Wow! Christmas this year has been so much different with Becca. She is so much more involved and fun this year with the presents and the activities! Its been a blast!

Christmas Eve day, she and I started a new tradition...pedicures for our piggies! Really, this was an attempt to get her to let me cut her toenails, and it worked. So we both had painted red toenails for Christmas!

That day we spent at my Mom and Dad's with Wendy and Xavier also, and exchanged gifts between the kids, enjoyed chili, sandwiches and a birthday cake for Jesus. We also attended the Christmas Even service at church, where they had a live nativity, Camel, cow, goat and lamb! It was soo neat! Becca enjoyed the animals as well! Coming home, she fell asleep in the car, but decided to play a bit and set out graham crackers and grape juice for Santa, and an apple for the reindeer. Right before going to bed, Tim brought out a special book that he had picked up, The Night Before Christmas, (suprise #1)and started their own little tradition. Becca sat on his lap and intently looked at the pictures as he read her the story. I...well, I sat in the chair watching them and cried. I'm such a softy! Had I known he was going to do this, I would have taken a picture. shoot!

Christmas morning was a blast. Tim and I were up and ready when Becca woke up and we came down stairs to find a Pretty Princess tent set up in the living room, and Elmo bag on her chair and a shiney new red trike with a big red bow! That trike even suprised me! (Tim's pretty sneaky this year!) Becca had all the rest of her presents unwrapped by 630am! It was still dark out! She had a good time playing with all the new blocks, and animals, and beads and books! Cody joined us later in the morning, and Mom, Dad and Wendy came over to see us for a short time before we headed out to Gumpa Seee's (grandpa Steve). More fun and food was had out there, and this time, Becca came home with a new Radio Flyer Fire Truck! Wow... she loves this! And she'll make her siren noises as soon as she sits down on it!


An on another front....Becca has slept thru the night without a paci for the last 2 nights, and last night, she even fell asleep without it! Yay Becca!!!!! We're so happy and proud of her!

Well, we hope everyone else had a great holiday! Stay safe and we'll post again soon!

Merry Christmas
Tim, Missy, Cody and Becca

Ready or not...

I forgot to mention (I think) that we came to a point where Becca had become waaaay to dependent on her paci of late. Soooo, last weekend, we decided to use my sisters trick, of cutting the tip off the paci, so the "suck" isn't productive and after awhile, they just stop wanting it. Right off the bat, it worked! We sympathize with her and say, " I'm sorry, its broken!" We went all week without her asking for her broken paci...however, we kept a good one for bedtime only. Baby steps!
Tonight, we cut the tip off the night time paci....(yes we have back-ups just in case), but so far (58 minutes into bedtime) all is good.

Today we played and cleaned, wrapped the last of the presents and enjoyed some time together before the craziest hits tomorrow with all the running around with our Christmas plans! Becca got to play in the snow for about 8 minutes today. Thats all Momma and Daddy could stand, it was so windy! I know she was plenty warm in her layers of clothes and socks and in a snowsuit, but all the good snow was light enough it blew away and the icy snow underneath was all there was to play on. She even got to wear the snow suit Gma Kathy bought last Christmas for her. It was too big then, and perfect today. (and it was a size 12mo! Crazy, I know, the little pixie butt! She's 21 months!)

We just got home after deciding to go on a short drive to look at Christmas lights! Becca likes to point out all the lights and say "si-si" her same word for Christmas tree. Some days its "sis-sis" too. On the drive, Tim decided we needed to stop for a treat, each of us getting our own choice. He choose popcorn shrimp, I got a hot fudge sundae, and Becca....well she just whined for a paci, so I gave in once again and she got her "treat" of a paci also! Ok, ok, so when she got home she had a granola bar! I'm not that rotten!

Happy Holidays!

Its going to be a busy next couple of days...so just wanted to drop a line and wish everyone a safe, fun and merry Christmas!

I'm sure I'll be back with pictures and stories after the holidays! We can't wait to see how Becca is with all the present opening! This year will be alot different than last I'm sure of it!

With all my love ....Missy

ps...and here's to little Ralphie, his RedRyder gun and his dad's Leg Lamp!

