Go FHS!

This afternoon we attended Matt's BB game (they won and he played quite a bit, so that was nice). Then, the kids and I went to Staples for print cartridges (not a fun purchase) and to Burger King for a quick bite to eat. The girls played in the play area a little bit while Little J and I finished eating. After that it was back to the gym for the Varsity game. Yesterday, MJ did a cheer camp and they performed their dance and cheer at tonight's halftime. I unfortunately didn't get record pushed at first, so I missed most of the dance (oops!), but I got her cheer. And you can definitely tell she was having a great time. It was a close game and I hated to leave after the third quarter but we have an early morning and the kids were getting restless. I hope to hear our team won when I check tomorrow. Mainly it was J getting antsy. Now that he's more mobile, he doesn't want to sit still much. Plus he was getting tired. He did enjoy watching the first game though. He was intrigued with the guys running back and forth. Josh was a wrestler in high school, so we'll see what sport our little man takes up. I think MJ is loving the dance and cheer thing so far though. What do you think?!

It's Official: We have a walker on our hands!

My friend recommended I get him a helmet. Ha! I think as fast as he goes, it might be a good idea! He's definitely walking more than crawling these days. Seriously, this seems to have happened so fast. I want my baby back! :)

Weekend Catch Up

Saturday my SIL and I got together for a late birthday lunch. We also made some stops at some local consignment furniture and clothing shops and found some neat stores we've never been too. She treated me to a really neat rack that I'm going to hang with picture frames. I'll have to post a photo once I get it all put together. It was just fun hanging out, visiting and browsing. Thanks again for a great day, S! The kids spent the day with their dad, so after I got home he went out with some friends and the kids and I read books and watched an ice skating movie before bed.

After church on Sunday, the weather was unseasonably warm, so the girls played outside a lot. They got out their cones and soccer ball, then when they tired of that they wanted to play tee ball. J loved being outside too. He wanted to go, go, go! I can see he's going to love the outdoors. This summer could be interesting! We girls took turn batting and running the bases. Later in the afternoon, MJ and E went to M&C's to play with Austin and Isabella, then the rest of us headed up their to watch the Vikings/Saints game.

Today, E, J and I met some new friends for lunch, then ran some errands around town. The girls had ballet and MJ did a cheer camp with the high school cheerleaders. She'll be cheering at tomorrow night's game.

Little J is definitely a walker. I can't believe how fast it all happened. Just in a week's time, he's gone from a few steps at a time, to now walking across rooms and down halls. Oh, I don't know if I'm happy or sad-maybe a little of both. I commented tonight to Josh that I wanted my baby back and, he replied, "Well, he's not talking yet." Good point honey. I guess that is true. :0)

I realize I've had a few posts without pics, so I will try to get some new ones up soon.

Wine and Chocolate Affaire

Maggie Malson Photography & Design and The Longaberger Company will be on display this Saturday, Jan. 30, from 1 to 4 p.m. Stop by and visit!

What are you still doing up?

Yes, "What are you still doing up?" is what I said when I walked in the door at 11:30 p.m. tonight and my little E came out of the living room completely dressed, including socks and shoes, holding the TV remote and saying, "I watch TV, Mom."

It's 11:30 p.m., Emma. Your sister is asleep on the couch. Your brother is asleep in his crib. Your father is asleep in our bed. I left you in pajamas. You're fully clothed. The TV is showing a blue screen. !!!???! What are you still doing up?

She just looked at me and grinned and laughed. I just had to laugh and give her a hug and tell her she was so silly. So, because Josh was already asleep, I have not gotten the full story about their evening together. But, I tell you this kid has a mind of her own. And for the record, this is not a normal occurance at our house. Our children have a normal bedtime and their Dad takes care of them quite well when I am gone. So, not quite sure what happened tonight.

Tonight I had a meeting with a couple ladies I work with. They were going to come to the house, but I thought since Josh was home, I would just meet them somewhere else. We had an early dinner, then the kids were in pjs and almost ready for bed when I left. Emma was a bit hysterical though. I'm not sure why she was so upset about me leaving, but we had read books and had many hugs and kisses. So, I just had to go. Still, I was quite surprised when I walked in the door and found her waiting up for me.

She seemed wide awake too. I helped her get back into her pjs. She was still saying she didn't want to go to bed, but I tucked her in, and hugged and kissed her goodnight. I came up to get MJ and take her to bed. When I went back to check on E she was out. Silly girl. I hope she sleeps in in the morning. Oh well, it will be a story for her scrapbook.

And now I need to get to bed too.

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There he goes

Wednesday

This morning I dropped E off at school then came home, and MJ and I played school until I sat down to work on my February issue. MJ headed to school and E got off the bus around noon. I videoed JMan walking some more (BTW-I have been trying to upload a couple new videos of him today, but they don't seem to be working. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.)

