Little Mr. Personality

Happy Valentine's Day

Josh has taken a liking to U2 Watch him get down

Endless pursuit of Happiness

I know, less than a week and I am going to post. A lot has happened in the last few days and the next week is going to be very hectic so I figured now or never.

This past weekend we went to our first "big b-day" party for my girlfriend Mandy's son Eric. We went to the jumpy gym as we call it and Josh had a blast. Everytime we go he gets more comfortable with it. This time, he went down the slides all by himself. I am not one to hand hold him, but this was actually hard for me. I sat at the top and saw Mandy's daughter Willa go down by herself and Josh eagerly tried to. So I let him go, my stomach was literally in knots as I watched him go down squealing with huge smiles. I then slid down after him which was equally hilarious to him because he couldn't get away very easily. It was so fun to watch him laugh at everything.

We spent SAturday night with our neighbors and then Sunday we did the usual Church, breakfast, and got ready for the Superbowl party. We went to Barb and Tom's again. It was a very good time as there are new kids every year.

Monday I started classes again for the semester. I signed onto my online course to find out that the first exam scores and discussion grades for the first week were posted! INSTANT panic. I immediately called the professor to find out that I had infact missed the entire first week of class. Apparently the online courses start a week earlier than my UWO classes. UGH. So I haven't slept that great the last 2 nights because I have so much anxiety about being so far behind. My boss graciously let me have the day off today so I could catch up and I was very successful. I managed to finish all the assignments and exams for both the first and second weeks of class. Meaning I am now ahead of schedule! YAY! My inclass course is finance. It was a very very good class and I think I am really going to like it. The professor is really good at keeping the lecture interesting/applicable to everyone in the class regardless of knowledge of the material.

This weekend we are traveling to MI for my neice Charlotte's baptism. And then next week I will be traveling to Toronto for work. I really don't like traveling this much especially when it is all crammed into one week. But such is life. The next big planned trip after that is going to be MEXICO! YAY!

I will get pictures posted after all the trips next week!

Here is a link to an article I had to read for class this week... It is about our desire to find Happiness.... It gave me a unique perspective on how I make decisions... hope it is interesting to you too!

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DEFD61538F934A3575AC0A9659C8B63

Josh's Resolutions for 2009

January is almost over and our New Year's resolutions continue to go well. Jim and I are focusing on limiting the amount of hour Josh is in daycare and trying to juggle in a regular exercise program. So far the only downfall to this is the lack of time Jim and I get to spend with each other. Right now, I wake up at 4:45 and work out at the gym, come home and get ready. Jim goes to work as soon as I am back from working out. I drop Josh off at daycare. Jim picks him up. We have dinner and hang out for maybe an hour and then Josh goes to bed. Jim heads to the gym and I usually do whatever miscellaneous errands need to be done and try to be in bed by 9pm. Just to start it all over again the next day. We have done this for 4 weeks now and it seems to be going okay. Next week I will add school to the mix, so we'll see what that changes.

As for Josh and his New Year's Resolution... he has been working hard on the following:

1. Learn to say a new word every day. New favorites are colors, welcome, i love you, and toothbrush.



2. Pick up my toys after I am done. We are about 50/50 on this one.



3. No hitting. So the love of hockey is now turning into a problem at daycare as everything has become a stick. Not so great.



4. Do a fun activity with Mom and Dad every weekend. This has been a lot of fun for Jim and I too. We have gone swimming, gone to Wild Air, shopping, and to an activity zone.

We get to put a sticker on the calendar if we accomplish our goals. Josh puts them on for all of us and looks forward to it every night at dinner. It feels good to reprioritize life every once in a while. Even though we may not stick with it completely in 2009... we do try and for the most part we do make small adjustments in our lives...

The pictures: First one is of his favorite snack... frozen fruit and yogurt. And the last one is him wearing his big boy Thomas the Train underoos. He saw them in Kohls and was like "Choo Choo, mama Choo Choo". So I bought them and he thought it was cool to wear them. Hopefully they will still be cool when he is ready to potty train full-time.

New Year's Eve

We invited friends over again for New Year's eve and weren't quite sure how it was going to turn out. It was a long day getting ready for the party and just being back home. Thankfully Jim and I both had the day off of work.

Several friends came, some single, some with kids. All the kids played so well together and it was fun to have all of us sit around and still have a conversation while they were tearing into all the toys. Almost all of the kids crashed for the night around 9pm which allowed the parents to have some fun. We ditched the Elmo video for the New York Countdown and enjoyed some adult beverages.

Well my dear friend Kelly was on a mission to make sure we were up until there was no more fun to be had. So I was up until 3:30 am playing beer pong... and of course tippy cup. At this point, there were only 6 of us left standing... and we were still going strong. About 3:45am... the party was over because we didn't have a beer left in the house. I went up and made some corn dogs and then we all crashed. Until 7am when Maverick and Josh were up. Josh was SO excited to see Maverick come downstairs... his first sleepover! haha! I realize why parents have them... kids are so content with friends over!

It was a good night... and I felt like I can still hang... ha ha. I have learned to stay away from Champagne!

New Year's day was wonderfully lazy. Even Josh was lazy. It was PERFECT!