Little Catch Up

I haven't put too many pictures on here lately so you are about to get bombarded!! Our little walker is finally walking. She hardly crawls at all. She is actually getting pretty fast too. It is so cute to see her little feet and legs going as fast as she can get them. Of course now that she can walk, that is all she wants to do. Church is more difficult now. I am trying not to spend too much time out in the hall but she just wants to go!! This past Sunday when BJ went to get Max from nursery the teacher handed him a smashed up ball of paper and said,"This is Max's Chain." It was so funny. He smashes all paper now. I guess it is a phase. I also caught our daddy playing guns with Max the other night.



Max is enjoying all his new toys. We went out after Christmas and got him a box set of Frosty the snowman movies for 2 bucks!! He loves Frosty. So as of lately we watch a lot of Wall-e, Kung Fu Panka, and Frosty a no-man and Star Wars on the Cartoon Network. Lucie is the parallel stage right now and the kids do that well together. She right by Max all the time watching what he does. We do play a lot of chase now too. She is a little slower that Max but they are laughing and loving it.

We are full swing into Dollies too. Every time we go to the store Max wants to get a Star Wars and Lucie wants a doll. Crazy. It has gotten so bad that Max asks to go to Wal-mart everyday. And he says Wal-mart. He sees a commercial for Wal-mart and he knows that is Wal-mart!! Crazy.

The other day we did a little art project. We traced the kids onto paper. I colored them to look like the kids. Max drew his own eyes. He did a good job. So I think that is it for now. Here are your pictures and a video. We wish you all a great new year!!

Snow!!

So it is all sunny now and not so blizzardy, but maybe it will pick up again. Maybe we will get snow soon?? I sure hope so!!

For Grandma

Today my Mother turns one year older!! So in trying to do something nice for her, this is the best I got. Max just woke up, I think you can tell. Lucie just crumbled her up. It says "Grandma We Love You BJ, Annie, Max, and Lucie. So her you go Mom Happy Birthday!!!

A new Call

So this past Sunday I received a new calling. I was asked to serve as the Relief Society secretary. This is a new calling for me. I have always served on some kind of committee or with the kids. I am excited that I have this opportunity, I will really be able to get to know all the women in our branch. Today I also registered on the new family search website. I am looking forward to doing the genealogy for BJ's family. I am making that one of my goals for the new year. I am hoping this will give us a good start on making our lives more like Christ's. I am sure there are many more goals I want to set, Like to get everything unpacked, and to scrapbook more. But we will get to those when they come. So here is too a new year, and hopefully making my goals!!!

Just for fun

I haven't seem to be taking pictures lately, just video. So here is one of BJ rollerblading in the basement. I thought it was funny. Also here is one of Lucie doing her latest trick, blowing kisses!!

Merry Christmas

We hope you all are having a great Christmas!! We woke up bright and early to Lucie, who went back to sleep about the time Max woke up. So We woke her back up to open presents. Max doesn't have a clue who Santa is so everything was from Daddy, Mommy, and Lucie. There were a few gifts thrown in from Grandma and the rest of the gang.


Max received two movies: Wall-E and Kung Foo Panda. He also got lots of Star wars guys and much more. I think one of the favorites would be the voice changer Clone Trooper helmet. He looks pretty funny it. Edit: Aunt Stefane and Cousin Jade got Kung Fu Panda, not Grandma. Sorry.



Lucie didn't get as much. It is her first and she just isn't too into it. Plus Her birthday is in like a week!! I am so sorry sweetie. She got a Cabbage patch doll from Grandma and a push along stroller from us. Edit here too Aunt Stefane and Cousin Jade got Lucie the Cabbage Patch doll. Sorry again.

BJ well besides the house being an obvious gift we got him a desk and an Ipod. He stole mine!! So it was only appropriate that I got him his own. He loves listening to audio books on the way to work. He says they make the drive go better.

Me well I got a new house!! A new Flip Mino HD video camera. I got this way early, I also call it the late birthday present hahaha. BJ surprised me by getting the new Animal Crossing for the wii. However I guessed this one and I new about it for about week. I didn't tell BJ I new what it was.

We have been so blessed and We have had a great holiday. It is nice being in our new home and have each other. I love being able to spend our Christmas in our new home and with our little traditions. We wish you all a great New Year!!

