I am so sorry

To all the people who actually check to see if I have blogged recently, I apologize. I have been terrible about updating this. In my defense, things have been a little crazy.
Let's back up to Halloween. This was the first year that Jayden could really appreciate the Halloween experience. He was a fighter pilot. We taught him to say "Trick or Treat." So around 6:00 Josh and Jayden headed out to seek their treasure. Jayden walked the whole time, and knocked on each door. However, it went from "trick or treat" to "more candy please!" He frequently reminds me "walk with Daddy. Cold. Dark. More candy please."
For Thanksgiving, we ate with a family that lives in a community close to Branson. They have some horses and Jayden rode a horse for the first time. He loved it!
We are in our new house and have been painting and fixing things and making it our home. Josh just put the door back on the office. He had to take the entire door, including the frame, off to get our monster-size desk through the door. I am proud that he didn't curse because I know that he really wanted to!

Moving update and what we are up to

We have less than one week left until we close on our new house!
This Friday, the movers come to pack up our stuff. We don't actually load up and move for another week after that. This gives us several days to clean the new house and to paint a couple of rooms. All of the walls in the new house are white. Not so much my style! I plan to paint my son's room and hopefully the kitchen/living area. Hopefully I can get this accomplished!
There is so much left to do! Change our address on our bills, pack our important things, finish up all of the loan stuff.
We have already gotten plugged back into our new church. It finally feels like we belong somewhere.

The boss man is working hard this week and the little man and I are visiting Dad. Jennilee is in town and we are having a great time. The four of us made a chocolate cake. Jayden stirred the flour, salt and cocoa powder. Then he and Peepaw Jerry licked the beaters. We got some cute pictures and I will try to get those posted later.
We went on a Daddy/daughter date yesterday and our friends Melissa and Sue and Sue's mom watched Jayden. He had a great time and apparently he talked about "Dr. Phil" a lot. I think I should stop watching it with him!

We have officially survived one week in the hotel!

I am not going to lie and say it is a pleasant experience but I also know it could be so much worse! There just isn't any room for Jayden, or the dogs for that matter, to run around and get anergy out. A good friend of mine invited us (including the dogs) over to utilize her backyard.
Jayden and I are at home today to do laundry, pack, and clean the house. And the dogs are going to spend the entire day outside.
We went back to our old church. It is so surreal to be there. I don't think Josh feels this way but I feel like I don't fit any more. I am so different than I was two years ago and everyone expects me to be the same. Have I really learned that much? I think that being fairly isolated in Joplin has made me more independent and reserved. It will all work out though. I am going to join some activities that I didn't do before and I am thinking about taking a break from music. Josh played drums on Sunday and he did a great job. I was really proud of him and he had a great time.
Life is just full of lots of change for us right now and I am not the best at change. (Although to my credit and I am getting much better.
I will try to post some pictures from Jayden's birthday today.

I feel old!

I have a two year old and we have entered the wonderful world of the terrible twos!
Fits on the floor, temper tantrums, and screaming have all emerged in the temperment of my once sweet little man. What to do? My mom would be so proud that I got a child whith a personality just like mine.
We are in St. Louis this week and we had a birthday party for Jayden. Lots of fun and Jayden is offically spoiled. We got him a little tent for him to play in. It is so cute because he will invited people to come in and hang out in his little area that is full of all his new toys. "PePaw Jerry. Come in here?"
I guess this is the end to my blog for today. Jayden is throwing a fit.
By the way, for those who are interested, we are moving into a hotel for a month. God help us all!

Ice Cream

My Dad loves homemade ice cream. In fact, he can never have just one bowl.

Recently he decided that life is like a bowl of homemade ice cream. You get down to the last three bites and you realize that you want more. My Dad's illness makes him realize that he would like more life. It is so hard to know that we could be getting down to the last few bites with Dad.

Last week, Jayden and I were sitting at the kitchen table, eating ice cream.

"Mommy. Ice Cream. More. More Ice Cream. Please"
"Yeah buddy. Me too. Me too."