I am avoiding the grocery store as long as possible, although we're about out of milk, bread, eggs, butter and cheese, plus some other staple items. Fortunately we have meat and veggies, so we'll be eating fine this week. Tonight I was excited because I ended up throwing together a really great casserole with some things I had in the fridge.

I'm not sure what I'm going to call it. It's kind of like Texas Cavier, but I made it a little saucy with the sour cream and cream cheese. Normally I would put something similar in tortillas to make quesadillas, but I was out of those. So instead I put the cheese and chips on top.

Here are the ingredients:

Diced chicken

black beans

corn

green peppers

onions

tomatoes

sour cream

cream cheese

spices (salt, pepper, cumin, cilantro, garlic)

shredded monterrey jack and cheddar cheese

crushed tortilla chips

I baked it about 20 minutes until it was hot and bubbly and the cheese was melted. My little family of five ate almost an entire 9X13 casserole pan of it. Wow! The kids loved it.

After dinner I took M up to religious ed class, then it was back home for books, prayers and bed. Not too exciting a day, but some fun and laughs were had along the way.

I Do It Myself, Mom

That's Emma favorite phrase right now, I think. She says it a lot. This little independent one of mine. She also says, "I neeeeeeed it." a lot too. She drawls it out like that. I usually respond with "no, you don't need it, you want it." To which she replies, "I want it, Mom." So, matter-of-factly, like okay, then give it to me.

Anyway, she loves to do things on her own, making peanut butter sandwiches is one of them. I cringe each time I see her pull out the bad of bread and jar of PB. But, I know she has to do it by herself. I just am not a fan of messes-especially peanut butter ones. It just seems that the mess winds up in places you don't expect. You think you get it all wiped up and 10 minutes later you still smell peanut butter on your person and you wonder, "what?!" only to look down and see it somehow got smeared on your shoe and you've tracked it into office and onto your chair.

Yeah, huh?! How'd that get there?

Oh well. She's so proud of herself though. And that makes me proud too. So, here's to you Little E and your PB sandwiches you love to make yourself when you're three!

Here he comes

Go Cats!

Go WildCats!

We enjoyed watching K-State beat Texas 71-62 last night. I'm so glad the basketball team is doing well this year. They weren't very good when we were in school; it was the football team all the way. But it's great to see them come around. And we're excited to cheer for K-State no matter when, where or which team it is. MJ and E were both standing in front of the TV, shouting out, "Go K-State, Go K-State!" MJ also cheered, "Who do we appreciate? K-S-U!" Even though we're in blue and orange country and we love our Broncos, we are still raising them to bleed purple out here!

Just a little random silliness

Emma wanted a photo with Little J.



Trying to take a few steps



We were trying a group portrait.



Me and E



Strike a pose, baby!



Little macaroni head



He was making his little cheese face, where he scrunches his nose.



One day the girls donned their leotards and asked me to turn on the classical music, then they proceeded to perform. It was so cute.







Josh made it home safely. The kids were so excited to see him (me too, of course). In fact, J will hardly let him put him down when Josh is in the house. He crawls after him and wants him to hold him too. It's really sweet.

The girls played house in the living room today. It was so cute, listening to them, making plans, designing each room. They got along very well. Of course, earlier in the day there was some screaming at each other. It's like they love each other and play so well one minute, then can be at each other's throats the next. Ugh! I just love seeing them playing well together. I try to remind them how nice it is. I know though, when push comes to shove, they will be there for each other. That's what matters most, I guess.

The weather was really nice today so the girls played outside a long time before lunch. It was good for them to get some fresh air. MJ had today and tomorrow off of school. But, she's already asking to go back.

Tonight when I tucked Emma in she told me she had a guy in her mouth. It was a little guy. And I needed to take him out and put him in the garbage. What?! So, I pretended along with her and took the little guy and threw him away. She just giggled. And said, "one more time." So I did it again. And she giggled. And she said, "one more time." Usually one more time means about five more times. I just love bedtime with my kids. Sometimes it does seem to take awhile, especially if we're late with dinner and baths. But, when I think about, it is some really great one-on-one time with my kiddos. We usually read together, then I tuck the girls in separately. And sometimes they get more books. And we pray together and read a Bible story. And sometimes we through little men in the garbage. ?!? MJ and I have had some good talks at bedtime too. I hope we can always talk like we do now.

