not one...not two...but three!

Jonas is officially cutting teeth! Although, who would guess from that adorable smile?!? He has three teeth starting to emerge - bottom row in the middle. It's amazing how his little smile and bright eyes can change my whole outlook on life. He is truly a gift from God and we are so blessed to be his parents. He is changing everyday it seems! Some recent developments: his mobility, sitting up and moving to crawling position and vice versa, scooting backwards or any way he can, reaching and grabbing anything he can get his hands on and then shoving it in his mouth, throwing his pacy out of the crib, "talking" and "singing" (he loves music), splashing and diving all around in the bathtub (throwing toys out and trying to get them), cracking up, trying to grab the spoon out of our hand while he is eating (usually resulting in a big mess), giving open-mouthed kisses and trying to get the dog. We have so much fun with this little guy and we love him so much!

our new addition

Sorry this picture is not very clear - it is a picture of our first ultra sound for baby number two. Our camera was having a hard time trying to focus the blurry image. Hopefully, we will get some better pictures when we find out the gender - in about a month. This little one was quite a surprise! It was so amazing to see and hear its tiny heart beating at 8 weeks. We are very excited and are looking forward to him/her coming around Feb. 21!

getting crafty!

I had seen this project before and decided it was my turn to make it. First, I bought some silk flowers, pens, and floral tape. I used my wire cutters to cut all the flowers off the main stem and wrapped the floral tape around the flower and the pen together. I will leave the caps off and stick them in a pen cup on my table at school. My students will get to use a flower pen when they are working on their writing during our small group reading time. Hopefully, they will think it is as fun as I do...

the intruder

This past Saturday night our little Pomeranian, Bailey, was out in the front yard (it's fenced) barking his little head off at something...which is not unusual. Bailey is very loyal to let us know about any person, animal, or leaf that might pass by our house...which is unfortunate for us - since we live on a very busy street. So I went outside to see what our little Pomeranian was "protecting" us from on this particular night. Well it happened to be another little dog (even smaller and yappier (if that is a word) than Bailey). This dog was right up at the fence and they were having a yapping war with neither one about to give up any time soon. So I went out and scooped up Bailey and brought him inside. "End of story", I thought. I was wrong!
We came home from church the next afternoon and the little yappy dog was not standing at the fence barking...it was standing on our front porch! I couldn't believe it! Mallory promptly went outside and gently tossed the little yapper out of our yard. "End of story", he thought. Guess what!?!? He was wrong! That little dog has some perseverance. It came back time and time again no matter how many places Mallory put bricks so it couldn't wiggle it's way back under the fence.
Ok so now we have TWO yappy dogs "protecting" us. By the end of the night I couldn't take it any more! Just when I thought we were going to drop the little thing off on some other street to "protect" somebody else or call some county service to come and get it...the owner's of the little yapper show up! Apparently, BeBe (yapper's real name) is an inside dog who lives at the other end of our street. Hallelujah! I couldn't believe the wonderful timing - just as I had had enough - they show up and haul the little thing off. "Finally! End of story", Mallory and I thought. We were wrong!
The next morning I wake up bright and early and let Bailey outside. Guess who is waiting on our front porch!?!? I was SO agitated! I stomped into the bedroom and woke Mallory up to let him know that yapper was back. He said, "Uh huh. He came back last night." I couldn't believe our bad luck! How did he get out of his house that fast?
So on and on during this week little yapper would come and go at his leisure. I haven't seen him today...however, I am not about to think this is the end of the story.

The Prophetess Anna and other family members

So my Grandma has gotten herself a job...she just turned 81 last month and loves going to work everyday. What can an 81 year old do? Well, if it is my Grandma...she can work at the Holyland Experience in Orlando, FL and play a character...hence, the Prophetess Anna. She LOVES her job! She has memorized all kinds of lines and stays in character all day. This is a perfect job for her - you see, way back in the olden days, before she met my Grandad, she was training to become a nun! Lucky for me - she married my Grandad instead!
She came over to my dad's house after work all dressed in her Anna garb.Here is Colin enjoying another birthday party. He is starting to get the hang of it by now. He says, "Pesents!" He thoroughly enjoyed everyone singing to him and he kept shouting "Happy!" during the birthday song. He had not, however, gotten the hang of blowing out the candle since he tried to touch the fire. My favorite part was when he stuck his finger in the icing and promptly wiped it on my sister's pants! Oops! :)
Oh, I almost forgot! So we were at my dad's and his fiance's house - which is not exactly baby proofed! See the lovely glass china cabinet behind Colin...the one with all the wine glasses in it...yea...well...imagine a 2 year old climbing into it! Oh my! Now we are talkin' about some good times (and that is only one of many incidences throughout our time there).