February

Daniel had another hiccup with his thesis but is pretty much past it, we've decided to have him push to get a draft of his thesis to his advisor by the middle of March. He spent a couple of weeks trying to figure out some statistical stuff (and as I HATED my statistics course I'm not going to go into any of it here.)

Daniel got to further his farming experience by helping feed the cows and was also involved in loading the calves the day they were sold. I actually got to go help feed the cows when Daniel wasn't feeling well about mid-month. Eric got to go with a couple of times (the days when I was able to go and take care of him while they did the work.) The cows were scared of Eric and the first time we went, Eric went running toward them, and almost spooked them enough to start a stampede. We caught him before they cows really started running! Eric loves the tractor, but didn't like getting too close to it. Pictures of feeding cows to follow.

My weight loss did not do as great this month, I lost 3 pounds. Then I gained one pound back at the end of the month (net loss: 2) - I got sick and had a drill drop on my foot (it hit where the drill inserts into the thing -luckily no drill bit was in it at the time. and it hit on the front of my ankle in between the bone. I had quite a nice bruise, and I couldn't point or flex my foot without it hurting. Or walk normally for about 3 days.) So I couldn't breathe and couldn't move my foot very well - didn't help me with my weight loss.

We were all on kind of an unlucky streak (the drill was just part of it!) Daniel cut his finger with a pocket knife the same day my aunt burnt her foot with boiling water while trying to thaw the calf water (calves were in the corral). If you want to read more about the things that happened to me, click here.

Eric learned to make faces. He also has been saying some great stuff - one thing is - Ready, Set, GO! He has also learned how to say, 'sorry'. Now we just have to help him learn how to be sincere and not do the same thing again right after saying sorry!

One thing Daniel loves to do with Eric is have him repeat our names (including Grandma, Grandpa and my siblings who live here). We were doing it at bath time and Daniel said, Uncle Dennis and Eric said: Uncle Desitin. We found this ironic because when my oldest nephew was younger and his parents were going to have another baby, they mentioned naming his soon to be brother Andy, and he said, AD, Ahhh. (He'd say that for the A&D ointment that made his bum feel better!)

Eric loves to jump, stomp and clap. He loves farm animals, actually animals in general, cars, trains, and trucks. He also loves playing with Tiny (the dog).

 

 Eric's started making faces.

 He's also started puckering his lips to give kisses. 

One night Eric was 'listening' to his foot. 

Feeding cows

Helping Papa push the bale of hay.

Standing on the bale of hay. He's having so much fun!

Look at that cute smile!

Petting a cow. This cow is one of a very few that actually have a name and is more people friendly.

Oh, this looks good! (Decorating cookies at a Primary activity)

Tasting the frosting...

Frosting the cookie.

Finished cookie.

Caught! Snitching the candy.

January 2011

I was looking over our posts in January and came across this post which I posted in January of 2010. At the bottom it said, "Hopefully 2010 will not be quite as eventful as 2009. We are hoping for a move and a full time job (as well as a Thesis being completed and Daniel getting his Masters)!"

Funny thing I could change the years and it would completely apply: Hopefully 2011 will not be quite as eventful as 2010. We are hoping for a move and a full time job (as well as a Thesis being completed and Daniel getting his Masters)!

Events in our lives in January: Snow/COLD. But besides the weather, Daniel finally has maps for his thesis and we can see an end in sight (sort of). Daniel also has been helping at my grandparent's ranch. They set up a trust naming my mom and aunt as trustees. Daniel gets to feed cows, break water in the canal and other such farm type stuff. He makes such a cute farmer boy! (We actually took Eric to see the cows in February which I will be posting about at a later date...)

I normally don't discuss money matters, but here goes another January event (and into part of February.) We applied for student loans so Daniel could enroll and filed our Federal taxes. Good thing as we can't get student loans for the number of credits Daniel is enrolled for and our tax return covered the cost of tuition (thank goodness for the EIC!) Daniel is enrolled for 2 credits so he can defend his thesis this semester.

I've discussed mostly Daniel so far... Eric is super cute! He likes to exercise with me - especially jumping. He LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine. He's talking a lot and says some super cute things. He also has his own words for things... We give him a pacifier at naptime and bedtime, which he calls "pashi". It sounds a bit like Golum saying Precious from Lord of the Rings.

Things with me - I'm trying to lose weight and actually lost 4 pounds in January. My goal is to lose at least 18 pounds from where I was at the start of the year, but really I'd love to lose in the neighborhood of 35-40 pounds. Eric and I spent some time in the kitchen in January making some easy food together. I posted about the Peanut Snackies we made.

This is a bath toy Eric got for Christmas (otherwise known as a colander), he realized he could use it as a hat!

We went sledding a few times when it was warm enough to take Eric outside. He loved going down the hill a few times.

Here's Eric going down with his Papa. If you zoom in, you can see their happy faces in the last two pictures!

And finally at the bottom of the hill. Daniel must have gotten snow in his boots, Brrr.