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".