I Like my Birthdays, Every One!!

My birthday really started the weekend before. My wonderful sister in laws and cousin in laws went on a weekend vacation. I wasn't able to go so they printed off a few of my heads and headed out (no pun intended)!

They went to Galveston, TX and took me along and captured some great pictures of me. You can see them here: https://www.facebook.com/jolynclaney/photos. Thank you Tiffany, Cali, Estrella, and Angelica!!

One of my favorites...:) I forgot my razor!

On Monday and Tuesday, TJ and I went to Tiff and Adam's for a sleepover. Todd has been working 80 hour weeks for the past month so I only see him an hour or so at the end of the day. We played and had a ton of fun and Monday night they showed me all the photos of "my" vacation in a slideshow and made me an AWESOMELY yummy cake, featuring....ME jumping out of my own cake!!!

We took a few twinner pictures too.

Me and my boys

The inside!!

I had a little help blowing out the candles...

Tuesday, I got a very nice foot massage from Estrella. Thanks doll. And more cake and ice cream!!

Wednesday was my actual birthday. I babysat for a friend that morning and while I was babysitting we heard a loud knock at the door. I opened it thinking it was my friend back to pick up her son, but it was a flower delivery man with this!!!

I started crying because it totally caught me off guard and made my day! Thanks honey.

 Then my friend decided to meet me at Applebee's and she paid for my lunch. It was really fun seeing her and catching up because she's moving out of the ward this weekend. :( Thanks Summer!

Todd gave me money for new clothes for my bday so I did a lot of shopping this week too. I also got a card and more money from my in laws and parents! I've almost spent it all. You're welcome economy. Thank you Gary, Calista, Mom and Dad.

Todd got to come home at 4 on my birthday which is HUGE because he is getting home at 11:30 or so.  Our good friends watched TJ while we went out to dinner at Bangkok City, a favorite Thai place. I got the Pad Thai and Todd got the Honey Chicken and we had gyosas as an appetizer. Yumm-O!

Then when we picked TJ up, we decided to stay and play some games. Valerie had actually got me a birthday gift and it was FUNGLISH!! Such a fun fun fun game. So we played a few rounds of that.

I also got Smart-A from Tiff and Adam. I love both of these games so much! Thanks Val and Alan, and Tiff and Adam.

Thursday morning TJ and I got up and went to Valerie's house for the day. We met the Brassfields there and had Taco Joint for lunch. The kids played outside in their kiddie pool and had Popsicles and we painted our toenails with her neighbor's Shellac (thanks Nicole). It's awesome and stays on for weeks without chipping. Thanks Emily and Val for the great girls day!

Nicole had also brought over a bunch of shirts she no longer wanted. They were AWESOME shirts and fit me perfectly. I think I took home about 40 new shirts (some were really "new" because they still had tags on them)! Thanks again, Nicole.

Friday I watched Summer's little boy while she and her hubby closed on their house in Keller. We're going to miss them, but getting a house is a HUGE and EXCITING step in life. We'll still see them. Valerie came over and we took all the kids to McDonald's for lunch to play in the Playplace. Then Val took me to the Y to get information on signing up to be a soccer coach with them this season. I haven't heard if I'm going to be one yet, but the meeting is tomorrow night. I'm so anxious!

Well that was my birthday week! It was awesome, what can I say! I'm blessed with the best friends and family ever! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Tender Mercies

When I was putting TJ down for bed a few nights ago, we laced our fingers (which we’ve been liking to do more and more) and just held each other’s hand. My face was nussled up next to his while we rocked slowly in the dark room with just the street lights hitting the closed blinds. After a little bit, TJ took his other hand and placed it on our clasped hands and started patting them. It was such a sweet and tender moment. I love him so much and have grown to love him more than I could ever imagine. My love will only increase.

My Almost 2 Year Old

TJ is a talking machine! One day he woke up and it all clicked. He says so many words and strings them together into sentences, CORRECTLY! I pulled up a picture (not of Summer) and TJ said,

"It's Summer!"
"Is that Summer?"
"Yes. It's Summer!"

He knows my friend's names and I love that he calls them that. He has also learned the character's names on his favorite shows. Nick. Sally. George. McQueen. Mater. Hollie. Sally. Fin. Super Why. Pig. Sid. Mae. Gerald. Suzy. Grandma. Calliou. Rosy. Barney. LaLa.
When they come on the screen, he'll yell their names!

This is the reason I allow TJ to play with my phone and work on apps and watch kid YouTube videos so much. He really truly learns! He also learns from the shows on PBSKids. Especially Super Why. The other day he was watching Super Why and they said, "What letter makes the ttt sound?" And TJ said "T!" before the kids said it. I was like, "WHAT!? You know their sounds too?!" Then he also wanted the kids to identify the word "Moo", they gave the hint, "It has 2 O's." Then TJ knew. He pointed to the word on the screen and said "Two O's!" Holy cow!

TJ will bring me his magnet writing board and say "ABC's". We will then go through the alphabet. I'll write a letter and ask him, "What letter is this?" and he'll say it. And then he'll erase it with the slider and say "Buh bye Q" and erase it.

He is learning his colors. He knows that objects have names and characteristics. I thought it would be so hard to teach him "This is a shirt. AND it's blue." Like giving it two different labels I thought would be confusing for him. But he's done well. With sizes, and shapes, and colors.

Here is a list of phrases he says now:
Randomly say "Hi Mommy!"
"Hold you" "You want me to hold you?" "Hold you" :)
I'm going to ____. Like close it. I'm going to get bus. etc.
Come in
Open/Close it
It's not working. Fix it.
No hitting.
No running.
No biting.
Be nice.
Come on!
Try again
Almost
Do you hear it?
Wow
I don't know
It's coming
Be careful
Emmy sad.
Uh oh! Where'd it go? There it is!
I want a drink.
Look at the tiger.
That way.
There ya go.
I did it.
I'll be right back
No no, timeout
That was fun!
Buh bye ___
That was crazy!
Elmo eat it.
Possession like TJ's fork. Mommy's bed.
Oh my goodness!
One more time...
That's awesome! Or That's cool!
Exactly!

I love my little man!