Little J was walking around even more today, even getting across the room before falling. He also loves pushing his little walking toy and gets a little rough when he's trying to move it around. He just jerks it back and forth until he gets it turned around. Glad he's learning to figure things out. Here are just a few things I want to remember about this stage:

-he loves to take baths. He enjoys the balls that came with a bath toy and likes to reach and dive for them.
-he loves to eat. This kid can pack away a lot of food. He eats about anything-all kinds of meat, veggies, fruits, breads, pasta, crackers, eggs. He is drinking well out of his sippy cup.
-he usually nurses when he wakes up in the morning then before his nap around 10 a.m. and before his afternoon nap. Then again at night and once before bed about 8 p.m. He's sleeping about 10-11 hours. He doesn't take a bottle really at all and doesn't like formula, so when he's away from me, he just drinks water, but seems fine. Fortunately, we'll be switching to whole milk soon. Not sure how we're going to get him weaned, but we'll do it gradually. MJ weaned herself at 10 months. Emma was finished by 14 months. I have always enjoyed being able to breastfeed my children. It's been great having that special time to share with each of them. I'm sure I'll miss it once we're finished, but I will just be grateful I was able to do that.
-J may be trying to cut out his morning nap. Some days he still take two-if he wakes up around 6. On days where he sleeps later til 7-8, then he's not really ready to go down at 10. Today he ate a late breakfast, so he went down at 11 and slept until 2. I'm not quite ready to push him to only nap in the afternoon, but I think it was around 12 months when the girls moved to one nap a day.
-each day he's taking more steps and getting into more things. We are seeing how babyproofed our house is not. We've purchased the babylocks, but have yet to install them. Need to do that soon. Very soon.
-he's a joy, such a joy. As are the girls. They all seem to grow and change each day. It's always something new. Makes me happy. Makes me a little sad. But it's good. Life is good.

Some midnight ramblings

Today was a fun day. We went to see Josh's mom for her birthday then did a little shopping around in Nampa. I haven't been out much at all lately, so it was nice. We only went to three stores and the kids did very well. Tonight we were invited up to a friend's house. She had invited a few ladies over from church. One of them used to babysit the kids so we carpooled together. I had seen the other gals before at Mass, but we had not met. It was a fun night of food, fellowship and fun. The kids also had fun playing and talking together. J was trying to walk all over the place. I think at one point he took 8 steps at once. Crazy, crazy. I also delivered the rest of the photos I did for our church's adopt-a-family before Christmas. It was so neat to see the looks on their faces when they saw them. It warms my heart to know I could give the gift of a family portrait to them.

I think Josh is ready to be back home. Today was the female show in Denver. When I talked to him, they had gotten the stalls broken down and were waiting to load the trailer. He and his Dad fly back in late Sunday night. We miss him too. He'll be starting to calve out the spring cows in the next couple weeks, so I know he's anxious to see what the next calf crop will bring. We also have flyers and information to get out on all the bulls for sale.

The weather was better today. I actually saw sun and needed my sunglasses. Wow, what a boring post. It's still really mucky out. Tomorrow, I am hoping to get some closets cleaned out and some organizing down.

The kids and I have had some fun times this week. They are each so different, so amazing in their own ways. I just love watching them. I am blessed.

A few steps

It's Wednesday already!?

Well, it's Wednesday already. These weeks are flying by. And my to do list is getting longer.

The guys are in Denver. Wish I were too. Not that I don't have a ton to do here, but I have always loved the Stock Show. I'm not much on winter weather, but somehow I don't mind being cold there. Great people, great cattle (and horses-I always sneak over to watch them show and see old friends), great food, lots of walking (but who doesn't need the exercise?). Ahh, sigh. Maybe one of these days I'll get back there. Plus, my parents always come up to meet us when we are there. The winter before Josh and I were married, we took the cattle to Denver. Wow, that was a lot of work, but I loved it. I don't get to help as much these days unless one of the guys is away, but I have always loved working with the cattle.

I photographed our friend Baby S again this morning. He's two weeks today. He and his family are leaving on vacation, so I wanted to go back and get some more of just him (I did a family session last Saturday) because I'm sure he'll change so much by the time they get back. It was funny seeing J next to him-he's so big! And looking more like a toddler than a baby.

Speaking of J, I think it's safe to say he's walking now. It's not totally official. But he's taking lots of steps at a time and is trying to walk more and more all the time. I have a little surprise to put up here soon.

Carla, Mich and Matt came up for dinner last night. Mich watched the kids yesterday for me. I love sharing meals with people. No big deal, just getting together for an evening. I hope to do it more in 2010.

The weather is gloomy today. It's rained all morning. Yuck! I'm ready for spring, but that would mean yard work. Not ready for that. :0) I guess I should be thankful for the moisture though.

My three-year-old is asserting her independence, so I better go.

A little more Christmas

After opening presents at our house, watching movies and playing together on Christmas Day, we went to Mark and Carla's for dinner and to hang out with family.




Jayten had figured out how to rip the paper



Mackenzie got a new holiday dress-up doll.



Emma loves her new scarf and monkey blanket from Aunt Michelle



The girls boxing on the Wii. It was so fun watching them. They really get into it.



Carla has a neat collection of nesting dolls and J was all over them.

We went to Josh's Mom's for a few hours on Christmas Eve.



Jayten with his Great Grandma Ellen



One of our many attempts at a cousins Christmas photo



Jayten standing all by himself



Opening pjs from Nana





Jayten and his first stocking from Nana



Me and my girls



Me and my little man