Definitely Need to Do Some Updating

Well, it's been awhile.
First of all, I decided that instead of doing a New Year's Resolution (which I don't normally do anyway) I'm going to make a list of things that I would like to do in order to make myself into the person that I want to be. Then throughout the year I'll work through the list. My hope is to really concentrate on one thing each month while keeping the other things in mind. I'm still working on organizing the list, but here's some of the major things:
- Organizing and decluttering the house (which will hopefully lead to easier overall cleaning too)
- Figuring out my style, both clothes and decorating
- Starting an herb garden (hopefully leading to a bigger garden later)
- Taking time for myself to do things I enjoy (actually planning something and putting it on the calendar) Specifically taking another cake decorating class, a cooking class, and maybe doing some ballroom dance lessons
- Regularly having dates with Jon (even if they are sitting at home after Jared goes to bed)
- Spending some real time thinking about what I want to do with my life: Do I want to go back to school? What for? What kinds of things do I enjoy enough to spend lots of time doing them?
- Being more active overall
- Finding somewhere to volunteer
- Keep trying to find some friends out here

So, that's my list. I'm still working on figuring out when I'm going to concentrate on each thing. So far I've purged my dresser and closet. Whoo hoo! I've also started a notebook where I put in pictures of clothes that I like. So far I've used the words classic, comfy, and feminine to describe my clothing style.
Your job (if you want to) is to keep me accountable. Check in and see how I'm doing. =)

Also, for those of you that are interested in what Jared's been doing here's a new list.
-Pulling up to standing and cruising along the furniture all the time.
-Real crawling, not just army crawl
-Dancing, while sitting and while standing
-Pointing out Elmo in a book
-Smiling every time someone makes a "b" sound
-Blowing kisses using the back of his hand
-Playing the drums
-Eating anything and everything in sight
-Babbling all the time
I think that's it for now. I'll post about our fun trip to Florida soon.

Christmas Time

Wow! What a whirlwind Christmas was this year!
We started with visiting Valpo to see Viv on Christmas Eve Eve (or Christmas Christmas Eve as I sometimes accidentally say). Jared stayed with my family and it was nice to be out with people after 7pm. =)
The next day our Christmas adventures really started. We went to Jon's parents' house in Elmhurst for our Christmas Eve celebration. Valerie and the kids were able to come so that was fun. We hung out at the house and had some dinner then we headed to the Christmas Eve service at the Boggs' church. Unfortunately, church didn't start til 6 and Jared normally goes to bed at 6:30, so he was getting a little cranky. He had fun before the service started trying to eat Austin's nose.
We took turns standing in the lobby with Jared. Poor guy just wanted his bed so he could go to sleep. Once we got back we put Jared to bed and then Dad read his Christmas letter. After the letter, Jon got his present from his parents because it was too big to haul to Indiana. And the present was...drum roll please.
Yep, that's a drum set. We're still not sure where it will stay permanently, but for now it's in our living room and both of the boys are loving it. After all the festivities at the Boggs' house, we headed back to Indiana to spend the night at my parents' house.
Santa sure was good to us! Here's Jared with his first present.
He did really well, although there were several times where he just looked overwhelmed. He is absolutely loving all of his new toys though! Jon and I are loving our present too. We've been so blessed with very generous families.
After Jared's nap we went over to Grandma Vela's house to spend some time with her. Next stop was Ben and Brianne's for Christmas with the Boggs Family. It was a good time, especially with all the kids tearing through gifts as quickly as possible. Jared missed most of the fun here because of a nap, but we had a great time with the family.
The last stop of the day was Mimi and Pop's house. There Jared got spoiled yet again! He ate the Christmas feast with the family and seemed to thoroughly enjoy everything. While we were waiting for dinner my dad was feeding Jared pieces of a dinner roll and apparently he wasn't moving fast enough because Jared grabbed the roll out of his hands and tried to shove the whole thing in his mouth.
Overall, it was a great day! Here's some video of Jared from our adventures.

Visit with Santa

Today we took Jared to visit Santa. He did great! This picture looks a little funny, but he didn't cry at all. He sat there like a good boy, but wouldn't let us get a good picture. Oh well, this is a pretty classic Jared face anyway.
Now on to updates. Jared is still army crawling around the house, but he's getting a lot better at it. He's actually moving all over instead of staying in one little area. So far he hasn't gotten into much that he isn't supposed too, but I'm keeping a close eye on him. The other day I had the dvd cabinet open and he saw a dvd case and went right for it. He's definitely going to be getting into everything soon. He also learned how to go from laying down to sitting up. Jon found him the other morning sitting up in his crib. That's definitely a new development. Neither of us have seen him do it when he's playing though, so it might be a while until he realizes he can do it.
We hope you have a great Christmas!

Catching Up on Videos I Never Posted

I found several videos that I realized I never posted.
Here's Jared's very first video ever.

Now Jared's first meal.

My little musician already taking after his dad.

And now for a recent clip.

Yep, Jared is crawling!!!!! Life as we know it has definitely changed!

Thanksgiving Update

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We stayed in Indiana and visited with Jon's family and mine. The day started out at Grandma Vela's with the Boggs clan.
My sister got Jared a super cute Thanksgiving outfit that he managed not to get too much food on. It was so fun to see him eating all the good food. The kid certainly can eat! He had turkey, sweet and mashed potatoes, corn casserole, and pumpkin pie. The Boggs kiddos and Jon also tried to help Jared learn to crawl.
I like to refer to this as Crawlfest 2009. Speaking of crawling, I'm sure it won't be too long, although Jared is much more interested in standing and walking than crawling. Lately he's been spending more time on all fours and rocking. I'm not so sure that I'm ready for him to be crawling yet. Today he was being brave and tried to "walk" from his toy to the coffee table. Good thing I was there or else he would've knocked his head on the table pretty good. He's a little too brave for his own good.
Back to Thanksgiving. After Grandma Vela's we went to Mimi and Pop's house where we had another delicious dinner. Jared even got some steak and dumplings along with the normal Thanksgiving day fare. I think his favorite was the chocolate cake that Mimi fed him the next morning. =)
Overall, a great holiday.

Milestones

Little man is growing up! About a week and a half ago he signed for more while I was feeding him. He did it 5 or 6 times, but won't do it anymore now. Apparently he likes to show off and then refuse to do it again. He is also saying bye and mama. We're working hard to get him to say dada, but so far no luck. Recently he's also started enjoying time on his tummy. I'll sit him up and then he'll lean over until he's laying on his tummy. He's also started pulling his knees under him and he even scoots around a little bit. So far he's not moving very far, but I'm sure it won't be long til he's crawling. His other favorite things include: standing, playing peek a boo, and eating table foods. He gets mad every time I eat something in front of him. The kid will eat anything! It seems like he's getting a bit of a belly too probably because he eats everything in sight. Well, there's an update.

A Touch of Fall at the Boggs House

Here's a little taste of fall in our humble abode:

This is a shelf on the hutch in the kitchen. I hope to be able to do the whole hutch in fall stuff someday, but for now I enjoy looking at my beautiful glimpse of fall while smelling my pumpkin spice candle.

I've also had some fun with fall/Halloween foods. I got this recipe out of a Halloween booklet (the ones that are near the checkout at the grocery store). Yummy chicken fajita pizza with a spider on top.

Here's my pumpkin spice dip for Halloween. I also made the fall shaped crackers out of tortillas. Yum! Yum! Yum!

And finally the little family trick or treating.