I think I discovered the secret to peace in this house. Are you ready? It’s Lawrence Welk. I’m not kidding. Everyone was tired and cranky and whining until I flipped through the channels…..instant peace when they heard it. Mental note to self: Saturday night 7:00 PBS. Kids were in bed and sleeping just after 7:30!!!

There’s a little pirate invading our house.  A hat, a patch, and a parrot on his shoulder saying Aarrggghh!!

Instead of asking ‘where’s my pirate costume?’  He says, “Where’s this at momma…..Aarrggghh?”  Cracks me up every time:-)

Love it.  The whole house smells like chili.  Love it.  Nice fresh and cool air coming in through the front door.  Love it.  Jeans and sweaters.  Love it.

We are almost back into our old routine after a whole week with Grandma and Grandpa R.  After a week of sans naps, late nights, and lots and lots of play we really r-e-a-l-l-y needed to get back into the swing of things.  Today went much better, so I’m hoping everyone will be a little happier now:-)

Hope you have a nice peaceful, restful week!!

Birthdays are over.  We officially have a 1 and 3 year old.  I’m thinking we should have planned their births a little better because August and September are just SOOO busy with birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and such.  Then, right around the corner is Thanksgiving and Christmas!!  Oh well, it’s a done deal now:-)

Grandma and Grandpa R. are here for a visit.  They arrived Sunday and will be here until Saturday.  It’s great having them around and the kids love it.  I think they are already worn out!!

It’s only taken a little over a year, but I think (knock on wood) that we are officially all sleeping through the night.  It’s been 4 nights in a row and I’m praying that it continues.  Not only is everyone sleeping through the night, but sleeping in until almost 8:00 A.M.  I’m feeling like a brand new person.  I haven’t had the option to sleep in that late for about 3 years now!!!!  I’ve even dared to put them to bed a little earlier….and they’re still sleeping in!!  Did I mention- THEY ARE SLEEPING IN??????

Gracey is trying desprately to talk to us.  She tells us all kinds of stuff….we just can’t understand a word of it:-)  Cooper is becoming such a little boy.  I know I’ve said that before, but I don’t know how else to describe it, my little boy is growing up!!  We’ve been frequenting the local parks a lot lately and each time we go I see him growing more confident and becoming that little boy who runs around climbing, jumping, and playing.  Not the little timid toddler anymore.  It both excites me and saddens me to see him growing right before my eyes.

As far as the kitchen goes, we’ve made a little progress.  The painting is done.  Ordered the countertops and a new fridge today.  The fridge will be here Thursday, which I CAN”T WAIT, and the countertops will be here….ready……in FOUR weeks!!!!!  Can’t believe it will take that long so I’m bummed about that, but at least it’s on order now.  I think I’ve gotten the OK from J to get a new gas stove too, which I CAN’T WAIT!!  I just can’t get used to the electric, so we’ll be ordering that soon too.

Oh, we had some pics taken last week and I’ve uploaded some to Flickr so go check them out and let me know what you like!!

In 5 days it’s going to happen…..my baby turns 1. So bitter sweet.

is in the process of being updated a little. New paint, countertop, sink, faucet, and cupboard hardware are in the works. Who would have thought I’d have to make SOOOo many decisions!!! There’s just too much to pick from. Paint is picked out…it’s green and yellow (I’ll put up pics soon). So far I’ve managed to get 1 1/2 walls painted. My two little monkeys don’t like to stay off the ladder while I’m up there so it’s been a couple late night painting marathons after they’ve gone to bed!!
Then there’s countertop. I think I’ve finally decided on something so now I have to get that finalized maybe tomorrow if I can pawn off the kids for a bit.
I’ve spent a little time looking at cupboard hardware. Jeepers Kreepers!! I’ve never seen so many stinkin’ door and drawer pulls in my entire life!!! How is anyone supposed to make a decision!! Someone please tell me what to choose!!! You all know how much I LOVE making decisions!!!
Anyway, I’m so anxious to get it finished so I can see it all put together.

Nothing since Jan 31??  REALLY??  As my good friend so loveingly pointed out this morning, I haven’t posted anything in a while!!  My deepest apologies.  I have no idea how to sum up the last 6 months other than it’s been crazy, stressful, wonderful, lazy, busy, and filled with all the wonderful things my two little miracles bring to my life.  We have been consumed by them and the time is slipping through our fingers. 

The latest and greatest is that my baby girl took her first steps last week!! (I don’t know how great it is, but it happened anyway)  She’s only 10 1/2 months old.  I thought she was supposed to stay my baby forever!!

Well, I tried to upload a little clip, but it won’t let me so you’ll just have to take my word for it.  She. is. WALKING.  And getting braver every day:-)  We think she’s saying her first words.  She loves to play the ‘I drop it and momma/dadda pick it up’ game and when she drops something says “Uh”.  We think that’s the first part of Uh-Oh which we (ever-so-cheerfully) say whenever she drops something…at least for the first 10 times or so!!

Her big brother…..well he’s a brother all right!!  Tormenting, teasing,and antagonizing.  Endlessly.  They mostly play really well together, but they definetly have their moments.  His days are filled with coloring, playing basketball and baseball, blowing bubbles, helping in the garden, building with blocks, crashing cars, and helping us out as much as we’ll allow him.  His vocabulary is ever-expanding along with his attempts at starting new conversations and keeping them going.  He goes in spurts with new ‘favorite’ words.  Lately every time he tries to tell us something his sentences are filled will lots of maybes and probablys.  Sometimes multiple times within the same sentence like this one if we’re headed into town. 

Maybe we see Dadda and probably?

And sometimes it’s just a bunch of jibberish and all you make out are a LOT of maybes and probablys.  It’s S-O-O much fun to listen to. We can’t get enough of it.

We just spent a very busy weekend here with Jamie’s family.  Everyone came to stay with us for a long weekend.  The occasion was his cousins wedding up in Grand Rapids.  The kids had a great time playing non-stop with everyone and then we all got dressed up and headed to the wedding.  Here’s a pic of The Clan

Congratulations Savanna and Gabe!!! You had a beautiful wedding.

Then there’s all the time we’ve spent in the yard. Here’s some pictures of this year’s garden and a couple flowers

That contraption in the middle of the garden is for the p-o-l-e beans.  Yes, we accidently bought pole beans and didn’t realize it until they started invading and crawling through the carrots.  They’re crazy!!  I don’t think we’ll be making that mistake again!!  The other goodies include green peppers, lettuce (that’s ready to eat), cucumbers, zucchini, and corn.  I have tomatoes too, but they are on the other side of the yard and doing well. 

And finally just some pics!!

G’s first ponytail!!

 And some brotherly love….totally unprompted

and from the other side

More pics on Flickr……