Move In Day

Lauren moved the rest of her stuff over this last weekend and she is officially living with us now.
Welcome Bob! C decided Lauren's new nickname is Bob.  I don't think Lauren is real fond of her new name though, so we  might have to work on pronouncing Lauren and convince C to stop calling her Bob.  Lauren/Bob either way we're happy to have you here.  Aunt Frann drove over with Lauren to help get her settled in.

 all these fun new accessories to check out!

 Lauren decided to make part of the play room in the basement into her bedroom, instead of using our guest room.  So, the girls all went shopping to buy some shelves, drawers and bedroom storage stuff.  We got home and headed downstairs to put everything together.  J was at the top of the stairs spying and laughing at us.

 After he got done laughing he came down the stairs and took over putting everything together.

 Story time with Aunt Frann.  C is really into Thomas the Train right now.  His favorite PJ's are his Thomas one's in the first pictures and his favorite books are the Thomas books Frann is reading here.

 Aunt Frann had never seen Finding Nemo before... so C was happy to change that!

cuddle time with Aunt Frann before she had to leave

*  smooches! *

Child abuse

I am a sad victim of child abuse.

Yes, my child abuses me!

I knew this day would come... last night C and I were snuggling on the couch together before bed time.  He leaned forward to grab a blanket and then attempted to throw himself backwards onto the pillow that we were sharing, but instead of the pillow he threw his head directly on my face.  I figured raising a boy it was only a matter of time before I got my first shiner.  He actually whacked me in the nose with a baseball bat this last summer.  I thought for sure that would give me a black eye, but luckily the hard plastic bat didn't do any damage.   C got a left black eye Dec. 3, 2009.  Now I have a left black eye Jan. 20, 2011.  Looks like J is due for his left black eye Feb. 2013.  Watch out daddy! 
Lauren, you might want to bring a helmet with you.  Initiation into this family is rough!

Why is C wearing red lip stick?

Might be something your asking...  

well, because pink would just be silly!  

We decided to make some Valentine cards for the Grandparents and send them kisses of course.

 Red lip stick, check!  Kisses on paper for Grandma and Grandpa, check! Blackmail pictures for when C's a teenager, check!

 The finishing touch to our Valentine cards...  a perfect kiss from C

 with squiggly arms for a big bear hug too!

When you can't see the one's you love on holidays... send em' a big hug and kiss instead!

Oh me Oh my!

Superman, Nemo, Cars, Toy Story and Wall-E...
Oh the wonderful undies we have to choose!  Bye Bye diapers.  C has been officially potty trained for a couple weeks now.  He was really close before Thanksgiving, but now we can say he is 100%!  
What a big boy at 2 1/2!!  Showing off his Wall-E Big Boy undies.  We're proud of you big guy!

 This is how we get hair cuts around here.  Well, for C and J anyway.  Dad does a great job cutting C's hair... and it's free (and better than the professional hair cuts because C likes dad cutting his hair so he holds still). 
I believe C is modeling his Car's undies in this picture.

And then there were 4

We adopted a 20 year old!  Well, not really.  J's niece, Lauren is moving in with us.  She's going to be starting college this Spring to be a dental hygienist. 

 C got right to work helping set up her bed.

Bee Butt's and Butterfly tongues

Do you ever wonder what a Bee stinger looks like?  Or how long a Butterfly tongue is?  My friend, Lisa and I took 5 microscopes and 1 dissecting scope to Lincoln Heights Elementary school today, along with our Microbiology instructor.  We showed a group of 2nd graders some bee stingers, bee leg, butterfly tongue, butterfly wing, goldfish scales and a blood smear.  The kids loved it!  The girls especially loved the butterfly slides.  We had fun and it was a great way to get kids excited about science!

Butterfly tongue

  

Butterfly wing

 

  Bee stinger

 Bee leg

All Aboard

Our dinning room has been turned into Grand Central Station!  Thank you Zaborac's for the Thomas train set.  C loves it!  And since he's been doing such a good job at potty training... I think I might have to buy him a few more add-on's for his Thomas Train set as a surprise.

 the conductor himself posing for a quick picture.

Not my typical lengthy post.  Sorry.  Can you tell I'm back in school after our break?  It's been keeping me busy.  I took 6 of the 7 quizzes and tests for my blood-borne pathogens class last week (the first week of Winter quarter).  Yeah!  One more to go and I'm done with that class.  Then I can focus more attention on Microbiology, which so far is very time consuming with loads of homework!

Sledding with Max

Our neighbor, Vicki came over with her grandson, Max today.  So, the two boys went sledding together.

 Vicki pulling Max over to the park

 C dragging his hand in the snow as I pulled him

 a Max snow angel

 the boys holding hands after playing on the swings

 going down the hill together.  It's always more fun with a buddy!

 Vicki pulling the boys

We had fun.  Vicki and I got a workout pulling the boys around.  C loves spending time with his buddy, Max.  Plus we saw more deer tracks.  We have a group of deer that wonder through our development.  We see them in this field below the park all the time.  A few years ago we actually saw them walking down the middle of our street right in front of our house.  Crazy!  One of the perks to living in a small town in the country.

New Years Eve

We spent New Years Eve at Staci and Tony's house.  Staci's boys... Tony and Rocco

 Jenna and Jeremy

 Aunt Staci and Lil' C

 C's best buddy, Rocco

 pre-midnight kiss with Rocco

 snuggle time with Auntie

 and chillin' with Uncle Tony

 cozy in bed watching his Car's movie... with Rocco of course

 desert and game time!

 midnight kiss with my love.  Here's to another incredible year honey!

 Tony's midnight kiss.  

Thanks for a wonderful New Years Eve!  Great food, tasty drinks, amazing friends, hilarious games and endless amounts of love and laughter.  What a perfect way to end the year and start anew.

My new years resolution?  

Spend more time with friends and family... 

love and laugh more each day... 

and to live life with no regrets!

 We spent the night and got treated to coffee and breakfast New Years Day.  Lil' C enjoying his coffee (hot cocoa) in his PJ's. I think he's giving me his "enough pictures mom" look here...