Thanksgiving and more...

Talk about a busy month! We were extremely busy with Thanksgiving and things have not really slowed down at all since. In fact, they might have picked up speed! Nonetheless, we are having a ball and really looking forward to all of the festivities. Due to the business, this post will be a short picture log. Not much notable has happened this month outside of Thanksgiving. The kids are growing bigger and bigger. Joseph and Emery now share a room and do fantastic! They even nap together. It's working out awesome and we couldn't be happier. We're looking forward to a very busy month in December with tons of fun activities. We'll try to keep you all updated on it all!

Our big girl now sits up so well we figured she didn't need to be in her little baby tub. She had so much fun sitting in the tub. This was her first time. She had a ball.

In honor of Thanksgiving, for the second year now, we make this thankful chain. For a FHE (Family Home Evening - one night picked out to be a family night) we play the thankful game. (Julie created this last year.) We roll a ball between us and say things we're thankful for. We play this sometimes just to play it. (Last year Joseph loved this game and we played it often.) This time Julie wrote down all the thankful things on small pieces of paper and made a chain.

These are pictures of the kid's cloth book Julie has been working on for a while. (We've had a few requests to post these.) The next set of pages is almost finished. Once they are done, we'll post pictures of them too.

These two pictures were taken by Joseph. Julie was inspired by her nephew Cardon's picture taking skills (and parent's patience in letting him do it.) and started letting Joseph take pictures. He loves it! And every now and then he takes some pretty good stuff. He's now figured out how to hold it pretty straight and stand a reasonable distance from what he's taking a picture of.

Yes, Emery is started the crawling process. Although in this particular picture, Julie propped her up. She can now do it all on her own. She's also started pulling herself up on things too, as of today. (shown below)

Well, Thanksgiving was marvelous, and Julie did quite a bit of cooking. She'll be adding all of her recipes to her cooking blog. (Listed on the left under "Made with Love".) So for more details on how that all went, check there in a few days.

Here's a picture of the cutie pie on Thanksgiving at Jared and Anitas. Although her eyes are closed (classic), you can still see her adorable smile and super cute outfit!

Later that weekend we all went bowling as a family (all the Denneys). It was tons of fun. Even Emery got in on the action.

And to bring you all back to the present, here's the Christmas tree (wonderfully hidden by Joseph) which we put up earlier this week. Joseph really enjoyed helping to put the ornaments on, wanting to know what each and every single one was.

So there's the skinny. You're all up to date! Julie is wanting to (despite how busy she is. She's so crazy!) get out a small Christmas type newsletter. But she'll do it after the kid's pictures are taken (in about 2 weeks.) But don't worry, she's emailing it out like last time. It was way too convenient not to do it that way again. Until then, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Trick Arrrr Treat (Read til the end!)

We're proud to say that we dressed up this year (parents included.) Although we did not dress up Emery. She's just so darn cute as she is. The whole family went to the trunk or treat at the Church dressed up as pirates! Halloween was a blast. We had a ton of fun. After the trunk or treat we headed over to Grandparent Denney's house. We had some fun spooky treats and laughs. Unfortunately now, Joseph is aware of what Halloween is, and it'll be another holiday he'll ask us about once a week for the next year. That, and we have enough candy to last us a really really long time!

Everyone say Arr

Head to toe pirate action, complete with homemade eye patches for the ultimate pirate look!

Halloweeny dip!

Dry ice in the punch bowl. So cool!

Candy corn pudding!

Awesome little treat bags made by Julie. Aaron dropped one in the parking lot about 3 times and nothing fell out! Quality craftsmanship! (Not really, but they didn't fall apart!)

A short while before Halloween we had an FHE of making spooky Haunted Houses. For more info on them, check out Julie's cooking blog. (It's in the right-hand menu of My Blog List. Click on Mediocre Eats.)

Made Aaron get Julie in a picture.

Julie made one for us and Joseph made one to give away to a friend.

Cute kiddos!

Joseph made a jack-o-lantern with Aaron. Joseph even got to draw the face and Aaron translated it into this. So Spooky!

Out for a walk. (Eventually Joseph ended up with Emery in his lap. It worked better.)

She enjoyed the wagon.

The was the climax of our walk. They were working and moving around too. It was pretty exciting.

So, the real news (as many of you already know) is that Aaron passed his COMPS and will be receiving his masters degree! He already applied for graduation and will be officially graduting in December, though we won't be doing any of the formalities. We are extremely excited that his student days are done. Now his teacher days have officially begun. Now if only Montana paid better for a masters degree! We're excited either way.  Anyhow, that's all our news and photos! Thanks for enduring the long post!

6 months ago...

A little over 6 months, but close. Emery just had her six month appointment. She's getting to be such a big girl! This has gone by so quickly too! Our baby girl weighs 16 lb. 10 oz. (62%) and is 27 in. long (88%). She sits and has one tooth. What a big girl! She's also starting to feed herself a bit. She's still figuring out how to get it out of her fist, but we don't think it'll be long before she has it figured out. She loves eating too much!