Santa's Helpers

I transferred our family into elves. You can see all four movies right here. I think they are pretty funny.

Christmas Pretty

So the pictures I took of Lucie in her Christmas outfit did not turn out the way I would have liked them too, but here are the good ones of the kids. I also got a video of her latest talent. Although she still crawls she is getting more comfortable everyday with her walking skills.

Some New Pictures

So I was in a little bit of a picture mood the other day. I got some good pictures of the kids playing. I also got some new fingernail polish and decided to paint mine and Lucie's toes. I only got pictures of her so far. My mom went on a trip to AZ, in that trip she went to Mexico one day. She bought Lucie a cute dress and I put it on her today. So here are a lot of new pictures.


Lucies loves this little house.

Thanks Mr. Dana for the house.





Thanks Grandma for my dress.


I would rather be sleeping right now.

Star Wars

We are full swing into pretend play. Max usually picks some kind of star wars character to pretend. Tonight the boys got real into pretend play. This is what I got on the video camera.

Patti-Cake

So I know I have been posting a lot lately, but the kids are giving me more free time!!! I actually just got this video of Lucie doing patti-cake. This morning when she woke up she was doing it all on her own. We were sitting on the couch and I look over. There she was just sitting and playing. So cute!!

Shout Out

I just wanna give a little shout out for my Friend. After so many difficult things happening one right after the other she got her online store back up. She is has all her inventory 40% off right now. So if you want some cheap scrapbooking stuff go by and check it out. The ladies in the forum are so nice and inspiring too!! Good Luck KT!!!

Scraphappykt.com

The Stockings

So all my life growing up we all had matching stockings. Naturally when We got married I brought it with me. BJ didn't have a matching one at the beginning so We bought other matching ones. Then the person who made my stocking was making them again. We got one for BJ and then when Max came along We got one for him. This past week I received a package from my Grandmother. In it was a stocking with Lucie's name and an extra one with no name with yarn for a name.( it is for future children, but we aren't planning on having one in the next year:)). So now we have a family of matching stockings and it really enjoy it. The woman who makes them for my grandmother is not making them anymore. I feel really lucky that I was able to get them. This year we put them on our banister going up the stairs. We also are putting all the Christmas cards we get there too. So here is picture of our beautiful stockings.

ok ok here are some videos

My mom keeps getting on me about video of Max's room and other videos. so since she doesn't read this part and only looks at the video and pictures I thought I would tell you how much she demands video of her grand kids from me. Just about everyday I am asked where is the video. I do have a full job of raising her grand kids so I don't get to it as much as she would like me to. Sorry. Here are three videos. The last one is kind of long, but it is fun listening to Max say sponge bob "poo" pants. He can't say square very well in that sentence I guess.



Max's room. We still have a few more things to put up,
but you get the idea.


Lucie is showing us her walking skills. She just needs to let
go and do it. She gets really scared though.

Hill Billy

So last night on the history channel there was a special hosted by Billy Ray Cirrus titled,"Hill Billy". BJ decided to watch it. If we hadn't tuned in in the middle of it we would have possibly learned more. But what I did learn is that WV is the only stated has not yet abolished(??) the snake church stuff. Pretty scary stuff. Also Nascar started when a the flock brothers were trying to deliver moon shine. They supped up their car so that it could out run the cops and they could make the deliveries with out getting caught. This happened in Georgia not WV. So there ya go I am little more educated. We tuned in on a part about the coal miners and some big case that went to trial. I missed most of it though. So maybe I can catch it again and learn a little more!!!

Where have we been??

Here!!! Just a crazy week and didn't feel like blogging. On Tuesday we had all the installation guys here. We now have Satellite, phone, and Internet. Although I do the Campbell and Sutherland families for leaving their networks open for us to use. We also received a water softener that day too. I noticed there was a Culligan brochure in with all the warranty stuff of the house. Then one day they came by and asked to do a free water test. They came back when BJ was home and did their little test. I wanted it from the beginning and they sold BJ too!!! So we not have nice soft water and no spots on EVERYTHING!!! I guess that is what happens when you build your house on limestone. I guess most of the area out here is like that. The next day our phone went dead. It took the techs all day to come out and look at it to tells us that the TV guy drove his pole for the dish right through our phone lines!!! I mean come on people. So the next day they had us all fixed and we are good. We just hung our and did a little shopping then Friday the other installation guy came. He installed our surround stuff and the security system. So we are all set up. Now we just need to finish going through boxes and clean house!!! I hope this week is more productive with other things I list of things to do. Have a good week!!

