Finding the time...and energy!

Just thought I'ld update everyone a little on our happenings. Sorry, no pictures...I will post some later.

Danae's birthday went well, except for the fact the poor girl was sick most of that week. She has been sick on and off since going to preschool, which is expected. Lots of family and some friends showed up to help her celebrate. The smile on her face when she realized everyone was singing Happy Birthday to her was priceless! She isn't much into the unwrapping of gifts, but gets interested once you show her what's inside. This cutie just can't get enough of balloons and elephants right now.

Thanksgiving was good, we had Bear and Jenni with their two boys, Jodi, John and Lizard and Tonya and Ronin come over for Thanksgiving dinner. Bear and Jenni stayed the night before to help make pies and relax too.

Danae had a Christmas program and got total stage fright. Can't blame her! When a two year old is paraded into an auditorium of strange adults then walked right past her mommy and daddy...all she wanted was us. She threw a fit and never made it to the stage. That's ok, we have been having our own little performance from her. She loves jingle bells and has been singing jingle bells for weeks...which is the song her class was performing. She had also been at preschool since 7 am and the program was at 7 pm...long day for our little girl!

Lizard threw me a wonderful babyshower the weekend before Christmas. A small group attended...it's just a difficult time of year...but we had fun regardless! Thank you Lizard and Jodi!

We took Bear and Jenni on their 4th annual Christmas Tree Hunt on our family's property in Williams. Then to lunch at Pine Country. It was a fun day....no snow this year....just lots of mud!

Danae met Santa, but wasn't too impressed. She grabbed the candycane and wouldn't get close to him.

We spent Christmas in Williams with my family. There was snow on the ground, so it was basically a white Christmas. My mom and I stayed up way too late on Christmas Eve (4 am) making a bean bag chair for Danae. I was determined to have it under the tree on Christmas morning. My mom stuck right in there with me. I'm not sure how I managed to stay up that late...I have been so exhausted all the time. If Danae didn't sit in that bean bag on Christmas, I was going to tie her in it because we worked so hard to get it done. Fortunately, she loves it and plops in it. Only at a Cureton gift exchange would the game FART not be considered a practical joke gift. The game is actually quite fun!

I had my 36 week ultrasound just before Christmas. Corbin is measuring just under 7 lbs, give or take a pound. He should gain about 1/2 lb a week until he is born. I have been having tons of Braxton Hicks and just overall uncomfortable! But, I am grateful for this gift and hangin' in there. Yep, I'm still at work, at a desk of course...no chasing the crooks with this big belly!

Danae is learning new words and things every day and its a blast! Its so much fun watching her learn and grow, there is nothing more I'ld rather do!

Our Etsy shop reached its 100th sale! I made about 8 hobby horses/hobby unicorns in about two weeks...I'm sure they were all Christmas presents. The hobby horse pattern is also still selling well.

The Matco business is going well. We got into it in the slower season, but we're holding our own. Michael is enjoying it and now he is the one who gets recognized and talked to when we run errands...he's not too sure what to think about that.

Well, thats been our life in a nutshell the last two months.

Halloween

We weren't really thinking too much about doing the Halloween thing this year. Then Michael's Mom sent Danae the cutest lady bug costume.

On Friday night Danae and Michael carved a pumpkin. She thought that was lots of fun. The most fun came when it was time to light the candle and she kept blowing it out. She even got to the point she would growl at the light then blow it out. Then she thought it was funny to grab Daddy's hair and help his face into the pumpkin so he could blow out the candle.

Saturday we went to the Fall Festival at the church and man was it crowded! We had a soup potlock, played some games then did the Trunk or Treat. She wasn't the only ladybug...but she was the cutest! She had to wear a neclace so I gave her one that wasn't very expensive in case she broke it.

She wasn't sure about the trick or treating part. The first piece of candy she got in her pumpkin was a sucker and from then on we had to try to distract her from the sucker so she would do a little more trick or treating. All she wanted was to eat that sucker! She had to look in her pumpkin every time someone dropped some candy inside. I'm glad she was feeling better by the time the Fall Festival rolled around since she had a fever for two days up until that afternoon.

Preschool!

