Almost 2011

So, I just read through last year's survey and thought I better do it again. It was fun looking back!

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before? Was a teacher (challenging at times) and mother to a toddler (also challenging at times!).

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for 2011? Last year I wanted to stop my obsession with sweets. I have done a pretty good job at this (other than recently... holidays don't count, right?). Since we got a treadmill, my resolution for this year is to use it!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? There weren't as many births this year as last year, that's for sure...

4. Did anyone close to you die? Not this year, thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit? Stuck around the good ol' USofA.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010? A dishwasher. A bigger house!

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Two days before Thanksgiving... And not for good reasons.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Surviving life as a first-year teacher.

9. What was your biggest failure? My diet and exercise regime (same as last year).

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Other than a few days of the year I was pretty healthy. Probably more of a spiritual injury than anything.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Our Hoosier cabinet in the kitchen and the treadmill.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Our neighbor. He is awesome. He vacuums our leaves, he sets mole traps in our yard, he snow blows our driveway while we're at work... And he is going to help Lee wire our dishwasher (he's a retired electrician). Love that guy.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My students and the town that I work in. I didn't know that much racism still existed in the country.

14. Where did most of your money go? Home improvement.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Getting a job.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? "Teenage Dream" by Katie Perry

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? A little sadder.
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter at the moment.
c) richer or poorer? About the same, but I feel richer since I have a job!

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Spending time with friends.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Stressing out (same as last year).

20. How did you spend Christmas? At our house in the morning, then my grandma's apartment with my family. Then we went to the Klemme's on the 26th.

21. Did you fall in love in 2010? I fall more in love with Taryn everyday!

22. What was your favorite TV program? Modern Family.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I don't think I really HATE anyone. There are a couple of students that I really have trouble tolerating.

24. What was the best book you read? Who has time for that? Beyond blogs and Facebook statuses, I don't do much reading.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Our music channels on DirecTV. I couldn't find them for awhile.

26. What did you want and get? A job!! A good daycare for Taryn.

27. What did you want and not get? A new job for Lee.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? I think I watched all of about 5 movies this year.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 29. Lee and I went to McGraw's, a slightly overpriced restaurant right by our house. Then we went and saw the Book of Eli at the movie theatre.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Not having to experience loss.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010? I love jeans Fridays. Comfortable shoes for standing all day!

32. What kept you sane? Lee and I taking turns napping on the weekends. Always having my mom to call for help.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I can't even think of anyone...

34. What political issue stirred you the most? I can't even think of anything...

35. Who did you miss? My Chi-town friends, Jamie now that she moved.

36. Who was the best new person you met? My new co-workers.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010. You just can't make people care about things.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I'm proud of the house we built.
It's stronger than sticks, stones, and steel.
It's not a big place sittin' up high on some hill.
A lot of things will come and go but love never will.
Oh, I'm proud.I'm proud of the house we built.

Merry Christmas (Eve)!

This just doesn't feel like Christmas Eve. For many years Lee's family has always had their Christmas party on Christmas Eve. This year it has been moved to December 26th. I'm totally having trouble putting together that tomorrow is Christmas without that gathering on Christmas Eve!

The snow has fallen (possibly too much snow). The dessert is made. The brownie mixing spoon was licked by one excited little toddler. Then said toddler was bathed and un-chocolated. She was dressed in her "I've been good just ask Grandma" pajamas and after Wheel of Fortune she was put to bed. The casseroles are assembled, wine is set out to take, the gifts are wrapped and put into bags by which family Christmas they are going to. I think we're ready to roll!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas with great family. I know I plan to!!

Puetz Christmas

This Saturday was our Puetz family Christmas. This is the first of a few family parties that we get to attend this month. Grandma Puetz is in her late 80's and is still SO spunky. She works 3 days a week, has many social outings to the Legion, and still gets out and dances her butt off at every single wedding reception. Grandma Puetz is the matriarch of the family that has now grown to 63 members. How this breaks down to grandchildren and great-grandchildren, I have no idea. Could I name them all? Not quite. Could Lee? I doubt it. But, it's a fun time for the adults and the kids have a BLAST!