Peek-a-boo

I got a video of Lucie playing peek-a-boo the other morning. Also here is a video of Max helping decorate the tree. You don't see much since I have bad video skills, but he says Merry Christmas at the end that is really cute!!!

Family Shoot

So I was attempting to get our Christmas Card photo today. I got two shots I liked. But here are some out takes. I am so glad BJ doesn't pick the picture!! We were trying to get Max to get in the picture. We was upset about his new Obi Wan guy not being able to hold a gun. Why do you need a gun when you have a lightsaber?? Here are some more pictures of Lucie I took the other day. I got a few of her cheese face. She is copying us a whole lot now.










Lucie cheesing on the floor




Cheesing at dinner

new pictures

So my plan is to make a wall in the family room with some nice pictures of us. I am going to attempt to take portraits of the all of us indivdually and then get them made into large prints and then group on one wall. We have tons of windows which make for great natural light. So here are some of the kids. Bj and I are going to be hard to get. BJ never makes a regular fave in a picture!! I always get a goofy one. For some reason whenever BJ takes a picture of I am blurry. So we will see what happens. Here are the ones of the kids.

The New Living Room

So Maw Maw wanted a better view of the living room. Grandma wanted to see the color. So here is a video that you all can enjoy. We got the couch today, it was a great find on craig's list. We really like how things have turned out. Once we find the wallpaper for Max's room and get it up I will put video of the too!!!

So Thankful

At this Thanksgiving season We are so Thankful. We have this great new house, beautiful healthy children, and so much more. We are thankful that Dan Ryan Builders worked so hard to get us in here. Dan Ryan actually paid all but 500 of our closing costs even our first year of homeowners insurance!!! It was awesome. We are so happy with our new home and Max is finally getting the idea. Today he wanted to go back to the apartment. BJ was going there to get another load of boxes so I took Max there. We told them all his toys, clothes, and Big Boy bed are at the new house. I think he gets it now. I also think it helps that we got his room painted red today. He was so excited and smiling about it. Lucie has been wanting to walk everywhere today. Of course he wants me to hold on to her hand. I think her knees are starting to hurt form the hardwood floors, My feet do. we put the kids in the jacuzzi tub tonight and got some video so we will put that on later. So Happy Thanksgiving to you all we are Thankful to have you all to read our stories!!!

The house movie

Tomorrow

Is the day!!! We will go to settlement and sign our lives away!! We will own a house again, Max has been talking about it all day. We went out and did the final of all the things we had to set up. We stopped by the house, I told Max that we are going to live there tomorrow. After that all he talked about all day was moving to the new house. We went tonight and bought paint to paint two rooms. Our realtor that helped us sell our old townhouse gave us a gift to home depot. Tomorrow I will definitely get some video and put it up here before we don't have Internet. So hopefully we can get some sleep. I have a feeling BJ might be too excited to sleep:)

The Wait

So you would think it is Christmas around here. We are all so anxiously waiting for the 26th. It is 4 days a way!!! We went to our walk through yesterday. It was like they are letting us shake the box, but not open it!! They are just teasing us. The inside of the house looks so nice. When I walk around inside it feels like it is a home I want, but is isn't mine. It is too surreal. It is so close, right at our fingertips. We still won't tv,phone,or cable for a few weeks. It is going to be reall peaceful and I should be able to unpack everything!! I met a neighbor the other day, I wanted to ask them what they did to get service and in the process have started a new friendship. They have a little boy that is 6 months old. She said we will have to get together for playdates!! A playdate people!!! I haven't really had too many of those. So we are totally excited to move into the new house. Bj already started packing the kitchen, and today he took the bed off od its frame. He wants to pack the house up so bad, but we still use too much of this stuff to pack it away. Maybe come Monday or Tuesday night he can go crazy. We will hopefully have a video or two on here next week of the house. Here is to the 4 th day gone and 3 more to go!!

photo shoot

So decided I haven't taken pictures of the kids in a long time. So here are some. Lucie started letting go of stuff today and walking. She took 13 steps. I am working on getting a video up.

