2.06.2011

latest and greatest

time just keeps slipping away! it's already february and i haven't posted at all. part of the problem is that my MYBOOK (external hard drive with ALL of my photos) is on the fritz, and I can't access them. I hate posting without photos, so I just haven't. however, i'm realizing now that it's better to have something up rather than nothing, so here i am. hopefully i can add photos to this later down the road, when the MyBook is fixed.

November - my birthday was a lot of fun! my wonderful friends took me to see the So You Think You Can Dance show live (on tour) and we had a great time! We picknicked in the parking lot before hand and enjoyed a very fun show. We also spend Thanksgiving down south, which was, as always, busy and a total blast. i spent a fun day shopping with mom, spent some time with my sisters, and had lots of good conversations with poppo. the trip was not long enough, as per usual, but at least i knew that the christmas visit was coming quickly.

December - we barreled through the month and ended up at dad's for christmas. we had such an amazing time. the kids put on their annual christmas show complete with singing and dancing. we even had a harry potter themed show. the kids were amazing. everyone but annabelle was very involved in making it happen, including 3 year-old ava! speaking of ava, we celebrated her 4th birthday on new year's eve, and then celebrated annika's 6th birthday on january 3rd. we also had a twilight movie fun night with our cousin sheila (don't ask) and a very entertaining new year's eve party with some friends.

January - back to school and work, keeping busy, but the most exciting part about this month is that jacob learned to ride his bike without training wheels!!!! he picked up on it so quickly, like it just finally clicked, and within days he was able to start himself, wheel around every obstacle, and have a great time biking around with some of his friends that have been off trainers for a while. we are SO proud of him and let him choose a bell for getting rid of those trainers. now he loves to ride and even went around the 2 mile loop at the sports park on saturday without complaint! he's awesome!

both kids are just amazing. jake is also mastering writing and has been doing SO much reading. it amazes me how he just picked it up and can decode almost any word now! it is very mood-dependent, however, so some days are better than others, but overall he is just running away with words and stories.

annabelle is amazing us with her ability to use pretty much every word in the english language appropriately, and even comes up with some pretty funny stuff herself. her latest thing is to make sure everyone is happy so she is often, at 2 years old, asking me, "Mama, are you happy?" or, better yet, "Mama, are you fuss-tated?" she's very concerned with everyone's well-being. she'll even ask the cat!

life is good and i'm grateful that ben and i are both working, though we hardly see each other during the week anymore, between his regular job and his teaching assistant job at the apprenticeship hall, and my regular job, tutoring center job and private tutoring job. things are really busy but i know it's for good reason and, come summer, things will slow down (in that realm) significantly.

for now we look forward to a visit from steph, healthy, happy babies from pregnant friends, and continued health and happiness! (i am feeling not unlike a christmas card letter ... noooo!!!)

:)