2nd post for the day - amazing!

Frustrated at not losing weight very fast, and deciding to challenge myself, I declared that our house would go meatless for March. I'm also trying to do less baked/mostly flour desserts. I served Jell-o for tonight. Jack called it "bill-a-bo" instead.

Walking around Menards; "What a wonderful place!"

Leesha has a friend whose name sounds like "Mew-tee-ah" Jack insists her name is tortilla.

I had Jack clean up in the basement, and when he was done, he and Jeffry brought up some of his night time diapers. There is a number 6 on the back (indicating his size). Jeffry has sowed him in the past that if they are upside down, it makes a 9. So, as Jack was helping me stack them to put in the drawer, he states; "If it dos (do with an 's' on the end) like this, it turns number 4!"

After brushing his teeth; "You know why I like him?" "Why." "That's why 'cause he's great!" I can only assume he was referring to "Li'l Fella" whom Jeffry has posted about previously.

Maggie cut her second tooth on Tuesday, when she turned 8 months. On Monday and Tuesday, she was crawling around saying; "Mamamamama."

2009 Newsletter

jeffrywith1e@gmail.com, carawillis@gmail.com, leeshamoreno@gmail.com

Check out our online photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/carawillis

and blog at: http://williseast.blogspot.com/

This isn't fancy, but it's done, and before the first day of Spring too.

January:

Leesha and Jeffry took the "illness" baton from Jack and started the New Year under the weather.

After announcing our Final Addition/Edition, we learned friends were expecting about a month ahead, and another, a month after us.

Both our furnace and water heater decided to take a short break, but got up and running again.

Leesha and Cara went and saw "The Tale Of Desperaux".

Cara finally pulled out her maternity clothes with a sigh of relief, and later got a haircut.

Leesha was allowed to use the microphone at the Dr.'s office to hear "Toto's" heartbeat before celebrating her birthday at Culver's, attended the Young Author's Conference held at Bethel University, and helped with a "Culture Fair" at school.

February:

Throwing a bit of a tantrum while taking care of her trash chore, Leesha broke the window in our door. Cara burst out laughing. Friends installed the new door the next day. (Thanks Ben, Eric and Jon)

"Raising Sand" CD entered our home on Valentine's Day.

Jack grew a snaggle tooth, and learned how to climb out of his crib.

Ultrasound suggested "Toto" might well be a girl; Grandmothers were thrilled.

Cara got the first ear infection she remembers having.

March:

Jack pooped on the potty!

Our nephew Smith was born!

Cara and Leesha participated in a Global Banquet at NHCA. (If you haven't done one of these, it's a great experience.)

Dog-sat Hazel.

April:

Got a dining room table and chairs off of Craigslist.

Had a visit from Greg and Mandy during which the hole in our wall started to be repaired.

Jeffry and Cara had a date!

Got together with some moms from church at our neighborhood park.

Cara got a pedicure, and later got the basement organized to her liking.

Friends of Leesha's from our old neighborhood came to our house for an overnight.

Project day at the house where we had help with some of our "fixit" projects.

May:

Leesha was recognized for playing volleyball at the NHCA Sports Awards ceremony, and had various roles in "Esther-ordinary Faith".

Jeffry had an accident at work, and thus some unplanned time off; he used some of that time to clean out our gutters.

Lost finale with friends.

Helped other friends with refurbishing their "new" old house.

Celebrated Memorial Day with family and friends.

Jack tumbled down the stairs.

June:

Lots of cleaning and nesting.

Celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. For our anniversary, we actually had a sitter and were able to go to dinner and a movie. (Thanks Jeanelle)

Visit from the Macky's and ensuing outings which Cara opted out of for fear of labor.

Cara attempted painting our plastic bathroom tiles. The paint didn't take.

Ultrasound confirms a girl with Grandma and Auntie Caryn there for the showing.

Friends welcome a baby girl.

Cara mourned for friends who lost their 8 month old daughter.

We all mourned the loss of Great Grandpa Smith.

