Joanna turned 11 months old yesterday she seems to small to be almost a year old.  She took her first steps 5 time she took 1-2 steps and was very thrilled so thrilled she started on a clapping spree.  She has clapped for us before but she really claps now especially if you say yea!! It doesnt stop there she also used a spoon yestday to feed herself some cottage cheese.  So there you have it Joanna seems to feel that you should go big or go home and she was ready to accomplish some tuff stuff yesterday. 

                                                 What a wonderful Christmas this will be!

Savor the moments

      Christmas is almost here I think I was too prepared.  I have all my shopping done which was easy because Mike's work is slow so the budjet was tight. My brother is hosting Christmas Eve and my Mother Christmas so I wont have to cook much.  Yet I'm still anxious because I have nothing to keep me busy in the mean time.  Just trying to keep on with the daily schedule with the kids and enjoy time with them.

       For instance this morning I realized it's really time to move my baking items to a higher shelf in the pantry.  Everytime I open that door I have two kids trying to wiggle past me.  This morning while getting Joseph cereal he squeezed past me and ended up having shredded wheat with marshmellows and sprinkles.  I usually give them pretty balanced meals but he will only be 2 once and I want it to be special.

Christmas card

My Mother-in-Law Melinda had us fill out a favorites list to use in her Christmas card in leu of a Christmas letter so I though it would be fun to post our answers on here as well:

FOOD:
Joseph fruit snacks from costco,we're trying to week him off
Joanna food baked sweet potato and venison stew once she ate more stew than Mike
Mommy...food..coffee......
Mike Prime Rib

SONG:
Joseph lol..so cute he loves the Hokey Pokey
Joanna Patty Cake
Mom..Twinkle Twinkle because joseph sings along to the whole thing but can't quite pronounce the words and he overly drags out the r in starrr
Mike Danny's Song

PLACE:
Joseph Shopping even if it's just to get groceries he is a caracter and people in public are his audience if he senses that we're headed home after the gym he gets upset and says"no home mommy shopping! "
Joanna Loves home she is free to crawl.climb.rumage.wander ect
Mom My bed right before the day starts joseph climbs in bed with me every morning still groggy and cuddles with me
Mike 12,000 ft in Colorado Wilderness

HOBBIES
Joseph Coloring usually fish that don't look like fish kites or really big circles!
Joanna Joseph..no really she follows him climbs on him copies him she thinks he is amazing
Mom Everything, most recently photography
Mike Hunting

SAYING
Joseph " One more"
Joanna " What's that? " with her chubby finger pointed at something
Mom "Last one"
Mike "Whatever"

ACCOMPLISHMENT
Joseph Steering his trike, before he wouldn't steer just peddle and peddle until he ran into an object then yell" mom, I stuck!"
Joanna is 10 months old so it's something new each week this week standing for 30 seconds and counting and talking
Mom Creating two amazing children of course
Mike Shooting first bull elk

MOVIE/TV
Joseph Loves anything on disney diego Mickey mouse ect
Joannas Favorite book is any that double as a teether
Moms Favorite film Pretty Women will never get old as a kid I didn't realize she was a hooker as a teen I wanted those boots as a 20 something I wanted that knight in shining armor and as a mom I realize that just when you think you have it all figured out life happens...and now I wish I could pull off those boots
Mike American Pickers..If my wife wasnt a habitual organizer we'd be horders

Oh Christmas Tree

Joseph is having a sleep over at Grandma's tonight.  She had all the little kids over to decorate the tree and play.  Cant wait to hear all about the fun they had!.

Sunny December Day

time is a tickin'...

Joanna is almost 12 months old awww! She points at things and says "what's that?"  I'm convinced she is going to walk anytime now.  Several times a day I look over at her and she is just standing there not holding on to a single thing.  I literaly cannot belive how fast she has grown.  She had a fever this week and after talking to the pediatric nurse I realized I had given her a Tylenol dose for a 6 month old. 

Joseph has the temper of a 2 year old but the personality of a 4 year old.  Im amazed at the things he says.  He makes up random stories about things he did.  Today he told a story of how he went to Grandpa's house and waited out in his work shop for the snow to come because thats where you can hear it coming.  We have imaginary battles with pirates that magically turn into monsters.  His imagination has gone wild everything serves a purpose...a pen is a snake a lid is a plate of cookies.  Everyday he has a new phrase today our new kitten was hidding from him and he said "Hey! Whats the big idea?" This week he told me "I  two Jonana one" When I asked how old mommy was he said "too old"

Grandma Candy

My mother honestly does not dish out that much candy to Joseph and neither do I. (mostly for my sanity) Joseph however has recently connected my mother with candy.  She used to be Jane, then she was Grandma and Joseph has renamed her Grandma Candy. He says it just like that.  I was sitting on the floor with the kids today playing telephone with Joseph and he put the phone to Joanna's ear then mine then his.  He started out telling us to say "hi Grandma" Then he remembered...he put the phone to Joanna's ear and told her "Jonana, (not a typo he says it like banana) say hi Grandma, Candy"  She better make a trip to the Farmers Market stat!!

