Catching Up...

Alright.  This was my worry about starting a blog - that life would get crazy, and then I'd be one of those people that didn't ever update my blog.  So, here is my repentant blog post - an update on the last month.


Lil' D had surgery on his tongue on January 12th.  The surgery went well and he is able to now lick his lips (top and bottom) and we are working on moving it from side to side.  He also has BLOSSOMED with his language.  We're all of a sudden hearing full songs, sentences, books being read aloud, etc.  It's amazing.  I tried to get a picture of him sticking his tongue out, but no luck.

I started teaching group piano lessons to 2 classes of 4 and 5 year olds at one of the local preschools.  It is a challenge, but SOOOOO much fun!  I'm gone for about 3 hours on Tuesdays and one of the sisters from our ward comes and plays with Lil' D.  Everyone has a good time!


The end of January brought in yuck and sickness.  I had a sinus infection, then Lil' D got a sinus infection, then I got strep throat, then John got strep throat.  John and I missed the Stake Valentine's Day Concert, and pretty much slept on Valentine's Day because we felt horrible.  It was not fun, and not what we had planned.  Now, almost 3 1/2 weeks later, I think everyone is finally healthy.  YEAH!  

All the Valentine's Lil' D made for family members

I tried to be cute and have Lil' D take pictures with the beautiful Valentine's he made for all of his aunts, uncles, and grandparents, but - this is the only one he smiled with when he held it.

Saying "Happy Valentine's Day!"

This past weekend, John and I traveled up to Eastern KY to see C (our now 15 year old) in her final dance team performance for the season.  She was great!  X (our 16 year old) was participating in a band clinic at Morehead State University, so after C's performance, we went back to our house with just C in tow. 

C with her "little sister" at the basketball game

 On Saturday, we celebrated C's 15th birthday as she requested - with Grandma, Uncle Jim, Grandma, Grandpa, Dad, me, and Lil' D.  We had an appetizer filled dinner, with potato skins made by John and C, wings, 7-layer dip, taquitos, and meatballs. 

 After dinner C opened presents, with Lil' D helping her pull her presents out of the bags. He loved playing with the bags and ALWAYS loves it when big sister is home!

Lastly, and sadly, our 2 cars died, yes, at the same time.  John's VW Golf was finally diagnosed, and is dead in the water, and my little white Grand AM finally bit the dust this week as well.  Being car-less was not in our plans, but with a little help with my dad going out of town and letting us borrowing a car for a week and renting a car for a week gave us time to do research on new-to-us cars.  After test driving MANY different cars, we actually liked the Dodge Grand Caravan the best.  Unbelievable as it may seem that speed-demon-me and diesel-loving John bought a mini-van, it's true!  Introducing the newest member of our family:

Our new car is a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan, 63,400 miles.  We love the space in this car!  We especially love the Stow-N-Go seating, which is one of the reasons we picked this car over other 6 and 7 seaters that are a little sportier like the Dodge Journey or Mazda 5.

All in all, it's been a pretty eventful month!  I will be better about posting - my goal is to update our life once a week.  :)