My Latest Hobby

Throwing up. I am pregnant again and about 12 weeks along :)

Jeff's Latest Hobby

Since graduation from dental school Jeff has taken up some hobbies, such as wood working, cake making, photography and crashing cars. Just kidding. Getting rear ended by semi trucks is not his latest hobby. Although this did really happen, he is not making it a habit. Before leaving Kentucky Jeff visited some dear and close friends, whom we dearly miss, to learn how to carve wood. This is something he has expressed a desire to do before we were even married. He made several pens, which do actually work, and a candlestick.

He has also taken up cake decorating. He made a pig birthday cake for our nephew Talis in June. This was one of the simplest cakes he has made and also one of the cutest. He also made a big bad wolf cake for our nephew Jett, but I don't have that picture uploaded yet. It turned out cute too and I actually made the pig and the wolf! It was fun. Jeff totally doubted my cake making skills when I began making the houses of straw, brick and sticks and if you could see the cake you would totally agree. They are very ugly and not to scale at all. In fact, there was hardly any room for the wolf on the cake. Oh well.

He also made a Spongebob cake before we left Kentucky for one of Maddox's good friends, Kale.

And he made a graduation cake for Doug, which I haven't seen pics of as Jeff forgot our camera. And this is his second and I think his best creation. It took him literally a day and a half to make. This was for our nephew Garrett's birthday.

Last Days in Kentucky

Our last few weeks in Kentucky were full of excitement and celebration and goodbyes and tears...and strep throat, which we didn't find out about until we were in Montana. It was one of the best places I have ever lived and most of that was definitely not due to the incredibly hot and humid summers or bone chilling cold and brown winters...It was one of the best places I have ever lived due to the people. We lived near family and friends that I will never forget and hope to never lose contact with. And Jeff graduated from dental school! Yeah!

I should have some photos to post but right now we can't find our camera. Wups! It will turn up somewhere. You always "lose" stuff in a move right? Unfortunately we lose things we really really really need, like medicine and cameras and one of Maddox's three lightening mcqueen cars. Really bad. But we made it...halfway. We are still living with my parents in Kalispell, MT until we find a house to rent. Then we will move again. Jeff finally decided on a job in Polson, MT working for the tribe clinic. He worked there last summer and had a great time. We are excited. We miss our friends but know we will see you all again!

Happy Birthday to You!

It was Jeff's birthday over the weekend. He turned 29, although my family all thought he turned 30 this year. My sister, for some reason, was under that impression and spread the word. It was funny. Here is a picture of Jeff blowing the candles out on his cake. He made it himself, with a little help from Nate and Mallory, who showed him how to make fondant frosting. If you didn't know, Jeff loves baking and says if dentistry fails him, he will open up a bakery shop instead. I told him he better start developing some recipes...Not that he is going to fail at dentistry at all. It is just that we graduate in one month and still don't have a job! AHHHH!!! We do have prospects though and so know something will work out, but just don't know which one or where or when. Anyway, back to his birthday, we celebrate birth weeks in our house. This is a newly declared tradition as of Jeff's first birthday after we were married. He kept getting presents in the mail from family and friends and had two birthday cakes and decided he really liked having a week long birthday, so now we do birth weeks and the final day being your actual birthday. This means you get special treatment throughout the week, like a happy birthday sign, special breakfasts, naps, treats, bike riding time, nintendo time, or in Jeff's case, time to make his own birthday cake! And here it is! The famous cake! Can you tell what it is? Jeff and Nate even went as far as numbering the tooth and creating the specific tooth grooves. It is a molar of some sort, but I am unsure as to the exact one. The pink is for the gums, although Maddox thought it was for him, his favorite color being pink. The other day we went shopping for sandals for spring and when he got out of the car he declared, "Mommy, I want pink sandals!" I told him to see what they have first. Maybe red. When we got in the store and I was looking at Embree's sandals, he wandered down to the bigger girl shoes and found some all pink sandals and tried to put them on, declaring this is what he wanted. I told him they were too small...all the pink ones were too small and redirected him to the ugly brown ones for boys on the next isle. Silly boy!

Maddox Update

Maddox is three now and weighs in around 34 lbs., give or take a pound of two. His head is still basically off the charts, but his body is catching up. He loves to use his imagination more. Above is a picture of him buildling a lawnmower, which we finally figured out is a sprinkler. He kept pretending to shoot us with water.

He loves the park and riding his bike.

And this one is crooked, but you get the idea. Silly boy.

Here he is with his beloved drains. He LOVES drains and says he wants to fix them when he grows up. So now we have taught him to say he wants to be a plumber when he grows up. He also loves trains, so maybe we should focus on him being a train conductor.

He also tells jokes now. His first one went something like this: I had just told him I loved him. Jeff then asked him, "Maddox, do you love Daddy?" Maddox: No, Mommy! "Maddox, do you love Embree?" Maddox: No, Mommy! (Pause) Just kidding!

And here he is eating sprinkles. He puts them in anything we let him, especially pancakes!

He is growing up so quickly, but still loves to snuggle once in awhile. He is very smart and a very good big brother, as long as he gets all the cars and toys and you don't try to tell him he has to share. We love him so much and feel blessed to have him in our lives.

Embree Update

They both love to swing...mainly Maddox likes to swing, but I have to put Embree in the swing too. Otherwise she eats bark chips and leaves and rocks.

Embree is now 14 months old. She barely weighs in at 20 lbs. 6 oz. and is fairly tall for her age. She loves shoes, jewelry, makeup, hair bands, and especially animals. Animal anything and you have her attention. She would sit in my lap for hours reading books about animals and she carries these plastic animals around almost everywhere. Her favorite is a dog or a horse. When she sees a dog she will proclaim, "Bumble!" which is the name of my dad's dog...It came with that name. Not the coolest, but she can say it and she loves that dog!

She loves climbing and at any given moment I can usually find her on the kitchen table or in something, whether it be a pot, a box, or the dryer. She still LOVES her bottle and still wakes up once a night to eat...which is way better than the three or four she was doing just a month ago. She has been a difficult baby but sure is fun to have around and we love her so much. She is loved by everyone everywhere she goes, even if they think she is a boy, which we get almost weekly as her hair is still fairly thin.

This is her favorite thing to do, after I have gotten her ready for the day. While I get ready in the morning and do my make up, she will sit in the sink and play. Then I will get her ready for the day again...

For Christmas Embree got this rocking horse from my sister and a toothbrush and toothpaste. She carried them around all morning and still will throw a fit if she sees you brushing your teeth and she doesn't get to brush hers. Really she just likes to eat the toothpaste.

Christmas morning Embree found Santa's left over frosted sugar cookies and chowed down.