Happy 21st Birthday Marika!!!!

Hope you have a wonderful day:) I wish I could be there to share it with you, but alas, I'm all grown up. At any rate, you're a rockstar and you know it, have a blast (but be safe!).

We love you and if you come and visit us soon I'll make you kraut burgers...

Live it up!

Catching up on pics and what-not...

It has taken me some time, but I finally downloaded pictures off our digital camera. I don't know why I drag my feet in doing it, every single time, but at long last it's done! So, here are some pics:)
Helping put sugar on cookies right before Christmas. Jose was a huge help that day!

Chugging eggnog after Christmas Eve service. Josie loved the stuff and couldn't get enough this year.

Not the best pic, but it lets you see how pretty her Christmas dress was...

And the back of her dress...

Sitting on the couch displaying some of her loot after opening presents on Christmas Eve...

Honestly, don't you think it's hard to be THIS COOL?

Cabelas Rules!!!


Checking out the llama at National Western Stock Show, the lady who owned it held it later for Josie to pet, she still wans't sure what to think though.

Josie at the rodeo, she slept all the way through, only waking up at the very end in time for the barrel racing and bull riding.

All the way to Denver to see new things and what does Josie want to do? Look at tractors:)!

Being a princess... She walked around like this ALL DAY LONG the other day!


Chillin' like a villain...




Also, in other news, the big girl bed is a success! Her first night was Saturday a week ago, and she has yet to get up and wander in the middle of the night! She loves it and gets excited to take naps now:) Her duvet cover is purple (I actually sewed it myself!) and she has all sorts of pillows that I made to match with Tinkerbell, Cinderella, some random princesses, and stars. It's a pretty cool bed if I say so myself. I need to take pictures so that I can show everyone...

Also, potty training update: not so much success so far. She did go poo-poo in the potty last week but other than that, nothing. It's okay, we have lots of time. She does understand that there are "no more diapers" and she wears underpants (training pants) now. We just have to work on the going in the potty part! Also, no more worries about her dipping her booty in the water. Apparently the "seat" part of her little kiddie potty is designed to fit into the seat of the big people potty so now she perches up there like a princess on her throne (pun intended) and reads. We did get her a potty book that she thinks is pretty cool, so cross your fingers for us!

Josie is going to be two on Friday too! I know, I know, ALREADY! We're going to be having her party at 2 on Saturday, nothing fancy, just cake and ice cream for anyone who would like to stop by. Call first though so I know how many cakes we'll need!

Enter the.... potty!

So, we have officially started potty training. Sunday was our first "real" day of it. I had the packs of training pants ready to go in the closet and I told Josie when her diapers were gone she was going to wear big girl underpants and go in the big girl potty. As if...

Actually she's doing really well. We have yet to go in the potty, but she's cool with pulling down her little pants, and little underpants (I can't call them panties for some reason, it makes them sound so grown up, like you know- teenage girls wear panties! So we're going with underpants which is handy because underpants rhymes well with lots of things)... Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Josie is very good at sitting on the potty, she was all about flushing it too, until I told her she can only flush if she does something in it.

I think Josie is ready, and I'm cool with this being a long-drawn-out process. I mean, it's not like we have another kid on the way or anything so we may as well take or time. Josie is ready because 1. The minuet she wets or messes her diaper she tells me "Mommy, diaper change". If she can do that I think she can tell me she needs to go, we just have to work on it. 2. She has this new thing about anyone but me changing her diapers. Let's face, it, that's just annoying. Grandma Debbie was here and totally capable of doing it, plus she wanted to, but would Josie let her? Nope. Mommy got to do it instead. 3. She likes to flush and wipe (she's been doing that for awhile) and she knows what the potty is for.
So- we begin our journey!

Yesterday though, Josie decided that she no longer wanted to sit on her little "trainer" potty, she wanted to sit on the big potty like Mommy and Daddy. This is okay, but makes me nervous (I have visions of her dipping her little booty in the water). So we turned her potty into a step stool (luckily I had the fore-thought to buy one that converts) and she sits on the big people potty. It's pretty cute.

Also, since I'm all about rewards (I know, I spoil) she gets a sticker for every successful sit-down on the potty (it was a battle, I needed a prize for good behavior) and she will get a sucker on the event that she ever poo's or peepee's in the potty. Cross your fingers for us!

