Ho Hum

It seems like the holidays have been gone forever. When we took down the Christmas tree, Will kept saying, "It's over, Mommy? Christmas is over?" But in spite of the calendar, Will insists on looking for our chimney every time we pull out of the driveway (because Santa comes down the chimney!). Will also managed to stow away the chicken that dances to his own special rendition of We Wish You a Merry Christmas and The Chicken Dance. I've been trying to reassure him that the Christmas season will officially be upon us again in just 10 short months.

So here we sit at the end of January, a usually less than eventful, ho hum kind of month. But already lots of little things have happened and the year is 1/12 over! So here's to January and all the little events that made it pass quickly...

Happy belated birthday to my sweety, John, who turned 39 this month. Among other things in your time on earth, you've managed to snag a beautiful wife ;) and a brilliant son! Cheers to you! But seriously, there is no one on this earth who's character I admire more. I love you!

Will got to meet Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. He asked why they weren't talking. John told him they were shy because they are use to just hanging out with other vegetables.

We saw 2 snows. Will got to make snow angels and go sledding for the first time. He is begging to make a snowman, but unfortunately we are still waiting for snowman snow that will stick together.

Wohlford Photography participated in our first (hopefully of many) bridal fairs. We have already booked a few weddings for the upcoming year and look forward to more!

We have had our first 2 family movie nights, beginning with Disney's CARS. Will is now obsessed. At least 10 times a day we must retell the part of the movie in which Mater and Lightning go tractor tipping. Will is developing his own story telling skills as we put our foot down to telling the story for an 11th time and Will must tell it to us instead.

We decided on a preschool for Will. The sign-ups for the fall begin in January and fill up quickly. Kind of crazy! I never really thought I'd send my children to pre-school, especially not at 3 years old. But it's one of those things I just felt in my heart we needed to do. Will is smart and social and can use a little extra variety and stimulation. At such a young and impressionable age, we wanted him to attend a Christian school. We were also looking for a place that would challenge him when he's ready to move ahead. (Yes. You probably figured out we think he's smart! As a teacher, I'm going to try hard not to be his teachers' nightmares!) So after looking around, we decided that Will will be attending Porter Memorial. I'm sure my parents are secretly happy about the Baptist influence. I just can't wait to see him act out the Christmas story in December!

Growing up next to Fort Knox, I always managed to become best friends with the army brats (their term, not mine). So each year I had a new best friend because my old one had moved away! This month I said goodbye to another good friend of mine, who's daughter also happened to be a good friend of Will's. It brought back some sad memories for me. I tried to explain what was going on, but Will didn't seem to understand much until we left her going away party. As soon as we left, he kept begging to go back to her house and it broke my heart. Thank goodness that now, unlike when I was a child, we have Facebook, blogs, and cheap long distance to keep us connected! (We'll miss you a lot Nancy and Sophie (and Paulie and Dan)!

Will has developed a fear of Goliath and other giants, as well as an increasing fear of the dark. When he's scared we remind him that God is watching over him. We've talked briefly about the fact that Jesus is coming back to get us some day. The other night while we were praying, Will asked if Jesus is going to come back and get us. I told him yes. Will continued by asking,"He got good toys?" I replied, "The best." But just to be sure, he asked, "Him got cars???"

I have loved every stage of Will's life so far (except the waiting for him!), but by the things coming out of his mouth lately, I'm really looking forward to this 3 year old stage coming in a few weeks!

38 and Better Than Ever!

Celebrating with his free Birthday Burger at Round Robin. Much to my delight, though not John's, they also sing to you and bring you a free Sundae!

John celebrated his 38th birthday yesterday, at least as much celebrating as you normally do at 38. I always have grand ideas of making birthdays the most awesome, amazing days ever, something they write movies about, but I always fall short. John doesn't really expect much anyway, but I love him so much and want to make it special for him. Unfortunately, he had a couple ugly things happen that made the day difficult--one that was pretty much over yesterday and one that will probably haunt us a few more weeks or months, if not longer. It is so true that it's much harder to watch someone you love get hurt than it is to be hurt yourself. I hate it that this happened. I hate it that it happened on his birthday. I don't understand why everyone doesn't see how wonderful, amazing, funny, smart, and dedicated my husband is, but I sure do. After 38 years of life, he is better than ever!

May this year be your best yet! Good things are coming. I love you, John!


John examining his new guitar quilt. Somehow he was surprised, even though I wouldn't let him go in the basement (where I sew) and Will has walked around pointing at the microwave constantly yelling, "Sew!" the last couple weeks.