In other news, Aaron took his COMPS exam. He feels good about it, but time will tell. Once Aaron passes this test, he will receive his Masters. So keep us in your thoughts and send those test people good vibes about Aaron!

Joseph is doing great. Continuing to learn and grow at a ridiculous pace! He is completely able to maneuver the computer and internet. He loves to play games. He likes Disney Playhouse, PBS Kids, and sites like those. They're really great. He also loves to watch instant watch on Netflix. Thank goodness for it, because our movie selection for him isn't growing very fast (or not at all!) and he gets bored. He's gearing up for sharing his room with Emery. We told him he will eventually. Trying to ease the shock of it. Emery is starting to sleep through the night. Not consistently yet, but she's done it twice (11 hours straight.) If she can keep doing it then we'll move the crib to the kid's room. Woohoo! We'll have our bedroom back!

As for Julie, just doing the same old day to day hard labor. She has a second calling at church. Besides being the fourth Sunday teacher for Relief Society, she's also the choir pianist. It's proving to be a challenge, but she's always one for a challenge. Aaron's brother Jared lent us his keyboard so she can practice at home. We're doing a Thanksgiving number, and then an entire Christmas program. It's going to take lots of practice. Good thing she had all those years of piano lessons to teach her about practicing! Well, here's some pictures of the kiddos!

Joseph wanted Julie to take a picture of them together on their bellies.

Wearing a hat and scarf Julie made.

Looking oh so cute in her Sunday clothes.

Joseph with the towers he built.

Arrr! (Halloween sneak peak!)

There's a little mirror down there Emery has taken to staring at. It's pretty cute.

Snow??

Yes, it's true. We've already had snow. Can you believe it? We weren't too happy. However, the weather should be getting a bit warmer by the end of the week, so we look forward to that. Other than that, things have been slow and steady for us Denneys. Aaron is continuing to study for his COMPS exam (his last step to the masters) which is October 23. (Next Friday!) Julie is recovering from readin the Twilight Saga in a matter of a few days. (Or as quickly as she could get her hands on the books.) Her cooking was on the back burner (pun intended) for a few days. But now she's back in the game. Joseph has really enjoyed her taking pictures for her cooking blog http://mediocre-eats.blogspot.com/ and when she takes photos for the blog, he always wants her to take a picture of him with his food as well.

Joseph is growing bigger every day and getting smarter too! We have been enjoying Story Time at the library lately. Every Tuesday they do books, songs, and a small craft. He always comes home with 3-4 books. Emery is growing bigger as well. She recently cut her first tooth! It is still in the beginning stages. You can't really see it unless she sits still and opens wide. (Not likely to happen.) But you can definitely feel it. We're hoping the worst of the discomfort is over. She had 3 or so nights of not great sleep. But last night was much better, so hopefully the worst of this tooth is over. (Maybe we'll actually get a small break before the next one.)

The cold is coming!

Fall is definitely upon us. It has gotten much cooler in the last few days and every so often there are whispers of snow. Fortunately, none has come yet. Hopefully we'll have a bit longer before the snow starts! Here are our updates!

Aaron: I'm working really hard at my classes. I have been getting a lot of exercise because I bike to Flathead High school for my first class, then bike to Glacier High School for my remaining classes.  I am getting used to my classes, although it's hard to ever have enough time to prepare for 4 separate lesson plans each day! In the next month I will be taking my COMPS. That is the last step before I can get my Masters. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but we're hoping it is worth it and I can finish my degree!

Julie: Things have been going pretty well lately! I have been enjoying my new cooking blog: http://mediocre-eats.blogspot.com It gives me a fun outlet almost every day as I prepare fun things for the family. I also try to keep up with the occasional crafts: a cloth book for the kids, birthday cards, clothing repairs, etc. I've also been making time to do some reading. I'm currently starting the Twilight series. I know, I'm just getting started. We did finally see the movie a few weeks ago and enjoyed it.

Joseph: I am still learning new things every week! This week I am learning about F/f, 5, and green/verde! I am getting so good at learning my spanish words! My latest hobby is watching Dora and Bob the Builder on Netflix Instant Watch. (We get Netflix and you can watch certain movies and shows on the Netflix site. He loves this! He doesn't hardly watch tv anymore.) I also like going to storytime at the library on Tuesdays and bringing home books.

Emery: I am still the sweetest little girl ever. Just last night I slept from 8-4 and 4-7:30. Mama is very happy about that! I am eating rice cereal, oatmeal, applesauce and bananas! I am figuring out this whole sitting business. I don't enjoy doing it for long periods of time yet, but I'm getting pretty good at it. I enjoy standing too. I am constantly learning how to make new sounds. Everyone always likes when I talk. I'm just a happy girl. I will be having my six month appointment in a few weeks. Mama and Papa are excited to know how much I've grown. I'm getting quite a few rolls on my legs, and my cheeks are getting kinda big. I'm tall enough to fit in size 12 month clothes, although my waist isn't quite big enough yet! I guess I'm gonna be tall like my Papa!

