To Michelle...

Hey, blog stalker...I promise to write an update for you real soon!!!

Our newest family photo...

Attempting to capture that perfect shot of all four us is proving to be impossible! Joel and I went on a date on Saturday, which was wonderful!!! When we took the kids over to my parents, I had my mom try to get some family photos of us...and believe it or not, this was actually the best one! It is a pretty good representation of our family, though! At least Jack is smiling and not trying to climb out of the picture yet. :)

Don't ever let me help you paint...

I am a wife, a mother, and a nurse...I think I am pretty good at playing those roles. One thing I am definitely not, though, is an artist! I got a great idea that I would sponge paint the back wall in my kitchen to make a more interesting back drop for the family room, since you can see that wall from the family room. So I went to Lowe's and I asked a staff member for some help. He told me that sponging a wall with a glaze was fool-proof...well, call me a fool then. As you can see, I turned the wall into a disaster! I hold the Lowe's guy partly responsible! He told me it was so easy, and I showed him the paint that was already on the wall and he picked out the glaze for me and everything! Isn't the slogan for Lowe's "You can do it, we can help."? Yes, it is!! I guess there is truth to the slogan if I wanted to make a big mess and waste my time and money...well then, they were definitely helpful! I am not bitter, though. Live and learn, right? I have learned that I am not good at sponge painting. And more importantly, I have learned that Joel is a wonderful and understanding husband! I think he was quite pissed at me at first. He said I had to leave the mess on the wall for a week and look at it everyday so that I would stop coming up with creative home improvement projects. But then he helped me paint over it the next day. :)

So, my next idea is to paint stripes on that wall to give it some more pizazz! I will send you my new address when Joel kicks me out.

Oh, that Jack...

I just could not resist putting this picture on display because it is so typical of Jack! At two and a half years old, he is brilliant. He learns so many new things everyday, and I swear he understands everything he hears and is so wonderful at verbalizing his own thoughts, too. Of course, he is still at that point in life where instant gratification is the only way to get anything. In his world, there is no sense in waiting for something in order to enjoy it later. He wants what he wants and he wants it now! Obviously, in this picture, what he wants is the camera! He was so excited when he saw me take it out to get some cute bath pics of he and Emma. Then he was like, "Jack take pictures! I need that camera!" He said it once in a semi-whiny voice and then it became a big old fit. I think it is funny that he thinks I am really that dumb that I would give him the camera in the bathtub! And his use of the word 'need' totally cracks me up. According to Jack, he 'needs' things like candy and crayons and a slide. So I just had to keep taking pictures because it was so funny! And while Jack is standing there wet and naked in the tub throwing a fit because he needs the camera, Emma is just sitting there splashing in the water with both hands while she chews on a toy duck. She was just enjoying her bath fun so much that she was not going to let Jack ruin her good time! In fact, I don't think she even paid him one bit of attention! And as far as Emma chewing on the duck head... she has taken to using her mouth as a third hand now. If ever she wants to take a toy from one room to another she just holds it hanging out her mouth so she can use her hands to crawl. It is hilarious!

So anyway, once we were done with bath time and Jack was dry, I let him take some pictures and he was happy. Then we went through and looked at the pictures that I had taken of him throwing his fit and he was like, "Jack mad cause Jack wants take pictures!" He was telling me this like I hadn't been there. Then he was showing Emma the pictures on the camera and he was like, "see Emma, Jack mad there, Jack want camera." Duh. I'm sure even Emma could have figured that one out!