One, Solitary, Step

Yeah, Jaron took a step today, yes, just one, and as soon as we try to get him to go again he curls his little legs up and refuses, so stubborn, ha! But he is pro at finding things to push around the house for practice! He's such a cutie, other new tricks of his are: giving an attempt to say "please" in sign language, getting a molar and a front tooth at one time, waving hi on occasion, drinking cow's milk, pointing the remote at the TV and stacking blocks! :-)

Ellie had a great morning, we had fun cleaning and playing, and she randomly told me she loved me, which is always a favorite, then a while later, (while she was in the bathroom) she told me I was her best friend So Sweet, I almost teared up. Of course, apparently she doesn't treat her friends that great because all through lunch she was naughty. But I have to give her the benefit of the doubt, it is super hard to stay with mom at the table or go with mom to the car, when there are all these fun Joshua student around showering her with attention. But...she should still obey. A nap fixed that and she was good the rest of the day.

Rich has been in Texas for the last couple of days and we are looking forward to his return tomorrow night! Unfortunetely, he leaves for Las Vegas on Sunday for a week, so we will be flyin' solo again. Thank goodness I have such a great community up here, that looks out for me.

I, am thinking of giving up laundry and dishes for lent, oh, is that not how that works, hmmm, I'll have to stick it out then. Boo. But really, I am trying to wear my hiking boots regularly to break them in for Israel. We just had Bible study here tonight and it went well. My partner in leading it was there for the first time after having her baby last month so that was fun.

Okay, that's all for now. Enjoy.

Horsey Ride

We just had the best couple days, we went to visit Rich's old college roommate up in Manteca. He is home from Israel where he now lives and goes to school. So you know they had a lot to talk about! Then we headed to Oakdale to our friend Bailey's house, and her family are so sweet, they just welcomed us in, made us home made lasagna and let Ellie ride their horse Lil. She was so excited and she wasn't even nervous to get on her. She had so much fun, Bailey just walked her around the property, and at one point Ellie started singing "Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up let's go, let's look at the show" She's a doll! Then she got to help brush Lil's hair and get her hay and everything. We slept great, despite a small bed and a cat in the house. I think God was just protecting our little family time away. We had a pancake breakfast, then got on the road to Fresno where I got to get a haircut and then we headed to the last Hume Vision dinner. It was really neat to see Hume's "vision" for the future of this ministry.

Silly Jaron

Oh, Jaron, he's so silly! He still has his moments, for sure, and he still doesn't sleep through the night, even though he will be a year in two days!, but he sure is fun when he is in a good mood. He cracks me up. Today, he was "dancing", and he is getting better at standing and pushing things around, every day. He was even "singing" the other day on the Kareoke microphone, and lovin' it! He also has developed a sweet tooth, immediatly after having his first cupcake, and grunts for the cupboard with the dried blueberries in it. (Those are his new favorite)

I'll leave Ellie out of this blog, because she has been a pill lately, and no one wants to hear about that. It's much nicer to picture her as the obedient, sweet little angel that is inside her, instead of the feistyness that has been shown lately. :-)

Hope you have a happy day!

Almost One!

Sorry it has been so long since a blog. We have had a fairly uneventful couple of weeks. Although, it was fun to have Dan and Kristen, Kaia, and new baby Elijah come to visit, it was great to have the little cousins playing together and meeting each other. And Jaron has been learning a lot. He has been standing for little chunks of time, which is so cute, and last night he finally learned to clap. We’ll see if he remembers today. He has been trying more table food, which is fun and usually kinda messy. We are busy planning Jaron’s 1st Birthday party. Him and his friend Corin, who is 3 weeks older, are going to have a joint party. We put out a ton of invitations, so we will see how big a turn out we have tomorrow. Rich has been in LA all week with the Joshua students, and we have been doing okay here without him, mostly just meal times are tricky. You should check out the joshuawilderness.org site for updates on his trip, they have added some cool features.