Shoes and "kipples"

Johnathan has added two more things to the things he loves: shoes and "kipples"( pickles). 

We have a box for shoes by our front door and he's always rummaging through it finding pairs of shoes (yes he put them together by himself) and then either just bangs them on the floor or tries to wear them.

His other favorite thing right now is pickles. On Wednesday, I gave Johnathan the last two pickles in the jar.  When I told Albert that we didn't have any more right as John started asking for them again, John realized what I'd said and put one of the most adorable pouty faces I've ever seen. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of it.  Still, needless tot say, we went and got pickles that day haha!

"Ke-ket"

Johnathan's favorite thing in the world is his blanket.  He cuddles with it all the time and screams when I take it away. When we present it to him, he screams with delight and runs over to us.  And there are times when he finds it and just lays down right on the kitchen floor.  Or sometimes on the stairs

Sick.

After throwing up almost everything I ate or drank yesterday, it's good eat anything..even if it's saltines.  John LOVES them and about every 5 seconds I hear "Peez!" And see him holding his hand out for more. Lol.  I know I'm feeling a lot better today than I was yesterday (I'm not dizzy and nauseous every time I stand up) ...but poor Albert was still making lots of trips to the bathroom late into the night last night...I'm just hoping he's feeling better too.

We're thanking our lucky stars that John didn't get sick with us.

He spent about an hour last night laying on my shoulder and babbling away, part of which included "NI' nite monkey!" And "luh you! Luh you! Luh you! Luh you!" He was very good about giving Albert and I lots of kisses to make us feel better and he would often pat my blanket and hum to me. :) gotta love the kid. 

This Year so far in One post (sorry yeah I've been horrible)

So.  I have been noticeably horrible about updating this blog.  Not because we never do stuff.  We do lots of things...I am just behind...way behind.

What's new with us?
-Facebook post from Albert: "So, for the last two years I have been doing cancer research with Dr. Kim O'Neil here at BYU and I have been accepted to present my research at an international conference called the AACR "American Association of Cancer Research" in Washington D.C. I will be presenting along with Post Doc's, PHD, and the leading researchers in Cancer right now. I'm so excited!!"
      When they sent Albert the e-mail telling him that he was accepted, they called him 'Dr. Helsing' because, really, it's basically just people with PHD's that get accepted to present at the AACR conference. :)  Another reason we're excited for this is because there will be a lot of heads of admittance boards for Med schools there!  GREAT opportunities!
     So, Albert left Johnathan and I the week of General Conference and presented.

 He got an award for his posters and talked with a few people of influence in the Medical school world...One such person was a professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.  He said he wanted Albert to do an internship with him this summer with cancer research.  Albert of course called me almost right away and I told him "DUH!  even if we're NOT going to end up going to Johns Hopkins in the long run, it'll still look GREAT on your resume"  

      after several long weeks of waiting and e-mailing back and forth, it is completely official!  He was offered the internship.  Unfortunately, due to strenuous monetary circumstances and the fact that the guy only got to Albert about what the school would be paying for YESTERDAY (5/20), Albert will not be taking the internship and will still get to spend the summer with Johnathan and I (due to the not-so-great job economy out here in UT and the fact that I'd more than likely not have a job when I got back if I quit, I was going to bravely stay here in UT with Johnathan so you can imagine how happy I am for this not to happen) however, when Albert told the professor his reasons for declining this AMAZING opportunity, the professor said "ok well, i'll just hold a spot for you for next summer" which is PERFECT because more than likely I'd be having to quit my job at the library anyways and the school would be paying for our flights out, housing, food, etc.  yeah...perfect situation for apartment hunting. :)
-Albert took the MCAT last weekend.  He's not sure how he did...but then again the MCAT isn't designed for you to leave feeling like you aced it.  I'm just glad he's done. :)
-We have now begun the process of applying to medical schools...and it's more expensive than I thought it was...thanks heavens for friends who have been through it before and who have been giving us tips. <3 

