jan 31

Another exciting evening of cleaning completed. Phew.

jan 27, 28, 29, and 30th!

Bed head!


Gage is a very giggly boy.

And so handsome! 

And he even loves his "ma-ee-o"

jan 26

Do you ever start wondering if things have been way too good for way too long?
As I was working, I heard this song today. I like it.



I hope things stay good for a long time.

I have a lot of things swimming around in my head when I am working. I wish I could translate those thoughts and ideas into writing. Eventually.

One of my friends is going into surgery tomorrow to remove a brain tumor that they found on Wednesday. Please say an extra prayer for her. It's been a terrible week for her and her family. A lot of shocking and unexpected news. My heart is broken for her.

And finally - today's photo. (Are you loving my overly cheesy processed photos? I am)

This was taken at 6:00 p.m. tonight. IT WAS STILL LIGHT! Wooohooo! I love when they day light starts lasting a little longer.



Happy Friday!

jan 25

My favorite kitchen appliance.

jan 24

Snow makes a rough trip to the dumpster. Luckily there wasn't much at this point!

jan 23

He's cute. :) He loves puzzles.
Korin gave him this one when they came down to visit. He had it figured out fast.

jan 20 (friday's photo)

We were loving the warm weather! Now we are loving the snow!

jan 22

the view today.

Our trees keep the snow out of our yard. Kind of sad.

jan 21

(I took a picture for Friday, but I will post it tomorrow)

We are loving the snow. Gage calls it "snowmen" and LOVES to eat it. Kind of gross if you ask me.

I also wish this picture were taken with a real camera and not my phone. It's so pretty outside. These are my favorite kind of nights.

jan 19

I wanted to be twinners with Lyndee. Now I am!

She inspired me to make my own laundry soap and dishwasher detergent.
I don't think I will EVER have to buy soap again! SO MUCH SOAP!
It cost me around $30. Not bad. Not bad at all. (Not including the jars)
It takes 2Tbsp of laundry detergent per load and 1Tbsp of dishwashing detergent per load.

jan 18

I am lucky enough to clean up after my husband at home AND at school. Awesome. It's a good thing I love him!

baby accomplishments

Phew. One corner (and a load of dishes) clean! A few more to go.

jan 17

The aftermath of an awesome 3 day weekend where cleaning was not involved. (at all, obviously!)


We did finally get our TV installed. We've had the hardware for months. I like it! It's nice that I can finally clean it and it will stay clean! Oh... and it won't turn off and on 100 times a day. :) Gage, on the other hand, is not a fan. 

jan 16

that's right. we had to install locks. he figured out the doors. i was hoping we'd make it a few more months. i wonder if crawling out of his crib is next? When did you put your toddler in a bed?

jan 15

see my new teeth!  :)

open adoption

When people find out that we are planning a visit with Korin, they are always confused?

"You can do that?"
"Do you want to do that?"
"I thought only kids in foster care could do that?"
"Is that weird?"
"Is that hard?"

In my book, open adoption is one huge blessing. Huge.

I seriously do not know how I managed to become lucky enough to be involved in adoption. I thank my lucky stars everyday that I am. I don't want to know the person I would be without it in my life. I have changed for the better. We have changed for the better. I witness and am reminded of the pure love of Christ every day. Every day. What a miracle. What a blessing.

I love that Gage knows his Korin. We may not see her often, but you should have seen him tonight when he finally made the connection that the Korin sitting at the table was the same Korin in the picture that he talks about everyday! (Of course when it came time to say goodbye, Gage kept tell Korin's son, "goodbye Korin!" Ha. He's still young.)

Gage has an amazing birth family We love Korin and her family. We have recently been in contact with Luis. I am so happy that we have to chance to know him! I am excited for the day we get to meet him. I love that Gage is surrounded by so many people that love him.

Today Korin, her son, and her mom came down to visit us. We spent hours watching the boys play. I loved watching them interact with one another. I especially loved when it was time to give kisses and hugs. Gage is SERIOUS about his hugs and kisses. Very serious.