Flower Child

I just have  to say how much I love it when Joseph picks me flowers.  Someday they will be picked with long stems, neatly arranged.  But I love it when he decides on his own to pick mama some flowers and I get handed the balled up flower heads with some grass that he has been packing around the yard.  He is such a lover.  Im sure that by next summer he will be teaching Joanna the tricks of the trade :).   

Missing the sun already!

We flew out of Nashville yesterday at 5:30pm and arrived in Portland at 11:30pm and stayed at Shannon's place to get some zzz because Im still trying to adjust to the 3 hour time difference.  I missed the kids soo much and couldnt wait to get home to hold them.  It was 90 and sunny when we left, it was so nice I forgot how this rainy weather can drag you down. 
When I walked in the door Joanna flashed me that to die for smile that makes you wish she was old enough to scoop up and squeeze and Joseph ran over and gave me a huge hug,then Grandma when she came in. I was quickly reminded of how well Joseph can communicate his wants.  After the niceties he kept asking Grandma "Go to truck, catch fish?" " I wanna catch big fish" "go fishin?"  
Joseph went fishing with Mike, Papa, uncle Jason, Kam, Dalton and Trystan on Saturday and caught two trout.  Papa said he was holding a fish Joseph had caught so he could touch it.  Joseph moved forward with caution and just as he touched the tail it flopped in his hand and Joseph jumped back about two feet, it seems he is getting older and  has learned to not jump with both feet unless its off the coffee table.
How did I ever manage without a digital camera?  I have about 300 pictures and videos from Nashville.  Had it been 35mm I would have looked like someone on Safari.  I cant wait to share them but first I must do all the dredded unpacking and laundry that follows a nice vacation.

Ready Or Not Here We Come!

Mom and I are leaving for Nashville tonight, our plane leaves Portland at 8:30pm.  I got my eylashed tinted last night for the first time and I love it!.  It looks like Im wearing mascara so now I dont have to worry about running makeup.  My bag is almost packed but I still dont know how Im going to cope being away from the kids for 5 days!!!.  Joseph will be having lots of fun with Papa and Dad so he might not even notice Im gone but my sweet little Joanna is so young I feel kindda bad leaving her.  I loaded up my digital photo keychain with lots of pictures of them for a little comfort. 

Joseph used the potty 3 times yesterday to go #2 and even though one of those ended up on the carpet he was pretty excited so this morning we have him in cotton big boy undies.  He did try to go potty once so far when we werent looking.  He sat right down and went pee on the toilet but forgot to pull his undies down so he had good intentions but were on to the second pair so far.  Lucky I bought like 20 pairs on Amazon!.

Finally some sun!!

Oh boy what a day I took the kids to Elijah Bristow Park last minute and in the rush forgot to pack Joseph shoes so I let him run around in his sockies.  The ground was soaked from all this rain in June so he had so much fun digging around in all of the dirt mounds from the moles.  He was mixing in grass and flowers and making his own little recipes.   I passed on the insistant invite to join him and participated as a cheeleader and spectator.  We also found a woodpecker on a tree and became its devout followers from tree to tree.  Its so nice to have some real summer weather!

The first blog!

Its been a busy year so far, I cannot belive its June!. We had baby Joanna Jan 21th so she is just over 4 months old now.  She is such a happy baby always smilling, especially at her big brother Joseph who is always entertaining her.  We have to drag him off of her because he is always giving her kisses and hugs.

We kicked off our long list of summer trips with a stay at Black Butte Ranch over east.  It was my birthday present from mom and dad.  Joseph had so much fun he got to feed horses and chipmunks and when he wasnt feeding them he was collecting grass and food for them.  We went to the Old Mill Disrict in bend and watched them fill up a hot air balloon at night which was so beautiful.  Joseph now wants a "big balloon"  I told him to tell Papa thats what he wanted for Christmas :).

Our next trip will be to Nashville this coming Friday through Tuesday.  Mom won a trip to Fan Fare for two and asked me to come along.  We are going to go honky tonkin and see all of the sites.  I can hardly wait!.  Mike will be staying home with the kids, bless his heart but lots of people have offered to babysit for him so he may be on vacation himself.