Me, Me, ME!

I am….child of God. Wifey to RJ. Mommy to Henry. Daughter to Arly and Barb, sister to Erica and Aaron, etc, etc,

I want…to sleep an entire night without waking up.

I wish…gas were cheaper

I hate…iced tea

I miss…RJ all day long

I feel...a bit tired, excited for time with RJ after Henry goes to bed EARLY tonight, content.

I fear…things I have no control over, but am working on that!

I hear…Henry goofing off while RJ gives him his bath.

I smell…the usual smell an old house has.

I crave…pop and candy.

I search…craigslist.

I wonder…who will win the election?

I regret…not making reading a habit when I was younger.

I love…Hello?!?! Jesus, RJ, Henry, and all my family and friends. Of course!

I ache…when I sleep poorly.

I care…about you.

I always…like going out to eat, but don't always get to do it.

I am not…book smart.

I believe…i can fly.....

I dance…like no one is watching. Barf! There is no phrase I dislike more than that one. Sorry folks.

I sing...in the shower, in the car, at home...

I cry…more than I used to and once I start I can't stop.

I don’t always...have a clean house.

I fight…uh, never? More like disagreements and even those are few and far between.

I write…on my blog.

I never…want to eat a grapefruit.

I listen…to our new record player. We've inherited a killer record collection from grandparents. I love it! I love that scratchy sound it makes.

I need…haircut. My bangs are in my eyes.

I am happy…quite often. Why waste our time being all bent out of shape?

Last night I was in the mood to look at every single picture we have of Henry on the computer. I'm sure like the rest of you, it's a lot! Here's my all time favorite video. I could watch this a bazillion times and never get sick of it. He was 14 months old at the time, and has only gotten crazier.

Here's to a happy Monday...

I had to feed 3 kids breakfast this morning and give a baby a bottle and then get everyone dressed by 9 and I did it! I feel like I could conquer the world right now. I know many, many, moms do this on a regular basis, but going from a 1 1/2 yr old to watching 4 kids under 5 is quite a change! Baby T is so sweet and has a head FULL of dark hair. He hardly cries and when he does it doesn't bother or stress me out a bit. It's just cute. I like babies.

I am way pumped for this weekend. We have a party with the young marrieds tomorrow night and the rest of the weekend is pretty wide open. I have so many projects I want to get started, but I'm sure those will be put off like usual.

Miss Ruby's chemo went well this week. It may be her last one or she may have 2-4 more rounds. They will do a scan in a few weeks to see, but either way God is in control. What a trooper she has been! It has been so obvious that God is working in this situation and we are all so thankful for it!!

Have a great Thursday!

Our happy little family at the reunion. You can't really tell, but Henry is sporting a new mo-hawk.
3 beautiful ladies: Alice, Dorothy (the one who just turned 90!!!) and Betty. Alice also brought her boyfriend, Elmer. So cute!




After deciding not to do any craft shows this year, I've changed my mind. It's going to be at the Waukee Centennial Park on August 2nd from 3-8. There will be inflatables, food, live music, kid's crafts, games, and art or course! It's free for me to get into, I'm borrowing a tent setup from an artist friend, and most importantly, RJ thought it sounded like a great idea. One of those, "it's a small world" moments....I was emailing the guy in charge and I mentioned where I go to church and he wrote back and said he's speaking at our church the next 2 Sundays! He's all artsy so I'm excited to hear him speak. I found his website and it sounds really neat. If you've got some time, check it out! http://nightmayer.com/

Henry has his 18 month appt today. I always like to hear how he's doing and ask questions, but I hate those shots!

Yes, I'll admit it.

I watched the season finale of The Bachelorette.

I had only caught 5 minutes of it here and there so I didn't know anything about the final guys. Jason seemed like the obvious choice, so naturally I wanted Jessie to "win". That's just how I roll. So since I wasted 2 hours of my life, at least the guy I was rooting for got the girl.

Yes, I love my new background too!
Just go to www.pyzam.com and pick yours out. I could have spent hours looking through the hundreds they have so just picked one of the first ones I liked. I'm not sure if it's always the case, but it erased all the links I had so if you've got a lot it may take a while.

I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers today from RJ.

It was a good day.

Bum! I just realized I didn't get the camera bag out of my mom's car before she left for home. Argh. I had such great pictures of our fantastic family reunion. Yes, it was a great time. I love my family. There were a lot of people there and a lot of them I hadn't seen in years. Henry did really well considering he was up way past his 7:00 bedtime and didn't get the best naps in. We celebrated my great-aunt Doe-Doe's (Dorothy) 90th birthday, and let me tell you, that lady acts younger than some 50 year olds I know. Her and her sister Alice and cousin Betty were there to represent the older generation. They are beautiful women and it was so good to see them.

Here's a fun/weird fact about this family that makes it a little tiny:

2 sisters: Verle (my grandma who has passed), and Dorothy, and their cousin Betty, married:

3 boys who happened to all be brothers: Stan (my grandpa who has passed), Howard, and Bob.

Make sense? Strange, huh? Makes for a small family tree!

Hopefully I'll get some pictures emailed to me so I can share. It'd be much more fun to talk about if I had the images to show.

Another exciting thing to share is that I was the recipient of a new purse before I left!! That's right, the purse that I purchased a few months ago at the Mall of America and returned because of all the guilt I had, is now mine! Thanks to my dear friend, Londa. The most thoughtful lady I know. And she's so sneaky! I was so excited to get it.

The last exciting thing is that I'm reading the book, Blue Like Jazz. I often start books and never finish, but I got half way through it in the car and am excited to read the rest. So many thoughts going on in my head right now. How about you read it and we can discuss it over some coffee? :)

Alright, too many words. Not enough pictures. I'll try to get on that.....

The countdown is on. We're leaving Friday morning for Galena and I just can't wait! It's going to be one of those busy vacations, but I'm still looking forward to it. My mom said she'd stay at the hotel with Henry after he falls asleep so hopefully RJ and I can sneak away for a date or 2 at night, which is what I'm most excited for! Of course I'm looking forward to seeing family, but seriously? Nothing beats a date with my honey.

Today is my last day watching Zach and it's going really well. We ventured to the mall and had the playland all to ourselves and then the boys did great while I looked around the stores. Now they're laying down and I'm going to clean. Excellent.

I went to a really nice baby shower last night at church and it made me excited for a baby again. I'm always saying I don't like newborns and blah-blah-blah, but I'm ready now. Really, newborns are sweet and sleepy and cuddly and sweet, sweet, sweet.
What's not to like about that?

I had the most enjoyable time with my little Henry this morning. We had a couple of hours before Zach got here and he was in the greatest mood. He's gradually gotten cuddly later and is in kind of a clingy stage, which has taken some getting used to, but in a way I really enjoy it. I love his goofiness. His crazy, wild, where-in-the-world-did-you-come-from, goofiness. And I love how he'll take a break from being crazy to come give me a hug and then go right back to what he was doing. He's going to be exactly 18 months on the 4th. Crazy!