We spent Thanksgiving in Knoxville.  We also went ahead and did Christmas with the Cummins, since we will be in Bowling Green for real Christmas.  J2 had a blast.  Short post, mostly pics, enjoy!

He LOVES these stacking blocks- lately he thinks it’s really funny to knock them into dad.

My mom made housecoats for the boys (I got mine last Christmas and was tired of sharing)

Dinosaurs- Uncle Seth went through his old dinosaurs and specifically picked out the non-scary ones

Thomas the Train pillow from Uncle Isaac- J2 loves all his uncles, right Isaac

J2 has been trying to help me clean, and has really been getting in the way more than anything.  So, Grandma gave him his very own cleaning supplies to help me.

RESCUE HEROES!

Coloring with grandpa- on the “new” table- thank you Great Aunt Sarah for letting us borrow this

Grandma even had a little tree for J2 to decorate

TRAIN SET

“If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it”

I’m sure one of his uncles taught him this

Thanksgiving at Oma and Opa’s new house in Knoxville:

Guess what?!?!  There is a football game on

Laurel and Duncan (my cousins) played with Justus so amazingly well!  He just kept throwing leaves on them over and over again!

Justus 1 has finals next week- our first semester at UD is almost over!  My Mary Kay open house was great last weekend!  Justus 2 has another ear infection, but it’s almost gone.  We’ve learned my brothers and Justus 1 and his brothers all had lots of ear infections, so I don’t think we’re done.  Oh well!  Have a great weekend!

So I’m actually getting to update part 2.  J2 fell asleep! He was playing and I thought he wasn’t going to go down, then I heard snoring.  I actually got up to go check on him because the snoring was so loud.  He fell asleep in front of the door on the floor   First time ever for that one.

The first week of November, I picked up my mom in Lexington and we traveled to Kansas City.  It was a double bonus for me, because my grandparents and aunt live there AND it was my Mary Kay Fall Retreat.  I had a blast!  I think everyone else survived too while I was gone.  Mom and I had a great trip both ways with J2.  He was GREAT!  On the way home, mom and I even did a little car repair (replaced a missing oil cap AND refilled the oil).  Yes we consider ourselves professional mechanics now.  Enjoy some shots from our trip:

Great grandpa’s dog, Johnny

The hat is great grandpa’s Lady’s Vols hat- he gave it to Justus because he liked it so much

I don’t think that’s all he likes

They went on a hike all by themselves one afternoon.

He liked great grandma’s chimes too

After we looked through the pictures, we decided grandma must REALLY like overalls.  We have to agree though, he’s super cute!  Grandma made the red ones- she even stitched his name on the top of the overalls with her fancy-schmancy new sewing machine.

OUR FAVORITE PICTURE IN A LONG TIME- HILARIOUS!  I told him to smile with his eyes.  We used to tell Isaac that when he was little.  Isaac usually opened his wide when we said it.  J2 just puts the big cheese on!

If you’ve read the blog very much you know we’ve had some eating issues in the past.  Most of those are overcome at his point (praise the Lord).  This video cracks me up.  This was seriously his 3rd or 4th adult-sized helping.  He eats them like candy!  Certainly can’t complain…although I do find myself running out of green beans frequently.  He loved great grandma’s food all weekend!

BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE: BOB & KAREN (for letting us, and a car crash at their home), GREAT GRANDMA & GRANDPA & AUNT CINDY (for our super fun visit in the midst of bathroom remodeling), & of course GRANDMA (not even going to try to include it all here) WE LOVE YOU ALL!

These last pictures are from library time today.  It was turkey day.  We go every Monday morning to toddler time with Ms. Pat.  We went to baby time until 2 months ago when J2 moved up.  He never sang or danced at the library, but when we did the songs at home to show daddy, he would do them.  Today, daddy came with us.  J2 did ALL the songs and the motions.  It was so funny!  Showing off for daddy.  My favorite part is always snack time.  All the kids get a dixie cup of fruit loops or some other snack.  As they finish, there is this hilarious parade to throw their cups away and come back and sit down.  J2 has always done this part.  He sometimes even shows other kids where the trash can is.  It’s very sweet, but also funny.  There is always a craft at the end.  Usually, J2 will scribble, but make me tape/glue the thing together.  Lately, he’s been very into coloring (especally thanks to grandma’s purchase of triangle crayons from the Crown Center Crayola store).  Anyway, at craft time today, he got his crayons from the box and colored his turkey.  Then he actually helped stick it all together.  He also put it on for me again when we got home so I could take his picture.

OK- he still asleep, so I’m going to try to get more stuff done!

Also- December 5th is my Mary Kay Open House, Here’s the Info:

*Come enjoy snacks, hot beverages, door prizes, special discounts, & sale items

*Shop for others and yourself without waiting in long lines (husbands also welcome)

*FREE Gift Wrapping and Shipping

*Saturday, December 5th, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Ellen’s Home (email for address)

*$5 off total purchase for every guest you bring (up to 5)

*Free Gift with $40+ purchase

*RSVP by Tuesday, December 1st to receive 10% off your total purchase

(please let me know if you cannot attend on this day and need to schedule a private time)

*Online orders received on 12/05/09 will also receive the above discounts

*eahutner@marykay.com           *Ellen’s Mary Kay Website

Catching up: We went through some ear infections and teething stuff.   We had rest time on mommy and daddy’s bed and watched Robin Hood.  We did love the snuggles though!

