It happened again. Jameson needed a haircut, and Kevin took it upon himself to give him a mo-hawk. I don’t even think I have a picture this time, because he really didn’t want to cooperate. I was going to take pictures when we got home from church (yes church), but by the time we got home, the mo-hawk was pretty fallen over. But, we did get ready for church and got there late. So that meant we got to walk in with everyone already looking at us. Kevin was a few steps behind Jameson and me. As we walked in, I sat right down with Jameson, but Kevin heard all the chuckles. We like to bring a little excitement to our meetings. I had several people tell me they almost pulled their phones out to take a picture, but then remembered we were in Sacrament meeting and taking a picture is not appropriate. (The first hour of our church meeting is called Sacrament meeting. To learn more, check here.) I know before we left church for the day, he did have one picture taken.

The aftermath of the mo-hawk is a not so stylish haircut. I’m not going to sit and style it everyday and fight with Jameson. Kevin didn’t get around to cutting it Sunday night, so Monday I had a boy with a very redneck haircut. I had to go to the store, though, so I tried to tell Jameson he needed a beanie to keep his head warm. Didn’t work.

Valentine’s Day arrived, and Jamo helped his Dad with a surprise. (Notice the hair?)

Aren’t they beautiful? I’ll have you all know, he walked from work over to Pike’s Market for these. I’ll also have you know, that is a hike. And, it was freezing on Valentine’s Day, along with wind. Yup, he really does love me. He even cut Jameson’s hair that night… well the top. He left the back, thinking it was funny, and wanted to show his friend. Our friends agreed to be our Valentine’s, and came over for dinner. But, by the time everyone went home, and things settled down, bedtime came before haircut time. So the next day, I tried to cut it, but couldn’t figure out which number he used. By the time I did, Jameson was done sitting. So, we had to run our errands with a buzzed headed boy, who’s hair was slightly longer in the mo-hawk area. Not cool. Poor child. Luckily, he doesn’t care.

One thing I love about his hair buzzed? You get the full effect of Jameson’s facial expressions. So funny. That was our Valentine’s!

How many times will I have have to tell my children to “Get Down?” I’m guessing 5,987,305,126,580. Because as of right now, I’m only on child number 2, it’s only February, and I’ve already hit my quota for the year. I am frequently finding Ella in higher places these days. Places like this…

She uses the chairs, boxes, or toys to climb up on top of things. She will even push them where she needs them, or pull the chairs out. But she doesn’t know how to get down. So she climbs up on things, and yells for you to come get her down. When I walk in to find her on tables or couches, I look at her and just shake my head. If you try to reprimand her, she first looks at you…

And then laughs. She is so proud of herself. What am I going to do with this girl? It’s a good thing she’s so dang cute, and it helps that I love her to pieces.

(Please disregard the towel over the fireplace. We don’t have firewood, so we don’t use the fireplace, but it’s really drafty. If you come to our house, there’s towels everywhere. Older homes aren’t so well insulated.)

Tuesday night, I was trying to finish a few things up for our yw activity. As I was trying to print some things, I heard Jameson’s breathing slow. It was that all too familiar deep breathing you hear when your child falls asleep. I went to the table where he was supposed to be eating his food, and found him like this…

Yes, he still has his food in his hand. Once this kid crashes, there is no waking him up. It’s gotten to where I just put him in bed for the night, even if it’s only 6 pm. He doesn’t take naps, but at least once a week, he crashes. I do love this little boy, though.

This week, we had 2 birthdays, and I have only written about 1 so far. Who is the other one?

None other than Christina! My mom loves these types of pictures by the way. To our credit, we took this my freshman year of college trying to finish off a roll of film to get it developed. So sorry I missed posting on your actual birthday, but you were not forgotten. I have any pictures that are framed of us on top of the entertainment center. It’s like an ode to Christina up there, but at least I get to see you everyday. A present will be in the mail next week for the Dixon girls. I was a slacker at sending things this week, but to my credit, it was Brittany’s daycare around here. Jameson loved having friends all week to play with, but that meant I was home a lot. By the way, if you lived by us, you could bring your chillins to Brittany’s daycare any day. It comes complete with hot meals. 🙂 Depends when you pick your kids up if you get lunch or dinner. So, I think you need to work your way up this way.