Time to pull out the boxes again

We are moving-again. I never thought I would say this but we are moving back to Springfield. Josh has accepted a position within ERAC which will relocate us back to the Springfield area. We have mixed emotions. For those who know us well, we are so happy to get out of Joplin. We never felt like we belonged in this town. But we also know that things can't go back to the way it was before we moved. Where are we going to fit in? What friendships will be able to rekindle. There is a Sara Groves song that has been a song that fits me perfectly:"Painting pictures of Egypt". The lyrics go
"I've been painting pictures of Egypt and leaving out what it lacks. The future feels so hard and I want to go back. But the places that used to fit me, cannot hold the things I've learned. Those roads were closed off to me, while my back was turned."
What roads will be closed to us? And what new opportunities await us? I guess we will know in a about a month!

Home Sweet Home

We are home at last and getting back into a routine.
We had a great visit with Ne Ne and Uncle Paul. Jayden found a box of clothing Paul brought back from his Army days in Afganistan and decided to play dress up. The bug puppets complete the outfit perfectly. It was a great time but I don't think I need to fly alone with a 22 month old on my lap again anytime soon!

A funny story about Jayden-he is in love! A couple in our small group has a daughter named Hallie who is four. We all went swimming last night and Jayden was smitten! He was trying to get her to catch him jumping into the pool and instead of calling her by her name, he calls her "Pretty." The best part is that he wanted to hug her so he walked up to her and said "hold me." He isn't even two and he is trying to win over the ladies. I guess that is the Josh coming out in him! He got Mommy's stong will and Daddy's smooth moves with the ladies!

The Traveling Duo!

Jayden and I arrived in DC at about 12:00. The flight was good but would have been even better if this Mommy would have remembered to pack the DVD's to go with the charged DVD player! Jayden was a trouper though! The worst part of the whole trip was going through security with all of the stuff. I found that fellow travelers, especially those with kids at home, were very helpful. These pictures were taken when Dad dropped us off at the airport. By the time I got off the plane, my hair was a mess and makeup was all rubbed off.
Jennilee picked us up at the airport and we headed back to her house. It is such a cute and quiet house in a nice neighborhood. We might paint a wall while I am here. And tomorrow we are heading to IKEA and maybe to the aquarium.

This is totally not what I should be doing right now!

I really don't have time to be doing this right now but here I am, on the internet.
Thought I would finally add a pic of Jayden. He loves bathtub time and he really loved all of these bubbles!

Worn out

Last week, my mother-in-law asked me when was the last time I got a good nights sleep. I honestly can't remember! It must have been about 3 years ago, before I was pregnant with Jayden!
We had a rough night last night and the little guy ended up in our room at 4:00 a.m. I decided that his new monitor must be giving off too much light so I put a sticker on it-hopefully it will work.
It is amazing that the sleep deprivation has become normal and I am able to function at all. But, he is worth it!
Oh and I will eventually put some pictures on here!

Family Time

Family vacations exhaust me. I remember being a kid and loving to go on vacation but it is a lot of work. I guess this is another sign that I am getting old.
We returned on Sunday from several days in Branson with my Dad, stepmom, step brothers, step sister in law, and my sister and Paul. We stayed at a nice condo and rented a boat. So much better than the original plan to rent a houseboat for three nights! It could have turned into the the Browning-Marz family massacre! We also went to the Dixie Stampede. According to Jennilee, the most entertaining part was watching Josh and I get so excited. We LOVED it!
It was a good family trip-Thanks Dad and Lisa!

My little worshiper!

Jayden has officially inherited his Daddy's love of praise and worship music. Josh downloaded several songs onto his cell phone and Jayden has been walking around with the phone, listening to music. How lucky for Jayden-his two favorite things: a phone and music! I am amazed that he is learning the words. "Free to Run. Free to Dance" he sings in his toddler voice and my heart smiles. I am amazed at the pureness of his worship. In church, he raises up his hands and claps and dances in anyway that he feels like moving. And know that God is loving every second of my little worshiper's gift!

Here I am!

I am finally blogging, thanks to my sister Jennilee! My goal with this site to update my family and friends about what is going on with us and to share little tidbits of what works in the Tarbet household. You may find funny stories about Jayden, tips about what works for us (for all of my co-Mommy's out there), recipes, or whatever I come up with that is on my mind! Thank you for entering the crazy world of Juli! ENJOY!