July:

Jack gave up on chatting under the door, and learned how to put himself to bed.

Got an apartment ready for Craig and family during their furlough.

The 9th, one week after the due date, we were at the hospital by 8am, measuring 6cm without much discomfort at all. We got the kids sent off with grandparents, took a walk, and then Cara's water was broken at 10:05am. 1 hour, 42 minutes and 2 pushes later, Margaret Mae Willis arrived squalling unlike our placid Jack. She was 8lbs. 2oz. and 20.1 inches.

Cara survived the two nights in the hospital despite really missing the rest of the family.

Tracy, Nathaniel and Aaron arrived from Kenya on the 9th as well, Craig followed later.

Trip with Nathaniel and Aaron to Como Zoo.

Sorley family reunion at Grandpa Sorley's old cabin during which Jack fell in the lake and Cara celebrated her birthday with everyone for the first time in a long while.

Anderson family reunion here in the cities - only 2 cousins were missing from the gathering.

Friends baby arrived on Jack's 2nd birthday.

August:

Maggie got water up her nose during a bath.

Cara survived a trip to the dentist with all three kids.

Dogsat Hazel.

Jeffry and Cara repaired the garage door.

We made the difficult decision to move Leesha to the local schools and eliminate the 2 hours of daily commuting to NHCA. We went bowling with her friends from NHCA so she could say goodbye.

Leesha got to go to the State Fair and was also at a Wells Fargo branch with her dad during a robbery.

September:

Celebrated Jeffry's birthday at Dino's.

Visit from Great Grandma Smith and Grandma and Grandpa Willis.

Leesha started school at Skyview, and went to an NHCA volleyball game.

Cara made the unintelligent decision to take both babies to the Dr. for shots on the same day.

After what seemed an eternity, Cara went back to work.

Visit from Marji, Ron and Nancy Sorley.

Dogsat Hazel.

October:

Leesha had a sick day, her first school party and got great comments from her teachers during conferences.

Maggie started going to the church nursery.

High Tea for Grandpa David before he took off for India again.

Went to "Where the Wild Things Are".

Trick-or-Treating with Craig and Family. This years costume: a hand-me-down from Leesha - Jack o'lantern.

November:

Cara undertook the overwhelming task of cleaning Leesha's room.

We babysat for most members of our Small Group so they could go out on dates.

Had neighbors over for dessert.

Maggie learned to roll over.

Leesha went to "New Moon" with friends from Church.

Celebrated Thanksgiving with friends and family.

December:

Maggie started "solids".

Jack got sick.

Leesha visited NHCA.

We went and visited friends in Altoona, WI, and then Jeffry and Jack took a day trip down to Farmington to hang out with friends.

Purchased new tires for our CRV.

We got a van! Finally settling on a meticulously maintained Honda Odyssey with 160K in miles.

Hosted the Anderson family Christmas dessert.

Due to sick babies and adverse weather, a very low key Christmas day at home.

There it is; our year in a nutshell.

The kids

Did I mention Maggie cut a tooth on Feb. 20th? I think we could easily call her "Elasti-gums" for it seemed an eternity before it cut, and the second hasn't cut yet - well, not as of yesterday anyhow. Fortunately, she isn't too upset by the teething process.
She is also eating cereal - real, adult cereal. It's so cute to watch her chase them around her tray then finally get one into her mouth where she "chews" it up.
She is also pulling herself up on things.

Jack has developed a bit of a mean streak with her, and not all intentional. If she's on the floor where he wants to drive his little truck, she gets run over. If she is sitting, and he thinks she wants to crawl, he'll push her over. He tries to pick her up. And, the usual; "It's MY toy!" attitude about any and all toys in the house.
He still has some loving moments too, which melt our hearts.

The other day, he came to me saying; "Mom, here's a corduroy. A money. A penny for my piggy bank. Can I have my ark?" Grandma Holly's work gave him an engraved Ark bank which has some money in it. I think he must have thought he found a quarter and decided it was called a corduroy.

