Hello Out There!

Whoohoo, I'm blogging!  Here's some pics from the tonight (Christmas Eve).  My Grandmother made Hannah and Luke matching Christmas pajamas like she always did for my sisters and I when we were little.  They got to open one present, Hannah's was a facial spa thing, and Luke got drums.  Why I thought he needed drums I don't know, but he loves them, I'm sure I'll regret it in the next few days!

I promise to post more pics after the craziness of tomorrow, and in case you don't know, it's SNOWING!!!!

Checkup

Luke had his two year checkup this afternoon, and everything is great. He weighs 31 pounds (80th percentile) and is 3 feet tall (90th percentile). He didn't have to get any shots, and won't until he's 4. We went to the Flower Mound location of his pediatrician's office and I have to say, I liked it a whole lot more than the Lewisville location we usually go to. The wait was about 3 minutes, compared to the 5-10 as usual, then the wait in the room was about 5 minutes, compared to the usual 10-15...it was excellent!

Mother's Day was fabulous yesterday. My family came over and we had chili and spaghetti, one of my favorite meals growing up. John, Luke, and I spent the whole weekend together hanging around the house, it was absolutely fabulous.

That's all for now, making Luke dinner, while he waits ever so patiently...oh, the dog just stole his cheese by the way.

New Words

Like I've said, Luke comes up with a new word every day it seems like. He's starting to put small phrases together, and we've been working on things like "more please". Tonight he was eating yogurt and struggling to get it out of the bottom of the container, so I said let Mommy help, and he said "I do". It was so cute, and I was so proud...and he totally got all of the yogurt out by the way.

Then, the three ring circus that was me folding and hanging up his laundry in his room. I sorted the clothes into piles and solicited his help in this for about 10 seconds, then he started picking up clothes and rearraning piles, then taking things into the hallway, and just being Luke in general. Then he opens up a box of Legos he got for his birthday and spreads them throughout the clean clothes. I'm finally getting everything put up and I tell him to start cleaning up, he says no several times, which isn't usually like him, so I sang the clean up song which usually always kicks him into gear, still wasn't having it. I told him again that he needed to go pick up all his toys and he sits down and tells me "I can't".

Yaay for bed time.

Two Year Pics

Luke had his two year old pictures done this morning, and they turned out so great!! He was (is) the cutest little guy! He was so well-behaved, and just did a great job. I will definitely be going back to Portrait Innovations in Highland Village. I got tons of pictures for a great price, and they were ready about 20 minutes after we picked out what we wanted!!

Side note, I just went to post the pictures from the CD they gave me. I thought it had just the 6 poses I picked on it, NO, it has ALL 72 shots they took today, how freakin' awesome is that!!!

OMG

So, I spent about 45 minutes blogging at school today while my kids were watching Finding Nemo (and listing all of the invertebrates and vertebrates they saw in the movie). Well, I go to publish, and the LISD network says nope, and the whole thing gets eaten in cyberspace...I wanted to cry. On the 17th our computers were migrated from Groupwise to Outlook, and ever since then I can hardly get on to a wireless network on my laptop at home, and our desktop is a POS. I have to pause every few sentences to let it catch up to my superhuman typing skills. So, here's my blog on what's been going on with us Dodsons since my last post around Valentine's Day...get comfy.

John worked every night from the middle of January to the weekend after Easter getting his car ready for the Lone Star Roundup. It's an annual carshow in Austin that celebrates the "Rockabilly" Kustom car culture lifestyle. All of the cars are 1963 or older, and it is a really great time. The show is at the Expo Center, and then everyone hangs out and cruises up and down Congress Street at night. The last time we went was two years ago when I was 8 months pregnant! Anywho, John built a 1960 Chevrolet Parkwood station wagon. If you know him, you know he has a thing for wagons. He kept it's original paint, just put a shiny coat of clear on it, lowered it on air bags, new interior, and voila! He got SO many compliments on it, and even an offer to buy it. I was so proud of him, and watching all of the people that admire the thing that he loves to do. He is so creative and mechanically genious, I think he could make anything!! He was coming home every night between 2 and 4am, but ever since the show, he's been home after work, and Luke and I really love having him back!

