Cassidy, the Dog with 9 Lives

On Friday, Judah came running into the house frantic and upset. When I asked him what was wrong, he motioned me to come out on the deck and then, through his crying, told me that Cassidy had jumped over the side of the deck. For those of you who have never been to our house, you're probably thinking, "big deal" but our deck sits on top of our garage and is probably a good 15-20 feet off of the ground. Anyway, my heart sank and I prepared myself for the worst as I walked over to look over the side. I imagined a crumpled pile of broken yellow lab laying there in the grass. Instead, when I looked over the side, she wasn't there. I frantically looked over the other side thinking she had jumped on the driveway side (even worse) but, again, no Cassidy. Next thing I know she's coming up the steps with only a slight limp. After looking her over and giving her a big hug, I thanked God for this little miracle. After things calmed down a bit, I got the whole story from Judah. Apparently, a squirrel (Cassidy's arch enemy) decided to prance itself tauntingly along the ledge of the deck and Cassidy's natural hunting instincts kicked in. The squirrel jumped into the adjacent tree to safety while Cassidy--suddenly realizing she wasn't born with the same jumping and climbing abilities that her nemesis was--did a Superfly Snooka from the top rope (sorry, family joke). Thank you, God for protecting Cassidy from this fall...and from running into the sidecar of a motorcycle driving 40 mph...and from overeating to the point of stretching her stomach to 4x it's normal size...and...and...and. I'm beginning to think she'll outlive us all. We love you, Cassidy, our little furry girl.

We Have a "New" Bathroom!

Steve and I finally tackled a partial-renovation of our one and only bathroom. It was quite a project that took way longer than we would have liked but I love my new bathroom!!! It's amazing what a little paint can do! Here are some before and after pics.

May The Force Be With You

About a month ago, I decided that Judah was old enough to understand and "get into" the original Star Wars movies that Steve and I grew up with. We introduced the first one to Judah and let him watch it several times to get to know the characters, etc. before we let him watch the 2nd and 3rd ones. To say that Judah is now a Star Wars junkie is an understatement. :) He's all about light sabers (light savers as Judah says) and Imperial Walkers and Yoda now. Anyway, when he and I were sitting in the John Deere combine harvester simulator the other day at the Bettendorf Family Museum, Judah stood up on his seat and began flipping lots of switches and turning knobs. I said, "What are you doing, Judah?" and he said to me, "I've got to switch all of these so we can make the jump to light speed." Um, okay. :)

Judah Lost His First Tooth!!!

Back in mid-December, Judah told me his front tooth felt "funny." I took a look and realized it was a bit loose. I told him not to wiggle it and that maybe it would tighten back up since I didn't think he was old enough to start losing teeth yet (he hadn't even turned 5 yet at that point!). After another week or so I realized it was still pretty loose so I called the dentist. They told me that, unless he had knocked into something (which he hadn't) or the gums around it were swollen and red, it might just be ready to come out. I chose not to share this information with Judah since that would give him license to start yanking on it, which I didn't think was a good idea just yet. Well....by mid-January, Judah had begun working on that tooth and on January 26th he excitedly called me upstairs. I went upstairs to see what he wanted and found him...sitting on the toilet having just done his business and smiling a big toothless grin. :) I asked him where the tooth was and he said he didn't know. Uh Oh!!! Could it have fallen in the toilet??? Thankfully, it had just fallen into his pants that were around his ankles. :) Of course he put it under his pillow that night and the Tooth Fairy came but, before he went to sleep, he told me that he was going to sleep close to the wall on the far edge of his pillow so the Tooth Fairy could reach under his pillow easier to get his tooth. Such a thoughtful little guy! Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of Judah will his new toothless grin (one of which includes Steve joining in the fun--with a mashed up chocolate chip over his tooth). Judah was, and still is, so proud that he was the first kid in his preschool class to lose any teeth.

Teri's "Officially" Working These Days

Although I've been extremely blessed to primarily be a stay-at-home mom since Judah was born, I've also been blessed to have the opportunity to work part-time FROM HOME doing administrative and/or communication & graphic design stuff to help bring in a little extra cash. After lots of discussion and prayer (and, to be honest, even some tears on my part) Steve and I decided back in late October/early November that it was necessary for me to start looking for a part-time job to bring in a more consistent 2nd income. After MUCH searching for a job that fit my interests and skills as well as the hours that Judah was in pre-school and not finding anything that fit our needs, I decided to look into working at Judah's school at my wise mom's suggestion. I was blessed to be hired on to work one-on-one with a precious little boy named Aedan who has cerebral palsy. He "just so happens" to be in Judah's class in the afternoons, which is when I work, so I also get to spend time with my own precious little guy M-F from 2:30-5:30. Another bonus is that the school is close to home and meets our one-car-family's needs, too.

I began work on December 8th so have been there for three months so far. The name of the school is The Children's Village at Hoover and it is a wonderful early learning center for kids from Birth-5 years through the Davenport Community School District. Although I hadn't planned to work outside of the home until Judah was in Kindergarten, God had something better planned and I am so thankful that He cares about every detail of our lives and takes the time to work them all out so we don't have to.

Birthday Party #2

After returning home from Elkhart, Teri's parents threw a birthday party for Judah at a local bouncehouse joint called Monkey Joe's with his cousins. Two hours of bouncing around went quickly and burnt a lot of energy so we headed over to Happy Joe's (Apparently, there are a lot of guys named Joe starting businesses around here.) for pizza, cake and ice cream. Judah got some fun gifts and had a GREAT time with his Grammy and Grandad, Aunt Becki & Uncle Matt, his cousins and, of course, his awesome Mom and Dad. Thanks Grammy & Grandad!

Judah Turns 5 @ Grandma & Poppy's House

Our little Judah turned 5 on December 30th while we were in Elkhart, IN visiting with Steve's family. We were blessed to spend time with Steve's parents, his sister Lynette and her hubby Dave and Steve's sister Karla and her kids Lily and Jack who were visiting from Hawaii. Judah got some really awesome BIG dinosaurs from Grandma and Poppy and a cool cake with little dinosaurs on it. The big dinosaurs were ready with spoons in mouths to eat that de-lish cake! Judah also got to visit the Elkhart Train Museum with Mom, Dad and Poppy. What a great time we had with Steve's family and Judah had a very special birthday. He even shared some of his cake with his feathered cousin, Claude. :)