When Annie speaks...

AJ is so funny. Well, not when it comes to eating. Ever since we've been home from vacation she has put up more fuss about what's on her plate than ever before. It's gotten old... For us and her, apparently. Tonight, though she professed earlier that she 'loves' spaghetti, she, again, had a hard time eating what was on her plate. She's become a 'nibbler'. Brian noticed out loud that we had breakfast cake this morning and AJ immediately pops in and says, "I think we should eat breakfast after dinner." Of course we responded with a "why?" and she said "because then we could go to bed and when we woke up we wouldn't have to eat breakfast because we already did!"

BRILLIANT! Why didn't I think of that??
Too funny!

Ethan and Jesse's room

After a week and a half of measuring, taping, painting, and all else that goes with redoing a room, I am sure excited to have just finished my first paint job. We're moving the boys down the hall away from the hot garage underneath their current bedroom. Poor kids sleep so hot no matter how much the AC runs at night. Yesterday was the first night it was really toasty warm in there, so I'm happy to be done. Here are the before and after pics: no longer will I hear from Ethan "Mom, when will we paint my room?" sometimes finishing projects like these are overwhelming, because now I look at my house I've neglected cleaning and think...where do I begin?! But one thing I am for sure grateful for: a very patient husband. He gave me the reigns on color, design, and even stayed up with me countless hours measuring stripes to go on walls that aren't even, the same height, or even smooth = nightmare! We do still have the closet to do, but the furniture can be moved in and my stuff from the closet moved into their old room. 

Before...

After! ...View from door

View from the outside window.

 

 

 

 

 And now...a shed! (and painting AJ's room... And the toy room... And our master bedroom. Everything is so...beige! (yuck!)

AJ quotes

My favorite quotes in the last couple of weeks from my daughter:
"Mom! He didn't even choke!" (she was feeding Jesse raisins)
"Mom, I didn't cut your bed" (um...yes she did)
"look at this stuff...isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my complexion's complete?" (Little Mermaid)

Ethan: Dad?
Brian: Hmm?
Ethan: When are you going to go bald?
Brian: ...silence
Natalie: LOL

That was a funny conversation tonight!

Words to live by

Maybe my kids picked to come to this family not because of who we are, but knowing who we can become as we begin to truly magnify and embrace our callings as parents.
That's the thought that came to me tonight during prayer.
I hope I can be a better mom tomorrow than I was today.

Never too late to make a goal

January is long gone. Good! That means maybe this goal will have some weight with it. For Christmas I got an iPad. And for the past 3 months I've been doing my best to learn its ways. Tonight I downloaded the blogger app now allowing me to 'write in my journal' before bed. I couldn't be happier. And my stories will be written down as i sit upon my bed, listen to storms rage outside and not have to worry about losing power :) hooray for technology!

a welcome change of plans

Today, thanks to some friends calling, we decided to go swimming instead of running errands. The kids screamed so loud out of excitement my ears were buzzing. :)