As you can see, only the top is finished. I'll post more pics when it's in its completed state--very soon!

Good Time for an Old Story

With good friends getting ready to leave for China, John and I have been reminiscing about our trip. Now don't think that I just go around telling stories on my husband--he's given me permission to post the stories I've told on him. But this is another good one that he reminded me of. I think he was embarrassed to post at the time...

The night we were scheduled to leave Beijing, we had to put our suitcases out to get picked up. This was a surprise to us and we didn't have much time before the bell boys would be around to collect them. Due to the restrictions from China airlines, there were only certain things we could take in our carry on, so we were running around trying to figure out how to pack and still be able to shower, etc. John was a good sport and got our bags out on time, but of course we forgot something and he, modest as he is, had to go back out to our bags wearing nothing but a robe. I was in the shower trying to use the liquids I needed so we could pack them up as well. After a few minutes I realized I hadn't heard John come back in. There was also a strange banging noise. I got out of the shower as quickly as I could and ran to the door. There stood John, panic stricken, trying to get back in the room before anyone saw him. I think John looks pretty cute in a robe. I wonder what the people across the hall would have said?

Cat Calls

Ikea has become one of our new favorite places in the past year. After our shopping excursion there this past Sunday, I left John and Will outside on a bench while I ran back in to take care of some business. When I came out, John was sitting there with is head in his hands and an embarrassed look on his face. Apparently an attractive and scantily clad girl and her boyfriend had walked by at the exact time Will decided to make one of his favorite noises--a quiet and high pitched "WowWowWowWowWow." The girl and her boyfriend both looked over at John and gave him dirty looks. By then, Will was just sitting there innocently and once again quiet.

Every Good Trip Starts Out Bad

Since John doesn't get 2 days off in a row very often, it seems that we hardly ever get out of town anymore. I was lucky to get to attend a Photoshop seminar in Cincinnati on Monday, so John requested 2 days off so we could make it a mini-vacation. We finally got to visit the Vineyard in Cincinnati. The last time we had tried to go the whole town had a power outage. Then we visited our usual haunts--Ikea, Jungle Jim's, Trader Joe's, Noodles and Company, Cheesecake Factory. (Do you see a trend?)

But, as I mentioned in the title, every good trip has to start out with something bad. At least in our family. I was running around doing the typical last minute stuff to get ready, so I asked John to get Will's breakfast. John does get to eat breakfast with us sometimes, so I figured he knew the routine. He asked to be reminded, so after a little teasing from me, I figured he could handle it. Part of Will's routine since we got back from China is that he gets his vitamins and any medicine he might need in his Danimals drinkable yogurt. Even at the breakfast buffets in China, Will had drinkable yogurt every morning.

A little aside, I've gotten very into couponing. I figure if I'm not earning us much money, at least I can save us some. This week I had a great coupon for Activia yogurt, which was also on sale. I like yogurt, so that's a deal I couldn't pass up. For those of you who don't know about Activia, it's not called Activia for nothing. Let's just say that it is designed to keep your bowels active. Now back to the story...

Imagine my surprise when I came downstairs to find Will sitting at the table with a straw in an Activia yogurt! Activia is a traditional, spoon kind of yogurt, not drinkable. I did a double take in the fridge to make sure we had perfectly good, drinkable Danimals. There they were, right on the top shelf. Remember, Will's medicine was in the yogurt, so it was important to have it all. So, as any good parents would do, after a lot of laughter, we tried to make sure he ate all of his yogurt. Needless to say, there have been a few extra diapers these last couple of days.

TV Anyone???

We're lucky that TV's still a possibility at our house. I was gone to book club the other night and John called to ask if I knew where the remote was. I usually try to put it up where Will can't reach it, but sometimes he grabs it while it's down and I forget to put it back. We try not to let him watch much TV, but we were told that he likes it when we adopted him. So Will tries to turn on the TV when he can. Luckily, he hasn't figured out how to un-pause it yet.

Back to the story--I didn't know where the remote was when John called, so he just kept looking. He called me back a few minutes later to let me know that he had found it--in the dishwasher with the freshly washed dishes! Will LOVES the dishwasher. I try to keep him away from it, but he usually slips in. It makes a great place to park his cars. So I guess he also decided that it would be a good place to park the remote. Needless to say that when John picked the remote up out of the dishwasher, a bunch of water ran out of it. All it would do was turn the volume up. Luckily it dried out after a night on our air filter and we are now watching TV again--when Will's in bed.