Another Year

We started our New Year's Eve festivities at Rosalia and Luis's house. Joslin got to play with her cousin Kinley who is just 6 months older. She lives in Oklahoma now so they don't get to see each other as much as I would like. The enjoyed the playroom...and their matching flashlights. Thank goodness Abue had two. And yes, that is what's in their mouths.
Joslin stayed the night at Abues, and Jose and I headed to a party at his brother's. I have not been to a party in years! Holy Cow...even though I definitely was not the oldest there, I felt like the fifty year-old at the party. Most of the people were from Kylie's class, but some were even younger. When one girl walked in, I recognized her right away as the little 7 or 8 year old that I use to babysit for. When I realized that she had to be at least 21 now, it really sunk in that I am old. It was fun though to go out and remember what it was like when I was younger.

Snow-Round 2

I woke up Wednesday morning to find a fresh layer of snow on the ground and a temperature that was not bitterly cold! We didn't even eat breakfast or shower, we just put on lots of layers and headed out to play. This was what I had missed the first time it snowed, and I wasn't going to let that happen again. It was perfect snowman snow, but there wasn't enough of it. We tried our best.

The Squeakuel

Over break Joslin got to see her first movie in the theatre. We went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks "The Squeakuel". She kept calling them "the squirels". I think she was actually more excited about the pop and popcorn than anythings else. When I told her she could have pop she said "Pop's not for Nene's (kids)" She was pumped when I said that even kids can have pop when they go to the movies. For the first ten minutes, said "pop please" took a drink, put it back and then immediately said "mas (more) pop".

OUCH!

Christmas eve at Abue and Papa's Joslin was dancing her heart out and having a blast when her feet slipped out from under her. She hit the tile floor chin first. We headed to the ER. A couple of shots and 3 stiches later mom decided to skip leaving cookies for Santa and we crashed out at Grandma's. At first I thought I didn't get a single picture of her stitches, but I found one that Jose took while Jos and I were playing in the snow a few days later.

Christmas-blur

Christmas seems to get a little more stressful every year. This year that was definitely the case. The entire month of December was a blur. Even the week after Christmas I found myself too busy running from here to there and opening and organizing new toys. By the end I was wishing for a vacation from my vacation. I think this explains why I have a total of twelve pictures from Christmas eve (none very good) and zero from Christmas day.

Fort Alvarez

Reading Spot, Vet Clinic, Beauty Shop you name it.


Everything but the kitchen sink.

snow

At school I received this video text from Jose. For those of you who do not speak 2 year old, she is telling Bubba (Barkley) that it is snowing. It made me cry. I was missing her first snow of the season and all of the excitement that came with it. I was jealous that I was not the one to be putting on coats, hats and boots with her. Luckily Jose and Maggie both documented it well for me. Several times over the next week, I heard her sweet little voice say "It's snowing momma, it's snowing".

Another year...

Joslin is officailly out of the ones. I could talk for hours about how quickly it has gone and how amazing it is to watch the development process, but I feel that my words would still fall short. So here are some pictures from the year instead.

What an amazing year it has been.

Fiesta

Full

My life is always overwhelming. Sometimes that is overwhelming in the way of too many todo's, too many energetic kids, in general just too many frustrations and not nearly enough patience. Thankfully most of the time, it is overwhelming in a different way. In a way that makes my heart light up and smile because I feel so blessed. Blessed to have Joslin and all of her spunk. It is amazing that one little person has brought so much joy to our family. Sometimes I feel that it might be possible for my heart to burst because of how she makes me feel. Blessed also to have steady employment that allows us to provide for our needs and some extras too. Blessed to have two loving and supporting families that we can call at anytime. (Sometimes too many times right mom?) Blessed to have friends that understand me and love me just like I am. That lift me up when I am on the other side of being overwhelmed. Simply blessed.
This year as Thanksgiving came around, I found myself full. Yes, full of wonderful food like Maggie's cheesy potatoes but also just full of life and love. What a great place to be.

Thanks

Thanksgiving day at Maggie's.

Joslin and Courtney, Maggie's step-daughter. They were inseparable that day.

Go Long Daddy!Delmi, Rose, Maria and Maggie

Look closely, she is hooked to the dog's chain. Her idea.

Primos de Joslin

Joslin now has two new baby cousins.

Juan and Rachel's baby Isaac born 11/13/2009

Andi and Titus's baby Drake was born 11/18/2009

Tick-a-Teat

I have always loved the renewed energy that comes with the changes of seasons and the excitement of holidays. It's even better now that I have a little one to share it all with. She (ok we) have been looking forward to "Hah-meen" (Halloween) for a while now. We have made pumpkin cookies, orange collages, googlie-eyed monsters, leaf collections and painted several pumpkins. All she has talked about is being a witch as she practices her "tick-a-teat" and "tank-you". I think she finally realized that Halloween was here when we got to my parent's house last night. She was super hyped and loving every second of it. She hadn't even had any candy yet. Her ear to ear smile lit up my heart. She's still wearing her witch hat around the house as I type this post and kick myself for not thinking to video tape.

Falling

Diving

Chasing

Working

Digging

Swimming

Loving

Young Bloggers!

I finally got my students' blog started. They are completely in charge of maintaining it. I hope to use it as a communication tool with parents, as well as a way to teach some Internet safety and computer skills. They seem to like having complete ownership. Each week a pair of "blog editors" take the pictures, write the post, upload the pictures, edit the post, and then I hit the publish button. the best part for me is that they then become our classroom "experts", and are in charge of helping next weeks pair if they have questions. So far so good...
Check it out here

Fall Fest

Soup, Pumpkins, Cool Weather, Coffee and Lots of Love.