Becca speaks Hebrew!!!

Or at least what sounds like hebrew! Last week she yelled at us from the middle of the living room...." Yada Sha-bye"! When we didn't understand her, and asked her to repeat it, she got frustrated and yelled it over and over and over again! Looking at Tim and I as we laughed at how funny it was that she obviuosly knew exactly what she was saying, and how dumb she thought we were for not understanding!
Well, Sunday night, Yada Sha-Bye...became I-Sha-Bye! But only when she was flip floping around on the furniture and trying to be a gymnastic star! Still not sure what she is trying to say! But its hillarious!

Becca's excema is flaring up really bad. She's had it every day of her little (almost) 2 year life! But Sunday night, it was waking her up cause it itched so bad. Some Ibruporfen and another slathering of aquaphilic got her thru the night, but not before scratching so much she was drawing blood. Poor thing. The Dermatologist will see her next Thursday and can't get her in before. So we're told to use alot of vaseline for the poor thing.

Well, we're gearing up for Christmas. I think Tim's inner grinch is starting to creep out with all the family time! He always has a blast when we're all together, but its the thought of having 4 or 5 christmas gatherings that is exhausting! We are staring a new tradition this year (tim, becca, cody and I) at our house. Rather than going to mom and dads on xmas morning like we normally do, we'll be spending christmas at our own house, and then mom and dad will come to us, to share in playing with Becca's toys before we head out to Steve's. This will work best. That way Becca doesn't have to leave her treasure trove of brand new toys....to go to gma and gaga's house right away! And we've only had a couple of attempts by Becca to open a gift that is
under the tree....and its not even hers! Just a couple more days, and I'm sure that she'll be ripping into everything!

Lay-Low!

No, that isn't what we've been doing....rather, what Rebecca calls Playdough! Lay-Low! Hey, we are surprised at how close it sounds to the real thing! She's found her new favorite thing. Loves using my cookie-cutters with the playdough. I thought about giving her a plastic fork and knife to cut and play and make designs with, but she's also, very fond of the TASTE of playdough, so I decided giving her eating utensils would only promote eating it.

We seemed to have lost her BIG crayons at Gma Kathy's house, so I busted out MY box of 96 colors.... Wow, you should have seen her eyes light up. I've never seen them so big!

Today we did a little bit more shopping for Christmas. Only one small gift left to get. Oh and I still have to shop for Tim. He is the hardest to buy for. And his birthday is in January, so as if it isn't hard enough to buy for him for Christmas, I really only have about 2 weeks until I have to buy for him again. Its not like theres enough time in between, or a couple months of "hey..you know what I would like..." to get more ideas with.
I suppose that only supports his Birthday Boy Privleges that he believes he should get for the whole month of December and full month of January, because he has a birthday so close to Christmas. (whatever) You should hear some of the things he come up with that falls into his Birthday Boy Privleges. Oh, like, it should be ok for him to throw his dirty stinky socks at me, or that I should refill his glass when he needs it, or I should let him tickle my feet...all because his bday is coming up. (oops...as Tim reads over my shoulder)

Ok, becca wants to add something....

yyg n gccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccclllll; dssdsaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax2222245

Ok, time to watch Dora!

Hallmark Weekend

I swear...if someone is looking in, and flipped this last week over to see if there was a gold crown on the back...I guarantee you would find one there! We had Hallmark written all over us!

Last week, the Grandpa of one of my oldest and best friends passed away. Because Chris lives in VA, we don't get to see eachother often. I'm glad I did get to see him last week, but hate that it was under these circumstances. But he is back home safe and away from this horrible Iowa weather pattern we seem to be stuck.

Thursday night Tim, Becca and I went out to the OP with Cody. That was nice and fun to catch up. Becca thought it was fun when Tim and Cody joined her in coloring/scribbling after dinner. She wanted nothing to do with me!
Wendy had her bunion surgery on Thursday and stayed at Mom and Dad's until Sunday night. I'm sure she was itchin' to get back to her house. Xavier will be more than happy to help around the house I'm sure!

