Super Nerdy Crafty Stuff!

I have a new addiction--crafts!!!!  (Also, Sara, I promise I'm not copying you!!!! Clearly we both just have a Pinterest addiction and awesome taste! :) )   I've done more decorating to our house here than I did all 5 years we've been married!  I've become a Hobby Lobby junkie and can almost always tell you their weekly specials--I also have to do a lot of things there for work so it isn't all for home.

Here is some ribbon ornaments I put in our window.  Haven't put up a tree yet and we might wait until after Christmas to get a tree on clearance for next year.  I think Jolie might be a little 'too interested' this year. So here was my simple solution.  Curtain rod, ornaments and ribbon.

 Funny story, while I was trying to hang these up, I was standing in the window and stepping on the couch to get down.  I lost my balance and fell over this recliner, while Josh was sitting in it, with scissors in my hand.  So as I landed upside down, Josh started yelling that I stabbed him, but when we finally looked at it, it was just a scratch--phew!  You'll see that my 'projects' have become a little dangerous for all of us!

 $5 hanger I spray painted bright green.  However, I thought it would be ok to spray paint in the basement so we about passed out from the fumes!  Lesson learned--no spray painting inside!

 Hanger in action!  We put this one lower so Jolie can hang her own coat up, which she is totally digging.

 Our coffee table had a glass middle--not very practical with a toddler and I got a little tired of cleaning it over and over and over every day...so I got some fabric that coordinated with the living room and covered the glass.  (I don't know why I didn't move that piece of paper before taking the picture!)

 Coffee table in action!

 My other $5 hanger I spray painted green.

 This one hangs by our back door.  Petey seems to enjoy going out a few times during the night so it's nice to have a coat handy!

 We had a phone jack in the middle of this wall.  Who uses phone jacks anymore?  So I found a frame, put some scrapbook paper in the back and-viola-you have a dry erase board!

 I also like to leave Josh helpful reminders...shutting cupboard doors, throwing garbage away, am I a nag??? :)

 Now some of you may not believe this, but Jolie can be a bit of a stinker.  So I saw this fun little project for a 'time out jar'  This jar has water and glitter in it.  When time out starts, you shake the glitter.  When the glitter is settled, time out is done. Plus the glitter is supposed to be kind of calming and mesmerizing (it is--I tried it!)

 I made this one about two minutes for the glitter to settle.  Here's the jar shaken up--so pretty!  It's a plastic jar too.  We haven't used it yet, but I'm sure the day is not too far off.

 My Christmas vase.  I also had it decorated for fall, but I don't think I ever got a picture of it. But I'm kind of obsessed with the Christmas decorations in these fun, bright colors!

 A collage frame I made.  There is twine strung up across it and then you hold the pictures on with mini-clothespins.  I'm planning on giving it a gift, but Josh isn't sure it will go with their style.  But if they don't care for it, I think we could find room for it here! :)

I have more stuff as well, but some stuff I need to get a picture of during the day and other items are Christmas gifts that I probably can't show until afterwards.  I also have made AWESOME progress on our scrapbook.  Now it's nothing super fancy, I call it 'Diet Scrapbooking' or 'Scrapbooking Lite' but its coming along!  I have a whole little craft area set up in our basement and Jolie has taken a big interest lately in playing in the basement with her colors and stickers--so we can work on our projects together! Josh also has his PlayStation set up down there and Petey has his Snoopy bed and Nuzzle Nest (doggie bean bag) so it's like a family party down there, which will be great as the cold weather rolls in!  However all my projects have Josh wondering 'what the heck have you done with my wife!'  I can't cook, but I'll do my best to have the house look cute! :)

Pretty, Pretty Princess

Now there are some arguments that some parents push boys to play with 'boy toys' and girls to play with 'girl toys' Then there are some arguments that boys and girls are drawn to these things naturally. Well we can add Jolie to 'natural' side because she loves everything princess and girly!!!

We definitely don't push any princess stuff on Jolie (in fact, I probably avoid it!!!) Yet everywhere we go, if Jolie sees something with princesses on it, she's all over it! We had to get some stuff at Hobby Lobby the other day and of all the markers, stickers, toys, etc there, she picked out a princess coloring book and princess ribbon! Oddly enough, she's never even seen any of the Disney princess movies--she just loves the stuff I guess!

She's also big on accessorizing! She is always bringing Josh and I different shoes to put on and loves bringing us her shoes to change as well. Sometimes we can't even get our stuff set down and she'll be demanding that we change shoes! She's big on tutus, necklaces, bracelets...soooooo much girlie stuff!!! 

One of her favorite things to do is to get all of our headbands out and wear them on her head or wear them as bracelets. She has even figured out how to put in a headband herself! Then she runs over to our mirror and shows us and we have to say 'oooooh, pretty!' This can go on for hours!

