Coolness!

I never watch E.R., but I watched this episode! Perhaps someday Juliet will go to Camp del Corazon herself. Sometime this month-ish Juliet will have her next cardiac checkup. Please pray that all is well!
And now, pictures!

Konni and Juliet
And slideshow goodness:

Mmmm... Naan.

I love cooking. It's just so fun! I got a new breadmaker with our tax return, and a pressure cooker ($15 on sale at Bed Bath and Beyond!). I acquired some storage devices for my different kinds of flours. I love it! So much fun!

Our pooch is doing well in our family. Joe is learning that he needs to be nice to her, though, as he has decided that he must tell her what to do, and if she doesn't do it he should hit her. We're teaching him that she doesn't understand everything he says and that if he hits her she won't WANT to come when he calls. He's learning pretty quickly that he 'catches more flies with honey'.

Peanut is so very calm and patient with Juliet. Jules will try to use her fur to gain a handhold to climb on her, and she just pants. Both kids are growing so fast! Juliet is very very mobile. She can get from one end of the house to the other in a snap and has learned how to climb all manner of objects. Her favorite object to climb is a pantleg.

Joe is speaking in full sentences now. We don't understand EVERY word, but he uses proper grammar and everything! It's amazing how kiddos soak up language.

A new show just started on TV: Kings. I find it fascinating... I mean there are spoilers in every hotel room and a lot of homes. It has an unusual pace and style to it. Here's a clip: God crowns a new King

Us, with a dog? CRAZY.

We went out to eat at Dixie's Diner here in IF. The kids loved it :-)







So we have a dog now. I'm not kidding- really, we have a dog!
Her name is Peanut and she belonged to some friends of ours who were not able to keep her when they moved. She's beautiful and does really well on walks!
Here are pictures:

Please please pray for Veiyah Karg. kargfamilyupdates.blogspot.com

My hubby says there is no such thing as a good picture of him. He is wrong ;-)
Happy Valentines Day to the man of my dreams.

Well. I've been working on 'getting to know' the tablet and it's so cool! To the left is something I've been working on. It's about halfway done. The subject matter is a character from World of Warcraft known as Alexstrasza who happens to be one of my favorites in the game. I will do an accompanying one of her in her 'Dragon Form'.

This is about halfway done. It's elongated because I was working on it in my malfunctioning monitor which squishes images, while playing World of Warcraft in the main monitor.

Other things going on: I've been doing a lot of cooking from scratch. I have been making bread in the bread machine my Mom gave me, and have delighted in trying new things. Today I made croissant shaped dinner rolls using a sourdough-tomato-feta recipe. They came out fabulous! I have been making sourdough from a mother I started using bread yeast and beer yeast. It makes for a nice tangy/sweet flavor.
I'll post pictures of the delightful rolls soon.

So! My parents gave me a wacom tablet. As you can see I've been trying it out. It takes some getting used to, but I did the above entirely with the wacom and photoshop. I used the basic 'paint' properties of photoshop and layering to do it. I feel I could make that really look good with a bit of time and some filters. So exciting! Thank you Mom and Dad!

Also- our Joseph has a staph infection. Ugh! Of all things, it's MRSA! I guess it's becoming more and more prevalant and it must be because my hubby and I are pretty darn neurotic about germ warfare. I've worked as a CNA before, and in food service. You don't just 'turn off' washing your hands all the time. Matt has always been slightly germaphobic. Even Joseph is a bit of a freak about being clean! That's saying a lot for a 2 1/2 year old! I guess you pick up things from your parents though ;-) In spite of all that he's got MRSA and we've got to have him on antibiotics and be very careful about cross-contamination to our dear Juliet.

Snow.... stopped?

We got a break in our snow! This is what it looks like around here right now.


Here's our lovely house. Note the height of the snow piles in relation to our house...



And Juliet, ready to come inside after a couple hours of shopping!
We also got to eat out! NUTS! We haven't eaten out since she first came home from the hospital and my parents watched her while Matt and I went to Outback Steakhouse. We went to Jalisco's for lunch and she did so well! She even ate about a smidge of refried beans. She sat up in the high-chair and played with napkins the whole time. She also squealed a lot and it was a tad embarassing when she'd screetch loudly enough to make our ears hurt... :-)