Breif update...

Well, we have been getting ready for Christmas and it seems like things have been so busy non-stop. Josie got a cold after Thanksgiving and wasn't sleeping well (which made my days seem longer)it still isn't gone, so she's pretty much not been feeling well for nearly 3 weeks. Also, Luke has been driving sugar beet re-haul and working the 12am-12pm shift, then coming home and sleeping afternoon/evening. All of this has sort of combined to make things all out of sorts for us. Then theres the baking, shopping, wrapping, stress that is Christmas *sigh*!

Other than her cold Jo's doing really well. She's talking like crazy and has added the word "crazy" to her vocabulary. Also, some new phrazes "round and round" "diaper change" "good stuff" "super cool" "I get it" and others that I'm not thinking of right now.

I cut my hair and got contacts after Thanksgiving so that's my big news. It's not the best pic, but not too bad. Could be worse!!!

She's pretty jazzed up about Christmas too and has been wandering around with presents that she's stolen from under the tree. She's really interested in two that came from our good friend Laura in New Hampshire (THANK YOU!!!!). Laura and I met when I worked at Arabian Horse Association (Jen, you will remember her I think) and she's the kindest, most wonderful person, someday I hope we get to meet her! Anyway, she's had those two gifts all over the house, but to her credit, not a corner of the paper is torn so she's doing really good:)

I just wanted to wish everyone a merry merry Christmas and happy New Year, in case I don't talk to some of you in the coming days. Take care of yourselves everyone!

Pictures

Here's the photos to go with the last entry...






Josie and Luke at my parent's house.



Making fruit salad at the Schlachter Thanksgiving


The advent wreath...






Smilie girl in the morning:)


Super cool in her sunglasses!

Playing catch up...

Well, the last few weeks have been a whorl-wind! We went to my parent's house for Thanksgiving and had a great time. My sister's Annalee, Marika and Mickey were there, and Josie had fun playing with them and checking out the horses, chickens, dogs and cats. A huge favorite was checking cows with Papa (one of Mommy's favorite things to do). I am, however, a big looser and only took one picture the entire time we were there.

We then came home (with colds unfortunately) and hosted a Thanksgiving dinner here with Great-Grandma/Grandpa, Papa Steve, Stacey and Glendon. We had a lot of fun there too:) That evening we put up our Advent Wreath, Josie loves the candles. She also is working on singing "Happy Birthday Jesus" but, Jesus is a hard word to say. She's getting close though:)!

A quick update on Josie's doing (long overdue): she is talking like crazy! Using sentences no-less. Among them "I make 'em" "I find 'em" "Look, Shreck eating" "I like it!" And, GUESS WHAT!!! She said "I love you" to me the other day. I nearly cried. We were cuddling on the couch watching a movie and she told me:) It rocked.

She has absolutely no interest in potty training (I'm not too worried though, I just keep telling myself she'll get there). Still carries around "Bunny" and if anything her attachment to him has grown. She has been known to feed him now.

She can say her whole name, count to three, say "A, B, D" :) and name just about everything. Her favorite color is currently purple and she is definitely right handed. Her favorite movies are Chicken Run and Aladdin, and she really likes Shreck 2, but not the original Schreck. Favorite TV shows, Boohbah, Telletubbies and Sesame Street.

We got our Christmas tree up the other day and she's doing relatively well at not touching the ornaments. We've only broken two so far and I was the one who broke them.

I think that's about all for us, Luke is doing sugar beet rehaul so he's working noon to midnight now. It's nice that he gets to hang with us in the mornings though, and I get some time to go workout alone and Josie gets her Daddy all to herself.

We're getting ready for Christmas, slowly. I'm nearly done with all of that, but need to get my butt in gear on the Christmas card situation. I think that's all for now:)

Candy necklaces...

The last week has been so busy, with Josie behaving as normal (i.e. her throwing tantrums and screaming followed by her giving hugs and kisses that leave Mommy on a serious emotional roller coaster). We're doing just fine!:)

The opening day of pheasant season was last Saturday and Luke along with friends Marcus and DJ, an others, went out and rustled themselves up some pheasants. They were rightfully proud of their catch and apparently this is an awesome year for pheasants with their numbers way up. (Please notice that a rabbit somehow crossed their path... I had to hack that up and cook it for them. It was awsome. Actually we had a nice dinner with friends Christy and DJ. She and I fried up pheasant and the rabbit, it was really good, only I didn't eat any rabbit.)

