Cute kiddos

So we got Ethan this magna-doodle for Christmas and I cannot tell you how much he loves it. Best gift idea ever. No mess and hours of entertainment! So he has always loved balloons, and his favorite thing to ask me to draw is a balloon. The other day I found him sitting on the couch making his own 'boons'! It was so cute.




Also I made a headband for Leah, and I think she likes it. I always find so many cute things on etsy, but do not want to spend 15-30 dollars on a headband! I ended up combining a few ideas I saw online and made my own. It makes my little bald baby a wee bit more girly.

Ethan's alphabet

Ethan has become really interested in letters in the last few weeks. I saw these flashcards at target for a dollar and I thought he would have fun looking at the pictures and letters. It turns out he really likes them, and between them, Sesame Street, and Wheel of Fortune he has learned all of his letters. Pretty cute!

House!

Of course I would be a slacker right after I exclaim that I'm blogging so much. But we've been busy; we just bought a HOUSE! It is not the one I talked about in the last post, they took another offer. I was initially very disappointed, but I feel really good about this new one. We do not close until the end of April, and it has not yet been inspected, but it is in great shape, so unless something really bizarre happens I think it's ours!

It's a cute brick house, 3 bed, 2 bath and a big garage. It's pretty outdated, it needs new carpet and there is wallpaper in all the bedrooms, but it is immaculate. And it has a groovy green stove in the kitchen that is original to the house, but looks brand new. (We'll see how well it works) It also has a basement that is unfinished, but is very finishable and clean. And it has all new windows. It's really the perfect amount of work for us, because we did want a project, but we don't really have the time or the know-how to do a major renovation. Anyway, we're excited!

I will add more pictures later, and will hopefully be doing several BEFORE/AFTER posts in the next year.

Holy cow I'm blogging so much!

Know why? Cause both my babies go to bed at 8:00! Hallelujah! And Leah is napping better during the day too. It has opened a whole new world. (Leah used to go to bed at 11:00). And now Ross is gone again Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday until 10:00pm. So I've got a lot more time on my hands.

So we've got some exciting news! Ross just got hired as an auditor for computer systems, working for the OIG. (Office of Inspector General). Turns out government jobs are pretty great! He gets to go to Washington, D.C. on occasion as well, and his first excursion is next week! And probably again a week after that! How lucky is that? For him anyway. Kinda stinks for me. So we're really excited to have a 'real' job. But the bummer is he is still going to school full time, which is why I don't see him at all during the first part of the week.

Also equally exciting: because Ross has a good job, and because we want to take advantage of the tax credit, we have been in the market for a house. And... we put in an offer on one we love! It is a 'short-sale', which means its on the road to forclosure, and it can take up to 45 days to hear what their response is. It kinda needs a lot of work, but it has great potential and lots of room. I've become far too attached already I know, especially cause I'm thinking the odds are about 50/50 that they'll accept our offer. I guess there is no opportunity to counter either, since the bank is in charge. I'm trying to remind myself that if they don't accept it, it is not the house for us.

In other news, Leah found her toes!

(p.s. I think baby legwarmers are super cute)

Man, she is such a cute little peanut. She has become such a content and happy little baby. Ethan on the other hand. He has come full swing into his tantrum-throwing toddlerhood. Holy cow. I have to prepare myself for at least one melt-down a day. Some are worse than others. I have found that if I give him a REALLY long time to prepare himself, like starting to tell him that it's time to go 20 minutes before we actually go, or saying it's time for bed soon when he still has 30 minutes before bedtime, that helps. Or tricking him into thinking something is his idea. That works too sometimes. He's been sick lately so his tantrums have multiplied in intensity and frequency. That is tough to take. It's hard to know what is normal behavior, and what is a result of mediocre parenting. Ah well. Still love him lots.

This guy

So I've talked a lot about Sam here, cause he was serving a mission and all, but I don't want to neglect my youngest brother Will.

I don't think he wanted me to blog about him, but oh well! My dad already said some of this stuff in a family email, but I'll repeat it here. So he's a little smarty pants. He loves anything to do with electronics and computers. When Sprint announced their new phone 'Pre' (Sprint's answer to Apple's IPhone), Will immediately started learning about it, researching it, and eventually hosted a forum on the Pre. His reputation as the "Pre expert" grew and eventually reached the ears of O'reilly publishers, a CA company that puts out how-to manuals on stuff like how to code, understanding operating systems, etc- a sort of understanding geeky stuff for dummies. Anyway, O'reilly approached Will and asked him to be a technical reviewer for their new Sprint Pre manual. And, they'd pay him! So for a couple weeks, they would email him sections of the book, he'd review, make changes/comments and send them back. The finished manual was sent to them and my dad scanned a couple of pages:


Will is also currently working on a couple of app's for the phone, including a free game he programmed and designed called 'Countdown' and it's already had 14,000 downloads!

Sheesh! 15 yrs old too. Smarty pants, smarty pants. I can't believe he's old enough to be driving, and soon to be dating! Holy crap!

Also, he's a great uncle. Ethan loves him and I'm sure Leah will someday too. I miss living so close to my family. But I won't complain about a 2 hour drive. Some people have it much worse.

Deja vu?

I'm hoping to do something like this with each of my kids and then hang up all the pictures next to each other. Leah is very smiley, but you would not know it looking at most of the photos I take. She gets so curious about the big black thing in front of my face it's hard to keep the smile there long enough to capture it. Such a sweet girl! And love those cheeks!



Here are Ethan's.

Family (minus the babe) pictures

I really wanted to get a family picture one last time before Leah was born, and my dad happily obliged. He's so great! I had forgotten about these until I found the cd buried in my desk drawer. I love them so much! So here are a select few.