Since I did this to Paul, we might as well put Christina on the spot. Things you don’t know about her:

• She likes to buy cookie dough to eat, never to make the cookies.
• Even though she’s left handed, she does most things right, including batting and ironing.
• She danced when she was little (we both did, but I really don’t remember it so I don’t think it counts).
• I’m pretty sure she never got a “B” in school. I always had teachers asking if I was going to be valedictorian like my sister. I told them to check their grade books and they’d have their answer. (That was a negative.)
• She’s my best friend… but you probably knew that one.

Happy Birthday, Christina!

It’s official… We have a walker. Yesterday, Kevin and I were trying to get Ella to walk back and forth. She finally did it. It wasn’t steps like she was trying to catch herself on the way down, but actual steps toward each of us. Here’s our proof…

(It’s hard to record and catch her at the same time. I apologize for the not good video.)

So there you have it. We have a walker. Now she just needs to practice. She can still get places lots faster by crawling, so this is the preferred method. Won’t be long.

So for Christmas, Jameson and I walked a plate of cookies to all of our neighbors. We ended up giving away about 10 plates of cookies. The good things is that we had a cookie swap, so I only made 2 different kinds of cookies, but we had at least 4 different types on each plate. One neighbor that’s been really nice, and lives across the street was never home. We could never catch them home so we left them on the door step. We received a Christmas card in our mailbox a few days later. It read:

“Merry Christmas Neighbors! Wishing you & your family a wonderful holiday. Thank you so much for the card & cookies! We’ve lived here 9 years & you’re the first neighbor to show such a nice gesture of kindness. ~Nance & Alejandro”

My first thought was, “I’m glad they got the cookies before the squirrels did.” Secondly, isn’t that so sad. We well definitely be making our rounds next year. We might even need to do things in between. They’re pretty funny, too. They love to visit Reno, and go a few times a year. We might have mentioned they should go over Labor Day for the rib cook-off. We’ll see as it gets closer if they actually do.

Why is this all relevant? Yesterday, my doorbell rang. I was questioning who it was as I walked to the door. I opened it to see my neighbor that lives straight across the street. She had a plate of these.

I have no idea what they are. She tried to tell me, but she doesn’t speak English very well. She told me they were for the Chinese New Year since we brought her cookies. Well, who would have thought? I wondered when we took the cookies around if we should say “Merry Christmas,” because most of our neighbors are different cultures. But then, I thought, this is our religious belief, and this is why we are bringing cookies. Plus, it’s a great missionary experience for me and Jameson. Anyway, Kevin was not feeling well, so it was up to me to try these and figure out what they are. Kevin did stop me from biting the whole thing, thinking it was probably like a tamale and you have to unwrap them. Good thing he is smart.

So I unwrapped it, and find this.

The outside is some type of sticky rice or flour or something. It basically feels like Gak (remember from the quarter machines that we played with as kids, and our parents hated?) It doesn’t really have a taste. It’s a total texture thing. Inside was stuffed with coconut, chopped nuts, and I think she told me Mongolian sauce? That’s what it looked like and tasted like. I did take those bites out of that by the way. She gave us 6, though, and I didn’t want them to go to waste, so Jameson and I took some to our friends that live near by. She couldn’t even eat them, but at least he tried some. Except, when he opened his up, it was bright purple. That was odd.

This one had almost a potato like filling. It didn’t really taste like anything, though. I would think these are suppose to be really good, because my neighbor owns a restaurant nearby. I’m usually not very interested in venturing out to new taste, so for me to eat this was kind of a big deal. I feel really bad, but they only got tasted and then went into the trash. I love that my neighbor was so sweet to make these for us though. I really do like having neighbors that are from so many different places. We learn things all the time from them, and get to have so many new experiences.

*If anyone knows what the heck I ate, please let me know. The black one with coconut was kind of tasty if you just ate the inside. I couldn’t handle the texture of the outside stuff.*

This song is a tradition around our house when someone turns 23. And guess who has earned the honors this year!

Not many people get to see this side of Paul, but we do frequently. Despite the song, everyone actually loves Paul. Jameson was even singing the birthday song today for Paul. We miss having Paul around. He used to come to Reno all the time to visit us while he was in high school, and even lived with us for a summer during college. We haven’t seen Paul since August, so I think it’s time for a visit. We keep telling Paul he needs to do an internship up here with us. So some things people might not know about Paul?