This morning, I was informed that; "Jesus rose from the dad." And later; " I don' wan' (or was it like) you to go." referring to my heading to work. Awwww...... I finally get a comment like that because usually in the morning he'll ask me where Daddy is. When I tell him that Dad's at work, he vehemently denies it. He does accept that Leesha is at school though.

Apparently, he's learned the association of yawning and being tired, because he informed Jeffry the other night, "Dad, I'm almost tired. I just yawned."

One morning when Jeffry was making coffee, he asked Jack if he liked coffee. Jack's response: "No. I like milk and orange juice."

Make A Dalmatian Today

I suspect Jack saw a fundraiser somewhere today. That was the phrase we've been hearing him say this evening.

Hiding and Seeking

When Jeffry was leaving on Saturday morning to go gaming, Jack said;

"Please would you don't go?"

I've got some sinus issue, so was drinking saltwater through my nose to clear it out a bit. Jack came in to investigate. I told him I was drinking saltwater through my nose, which he reported to dad. Jeffry asked him; "Are you going to do that?" Jack responded; "No, it's Mom's "dea"." (We don't know if "dea" is for deal or idea.

While Susanna and Abby were over yesterday, Jack and Susanna were playing Hide and Go Seek. From the kitchen, I heard Jack; "1, 2, fee, 4, 8, 9, firteen, 'leven, twelve. Here come!"

Maggie decided to cut her tooth on Saturday. Grandma Darlene took the babies and I to the Children's Museum where Jack had a lot of fun, but did comment; "Dinosaurs say "Roar" and scare me."

Rainbow Connection

For several weeks now we've incorporated a YouTube video into our Patrol routine. I'm not sure how it started, but each and every night we've watched this video and now we've both learned the lyrics pretty well. Jack is quite the little singer.

Learning about this big kid thing

I told Jack to get out of the buffet where the "nice" dishes are stored. Since I spoke loudly, he started crying and saying; "I want my Daddy." Realizing that maybe he just needed a little cuddling from mom, I asked him to come sit with me in his room. He got his lovey out of the closet for some comfort. I told him to put it back, but he said "I needa get my cryings off," as he wiped his eyes.

At lunch, Maggie was making baby noises . Jack will sometimes pick up on things she "says" and ask if I heard that. I told him. "I hear her." He responded; "I like to hear." Yeah, me too, Jack.

Jack can tend to get a bit hyper when he needs to use the bathroom. I'd told him to use the potty, he'd asked why ...
Mom to Jack; "You're going nuts."
Jack "I fought I was going pee."

In the car, with his peanut butter and cracker snack ...
"Do you like those crackers a lot?"

"I do because peanut butter is yummy, yummy, yummy. I like peanut butter 'cause it's yummy, yummy, yummy lots."

"Dudderspoch" vs. butterscotch.

"Prince-fuu" vs. footprint.

Pulling up to church, Jack lets out a cry. To our questioning of why, he responded; "The sun was brighting me!"

As I was drying my hair, Maggie was observing me from the hallway with her sucker. She started coming into the bathroom, then stopped and looked around as though she'd forgotten something and was trying to remember what it was. She located her sucker, picked it up and then came in the bathroom.

She's on a full menu now - veggies, some fruit, yogurt, cereal, meat. She'll even eat Cheerios!


Leesha had been talking about going to a movie with some friends. By the time it was upon us, she and her friend were trying to figure out which movie, and we started to figure out more and more of this "plan". We discovered that the girls were planning to go to the movie by themselves. We decided to get more involved, and gave her options of movies, limited the time, and informed her that a parent needed to go with them - to the movie, not just the theater. After a lot of hassle, she ended up not going. We now know that we need her to have the who, what, where, when, etc. all figured out before approaching us about events. We've also learned that not everybody is as strict as we are. Go figure!

When Jack said he was done eating, I started to clear his spot and put his bowl in the sink. He got upset, so after we went over what should be said, I put it back on the table. Back in the kitchen, he said; "Fank you for not keep putting it in the sink."