benjamin-speak

I haven't listed Ben's new words in quite awhile, so thought I would do that. He actually says quite a bit to me that I don't understand, LOL... but the following words are pretty clear, at least to me. :)

• JoJo = JoJo's Circus, B's favorite show. Usually this means that he wants to watch it, but occasionally, he just wants me to sing the theme song, LOL.
• bruh or bruh-bruh = brother/Nick
• eh-MA = Emmalie (often he will say eh-MA, eh-MA, and it will sound almost like mama, but it is slightly different from when he's calling for me)
• hot
• hat
• jare = chair
• neh-neh = down
• ow
• en = in
• dir-dir = "stir, stir" He says this when he has a spoon and is stirring his yogurt like he's seen mama do, LOL
• hop-hop = bunny... usually this means Bunny, his favorite toy, but he will also say it to mean other rabbits
• eeeee = slide
• tak-tak = quack, quack/duck
• roh-roh = roll-roll/armadillo (Nick taught him this one, LOL)
• boom boom = thunder (he just learned this one yesterday)
• Pooh (as in Pooh Bear)
• daw = draw (his favorite activity!)
• doh-doh = pillow
• bubba = bubbles
• ah = color. If he's shouting, "Ah! Ah!", that means he wants to color. If he asks, "Ah?", he wants to know what color something is.
• hmmm? = what is that?
• huh? = what was that noise?... This is always said while he puts his hand up to his ear, LOL.
• tick tock = watch/clock

I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of right now....

numbers

It's not often that I like the numbers on the scale, but I was happy this morning to see that the scale is now 8 numbers less than it was at the end of January! :) I'm not losing weight as quickly as I would've liked, but at least I AM losing it... and 8 pounds is a good start.

I also measured myself today, which I do once a month. So far, since I started back to the gym in January, I've lost an inch on each arm (the bicep area), 1/2 an inch on each calf, 1/2 an inch on my right thigh, 2 inches on my left thigh (which was bigger than my right to begin with ~ now they are the same), an inch around my chest, waist, and tummy, and an inch and a half around my hips. Those are good numbers, too. :)

happy birthday, emmalie!

I don't know how 11 years managed to go by SO fast, but somehow, they did. My baby girl is now "officially" a preteen. (Yikes!) Here is Emmalie at 2 months old, back in 1996:

And here she is last fall, starting 5th grade (who knew she'd turn out to be a blonde?):
She certainly has grown into quite the beauty! I think we will need to start building a moat soon (like my friend Glenna wants to do for her own daughters), to hold off the boys as she continues to grow and become even more beautiful!

Here are a few of the things I love about my daughter:

• She is self-confident and not afraid to speak her mind!
• She is incredibly smart... she loves to learn, and retains information so quickly. I know that she will go far!
• Emmalie is very creative. She is constantly drawing or writing or building things... and her creations always turn out wonderfully!
• She shares my love of reading (and my ability to read quickly, too!) It is fun to talk with her about books we've both read, and to pass along my favorite childhood books to her.
• Emmalie is very helpful... not always for her parents, LOL, but for other people, like our friend Marissa. The second that Marissa mentions needing help with something, Emmalie is right there, ready to do whatever needs to be done.
• She is my ally against the boys in our family, who outnumber us! We often look at each other and then roll our eyes, thinking, "They are SUCH boys!" LOL

For this and so much more, I love you, Emmalie! Happy, happy birthday ~ I hope that you have a wonderful time being 11! Just try not to grow so quickly from here on out, okay?

march madness

First I need to apologize (to myself, if no one else! LOL) for not posting here in sooo long! Things have been crazy around here, but good. Some highlights since Feb. 3rd:

• We finished painting our kitchen ~ it looks so much better!
  
• IDOS got moved to a new server and is back up and running better than ever! YAY!


• We all had a great Valentine's Day, and had a "romantic" dinner for 5 at our favorite Chinese restaurant


• Our friends Gene and Kelly came for a visit


• We put up new curtains in our bedroom and new towel racks in both bathrooms


• We started painting Marissa's house! LOL! She'd never painted before, so we offered to help her out... she does so much for us all the time!


• We painted our laundry area, which needed it desperately!
  
• My parents came to visit for a few days


• We bought a new washer, dryer, and dishwasher!! (We don't have the dishwasher yet, but I am loving the washer and dryer!)
  
• I'm still going to the gym every week, and have lost 6 pounds plus a couple of inches!
  
• We had a fun St. Patrick's Day!


• And now we're getting ready for Spring Break...

Benjamin's been growing like a little weed, of course. He had his first hair cut last month (and still has his curls ~ yay!):

Who? Me? Need a haircut?: He was too busy with the lollipop to even notice his hair was being cut!:
Much better!:

And those adorable curls are still there:
And just this week he started feeding himself with a fork and spoon at meals. (I should say I just started LETTING him do this this week, LOL. He's "practiced" with utensils before, but it was always so messy, so I continued to feed him his yogurt and other things that aren't finger foods. He's pretty good at it now, though!):

On IDOS, we DT members are hosting "March Madness"... no, Dad, it's not a basketball thing! :) We've got challenges for every day of the month, and lots of prizes for participants. It's been fun, and although I haven't gotten quite as much scrapping done as I would've liked, I am pretty much caught up on Benjamin's album, which is very exciting for me! Now I can go back and work on Em and Nick's books, which are woefully behind....

Today we're getting ready for Em's birthday ~ can't believe it's tomorrow already! Where did the time go???