Certified Cute Baby!

I entered a photo of Lacey in a cute baby contest at our local Walmart a couple weeks ago. Voting was last week. There were only 10 entries, 6 categories to vote on, and 4 "first prize" winners. I would love someone to explain to me the logic in all that but nonetheless . . . she won a first prize!! I had no clue what the prize would be when I entered her but it really didn't matter to me. I just wanted to show off my cute baby. :) She won a few fun spring toys and some balloons including one that was easily twice her size.




I think her siblings have had more fun than her playing with the new toys (well, more like fighting over them) but she's still enjoying figuring things out.

Slip Sliding Away

Jossy has been asking for ice skates since before Christmas. The strange part about that is she's never been ice skating, yet she assures us that she knows how to skate . . . because she's watched Barbie do it in a movie. Uh huh, sure you know how. So we've been planning on taking her so that she could see what it's like to REALLY ice skate, hoping she'd noticed it was a bit more difficult than sliding in her socks on the wood floor.

We finally got around to visiting the Rec Center near Grandma's house about a week ago. She was nice enough to keep Lacey home with her since we knew the "big" kids would need our help a lot. Yeah, they needed help alright. Jossy got about 5 steps out and said she was ready to go home. I refused to pay for just 2 minutes on the ice, so I made her keep going and found her a little "walker" to help her. I LOVE her face here!! LOL


Matty had a complete meltdown within 15 minutes because he was sick of falling and was sad that he couldn't go fast or do tricks like other kids. I kept reminding him that those kids weren't out there skating for the first time. Dan and I praised them a ton every time they fell down saying how proud we were of them and how much better they were getting. About 25 minutes in, they got good enough to at least hold the wall instead of us.


Dan and I took advantage of their needing to rest frequently by going out and skating a round or two without them when we could. That was my favorite part. I haven't skated since I was pregnant with Matty but it's amazing how quickly it came back. And skating holding hands with my man makes it even more fun.

To our complete shock and delight, by the end of the hour BOTH kids were able to skate on their own!!! Matty even was able to go backwards a bit! There were still many falls, but we are so proud of them.


We had a wonderful time as a family (once the tears and meltdowns were over) and hope to go again soon! I've noticed Jossy isn't asking for those ice skates any more, at least for now. :)

10 Months

I'm starting to dread these monthly posts because it means my baby is growing up no matter how hard I try to freeze time. :(

I don't even know the things she's accomplished since last month without going back and reading, but as she's unpacking my camera bag right now I think I won't take the time so I'll have to guess. She's crawling like a speed demon, cruising easily on furniture, lets go to stand for a brief second, climbs over anyone laying on the floor, loves to play peek-a-boo with her blanket, thinks her siblings are super funny, and LOVES to get into anything she shouldn't. Really, it's like an evil gift. If a bathroom door is left open, she can sense it and immediately makes a beeline for the toilet. If there's some old food stuck under the couch for the last week, no worries because she'll find it and promptly stick it in her mouth. I find myself wishing more and more that we had a dog so it could get to crumbs before she does.

Exhibit A: Destruction of the Coupons

I love so much about her like the way her hair curls just in the back around her ears. I love her soft cheeks that get a hundred kisses a day. I love her dark brown eyes, her long eye lashes, and her olive skin tone. I love how she squeals with delight when she's picked up after she's been whining for it. I love how excited she gets to see Daddy come home. I semi-love how she can't stand socks on and has lost more than one in a store from throwing them overboard when Mom wasn't looking. I love her tiny little frame and her sweet smile. She's such a blessing to our family.

The Year of Tens

(First of all, THANK YOU for all the comments on the last post. Really, I appreciate them so much.)

This year in our marriage has had a little extra celebration involved because it's our tenth year anniversary for everything (except first meeting.) Our first date was to a school dance December 15, 2001. Unknown to Dan, I planned a little special lunch date for us to commemorate that day. (I just haven't gotten around to pulling the pics off his phone til now.) I made him a boutonniere just as I did for our first date. I went to his work at lunch time, pinned the boutonniere on him and kidnapped him for lunch. We went to the closest Chinese restaurant since we had Chinese on that first date, and after several hints he finally figured out what we were celebrating. We had a great time together that day.