I would not change anything about our adoption. I love that it's open. I get so, so excited for our visits.

This is what open adoptions are all about.

jan 14

this makes me feel official. ha ha.



(obviously the unedited version has the actual name of our school. I am kind of digging the squares though!)

jan 13

pancakes.

I made them with wheat malt o'meal. They are really, really good.

jan 12

I don't think we can get out of giving him a bath this time.


(it's nap time. Can you tell?)

jan 11

leftovers: lemon pasta


i hope this does not mean earache.  :(  poor kid. (just in time for a visit with his birth mother)

jan 10

ugly, but tasty (as gage would say) (the tasty part, not the ugly part)

how we spent our anniversary.

You've seen this, right?


Best anniversary ever, right?

2,922 days

I am thankful I've had him by my side all of these years.

jan 9

Laundry day! I love laundry day. (no, I am not kidding)

I think that I would like it even more if my washer was this color!

jan 8

It's that time of year again!


I will be blogging again as soon as this deadline passes.

jan 7

full house (and we won, of course)  ;)

jan 6

Turns out the music on my iPod (that I haven't listened to in a looong time) stinks! (but not Blue October. I <3 Blue October!)



 It did make my work day go by faster though!

jan 5

I do love photo a day blogs. I've tried it a couple of times and never make it. Why not try again? This time I will just post the photos on this blog. I may or may not post photos everyday. :)

I can tell you that most of my photos will probably be work related and edited as much as possible. (seeing as my camera phone produces terrible photos!) I guess that is what happens when you have three hours of mindless cleaning each day. I have a lot of time to think about blogging. :) Too bad I never follow through.

Today's Photo: My friend for at least an hour each day.

 

gage conversations.

G: Where'd daddy-o go?
Me: He's at work.
G: And bompa?
Me: He's at work.
G: And gramma?
Me: She's home.
G: And Kanyon?
Me: He's at home with his mom.
G: And Brandon?
Me: He's at work.
G: And Chet?
Me: He's ... somewhere.
G: And Jace?
Me: At work.
G: And bompa?
Me: He's at work?
G: And daddy-o?
Me: At work.
G: And Brandon?
Me: At work.
G: Where's Kanyon?
Me: At home with his mom.
G: Daddy-O?
Me: At work.
G: And Brandon?
Me: He's at work.
G: Gramma?
Me: She's at home.
G: Jace?
Me: He's at work.
G: Brandon?
Me: At work.
G: Where'd daddy-o go?
Me: He went to work.
G: Daddy-O?
Me: At work.
G: Bompa?
Me: At work.

Yep, this is the conversation we have all day. :) He's a funny boy.

Christmas!

We had a pretty quiet Christmas around here. My parents went up north to be with JaKell and her family on Christmas morning. Jace and his family were at Katie's family's house. Chet was with his friends. So, we were on our own.

Dustyn's sister, Jerye, has a Christmas Eve party every year for her family. They are nice enough to invite us every year. Thankfully they invited us again this year! We had a good time visiting with them and eating lots of good food! Thanks guys! Of course we didn't take any pictures because we are awesome like that. We got to meet our nieces new son. He's too cute! I love babies.

A few days before Christmas, Gage was going crazy being inside. We decided to brave the cold and go outside. We went to the park so he could run. He mostly ate all of the dirty snow. Ew. (all of the pictures in this post were downloaded from facebook because the originals are on my dead computer. I am sorry the quality stinks)

Afterwards we went to Kmart to let him run. He ran around for over an hour. He had too much fun. He ran into people, messed up displays, and screamed as loud as he could. And, we let him. I know people were cussing us. :) I am glad there are places we can go to get some energy out during the winter! ;) 

Gage didn't really seem too interested in Christmas this year. We could not convince him to open any of his presents. We ended up opening them all.



He woke with a slight cold on Christmas morning.

He had fun playing with his toys though, runny nose and all. Thank heavens!

