Hey everybody! So I don't know who all reads our blog since I never receive any comments (hint, hint), & I'm wondering if this is a big waste of time. Anyway, not much has changed in the past week for us, it is nice having Alex here most of the time though. We have both applied for jobs but neither of us has had any feedback yet, so we aren't sure what to do next. The kids have both been sick all week, so I've been dealing with the asthma treatments & such. The last couple days have been nicer weather, so Aaliyah has gotten to go outside for a little while. She has really been having a hard time lately. Everything has become a major drama with her & she's started throwing tantrums, which are really not cute! If anyone has advice on how to get her to stop, please let me know, cuz whatever I'm doing isn't working. I can't believe she's almost 3 years old! She has known her numbers from 1-10 in english & spanish for a long time now & lately she has been singing a spanish number song that she heard on her Lily the Leapfrog toy. She loves to sing songs, she has all of our night time songs memorized & likes to sing along with me. They both love to dance & I was gonna post a video of AJ dancing, but the sound was really bad because of the bass, so maybe I'll do that tomorrow. Here are some pictures of Liya riding her horse outside today.

AJ's 9 month post

Ok, so I'm almost a week late getting this on here, but every time I tried to post this I got interrupted & couldn't finish it, so here it is, finally. AJ is 9 months old now & I keep wondering where my little baby went. He is growing up so fast! He has lots of personality, loves to dance, & is always on the go. He really likes to push all the buttons he can reach on the computer & when I try to take his picture he grabs the camera away from me so he can play with it. I tried really hard to get some good pictures, but he hardly holds still for a second. He does things to amaze me every day with how smart he is. Yesterday he found a toy that you have to shake really fast to get it to make noise, & I just thought he was gonna chew on it. He hadn't seen it for awhile so I didn't think he would know what to do with it. Oh no, he picked it up & started shaking it in his fist as fast as he could. It was so cute! He even took his first step to me last night without holding on to anything. I was surprised, but I don't think he even realized it. Life with him is always interesting!

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Update

Just a quick update on what's happening in our lives right now. Some of you may have heard, but Alex was laid off from his job this last week. Hopefully they will call him back sooner rather than later, but he has a deal to be called back within 4-6 weeks. I have been job hunting recently & had my first interview today for a part time position at the Cato store here in town. The interview went well, & now I just have to wait & see. I really want this job, so pray for me! Not many places are hiring right now, so if this doesn't work out, I'm not sure yet where else to apply. I'm not giving up though!

The kids are doing ok, growing fast & are so unbelievably smart sometimes. They never cease to amaze me! AJ has been teething but so far the tooth isn't through yet, so there's more fussiness ahead. Since he's started being so mobile he has really gotten quite a few bumps on the head. I've been thinking he needs to wear a helmet for protection, since he is continually visiting the school of hard knocks! :) I hope none of those bumps has a lasting effect on him, poor little guy. He's just so adventurous & thinks he can do anything. I'm sure he's gonna be walking before to much longer, he's already walking around tables & such. He bites anything that gets close to his mouth, so watch out! I've got little teeth marks on the edges of my coffee table where he keeps biting it. He is a lot of fun & constantly wants to be on the move. AJ is gonna be 1 in 3 months, & Aaliyah will be 3. I can hardly believe it, where does the time go? Aaliyah has been even more ornery than usual lately, acting out to get attention. She loves her brother but she has come to realize how much attention he gets & has gotten somewhat jealous of it. We are trying to give her more attention, but having to stay indoors most of the time has been hard for her (& us). I know I am blessed to have my little family, but we could use some extra prayers right now.

On a lighter note, being a stay-at-home mom these past few months has really given me opportunities to branch out in the cooking aspect of my life. I got some nice cooking things for Christmas including an apron from my sister that makes me smile. It says "When I said I DO, I didn't mean the cooking!". It's funny, but I really have tried a lot of new things lately, including my first homemade bread. (I don't own a bread machine, but this was a really easy recipe!) It was a cheese & partially onion bread ( I left off the onions on my half of course :P ), & I must say it was delicious! I also want to try making my own tortillas, but so far I haven't been that ambitious. I'll confess I am intimidated by the fact that Alex's mom makes them very well, & I'm afraid mine just won't compare. If only she were here to show me how she does them! Anyway, I do enjoy trying out new recipes, & I've discovered some really good ones!

I haven't taken many pictures lately, but I put what I have together in a smilebox for you all to enjoy.

Nice weather in January!

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