Times Are Changing and Keeping Me on My Toes

First of all, please excuse my mess.  This corner has become our dumping grounds, but I have since cleaned it off. :)

Brooke is a sweet and cuddly little girl.  She loves to be with me - all the time.  It makes it hard to accomplish a lot some most days, but I am her favorite person in the world right now.  Sorry, Daddy. I know this won't last long so I try to cherish it when I can.  She's two years old and still likes to be rocked to sleep.  And I do it.  My other girls wanted their bed, so to have a little one who wants to be snuggled at night is such a pleasure. After we pray she always requests me to sing "Jesus Loves Me," "You Are My Sunshine," and "The B-I-B-L-E." All three songs must be sung before every nap and before bedtime.  Sometimes she will even join in and sing with me.  What could be more precious than a two year old singing "Jesus Loves Me?"  All that to say that she is also a little stinker.  She walks around the house talking about "cow poop" (and I have NO idea where that came from), spitting when she doesn't get her way, and getting into everything she possibly can.  She is always two steps ahead of me when it comes to destruction.  I was at the computer the other day and it was quiet.  Too quiet.  I walked into the kitchen to find that she had pulled a chair up to the counter, climbed onto of the cabinets, and reached up to grab herself some Valentine's Day candy. Since then I have found her on the counter two more times. I have no doubt that if I ever have to make an ER trip due to injuries she will be the one I am taking. STINKER! But, at the end of the day, when she is snuggled in my arms falling asleep, all is forgiven.  I will cherish these moments as best I can, and I refuse to feel guilty that I spend time rocking my two year old to sleep on a regular basis.  She wants it, and so do I.

House Update

I wanted to get another house update on here, but in looking back at my pictures I realized I don't have many to share. The first one is up in our attic.  This is about half of the space we have for a bonus room, but we are leaving it unfinished. The framing is done and the windows and remainder of the doors should go in this week.  Next week we will begin adding rough plumbing, heating and air, roof, siding, decks, and electrical. Lord willing that will be completed in a couple of weeks and we can move on to insulation and drywall!

I Think I Will Brag a Little

A couple of weeks ago Marc and I took a trip to New York City.  There are 13,000 electrical engineers in his company and he was one of 12 selected as Engineer of the Year.  This is the first time they have ever given out this award.  I am SOOO proud of him.  He deserves it for how hard he works, how many problems he solves, and for how much gets dumped on him.  He won't complain (ok, maybe just a little to me, but it's completely justified and I'm always amazed at how he handles everything). So, his company paid for both of us to head to NYC for a couple of nights.  We had a lovely Italian dinner with the other award winners and spouses as well as the members of the engineering council, Marc sat in on an Engineering Council meeting, and then we had the awards luncheon. Other than that the rest of the time was completely ours.

Marc receiving his award from the CEO. And supposedly there is a stock award as well, but we have yet to hear details about that. :)

We had been to NYC before the kids were born, and so we had already done most of the touristy stuff.  This time we just enjoyed walking around.   

Chrysler Building

Central Park

We did head up to the Top of the Rock.  A little chilly, but it was a pretty clear day.

After all that walking we decided a trip to Serendipity was in order.  We had never been, and even though we knew the desserts would be huge, we weren't quite prepared for these.  It's too bad we always want something different, so we had to order two desserts. So good, though!

In case you were wondering your share of the national debt.  This was a couple of weeks ago, so add on a little more. 

I have been wanting to see Wicked for quite a while.  We didn't see it when it came to Atlanta, so I was so excited when Marc bought us tickets. It was a FANTASTIC show and I would see it again in a heartbeat.

 

Times Square

We had such a wonderful trip, and we are so thankful that our parents kept the girls for us.  I am so proud of my hubby and I enjoyed celebrating with him.

Quick Update

Lots has been going on in the Dutton household.  Marc and I just got back from a trip to New York City, but more on that later. Here are a few pictures to wrap up January (even though we are halfway through February!)

Kayla received her Bible from Pastor Johnny a couple of weeks ago.  She was so excited!

The older girls wanted their nails painted and I decided to see if Brooke wanted hers done as well.  I was surprised at how still she was and she was great about letting them dry.  She talked about her pink nails that "mama did" for several days.

And Marc took Kayla and Macy out to CFA for daddy-daughter date night.  They were giddy all day for their special time.  After dinner they went out for frozen yogurt and a walk around Target.