Homemade Valentines

Dale and I were super low key about the whole Valentine's Day thing this year.  Homemade was our theme...which meant no excruciatingly expensive roses (as much as I love getting them :), no fancy chocolates, no restaurants, etc.  I had all these great plans for our homemade Valentine's night...and then the reality of having a Valentine's Day party at school and achievement days right after hit and my plans went out the window.  I was super tired.  So, we dined on my Valentine's day treats from my kiddos at school and some delicious tomato soup and bread.  Low key.  Homemade.  My kind of Valentine's Day :).

Our homemade valentines :) 

7 months + 1 day = 1 busy little Trey!

Our kiddo is exactly 7 months and 1 day today and is becoming quite the handful as was demonstrated at church today :).  I'm loving the new milestones!

* He now has his first tooth peeking through!
* He makes fun pterodactyl noises.
* He's VERY vocal!   He really loves to hear himself "talk."
* He says mama and baba and other babbling words, but we're still waiting on dada.
* He HATES peas but has liked every other veggie he's had so far.
* He blows spit bubbles A LOT.
* He scoots around on his belly (mainly backwards) but doesn't crawl yet.
* He gets extremely hyper when he's just sitting in his diaper.  Something about the freedom I guess :)
* He can sit up by himself if I position him.
* He's happy and gets slap happy when he's tired.
* We no longer have to rock him to sleep.  He usually lays down without a fight.
* He's becoming a "mama's boy".  Sometimes when Dale has teased him too much and I pick him up, he'll immediately look over at Dale with a look that says, "HA!  Mama rescued me!"

Scripture Journal

For whatever reason, studying the scriptures has always been hard for me.  I've taken turns being super faithful and a major slacker.  In college I was on top of my game.  When I was at Snow College I would wake up early and read them before I went to class.  At Utah State I found that I did better in class if I put my scripture study first, so I started taking my scriptures to the library with me and did my studying before I did any school work.  Those days are long gone.  Lately I've struggled to find a routine that both kept my interest and fit in with my new mommy life.  That is, until a couple of weeks ago when I discovered "The Scripture Journal".  I saw it on somebody's blog somewhere, and I fell in love.  I immediately had to go out and get my own.  Seriously.  That very night I went to the store and bought myself my ever so fancy $1.50 notebook from Target and some equally fancy pens.  I found an awesome box a student gave me a couple of years ago that matched my new scripture journal perfectly.  I filled the box with all of my scripture studying necessities...my new pens, mechanical pencil, one of those whiteout markers, and best of all, my multicolored scripture marker my hubby gave me.  I told him I really wanted one for Christmas, and he said, "here, take mine.  I never use it."  I didn't know it was possible to be so excited about a scripture marker, but I was giddy!  And, I was set.  I was ready to start my study.

I decided to start out with a "Topics" page.  This is not in alphabetical order because I like studying by chapter rather than by topic.  So, whenever I'm reading about a certain topic, I write it down on the topic page and write the page number next to it.  Then I write the topic on the page I'm on in my notebook and highlight it so I can find it easily.  I love it!

Studying by chapter has really worked for me.  I don't necessarily read an entire chapter each day, but I've found that I'm both spending more time studying AND getting more out of my reading than I was before.  I might only read one column of a chapter, but my scriptures and journal are filled with my notes and feelings, which in my mind is a much bigger success than simply getting through a chapter each night.  Plus, I love to flip through my scripture journal and see how beautiful it is :).  I like printing off quotes, or tables, maps, etc. and gluing them into my journal.  It makes me feel organized.
Bottom line, I honestly think I came across the scripture journal blog for a reason.  It has completely revolutionized my view of scripture study.  I'm still far from perfect...and let's be honest, some Saturday nights I still crawl into bed and realize I haven't done my study.  But overall my scripture time has become a time of refuge after a long day...and that's the biggest success I could ask for :).  

Trey Milestones

Trey is getting so big!  A couple of weeks ago we went to his 6 month appointment and he weighed in at a whoppin 14 pounds.  It's crazy to see him grow up so fast.  We are loving each new stage, though he doesn't necessarily think it's a thrill.  We've been feeding him solid foods and he thinks we are torturing him when we feed him peas.  We are trying to get past it :).  Here's some random pics we've taken of him over last couple of weeks.

