Well.....it's about time I got back to doing my blog. Life has been so hectic with school going on. I had a wonderful, restful 3 weeks off and now it starts again tomorrow. I became very spoiled while on my vacation. I watched movies and T.V. and read books and played more with Danny and even did some cooking and cleaning. On the last day of finals, all I did was study. Danny was gone at the drop-in-preschool for a few hours and I didn't clean or do cook or do laundry. The house looked like a grenade went off and my wonderful, sweet husband cleaned it all up, took care of Danny and got him to bed, and still managed to have a smile on his face in the morning.
Two days after my final we went to Justin's parents house for Christmas. We had such a wonderful time. I received several presents I was REALLY hoping for. On Christmas Eve I found out I passed my Math class, and the meds I ordered were processed so that they would be on the 2008 deductible which I already met. WHAT A DAY!!
Megan, Andy, and their son Jason were there for Christmas too. Danny and Jason got along so well. Right before they came I explained to Daniel that he was going to see his cousin and that he would be the BIG cousin just like Ethan. He was so excited, he kept calling Jason, "my cousin" as in "my cousin come here". It was really cute.
Justin, his dad, and Andy took down 2 huge trees in their back yard. Everything went very smoothly except the last tree fell a little bit to the side and took out the wheel barrel.
We were only supposed to stay for 10 days but were blessed to get an extra 2 more days. Actually, it was more like one evening and an early morning goodbye. Justin's mom took us to the airport and were checking in when Justin realized he forgot his backpack. His Mom went home to get it. We got checked in and were waiting for our plane when they announced that our plane was delayed. That meant we would miss our connection. All the flights were full in Louisville but we were able to get a flight out of Cincinnati 2 days later. So, we called Justin's mom who was getting ready to go home from church and she came to the airport a THIRD time.
This actually happened in November.
We made a fort, "no Mama, it's a house" out of blankets and his easel. He was sticking his head out of the middle of the blankets and I couldn't figure out what he was doing. He was making the blankets fall off and if he wanted to come out he could come out by the easel. Finally, I realized he was looking out of the window.
Our tree. If you notice, in the picture below you will see the Dreidel between Justin and my head. I made it in Brownies in 1982. It is a little bit squashed but it still holding up. Is that a politically correct tree?
This is our Christmas picture. Gretchen came for a week before we left and took it for us. We had such a wonderful time with here here. She slept on the air mattress and when we were putting it away (this weekend) Danny asked if we were putting Gretchen's bed away.
For those of you who are familiar with Blues Clues, you know that when the Mail comes Steve/Joe sing the Mail song. For the longest time Danny has always loved looking at himself in a mirror or TV or whatever he can see his reflection in. In the mail song, Steve/Joe "wags his tail" which entails shaking your bum. When Gretch came she saw him looking at himself in the mirror shaking at his bum and at first couldn't figure out what he was doing. Once she saw the full song in all it's splendor she was hooked and I think it still plays over and over and over again in her head. Now every time we talk to her or my Mom they want him to sing the Mail song.
Along with the Mail Song, Danny has an imaginary friend. Blue. She comes with us to the grocery store and on other errands and we have to make sure she Zip-Clicks (puts on her seat belt) while in the car. Sometimes Danny says she isn't in her seat so I have to remind him to Zip-Click in Blue. He has quite an imagination. He reminds me a lot of Alex when he was little, playing by himself in his own little world. He makes "guys" out of random things and talks to them too. It is so cute to watch. He still says, "hi guy" to everyone (including girls) in the store and looks sad when someone doesn't say, "hi" back. Or, he says, "hi" over and over and louder and louder until they say "hi" back.
Danny is now a Sunbeam in Primary. I knew this would be a hard transition for him. He still has trouble sitting still. I think he has a BIG Spirit in a little body. I sat with him last week and today in Primary and today he did so much better. I read a book called Parents Are Teachers by Wesley C. Becker and it talks about positive reinforcement and praising children to change behaviors. Every few minutes I would tell him he was sitting so well and during Sacrament meeting. Every time I saw him sitting quietly he would get a little treat. One fruit snack seemed to work at first. He got sick of them pretty fast though. I'll have to come up with something different for next week. I think it really did help. This week he made it from the time I came down after the Sacrament Song to when I had to go back up for the rest hymn.
"He's Baby Stepping" Look out Dr. Leo Marvin!!!
This is Danny's new Hoodie. Justin's parents got it for him and he loves it. We have such nice weather here Today we had our windows open. It was 67 degrees. Ha Ha! Most of you have snow. Because it is so nice out, he has only had to wear a winter coat once. The other reason he loves it is because Justin has a BYU MBA hoodie. Unfortunately on the plane ride into Louisville it snagged on a airplane chair rest and the zipper broke off. It's on my list of things to get done.
Happy belated Merry Christmas everyone.
This actually happened in November. 
Our tree. If you notice, in the picture below you will see the Dreidel between Justin and my head. I made it in Brownies in 1982. It is a little bit squashed but it still holding up. Is that a politically correct tree? 
This is our Christmas picture. Gretchen came for a week before we left and took it for us. We had such a wonderful time with here here. She slept on the air mattress and when we were putting it away (this weekend) Danny asked if we were putting Gretchen's bed away. 
2 weeks ago I came home from doing an errand and found 7 dead/dying bees in our light and 7 more in our window box. I was freaked out! The window box and light are not connected and that worried me because that meant they could be anywhere in the house. Justin is allergic to bees. After taking a few breaths, I called Justin. I couldn't see where they were coming from and we got someone to come and look for them. They couldn't find out where they were coming from either and since they couldn't do bees, they left. The next day I looked for more and they didn't come. Whew. Then, 2 days later more came. Once again their were some alive in the light and one alive in the window box. Justin got out the duct tape and taped a hole in the light and everything went back to normal. No more bees until yesterday when we came home from church and there were 2 more dying in the light. At least these didn't get out of the light. So, we called our landlord and they are going to have someone come out and check it out. 
A couple weeks ago Justin had a 4 day weekend and so we went for a hike at Muir Woods. It is one of the few Redwood tree parks left in California. The trees were huge. I wish I could have taken better pictures. Mine don't even come close to what we saw. Plus, my camera acts weird when there are shadows. I bet I played with my camera for over 30 minutes just trying to find a good setting so we would not look bleached out or in shadow. I finally found a setting that worked but we weren't to the area I wanted to take a picture at so I had to keep fiddling with it until we got to that point. My camera automatically shuts off after 20 seconds and then the settings are reset. What a pain!!!
Some of these trees are from the first century A.D.
We were on our way back and we saw this deer. We were very close to it. It didn't even flinch, it just kept eating. It looks like a doe but it isn't. California deer are smaller. We saw another one further up stream from us and it was tiny too. 
Like I said, I can't do it justice.
