Thursday, March 29, 2012

Camera Failure!

So I haven't posted recently because I don't have any pictures to post :( Our camera is saying there is an issue with the memory card and I just haven't gone out and bought a new one yet. Which really stinks because Sydney is having so much fun this week with her cousin Liam since it's his Spring Break and also with some friends of ours who have kids also on Spring Break. The friends are coming over three mornings this week and Liam is over each day and she is having lots of fun!

I took my Math final last week and am hoping to hear what I got by the end of this week. Biting my nails...

Sydney and Jonas keep learning and growing and Jonas is getting more independent and headstrong. This morning, he really wanted to go outside so when he couldn't get the door open, he gestured for me to lift him up so he could get my keys off the wall hook and then he tried to use the key on the door. Awwww!

Hope to have pictures soon!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Sydney's owie and Jonas' nods

I'm trying to post more frequently and shorter posts and we had some things happen this week so there's something to post :)

Wednesday I started watching a friend's 5-month old so that's fun for the kids to interact with a little baby. I'll only be watching the baby a couple hours 3 days a week but it's a little extra income and it's fun to have a friend over :) Jonas is very affectionate with the baby and wants to give him lots of kisses and love!

Wed night, Sydney slipped in the bath tub and busted her chin open. We got the bleeding to stop with some ice but the gash looked nasty. It's a lot better today but we're trying to be careful. It might leave a scar. Not a good picture...


But other things I wanted to tell you about Sydney are some of the cute positive comments she'll say. Like one day, after mopping the floors (which can be a tedious task with the kids and since the living room and dining room are all ceramic) she came in once it was clean and said, "Ooooh, it's clean! Thank you, Mom!"  I thought that was pretty sweet. And tonight, I asked her to eat the bread since I made it and later she took a bite and said, "Mmmmm. I like the bread, Mom!" Love hearing those things! Oh, and if any of my old roommates are reading this, I FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE BREAD. So I'm not trying to force my child to eat the rock-hard, burnt-bottoms, "rolls" you graciously ate when I made them in college. I figured it out several years ago and now eating my bread is a "treat". Just you so know.

And then here is a video of Jonas which is cute because a) he's stuffing his face with spaghetti and b) you get to see his enthusiastic neck-and-body nod. I love that he hasn't learned the dreaded word "no" yet, but instead has this adorable head nod.


Well, that's us this week!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Little Jonas, Sleepy Sydney

Hey! I don't have much to report this last week but just thought I would share some fun photos.

I think Sydney really wanted a little sister all along:


But don't worry, we have him wear a cute little white shirt to church!


I can't until he wears suits and ties to church without a fuss! The fun part of dressing up little boys!

Sometimes Sydney does take a nap. But not usually in her bed. This time it was at the lunch table. Notice the piece of meat on her chest?


This was also the funniest time she had fallen asleep. Every minute or so, she would suddenly pop her eyes open and smile at me. It made me think maybe she was pretending to be sleeping but I don't think she's that good of an actress! I finally put her in her bed and she took a little nap.

Then we finally got a tripod so that maybe we can take more family photos. Now if we could figure out how to get the timer setting to focus!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Dallas TX temple and other things...

I wrote that huge long post and it still didn't cover all my photos! I hadn't uploaded my photos in a while. Our camera is acting strange lately and I'm afraid it doesn't have much longer. I need a new camera soon! wah! Anyways, here are some other things to report:

Jonas kicked himself out of a shopping cart one Saturday a few weeks ago and got a nasty black eye. I couldn't tell if his pupils were uneven so I took him to the Quick Care. He checked out ok but he had a black eye for over a week. Poor little guy!



But it's healed up nicely! Look at this little cutie!


Sydney has started to climb trees! and I'll have to get a video of how proud Jonas acts when I put him up in the tree, too! It's so cute!


Video of Sydney climbing:

One night, Jonas was really wanting to help me cooks o I gave him a spoon and bowl and he was occupied until dinner was ready. Cute little chef!



And we went to the Dallas, TX temple yesterday. Now that the temple is 3 hours away, it's a lot more to go but it makes it that much more special. Brian and I took shifts watching the kids while the other one did a session. The kids loved walking around the temple and playing in the fountain. I have some pictures of them looking into the fountain but I just couldn't get good ones because I was worried about Jonas trying to take a bath more than getting a good shot!





