Paige at 22 Months

Let me start this off with a funny story from today. My mom calls me at work to tell me that my daughter is definitely a lot like me. She had shoved red playdoh up her nose. I used to shove peas. I asked her what we should do, did I need to come and take her to the hospital? My mom said she would sneeze it out and she would be ok. Eventually her nose naturally helped it out and was dripping red for a while. But she is pretty much playdoh free.

At 22 Months old, she is really a toddler.

She has a mind of her own. She will tell you no. She can pick out what books she wants to read, what cup she would like, whether she wants milk or water. She is testing the waters. She has had to be taken home from the park several times recently because she tries to step off the play structure where she could get hurt. I tell her no two times and then tell her that if she does it again, we are going home. She almost always smiles and does it again. And I get to take her home screaming "PARK".

She says more words every day. She has a lot of two word phrases and is starting to put some 3-4 word sentences together. "Mommy do it", "Cloe's here", "Mickey Mouse Please or Tigger/Pooh Please". She loves to play with her toys, and she still loves reading books. She reacts with an enthusiastic "Oh No" when something is wrong like she dropped something.

You have to watch her closely because if she finds a pen, she will use it. She loves to color, and some days that has not been such a good thing.

One day, we were watching a show called Bounce. The theme was emotions. We were singing a song about being sad and she started crying. And she wouldn't stop. There was nothing wrong, I tried to comfort her but she just kept crying. Finally, I said to her" Paige, it is OK to cry, but if you are going to keep crying, please go to your room and cry". She actually got up and went to her room. Unfortunately, that doesn't work every time. She loves to fake cry too.

It is so hard to believe that our little girl will be 2 in 2 months. Time really does fly.

A fan in the Making

Monday was the first official football game of the season. Ok, maybe not the official start of the NFL season, but the official start of my Season. The Patriots were playing at 4PM our time and I was going to watch the game. Of course, I only 1/2 watched the first 2-3 quarters because I had to make dinner, etc. We paused the game to eat, and then started watching more focused. However, I have an adorable almost two year old. She walked up to me, remote in hand, and said "Mickey Mouse please- PLEASE- PLEEEEEESE". I almost gave in, but I said, "No hunny, Mommy is watching football. After a little while she started paying a little attention the game. She crawled up on the couch, and was yelling "RUN, RUN, RUN" at the TV. I had to explain her that we were telling the Patriots to stop the run, but she is not even two yet so I can't complain. She started saying whatever I was yelling at the TV. And she would say, HI Tom when Tom Brady was on the TV. She was awfully cute in her Patriots Cheerleader outfit cheering on her team. Here are some pics of us in our matching gear (Thanks for the cheerleader outfit, Grandpa & Doris).

Justin's 30th Birthday

Justin turned 30 on Sept 4th. He was not looking forward to this birthday and told me he did not really even want to Celebrate. We keep it low key on his actual birthday and I just made a nice dinner at home. We had my family over for dinner on Sunday. I made corned beef & cabbage (His favorite meal) and a wonderful cake. My parents gave him a telescope for his birthday. It could be the most perfect present for him ever (Besides the Colts Game I took him to the 2nd year we were married). I have lost him to the stars.

Freecycle and more

This year has not exactly been an easy one for us. Lets just say money has been "tight". We have cut back expenses where possible, and keep trying to earn some extra money. Business is starting to pick-up, but who knows what next week brings. So I have been cutting coupons, and finding new ways to save money. I have been checking craigslist, freecycle and other similar places where people give stuff for free or sell them for less. People have been so generous. We were able to get a gas powered lawn mower (Which actually cuts our grass unlike our push mower). Someone also gave us this great playstructure for our backyard and a plastic red wagon. These have been great gifts. We were able to give some things away too which helped temporarily cut back on clutter in the garage. I am so Thankfull that there are these ways to help us get some things we need for Paige, without having to spend money we shouldn't be spending. Here are some pics of the new playstructure (The nice lady who gave it to us said it was faded, but I can't even tell the difference).

Oh- August- Where did you go

I realized that I had not posted in a month. I am always waiting for other peoples blog updates, so I am so sorry that you had to wait for mine. Funny thing is that I am having a hard time remembering what August was all about for the Huffman Family. But let me give it a shot.

We started out the month in celebration (Or at least I did). I made it through another fiscal year end with Sun-Maid and it was a good one. We put in a lot of hard work in July, but we closed the year in great shape. The first week of August, I went to Kingsburg for a retirement dinner for one of our salesmen who I had grown close to over the years. A few of us from Pleasanton had the priviledge of being able to attend and stayed overnight.

After returning to my normal life, we were able to go to Santa Cruz to celebrate our good friends' daughter, Maelee, 1st birthday. It was a beautful day and it was so much fun. Mikaila joined us for the day which is always so helpful when it comes to mingling. We were also able to see another friends baby, Landon, for the 2nd time. He is such a cutie too.

My Mom & Dad finally went to Spain after a horrible last minute ordeal that caused my mom to have to stay home last time. They had a great time, but keep forgetting to show me pictures. During that time, Mikaila took her first trip to Boston all by herself. It was fun being the one to take her to the airport & pick her up. She is really starting to grow up a little.

Chelsie moved to San Diego a little over a week ago. She started at a new college, Point Loma. This was a very emotional transition for all of us. It was hard last year, moving her into Bethany which was an hour away and she came home every weekend. I was not able to go with the family to move her in and have only seen a few pictures of her dorm. Mostly she has showed off the amazing sunset ocean views from her room. I know she is going to do great, but it is hard to know that I will only see her a few times a year. I just hope she comes back after college, I don't think I want to do this long term. We are already planning on going for a visit in about 3 weeks. we are planning on visiting my Aunt Cheryl & her family also. It will be exciting. I can't wait.

During the weekend Chelsie was moving into college, we stole our nephews Joseph & Tyler for the weekend. We were taking them shopping for school clothes (Thanks to their wonderful Grandma!). We had a great time. While I was shopping with the boys, Justin & Paige were at the Good Guys car show. I think a fun weekend was had by all. Here are the few pictures we took in August to share.

Joseph & Tyler with all of their school stuff (We made a fun Thank-you card for Grandma using this pic)