Danae has been showing readiness to play with other children and learn, so I put her in preschool instead of my in-home babysitter/nanny. Danae loves it. She shows up to school and hugs the other kids that are there as early as she is and just smiles. She's been doing art every day and learning her letters. They sang happy birthday at school and now she tells her 'chewy' (pacifier) happy birthday. She is almost weaned from chewy except she recently had a relapse. With all the exposure to other kids and then of course germs, she has been coughing and conjested and has had her first fever. So when she is sick, she wants chewy.

Yesterday another child was crying and she went over to him and patted him on the back and asked him "are you ok?" I think she'll be a social butterfly.

I wanted photos of her on her first day of preschool, that morning wasn't very smooth. Danae had been used to sleeping in and she had to get up at 6 am. She wanted nothing to do with the camera. When we arrived at school, the picture I got was the "are you kidding" pouting look. She was equipped with her ladybug backpack, new jacket and Tinkerbell lunch box.

Her teacher is a personal friend, which I am happy for that. I think Danae really loves her preschool!

Matco Tools

Michael is home from Matco Tool school in Ohio. He has been on the road now for two weeks and things seem to be going well. He's getting things down and the route changed up to run smoother, etc. I'm very proud of him and I think he's enjoying the change. He has been working about 12 hour days / 5 days a week between the route, closing out, doing inventory and orders, etc. Which also makes for long exhausting days for me as well, but pregnancy will do that.

Danae is so happy to have her daddy home, so is mommy :) We'll keep truckin' and hope we can run the business at least at the par of the previous owner, but its going well and kinks are getting worked out.

...and a huge thanks to Jason and Nando for putting the closet organizer in! Michael loves it and it saved him a couple days of work, like he doesn't already have enough piled on to get done. Thank you, it looks beautiful!

Monkey Hear, Monkey Repeat

I have to admit, I have a bad habbit of saying "Damnit". I never realized I said this word as much as I do until I really started listening to myself. Danae has been saying it and I am trying to get her to remove the word from her vocabulary. It does make you giggle and smile when she says it so appropriately...but nonetheless...not ok for an almost 2 year old...or her mommy...to be saying.

The other day she had a sheet of stickers and was peeling them off and sticking them on her bare belly and legs. She got to one sticker she just couldn't get off and I hear her clear as a bell "damnit stickers!"

For the Birds

Danae loves most critters and birds are no exception. She enjoys teasing, feeding and petting Emily and has to have her out at breakfast, lunch and dinner to sit on her chair while she eats. She loves to follow the neighbor's chickens around when they make it over to our property. She has really become attached to three plastic dove decoys...even taking them to bed as if they were stuffed animals. Then the other day a Blue Heron/Sand Crane, you know those huge gray stork looking water/swamp birds, flew overhead and I pointed it out to Danae. I had to smile when Danae looked up at this huge bird in the sky, held out her arm and curled her hand under (like she does when she wants to hold Emily or a bug) and said "on hand". Little does she realize the bird is bigger than she is.

Trying to Keep a Straight Face

Danae has been quite hyper later, either that or I have just been more tired. She had her "Frumpy" stuffed lion and was teasing Emily throught he cage by hitting the cage with Frumpy. I had told her to stop, I had given her a spanking because she didn't stop...and yes, she continued. So when I looked at her with an upset face and told her sternly no once again, she looked at me, smiled, started wiggling her rearend and said "dance".

We plan to name him...

Corbin Rafe Dearden. Michael had picked out Rafe from a Louis L'Amour book "Crossfire Trail" quite sometime ago. I never liked it and told him absolutely not! I've wanted Wyatt for a long time and Michael said no way! So when I found out my little bundle is a boy I actually hit the internet for "cowboy names". Corbin was one in a list of mostly common names. I wrote it down but wasn't too hip to it just yet. For days Michael and I through name combinations around and one day I put together Rafe Corbin, and it had a ring to it I liked; however, sounded better as Corbin Rafe. I wanted to spell it Raef and Michael was wanting Rafe.

I bugged him for a few days planting, ok kinda forcing, the seed in his head for Corbin Rafe. He didn't like the spelling I wanted so we hit the Louis L'Amour book to see how he spelled it. Ok, so Rafe it is. Once I agreed to that spelling, Michael agreed to Corbin Rafe. So there you have it :)

Got Tools?