-Johnathan is always learning and copying us.  He often cracks me up with his little antics.  Today I caught him cradling one of his toys and humming to it. *heart melting*
-Recently he's starting singing a LOT more...and it makes me SO happy...usually it's more humming than singing, but still.  it makes me happy.
-His favorite movie is Cars2.  We discovered that we can turn it on when he's on another level of the house and he'll come running (and tripping) to watch it. :)  This means that 'poor' Albert has probably watched it fifty bajillion times because he likes to turn it on so that he can get homework done.
-He is still quite pigeon-toed...and honestly it kind of worries me.  We talked to Johnathan's original doctor about it and  the doctor said "yeah, you know which nationality has a big risk of being pigeon-toed?  the Navajos " and then later "we used to have kids wear braces on their feet to correct it, but I haven't done that in years....he should grow out of it by the time he's nine." only...Albert DID have corrective shoes...and it took those corrective shoes to get anywhere...for a long time we just put his shoes on the wrong feet and prayed it helped. however, recently we took Johnathan to a new doctor (I got sick of the old (literally) doctor being so condescending towards me any time I came in with my sick child.  Yes, I worry.  I'm a parent, it's my job to worry when my son's cough isn't getting better after a week and a half whether it's a "common cold" or not.) Anyways, so the new doctor said that it looked worse than it should and recommended us to Shriners Hospital for Children and we officially have and appointment for an Orthopedic doctor to look at Johnathan's legs/feet near the end of June. YAY!!

More of John-boy's favorite things:
-his "ke-ket" (blanket)-- any time I hold it up he comes running to be snuggled in it.
-cuddling with daddy --it's one of the few times that I get pushed away.

-his "ba-bu" (sippy cup)
-blowing dandelion fluffs -- true sometimes he practically EATS the fluff, but he still loves it
-sitting on the windowsill above our couches in the family room -- the blinds on that window are completely destroyed.

-cookies! -- these always make his day...and he asks for them almost as often as Albert does haha!
-balls --he loves kick, chase after, and "frow!" them.  needless to say, we've been browsing the ball section of D.I. a lot recently. :)
-"tu-time!" (tub time) --he hears the water going and he scrambles to get to the bathroom.

-dogs -- this has been a favorite for some time.  These days though he likes to bark back at them. :)
-talking on the phone --I recently handed him my phone after an alarm went off and he instantly started talking.  "'lo? k.  *laughter* *pause* *more laughter* yeah! luh-lu bye!"  and it made me so happy that apparently I laugh a lot when I'm on the phone.  it means I talk to people who make me happy. :D

-cuddles and puppy stories --every night when I'm putting him to bed, I try to tell him a story about an adventure he and his puppy had. It always ends with his puppy licking him and saying that he loves John.  and then, while cuddling, I sing him the spanglish lullaby that I made up for him. Usually this routine is well received...every now and again he interrupts me. "Mama!" "what?" "buh-bye!"
-"chasing mommy" --there have been times when we've played chase for at least half an hour at a time...this means that when  I try to sit on the couch, he pulls me back up and then pushes me ahead of him. :)


Things that are new with me?
-I try to go to the park with Johnathan almost every day now...it's a lot easier now that we found friends to go with. :)
-I've been trying to do something creative at least once a week...last week I made crepes...this week...I'm going to fix Albert's scrubs.
-I'm also going to be trying to be ok with just posting random posts with a picture...and updating this when I update facebook (which I don't do half as much as I did when I first started on fb thank heavens haha!)

And now a bunch of random pictures of us

So needs toys when they have boxes?

Clam chowder. Ugh. :P

He organizes his tub toys lol

He puts food in his hair on purpose...I have a video of it

He got moved up to a toddler bed...and it only took a few days to train him. :)

He loves to help sweep.

And pull his wagon to the park

Talking with daddy on FaceTime 

When Albert was in DC we went to the zoo with Albert's mom and sisters

Muah!

He LOVED the merry-go-round

Oh! Stickers! Another favorite.

In the car waiting to pick daddy up from the airport....he dumped his snacks all over his lap

Every now and again he doesn't quite make it all the way into his bed before he falls asleep.

He likes eating like a big boy

And stealing my pillow.

Sometimes I teach him habits like drinking the milk right from the cereal bowl....no that's not just his bowl...we shared.

And that's us!  I'll post again soon!

Thanksgiving and the Start of December

Thanksgiving was wonderful.  I got a surprise call from my little sister the day before she was supposed to drive down saying that she was an hour away...luckily I'd already cleaned the house. :)  yay!

