American Idol 2011...What Season Is it???

I'm not even sure what season we are in for American Idol...and I honestly am not worried enough about it to look it up...BUT we have been watching and I find myself eagerly awaiting it as usual.  As not-so-great as the singers were last season (minus Lee, of course), I still want to watch this year.  So far I think there will be some great singers this year.  I already have a favorite, she's young and I'm not sure how far she'll get, but I'm definitely watching for her and hoping she will get pretty far.  I think she's awesome.  Her name is Lauren Alaina and she was the very last audition last week on Thursday.  She was really sweet and her voice sounded great to me.  They wrote about her in this LA Times article, where I found this picture:

I'll definitely vote for her!

One thing that is different for us this season is that Jordan gets to watch with us!  He has always been in bed before Idol started OR we had DVR so we watched after he was in bed...now, we've cancelled the DVR to save some money and he's not in bed by 7:00 any more (sad as it is, it's true...).  He doesn't get to watch the whole thing and sometimes he's eating or playing as we have it on but when the first time we watched he watched, too.  He sat there and when I asked him what he thought, he would look at me, scrunch his nose, and say, "He doesn't get it."  Now that's his response no matter who is singing and if they are good or not, "He doesn't get it," as he shakes his head back and forth, like it's such a sad state.  It cracks us up!  I love it!  

Have you watched this season?  What do you think?  Any favorites for you yet?  You can watch Lauren Alaina here, too.  Do you think she gets it?

My Sports Hubby

In an effort to post something non-kid related I have a hubby-related post for you today!  He's a sports maniac, but I mean that in a nice way.  I love that he's so invested in the sports that he loves: football and basketball.  While he knows enough about other sports, too, he's the expert on football and basketball.

Now that "our" football season is done (the Bears lost in the playoffs the weekend before last), he's moved onto watching the Bulls.  I hear about all the players for the Bulls, but it seems like more and more I've heard him talking about Kyle Korver.  Kyle Korver is new to the Bulls this year but seems to be one of their go-to shooters.  Chad tells me all about how they get him open, get him the ball and how effective he is at making the shots when he needs to.  When I watch, I notice him running around like crazy trying to get open to get a pass and make that shot, but it's fun to watch.

If you haven't heard of Kyle Korver before there's one more thing to point out about him...and apparently, he's not so happy that people make this connection with him...but I have to talk about it.  He looks like Ashton Kutcher!  Not so important when it comes to his impact as a player, but for this Ashton Kutcher fan it's definitely worthy of being pointed out.  I, personally, think it's cool that we have a Bulls player who looks like Ashton.  What do you think?

This picture (thanks to TMZ) might not be the best picture to compare the two of them and if you're so keen you can type in Korver and Kutcher and you'll get more images of how closely the two resemble each other.

Like I said, I love that he's into sports.  I think it's great that he has something in his life that he is so invested in.  I have my books...mounds and mounds of books, which can be found all over the house, as Chad so nicely pointed out the other day.  What are you into?  What consumes you?  What could you not live without (apart from your family...)?

Around the House

Are you ready for more pictures of my boys?  Here they come!  First, I have to show a picture of Jordan's bed all made.  One day, he came downstairs to tell us he had cleaned his room and when we went up to see what he had done, this is it.  He made his bed.  I thought it was too sweet for words.  He's growing up so much and more and more independent all the time.

Here's a close up of his pillow pets and one of our Build-A-Bear bears. 

It's funny now to think back to when I was pregnant and Jordan really wanted a sister.  They are such great brothers and it's obvious that they love each other.  Jordan is so kind to Danny and Danny just loves to see what his brother is up to.

Jordan is always able to make Danny laugh!

Danny is full of smiles.  He is just so fun to play with.

He's thinking more and more about crawling but hasn't started just yet.  I had to take this picture with the puppy dog on his butt.  I love baby clothes!

Not much else going on around here right now...oh!  Except for Idol did start.  I wasn't sure if I would like this season now that the judges are Randy, JLo and Steven Tyler, but I'm actually really enjoying it. I have always loved Jennifer Lopez.  She's just so sweet and fun.  Steven Tyler is actually very entertaining himself.  American Idol talks about people having some kind of spark or personality about them more than being able to sing and that is definitely what comes to mind when I see Steven Tyler.  Yes, he can sing, but he just seems like fun to me, and smart, too.  I'm excited to watch tonight!

Boys Being Boys

I realized today that I really am the only girl in this house!  I'm lucky to have three great boys who love me.  I am sure it's just going to get more and more fun as both Jordan and Danny get older...although I have lots of wrestling, sword-fighting, and dinosaur tag in my future!

 See the craziness I deal with love already!

 Danny is starting to push up on all hands and knees more and more. He'll scoot backward a little but just one little scoot at a time so far!

 Such a sweet, smiling boy!

Danny is eating lots of fruits and veggies already!

 Jordan was proud of his new truck...I heard a fairly long explanation of all things cool about this particular truck. 

 ...more about the truck...

 ..."just take a picture of the truck!"

Just a few pictures of my boys being boys!  Anyone up for a girls' night??? 

Christmas Rewind

Hello again blogosphere! I never posted any Christmas pictures.  I don't have that many, somehow I feel like I take a lot of pictures but then when I look at them they all seem the same...you really can only take so many pictures of kids opening presents.  I do have a few cute ones though.  

Our Christmas tradition is to celebrate Christmas Eve with our extended family.  My aunts, uncles, and cousins all come over and we stay up until midnight.  This year my Grandma, Mamita, was here with us!  We love when she is here.  Isn't she sweet?  

Our midnight tradition comes from Guatemala, where my mom is from.  They stay up until midnight there and then light fireworks outside.  When they go back inside, Santa has visited and they open presents and eat tamales.  This picture is Mamita, Jordan, and my mom Skyping with my uncle and his family in Guatemala. How fun is that!?

Jordan loved all of his presents...and he got a lot of them.  He even liked his new Spiderman undies that were in his stocking! 

Santa also brought this mini-sandbox with all sorts of construction tools and gadgets to play with.  (This was a cool toy until we got it home and more and more sand is finding it's way onto the floor...although it does remind me of being on the beach...no, sand is bad!)

Jordan getting ready to open more presents.  I love his Christmas jammies. 

Danny just loved being around everyone and loves this seat toy my parents have.  Here he is looking into a mirror.  I love how enthralled he is.

 Jordan helped Danny open his presents.  He's such a great brother!  Of course, Danny love to watch everything his big brother does.

 Jordan squeezing out from under the Christmas tree.  He was a great help passing out presents.  This year, I printed out pictures of everyone and taped them onto presents so he could hand them out himself. It worked great and he was proud of himself.

 Every year since Jordan's first Christmas we get new pajamas on Christmas Eve so we can sleep and wake up in our Christmas jammies.  The boys had matching jammies this year...with skulls on them!  That's how it is with boys, never dreamed skull Santas would exist, but yes, they do, even for babies!

And that was our Christmas!  I hope everyone had a nice holiday, whatever you celebrate!