Here is the Klemme section of the family. We are up to seventeen family members on our own.

Cousins and friends. So cute!

Love Taryn's Christmas outfit! (She'll be wearing it Christmas day too, so be prepared to see it in pictures again.)

Christmas hugs!

Taryn seems to enjoy opening her presents this year. That is two-fold though... It means that she wants to open all presents now. Regardless of what the nametag says. Grandma Puetz got Taryn an Etch-a-sketch and a Discovery Channel ViewMaster. She loves her new toys!

Taryn and Ryan, the two youngest!

Taryn loves babies. Usually in doll fashion, but she loves the real ones two. Sometimes when her daycare class is out at recess she spends her time peeking in at the baby room at the daycare. I wasn't sure how she would react when Taryn came in from playing to find me holding adorable little Cece. When I picked her up too, she loved touching Cece's head, patting her back and giving her kisses. Oh, and pointing at her and saying with WIDE eyes "BABY!"

Taryn and her new Etch-a-sketch... Thanks Grandma Puetz!

Thanksgiving 2010

I just realized that I never posted anything about our Thanksgiving this year. I only took two whole pictures the entire day. Seriously, how do I always do that? My mom sometimes complains that I have so many pics from the Klemme events and not as many from our events. I'm pretty sure it is because when I'm at the Klemme events, I'm just sitting around taking pics of Taryn. They also spend a giant chunk of time taking posed pictures of the families. When I'm at my family events, I'm helping to cook, talking to family, laughing and usually drinking wine/beer. I am making a concious effort to try and take more pics at our family Christmas this year (while drinking wine/beer)!

I have to admit that this year I was not feeling all that thankful on Thanksgiving. We'd had a pretty awful week, and a day of giving thanks just seemed like a mockery. In retrospect, I do have a lot to be thankful for. I know Jess and Mich do this every week, but since I was a Thanksgiving scrooge, I thought I'd have my own thankful blog...

• Being able to live near my family. There is nothing I love more than being able to call my mom on the way to Target to ask if she wants to come. She adores entertaining Taryn (or is Taryn entertaining her?) and it makes my shopping trip WAY smooth. It is just so great to be able to be at all the family events and have our family at our events.
• A job with breaks and 2-hour delays. I am getting ready for my first winter break and I. can't. wait. I also love that when it is snowy out I get a 2-hour delay and am able to drive to school leisurely and safely.
• On the same token... A job with teachers and a principal that I really like. I've always had pretty good luck with having great co-workers and I am glad that has continued. It is so great to be able to wander out of my room for a moment of "adult time" between classes. It really helps maintain sanity.
• Horses. On the way to our house, there is a Purdue horse farm. Taryn has a new thing now where she tends to be quite miserable in her carseat. I love that as soon as we get to that farm the whining stops and is replaced by excited yells of "'orsies" from the backseat.
• Good neighbors. Our next door neighbor is a retired electrician. His wife still works, so he tends to have a lot of time to toil around in his yard, take fishing trips, etc. I love the fact that sometimes he uses his free time to sweep up the leaves in our yard or snow blow our driveway. He also has told Lee that he would help run a new outlet to our dishwasher.
• Our health. Last winter was a very unhealthy time for Taryn. It was her first winter and she had just started daycare. It seemed like she was sick every week. We were also just figuring out her asthma issues. This year, she hasn't had to stay home a single day yet (knock on wood). Lee spent a day at home with some flu-like symptoms, but compared to last year, things are a ton better. I had to spend a lot of time at my doctor during November, but I am thankful to have those behind me and be looking forward to healthy times again.
• My little family. I could probably write pages upon pages about how amazing Taryn is to me. I feel so blessed to have such a cute, sweet, friendly and loving little girl in my life. And my husband's alright too (haha). Lee does a ton around our house including most of the cooking and vacuuming... Two things I hate. Taryn loves her Dada and you can see that he thinks she's amazing as well. It's great to be married to my best friend and be able to joke and laugh with him everyday.

