HELLO!

Ok.. I'm jumping on the blogging band wagon. This could get interesting. Or boring.. we'll see :)

So I will start this blog with a little snapshot of life today.

Matt is working full time as a Deputy Sheriff for our county and kicking butt big time! He is working at the county jail and is already being asked to fill in as Sergeant on a regular basis.. we are hoping to get him promoted soon!! He puts in a lot of overtime to support his family.

I am a stay-at-home-mom. This is what I've always wanted to be.. always. I am doing the most important job of my life -- raising my two beautiful children to be happy, healthy, productive members of society. I have to say that this isn't at all what I expected.. not that I thought it would be too easy, but no one could have prepared me for what a tough job this is. I'm trying so hard to be a good mommy. Anyways.. I am also studying ASL (American Sign Language) and taking classes when I can. My goal is to attend Western Oregon University and eventually become a terp. I want to be able to work when the kids are in school -- and this would be perfect! I could set my own hours and the pay is good. I am thoroughly enjoying learning ASL and deaf culture.. what an amazing group of people!!

Next there is Alissa. Alissa is 3 years old and an absolute pleasure. I have been taking her to a toddler time program (like PRE-preschool) where I get to stay with her for every class, and last week was the last one. :( She is officially to old for the mommy&me classes. I am not ready yet to have her in pre-school, so I will wait a year and see about the 4 year old school. I would like to send her to a local Christian pre-school then, but it is 1800/year.. ouch. We'll see how we are doing financially next year as this year there is NO WAY. Alissa also enjoys going to the local library every Friday for storytime with her friend Sasha. She also just completed her first swimming class -- she had a BLAST! Best of all her classes were in Dallas so we were able to have "GG" join us and also see Great-Grandma-Jensen. Ali is slowly getting more comfortable with the water.. although she still doesn't like water in her ears, who does? :) We have a weekly playgroup that meets Wed's usually at Colleen's house. Any other day's we do misc. fun things like AC Gilbert House. Alissa is also learning sign language. We have been using basic signs for years now, but she is now getting more dexterity so can sign more. She recently started signing her colors -- cool! :)

Now Jonathan. He is such a cutie!! He took his first steps when he was 8 1/2 months old.. beat his sister by two weeks! He is now 9 months and at most takes 5 or 6 steps.. problem is after the first few steps he thinks he is Superman and tries to fly.. mainly diving into my arms. We walked before crawling too.. just today he started consistantly crawling on all fours with his tummy off the ground. In fact for a short time today he was crawling on his hands and toes with his bottom stuck in the air. So cute. He says "mama", "dada", "byebye", and just started trying to say "kittykitty" sounds like - "kyky". His favorite word lately has been "dada" ALL the time. He also waves byebye. Did I mention he is huge?! According to my scale he is about 24 pounds.. uumm.. Alissa is just 30. I think Ali was about 2 1/2 when she was 24 pounds. Hehe.. This boy loves to eat. He is still nursing too, and I plan on continuing that until he self-weans. That's about it for Jon-boy.

Can't forget Zena and Kisses. Zena is our dog.. she is our "mini" mastiff.. all 100 pds of her. Great dog around the kids, but has a diaper feddish.. seriously.. she eats diapers. But only the soiled ones. YUCK. Kisses is Matt's cat. The cat hates me. Seriously. I'll save those stories for another day.

So that's the family. I'll try to post as often as I can with our going's on.

Until then...