Pictures...pictures and more pictures

These pictures date back to September, but I haven't posted pictures in so long that I thought I would go crazy and post just about every picture I took. Dan's mom came to visit around the end of Sept., so most of the pictures are from her visit. We are having trouble with our camera, so many are fuzzy and many were deleted because they were just to fuzzy. We are hoping to get a cheap digital camera after Thanksgiving. But I am worried I won't get any pictures through Halloween. I will just have to take lots and lots of pictures so that at least a few will be good :) So here are the long awaited pictures!! Enjoy!

What kid doesn't love a lawn mower and better yet...what kid doesn't know how to start a lawn mower ;) hehehe

Picking Raspberries...a favorite past time for mom and Josiah. He loves to pick them and is very careful when he goes up to the plant. Fun and too cute:)

Dan stood up from the picnic table and launched his mom onto the ground. Not really launched, so much as rolled off :) Noone was hurt and she thought it was very funny!!!

Josiah had fun walking the dog...but it was a good thing that the dog didn't take off when he let go of the leash, because you know how long the attention span of a 2 year old is ;)

Grandma got Josiah a new bike and he loves it...sometimes he will sit on it to watch TV

To make Grandma's visit more memorable and just to have some fun, we made our way over to the cider mill for Cider and Donuts. What a fun morning! But Josiah sure was tired and ready for a nap when we got home.

An addiction to DaDoo's (or Donuts), just like his mom

Go Green! Go White!

Just laying around the house!

Beauty Shop

My mom and I played beauty shop this weekend. I really hated the last hair cut that I got and I have been wanted to color my hair. So I had her cut it on Saturday morning. I will have to post pictures later, but it is shorter than I have had in a long time. It is about 2 inches up off my shoulders and about a 2 inch layer in the back and a slight layer in the front. It is so easy to do and I think the cut itself should be easier to replicate. I am so glad that I let my mom cut my hair. I have been going to the salon for several years now...ever since I started getting it cut shorter and with layers. But I am not sure why, really. I definitely like going to the salon and getting pampered a little, but I don't like the cost for a simple hair cut. $35 is a lot to spend on just getting your hair cut. So I am glad that I thought to have her fix my hair...it was awful before. Then after she cut my hair, I cut her hair. The same hair cut I have been giving her for years :) with a new twist. I gave her layers for the first time ever. I had never given anyone layers (well except Dan a couple of times, but that doesn't count). I styled it with a round brush and I think she liked it :)

I had been thinking about getting my hair colored for some time now, but again it costs so much money...money that I just don't have. My mom had mentioned just doing a box color, but I was nervous that I wouldn't like the color or whatever. But the same can be said for going to the salon. You never get quite what you are picturing, so why spend the extra money. So on Sunday, while Bob took Josiah for a walk and chased squirrels, mom and I went to Kmart and bought hair coloring stuff. I ended up getting a box that had both the coloring and the highlights and for a fraction of the cost. And guess what: I loved it and still love it. It is auburn and just the color I had imagined. Unbelievable. However, after we did the over all color and I liked it so much, I decided to hold off on the highlights. I just didn't want to ruin a good thing.

Then after my hair was all colored and cut and I felt beautiful :) My mom decided she was going to brave a new look and she wanted me to do the cut. She decided she was going to go with a face framed look, so that the hair wouldn't hang in her face when she leaned forward. Yikes (for me doing the cutting that is :) But I think it went well. She could tell me with every cut, if it was what she wanted, which you can't really do at a salon. You tell them what you want and hope they interpret your instructions correctly. In the end I think it looked even better than just layers in the back, because it blended all the way around nicely. And after two days she still likes it....so overall a great day in the Beauty Shop :)

Weekend, Cont'd

Where was I...oh yah, the early nap that backfired. However he did wake up just in time to ride with Dawn to the pool party. So that part was good, but he didn't take a long enough nap and woke up a little cranky still. Oh well, such is life right!

The Pool Party: Ok, so this is venting...but Dad and Kathie please know I/we did have fun at the pool party and he loved being in the water, as I knew he would. With that said, I probably will not take him swimming alone again until he can go off on his own. Dan didn't go with us, so it was just me to take care of Josiah, who wanted in and out of the pool. He doesn't understand walk vs. run...so I constantly had to be right on him even when I wasn't holding him (which wasn't very often), but it was constant and even when I was on with him all the time, he still managed to fall and hit his head (lots of snuggle time...probably the best part. Is that bad to love the snuggle time a fall brings). Then the food was on the pool deck with a rope blocking people off from the pool. Does a rope prevent a 2 year old from crossing it: NO. So I had to constantly be on top of him with the food on deck and he didn't want to sit on my lap to eat snacks...so more fighting. In the pool he wouldn't go in his little boat thing that would give him and myself independence...to many kids and the boat didn't really hold him up well, so I guess I can understand that. So I held him the entire time. Then we had dinner and thank goodness they had a high chair, because that would not have been fun with him wanting to be on the go constantly. I set him up at the table where several people were sitting with him, but by the time I got back out to the table, he was all by himself, everyone had switched tables. Great! I have spent the entire time in the pool pretty much by myself with Josiah and now we get to eat by ourselves. By this time I was getting a little cranky. Thank goodness, Kathie and her sister, Stephi came and sat with us and I got to have some adult conversation :). OK, now I am making this all out to be terrible..it was NOT terrible. I had fun. Josiah had fun. I was just ready to be done with the constant carrying and watching and being by myself at a family function. So lesson learned: don't go to a pool alone with Josiah until he can take care of himself.

