and so it begins...

Blake told me today after pre-school that he has a girlfriend..."Maddie." He's been talking about her lots lately. I think what prompted this was that Amy, a co-worker, asked him if he had a girlfriend. Anyway...I said, "well, what about Vanessa...she's your friend and she's a girl, so she's your girlfriend too, right?" He responds, "No mom, she's just my friend. Girls can be just friends, ya know. But Maddie is my girlfriend." So, I convinced him that kissing girls besides his momma is gross....he agreed with me. So...I guess thats good.

Making a wish....& "nuts"

I'm really not sure where Blake comes up with these things...but he does. Sometimes, he can by SO sweet.

Tonight after we read our bedtime story and said our prayers, he told me he needs to see a star, so he can make a wish. So, we shut out the lights and looked out the window. He then says, "I wish for all my grandmas, grandpas, moms and dads, all my cousins and my Cora." Not sure what he wishes for us all, but I think it's all good. :-) Those are some of the people that we pray for every night, so I think he was just saying an extra prayer for all of us.

Today at pre-school, he came home with a chipmunk puppet made out of a brown lunch sack, and another brown lunch snack that had a few shelled peanuts in it. When we got in the car and were headed towards daycare, he says to me, "Mom...I can't wait to show Mary my nuts!" Too cute! Can't wait to haunt him with these things when he gets older! lol!!

Cora's 1 year pics

Finally...got them edited and ordered...she's so stinkin' cute!

Productive Weekend!

Gotta love those weekends where we actually get a lot accomplished! We went and picked up the camper from down at Westland Camping Center in Westland. It was quite a drive, but it was a nice day with my hubby. Thanks mom for keeping the kids!

We also stopped at Ikea and bought a kitchen cart to put against the north windows. WOW, so much extra storage space we have. Not to mention, it looks much better than the old microwave cart. :-)

Still have lots to do, so gotta keep on moving. One more photo session to edit and then I'll be done until after the holidays! :-)

Love you mommy...

Tonight after I read Blake his bed time story and say our prayers (he can say the entire Lords Prayer, by the way!), he gives me a hug and says, "Momma, I love you VERY much! I had fun wrestling with you tonight...I had fun laughing with you momma." He melts my heart! :-)

Ears Glued On

Back a few weeks ago....in fact it was October 17th...the day of Cora's birthday party. I was sitting down with Blake, just relaxing and unwinding. I started to tickle him and pretend to bite his ear...this is our dialogue....

Blake: "Momma....you can't bite my ear off!"

Me: "Why not Blake"

Blake: "Because it has glue on it!"

Me: "Why does it have glue on it Blake?"

Blake: "Because Momma...everyone has glue on their ears....so they don't fall off!"

Too funny!

Wow, I knew I was behind, but didn't realize it's been 6 weeks already! Yikes...thanks for the reminder mom!

Probably the biggest excitement in the last 6 weeks was that my baby girl turned one! We had a nice party for her at our house. Everyone was able to make it - Grandma and Grandpa Arbaugh, Todd & Kristin and the boys, Jody & Brian and the girls, Jeff & Trisha & Robby, Grandpa Maya (my mom), Grandpa and Grandma Lynn, Erin & David, Grandma Regentin, Grandma Vogel and Virgil. Hopefully I'm not forgetting anyone! Cora got a whole new wardrobe of clothes, which was perfect because she didn't have much for the winter.

Cora has been walking for a while now...she's actually starting to run now! She isn't talking much...once in awhile she says "mama" or "dada" or "hi"....but that's about it. The doctor said that's normal though. She had her one year check up a on 10/21/10...she was around 21lb and 29.5" long. She is in the 50th percentile for her weight and 75th percentile for her height. So, she is growing just fine.

This was an extremely busy "picture" month... I think I did around 12 sessions. I guess that would explain why I've been so absent from this blog!

Other excitement....we bought a fifth wheel! It's a 2001 Jayco Qwest....here's a few pics...Ok...I guess the pictures are up top...can't seem to figure out how to move them down here.

Halloween was today.....we ended up taking Nathan and Braden along with us because Todd and Kristin had to go to a funeral for Sara Wood. Blake was a hunter, Cora was a chicken, and Nathan and Braden were Star Wars characters...couldn't tell you which ones! Those pics are still on my camera....They had fun tonight though. We went to my Dad's, Grandma Vogel's, Aunt Peggy's, Aunt Gail's and Aunt Diane's. They were SO generous and got TONS of candy. Thank you all!!

Aunt Diane even gave us homemade popcorn balls...brings back memories of trick-or-treating when we were kids and going to Great-Grandma and Grandpa Peruski's.

Tom and I are in another weightloss competition with Jody and Brian...it started 10/1 and will go to 12/31. This one is a little less intense, as we are really focusing on eating healthy and making this a lifestyle change. If we all meet our goals, we are going to start another competition focused on maintaining our weight.

Cora had another tooth come in this week....top right...She now has 3 on top and 4 on the bottom.

Blake has been doing very well with pre-school. He had one bad day, and it took awhile but we figured out that the problem was he had to go #2 and didn't want to go at school...so he threw a terrible fit and didn't want me to leave. We haven't had any problems since then, and he really looks forward to going to school. He goes 2 days a week. He is starting to talk a little more about it...and about the kids in his class. He talks about this "girl with the beautiful hair and beautiful eyes...but she has a mad face." Too funny! He also mentioned "the girl with the little head." I'm trying to put "a name with the face" now that I have his class photo!

That's all for now....I'm gonna really try to keep this better updated from now on!!