Mama cut my hair!

Just in case I fall down!

When I woke up from my nap the other day I just looked out the window quietly for a few minutes. It was so peaceful!

Mama looks so pretty in her shoes, I figure I would too!

Videos!

The new blogger editor doesn't include videos yet, so that's why we haven't posted any. But we switched back to the old blog editor just for this post. We've been taking tons of videos and wanted to share them!



Random videos of Emery. She's funny. Once she sees the camera she'll stop talking or whatever she was doing. Now she'll actually smile at it. When she eats sometimes she'll make an "mmm" sound with every bite, like Julie's nephew Nicholas. It's so cute, but impossible to get on camera! Here's some Emery fun. Enjoy!

Check her out!

Yup! She can sit!

However, she won't do it all the time. Only if she wants to. If we keep her happily engaged with a toy she'll sit, and the moment she loses interest she falls over. We're sure it's only a matter of time before she thinks sitting is actually cool!

Emery!

Emery has been having tons of fun the last few days. She has started rolling, going from back to front (both directions) and even rolling from front to back once. She's eating solids now. Mainly rice cereal and oatmeal. But we've started introducing bananas too. She's starting to "talk" a lot more, and her sleep seems to be improving as well. This little lady is growing up!

This little girl loves to stick out her tongue!

Joseph wanted his picture taken after he found all the chicks in this counting game. He was so pleased.

p.s. Julie has a new cooking blog, her current hobby. If you're interested, check it out! She'll be updating it regularly. http://mediocre-eats.blogspot.com/

Ta-da!

There's really nothing special to say "Ta-da!" about, it just sounded like a good post title. Here's our latest and greatest:

Aaron: Teaching has been going well. He's adjusting to the new roll and seems to be enjoying it. For him, it's just the daily grind.

Julie: Raising two kids is tough! But it's getting easier. The new challenge is finding a way to get some regular exercise! I'm sure that will come in time as well.

Joseph: I'm learning more spanish! Now I know how to say sol, luna, estrella, rojo, blanco, morado and I'm learning negro. Now I ask Mama and Papa how to say things in spanish all the time, like car, window, sky, and street. I'm also getting two new teeth. I told Mama that my mouth hurt yesterday and so she looked in and saw two big bumps on the back of my gums. I almost have new teeth. She put medicine on it so it didn't hurt anymore. Thanks Mama!


This is my calendar and the things I'm learning about. I have a number of the week too. This week I'm learning about black/negro, C/c and two/dos. When I remember things about these new concepts all on my own, I earn extra computer time to play my games on the computer. It's the best!

Emery: I'm eating baby cereals! Now that I have this extra little bit of food, I'm so much happier! I'm sleeping better during the day and better at night. I also fall asleep for my naps without even crying. I still cry at night though. Have to keep them on their toes! I'm such a happy baby. Everyone loves me!


I have learned to smile at the camera instead of just staring at it. Now everyone can see more pictures of how beautiful I am!

Afterthoughts...

After rushing a little bit to get the last post in, Julie realized she left out a few tidbits here and there, and also took some pictures and video of Emery for those who are Emery-starved! Our first tidbit is that Joseph is potty trained! He has been now for a few weeks. We tried working on it Jared's house but realized he was just too distracted playing with his cousins that he wouldn't take the time to go to the bathroom. So once we moved into our own place, we got him some cool underwear and put him in it. He had accidents for 3-4 days and after that was good to go. Now he's able to do the whole deal by himself, and even has the good habit of washing his hands and turning the light off when he's done! He's so wonderful and we're so grateful to have this milestone done with!

Another Joseph tidbit is that Julie has begun teaching him Spanish! So far he knows 4words. Sol (sun), Luna (moon), Estrella (star), and Rojo (red). We'll see how well he starts to pick up on it. It took a while for these 4, but now he knows them pretty well, and enjoys it when we point out one of the words he knows (a star sticker, or red toy), and he'll repeat it back to us. It's pretty fun!

Here is an official plug (not a day too soon) for Stephanie's (Julie's sister) new sewing blog. She's doing giveaways (which are amazing). This is the latest one. Hope we win! http://thesewingroombakersfield.blogspot.com/2009/08/gratitude-and-give-way.html

Now, as promised, Julie immediately began taking pictures of Emery. Granted, there weren't too many photo shoots, but the pictures are still good. Hope you enjoy the updated photos. P.S. keep your eyes out for a new look for the blog. It's time for an update!











I had to add this one. Joseph came into the kitchen and said "I'm a man now!" He was wearing Aaron's shoes. Precious.