Happy Birthday, Emily!

This week my baby turned 6! It seems hard to believe. Just yesterday, I gave birth to her.

And the day after she was like this....

And the day after that, this happened...

Look at adorable little Ethan!

And now 6? It doesn't seem possible.

 

Happy Birthday sweet girl! We love you!

As you can see, she had an awesome party! I'll share that for another time.

Long Time, No Post

So I haven't posted anything lately. Partly because I really haven't had anything blog worthy and partly because I've just been kinda down. I don't know why. Maybe I do (see my last post). And partly because I've been busy with Emily's 6th birthday.

Anyway, here is a few things we've been doing. Swimming

Vacation Bible School.

Take 1...

Take 2...

*Sigh* Take 3...

Emily was so excited about VBS and she had such a good time, that she was so silly the night of the first day of VBS. She came into the kitchen dressed like this.

Ski hat, gloves, cowgirl boots, vampire dress and a cut out yellow mustache. Silly girl.

And then I found a banana like this...

And that is what we've been up to.

Open Letter To All My Appliances & Electronics

*Warning, what you are about to read is not my normal happy, smiley, sunshiny work of art it normally is. It's  true, down right childish complaining. If you like my normal syrupy writing, you might want to skip. If you want to hear me rant, well keep reading my friends.*

Dear All My Appliances & Electronics in my home,

What's up with ya'll? Do ya'll get together when we are not home and decide who's going to stop working next? Seriously. It's not funny anymore.

Last summer, when it was eleventy hundred degrees outside and when we were 100+ days without rain, the outside air conditioner unit quit. Yeah, that sucked. But so far this year, our water heater, both lawn mowers, microwave, DVD player and now that it's eleventy hundred degrees again, the inside AC unit is acting up.Oh, and my husbands computer died. Dead in the water, dead.

Life this past week has given me lemons. I'm tired. Thanks to my AC, I'm occasionally hot. My kids are using my laptop to watch movies, and I can't read all the status' of the people I went to high school with on Facebook. This is important. Even though we didn't talk in high school and if they saw me on the street we probably still wouldn't speak.

I slipped and fell at work the other day in the break room. Someone spilled water on the floor (and didn't wipe it up, lazy bafoons) and I stepped in it and fell right on by badonkadonk. The only good thing about this is no one saw me.


I found some cute chunky wedged shoe sandals on clearance at Target for $7.48. I thought you can't pass a deal like that up, so I purchased them. I showed them to my mom and she told me they looked uncomfortable instead of cute like I thought she would. I wore them to church today and I almost tripped again wearing said shoes coming in the door. *Sigh*. Said shoes also rubbed the top of my right foot (which is my bigger foot) and gave me a blister. *Sigh Again.*

My kids managed to truly tick my dad off to the point he lost his cool. And this man is usually the poster child for patience. Imagine my embarrassment.

The aforementioned being said, I would appreciate if you guys would give me a break for a while. We replaced the water heater, got a new lawnmower, microwave and computer. We're dealing with the DVD and on occasion, the AC when it acts up. I think my kids and my cute (I hate to say uncomfortable, but they really are) shoes are a lost cause. I say, nothing else breaks until at least next year. I don't think that's too much to ask.

I hope this next week gives me roses and sunshine. Or at least some sugar, water, a lemon juice squeezy thing, a spoon and a pitcher to go with the lemons it throws at me.

Until then, stay working and running!

Jennifer

Happy 4th Of July!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!

We went over to my parent's house and barbecued.

Here is the table in my foyer all decorated for the 4th.

Emily ready for the 4th!

Ethan full of chip & mac-n-cheese.

Me & my girl.

Me & Mr. Grumps. He's gonna love this pic when he's 16.

And a special thank you to all the men & women who fought for our country, our freedom and the sacrifices they make!

Thankful Thursday, Friday Cookies, Weekend Wrap Up & My Chandler Would Be 11

So on Thursday, instead of writing my normal Thankful Thursday post, I decided to take a break.

Mark took the kids to Waco to go visit his family and when I came home from work, I had the evening all to myself. I washed, dried and put away a load of laundry. I swept and mopped the kitchen and foyer floor. Then I took a shower, washed and dried my hair, repainted my toe nails and plucked by eyebrows. You know, the things you really need to do but are usually in a hurry and it just goes by the wayside. Then I made myself a sandwich and sat down and was able to watch the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love. Very cute movie.

I was very thankful for a weeknight completely to myself. And yes, I enjoy the laundry and the sweeping and mopping when I am completely alone.

Here are my Friday cookies I made for the local bank.

 These are soft zucchini spice cookies. They turned out really good.

When I came home from work on Friday, I walked in the door and there were a total of 4 kids in my kitchen, standing around and eating popsicles. Now, Mark and I tease each other all the time about going to the Ukraine and adopting more children. So, I asked Mark if he had made a quick trip to the Ukraine while I was at work. Turned out, it was one of Ethan's friend's little brother and sister. Ethan's friend and his mom went to the store to get last minute items for his birthday party and Mark volunteered to watch the little ones. But once I got home, Mark said he had a bad headache and wanted to go lay down. So, my Thursday evening was nice and quite and my Friday was, well, loud.

Ethan had a great time at the party on Saturday. While he was at the party, I took Emily to go see Brave. The movie we in 3D. Did you know you need 3D glassed to watch a 3D movie? I thought you could watch the movie without the glasses, but to get the 3D effect, you need the glasses. Not true. Once the movie came on and everything was blurry, I quickly realized that I needed the glasses. I was wondering why the lady passing out those glasses looked at me funny when I told her "No thanks, I don't need them.". I had to climb down the stairs in the dark and get a pair. Live and learn.

This afternoon, about 24 of us from church went out to eat lunch. Mark's ex-step dad (who raised him a majority of his childhood, but his mom is no longer married to) and his wife, Brenda came down for a visit from Missouri. Mark considers Bob his dad and we were thrilled for Ethan and Emily to spend time with another set of grandparents.

Emily, Bob,  Brenda & Ethan

One last thing. Monday the 25th would have been Chandler's 11th birthday.

I miss this boy so much. I allowed myself a good cry on the way to work, but I asked God for strength for the rest of the day, which He so wonderfully granted. So, happy 11th birthday, sweet boy. I miss you more than words can say. I'm crying as I write this, but I know you are with Jesus and I will see you once again. That is so very comforting. I love you.