Opportunity has knocked and we opened the door, signed the papers and Michael is going to be leaving for tool-man school on Sept 21 in Ohio. We bought the Verde Valley/Flagstaff route for the Matco mobile tool truck. Michael's last day at Red Rock Jeeps is Thursday the 9th and he is ready for the change. He has developed allergies to some of the oils and working in the heat box of a shop is wearing on him.

So here's to taking a leap and trying something new! Its a little scary knowing Michael has no set income and it will depend soley on his sales, but that can be a very good thing for us too. Its as exciting as it is scary to go out on a limb and go into business for yourself. But the other option is to keep doing what we're doing and just wonder if it would have ever worked out for us.

Here's to something new!

For the Love of Horses

Ok, so these aren't horse, but I wanted to throw this picture in there. The neighbor's chickens come over sometimes and my little animal hound loves to follow them and get as close as she can. She gets upset when they run home and she can't follow them anymore.

Now for the horses. She loves these two. She has to go in and pet them at feeding time and whenever she is outside and they come to the fence she has to say hello. My nibbler, T-Bone, does well with her and usually will keep his mouth to himself.

They love the attention as much as she loves them.

She finally discovered my collection of Breyer horses up on a high shelf. She just had to play with them, and they are quite sturdy so I let her play. She talked to them for about an hour. She washed them, then she put them to bed and got a wipe...or blanket...for each one and covered them up. What was really cute was at dinner she insisted on having one with her, so I let her. She set it on the table and then she held a fork full of peas to its mouth and began talking to it saying things like "yummy".

I know what collection I'm going to start for her. No barbies, its going to be Breyer horses. She really loves her critters! She really never showed much interest in the one baby doll she had.

What to name him?

Ok, Michael and I have agreed on a name. For a little fun, I posted a poll to the left. Please vote on the name you think we have picked and I will announce it soon.

The baby is a ....

BOY!! He was cooperating very much during the ultrasound yesterday and made it obvious numerous times that he is a boy. Now for names...that is going to be a tough one since Michael and I don't quite agree on many boys names...time to hash it out. We have so much to get done. Time to move all of our hobby/craft stuff to another location then paint and decorate his room.

Puddles, Bugs and Kansas

Here is a condensed picture update. We took a trip to Kansas the end of July to surprise Michael's mom and tell them all another little Dearden is on the way. This time our good buddy Shawn joined us because he is a HUGE John Deere fan and has wanted to go to Kansas for a while since they make 'em bigger out in Kansas. He finally made it and he is welcome back with us anytime. Did you ever see a more contagious smile! That's our happy Shawn, its the squeaky little John Deere horn on this big tractor that has him so excited. We found this butterfly at the farm when we were letting Shawn climb on the equipment. As usual, Danae was very interested in it, she didn't touch this one though.

Danae watched the Leoti parade, which is one of the few parades I've been to that remembers what a parade is supposed to be with passing out candy, etc. Danae collected several suckers, or "sticks" as she decided to call them. She is pictured above with her cousin Eden who is one year older than her.

Danae has sat on the horses a few times, once with mommy in uniform, then when mommy or daddy held her up there and this time she actually rode around a little with Daddy on T-Bone. She of course loved it!

This water hound was so excited when we introduced her to puddles. Now I'm not sure that she gets excited over the rain because she likes the rain or because it makes puddles. She gets so upset when mommy or daddy go out into the heavy rain, I think it scares her. Thanks to Lizard, these cute pink sandals make the best little puddle jumpers!

Of course with rain comes snails. This was Danae's first introduction to snails and she was intrigued at first and soon lost interest, but she of course wanted to hold it.

My Little Dipper

Danae LOVES dip! It doesn't matter if its ketchup, ranch, applesauce, peanut butter, apricot sauce, guacamole, etc... if it looks like she can dip something in it...she does. Everything tastes better with dip and if you can't get her to eat something, give her something to dip it in. :)

Some things that come to mind are corn chips in ranch, chicken in apple sauce...oh and mashed potatoes because that counts as dip too. She dipped her peanut butter and jelly sandwich in her yogurt (or "yogie" as she calls it). Then yesterday when she dipped her peanut butter and jelly sandwich in some ranch dressing because she pulled it out of the fridge when I was getting the jelly and pleaded for some "dip". The gross thing is...she ate it!