The loot. (This picture is missing a shirt from Heather. Gage is wearing it today. It's so cute! I think it's my favorite shirt that Gage owns!)
This is the only picture I got with Gage and his presents. There is NO getting him to look at the camera. He can be quite stubborn! (like his mama, I guess!)


Santa/Mom/Dad brought him a car mat and cars, an outfit (the orange vest, levis, three shirts. The one has a car on it and says "can't cathch me! the great chase of all time" which is pretty much the case when it comes to Gage. I am always chasing him. :) some pajamas and a pillowcase, lots of books, a new blanket (FAIL!), and some random stocking stuffers (like toothbrushes, sippies, and a mickey plate and silverware!).

Grandma and Grandpa gave him 4 outfits, 2 pairs of pajamas, 2 large NOISY trucks, and a moose pillow pet.

Aunt JaKell got him a cute orange stripped hooded shirt.

Uncle Chet got Gage a DVD with lots of old cartoons.

Heather sent Gage 2 super cute books (we have the first diary of a wombat book! I love that we now have the Christmas one!) and a cute shirt.

It was a good Christmas! I hope Gage will open his own presents next year!

Oh... and maybe he will play with the tree less? Pretty please? We had the tree out and Christmas cleaned up by 2:00 p.m. Christmas day. I was running out of patience with the whole Gage/Christmas tree/ornament/fake berries thing. I decided the sooner we could take it down, the better. I almost took it down a few days before Christmas. No lie!

We had all the lights off the house the next day. It was awesome. Since when did we get so motivated!

We took a HUGE load to DI on New Years Eve Day. I am enjoying this organizing thing! I hope it lasts! (Except we haven't done anything since!)

hats

I have bought Gage a few hats over the last couple of years. I think little boys in hats are too cute. Well, Gage wants nothing to do with his hats. We can't even keep his winter hats on him. We have to distract him and help him forget he has something on his head.

Today he found his dad's beanie. He will not take it off. Goofy boy. He's too cute!

Welcome 2012

I am glad that 2012 is here.

I am glad that I can stop and take a moment and look at my life and see if I am pleased with the results of the last year. I am not one to make resolutions. I do like to try a little harder and be a little better in all aspects of my life. Baby steps, right? ;)

As I was going through the last year of my blog, I missed all those things I would have blogged, if I blogged. I wanted to do a highlight post of our year. Sadly, I did not take the time to highlight our year. I plan to be better this year. I am even taking my valuable shower time to blog! Go me! (Oh, and my dishes are not getting done before work, sorry Dustyn!) I hope my plan does not fail. Otherwise, you might want to avoid me for the day. (please go to sleep and nap a little longer today, Gagey-O)

So here we are, the first installment of 2012.

I will do a Christmas 2011 post, but for now, I will tell you what Dustyn got me for Christmas! He got me some perfume and a new way to store my spices!

I wasn't sure how I would like it, but I think it turned out pretty good!

They are all on the side of my fridge. Nice, huh?

Some random things about Gage. He loves ANYTHING truck or cars. Okay, so he may be slightly obsessed. He talks about them all day long. He is quite a talker these days too. He especially loves Grandpa's red truck. And Grandpa. 

Gage has been a lot of fun over the last week. He got over being sick and has just been funny. He cracks me up all day.

 

His shirt says, "I'm the best present ever" and that is definitely the case. He's too cute. I cannot get enough of him.

He loves to give himself facials and rub whatever he is eating all over his head, his face, and everywhere else he can manage to get it. Mostly, it drives me crazy, but every now and again, I find it hilarious. Like this time!

 

Oatmeal facials usually result in a bath! (I think that may be why he does it!) He loves baths! (My other new years "goal" is to get tile up on our bathtub walls! I hope, I hope!)