I've finished up dance competitions and choreographing routines. I'm judging teams' tryouts and getting ready to teach summer camps. In a couple of weeks I'll go to Salado for the weekend and we will shoot the video of routines that we offer at camps. School has been insane, my mind is fried, just like all of the kids. We had the writing TAKS the first week of March, Open House the next week, and then this week was the math and reading TAKS. Field Day was supposed to be today, but it was canceled due to the district not wanting students and visitors congregating because of the Swine Flu. But then, the BEST thing happened this afternoon...LISD closed all schools for the entire upcoming week!!! So I'm on a paid vacation that we don't have to make up, whoohoo!!!

Hannah is doing fabulously in third grade!! She's been having a great year, and is really maturing socially and doing very well academically. They have to pass the reading TAKS to go to 4th grade...not only did she pass it, not only did she receive Commended Recognition, she got a PERFECT SCORE!!! We are all so proud of her hard work. She took the math test earlier this week, results will come back at the end of the month. She is such a great big sister to Luke. He loves his Eena. He'll pick up something around the house that belongs to her, or even see something in a store that looks like it would be hers and he starts saying her name and looking for her. When she's here, she wakes up with him and changes his diaper and gets him breakfast, and plays with him non-stop. She gave him a bath tonight and got him reafy for bed, and he can't get enough. She's growing her hair out again, and is getting so tall, Daddy is going to have to fight off the boys in Rockwall and Lake Dallas!

And then, there's the Lukester. My heartbeat, my tension headaches, my comic relief, my need for margaritas. This kid does not stop all day long! I'm going to go ahead and diagnose him ADHD right now. He is Mr. Independent and will throw a fit with a quickness if he doesn't get what he wants. He loves to climb, in fact he can climb right out of his crib that is on the lowest setting. He thinks he's so darn cute, he'll do stuff he's not supposed to and just smile at you while he's doing it. In the grocery store, when other people walk by, he'll grab my waist and hug me and say "awww", and of course he gets the reaction he's looking for from the unsuspecting passerbys. He has a new word almost every day, and I have been told several times that he has good "diction". This means that you can understand what he says, especially the things he shouldn't say...like when you go over a bump in the road and he says "oh shee". Mom of the year right here!

So, do you feel all caught up on the Dodson Fam? Luke turns 2 this Sunday, I can believe it...and I can't. We're having Elmopalooza at the house with family and close friends. Tomorrow we're going to go take 2 year old pictures, I can't wait. Cross your fingers he's in a say "chee" kind of mood!

Did I mention I don't have to work all next week? Happy May!

It Begins...

No pics, well I do have pics but I think they would be considered indecent because the kid won't keep his pants on. Luke was about to get in the bathtub tonight and he was looking in the toilet and saying "peepee". So I sat him up there and he tried for a little bit and in a moment he tinkled. LOL. I know you're so interested. He would go a little bit and I would cheer and he would get all excited, and then in a bit he'd go a little more. He was so proud of himself, hehe. Not really time to start potty training, but several people have told me that it's a good thing he's interested in the potty and knows what is supposed to go on in there. So anyway, my little genius! (INTENSE sarcasm here.) Like I said, he he won't even keep his pants on.

Besides that, he has had an upper respiratory infection and an ear infection this week. He has horrible drainage that results in a constant runny nose and a horrendous cough that makes him gag. Good times in the Dodson household. Happy Valentine's Day everyone, we love you all, and wish you all the mushy, gushy stuff you want this weekend. XOXO.

