Time keeps on ticking, tic toc ticking away...

Well, here it is - a really, really overdue post. After over 2 months of blogger invisibility, we figured it might be time to at least put something on here. So let's see, since November 7th, 2009 (wow that seems like a long time ago) what has happened?

We celebrated our 9th anniversary! It's hard to believe that, but it's true. Yes, we got married young, but we were SO much more mature than those 20 year olds that get married today. Ha! We'll just keep telling ourselves that. :)

It was a pretty busy two months with both of our jobs - Joye has been keeping busy at work, still loves it (there are days though!), and continues to excel at here position. Johnny has been busy as well, but did enjoy some "down" time in December. The ministry with College Church continues to be challenging, yet fulfilling as God is working in some pretty amazing ways.

Caleb...oh Caleb. A bundle of energy, anticipation, awe, goodness, and wonder. We love this guy so much. He is so fun, so funny, so smart, and we can't believe that this year he will be turning 3! The thing people tell us the most about parenthood is that it goes by so fast - I'm a believer! It is becoming more and more like just having a third independent, capable, communicative person in the house. This also makes for an interesting balance to find as we discern how much independence to give him at this stage in the game. He is little Mr. Independent and what we are discovering about him is that he likes to lead. We hear this is a natural part of being 2 - wanting to do everything by yourself and boss other people around - but Caleb seems to take it to a whole different level at times. He is a ring leader. We've seen this happen at this daycare too. It is as if all people around him are his little pawns and he wants to manage them to do whatever his little mind has conjured up. Most of the time it is quite entertaining and harmless, but there are times when it can get ugly - like when someone decides they don't want to do what he wants them to do. He hasn't quite figured out how to handle his emotions on that one. So, as we continue to learn about Caleb, how he is wired and what makes him tic, we are just trying to do our best to discern how to guide him, instruct him, and let him become who he should be - who God has created him to be - a daunting yet invigorating blessing. So, that's our little parent-to-the-hood update.

We got to travel to Cheyenne for Christmas for quite possibly the last time since Johnny's parents are moving here this summer. It was a nice trip. The drive wasn't as bad as we expected with a 2 and a half year old. We had a great time with our family. We got to spend time with Johnny's sister and family - something that doesn't get to happen very often - so that was very nice. We wished more of his siblings and families could have been there this time, but it was a good time over all. On the way home, we took two days and stayed the night in Salt Lake for one reason and one reason only - IKEA!!! We actually maintained pretty good discipline and left that place with very little damage to our bank account, but that place is quite amazing really.

New Years was quite for us. We just had a couple of friends over, played some games, and hung out until twenty-ten rolled around.

So that's a quick update. The first picture below is a Christmas/New Year card that we had made, if you didn't get one - it's not personal. We actually have a stack of them we never got out. Has anyone else ever done that - spent all that time making a card and then...it sits on your counter for a month? Whoops. Oh well, enjoy it now!

We hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

JJC

We did have a little snow this winter, so we improvised and went sledding in front of our house.

Gramma Sue reading to Caleb.

These two pictures are classic Caleb as he sleeps.

Don't make fun of the tree - it's a recession! Craigslist and $20 later we have a winner!

These are the many faces of Caleb - he's learning how to make silly faces. Not sure what this one is called.

We got to have Christmas with Joye's family before we left for Cheyenne. Caleb loved the trucks he got...

...but he especially loves the GeoTrax - he can't get enough of this.

We know...you wish you could have spent 12 hours on this road too. You should be jealous.

Fortunately, Caleb was AWESOME on the road. This was a moment of peace.

C wasn't quite sure about Santa, but he did say "Peace out Santa."

Making sugar cookies and frosting them is a classic tradition and held in our family. Caleb went a little overboard with the sprinkles - his favorite part...

...seeing what the sprinkles felt like on his nose.

We went to a candle light service on Christmas eve - there were bagpipes and candles - needless to say, Caleb was highly entertained. No burns were reported.

Johnny needed a little help reading the Christmas story. Caleb volunteered and brought his favorite stuffed animal along.

A picture perfect view of Caleb's life right now. :)

Halloween Pictures

Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy from our Halloween festivities - and a few others as well. Love to you all!

Caleb - Handy Manny; Johnny - Handy Manny's Day Laborer; Joye - Coupon Queen

Joye and her friend Albre as the "Coupon Queens."

Jeremy Mueller won the costume contest (we didn't know we were having one, but he won anyway:)).

Jill came in a close second as a "Cereal Killer."

Caleb, Alexander, and Miles

Checkin' out the loot.

What's in your vent?

