MIA but back and ready to be a bloggin' fool!

It has been a while since I update our family blog... with the holidays and all of the craziness that comes with the last months of the year, I never found the free time. I will work harder this year to keep this updated.

Our little boy is not so little now days. He is 19-months and growing more every minute. He is a smart kid who loves to read and learn. His latest accomplishments involve identifying several letters of the alphabet. Steven can identify A, B, C, I, M, P, Q, and Y. We have this alphabet mat, and if you ask him to find the B, he will, and when he finds it he shouts "B!!!!!!" I can't believe how fast toddler brains work! Steven also knows what several letters stand for. He points to the letter Q and says "Nin-nin!" because we told him Q stands for Quentin and he points to the letter P and says "Poopy!" It is so cute.

At his 18-month check-up he weighed 24 pounds (24th percentile) and he was 33 inches (61st percentile). My chubby short boy is growing up. *tear*

Here is a picture of our sweet boy:

One of my goals for 2009 is to get more organized. I read this article in the January 2009 Family Circle magazine titled "55 Ways to Clear the Clutter." I will close with a few helpful tips:

• Slip your movie collection into DVD albums, organized by genre -- comedies, dramas, and cartoons -- so it's a cinch to flip through. Recycle the empty cases through freecycle.org.
• Put a small recycling bin next to the family desk and discard junk mail as soon as it arrives.
• To save repeated trips up and down the stairs, keep a basket on the bottom step to stockpile items like slippers or video games. Carry them up all at once at the end of the day.
• Place a plastic sock drawer organizer in the fridge to keep small snacks like yogurt and cheese sticks organized and easily accessible to kids.
• Designate a laundry room bin for clothes that no longer fit. Once it's full, donate the castoffs to charity.
• Get started on the pileup of family photos by placing current pictures in albums first. When you finally have extra time, sort through and add the rest.
• Dress up your desktop by putting pens and pencils in a small vase or arranging essentials like a stapler, scissors, and mail on a colorful melamine tray.

We hope you all have a wonderful 2009!

Thanks for reading.