the show is on now. It makes me laugh. I have only ever seen 1 other set of kids "interact" with the TV and I don't remember doing it when I was a kid. He also will wave to her when she waves at the beginning of the show.

As for what he does the rest of the day - he eats 'Banananas' and carries his toys around the house. He usually has cars strewn everywhere. He talks ALL the time, in this Josh-gibberish that we can't understand. He practically runs everywhere he goes, which can be pretty entertaining when there are toys all over the floor because he trips and falls over things all the time. Then again, he trips and falls over nothing at times too...

Here is a little video of Josh just being Josh. Sorry it's a bit blurry, but he's talking and running around like he does every day, so I thought you might enjoy:

Josh Loves the Dogs

2007-07-05T11:02:00.000-05:00

I'm very excited about this post - I'm a nerd, regardless of if I try and hide it. I love technology.

I found a way to post videos of my kid on my blog.

So here it is - the first one. This was last Sunday after church.

Josh has learned a few things about the dogs. He knows he can push them out of his way. He knows Sadie will just sit there and let him use her as a step-stool. He also knows the signal to get Sarge to speak. The other night I was changing Josh's diaper. He was not where he could see Miguel, but he could hear him; Miguel was telling Sarge to speak. What does Josh do? He started making the signal! I laughed pretty well with that one.

I laughed again today. Miguel took Sadie to the vet (her eyes have been weeping and we can't tell why, though she is not acting sick). Sadie barked while they were in the waiting room and Josh told her to, "Shut up!" What terrible parents we are that we have told the dogs to Shut up enough that Josh knows...And sadly, there was no way for any onlookers to know that we don't actually tell Josh to shut up! Thankfully he didn't say it again. I suppose we get to really start thinking more about what we say before we say it now, here we thought we had been being pretty good about teaching our kid manners. I'm sure this is just the beginning...

Felix Family Animal Rescue

2007-06-29T12:33:00.000-05:00

So the cat left us on Saturday morning. Wednesday comes around and Miguel notices a dog hanging around our back fence in the morning. He saw it had a collar on, but didn't recognize the dog. Dogs are not unusual in our neighborhood; we can see 5 when you look out of our back-door, thanks to chain link fences.

The little boy next door knocked on our door in the evening and he had this same dog with him. Miguel went outside and took pity on the dog and invited her in so she could eat. She drank a lot of water and ate all of the food she was offered. Her tag was from the Humane Society and she looked very young. She played a bit with Sarge and Sadie and I noticed she has recently been spayed - her tummy was shaved and her scar looked recent.

The Humane Society phone number was on the tag, but they were already closed for the evening. So we got stuck with her for the night. We put her out with the other dogs for awhile, and they ran around and played like she'd been there forever. Later on when we brought them into the house is when things got more interesting. She would go up to Miguel to get petted, and Sarge would bark this low bark at her. It was not something I had ever seen him do. She finally got sick of it and tried to play with him and Sarge and her went at it. It was bound to happen - they all needed to determine their places in the "pack." It sounded like they were going to rip each other to pieces.

She won.

Miguel was very disappointed in his dog. Here are some pictures so you can understand why.

She isn't even half his size!!!!

So after she positioned herself at the top of the pack, we had a heck of a time getting the dogs to listen to us because she didn't know the commands we use. Thank goodness I was going to be at work the next day...poor Miguel.

He called the Humane Society and they gave us 2 phone numbers, neither worked. So he called them back and they gave us an address. Note to self - don't give Humane Society my information because they will just give it out over the phone to strangers. After I got home, Miguel walked the dog to the house (just around the block) and no one was home. We ran some errands and tried again and the woman who took her from us gave us the feeling it wouldn't surprise us if we see the dog again. We figure if she shows up again we'll just take her back to the human society.

So we're back to normal with our 2 dogs and 1 kid.

Brief Visitor

2007-06-28T09:14:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday was an interesting day. Miguel woke up and...well, let me use his words:

I woke up and noticed the dogs weren't in the house so I went in the backyard to check on them. I noticed that Sarge had one of Joanne's athletic socks in his mouth. I instantly got irritated that he managed to sneak it outside of the house. I walked outside and gave him the command "Out! - Out!" which for him means to drop whatever he has in his mouth. After he dropped the sock I saw it RUN across the lawn. It scared the hell out of me. Both dogs took off after the moving sock again and cornered it. "Lay down! Stay!" I commanded. I walked up to the moving sock and realized that it was not a moving sock at all, it was a kitten!

I picked the kitten up and brought it in the house. It INSTANTLY ran to the dogs water bowl and drank for about 2 minutes. I then offered it some dog food and it ate way too much than what a kitten should eat.

Luckily my dogs didn't hurt it, and in fact my dogs just licked it. It was kind of cute watching the dogs play with the kitten. Sarge was licking it so much that the kitten looked like it fell into a pool.

So Miguel took care of the kitten on Thursday, and I posted pictures of it on Craigslist and Freecycle on Friday morning. We had responses on Saturday morning and by mid-day a seemingly loving family arrived and took the little beast off of our hands for good.

Needless to say, 2 large dogs (regardless of how playful and loving) combined with our toddler and a sleep-deprived Miguel don't mix well and the kitten spent some quality time in the bathtub on Thursday and Friday. He was much more playful and fun on Friday so we got our kitten-fix for awhile. Thankfully there were no "accidents" in the house, and hopefully 2 days of dog food won't stunt its growth too badly. Miguel ended up with battle scars from trying to "unstuck" the kitten from under the couch, but other than that, we came out unscathed. Hopefully Josh throwing the kitten into the fireplace once didn't cause any permanent damage...I think he does better with bigger animals at this age, though the path to "gentle" has at least now been introduced.

More adventures will be posted soon...as we've recently acquired another "visitor." Stay tuned.

First Attempt at this

2007-06-26T11:46:00.001-05:00

Ok, so we Felix's have never had a blog, so we'll see how this goes...

To update you on our family, within the last year we've purchased our first home, taken in 2 dogs and found out we're expecting our second child.

I'm now a little more than half-way done cooking this second kid. They tell us it is a girl, but we'll believe it when we see it, as there was no proof in the ultrasound. I have another ultrasound in 3 weeks, so hopefully we'll have some confirmation then. If not, it'll be a surprise! We still don't have any names. Miguel insists it's his "turn" to name the baby...we'll see.

The dogs turned 1 a couple of weeks ago. It's hilarious to us to know they are 4 months younger than Josh, yet are so much bigger and much more eager to listen to us! Sarge has hip displaysia and takes medicine every day for it. He is doing so much better, we aren't afraid of losing him for a good-long-while now. Sadie is as much of a spaz as ever. We've decided she is slowly recovering from multi-personality-disorder, as she is deciding more and more she likes Miguel all the time, rather than just every other day or so.

Our 16-month-old just doesn't seem to get time-out yet, but definitely knows what he is not supposed to do. We will keep plugging away at the time-out thing until he gets it. We do our best to just be consistent. Now the trick is getting him to eat what we cook. Last night he would have none of the stir fry I made. He made the greatest faces, I should have taken a picture. He didn't eat much, but he's still alive. I wouldn't give him any bread (a staple of his picky-ness). He wasn't too happy about it, but he will understand - sooner-or-later - that he's just gonna have to eat what we make, or he'll starve. We'll figure out this parenting thing yet.

OK, that's good enough for now. I've posted some pictures from the puppies' birthday weekend. They hung out with some other dogs while we looked on. Josh loved every minute of it.