Say "No" to 'No

Last week we got our first BIG snow of the year. While Taryn saw snow last year, she didn't really understand what it was. All morning Taryn pointed out the window. We told her it was SNOW and she kept calling it "NO". She talked about the "NO" all morning, so Lee and I decided to bundle her up in her new snowsuit and take her out.
What seemed so awesome from inside the house, was not so cool when she was outside in it. She didn't want to touch the snow. Lee, being Lee was determined to get her into the snow.

There were some tears...

So, instead of getting her used to the snow slowly, Lee decided to try to turn her swing into a sled and pull her around the yard. Does this have "America's Funniest Home Videos" written all over it or what? That or "Taryn in therapy over her fear of snow".

Moral of the story... "NO" is only awesome from inside the nice cozy house!

Furry Friends

With every passing day, Taryn gets a little more mature and gentle with the kitties...
And they start to realize that she's here to stay...

But, I have a feeling that what started as dislike has turned into tolerance and someday Taryn's love for the kitties will actually be reciprocated.

Just as soon as she gets her foot out of Darby's face.

Peace and Quiet

This is what our evenings sometimes consist of... A tornado of noise and yelling. It's a good thing that we find it entertaining!

At the end of the 2nd video, she poses for the camera and says CHEESE. Such a little ham!

18 Months!!!

Ok, when did this happen? Who took my baby and left this little girl in her place? Taryn is a year and a half old now. It sure doesn't seem like it has been 18 months since our life was dramatically changed for the better by a charming, chunky little bundle of joy.

Taryn weighs about 28 lbs, wears size 2T clothes and size 6.5 in shoes. She has all of her teeth except her top 2-yr molars. She can repeat most words that she hears, but does not always use the words to express what she wants. This is one of her most annoying habits as she tends to just whine and pinch her thumb and finger in the very general direction of what she wants. We call it her "crab claw" and it can be quite frustrating when you're guessing what she wants. "Water? Chapstick? Keys? Snack?" She is getting a little bit better on this though. When she wants her paci, she leads us to the cabinet that we keep them in and points at them. When she wants a snack she goes to her highchair or just climbs up in it. I can't wait to be done with the guessing game! Some of my favorite words that she says are "ditty" (pretty), "nack" (snack), "night night", and "Eeeeeee" (Lee). Why does she call Lee by his first name? Yeah, um, that's my fault. We were outside and I was trying to get Lee's attention. I tried calling "Daddy" a few times, but he didn't hear me. Finally I yelled his name. Taryn has really taken to it and calls for him in this way.

Taryn still loves her books and can find the right book that she wants us to read. If we say "Row Row Row Your Boat" then she will go over and come back with that book. She also knows to get her Purdue book and "10 Little Fingers". She likes a new book that is all animal sounds that is really not an enjoyable read and a Big Bird book that is WAY too long for a 1.5 year old. Taryn's daycare does a book "recycle" program each Wednesday and I am planning to send the Big Bird book ASAP!

Taryn varies from being really friendly to really shy. When we are in stores, she loves saying HI to everyone and gets confused and discouraged when she doesn't get a response. But, then there are other days, like yesterday, where she was so shy at the playground that she wouldn't get off my lap. She still gets mostly good reports at daycare. A couple times in the last week she has gotten "pushy" on her report. She loves cameras, real, fake and phone. She likes to take fake pictures of herself. Already preparing for her teenage years of taking profile pics, I guess. She turns the camera (or cell phone) around, says CHEESE while giving a big fake smile, then makes a fake camera clicking sound.

