Sunday, December 30, 2007

What we want to do in 2008

1. Find a new job and hopefully in a new location 2. Buy a house of our own!!! 3. Go on more dates (with each not others) 4. Joe- graduate (Kristen has been there, done that) 5. Kristen- Find newer and better recipes for my family (not an easy task) 6. Joe- Take and pass the professional engineer's exam 7. Blake- learn to go potty on the toilet (we'll see) 8. Kristen- Find new books that I can't get enough of 9. Make a baby (if we're lucky) 10. Blake- communicate using words better (and learn new words Stay tuned to see which one or even all of these come to pass.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

A Look Back...

Our year in pictures:

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

A Relaxing Christmas

Our day started out by us waking Blake up at 8. Joe and I wanted to get the show on the road. Blake was pretty hesitant about opening his presents, we're not sure why. Maybe because they had been sitting under the tree for almost a month and he wasn't allowed to touch them.
The first present that Blake opened after his stocking stuffers was a big Tonka truck. That was it for Blake, he just wanted to play with that. Joe and I figured we could have just bought him one or two presents and he would have been happy. We had to struggle to get Blake to open any more gifts. When our struggles were fruitless we decided to open ours while he played. That was pretty fun. We received so many great gifts from each other and family and friends. Joe loved his personalized Diamondbacks jersey. He wore it all day.  After Joe and I opened all our gifts, we proceeded to work with Blake on his. He just wanted to play with what he received and was content doing so. After we had opened most of the presents (Blake still had 2 presents unopened when naptime came) we just sat around and enjoyed our day.  We had a really nice Prime Rib dinner with all the fixings. Of course Blake just ate his mashed potatoes. After Blake went to bed, Joe and I stayed up and played two of the games that we received. 
It was nice having a quiet, low key Christmas. Although it would have been nice to be with family, it was nice to be with our own little family. Since we don't know where we will be living next Christmas, we took this opportunity to create our own family traditions. 

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Fish sticks and Frosting

So Blake has been having a hard time eating lately, I think because there is so much going on with Christmas and also because of all the yummy Christmas treats lying around. Today I got into the baking Christmas spirit and made sugar cookies. While I was making the frosting Blake was supposed to be eating his dinner consisting of fish sticks and mixed fruit. He saw what I was doing and wanted a taste. Being the nice mommy that I sometimes am, I gave him a little taste. Well that brought out the Blake beast. He no longer wanted to eat his own food but just wanted to eat frosting. Joe and I weathered out a big tantrum and dismissed him from the table. He kept begging for frosting so I made a great solution. I put a line of frosting on top of his fish stick. Blake promptly licked off all of the frosting but then ate the entire fish stick. We thought that was great! So I tried with another fish stick with some more frosting, he ate that one too. 
What genius creations moms can think of when trying to get their kids to eat. 
DO NOT TRY FISH STICKS AND FROSTING UNLESS UNDER THE AGE OF THREE- Yuck!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Christmas Candy: a double edged sword

So with Christmas comes the wonderful assortment of candy. Of course we received some red and green M&M's from grandma and grandpa Norby. One night Joe and I were sick of giving Blake some one by one, so Joe decided to give Blake a little serving of his own in a cup. Blake thought this was the greatest thing ever and promptly sat down and ate his "daily ration". The next day I gave his "daily ration" of M&M's in his little cup. Again he was so excited and loved eating them. After he was done he didn't ask for more (which amazed me more than anything, isn't he a Norby??) 
To bite me in the behind, the next day after his nap, Blake went up to the counter where we keep the M&M's and kept saying "please, please". I of course gave in because I didn't want to create a fight (some are worth fighting, this one was not). So now every day after his nap he expects to have some yummy M&M's in his own cup. As I said before, Christmas candy is a double edged sword. 
Really what mom can't relate to this?

Monday, December 10, 2007

Completion!

I have reached a milestone in my computer life. Today I burned my first DVD of Blake's first year. For a little over a month I have gone through all of the footage of Blake during his first year and I have used that to create a DVD from IMovie. It has transitions, text and music. It was so much fun making it; something that I will treasure forever. ALthough there were times of frustration and confusion, all of my hard work paid off with a wonderful DVD of our son's first year of life. 
I am very proud of my accomplishment, in which I did all by myself. Buying our Mac has sure come in handy in our lives. I don't think I could live without IMovie now. It's wonderful!!!

Monday, December 3, 2007

Ice Skating Fun

The day after Thanksgiving my dad, brother, sister, Joe, Blake and I went ice skating in downtown Reno. Dad successfully got on the ice but felt a little uncoordinated, so he promptly took off his skates to watch Blake. Joe and I enjoyed our time on the ice together, navigating through inexperienced skaters who were lucky to just be on their feet. My sister Ryan absolutely loved skating with us and actually did pretty well, although she wouldn't let us let go of her hand. Braeden on the other hand hated every minute on the ice. He wouldn't move his feet so we ended up pulling him around the rink, which is no easy task.
Blake unfortunately had seperation anxiety from me, so I wasn't able to enjoy my time on the ice as much as I would have liked to. Oh well. Joe and I plan on going back, just the two of us, at a later date.

About our family

Joe and I have been married for a little over 3 years. We have a one and a half year old son named Blake. Joe is currently going to school to be a civil engineer. He is set to graduate in May 2008, something we both look forward to. I have been graduated for a year and a half and now stay home with Blake. Blake is a very active little boy and keeps me on my feet all day long. By the time he goes to bed at night, I just crash from exhaustion. He is a very independent little boy and is pretty content to play on his own all day, unless he wants me to read a book to him (which I do about 30 times a day). We currently live in Reno, NV but expect to move when Joe graduates. We are not sure where but we are excited to open a new chapter in our lives.