And you'll notice the logo on these pictures by a budding photographer, Miss Sydney Tuck:




Anyways, that's our fun recently!

Friday, March 2, 2012

My Birthday

My Birthday this year was a blast! Seriously one of my best birthdays ever! Brian's parents came into town (it was also President's Day Weekend) and they watched the kids so Brian and I could have a date night Saturday night. We went to Red Lobster and watched "The Secret World of Arrietty". I really loved it. And earlier Saturday, I took the gift card my parents had got me and got my hair done! I got it cut and dyed! Love it! Theresa also bought me some new dresses. Love!
Then, Sunday afternoon was the Highland Mardi Gras Parade! I am kicking myself that I forgot to take my camera but it was a way fun parade! Love the interesting beads, my favorite: a pair with jazz instruments! Way cool! Plus got stocked up on plastic cups! Sydney loved the parade! She refers to it as "rade" though and I have to tell her we did not go to a "raid" we want to a "pa-rade". oh well.

Then, Sunday night Brian threw me a birthday party! It was lots of fun, my sister was there and so were our friends the Terrys. We had Kings Cake for my birthday cake. Can't beat that!


 Jonas found the cake yummy!


And I found the baby in the cake. Oh well, just will have to buy another delicious King's Cake!

Great birthday! Thank you everyone that made it great!

Where did February go...

When I don't post on this blog, it doesn't mean I haven't touched the computer in a month. Oh man, I'm so sorry I don't post updates more often. This is a summary of how we are all doing. I will do another special post about my birthday! :)

Not too much excitement. Hired some workers to patch up the ceiling where Brian put a hole. No more hole! Yeah! Ouch on the budget! Boo! I listened to some Dave Ramsey recently and I am COMMITTED! to sticking to a budget and getting our debts paid off. Goal: 2014 debt-free. No student loans, no car loans, no credit card loans. Free I tell you! We've adopted the envelope system. Hope it goes well!


Jonas is so sweet! He's started giving closed-mouth kisses and does a cute little smack noise! I haven't yet (knock on wood) heard him say "no" but it does such an energetic "yeah" nod. So cute! He's also getting the hang of hide-and-seek as we play around the house. He tries to sign "dad" by putting his thumb on top of his head (should be on his forehead) but I'm impressed that he has that idea down! He helps you dress him, and he can take off his shirt now. He is also so trained about bed time and nap time! He knows the routine and walks himself over to bed. Most nights, he doesn't cry, just goes to sleep. So nice! Jonas is getting so confident on the playground equipment, too!



Sydney has been watching the Leap Frog Letter Factory videos and is picking up on her letters fast! Sometimes, she gives you the sound though instead of the name of the letter but it's still a step in the right direction! Sydney practices writing an S and we hope that by the end of the year she can write her name. She sure knows what she wants and often tells me an alternative to what I have asked her to do. It can be trying but overall I know she is a sweet little girl and I love the way she sings "Follow the Prophet" as we are walking down the sidewalk. I think she'd make a great missionary companion!

And this is a layout I did ( I modified the picture to include the stripes) of Sydney to talk about her recent issue of coloring on the walls. It lasted about 2 weeks before she finally grasped that is was bad. Again, knock on wood, it's been several days but I have a stash of Magic erasers just in case....


Brian's work keeps trudging along. His company has cut back on some of their natural gas teams which meant job cuts for those workers but Brian's job was not in jeopardy. Relief! He continues to study for the second of five APECS exams and is looking into graduate school programs. He wouldn't stop working just do it at night or when he has "free time". But I'm supportive of him getting more education.

I (Meagan) am finishing up my math course! I have my final scheduled for March 20th and then I am done! With that course at least. It's 1 of 4 pre-requisites I need to get into the grad program for Applied Math at Texas A&M. I'm not sure when I will be able to take the other 3 as we just don't have extra money for education right now. But maybe when we get our debt paid off, my digital scrapbooking business profit can go to it. My business is going really well and I even had to file it on my taxes for this last year so it's growing! and I couldn't be more thrilled. I teach the 4-6 yr olds at church and I am finding the age group fun to work with. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't like to teach 20 of them 5 days a week but for Sunday for 1 hour, it's fun. Next post, my birthday!