Taryn's latest love and first tv show that she likes, is Wheel of Fortune. Every night at 7, we sit in our LaZBoy together and watch the Wheel. She claps along and cheers and every now and then will immitate calling out a letter. Then, when the show is over, it's her bedtime. Taryn tends to be really noisy. Her new thing to do when I get her at daycare is to run across the room yelling and then run back to me. When she does this, the other kids start running and yelling too. She is such a trendsetter. Sometimes at home she'll just run the loop of our house yelling. I actually just got a video of this the other day that I'll post later.

Taryn gets funnier and cuter everyday. I can't wait to go through her second holiday season. She's going to LOVE the gift opening! She is the light of our lives and has Lee and I amazed with all she does. Can't wait to see the little girl she becomes. I know she'll be awesome!!

Happy Birthday Max!

As usual, this blog is a little late. That's just how I blog lately. Sorry.

A couple weeks ago we headed down to Indianapolis to meet Max Goldman and celebrate his 1st birthday. It is so awful that this was our first time meeting Max and their first time meeting Taryn when we only live an hour away from each other.

Quick photo shoot of Taryn before we went. She was sporting her new sweater dress and knew she looked cute.

"No, I didn't eat a cupcake..."

The BIRTHDAY BOY! He's a cute little guy. He's small but mighty. And very very busy! Somehow in my picture all you can see are Purdue logos on his shirt, but he actually had a Purdue and Wisconsin shirt on since his daddy is from West Lafayette and mommy is from Wisconsin (but she was a Purdue grad, so we still like her).

Taryn had fun playing with Jack. I'm not sure Jack was having as much fun... He didn't complain though.

"I love other kids' toys!"

Thanks for having us over Grant & Ashley. Max is awesome! We really need to not let as much time pass before our next visit!!!

What has been consuming my time?

Lee and I each had a 4-day weekend last week, so we decided to tackle a big project around our house. Refinishing the living room and kitchen floors. So, we turned our dining room into a psuedo-kitchen and got to work.

At one point as we fumbled around in our dining-room-turned-kitchen, Lee said "This is what it would be like living in an efficiency apartment." FYI, I don't want to!
Since I had Thursday and Friday off and Lee had Friday/Monday off, I was in charge of a lot of preparation. I had to remove the THREE layers of linoleum in the kitchen. I got about 1/2 done before it was beyond my capabilities. In the pic to the right you can see some of the decor schemes that they had at different times in the kitchen. Which is worse? Robin egg blue? Or the neon green plaid wallpaper? EEK/

All of the linoleum on the floor left a lot of tar-y glue. This crap was near impossible to remove. The pic on the left was after Lee had been sanding for a good hour. The pic on the right was after about 4 hours. It was brutal.

The end result is always worth it though. Look at these shining new floors. Gorgeous!

However, we still can't put our furniture back until SUNDAY. The floors have to dry for 7 days before total use. So, besides our television and our stove, we're still dealing with no furniture. Oh, and we won't have a kitchen sink for a little while. It really stinks doing the dishes in the bathroom sink, but it is still better than last time we refinished wood floors and went without a bathroom!!!

Dad & Dani Visit from NJ!

A couple of weeks ago, my dad and half-sister Daniella came to visit us from NJ. My dad hadn't seen Taryn since her 1st birthday party 5 months ago and Dani hadn't seen her since Christmas. So, needless to say, they were amazed by how much she had changed and grown!

We spent a lot of time just chilling around the house and relaxing. Taryn was super shy with her guests at first, but as usual, that only lasts about 15 minutes. She warmed up to Dani first since Dani was a younger girl and had a super sweet cell phone. Yeah, that's what it takes to get T's attention. Soon, she was showing off and immitating and doing all her tricks.

Always have to get a pic of T with my mom & dad. We don't get them together all that often!

Taryn and her Great-Grandma Shirley. I absolutely love this pic!!

Halloween 2010 in Pics

The whole family dressed up for our Halloween/Ryan's 1st Birthday Party!

Other good family costumes.

Grandparents!!

Lee and my pumpkin creations!!

Taryn loves her decorated pumpkin!!