We had a blast at Halloween.  We ended up wearing the tiger one day and the frog one day.  We went to a costume playgroup on Friday and he was a tiger.  Then Friday night, we went to our friends’ church.  Justus fell asleep on the way there.  Usually he wakes up right away, but this particular day he was so exhausted, he even slept through the car seat to stroller transfer:

They do a HUGE fall festival, like literally thousands of people.  They had all kinds of the inflatable bouncy toys, a room with exotic birds, pony rides, candy of course, and Justus’s two favorites: the petting zoo and the balloons:

He only lasted like 45 minutes, but he had fun.  On Halloween, we stopped by Justus’s department party.  Justus 2 was a frog.  At the party, he borrowed someone’s wig, but didn’t seem to like it very much:

Then we went actual trick or treating.  Justus 2 LOVED it.  He thought he was so big walking around with all the other kids.  Oakwood is a really nice area of Dayton just a few minutes away.  We went up and down one block and that was the perfect timing for us.  He even said “Thank you!”  He was funny and if people handed him the candy, he stuck in the bag and was good to go.  However, if they told him to pick what he wanted, he just looked at them.  Our favorite part of the evening was when Justus stopped dead in his tracks.  We both looked at him, and then realized, he was saying “Thomas, Thomas, Thomas.”  A little boy wearing a Thomas hat and shirt had walked by and J2 was amazed!

So we got home.  I ran upstairs to get a clean diaper, Justus took the trash out, and in the 2 minutes he was alone, Justus 2 had his first candy, a sucker.

The little frog looking over the loot:

We got home and realized we forgot to stop by our friends’ house.  So we loaded back up and headed to Patrick and Catherine’s.  Patrick’s parents (Bama fans) were in town, so Justus trick or treated one last time.  He like Patrick’s mom a lot!  I took videos on our regular camera which I do know how to upload (still haven’t figured out how to do the dvds).  Enjoy:

And one last picture for Patrick’s mom:Ta Da!

Well, our little guy is 19 months and counting.  He’s in the middle of a growth spurt and cutting his canines.  We’ve had quite a busy few weeks.  First, he took about a month of cutting to get all of his molars.  Then when the weather changed, he ended up with a double ear infection.  About a day or two after the antibiotics ran out, he started cutting his canines.  Now, we have a stuffy nose too!    Our pediatric surgery appointment went well.  He had us to an ultra sound to get a current image.  Dr. Pence said as long as everything looked ok, we could just wait to do anything.  Justus seems unaffected by the cysts at this point, so we’ll just wait to do any further surgery.  The ultra sound went well, and it looks like most of the cysts in his chin are gone and there is just some extra tissue and a few small cysts.  His upper chest spot does appear to be a cyst, but thankfully it just looks like a larger one instead of smaller ones.  Dr. Pence is supposed to call at some point to go over what he thinks, so we may have more info later.

Now for the fun pictures.  The next couple are just random pictures from Justus being a goofball:

We have had some napping issues.  I thought he was just going to quit taking a nap, but apparently we were changing schedules.  He just takes a late afternoon nap now.  In the few days of trying to figure it out though we ended up with some very interesting pictures.

The first day of No Nap (notice the diapers in a pile behind the door):

This first day, I think he really did empty everything he could find.

Including the trash can:

Another no nap day where he only cleaned out the changing table baskets:

And my favorite:  I have no idea how long the pants and diaper were missing from his lower half, but I never found any wet spots

Random picture displaying cuteness

So I bought him 2 Halloween costumes of CraigsList.  We tried them on this morning and I think we’ll go with the frog because it fits better and he wore it all day.  That is until about 15 minutes ago when he switched into the tiger outfit.  He LOVES them and he looks super cute in them.

Justus is super fun right now and repeats almost everything we say.  He picks up new words all the time and we are amazed at what he knows.  Last night, he was talking to Meme and Great Grandaddy on Skype.  They asked him how tall he was. (We have a doorframe where we do pencil mark measures every month or so that he shows them frequently).  We’ve been trying to update the measurement, but he hasn’t wanted to.  Well, last night, he went to Justus’s backpack and whined for him to open it.  When he opened it, J2 reached in and took out a pencil and ran back to the doorframe.  So Justus measured him finally.  We had no idea he knew there were pencils in daddy’s backpack.  Smarty pants!

Quick update- because I know some people remember we had an appointment today   We got to the appointment and they said Dr. Pence would be in surgery for a few more hours at least and they hadn’t received Justus’s old chart yet from UK Hospital.  Apparently his old chart was too big to fax, so they have to go through a slower process of snail-mailing it.  We rescheduled for next week…such is life.

