Good intentions aren't always good enough...

Especially for a blog. And here again I realized I promised pics "in a few days." What was I thinking? Better late than never, right...?

Joshua's second b-day was great. After a fun Elmo party, we spent his actual birthday with my dad, his wife, and my little brother. Of course Aunt Melissa and Uncle Daniel (my sis and her hubby), affectionately referred to by Joshua as "Essa" and "Gunc-Unc", and my 12-year-old cousin Ayla were all there to share the day. We went to none other than Chuck E. Cheese...and it is a place I will not soon return to. It was fun to see Joshua having such a great time at least. Afterward we went to Essa and Gunc-Unc's for presents (including a mini powerwheels quad from Grandpa & co.) and yummy cupcakes Melissa picked up from Sweet Surrender.

Let's see, what else has happened? Carly has continued to grow so much. She is such a little chubbers and definitely could take on her mommy's nickname of 'Thunder Thighs' (a baby nickname; come on folks, don't be mean...I just had a baby). I absolutely love all of the bittersweet changes she's going through. She's discovered her hand a often sucks it and she's cooing and smiling (SO CUTE!). She never fails to give ample smiles and "squeals" to the fan and any other large dark object she sees. This one is definitely a girl folks (maybe that's why Joshua still calls her 'Girl"...or "Girl-Girl" when we try to emphasize Car-ly). She is high maintenance, very particular. If she doesn't like the way you're holding her, she'll tell you. She likes to be able to look around to see everything. If she's content and you mess with her in any way, such as kiss her, adjust her, stop bouncing (awake or when helping her fall asleep), set jer down too soon (while bouncing & patting her to sleep)...she'll let you know right away that didn't make her happy. And she doesn't always stop immediately when you attempt to remedy the situation, lol. Even still, she is an absolute doll. Her particularity intimidates her daddy, but he adores her nonetheless. And her brother continues to adore her as well. He still will stop what he's doing to come see her in her swing, leaning on it to kiss and hug and stare at her even while mommy and daddy tell him not to. He'll kiss her foot, try to lay on her while she's on the floor, and recently he's started talking 'baby talk' when he hears us talking to her. He'll get high-pitched and say "Hi, Baby Girl." So sweet.

For my own memory (or lack thereof), here's a list of his vocab. Loves his colors: lellow (sometimes with a 'y'), oge, bean, pwuple, boo, bown, bap, pimp. We haven't had much luck with red or white, and sometimes he gets lazy and tells us the wrong color name. He says tons of family names, and asks for them often. One is cousin Bobby, which has led him o be able to say Mommy finally, and Daddy once or twice (usually he'll say dee-dee), but he still calls us Mama and Dada or "Mom" when he's lazy (his generic name for everyone's names he doesn't know or can't pronounce). He can say: tactor, go chchs (chargers), tayt-you (it took a mere week for him to start saying it...and correctly...without being prompted), peas (please), and plenty more I can't thonk of. Though he still makes ample conversation and stories in his own language (lots of hard consonants...complete with facials, hand gestures, and giggles), it seems like he gains a new word every couple of days now. Recently it's been "ach" (watch) and "own touch" (don't touch). He's still as busy a ever, pulling out toys and dismissing it for another after only a few minutes. He loves Daddy best, especially the newly found piggy-back rides (more like horsey-back) around the house. He's been getting into more trouble and having more trouble minding (though he still minds better than many we've seen) and we're hoping it's the age. This week he's mastered clinbing up into his booster seat which no doubt led to yesterday's climb into Carly's swing (thankfully she has with me) and climb up to look into the crib. From a few times of swimming with Hudson, who is hands down the best 3-year-old swimmer I've ever seen, Joshua thinks he can swim on his own, too. Like when he's tried to push Matt away and when he suddenly bolted into the deep-end at Hudson's b-day party last weekend (Daddy had just jumped in and barely looked in time). With ords and actions, this kid definitely thinks he can do more than reality.

Hmm, healthwise Joshua has to wear an eyepatch 3 hours a day (we're not always on top of that) for lazy eye. He's really good about it, though twice now has pulled it off prematurely and "explained" it to me with his palms up, head shaking, jibberish, and "boom" with demonstration of peeling ot off. We're still waiting )2 weeks now) for a referral to another eye specialist. Carly had an EKG and chest x-ray last week b/c of the small pulminary valve that was discovered in the hospital at 1 day old; we're still waiting to hear about that, too.

Like I mentioned, we went to my dad's in Long Beach last weekend for Hudson's b-day. We came back Saturday night so we could go to the Family Camp service at the lake here in Tehachapi. The Nazarene church, our old curch, does it every Labor Day weekend. It's where I was baptized 11 years ago (in a baptismal, not the dirty lake, lol). We were looking forward to seeing the Gibbs, our former youth pastor & his wife (my former JV cheer coach, too) & kids, but they didn't stick around. We did get to see the church's former Brazilian pastor, Alex (who gave the message, which I sadly did not catch much of while caring for both kids amidst the servicethder the big oak), who wound up marrying a gal at the church (Toni, 3 years older than me). They moved back to Brazil and have three beautiful little girls (6, 4, and 2 months). It was a fun weekend.

The schoolyear has brought Matt back to work as well as back to the classroom. Please pray for him as we think he is going to fully go for teaching (and stick with it!). He only needs 5 classes to transfer, then he'll possibly get his degree and credential online with National University.

I've been trying to bust out sewing projects. Carly's valance, crib skirt, and 1 pillow are complete; 1 pillow left and the quilt just needs to be quilted and bound. I've had quite a few requests for burp cloths and small blankets lately, so I've busted those out. I've also made a dress and a pair of pants for Carly. My list of "to-do's" is much longer though. Oh, and I got to redeem my kids-free scrap day recently. Matt watched the kids (with help from niece Madi and nephew Kyle) while I scrapped at the lss in Bakersfield with my sista and my sis-in-law Stef; lots of fun.

Once again, a too-detailed novel for you. That took nearly an hour, Joshua is finally awake, and throughout the day I will add pics as I can. :)