Church Socks

So our school network won't let me log on to my blogspot account, so I can't update at school. Which is suprisingly where I have the most time to hook up the camera, upload pictures and type a little. Hence the slowness between posts. Anywho, funny story. On Friday, the lady that watches Luke, Ms. Leslie, told me that one of her dogs ate one of his socks. No big deal at all, I could care less. She put his socks back on him with his shoes because it was cold...and Luke, in typical fashion, took his shoes off in the car. I look back at him and see his little homeless man foot sticking out of his "holy" socks and I start laughing my head off. I think this is the funniest thing I have seen in real life in a while, lol, it cracks me up to no end. It may be one of those "you had to be there" things, but man does it make me laugh!

More Catching Up!

Luke was pooping the other night, so John took him and set him on the potty. He was okay at first, but the seat was cold and he wasn't too thrilled after a bit!

Mr. Can't Keep His Pants On

Mr. The Cutest Kid in the Whole Wide World (He get it from his mama!)

Hannah got her first motorcyle this Christmas, she is unbelievably good on it!! She's already crashed a few times, and has gotten right back up and on the bike again.

Luke loves the Elmo Live he got for Christmas! He always hugs "Melmo" and says awww, it's too cute. Melmo has given John and I lots of laughs too, he does about 100 different things, and some of them are hilarious!

Catching Up!

I know, I know, I fell behind! Being sick lasted another day so I went to school last Monday and got things ready for a sub and came back home and slept all day long. I'm all good now, except for I had excruciating headaches all week. So I went to the doc when we got out early yesterday and I have migraines brought on by tension headaches. Regular ol' Tylenol just doesn't do it for me, so now I have migraine meds to help. Whoohoo!

So we're on a 4 day weekend, yaaay. Luke and I ran all sorts of errands today and saw Yaya (my mom) and all of her friends at work. He's napping now and I'm getting stuff together to go fax to our loan guy. We're refinancing the house, which has been organized chaos the last few weeks. But we're finally down to the end and I think this is the last bit of information he needs. LOVING the fact that we won't have a house payment in February, that is going to help us get caught up from Christmas so much!

Luke the tough guy has started doing things to kids at daycare, and then just standing there smiling at them, like, do something about it. At least he's taking time out of putting his hand down his pants to do this. At present, he has bruises up and down his legs, a scratch on his ear and the bridge of his nose. Scabs on his ankle and lower back where he scratches at his eczema, and a big, red, dry spot on his elbow. He looks like a poster child. But I swear he's the cutest mess of a 20 month old there is...I can't believe he'll be two in such a short time.

I'm teaching a dance clinic in Sachse tomorrow, so Luke and Daddy have all day together. Then my friend Courtney's baby shower is on Sunday. Next weekend is another dance clinic, the next weekend, is my birthday party, the next two weekends after that are competitions, the next weekend we are going to see Swan Lake, and the next two weekends after that our competitions again!! Making money...too bad all of it is going towards paying off LASIK!

Well that reminded me I need to call Dave & Buster's and see what I need to do to set up my bday party, I hope everyone can make it, I'll send an evite out soon!

Happy MLK weekend!

Weekend

Yak, I've been sick since about midnight Friday night. This is like the third time I've had a stomach bug in the last few months and I'm so over it. I'm better now, but I had to cancel my party with L7 last night, and we missed a friend's kiddo's bday party today. On the plus side of this, I've spent the majority of the evening watching the marathon of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and I'm hooked!! The new season premiere is tomorrow night and Ican't wait!

I'm exhausted and so not ready for school to start again tomorrow, at least we have a 4 day weekend coming up in two weeks, lol.

Enough about me...John sold one of his many projects today, whoohoo. Luke got a haircut and looks absolutely adorable. He won't, however, keep his hands out of his pants. He is constantly taking them off, and when I went in his room this morning, his pants and diaper were thrown on the floor. I just sigh, and then laugh.

Anywho, have a great first week of the New Year!!!

Lukey Luke

Just being a silly boy.

Luke Laughing

This was when he was about 3 months old...his laugh still sounds alot like this!