I will say though, I don't quite remember having 2 other girls tagging along so closely on that first date.



We've passed the 10th year mark for our getting together, our first breakup, our first makeup, holding hands, first kiss, and meeting the parents. The end of this month will mark our engagement, and then our wedding anniversary is the end of May. Ever since our 5th anniversary we've talked about going to Hawaii for the big 10th. We're still hoping to make that happen, but the cost of plane tickets is killing me. No matter what, we'll be happy to get away together with no kids for a bit.

Blah Blah Blah

-You may have noticed I've been absent. Or not. My last 3 posts got no more than 2 comments each even after weeks. It bummed me out a bit to be honest because I thought they were some fun pictures. But I have to say my past college roommates are the best because they're the ones who commented. (Thanks Sandi, Danica, Rachel, and Lisa!!) I'd love to say I don't need comments, but um . . . sometimes I do. When you spend your days at home sometimes with no adult interaction all day, it's just nice to have some validation that what you think or do matters, you know? Sorry if that's wrong of me to want that. I worry that I've gotten boring or say the same things over and over. Too many cute baby pics perhaps? Who knows.

-I apologize to each and every friend I have with a private blog. I'm HORRIBLE at remembering to check those because I use Google Reader for everyone else.

-We got our tax refund this week. It's the earliest I've ever finished our taxes. My bank account is feeling much better now.

-Dan and I made some weight loss goals to hit before our anniversary this year (more to come on that another time.) It's a simple 1 pound a week goal. It's been almost 6 weeks and I've lost 7.5 lbs so far. Slow and steady . . .

-I'm not a big Valentine's Day person, but we celebrated some with the kids over a candlelight dinner of pink heart-shaped chocolate pancakes with petals around and some pink streamers. The kids thought it was awesome.

- We thought we'd see if Lacey would crawl in our tunnels one day. She did it but probably would've played more if big sister Jossy wasn't constantly trying to go down the same tunnel at the same time, too often squishing little Lacey.

- I'm tired. Really really tired. Working out every day, sometimes twice a day, is wearing me out. Well, it's probably the kids that are wearing me out, so I guess I take that back.

- I've tried a Zumba class twice now at my church. Um, wow. It's a challenge.

- Dan and I got a glimpse of the future the other day.

-Jossy started ballet in the last few weeks. She's always loved dancing, and I wanted to put her in something that may help her get over her ridiculous shyness around others. She LOVES her class and is always asking how many more days til she can go again. Watching the smile on her face when she dances is a highlight of my week every time!

-I love it when my baby changes a setting on my phone that I can't figure out how to undo. It's lovely.

- I hate feeling jealous. I wish it was an emotion I never had.

- I started planning out a whole month of dinners at a time to see if it will help with the grocery bill. It hasn't been long enough to really tell if it's helped in that way or not, but I and my family LOVE not having to wonder what's for dinner every night. I've mixed in easy, inexpensive favorites with new ones to try. The crockpot is used at least once a week. It took some time to get myself organized enough to do this, but so far I love it! I had wanted to do it for a long time but was looking for some cute/fancy way. A blank calendar and a pencil may not be cute, but it's better than never doing it at all which is where I was headed.

- We got a killer deal on a Kindle Fire a couple weeks ago. My kids just want it for angry birds and free Dora shows.

- Do I ignore Matty too much on the blog? I worry sometimes that I do. I guess where he's at school so often it's easier to focus on the other two at home. I have to say 6 is my favorite age with him so far. He can be so helpful and compassionate. I love him!

- I've had this written on my mirror for weeks. Every time I look in the mirror, it's there to remind me. Yep, sometimes I need that reminder. It actually helps a lot on bad days.

-We've been down to one car this last week, which is always loads of fun. Dan's keeps dying because of a problem with his O2 sensor. It's finally getting fixed today along with the horrible oil and transmission fluid leaks it's had for about 8 years. He's VERY happy that after today he'll be allowed to park in driveways again without leaving anything behind.

- You gotta love after-church-rooster-comb hair.