Friday night, Tim and I remembered quickly why we don't like Chuck-E-Cheese! Tim's nephew Kyle had is 4th Birthday party there. Its obvious that the kids have a blast, but you can see it on the faces of the parents as soon as they walk in! Instant headache and regret!.....Just kiddin. Becca didn't want anything to do with the toddler rides or games. Not one bit! But she ate pizza and grapes and a couple slices of an orange and was ready to go!

We spent the weekend in DeWitt...at Kathy and Joes for our early Christmas!!
Cody came along and it was great to have him there! It was adorable to hear the boys talkin' favorite bands, movies, games, etc. Tim sharing army stories and Cody sharing Reverb/playing in the band stories.
Tyler and Cody hit it off as soon as Tyler got off work. We didn't see them for the rest of the evening!
After a great lasagna meal, presents (i got a large family planner calander...after this last week...I deffinately need it! ) and cheesecake for dessert....we headed back home. We all had a blast, and we're looking forward to the next we can all get together. Tim was all smiles last night after we got home and settled back in. I think my smile hurts today too!

Star of the Week!!!

This week Becca has been chosen as her classroom's Snowflake of the Week! As little as it is, and she sooo doesn't understand it, we are making a big deal of it! Her teacher asked for pictures to post on their bulletin board in teh Daycare, and listed her favorites (toy, food, pet, etc). I showed it to her today when I dropped her off and she was sooo happy! I'm sure she's having fun showing it off to the other kids....showing them Nene (maggie) and Bubba (bunny) and pictures of Momma and Daddy.

I'm without a car, because we noticed a puddle in the garage that didn't look quite right. Tim saw it, because its still light out when he gets home. Its always dark when I leave and come home. So whatever yellow and oil mixture is...I suppose its not good. So I dropped off my car today and they will call me back with their findings. How inconvenient.

Tim and I had planned on going to the Hockey game last Saturday, but with the ice, snow, sleet and rain...we opted to stay home instead. Wise decision. But sounds like we have 1-5" on its way by Wednesday morning again. Not looking forward to that..without a car!

Friday night is Tim's nephew Kyle's birthday, so we will be celebrating at Chuck-E-Cheese with them. Tim and I laughed when we got the invitation....becasue we had agreed when we found out that we were pregnant, that we would tell our children that "chuck-e-cheese and Adventureland" don't exist. We're sooo over those too locations. We just figured we would tell our children that their friends just had active imaginations and that they were just making it up. Cause we don't want to go! Ha! How wrong are we? I mean com'on....do parents really like to go to those places....loud, hyper kids running crazy? No thank you!
So, long story short...we will be going, in hopes that Becca is too young to remember that she has been to Chuck-E-Cheese! *wink*

Busy. Busy. Busy.

Its been a long time since I've posted. We've definately have been busy.

Monday night after work, Wendy and I did some Christmas shopping and dinner. It was a lot of fun. She's having foot surgery the first week of December, so needs to get all her shopping done early.

I only worked Monday and Tuesday this week. What a way to go! I wish I had more weeks like that! I had Wednesday off work to take Becca to Iowa City for her Thyroid checkup.

Mom went with me because Tim couldn't take too much time off this week. We thought Becca would sleep on the way down, but she stayed awake, looking for Semi trucks (my-my, in her words). She would wave as we passed them, then ask, " where is he?". It was really cute. We stopped at Coralville Mall to check it out, eat lunch and spend some time playing in their kiddie area. She loved it all. She got a couple new outfits and watched Santa from a distance. We're trying to slowly desensitize her, rather than plopping her down on his lap and have her make a big scene!

The Drs. visit went well. I think the worst part for her, was the blood pressure cuff! LOL!
But she was able to be distracted by the bubbles the nurse was blowing. They are so good to try to make the situation comfortable for everyone, kids and adults alike. As much as I hate that we have to go to Iowa City for Becca, I love the attention we get when we are there.
Blood was drawn to do some level checks on her T4 and TSH, and we should know this coming week. I'm going to give them a little extra time to get back to me, just because of the holiday thrown in there.

