One down, three to go

I finally finished one of my Heritage Maker projects!

I have three (or four) in the works right now...a book about Tommy, a book about Jack, a book about China...actually, come to think of it, I've started a few more. I just didn't get very far into them.

Anyway, the exciting news is that I finished ONE! It's a "swatchbook" of our family photos from last fall. You can see it using the link below. I think my boys are pretty photogenic. What do you think? :-)

Family Photos 2009

Jack-Jack Attack

I feel kind of guilty, because when Tommy was 5 months old we took tons of pictures, and now that Jack is getting close I've realized I hardly have any pictures at all! He does plenty of cute things, I just never have the camera ready to capture them. I did manage to snap a few in December, though, so I thought I'd share. He's getting really good at sitting up now, and can roll over at will. He reaches for toys that he wants, and hates to be BORED. He thinks Diego is awesome (some days I think the kids like that dog more than they like us) and can sit and watch Tommy for very long periods of time. He has an amazing smile, and gets so excited about life! It's very contagious :-)

Attentive, as always

Working on balance

Watching his brother, no doubt

Wondering "What the heck is Mommy doing??"

Deciding that he's done "sitting up"

That's my little boy!

Milestones

So...it's been a while. What's been happening:

At work, I'm now technically "part time." What does that mean? When I figure it out I'll let you know....just kidding. Basically, I now have the freedom to come and go as I need to. I go in to work for meetings, and then can work from home during the surrounding time. This is helping to cut back on babysitting, but I need to work even harder to "cut back" (it's hard to break the routine...)

Logan reported to the police academy yesterday! He says he alternates between being really glad and excited he has the job, and thinking "what the heck am I doing here?" Hopefully, the former sentiment will win the day! He'll be gone Mon-Thursday each week, but we talk on the phone a lot, and it won't be long until I see him again! I miss him, but this is doable. He's learning a lot, too. It really is an academy!

We got a truck. Yup. Didn't see that one coming, but Logan's pretty happy. I'll post pictures a bit later. Right now I still feel weird about having purchased two cars within six months...can't wait for my tax return!

Life is good :-) The boys are growing so fast (especially Jack--he's still in the 95th percentile for weight! He's my big boy.) They amaze me every day with the things they are learning. Tommy recently started singing a lot more, which is always fun, and then last week he said his first prayer! It was adorable. Yesteday Tommy talked to Logan on the phone, and he very clearly said "I love you, Daddy." It was so sweet! These little mile stones are precious. I'm glad I get to be around for them :-)

Snow Pics

I realized I never posted pictures of the crazy snow we had here last week! We had over 18 inches (possibly more up here at the house) and it came down really fast. Logan and I decided it was a bad idea to drive our van, so for three days it just sat behind our house...covered in snow. Logan and I walked to work (when we had to go) and just enjoyed being snowed in :-) Tommy really loved it, but because he doesn't have water-resistant gloves we could only let him play for about 10-15 minutes at a time. We'll have to work on that soon, because he did NOT like coming back inside!

Christmas in Ol' BV

Christmas this year was soooo much more fun! Now that Tommy is able to "get into the spirit" of things, it's fun to unwrap the gifts and see his face, and see how he reacts to what he receives. Jack did pretty good, too, and had fun holding on to some of his presents (he also tried to eat them, but without much luck).

Tommy with his alphabet magnets from the Jones'. He likes making noise!

Here's Jack with the Frog stuffed animal that the Jones' sent to him. Very soft!

This is me with my new griddle. The one we've been using for the last 3 years was left in the house by the previous owners, and was...shall we say, well used?

Tommy and his new bowling kit. He's gotten really good at setting the pins up himself and knocking them back down. He also received the Toy Story table pictured here from his mommy and daddy.

Logan and Star Trek. Oh yeah.

With these additions, I now own all 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls. I can watch them any time I want!

Jack and his pewter mug from his Grandma Rae Rae. Tommy has one like it, as well.

Tommy and Jack on Tommy's present from Santa--a "Cars" kids couch! He really likes it, although he always has it out in the "bed" form and won't let us fold it back up into the couch. Ain't they cute?

A big thanks to Uncle JJ, who was the cameraman for Christmas. We have tons more photos, but these are just some of the highlights :-)

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Exciting News!

Logan has a job!

Last night he found out that he is officially being hired by the Lexington City Police Department.  He starts on Dec. 28th with preliminary stuff (getting measured for his uniform, drug tests, yet another psychological exam [there have been several]) and then on January 4th he'll start going in for "ride-alongs" with current police officers for about a week, and then...off to the academy!  As excited as I am for this job, that's the downside--he has to go away Mon-Thursday overnight to the police academy in Salem, about 45 minutes away.  So, for half the week, I'll be a single mommy!  Rough stuff.  However, after 22 weeks(!) he'll graduate, and then he has a 3 year contract with the department.

So, what does that mean for me? (aside from missing my husband terribly all week...)

We're still trying to figure everything out, but I've talked with my supervisors about going part time, or changing jobs to something that can be done from home.  I'm grateful that I work somewhere that appreciates the importance of family, because I feel a lot of support from my colleagues.  They don't want me to leave, but they want me to be able to be with my children and take care of them.  For the month of January, at least, I'll probably still be working full-time, but with the two salaries we'll be able to swing a fabulous babysitter (thanks Cami!).  Psychologically, though, I think it'll be a rough month.

Anywho, I'm VERY excited, and so is Logan.  He did fabulous on the physical tests for the position (he'll be the department record holder) and was the clear leader for the position.  We just didn't want to say anything until it was certain, because we were worried that there might be other factors that would count against him (like age, or the fact that he's from the west coast).  The people he's met so far have been great.  YAY!

In case you can't tell, I'm a little excited :-)