Jude's first haircut...

My baby boy got his first haircut yesterday! I put it off as long as I could, but he was really sporting a mullet. Mullets are just not our thing!LOL

I had our hairdresser get rid of the mullet and give some shape to his hair, but still keep it on the long side. What can I say, I like my boys with hair I can comb my fingers through!

Jude was fine until he saw the scissors come toward him. He still was not bad overall.








All done and he gets a sucker for being good.

Waiting on his sister

You might wonder what Jude does while Julia is at her tumbling/ballet classes. During her tumbling class, the drop-in daycare is open so he goes there, but it is closed during her ballet class. So he waits with me.

"What the tweet!"

Julia is maturing so fast....

She knows she is not allowed to say "What the h*ll", and I say "What the heck", when something goes wrong. So she came up with her own saying..... "What the tweet!".

I don't know how she came up with it, but it is too cute. Now we are all saying "what the tweet"!

Ballet class show

Julia was also in Ballet this past fall. Occasionally the teacher would teach the kids a few short routines and put on a 5-10 minute show for the parents.

They did a show on the day of her last class, which was 2 weeks before Christmas.









At the end of each class they sing a good-bye song that the kids love!

My BIG girl!

Julia had her 4 yr check-up on Monday. She is a BIG girl!! She is at or above the 95 percentile for both weight and height! Height was 42.5" and her weight was 44 lbs. She definitely takes after my family! Because she is so tall, her weight is proportional to her height, so she is not over weight. She is just tall and solidly built! She is currently in size 6/6X clothes and I hope she does not have a growth spurt before winter is over!

I felt bad for Julia because I kept telling her she would not get a shot at this visit and she ended up getting a vaccination anyway. My pedi gives the second dose of the Chicken Pox vax at 4 yrs old, instead of waiting until they are five. Their reasoning is that they have to get so many other vaccinations at 5 to comply with what the school wants, so by giving this one at 4, they don't get quite as many at 5.

Poor Julia had a bad reaction to the shot, though. She did not have a reaction when she got it the first time, but I think her immune system was not up to par since she just recently got over a stomach bug. Her poor arm swelled up, was red and hard, and was really sore. It took several days for the reaction to get better and I was actually starting to get a little worried. This is the first time she has ever had a reaction to a vax.

Julia brightened a soldier's day!

Jerrod's cousin is an officer in the army currently over serving his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. I know he is in a pretty dangerous area and has lost men in his unit.

Occasionally I will send him a craft or scribble or drawing that Julia has made. They are nothing special and you can tell a 3 (now 4) yr old made them. I figured if he thought they were stupid, he could just throw them away.

This cousin is currently home on leave. We had a family lunch today so everyone could see him. He thanked me repeatedly for sending the stuff Julia makes to him. He said "they make me smile and very little makes me smile over there". He and his mother (Jerrod's aunt) asked several times to please keep sending the little stuff Julia makes. I guess he has a bulletin board that he hangs all that stuff on.

I felt silly sending him those little things Julia made when everyone else was sending him baby wipes, games, food, etc., but I guess Julia's things are just as appreciated, if not more so.

I will definitely make sure to start sending him little things the kids make more often. Julia LOVES making crafts and drawing, so I know she will be happy to do it.

Tumbling class

Julia loves Tumbling class. She was sad when the class was over. I just registered her for the class again and it starts next week.

At her last class, which was a couple weeks before Christmas, I brought my camera to take some pictures of all Julia does during her tumbling class.







She LOVES front rolls.



They started teaching "hop-overs" (the start of cartwheels) in the last few classes.


I think the trampoline is her favorite part of class though...

Julia is FOUR!!

(yes, I know Julia's birthday was almost 3 weeks ago, but I am just now getting a chance to post)

I cannot believe that my baby girl is FOUR! She acts so grown up.

Her birthday was on a weeknight and her party was on the weekend, so we baked cupcakes on her birthday, but the big cake was saved for the party.

Singing her "Happy Birthday" on her actual birthday. I did not realize I had no birthday candles in the house, so I had to improvise and used a votive candle.


Mimi and Bapa gave her a trampoline since she loves the one at tumbling class.


She thinks it is great to lay on and watch TV too!


Her birthday cake that took me 3 hours to decorate!


She got a little chair from us. (not use why the pix is sideways, but I cannot fix it)


Showing off another present.


She LOVED her purple castle cake. It was totally worth all the time it took to decorate when I saw the look on her face when she saw it.



Happy Birthday Princess!

Helping Bapa

We have been working on getting our house ready to sell. Jerry and Debbie have been over a lot helping.

Jude thinks it is great fun to help is Bapa.

Carrying around Daddy's hammer....


Helping Bapa roll the new flooring.



Bapa was unhooking stuff so we could replace the counter top, and Jude thought he had to be right there with him helping.

Finally a house! (Hopefully)

After a few false starts and some offers that fell through, I think we finally found a house to live in once we sell ours. The contract has already been reviewed and signed, so unless something weird happens, this will be our new house.

We actually like it a LOT better than the other one and it works for us MUCH better! It is in a nice neighborhood. There are neighbors nearby, but it is a big lot with mature trees. The lot is .72 acres on a quiet street, so a big backyard for the kids to play in. It is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a spare room that could be a 4th bedroom, but we will use it as a computer/office room. It also has a BIG family room, which will basically be a big playroom for the kids. All their toys can stay in there. It has a HUGE kitchen with all new, custom-made cabinets! I am in LOVE with the kitchen!! It also has all new appliances (including washer and dryer) that come with the house. The house is a tri-level. You walk in the front door into the living room, which is attached to the kitchen. Go up 5 steps, and all the bedrooms and one bathroom is up there. Go down 5 steps, and you will find the family room, office, and another bath which includes the washer and dryer. All the flooring and windows are brand new too!

The house has an attached 2 car garage, a detached 2-car garage, and a large shed/workshop out back. There is an attached deck in back also. So lots of storage! It is only a few miles from Troy, but it is in Miami East School District. It far enough out that it is on a well and septic.

According to the realtor, an older couple bought it about 4 years ago, put almost $50,000 into it completely remodeling it, then decided that the couple steps were just too much for them and bought a one-story ranch.

The new cement driveway will be great for the kids to ride their bikes on. (something they currently cannot do at our house.)

Here are a few pictures I copied from the listing...


In this picture you can see the new driveway and the new (built in 09) detached garage.


The AWESOME kitchen!!


The deck out back.


At first glance at the outside pictures, I did not think I would like it. But once I walked into the house and saw the backyard (and especially the kitchen!), I really loved it. I think some landscaping (and maybe a little paint) and help with the curb appeal of the house.

The best part of it all is that everything is brand new, so NO REPAIRS or upgrades needed!! We have been remodeling our current house for most of the 10 years we have lived in it. That is not needed in this new house. Maybe a change of wall color in the bedrooms, but that is super minor.

I am super excited and cannot wait. Repairs are coming along great in our house and we hope to get it on the market soon.