Thursday was spent having 2 Thanksgiving meals, as it often is for us. Started out at Aunt Lynda's, with Mom's side of the family, then we traveled out to Denver to see Gpa Steve (Gaga seeeeeeee, in Becca's words). She loved all the food. She filled up on a lot of sweet pickles (thats my girl), potatoes, green beans and pumpkin pie! mmmmmmmm!

Today we spent Christmas shopping as a family. That was a lot of fun. And even more fun to see Tim spoil the heck out of her! He spent way more than I would have had I gone myself, and came home with a car load for her! I reminded him that there are 4 sets of Grandparents that will be buying for her too, and he said, " thats fine, I want to be sure that she gets this though..so they can buy whatever they want!" )Grandparents, email me for a list of what she needs and already has! *wink*

Well, I've got to go wake Becca up from her nap soon. She and I will be heading off to church, before coming home to watch UNI in there start of the playoff games with Daddy!
GO PANTHERS!

week of organinzing

Finally Friday!

This week, has been full of organzing and decluttering. Becca has outgrown most of her toys (thankgoodness for xmas coming!) so we put away a lot of her baby toys. She so interested in activities, rather than play toys right now. She loves cars, blocks, coloring and books, so we kept all those out. Its so neat to see her interests change.

We bought a new computer. So we've also spent time going thru and organinzing our files before transfering them to the new system. Tim is in love with the 22 inch flat screen monitor. That thing is huge. Just what he needs...something else to keep him at the computer playing games even longer!

This weekend we have the Lee family Thanksgiving at my Grandpa Dale's. Thats always a lot of family in a small house. But good food and visits with everyone we don't see very often will be enjoyed. But sometime this weekend we've got to get the bathroom completed. Its definately time!

Fun and productive weekend

We've had a really good weekend! Becca's week ended by spending her day on Friday with Grandma Deb as usual, however Xavier had no school because of conferences, so he was able to hang out with the as well! Becca loved the company! After Becca went down for the night, I went to crop at Sarah's house. I got a lot accomplished...6 pages of Becca's scrapbook and am completely up to date!

Saturday we spent time getting the yard and garden ready for the winter. Instead of raking and bagging all the leaves in the yard, we opted to mow the yard and mulch the leaves at the same time! Saved time, energy and sore muscles!

Tim had won some tickets to the UNI football game, so Becca went to church and to play at Wendy's while we witnessed the Panthers kick some Indiana State tushy. We enjoyed the time doing something different and who wouldn't want to watch the number 1 rated team in the nation beat yet another team? Neither of us were filled up by the giant pretzel that we ate at the game, so we stopped and brought home chinese afterwards. I can eat chinese anytime!

Today was sooo lazy. Becca and I didn't get up until 7, then after breakfast, reading the sunday paper and looking thru the toy ads, Becca and I needed more sleep. We took a 2 hour nap and woke up to find a ham in the oven, dishes washed and the porch cleaned off! Wow! I need to take naps more often! Tim was very productive while we slept. After a large meal, we went to the park to play. Becca enjoyed the 65 degree weather and possibly the last chance to run and play on the playground equipment. I took lots of pictures, and will post a couple once I upload.
Wizard of Oz just started, so I don't have time to upload ... I'll wait till the witch and flying monkeys are on....I still get all nervous during that part! *wink*

Over the river and through the woods.....

....To Grandma Kathy's house we go!

Its been a long time since we've been able to see Grandma Kathy...all with her being retired and traveling and us with Tim working weekends! So Saturday we took off to DeWitt, Ia to spend the night. We had to stop just before getting to their house, because we wanted them to experience the "Trick or Treat" with Becca in her lion costume. So in the middle of the John Deere implement dealer's parking lot, we changed Becca into her costume. Of course we couldn't just hop in the car and drive another 4 minutes down the road....cause she saw the Tractors! Daddy walked to the tractors with her, and let her see how big they were. I have a couple of cute pics of her in her lion costume and the tractors that I may upload later.

Grandma Kathy had candy waiting for Becca when we got to the driveway! I succumbed to the fact that Becca was going to get sweets, and a lot of them this weekend. Oh well, we'll make up for the loss of fruits and veggies at a later date!