Once upon a time I decided to try to make cheesy-potato-broccoli soup...and when I asked for three medium potatoes, Beth brought me goldi-peel and the three tubers.  In the end, the soup turned out AMAZING...and Albert has been begging me to make it again and again ever since. :)

I also made a cherry pie...and even did the awesome lattice work.  I'm so proud!

I also made my mom's special occasion rolls (called icebox rolls)...but they take forever so...not sure when I'll do THAT again....

while beth and I were waiting on the rolls, we had a "girls' night" and watched Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings and painted our nails. :)

John LOVES mac and Cheese

While we do not have photographic evidence of it, we had thanksgiving lunch at Albert's Aunt Sonia's house (which we helped a lot in the making...and I cut my finger slicing potatoes for mashing)...a few hours later we went to my Grandma Evans's house for Thanksgiving dinner. :)  both meals were AMAZING!!!

So...Albert and I decided that our splurge for this season was going to be a new Christmas tree...a fake one. So we searched all of the Black Friday sales and went to several stores to see what their trees looked like...at 8 we traveled to Wal-Mart because we'd seen some other items that we were in need of (new pillows, new towels, etc)...unfortunately, they ran out of pillows before we could get to them, and apparently the shipment of towels never came in.  So, we decided to go get our tree at Kohls (we had a $50 gift card someone left at the library and still had not picked up after about a month.) Anyways, so we decided ot make it a date and go to the movies...and we did.  it was nice. :)  Afterwards we still had about an hour until Kohls opened up...so we sat in the car and played games on my iPad...then got in line.  When we got in and were the first ones to the trees...and we noticed this brown box on top of the other boxes that were supposed to be on sale (so said the ad).  It had more tips and more lights than the others...and we were worried it'd cost a bunch more than we'd planned for...but we asked one of the workers and she said that if it was in the pile it was going to be the same price.  SCORE!  we only ended up paying about $30 out of our pocket for the tree

our happy receipt.

last year's tree (we used it to put gingerbread men on)

                                               

the tree we bought

all lit up...I convinced Albert that it was my family's tradition to decorate the tree the day after Thanksgiving...then mom had to ruin it by admitting we do it the Monday after...ah well. :)  

Johnathan liked the ornaments

despite these pictures, he quickly learned to not pull the ornaments off the tree...and that they were not edible (caught him in a corner trying to eat one of the fake apples haha)

our little sneak-thief soon realized that the gingerbread men on the other tree were edible and we would often catch him swiping one off the tree and then escaping to eat it. :)

Beth playing guitar.

Mexican Beth...she'd been having a discussion with her then boyfriend on whether or not he'd like her better if she were Mexican.

It was a GREAT Thanksgiving!  We're looking forward to giving more thanks with our wonderful families as much as we can in the future (just realized next year might be our last year here in Utah to enjoy TWO Thanksgiving celebrations AH!)


Activities at the start of December:
We went and watched Arthur Christmas at the Zion's Bank Employee's kids' Christmas celebration.  When I say "we" I mean me, Albert's 13 year-old sister Kimmi, 5 year-old Sammi, 3 year-old Melissa, and Johnathan.  Kimmi was a HUGE help...and honestly, Johnathan was the worst of the kids.  After the movie, Santa came out.  Johnathan was just as pleasant as last year. :)

John and the girls with Santa

Sammi and Melissa

once upon a time I caught John sitting on the couch just reading his kitten book...this is right after that when he caught me trying to take a picture of him

  

he LOVES to wrap himself up in his blankets. :)

So this year, I convinced Albert that I should make Gingerbread men... (still working on the gingerbread house/train) I even got him to decorate his own gingerbread man (but just one haha)

Albert's gingerbread man...he happily exclaimed "it's me!" when asked if he were going to give his gingerbread man some pants he replied that he was just wearing a REALLY long shirt.

Albert took a bite out of it before I could frost it...

my version of my little family

other decorated ones.

gangsta' gingerbread man...and his sugar mama.

construction man and his wife.

the others

then I realized I had WAY too much frosting...so I went a little crazy...well craziER haha.

Albert didn't like that the frosting hardened, but he still ate a TON of them :)

And thus began our Christmas Celebrations. :)