A little of this, a little of that

Our furnace died about a month ago. The electrical panel is fried. When it happened the house smelled like something was burning. I'm glad it didn't catch on fire because the house would be gone. Our furnace sits under the house in the crawl space. We've been heating our house with space heaters since then because we don't want to pay several hundred dollars to fix a part that might not fix the whole problem. The furnace is nearly 30 years old, so we're saving up for a new one. In case you're wondering, yes, the electric bill was really high this month. A week into our space heater days we came home one night to the house smelling like burned plastic. Then we found this:

We had a bad connection in this socket and all the extra amps caused it to get too hot. That's not even where the heater was plugged in. And let me just tell you, we must have guardian angels at this house because that burned up socket was behind a curtain and left a burned spot going halfway up the wall.

At the same moment that we discovered that socket, I got a text message from our renter in Tennessee saying that our house had been burglarized AGAIN. Last year the front door was kicked in and we had to replace the whole thing. This time they broke in the front window. Thankfully, we only had to replace the glass and not the whole window.

It's a good thing I have this adorable baby to cheer me up...

As if the baby wasn't cute enough by herself, Sarah decided that she needed a snugly bear to sleep with her. 

David is multi-tasking.

This is the lovely hair cut that Sarah gave to Kathryn.

Sarah didn't think it was too much of a problem to hack all of Kathryn's hair off. (I sure did!) This isn't the first time that she has cut someone else's hair and I wasn't really sure what I could do to teach her that it's not okay to cut hair (on anyone or anything).

Later that day.....

This is the haircut that Kathryn gave to Sarah's ponies. Kathryn said "They didn't like having hair in their eyes". 

 And here is how Sarah felt about it. It took all my self control to not laugh when she started sobbing over the cut hair.

Maybe, just maybe, she'll think twice about cutting someone else's hair again. In the meantime, Kathryn gets to buy Sarah a new pony...but not until her bangs have grown back to a normal length.

That sleeper is a genuine NMSU aggies outfit. (Un)fortunately, baby wasn't too fond of it. She always gets too hot in fleece unless we're outdoors.

At his 2 year check up, David weighed 28 pounds and is 33 inches tall -- around the 20th percentile for both. 

Green chile and cheese biscuits. Yum. (before baking)

Davey is helping make dinner. He made up this recipe by himself: combine spinach, salt, and a little egg. Whisk together, then pour it into the Bosch mixer.

She's all smiles! 

Sarah likes to get her hair braided now. Her favorite is a "crown" braid, or one that goes all around her head.

Davey wants to potty train. He likes to sit on the potty and wipe. He tells me every time he needs to go (or just went). Sarah thinks it's fun to help him go potty. (Hmmmm...maybe I can get her to train him?) He's still in a diaper for now, but come summer, we'll work on it full time and I'll bet it won't take too long. (I'm crossing my fingers).

Our Valentine's Day

Today the kids and I made cookies together to share with their preschool class. We made a few extras to share with our friends too.

For lunch we had heart-shaped PB&J sandwiches.

Then we cut Joseph's hair for the first time in months. (Look again at the picture of him with the cookies for a "before" shot). He sure looks a lot more like David with his hair short!

After school we took some cookies to our friends, then we played dinosaurs and the kids hid in their cave (aka under Daddy's desk).

After dinner (left over Lasagna), everyone got to eat a piece of candy from their Valentine's boxes. Sarah shared with Kathryn.

Yummy chocolate!

Hope you had a fun Valentine's day too!

Funny "Foto" Friday

Joseph is coloring again. He can entertain himself for hours with a few colored pencils and a piece of paper.

Sarah is getting really good at holding the baby properly. It also helps that he is not so tiny anymore.

I was trying to get a picture of little David smiling - which he does on occasion - because this week we discovered that he has a little dimple in his left cheek. You can almost see it in this picture. I thought he looked rather cute with his tongue sticking out too. Sarah is such an awesome big sister and I love how she looks with her hair short. She has been extra helpful for me this week. Today she helped Kathryn into her carseat and got her buckled when it was time to pick up Joseph from preschool.

Joseph is trying to show you (or the camera) his new haircut. It's VERY short in the back because at first he insisted that I only use the scissors to cut his hair because he doesn't like the sound or feel of the clippers. Well, that wasn't going very well...ahem...and I had to use the shortest clip to fix it in the back. It's still a little splotchy, if that's a word. The front looks a bit odd too because his hairline is not symmetrical in the front; it grows noticeably lower on one side of his forehead than the other. That's why we usually keep his hair long in front. But, I decided that he looks rather handsome with it shorter in the back and still long enough to part on top - kinda like his daddy. =)

Almost every day Sarah will choose a dress or a tutu to dance in around the house. She loves playing dress up and she enjoys twirling around while wearing full dresses, or in this case, a puffy tutu. Here they are trying to "strike a pose" for the camera. They had to hold very still because I was using the camera on my cell phone. Any movement = very blurry picture. That's why Kathryn is always fuzzy in the photos.

Sarah is so beautiful. She is tall and slender with long legs and a very out-going personality.

I'm going to have to lock her in the house in about 10 years.

I pulled out the baby toys today to see if little David was interested in them. At first he liked the rattle sounds and actually smiled quite a bit. Then when I grabbed the camera he stopped smiling. I think he doesn't like the look of the camera because never smiles when I'm holding it.

Those chubby cheeks...I just can't get used to them. Next Tuesday is his 2 month check up and I can't wait to see how much he weighs. At 2 weeks he was up to 8lbs 12oz. I'm guessing that he is around 11 pounds now. A friend at church guessed 12 pounds. He has grown so much faster than I thought he would and has completely lost that newborn look. Now, if only he could lose the newborn sleeping patterns! =)