P.S. I'll post some pictures soon

Baby Spice

No, not one of the spice girls, rather its a seasoning for babies. Michael started calling baby powder Baby Spice several months ago when he would sprinkle powder on Danae, I thought it was cute and joined in when I would sprinkle it on her. Well, Danae is picking up phrases and words every day. We were at a restaurant the other day when Danae says "BB Spice", we realized she was reaching and asking for the pepper on the table. So, we gave it to her and she sprinkled some on her food while saying "BB Spice". Cute.

Then, yesterday we were eating breakfast at a restaurant in Santa Fe and Danae asked for the Baby Spice. Since the food was taking forever to get there, we gave it to her for entertainment and simply to occupy her. She lifted her shirt and sprinkled the pepper on her lap while saying "BB Spice". Well.... it was cute and better than the night before at Red Lobster when she informed us loudly that she had poop in her diaper as she grabbed her rear end. ...and so it starts...

Catching Up

Danae is taking in the sport of soccer...this is very serious stuff! We watched Rylee play her first game of the season followed by Micah and Weston's first game of the season. The weather was very nice. Micah and Weston 'graduated' to a much larger field this year.

The Red Vipers

Rylee and her coach, AKA Daddy. Her team...the Unicorns.

Micah and Rylee watching Weston and the rest of the team play. Micah is like a big brother to Danae, making sure she's ok.

The Cureton Cousins at the Deer Farm. Rylee, Micah, Lizard, Danae and Weston.

The deer certainly know how to hussle you for the food. Danae was a little overwhelmed at first but warmed up to them. It wasn't until we were ready to leave that she got more interested in the small goats and other critters she could pet.

My first dress (or any clothing for that matter) that I have sewn! I had a little...ok a lot...of help from Marlayne. It turned out so adorable!

We visited our friends Ahna, John and Jack in Cortez, CO in June. Jack and Danae played much more this time. They both love bubbles and balloons. The weather was georgeous! Michael wants to move there even more now...I'm not so opposed to it...but a lot would have to happen to make the move. I'm a deep rooted Arizona girl...but who knows, right?

We went to Mesa Verde, or at least part of it. Danae was a great sport and hiked on her own some times. She loved climbing these stairs. Notice the flower she won't let go of? She loves picking flowers.

Danae and Jack in the wagon...yet another love of Danae's. I think its time to find her a full size one that works so she can play in one here at home.

Sleep Tight

Sometimes the difference between a frustrating moment and a moment to cherish comes down to how you choose to look at it.

Danae has been rebelling against sleeping in her own bed lately, only at night since she is taking naps just fine in it. She'll start screaming moments after she has been laid down and tucked in. Michael and I are trying to be the 'good' parents and make her sleep in her own bed and let her fall asleep on her own. After about 30 minutes or so of screaming, especially when she starts crying "mommy", I can't take it because I know I can make it stop and soothe her.

In the room I go to meet Danae who is standing in her crib with her arms stretched out and her little body shaking because she has worked herself up so much. She clings to me so tight as I grab her out of her crib and we rock in the rocking chair as her little snivel shakes slow down and eventually stop.

We rock together to the sound of her lulubies and both fall asleep. I remind myself that no, these moments won't last forever and there will soon come a time when she won't need me like that any more. I choose to look at these moments as moments to cherish and not let them frustrate me, enjoying the cuddling time late at night when we both are exhausted and she just doesn't want to be alone.

My little Entomologist, Horticulturist, Artist and Cowgirl

Danae loves bugs...selectively. We were out pruning the roses the other day and she sees some bees on a bush, she holds her arm out (like she does when we put a ladybug on her) and says "bug on". Of course that didn't happen. Fortunately a few minutes later we found a lady bug for her and she absolutely wanted it to crawl on her. She walks around so carefully when one is on her. Then, when she see ants crawling around she will hold her arm out, regardless of the previous biting incident, and say "bug on", then when we tell her yucky she starts stomping on them. Precious isn't it.