She is walking to me in this one






I had to post this one. I asked him where my nose is and he decided to pick his!!

UGH!!!

I am so frustrated. I don't know why I didn't think this was going to happen. We were warned. It 1 hour one day to get no where with Comcast. BJ ended ordering service online. We were set. Then no call. So today I spent another 45 mins. on the phone and I was finally told i had to have survey done. So I ordered that. Confused I ended chatting with someone online. I got the office address for our new area. We have plans to go there on Friday. No I just got the call. They do not have underground lines in our community, nor do they have plans to put them there anytime soon. UGH! So i call the other place i was told to go for phone service. I give them our zip code. Nope no service either. Double UGH!! BJ researched online phone carriers, found the one he wanted and prepaid for 1 year of service already!! So I have a phone but no line to use it. BJ is making plans to go the Martinsburg everyday to do his homework!! This is going to be crazy. So if i disappear next week and can't find us for a few weeks. We are lost in the middle of no where, West Virginia!!!

For Christmas

Max has put together a wish list for those of you who have no idea what to get him. He thought he would help you all out and let you know what he wants. He picked everything on his own. We have gotten some toy books in the mail and he has sat down and looked at them all and picked these things out. You can go to toysrus.com and look up his wish list. I created it and it is under his name. So enjoy!!

House Sitting

We had a great time this past week house sitting. Max and Lucie loved taking care of Blue. I don't know if he enjoyed it as much. It was nice to kind of get a feel of what it is going to be like to have a big house. The kids were able to run around freely without me worrying about neighbors. i like that. Lucie is pretty good at getting up stairs, she is fast too. The going down part is a little scary so we didn't let her try that. I also think that Lucie is allergic to either cats or dogs. Friday she started out the day kind of horse sounding as the day went on I could tell she wasn't feeling well. That night she woke up in the middle of her sleep and was breathing strangely. I was able to take her to night time pediatrics and they said it was croup. The strange thing is she is pretty much better now. She doesn't really cough, except this morning. So i am thinking since nothing else has happened and she back to normal maybe it was allergies?? We are now in get ready mode. BJ is trying to pack, but is finding that he can't pack much...we still need it all. We go to the final walk through on Friday and close week from Wednesday!!! We have a little over a week. This is some exciting times. I am going to try to do some video this Friday so I can give everyone a virtual tour!! We have been trying to talk it up so Max will be ready. Did I mention that he slept in a really bed all last week!! He is my big boy now. Once we get into the House I am going to tackle the dreaded potty training. I think he is ready. He is just lazy. So here is to some exciting times.

Our Weekend

The highlight of our weekend was going to the new house. We didn't know what to expect. We have our final walk through in about a week and close in 2 weeks!!! We had to get our sales agent so we could get in. The have it all locked up since the appliances are in. The whole house was pretty much done. The just have to install all the appliances, do some touch up paint, and clean up. It was so cool to see all our choices put together. I think we went pretty neutral. It is hard to pick things out for a place you are not in. I picked out the flooring way back in May!!! I was so happy that BJ likes what I did. He was not there when I picked out the flooring. We went with black counter tops and black appliances. It looked so sharp. It was fun noticing things we didn't know. The kids' bathroom has a huge vanity!! You could probably fit two sinks in it!!! The shower heads are pretty nice. I have a sprayer in the kitchen sink, which is also a double sink!! The flooring is beautiful. And the master bath oh my!! It was sad, I didn't want to leave. Our yard has been graded also and it was so fun to watch Max just run around and have such a good time. But it is just 2 weeks right?? We will have to wait patiently.

That was the big event for our weekend. We went to the walmart in Charles town. It was nice. We usually judge an area by the walmart. I am loving our idea to move more and more everyday. We also bought a couch for the new house. We got it off of craigslist for 500 bucks!!! We bought a sectional with a sleeper sofa. We were looking at buying a new one for over 2000!! It was going to wait, but I was lucky to have found this one and we scooped it up. That is really exciting to have some new furniture for the place.

We are going to be spending the rest of the week house sitting in our old stomping ground!! We are excited to be able to serve our friends that have done so much for us. Have a good week!!!

I Did It!!!!

So today we went to the local Walmart. We bought a pair of clippers. We have decided that I am his new personal hairdresser. I think I did a pretty good job for my first time.