We really did have fun, and a good weekend overall...I was just ready to go home too :) I was ready for Dan to take care of Josiah. I was ready for Josiah to stop screaming over every little thing that didn't go his way. The tantrums continue to escalate :(

Then on Sunday we went to the kids museum where Josiah could just get down and run around. He loved the music part of the museum and sitting in the tractor. But that trip didn't last very long...no attention span. However, as we were leaving and he realized that we were leaving, yet another tantrum...not to big, but crying none-the-less. This is when we got into the car and were getting ready to head out of town when I realized that the DVD player's (yep we have two), didn't work. NOT GOOD! I think the cords are bad, but who knows....either way, neither would work and it was a long trip home. He would play, look at a book for 5 minutes and then cry out demanding the DVD player to play a movie. One of them would play the sound, so I just let the Lion King play through the movie...at least we could listen to the music and what not.

So, when I got home, I was ready to just veg...unfortunately the laundry (that my mom so kindly did and folded) doesn't get put away itself, so I put all that away and when 8:00pm roled around and my TV shows started, I handed the rains over to Dan and we were able to get Josiah into bed pretty early. Josiah didn't want me to take him to bed anyway! Stinker! But I didn't care, as long as he went to bed.

It has been so long since I have been able to blog that I have forgotten how to come to a point much quicker than I used to be able too. So bare with me for a time until I get readjusted.

Our Weekend

We had an ok and very busy weekend. Josiah and I visited all of my parents in one trip..always handy :) We went to my mom's to stay on Friday night. Great trip in the car with Josiah...the DVD player worked the whole way (it has been on the fritz and this isn't always the case). So the trip was uneventful. He didn't make it to bed until 9:30pm...not to late, but we woke him up at 7:00 and apparently that was the wrong thing to do. In my mind if he got up earlier, he would take an earlier nap and we could leave for the pool partier with my dad earlier. Boy was I wrong. He was so very crabby from the second he woke up. Mostly directed at me. I guess I should have just left him with my mom and Bob for alittle while and maybe he wouldn't have been such a crab, but we will never really know. So many tantrums this weekend and over silly stuff, but I guess that is what makes them tantrums. So my theory that he would take an early nap...not so much. We tried to put him down early, because he was yawning and rubbing his eyes, but he just wouldn't go to sleep. Bob ended up laying next to the pack and play until Josiah fell asleep.

Will continue the saga tomorrow...I ran out of time

I can blog again!!

It has been so very long since I was able to blog during the day...lunch hour or breaks! But I just started a new job today and I have full access to all the stuff I have been missing for so long. Many of you probably gave up on checking my blog, but many of you have bloglines, so hopefully you will get a chance to check in every once and a while.

Where to begin on an update and have it be short enough for people to glance through and get the gist. One of the last times I actually blogged about me, I was working at a computer helpdesk...stressful and not much fun! I left that job, substitute taught for a month and then got hired in at a workman's comp place, working in administrative services...or better yet the mail room. That was a great job, but paid crap. I actually did a good job and was given responsiblities early on and excelled. The job didn't have much more room to grow in and they were on a hiring freeze. So hurry up and wait for the temps to get hired on. They wanted to hire us temps, but the union they are part of wouldn't let them. Many changes were about to happen and they weren't sure how many people it was going to take when the changes had taken place...so I started looking for another job. A couple of weeks ago, when they announced at AF that they were definitely going to stick with temps, I went to a temp agencies website to check out other temp jobs. I got the call on Monday that I got another temp position as an administrative assistant to the executives of a fast growing company and 3 days later here I am. But the best part: $5 more an hour :) Huge! And through the holidays...this couldn't have come at a better time. The bummer is that it is definitely a temp position, I am filling in for someones maternity leave. So far everyone is great and I think I will fit in good here. I sure hope so. Hopefully when this job ends, another position within the company will become available, that is my hope.

Enough about me: Dan is doing well, but hoping to make a career change. He has been with his company for 10 years now and they gave him no recognition....no bonus, no gift certificate, not even a card. He doesn't get anymore vacation, 2 weeks a year and that is the most he will ever have. They treat him terribly there, actually they treat everyone terribly. That is the company that I got let go from because I bought smoky links instead of Bob Evans Sausage for a company breakfast. Never tick the owners wife off...lessoned learned. Better yet, never work for a family owned business again.

I will have to come back and give an update on Josiah...but he is doing great and learning lots of little words! To fun!