 The other day she would just sit in this box and play with all the headbands. Geez, does this mean Josh and I are in for trouble later on?!?!?!? Or at least we better start saving for her clothes!!! :)

No Way November

No way...it's November! Just a little heads up, I recently got a new camera, one of those fancy, shmancy ones that looks like I should know what I am doing...but I don't. So I'm still practicing and figuring out how to use it and all the software and such so I noticed the pictures I usually snap quickly with my phone are a little less lately. So I was getting ready to post some Halloween pictures when I remembered they are all on the camera so I'm just going to skip that for now. It could also be that ALL OF US were sick last week. We all ended up going to the doctor at different times and are all on antibiotics. It was like the week that wouldn't end!

Jolie did go trick or treating (as it was before we were all sick) and she really liked it! She is a big fan of Smarties and M&Ms! She didn't say much at the doors, but we could sometimes get a 'bye-bye' out of her as we walked away. Petey came along too dressed as a pumpkin and then we went with the Wulf pack. They kind of knew the ropes and the good places to go so it was a lot of fun! We had a cow (Jolie), pumpkin (Petey), Darth Vader (Sam), a witch (Hayden) and a cat (Hannah). Of course, Jolie has been demanding to wear tutus everywhere (and, yes, I mean DEMANDING!) so she had a little tutu on with her cow costume. And in this picture she's playing with Hayden's broom stick--always something! :)

Notice the runny nose...the beginning of her getting sick?

Happily, we are all doing much better now!
Jolie had fun cheering on the Huskers two weekends ago as we beat Michigan State. Here she is giggling because Kansas State and Iowa lost! hehe (Unfortunately this came back to bite us later as we lost to NORTHWESTERN last weekend--what the heck!?!?!)

Nana and Grandpa recently got a hot tub and Jolie tried it out. Because what toddler doesn't have some stress they need to melt away? :) She was a little scared at first...

But it didn't take long till she was loving it and getting pretty brave! She has been having lots of fun over there and thinks she runs the place!

We did find out that she's up to 24.5 lbs--almost 25! She's 20 months now and is getting crazier and crazier! She's doing great at school and comes home almost daily with art projects which are pretty funny. Josh said when he drops her off in morning, her classmates all say 'Hi Jolie!' and some even try to give her hugs, but since she's not a big hugger (she recently pushed me away and shook my hand when I tried to give her a hug--no joke!) but she's getting used to it. ;) I've noticed that she talks a lot more the more often she's there. She's definitely a Daddy's girl through and through!

Work and Party, Party, Party

Josh and I have been very busy and work and it's looking like it will stay that way until Christmas! Josh had a student start with him this week at work and while it's a great way to learn, it does make for some extra time for Josh. But that's okay because I'm sure Josh is an AMAZING teacher! :) At my job, we are in full swing getting ready for the holidays. This isn't the greatest picture and I'm not even done yet, but this is what is at my area at work. It's like Christmas threw up at my desk! :)

With Jolie getting a little bit older, she's a little more into Halloween this year. Well, actually I didn't really know what she'd do because before I hadn't even been able to get her to try her costume on. But there were some fun activities going on the other night, so I wrestled her into her costume and took her to the mirror...Who is that?

Jolie's a COW!

She was super excited once she saw what she was! They had trick or treating 'on the bricks' in downtown Kearney and she really liked it. Although she was very confused when she saw a Buzz Lightyear walking by! :) Then we went to the Children's Museum where they were having a Halloween party. They had student groups from UNK running game booths and Jolie thought that was a lot of fun too! She got lots of candy and treats but her favorites were definitely Smarties and M&Ms.

(She really likes her cow bell!) We can't wait until Halloween to do some more! :)

Visitors, Farming and FALL! :)

It's almost Halloween so we've been decorating the house to get ready for the season. I don't know what it is about fall that seems to get everyone in decorating mode, but it's hit me this year! I scored a sweet coffee table/night stand at Salvation Army for $3, spray painted it, and decorated some sweet pumpkins to go on our front porch (well it's not really a porch, more like a landing area) Jolie has been super helpful and LOVES pointing to each pumpkin every time we go outside.

Nana and Grandpa planted a few pumpkin seeds for Jolie at their house and the pumpkins TOOK OVER! We were able to get three in our vehicle (I think we would have needed a larger vehicle to get anymore!!) and these are the SMALL ONES! :)
Jolie's giving them a hug.

Last weekend, Grandma Buechler and Great Grandma and Grandpa Pedersen came to visit us. We went to check out the Archway Museum and I think it went over pretty well. It's the archway that goes over Interstate 80. Inside is a museum that kind of explains how the interstate system came to be, from pioneers to present day. Here is a picture of them at the 60s roadside diner.

Before they left on Sunday, we ate breakfast and did a nice little picture--this is the best I could get with a crazy toddler! :) Notice the Woody doll she's holding from her favorite movie 'Toy Story'
Thank you for coming to visit! We love having visitors! :)

Of course now that we are back in Nebraska, we had to take Jolie to ride in the combine with Grandpa. I wasn't sure she would like it with the noise and everything but SHE LOVED IT!

She smiled the entire time, loved trying to steer, and rode in the combine for over an hour!