She loves flowers, she will usually pick them and give them to guests before she gives them to mommy, what a little hostess. Its a good thing we have a lot of flowers coming in.


She got upset when she brought Daddy's boots to him and he tried to help her stand in them, she was happy when she could just sit on the floor and put her legs in his almost knee-high boots.

Michael made this chalk board for my self-defense classes (to direct people where the class was), Danae loves it and she uses a box of sidewalk chalk to practice her art skills.

Beautiful Cousins

Heather and Rylee came for the day to do a photo shoot of Heather's Sugar Plum Cowgirl dress-up tutus and my Lil' Wrangler Denim Sunhats.

...of course T-Bone wouldn't stand to be left out...such a ham!

Danae LOVED wearing Rylee's red boots, she wore them all day and whined for them when they were packed up.

Rylee was such a big help with Danae and Danae just wanted to pick flowers for everyone.

We got a lot of really cute photos!

Danae loves all the animals and is certainly my little cowgirl!

Ladybugs, Ants and a Fart Machine

Danae was helping Daddy put a small garden patch in while mommy was sleeping (this day time sleeping / night shift stuff is getting old...but almost over) and they found a ladybug. Danae was intrigued with it and let it crawl on her. After I woke up, I joined them. Daddy found the ladybug again, so I got a couple photos. She let it crawl on her and when it got to the tip of her finger she ever so gently moved her hand to her tongue...WAIT...yep...she touched it to her tongue before I realized she really was going to put this bug in her mouth. Then it was back to letting it crawl on her arm until she pinched it to try to pick it up.

Danae had left her peanut butter cracker on the ground earlier in the day and it was now covered with ants. I turned to give the camera to Michael and heard a painful scream come from Danae. She had picked up the ant covered cracker and now her little hand was covered in ants! I quickly dumped her hand in the horse trough then took her inside for some first aid while Daddy took vengence on the ants. Her little hand was red and welted from bites.

A girl after her daddy's heart...

...and his nose. She's just returning the favor of wiping it for him.

A little blurry, but too cute so I had to share!

Yesterday I was cleaning out and organizing the junk drawer and found the fart machine I had bought years ago...so I showed Danae how to push the button. She finds it humorous as any Cureton would and it has been a favorite toy. (isn't that fun!)

Some Pictures

Things have been busy, but mostly I have been living in a 'fog' while working night shifts, I don't really feel like I am completely 'with it'. Only 4 more weeks of nights then I get to work 16 weeks of days...I don't even care that it is in the heat of the summer, I am really looking forward to it!

Two of the highest paid and long term employees in the PD were laid off last week due to the budget. It certainly sent morale down a few more notches.

Michael is dealing with drama at his job, but grateful to have one.

Danae loves to read...the pictures...and be read to. She is now starting to go to the bookshelf and grab a book or five to be read at bedtime.

She LOVES her cowgirl boots.

Thanks to Papa, she has developed a fettish for balloons. She will carry it everywhere and it takes a while for her to get tired of it. Papa and Grammie visited for a few days during the middle of March. (I really need to get better at taking pictures)

I made Danae an Easter Basket. It was a creative brainstorm that turned out pretty good. I spent about 30 plus hours on it and had numb fingers for a week or so...but hey...it should last a long time! (I hope)

Danae has discovered how easy our shoes are to put on. She usually grabs my boots, tennis shoes or Michael's flip flops. She decided to coordinate on this day and put my slippers on.

I bought her this horse hooded towel from Etsy for Easter. It is a really nice towel and so darn cute! Now she has two really nice hooded towels...gives me a little more time to do laundry :)

Danae and I walk to mailbox most days to get the mail. It is so funny watching her stop along the way and pick up as may rocks as she can hold. Fortunately we aren't lacking in rocks.

I know there is more that has gone on since I last posted, but I can't think of it right now and wanted to get something put on my blog. Hope everyone is doing well!

A Sticky Situation...

Danae discovered stickers! She had to have mommy peal them off for her and she would wait for me to stick 'em to her, then she would move them around or stick them on something else. But the green happy face stayed put right on the tip of her nose...guess that's where she liked it.