• He’s a gentleman.. still opens doors, carries bags, carries my kids, pumps my gas for me, etc.
• He can cook
• He’s a great baby-sitter for his nieces and nephews
• He’s an ordinance worker (he wonders why the old ladies stare at him. We tell him they’re trying to think which granddaughter they can set him up with.)
• He can play the piano by ear
• He plays guitar
• He’s not so good at free boarding
• He loves his older sister

So here’s to another year, Paul. Hopefully we get to see you soon. I mean, you are the favorite Uncle. No one has been able to change that. Even with better bribery. You had it right when you started Jameson young on the bribery.

By the way, ladies, he’s single. So if you’re interested in the bachelor, let me know. He’s awesome.

*Apparently, Paul and I need to take some more recent pictures together. High school and college pictures… we need to update.

Where has the time gone? Ella is now eleven months old. Crazy, huh? We celebrated today by going to the park. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. There was not a cloud in the sky, and you could actually feel the sunshine.  I put both kids in the stroller, we met with friends, and walked to the park. Ok, I really didn’t remember about her 11 month mark until tonight when I started updating our blog. But we did go to the park.

Jameson and “A” had a blast. We had some friends that interned  here for the summer, but then had to go back to BYU to finish up school. They moved back in January, and live just a few blocks away…  and up one hill. It’s not too bad of a walk. So they came with us to the park.

(In the summer, these whales squirt water.) “A” and Jameson ran all over the park together. The went on every slide and climbed every rock. So I guess it’s only appropriate this picture looks like an engagement picture. Sorry “K,” Jameson might be cheating on you.

Man, that’s one big rock! Oh, and the one they’re sitting on is big, too.

They continued to take over the park…

Check out that BLUE sky! And guess what was even better? We could feel the warmth of the sun. Finally! These two took one last trek up the back of the whale, then it was time to go.

Meanwhile, the babies hung out and ate crackers and pretzels. Ella was so happy to be outside.

Can you believe we are one month away from celebrating a first birthday?

Ella’s milestones so far are:

• She has 2 complete teeth in. The upper right and bottom left. Yes, she looks kind of funny. The other two front teeth have broken through the gums, but have not come fully in.
• She can stand for a few seconds until she realizes nothing is supporting her. Then she gracefully sits down.
• She has learned to climb. I have found her on Jameson’s bed, trying to climb on the nightstand. She also frequently climbs on the small chairs, and bugs Jameson when he falls asleep on the couch. Today I watched her climb from chair to chair, and onto the small table where she looked at me and laughed.
• She has been attached to my side, which is not always fun.
• She spits raspberries in response when you do it.
• She will walk if you hold her hand. Really, she just needs one of your fingers to hold onto.
• If you laugh at all, she laughs. She can’t stand to not be part of something.
• She still takes her baby food, but loves lunch meats, bananas, yogurt, potatoes, and anything anyone else is eating. She especially likes when Jameson leaves his food on his table while Mom takes him to the bathroom. I found her with only a 1/4 of a sandwich left which means she ate 1/4 and was working on the other. It was a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Yup, #1 Mom right here. Honey and peanut butter before age 1.
• She hates being strapped in her carseat, but she is still in her infant carseat. This is only because that is the only way she will sleep if we are out.That is changing soon. Just have to do some washing.
• Ella will pretty much sleep only in her crib.
• As of today, she is 21.5 pounds.
• She loves to bug her brother. Yesterday, I could hear her laughing in the other room while I was making dinner. I look in, and she is standing on the small chair next to the couch. Jameson had fallen asleep (miracle) and she was pulling his hair, pulling his ears, sticking her finger in his ears, etc. He would roll over, and she would laugh. Poor Jameson. But I have to say, he probably deserved it.

We absolutely love this girl. I get stopped every time  I’m out and told how cute she is. She adores her brother, and he tolerates her. If anyone else tries to do anything to her, he comes to her rescue. He loves to point out his baby sister now. Hopefully, next month I will be able to post walking pictures. She loves to be upright, but is not quite steady yet. So, hopefully.

I got Jameson’s horse back out not long ago. Ella loves to ride it. I put the seat on it, but I think I need to take it off. She balances pretty well, and can’t climb on with the seat on it. You’ve seen how Jamo likes to sit on it. So I think it’s unanimous. The seat needs to come off soon. In the meantime, she’ll still enjoy her horse.

(January 27, 2011)

We love Ella’s belly laugh. And she does it a lot! Until she gets distracted by the camera.

(January 24, 2011)