Tim's sister Lisa and the kids, Tyler and Sami joined us for a roast dinner and just hung out a bit. They hadn't seen Becca since last Christmas, so that was fun too. Becca loved Sami, though she was a little leary of Ty. But by the end of the night, she was giving hugs all the way around.
Cards were played after Becca went down for the night, and again on Sunday when Becca took a short nap. I'm happy to report that the ladies ROCK!!!! *me doing a little happy dance*

On the way home, we stopped at Palisades Kepler State Park outside of Cedar Rapids to stretch our legs and check out the leafs. What a pretty park! We stopped down by the river and let Becca run. Tim explained to her that fish live in the water...so of course she made her fishy face the rest of the time there. We got some cute pictures of her exploring. I'll post some of those pics too.

Well, I have met Tim's chin for the first time since we started dating! New policy at his work, required him to shave the beard. He can keep his mustache, so he has..so far! Becca didn't really notice until we sat her up on his lap. Then she touched his face and said, " Where is it?" It was adorable. I'll need to re-create that moment for scrapbooking purposes!
Pictures to come tonight!

Halloween

Becca and Xavier as Lions!
Trick or Treat @ Wendy's

ROARRRRRRRRR

Happy Lion!

Just posting a couple pics from Halloween...

Fun girls weekend!

Becca watching Daddy scoop out pumpkin goo


Our attempt to pose her with her pumpkins


I had a blast in Des Moines this weekend with my girlfriends from work. We spent the afternoon shopping in Des Moines on Saturday and found 2 great scrapbooking stores. I called my sister in awe after being in the first store for 10 minutes. There will definately be another trip to the stores, and my Wendy must be there! I've added the two store's websites to my favorite links on my blog...check them out! We spent the night and went to Jordan Creek Mall on Sunday, where I picked up 2 outfits for Christmas for Becca and a "My New Potty Book". For Becca of course! *wink* We're starting to think about potty training!

Tim and Becca did just fine here at home. They played, went on walks, read books and worked on putting puzzles together. She's a pro at puzzles now! I was so excited to see her though. When I woke up at 7 in the hotel room, I was ready to come home to Becca. I missed her a lot. But when I got home, I could tell that she was definately a Daddy's girl.

Last night Daddy carved Becca's pumpkin! We stripped her down to her diaper, so that she could get down and dirty in the pumpkin goo too, but she refused. She let Daddy do all the messy work, while I tried to coax her into at least sitting down next to Daddy for some pictures.

But until all the newspaper and pumpkin goo was gone, she wouldn't even think of it. I guess she's got some girl in her after all!

So onto Halloween! I'll be posting more pictures from trick or treating as soon as we're done!

Pumpkin Town Fun!

Tim was out of town again today for another work conference in Iowa City, and wasn't expected home until after dinner time. But as Becca and I sat at a stoplight on the way home from work and daycare, we spotted Daddy, going the opposite way and pointing towards Pumpkin Town!!!!

Cedar Valley Community Church has an excellent Pumpkintown on their campus that is free to get in, and they have free activites, games, story times, treats, petting zoo, and lots of pumpkins to choose from that are very reasonably priced!

So we did. It was obviously different this year with Becca able to get up and walk away while we were trying to take the perfect pumpkin patch picture. She's not going to sit and pose for anyone. We need to work on that yet. And to get her to smile for the camera is next to impossible. But we got some good shots, and even though there is not alot of smiles shown, she was incredibly happy and excited to be there, and loved watching all the activity and other kids.

She picked out her two very own mini pumpkins...and Daddy picked out a big one for us to bring home! She was a little nervous about the petting zoo...but she did neigh for the miniture ponies and baaa for the goats.

We came home afterwards, and even played in some leaves. We were suprised how much fun she had with that! We weren't so sure how she would react, but it was a good time for all three of us. I've posted some pics below, along with last years pumpkin pics and this years....what a difference a year makes.

What a difference a year makes!

Last year, October 2006

Today, October 25, 2007

Looking forward to the weekend.

Just a quick little post! I'm counting down the hours for girls trip to Des Moines this weekend. A couple girlfriends and I are heading down to check out some Scrapbooking stores, as well as having our own little wine tasting party in the hotel room once we're done shopping for the afternoon. I'm sooo excited. It will be my first trip since getting pregnant! Yahoo.....

