Joe is SO handy!!

Joe has been trying to save us money by learning to do our car repairs himself. This year he has successfully replaced the struts, shocks, and radiator on our little Pontiac. We have lovingly dubbed this car "The White Eagle" and are hoping that it will last us through grad school. Joe is SO good about maintaining this car. He faithfully changes the oil every 3500 miles and keeps tabs on all of the lights and things that brighten our dashboard periodically. Last week he even put on new windshield wipers in preparation for the raining season here in Texas. What a handy guy! He sure is nice to have around.

Twist and Shout

We really enjoy dancing at our house. Jadyn and I rock out at least once a day and we often deck out in our "dance clothes" before we do. Jadyn especially likes to put on her pretty dance skirts and do her wiggle and giggle routine (with maybe a few well timed kicks) to daddy's Big Band Hits CD or ABBA. Lately these dance sessions have expanded to include our favorite little man, McKay. Jadyn likes to show him how to groove and gets really excited when I stand him up and help him "shake it" with her. The other day Jadyn BEGGED to dress McKay up in one of her dance skirts, and I thought, why not? He'll never remember it anyway...so sweet little McKay was bedecked in a hot pink sparkly ballet skirt and twisted and twirled with Jadyn and mommy until nap time. These kids are so much fun!!

Mmmm...Pop!

One of Joe and Jadyn's favorite daddy daughter dates is going out for a "pop" together. Joe takes her to the local Stripes gas station and they putter around the aisles, play with the stuffed animals, and then eventually get a pop to sip on the way home. Jadyn absolutely LOVES this one on one time with daddy and has figured out that it doesn't take much to talk Joe into going out for one of these "dates." The other day she found his pop cup, went to the door and called out "dada! go get pop! let's go dada!" Followed by the chanting of "p-op p-op p-op." Who could pass that up? Certainly not Joe. They came back 45 minutes later proudly toting the beloved beverage.

The Harry Potter Mania

I am a die hard Harry Potter fan, but due to living on a tight budget and being married to a not-quite-so-die-hard husband, I decided that I really could wait for the last Harry Potter movie to hit Redbox before I saw it. I thought that this decision would be pretty easy to stand by until my friend's and family's responses to the movie began to hit Facebook...and the pictures of all of the amazing Harry Potter costumes and parties were posted, and I found myself desperately wanting to join the masses outside of our local movie theater's ticket window wearing an "I love Potter" T-shirt and wielding a hand carved wand. The night after the movie opened we decided to have our own little Harry Potter party at home and watch part 1 of the seventh movie, in preparation for the now anxiously awaited viewing of part 2. The kids and I sported the obligatory Potter scars and we had so much fun spending the evening together! The next day the online Potter-mania was out of control, and after watching me stare longingly at the movie trailer, my darling husband packed us all up and took us to see the new movie. Yea Joe!! We watched it in 3D (the only version that our theater showed) and LOVED it. It was such an awesome movie!!! We snuck in a pint of vanilla ice cream but it all melted before we remembered it, we were so involved in the movie!! So happy to share that the end of the Potter decade was fully appreciated at our house!!

Just Another Year in Paradise

Our beautiful Daughter Jadyn turned 2 years old on the 11th! She has grown up so much this last year! It has been really fun to get to know her and see more and more of her little personality. For your viewing pleasure, here are some of her favorites:

Favorite colors: blue, yellow, and pink
Favorite song to sing: Twinkle twinkle little star
Favorite song to have sung to her: Burgler Boy
Favorite music to dance to: ABBA
Favorite food: Fruit snacks...and pickles
Favorite drink: "orange" juice. (It's really apple but she identifies it by it's color)
Favorite place: Outside
Favorite toy: Carlos the car kitty
Favorite movie: The many adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Happy Father's Day! 2011

I have heared so many people argue against celebrating holidays like valentines day, or mothers day, or fathers day because choosing a specific day to share the love supposedly cheapens it. Well I strongly disagree. I love having the opportunity to shower some of my favorite people in this life with love and affection for no other reason then the calender suggests it. This opinion aside, fulfilling my own expectations of these days is often very stressful for me. What gift could I possibly make/find that would adequetly convey my feelings for my wonderful husband on Valentines day, or my mother/mother-in-law on Mother's day, or now my father/father-in-law for Father's day?

I don't often succeed in finding the perfect words or gift for these wonderful people, but this year I was determined to find something special for my Dad, Mark Eagar. I chose to write a song for him and my little brother Joshua helped me to put it to music so that we could perform it for him together on Father's Day. It turned out so great. We all cried and enjoyed a wonderful moment together as a family celebrating my Dad.

A Train!

Jadyn absolutely LOVES trains! We went to visit a train museum with the Eagar family and Jadyn had a great 'ol time climbing in and out of old tain cars and sitting in a 'real' train station! She even got a little souvaner train car from Grandma E to remember the trip by. We sure enjoyed the family outing!

Our Epic Summer...2011

This summer the kids and I vacationed in Utah and Idaho for a total of 6 weeks. We went to two weddings (One brother, one cousin), welcomed home one missionary (my little brother Joshua), blessed one baby (McKay!), celebrated one birthday (Yeah Liz!)...and one graduation (Congrats Mom!), and ended it all with an awesome Christensen family reunion and 4th of July celebration. It has seriously been one of the most awesome summers ever, and it's only July!

Joe was able to be with us the first two weeks and the last week of our trip. In between he had to fly home to Alpine to work on his Master's project.

We had such a wonderful time visiting with both mine and Joe's families and seeing old friends from both Utah and Idaho. We also reaffirmed how much we hate being separated. Those three weeks were so difficult for me, I love my husband and have found that I worry about him so much more when we are separated by so many miles. I guess that this is an area where I need to learn to trust a little more. I do know that I'd rather miss him then not miss him though! 

Grow Baby Grow!

My sweet baby Mckay is so anxious to get moving!! This month we got him a Johnny Jumper and a baby walker and he has been thrilled with the new mobility. It has been so fun to watch him cruise around in his walker to explore a room and to spend time bobbing up and down in his Jumper. McKay is now four months old and 17.5 lbs. I think that he is working so hard to grow and get moving so that he can keep up with his big sister Jadyn. We love these kids!!