This is the before

This is the after

And here is Max!!

Baby Steps

So she hasn't quit gotten the real hang of it, but she is doing more than she has in the past. Maybe in a couple of weeks we will have real walker. Please forgive the shots of my backside:)

Shots

Last night we had to go down to Columbia to get Lucie's booster flu shot. I also got mine!!! So we are ready. But what I want to post about is how different Max and Lucie are. I am assuming it is because Lucie is a girl, but she is more cuddly and kissy. She has always been that way. She loves kisses. When Max has ever gotten a shot from the doctor he would cry for a like a second and was done. Not my little Lucie. She cried so sadly for a little bit in the room. She put her head in my shoulder and just cried. I got her in the van and fed her then we are off to make the trek back home. She fussed and cried just about the whole 45 min drive home!! She seems to be a little bit more emotional than Max and gets her feeling hurt easy. I guess that is what a girl is or maybe I just baby her more?? I don't know, but it is fun to see the differences in boys and girls.

Noodles, Halloween, Cuteness

I don't know what it is but my kids love noodles. I guess they get it from their Great Grandma Torres. Without a fail if I make noodles, I know Max will eat them. Now I know Lucie will eat them too. I think she tries to make dresses out of the though. I have to make her completely naked, and then giver her a bath afterwards. This particular night we had fettuccine Alfredo. She love the noodles and broccoli. Max however pick everything out but the noodles. We just ask him to try the broccoli and chicken. He usually spits it out.


This year for Halloween we took the kids to the local mall and then onto a neighborhood. One of BJ's co-workers was kind enough to invite us over to their place. There just isn't much trick-or-treating in apartments. Max made out with a load of candy. He even got 2 full size candy bars!!! There was a cool house that had a haunted garage you had to go through before you could get candy. Max didn't even flinch. Lucie on the other hand did not like it.She didn't like getting in her costume either. Maybe next year will be a little better. It will be nice to have a nice neighborhood to walk through too.


Today while Lucie and her daddy were playing I decided to get a few shots of her. She is so silly. Her personality is definitely coming out. She loves her baby dolls, and blankies. She is starting to carry them around with her. She is almost walking. We got her to take 3 steps today. It takes lots of coaxing to get her to walk to us. She will stand there and look you call her to come over holding out your hands and squat down and crawl over. This girl is so ready walk. She can stand in one spot squat down pick something down and then stand back up!! She is just chicken or something to take those steps. she will walk holding onto one finger in one hand too. Oh the day when she will finally get it. She will probably just start running one day. I also got another good shot of her teeth, or grill as her uncle calls it!!


We close on the house new house in 3 weeks!!! How crazy is that. We can't commit to packing to yet. I have to talk BJ and Max out of going to the house just about everyday. They are both so excited. Max talks about his baseball room all the time. I am glad he is looking forward to moving, hopefully it won't too traumatic for him. So here is to a good week!!

shhhhh

She is sleeping. Lucie makes me laugh. She always sleeps in weird positions. Today I found her using her bear as a pillow. She does this often. Maybe I should get her an actual pillow. Any who here is a picture of our sleeping beauty.

Getting Better

I went to the surgeon on Monday. He said that everything is healing up good. I even noticed the it is getting smaller. I feel a lot better. I am sad to report that I have to go back to motherly duties. I enjoyed not having to to clean, my house showed it too. Now I have to go back to taking care of things though. So thing are going back to normal and we are moving on. Thanks to everyone for there help and concern. I just hope we don't have to do it again. No we are concentrating on getting things ready for the move. So here is a picture of the kids riding a bike together. Max can be really sweet to his sister sometimes.

Pie Pan

So yesterday BJ decided to make pumpkin pie. He cut the pumpkins in half, and baked them. He scooped out the pumpkin and made all the filling. Then put the pumpkin pie in the oven did all that the directions told him too. It was starting to smell really yummy. Then we heard a shattering pop. Bj went to see what it was. It was one of the pin pans. We have two glass ones. One of them exploded!! Glass went all over the over, even in both pies. BJ was so sad. He was really looking forward to enjoying the fruits of his labors. We were just wondering how a glass pie pan that is made to bake in the oven would explode??? So i am going to go to the store today and get him a pumpkin pie so he will be surprised when he gets home!!