Justus is doing well.  The swollen spot we were originally concerned about (in June) hasn’t really changed, so it’s probably just the same thing.  He finally saw a regular Pediatrician here a couple of weeks ago for his 18 month old check up.  She said everything looks good.  He’s developmentally ahead.  His weight/height are still low, but he seems to be continually gaining.  We’re not worried.  The doctor said she’ll just monitor it since this was the first time she saw him.  He is a little sick right now from all the temperature changes (yucky cough that’s not helping his sleep).  Apparently Fall hit Dayton overnight.  We’ve had fun though switching clothing seasons.  He’s super cute in all his outfits.

Justus 2 and I made our first trip alone all the way down to Knoxville.  We survived the 5hr+ car ride in the flash flood rain.  We’re still working out some napping/sleeping issues from the trip, but it could also be related to our switch over to a toddler bed.

The weekend before that Meme was here.  We had a great time with her.  Friday night after we put J2 to bed, we watched a girly movie! WooHoo!  Saturday night, Justus and I went out and had so much fun!

I’m wrapping up my best Sales month ever in MK and I’m super close to meeting my goals by midnight tonight.  Call, email, or Shop Online if you need anything.  There’s great holiday gift sets.  I do free shipping and gift wrapping for the holidays.  (how’s that for obnoxious plug)

I still can’t figure out how we’ve transferred the videos before so we can post them and Justus hasn’t had time to look yet.  So you’ll have to keep waiting.  I’ll try to get up some recent pictures (hint: Moms Hunter and Cummins send us pictures )

First of all, I’m sorry to say, I forgot the camera when I took J2 to the fair.  He loved all the 4-H show animals as well as the little zoo that was there.  Oh well, you’ll just have to take my word for it   We’ve been having a rough week or so, since he decided to get all his molars at the same time…slowly  Anyway here are some pictures from the past month or so.  I’ll try to put videos up soon too.

One day Justus dressed Justus 2.  I unknowingly dressed myself in pretty much the same day…aren’t we cute?

BBQ chicken+green beans+ corn bread+potatoes+ self-fed toddler= giant cute mess!

none of us get very excited about waking up, especially in the summer

Leah and J2 (there was a really cute picture of all 3 kids, but the color came out funny and blurry)

Mr. Justus moving in…

Completely unassisted- these 2 oldest children saw the camera come out and posed.  They put their arms around each other and everything.  They are Trouble!

ooh, pool fun!

My first cobbler, yummy!

Getting ready for the Bama- Va Tech game.  Justus met some people in his department who are Bama fans too, so we had a fun cookout.

While I don’t appreciate the garments, this may be one of the cutest pictures of the best boys in the world!

Hey we haven’t written in a while, so I thought I’d do a brief update- oldest to youngest

Justus 1- started work last week and school this week.  He’s been assigned to two professors.  One of the professors has him teaching, assigning, and grading in 3 classes.  The other professor is doing research this semester, so Justus will be helping with that.  He’s been told his application was quite impressive and so they are treating him more like a PhD student than a MA student.  (I can brag; I’m the wife)  He is actually taking 3 classes as well, so his schedule is full.  He’s the only male MA graduate assistant.  I’m hope the estrogen overload will work out in my favor though, and maybe I’ll be a relief for him.

Ellen- has been doing really well with Mary Kay.  I’m working 10-15 hours a week, which is considered almost “full time” for Mary Kay.  I’ve had a lot of fun meeting people through my business and learning more about Dayton.  It’s also been great to have some “me” time.  When I’m not doing MK, I’m reading, hanging out with J1 and J2, going to the library, parks, etc.

The following section is longer, becasue we know that’s the part everyone cares about it

Justus 2- is into everything!  We got him a $3 pool from Wal-mart that he loves.  Favorite foods include: corn on the cob, green beans, oven-baked veggies, great-grandpa’s fish, ice-cream, juice popsicles, blueberries, applesauce, apples, STRING CHEESE, toast, and pasta.  This week he has wanted to read all the time: by himself, with us, it doesn’t matter.  Justus likes going to the parks and playing outside.  He loves going to the library for baby story time and just to go and get books and Wiggles movies.  He’s obsessed with the Wiggles.  Luckily they’re pretty interactive, so we’ve learned the songs and dances and can all do them together.  I have a video of Justus singing and performing “Blow me down” I’ll put up soon.  He also loves to go on walks.  Over the summer he liked to walk to the baseball field and watch the boys practice.  Now, he likes to walk and get daddy at work.  Since campus has started up again, Justus really enjoys seeing all the students roaming around.  He also like nursery.  We have visited a ton of churches and it doesn’t matter where we go, he likes the nursery!  Yeah!  I was a little nervous about this, but now he doesn’t like to leave.  He’s starting to mimic everything we say, and actually add a few words to his vocabulary weekly.  We’re working on colors currently.  We’ll see how that goes.  He keeps us laughing and has a great personality.  He’s almost always happy.  He also has a little bit of a mischievous streak in him and has had his share of timeouts.  All in all though he’s a great kid and we adore him!

I guess that’s about it.  I’ll try to take pictures soon.

We’ve got a couple different flavors of J2’s dances for you this evening. One old, the other new.

First, the classic, hokey pokey:

And second, compliments of Uncle John-Seth’s IPhone, some new moves:

Have a safe trip Uncle John-Seth!