cutest.baby

Who's gonna argue? Do you love her little sprout or what? :)

 

one.year

This weekend marks the one year anniversary of us moving in to our house. Josh and I have been reflecting over the happenings of this past year a lot.

In some ways, we thought we'd be way ahead of where we are in the finishing of the house. However, when we look back at all of the things that ARE done (especially all of the unexpecteds...a lot of them!), we've (really mostly Josh) have done a ton!

Two weeks ago, Josh started painting the kitchen. Some of you may ask...Jackie, why have you not picked up a paintbrush and painted your kitchen? You've been complaining about those white walls for a year! Well, for those of you who don't know my hubby, he's a bit of a perfectionist. And not only that, he is a perfectionist who painted his way through college.

That's right...I've haven't touched a paintbrush since college. And, really, I'm ok with it!! He does a fantastic job at painting! Everything looks sooooo unbelievably good when he's through with it...he even is fab at picking out colors. And he's colored blind. I know, crazy isn't it?!!

So, without further ado...here is the kitchen from day of purchasing through construction to this week (please ignore the fact that I didn't clean off the counter or empty the sink of dirty dishes or move the highchair out of the way before I took the last picture):

This is the kitchen the day we bought the house.

This is after all of the walls were torn out and the beam was put in.

Drywall up.

Cabinets up...look at all that dust!

The week we moved in.

This week. And the one below is for your before/after look!

i.have.issues

Claire is just full of hilarious things these days.

Today, we were heading to our last day of swim lessons, which is actually an open swim for the families involved in the swim lessons. I had grabbed my sandals to wear in the locker room and around the pool because I'm a bit disgusted by my bare feet touching a bathroom-like floor.

The girls wanted to grab their sandals as well, but they forgot. As we were getting into the van, one of them realized that they had forgotten theirs. They wanted to go back in, but we didn't have time. They were getting very weepy about the whole thing.

Me: You haven't had your sandals for any other swim day, so you don't need them today.

Claire: But you have yours, and we want ours.

Me: I'm sorry that you forgot them, but you'll just have to try to remember when we come again.

Claire: (still weepy) But you have yours.

Me: Well, I have issues.

Claire: (suddenly stops being weepy and says quite surprised) You do? Oh.

I guess she gets it. :)

different.feelings

Setup: Claire and I are doing her reading lesson, and she is getting distracted from time to time by Amelia who is making normal baby sounds. Claire starts softly humming a tune when she gets to a word that she doesn't know.

Me: Claire, you need to sound out your word.
Claire: I am.
Me: No, you're humming.
Claire: I don't think I was.
Me: Yes, you were. You were going, "hmmmm, hmmmmm." (Think of me humming a little tune.)
Claire: That was kind of funny!
Me: It wasn't funny because you're supposed to be reading.
Claire: (As she looks back at her reading lesson...in a very quiet voice and very matter-of-factly...) I thought it was funny. You didn't. I guess we just have different feelings.

As always, I laughed out loud.

favorite.girls

Check out my favorite girls all smiling in the same picture...it's a rare find! :)

4.years

I'm a little behind in blogging about Meredith's 4th birthday! Better late than never. Meredith requested a pink balloon cake that had our cats on it. That's T-Bone on the left and Wilbur on the right. I'm never going to make it as a cake decorator, but it works for birthday #4.


We surprised Meredith with a bike which she can't wait to ride this summer.


She also got a bucket of musical instruments...her favorite is the farmonica...known by the rest of us as the harmonica.

And here she is celebrating with Josh's family.

It was a crazy-busy weekend (Feb. 14-16). We hosted 3 parties in 3 days, and I was partied out.

At 4 years old, Meredith loves playing in her kitchen, writing her name (MErEdITH), Taylor Swift, "making" play beds in the playroom, and wearing her black tutu. She isn't especially fond of going to bed.

Meredith is a very passionate little girl, and we're doing our best to channel that into the right paths. She has a tendency to accelerate into whatever emotion is on her sleeve at the time. This can be completely adorable or a bit challenging!

Meredith is all girl through and through, and we just can't imagine a world without her. We love you sweet girl!

so.much.fun

What a fun, fun weekend I spent with Josh's cousins! We were celebrating Teresa's (see picture below) 40th birthday! Teresa turned 40 a couple of weeks ago, and we had to wait a couple of weeks to celebrate...although her family threw her a surprise party a couple of weeks ago. (On a side note, we watched a 40th video montage from that party that was awesome...it was made by one of their friends' kids who is only 12! Kids these days have some serious technology skills.)

We all stayed in a bed and breakfast that is totally outfitted for scrap booking. Most of the girls are all about scrapping and card making. I'm more about sewing, so I took my sewing machine and made 4 adorable pin cushions. (I'll share that post soon!). Anyway, so we went out to dinner, played a ton of games (I learned 3 new ones), and stayed up WAY too late.

We went out to an awesome chocolate store for a most wonderful dessert after the Saturday night dinner...check out the presentation below.

So, all in all, we decided that we should do this way more often than we do. We laughed until we cried on more than one occasion, and I almost peed my pants at least twice.

"Remember Whens" from the weekend

-Deanna: I'll never forget you rolling over all of the pieces of Loaded Question because you were laughing so hard
-Gina: you are by far the toughest Pampered Chef Pizza Cutter I know
-Amber: my two night roomie...maybe we won't stay up and talk so long next time :)
-Joni: my fellow comeback kid for that marble game (I can't remember the name of it) we played on Friday night
-Alyssa: my other fellow roomie...same comment as Deanna :)
-Allie: I believe you were my most successful Nertz partner.
-Jessie: although it may have been you. (I'm sorry that I wasn't paying better attention.)
-Allie and Jessie together (because they're twins and they're used to getting grouped together): you guys make me smile all over my face :) these girls make the cutest cards EVER!
-Teresa: the birthday girl....thanks for turning 40 so that we could all have a great reason to celebrate and spend the weekend together.

I can't wait until someone else turns 40 next...not mentioning any names...pampered chef pizza cutter.