We had to take a little break when the combine got stuck in some soft mud near a pit.

It's a possibility I may be bad luck in combines as they tend to break down, get stuck, or other strange things when I ride along! After the loader came to 'un-stick' them, Jolie rode along with Grandpa and dad.

Here's just a goofy picture. Every time Jolie gets out of the bath, we make faces in the mirror. It's probably one of my favorite things! :)

Jolie got her first goose egg on her head this week. She tripped over her own feet at school when they were outside and hit her head on the sidewalk. :( Sadness! She had a pretty good sized bump that Josh said looked like a horn! She really handled it like a champ though and the next morning all that was left was a little scrape and small bruise.

Cruising on her bike with her while the weather is still nice out.

She cannot sit in a chair normally. I couldn't even begin to count the number of times we are telling to her sit on the chair, get off the table, don't stand on the chairs, etc. It's probably pretty impressive that she hasn't had any big goose eggs before!

She demanded to finger paint, which turned in to body painting shortly after...

Jolie's still a pretty picky eater. The foods she eats most frequently are yogurt, raisins, crackers, applesauce/other fruits in those squeeze pouches...and today--PEANUT BUTTER by the handful!

to summarize...

So you get busy and such and next thing you know, almost a month has gone by!!! Here is a quick little rundown of the last month.

Jolie's very obsessive about things. She likes to have something to hold in each hand. Life if she brushes her teeth, she must hold the tube of toothpaste in the other hand. If she was one animal, she must have another one in the other hand. And if she's playing in the bathtub, she has to line up all the animals just so...

We took a trip to Omaha one weekend and got to see so many people! Here is Josh's college roommate Jason who was visiting from Ohio.

The next day we met Grandma and Grandpa Buechler, Uncle Matt, Aunt Ali and Uncle Brett and went to the Omaha zoo! Grandma has more pictures, but I haven't had time to get them yet, so here's just a few.
Walking with dad in the jungle

Watching the crazy penguins at feeding time

Watching the fishes

It was so awesome, Jolie had to take a little snooze to take it all in.

This monkey knows how it feels...

At the petting area with a little goat

Trying to get a nice picture with Uncle Matt. This was the best I got...

Such a big day for the little lady! She LOVED the zoo! She liked making all the animal sounds and was so good there!

UNK had quite the Homecoming parade downtown. At first it was a little scary, especially all those loud fire trucks!

But then she got a little braver and discovered some were throwing Smarties!

Jolie also got her first haircut! It was more of a slight trim, but was much needed. She did great although I think it was because she was just so confused about what they heck was happening

Hold very still!

She's also discovered the wonderfulness of Sonic drinks--this is an Oreo shake and she loved it so much she barely let me have any! And it was after bathtime so we had crazy hair!!! When those curls get 'uncurled' it gets wild!!!

So this catches us up for the last few weeks and just leaves a few more to go! But unfortunately its this mama's bedtime! :)

We LOVE Bathtime!

Here's a little video of Jolie being a goof in the bath.

And don't worry, at the end of the video she just slipped onto her bottom, not into the water or anything! :)

Jolie, Version 1.5

Miss Jolie is already 18 months old! So I think we have officially past the point of saying she is "x months old" and moving on to "one and half" and done with the 'month-count' Whoa!

It also meant another check up at the doctor, but the good news is that this will be her last shots until kindergarten shots (well, except for the annual flu shot). The shots didn't go too well, but she got over it quickly.

Here is what Jolie is up to:
-Weighs 22 1/2 lbs (in the 25%)
-Is 2' 8 1/2" tall, or 32 1/4 inches (in the 70%) She's on the tall side of the chart!!
-Grew 2 1/2" in the last three months
-Takes one 2-hour nap daily...or else she gets to be a crabby paddy!
-Goes to be at 8pm and wakes up around 7am
-Loves Sesame Street and all of the Toy Story movies
-Likes riding on Dad's shoulders
-Can point to lots of body parts like mouth, nose, eyes, feet, tummy, etc
-Makes lots of animals sounds like a cow, horse, lion, monkey, dog, snake, etc
-Takes naps on the cots and nap mats now at school (like the big kids)
-Likes eating yogurt, string cheese, cereal and crackers, but is still a very picky eater and can be quite the stinker at meal time
-Loves having books read to her
-Likes to empty drawers, climb anything and everything
-Likes playing outside and go down slides
-Can be very stubborn at times and gets frustrated that we don't understand her! (being a toddler is very hard!) :)

Speaking of the stubborn-ness, I've recently taken her to school with handfuls of my headbands, piles of refrigerator magnets and armfulls of stuffed animals! When she decides she likes something, she will NOT let go of it! It's been pretty funny to see what the 'Items of the Day' are. She's also been big into running into the bathroom and pulling herself up to the counter by climbing on the toilet--and she is FAST! Obviously since this is not a safe activity, it has caused quite a few outbursts from Jolie as we try to stop her. It's a pretty good time as you can imagine!

This also means a great excuse to do some family pictures!!! Here are some from Jolie, Version 1.5 :)