Don't worry, the cupcake never made it into his mouth.  

Dale just thought it was funny to make a mess of poor little Trey :)

 My new favorite picture of my little man!  His hair is getting SO
long!  We're thinking it's time for a haircut. 

Quirks

We've all got our own little quirks, right?  I know I've got a few (Dale would definitely agree :), but I'll save that for another day.  Right now I want to share some of the funny things that have gone on around our house that I've managed to snag a few pictures of.

Growing up I was taught to unload the dishwasher in an orderly fashion.  The plates have their own place, the cups have theirs, and the silverware?  Well, each fork, spoon, and knife have their own little section in the silverware drawer.  That's what that nice tupperware silverware separator thing, who's name escapes me, is for, right?  Well, not in our house.  On any given day you'll open our silverware drawer and find this:   

Dale has decided to speed up the process of unloading the dishwasher by simply chucking all of the silverware into the drawer (sharp knives included).  I've learned to embrace it.  At least he unloads the dishwasher :).

Something else that happens quite a bit at our house is that things mysteriously disappear.  During December I was looking for the bows I KNEW I had for our Christmas presents.  I looked everywhere.  TWICE.  Finally I bought some new ones.  Then, last week when I was putting away all of our Christmas stuff, I came across the lost bag of bows hidden in the back crevice of the TV stand.  Of course that's where they were.  Why wouldn't I think to look there?

Things also mysteriously make their way into the trash that don't belong there.  Like that gift card to Jamba Juice we bought for a friend.  I knew I had put in on the table, and then it was gone.  I spent quite a while looking for it before wondering if it accidentally got thrown out.  Sure enough, it was in the trashcan.  Same with that card I had everyone in my primary class sign for one of their classmates who was moving away.  I put in on the table...next thing we know Dale's digging in the outside trashcan to find it...which is exactly where it was.

(**Side note: normally I would've just gotten a new card for the kids to sign, but he was of course leaving that afternoon...so it was crucial to have it!  I don't normally make my sweet hubby dumpster dive, even if he is the one throwing everything out :)

Apparently quirkiness is becoming the new normal in the Jessee household.

Welcome 2012!

I've gotta admit that 2011 was very good to us.  We have been and continue to be so blessed!  In 2011 we welcomed our sweet little Trey into the world, which has completely changed our lives for the better.  We've been blessed with Dale getting a plethora of new piano students....12 in December alone!  My dad and my brother both came home from Iraq safe and sound...and before Christmas too!  We paid off our car, which was pretty much the happiest day of 2011 after the day Trey was born of course. :)  We welcomed our sweet little nephew Spencer Harper into the family on Christmas Eve.  What a handsome little guy!  We are so grateful for the time we have spent together and with our families and friends this year.  In that regard we are truly rich!  We can't wait to see what 2012 brings!

Happy New Year!

Christmas

Trey's first Christmas was pretty dang awesome.  I think for us more than him.  We LOVED watching him open all of his presents!  We got it all on video, but unfortunately didn't think to take any pictures.   Here's a pic. I stole off Facebook of the Jessee Family in our Christmas Eve PJ's though :).

And here's the pic. from our Christmas card my incredible sil took!  I love it!

And here's our Santa Trey...another pic by my sil.  I love this one too!

Trey's 1st Christmas gifts:  The kiddo needed clothes, so he mostly got a ton of 9 month clothes.  He also got some fun books and a super awesome Dino that shoots out balls.  I can't wait for him to be able to crawl around and chase them!  He got some more toys, but he just stares at them right now...again, we'll have to wait til he starts crawling, which he is nowhere near doing.  He's a rolling maniac, but try and have him sit up by himself and he falls right over.  Trey's favorite part of the whole gift unwrapping experience? The bows off the presents.  I put tiny bows on all of his gifts, and he loved grabbing them and pulling them off.  Super fun to watch!

We hope you had a Merry Christmas! :)