We have not had a good year when it comes to computers. At all. It's been terrible. My computer battery died back in May/June. I had my iPod. I finally started using Dustyn's computer every now and again, but he needs it to do photos and all the other things that he has to do. I finally bought a battery at the end of October. It worked great for about a month. Gage loves to play with my charger. (unplugged) He sucks on it and whatever else he can do to it until I find him. Well, the little pins started sticking so my charger is no longer in working order. Dustyn took it apart and cleaned it. It worked great for a few days. One day I was working on something and I suddenly noticed how HOT my charger was (the part plugged into the computer). I notice a burning aroma and smoke. I quickly unplugged it and luckily my computer still seems fine. (of course I haven't been able to use it since that day, so who really knows). Our house smelled terrible for hours. Anyway, I am totally off on a HUGE tangent. Long story short, Gage threw a car and broke Dustyn's computer too. He has been going to send it in and get it repaired, but has't yet. So... this is what the computer looks like. There are a few more spots in the screen, but this is the largest at the moment. It's a tad bit annoying.

 

Well, our bad computer luck has not ended there. The other day, I was carrying Dustyn's iPad out to the car with some games. It fell out of my hands. Completely busted up two corners and broke the glass (only in the corners). Gah! Seriously?!?! I just ordered him a case for his iPad and iPhone. NO MORE broken electronics!

Our new church time is at 1:00 p.m. This is proving difficult! Gage usually naps at 11:30 or 12:00 p.m. He'll usually sleep for an hour and a half to two hours. (Of course he is STILL not sleeping now and it's 12:15 p.m. Maybe I will have time for that shower!) Last Sunday, I got him bathed and ready (except for his sweater) and put him down for a nap around 10:30 a.m. He did not fall asleep for over an hour. It seems like he had just fallen asleep as we had to wake him to go. He had good bed head! We got to church barely on time and he was a bear the entire time. Never wake a toddler from sleep! (This is my reminder) We took him plenty of snacks for church since he wouldn't get lunch. He wouldn't eat any. We brought cheese tortillas to church! and he wouldn't eat them! ha ha. So now he is tired, cranky and not wanting to sit still. Luckily he was good in nursery (he was the only one) and I even got to go to my own classes. He finally got to eat at 5:00 p.m. and didn't have a decent nap all day. Is this how ALL Sundays are going to be? :) 

 We have a tradition of going Ice Fishing on new years day. We have done it for years and enjoy it! We didn't go last year because Gage was just too small. This year we decided to go. I was quite nervous, but I figured we'd take our own car in case we needed to go home early. We usually have tents that get nice and toasty (HOT!) but we realized we had forgotten them once we arrived at the lake. Luckily it was a WARM day! I only had a light sweater on and I was warm. Gage was so excited. We got him all dressed and ready and he watched out the window for Grandpa to come get him. HE HAD to ride in Grandpa's truck, of course.

 

Grandpa gave him some overalls for Christmas. They say, "beep, beep" on them, Gage's favorite words.

 

We tried to get him to eat breakfast in the truck. No such luck. The kid isn't much of an eater.

As we started walking out on the lake, Gage was giggling. He thought it was awesome.

Of course he wanted to get down and run. Thank heavens for the stroller!

We tried to get him to hold his fishing pole.

HA! Nope. Luckily Grandpa had a fishing pole holder.  

Every time Grandpa handed Gage his fishing pole, (or anything else) 

He threw it on the hole. He is a good aim. He hit the hole every time. Grandpa had to save a few things out of the hole.

 

We knew he wouldn't want to fish for long, so we brought the iPad. Ice Fishing with an iPad, who knew? Seems silly to me! Ha ha. But, he watched his favorite movie (Meet the Robinson's) while we fished. I don't even know if he could see the screen but he was completely content.

I caught the one fish of the day. (dinner tonight!) Gage was completely entertained by the fish. He giggled and giggled.

 

We were about read to go, so I decided to let Gage run around for a minute. I knew that if he got wet or cold, we could change his clothes and get him warm quick. He loved it.

It was SO slick though. He couldn't stand up. He did not want to hold our hands!

Uncle Chet found a sled to pull him in.

I think he would have sat there all day being pulled around. We decided it was time to go. Of course Gage did not want to go. He wanted to walk. So, Dustyn put him in the chair and pushed him back to shore. 

Once we got to shore, he got to get into Grandpa's truck so everything was a-okay! This is how he felt about being home.