Long time no Blog

BEFORE THE HAIRCUT

AFTER THE HAIRCUT

I have to get to bed, but I thought I would put a quick updated picture of the boy! You could say this was a tribute to my nephew entering the navy. Good luck Dustin and we will continue to think of you every time we have to shave the boys heads :)

A Few Misc. Pictures

Josiah discovered Superman Icecream today and loved it...so much that he just had to save some all over his face for later. Plus you must take notice of his lovely outfit...his dad dressed him that day!!! :)

"Let me out!!!"
"I love my new desk, thanks mom!"

Grandma and Grandpa L. Visit

My dad and stepmom came down for a visit last week and we had a really nice time. It was absolutely beautiful outside, so we spent most of the time outside until Josiah had to get ready for bed. We ordered pizza, salad and bread sticks from a newly discovered pizza place in our little town. Seven years here and never had we eaten there. A little more expensive, but worth every penny :) Josiah did a good job keeping us thoroughly entertained throughout the evening as always!! From trying to drink beer to standing on the picnic table to saying "Bubboos" on cue ;) All in all a fun time!

Father's Day Excursion

Dan had heard about a park in town that neither one of us had ever been too. I had no idea that it was even there. I had passed by the park on countless occassions and had no idea what was back in there. But Dan had heard that they had something called a splash pad. In Dan's mind it was this great big sponge with a few inches of water and you could run around on it and splash about.

We had such a great time. It turned out to be a sprinkler type water park. You can see what it was like in the pictures below. It took Josiah about 2 minutes to figure out what it was all about and he dove right into the different sprinklers. He just ran and ran for about 2 hours straight. Needless to say he took a great nap that day.

So all in all I think Dan had a great Father's Day. After our naps, we packed back up and headed back into town to eat at Dan's favorite restaraunt. Thank goodness Josiah was good at this restaraunt, because he doesn't tend to be very good when we are eating out any more. All the more reason to eat at home...saves on both money and anxiety :)

The Tides are Changing

Today was a great day!!! My work is going well and I seem to be excelling at the type of work I am doing right now, which is always great! I am meeting new people and am enjoying work right now.

The great part about today part 1: I got a call for an interview today. I am sooooo excited! It is the first interview in my field in quite a long time. The position is for an entry level environmental field technician. Right up my line of work. It would be doing soil and water sampling, data collection and analysis and other environmental testing. My interview is for next Tues. at 5:15pm, so any prayers would be greatly appreciated.

The great part about today part 2: The hospital bills for the cat bite are going to be covered by home owners insurance. Who would have ever guessed? My stepdad, Bob, mentioned that it should cover, so we checked into it and low and behold it is going to be covered 100%. I am so excited. Plus we are coming into some early inheritance to help cover all of our other dr. bills that we have incrued over the past few months. My cup floweth over!

I just can't believe how blessed we truly are. The hard times are hard, but they only make the good times that much better. We just have to continue to have faith. Our struggles aren't over, but they seem much less of a burden with all of this great news. I just need to remember to turn all these burdens over to God, so that He can shoulder the burden for me. I just need to remember to pray!

Pete and Cassie's Wedding

It started out with a little bit of rain and turned into a beautiful day. And all of my worrying about Josiah being good during the wedding was for naught. He was good as gold and only screamed out once. Pretty good for having to sit still for an entire half an hour in his stroller. The wedding party was absolutely beautiful...white and cream dresses and all the guys were in kakhi pants and white shirts. And the reception was picnic style...literally. What a great idea!! We all lined up and picked out what kind of sandwhich and salads we wanted and put them into a paper bag. And proceeded to the nearest square of lawn. They had lots of chairs set up from the wedding too. A really unique idea!

Of course, what kid could resist climbing these stairs...unfortunately he wanted desparetly to climb them while the wedding party was taking pictures :)

He was just precious during the wedding. God must have been singing lullabies in his ear to keep him this content to be sitting.

If you look closely at the picture of Josiah, you can see that he is taking a string of mardi gras beads out of a jar. That little act is what kept him so content. That baby food jar and those beads have occupied many hours of that little boys life.

Brayden had a great time and was very good throughout the wedding too. Between crackers and toys, both boys did great!

All these hills kept both Brayden and Josiah on their feet most of the day. Kelly said that this was the most excited Brayden has gotten about walking which was very exciting and fun to watch him get so excited.

Who doesn't love bubbles...in fact on a side bar. BUBBLES WAS JOSIAH'S FIRST WORD :) Early this week he just started saying it. I take that back...DADDY was his first word and he started using it for Dan about 2 weeks ago. Tonight he called me BOBO, so we still have to work that one out :) But he is definately making a little bit of progress! Einstein didn't talk until he was 4 right??

A much needed drink break. Josiah and Brayden ran and walked all over, but the break was really for Kelly and I ;) Josiah was even body slamming other little boys on the dance floor. Funny, but we had to step in!!

Two very beautiful and blessed families!!!!