I was watching TV last night when the air kicked on. Something didn't sound right so I traced the sound and discovered it coming from one of the vents in our living room. Well, I was surprised to find a vent full of treasure. Apparently Caleb's favorite spot to hide stuff is in this vent and none of the others - they were all completely treasure free.

Here are my findings: a cup, a truck, Rusty, Squeeze, basketball, football, 3 little books, lego blocks, 3 sucker sticks, goldfish, trix, animal crackers, pretzel sticks, sucker wrapper, marker cap, AND $.50!

If you have young children, I beg you, check your vents with caution!

Coupons, Caleb, and Corn.

So we're about as good at updating our blog as the Lions are at winning a football game - it only happens once in a while. Sorry about that.

Well the weather has finally turned to fall in our neck of the desert. I like this time of year. I like the colors, I like the cool, I like the change, and I like that I won't have to mow my lawn for a while.

A month, huh? Well, let's see...what has happened in the last month? I'll start with the Hampton economy. In the last month my student loans have kicked in and OUCH! It almost seems worth getting more degrees to defer the loans even longer! :) (Just kidding Dave Ramsey). One of the things that has helped us a lot in the last few months has been Joye's new addiction...er, I mean hobby with couponing. Actually, she is a stellar couponer and could teach classes on this stuff by now. Her and a good friend Albre have turned this into an art and can go to the grocery store, gather a couple hundered dollars worth of groceries, and walk out having only spent $20 or $30 bucks. And they didn't even have to steal anything! It's amazing. Here is an example of one of Joye's "mini" trips to the store:

How much do you think all of that cost? Gallon of milk, shampoo, conditioner, peanut butter (2 jars), pudding, two t-shirts - roughly $25. She spent less than $4 on all of that!!!

Speaking of saving money, also in the last month Caleb started going to new daycare. It was a tough decision for us to make, but felt that it was the right one and so far we are very pleased. He really seems to love it and each morning he literally runs in and goes right to his classroom and hasn't cried once when I've taken him. We weren't sure how well he'd adjust, but he is doing well there.

The last time I posted was to let you know that we had gotten a toddler bed for Caleb - a "cool car bed" as he says it. We've heard that switching to a toddler bed can be a nightmare, but it was no such thing for us. The only problem we're having with it is that Caleb has been waking up pretty early lately. The difference with the crib was that if he woke up too early, he would typically just hang out in his crib and then fall back to sleep. Now, he wakes up and then can get out of bed and start doing stuff. It's typically not too bad, but there is an occasional 6am-er.

Checking in on Caleb before we go to bed has been really fun lately though because it is always a surprise to see what position he has gotten himself into. We've taken some pictures to document this.

Caleb is doing really well in general. He's learning so much so fast - it's scary. He's constantly putting words together in legitimate sentences and then we ask, "Where did he learn that?" A question we'll be asking for years I'm sure. :) Also, we've been trying to catch it on video, but as soon as he sees the camera, he turns into a thespian and goes crazy - he says the full alphabet and can count to 14...for real! He's loving to sing songs too. His favorite songs right now are the ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (he gets those two crossed sometimes - did you know they're the same tune? I only just figured that out a couple weeks ago - I know...smart!), Jesus Loves Me, and This is How we Walk to Church (or something like that - it's a song they sing in Sunday school with him). So, he's doing great, tons of fun, tons of energy, an emotional bubble, and growing like a weed!

Okay, this is the last thing I'll write about for now. We found an ad on craigslist for "u-pick" corn on the cob. Turns out the field is less than a mile from our house so we tried it out. We went and picked 4 dozen for a few bucks and then boiled it, cut it off the cob, and froze it. We eat a lot of canned corn and thought this was a fun thing to do. Caleb had a fun time with us out there too! Here are some pics of us shucking and then some pics of the end result.

Welp, I think that about does it for now. Thanks for checking in on us. We hope you are all doing fantastic. Have a great rest of October. Here's the deal - I'll try to be better about updating this blog and I promise to update it at least as many times as the Lions win for the rest of the season. How's that?

Love you all,

JJC

Here are a few more random pics for you to enjoy.

We might have gotten lucky (knocked on wood).

Tonight is Caleb's first night sleeping in a toddler bed. We'll see how this goes. :) There was no convincing to be done, that is for sure. He wanted to go straight in the bed and has slept soundly so far. He is a mover and a shaker though, so we'll see how long this lasts before we hear, "Thump!" Here are a couple of pictures of him in his bed - one while awake, and then the other about a half hour after the first one was taken. The last one is just a fun one of him building a tower - one of his new favorite things to do.

Have a great weekend!

Love you all,

JJC

Of course, he had a little help on the high part. :)