Josie and I haven't been doing too much other than staying inside keeping warm. The wind has been crazy this last week and it has been cooooold! To keep us busy we worked on finishing eating all of the Halloween candy Josie raked in. Her great Aunt Louise gave her some candy necklaces when we stopped at their house and she had such a blast eating them! She actually called it "can-eee bace-let" and would bite one sugar bead off at a time, remarking all the while "nummy, good, I like it... etc". The only downfall is that she has recently taken to begging for candy but I have successfully fooled her with a box of raisins, popcorn, and dried mango so far. Next time she begs I'm going to give her some dried apricots. I'm glad that she can't yet tell the difference!

Naked.

So, today is going better. Josie and I are seeing eye to eye a little better and we have't had any major meltdowns yet (fingers crossed). I think the reason we have been okay is becuase while Josie doesn't want to wear clothes I am not pushing the issue. I am letting her cruise in just a diaper (its warm enough inside). She started out the day with clothes but lost them mid-morning. I'm picking my battles. I just don't see clothes as something important enough to have a fight about today. As long as she's not cold it's cool.

Unless she starts stipping in public. That will be another story. I think the answer to that question would be "hell no"! I am prepared to stand my ground if she ever gets it into her head to take her clothes off while we're out and about.

But, we're doing better today :) She's listening a bit better which is nice, and I'm just not going to worry about every little thing... I think maybe we could attribute it all to teething (she's working on another eye tooth). Unfortunately she's refusing Motrin or pain killer of any kind but, thats another post...

Tough times...

The last few days have convinced me that the terrible twos may have arrived for good. Josie has been such a terror! It seems that most of her behavior is situated around one key action: IGNORING EVERYTHING I SAY!

I feel like a CD with a scratch in it walking around repeating "Pick up your crackers, pick up your crackers". She seems to go to extremes to do the opposite of what I ask her. For example yesterday I asked her "Please come here so that we can put on your pants" following a diaper change. Josie not only did not "come here" she also went to work running from me and removing her fresh diaper at the same time. I've gotten pretty good at counting to ten.

While it sounds terrible, we do have moments that totally redeem her and make me feel like a terrible mother for becoming so frustrated. Last night she snuggled up to me while we read "Goodnight Moon" before bedtime. Luke was working late trying to finish a circle of corn before the wind blew it over so it was just Josie and me. She read the book back to me after I'd finished reading it to her. It was really nice to have a nice, quiet (did I mention nice?) time together before she went to bed. It helps to make the day seem not quite so bad when I look back on it.

I've resorted to time outs because my attempts at corpal punishment are laughed at (I am definitely being paid back, I am aware). Luke really gets results when he just raises his voice, but Josie hears me talking all...day...long. I'm pretty sure she's sick of me. Hopefully they finish corn on Saturday so that her Daddy can spend some time with her. I think that may improve our situation immensely. Until then, I'll just keep on keepin' on...

Halloween Pictures!

Here's the photos from Halloween, we had a blast. Unfortunately Luke was driving a truck so he didn't go with us but Josie and I had fun anyway. Great Aunt's Lois and Loise spoiled her rotten along with Hazen + Andrea and Marc + Gail. Josie actually got stuffed animals while trick or treating which I think really emphasises how spoiled she actually is.

She totally loved her "Monkey Suit" too:) As usual Bunny was attatched to her during the entire night. He's not so purple anymore. Or rather, his white spots are not quite as white as they used to be. They're more of a beige now, and I'm pretty sure no amount of Oxyclean is going to change that :( She has started referring to him as "friend" which is pretty cute:)
I think the photo of Josie and Andrea turned out really well too, except for all that chocolate on Josie's face!

Inspiration!

Inspired by a good friend I have decided this is a perfect way to keep family and friends up to date on my daughter Josie. Although she is currently 21 months I am a firm believer in better late than never.
So, Grandma's, Pappa's, Aunt's, Uncle's and assorted other special people, I give you: Josie- the day to day life:)

Enjoy!