So...don't be affraid to call and check in on Tim and Boo....I have so much confidence in them being just fine. Its me that will be a mess I'm sure. I'm going to miss my little punk!

Uncle David giving golf cart rides. With all the hills and so much room to roam...it was like a rollercoaster for the kids. We could hear Xavier screaming from the other side of the property! What fun!


Becca caught in the sun with a fall breeze



oh...you caught me climbing the tree!

Parade wave!!!!!!!

A view from the driveway, but the property has more levels.

Great fall weekend

What a fun weekend we have had! On Saturday, my Uncle David and Aunt Diane had a Smith family get together at their beautiful Brooklyn, Ia home. As rainy and cold as its been all last week, we had PERFECT sunny and 70degree weather all day! It was just georgous! The drive down was pretty as well, as the cold weather this last week really made the color in the trees pop! Nothing like rolling hills, harvested fields and autumn trees to make this fall day seem just right!

All the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and their children were there (minus a handful)...so there was a lot of catching up and playing to be done, not to mention all the food! Their house sits atop an awesome hill, surrounded by trees, and a lot of room to roam. Different layers and levels to the yards and gardens gave the kids oodles of playroom! There was so much to do. Becca prefered the wagon rides...but there was also bikes and tricycles to ride around the circle drive, Golf cart rides given by Uncle David, baseball, basketball, archery, metal detecting, a pinata for the little kids, scavanger hunt (jewels and money to split between the bigger kids), and of course pumpkin carving. I heard rumors that there was apple bobbing, but there was so much other stuff to keep everyone busy, that we never got around to it. Wow...what wonderful memories that day will hold for a long time. I know I will keep it close...and can't image what the little kids think...must of been a blast for them. Uncle David always has a toy to bring out, and never lets them down. Thank you Dave and Diane for being such great hosts, all the prep and cleanup, and for creating such special memories for all of us. We love you!

I've added some pictures from our extra special day. Needless to Becca slept the 1 1/2 drive home! She didn't stop all day...she was still tired today! I think all of us where!

What a sleepy, lazy weekend! Becca went from one sweatsuit to another all weekend, and I was the same. The dark rainy days didn't help the matter, but it was good for naps all the way around!

Well, Tim was asked to kiss an owie for the first time this week! It was so cute, and he is so happy about this! He loves that Becca thinks he can fix things or protect her. Ego boost I think! Becca had a hangnail, and pointed it out to me, and said "OWA". I sympathized with her and went to get the clippers to fix it, and Tim said to her, " You have an owie? Do you want Daddy to kiss it and make it better?" And she said, " YEAHHHHHH"! He of course was all over it and kissed it to make it better. With every owie now, she runs to Daddy for kisses. How sweet!

Friday, Becca took a fall while at Grandma Deb's house. She's got a bump and scrape on the forehead, but she's ok otherwise. The two of them also went to Walmart where Grandma treated her to a couple new outfits, and Elmo and Grover toys. Becca is all about Elmo right now. We have to turn off the computer when she's not looking, and when she wants to play her Elmo games for the 19th time, we tell her Elmo had to take a nap, or went night-night. That usually works! But we have to be tricky about it.

Well, Becca has found a new game that she's awesome at. Something we didn't expect either! A family friend, Ceri, had included some pictured flashcards with a baby gift she sent for Becca after she was born. When Becca was about 6 months old, I started showing her the cards and naming the objects that were on them, (hat, apple, cat, turtle, kite, pizza, etc). We would do that about once a week. Then after her 1st birthday, she started wanting to get them out a little more often. I would still name them off, and she would take them from me and spread them all out on the floor to see all the different objects. This week Tim got them out spread them out on the floor, and for the 1st time, asked her to find a certain object. He was thrilled that she was able to identify and point out 21 of 34! I got home from work on Friday night, and didn't believe him, so we tried it again...sure enough! She did it! We're so proud of her! Thanks Ceri for the excellent idea! Grandma Deb has the other set at her house, with different objects, that she will have to start playing with too!