Visit to Dallas

I'm a little late on getting these pictures up - sorry! A couple of weekends ago we packed up and headed north for Avery's first visit to Dallas. It was cold and rainy so we mostly stayed in and let all of our wonderful friends and family come to visit us. It was so much fun. I just wish we'd had a few more days there! We'll be back soon though.

(Pictures left to right - My sister Michelle, Michelle Wood, Grandpa Jim and the girls, Cousins Nick and Ryland, Aunt Tray, Alex Reynolds)

Fun times with friends

Sarah and I had our "work" pictures done by our friend Suzanne Box yesterday. So I snapped a couple of my own pictures.

Blake Box and Avery (9 weeks) Aren't infants funny looking sometimes?

Matthew Moss and Kendall (3 years)

Closet update

Progress is being made! Painters were here yesterday and are finishing up today. These pictures are from a couple of days ago and show the new closet storage, new door and over head storage. We are closing in the stupid ledge that the builder put in for whatever useless reason - oh no wait, they do collect a LOT of dust. Well, we are making it useful now! There will be doors that I can open and I think we are going to put our luggage up there. I'm excited!

My side on the right... Mike's side on the left...

Rodeo Day!

Here in H-town we have the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo every year and the whole town gets into it. Thus today is "Rodeo Day" at school. Kendall wore her cowboy hat (courtesy of Grandma Tori and Grandpa Jim) and I made her a bandana out of scrap fabric. She was saying "yee-haw" as I took the pictures.

I'm getting a new closet!

...and the crazy thing is, it was my hubby's idea!!! It all started with an episode of House Hunters International. There was a guy who loved to (insert Austrailian accent) "renovaaaaate". NOTE: from this point on whenever you see the word "renovate" you need to say it with an Australian accent - long "A" sound. So the guy in the episode was looking for a house to "renovate" (don't forget the accent). Well, well, well...low and behold 2 weeks later my husband and I are putting away laundry in our closet and he looks at me across the weird divider we have (that I can walk under but he can't) and says...I really hate this thing. Let's "renovate".

Since we are planning on staying in this house for another year or more, I agreed. What's so hard about re-doing a little closet? Ooooooohhh lordy. I should have known. Apparently we are gutting it and the process is currently underway. Thank goodness my baby is still young enough to sleep through the banging, hammering, nail gun shooting. Oh and generator/compressor that is right outside her door on the back porch. Oh wow, now they just started sawing INSIDE!!! I thought we were just taking out and adding doors! What are they putting in? An aquarium?

The plan is to take out the 2 doors and replace it with one bigger one. Pull up the carpet (we'll put it back down though), take out all of the old shelves out AND apparently it's turning into a slight bathroom remodel as well. We are doing a new countertop, mirrors. "What's wrong with the old one?" I asked and fought for, but lost that battle. I always lose these battles! I'm used to it though. The way I figure it, #1 - he's getting the "hook-up" from a lot of his trades since he's given them so much business in the past and #2 - it's cheaper than building a whole new house. Oh and there'll be new light fixtures. But we are moving these to the other bathrooms since those have the ugly round bulb fixtures. He mentioned redoing the shower and making it bigger - it IS really small - I agree (like if I turn sideways with my hands in my hair as though shampooing I can touch both walls with my elbows), but at this point I think we'll wait.

Now here is the funny part...Kendall noticed that one of the guys has tattoos on his arms so she wanted tattoos....which we had in stock thanks to Grandma Tori, so we put them on her. Grandma, when she turns 18 are you going to get her a REAL tattoo? Just wondering...

Then she put on one of her princess outfits, crown and heels. She put her kitchen table chair in the living room and is currently sitting oh-so-patiently...waiting...for them to notice her. (In the picture below you can see the door to our bedroom so she is in the perfect place to be "noticed." Well, I suppose she could be in the middle of the room but now that would just be too obvious.

...I am pretty sure that as with all men, they are totally oblivious to her efforts to try to impress them. Poor girl...she's learning this life lesson way too early.

Avery is 2 months!

I can hardly believe it. Today I was getting her ready for her bath and it hit me that she is 2 months today. Since Avery is my last baby (at least that's what I am planning on) I'm a little nostalgic about her growing up. But enough gushing...our little chubby monkey is filling out even more (if that is possible). We go to the doctor on Friday to see how much she weighs. My scale said 12.8 pounds last week. She is definitely "healthy." She smiles more and more every day and can roll over! I'm not kidding. She can roll from her belly to her back (while squawking and screaming about it). She has done it at least 4 times. 3 times for daddy and once for me. Of course with all that fat, it makes it easier to roll right?

SlingBlade - why I love my husband

See...I knew this would happen. My creative juices start flowing at midnight and I feel the need to write this down because I'll forget it in the morning - or at least it won't sound nearly as funny. Oops, now I'm setting myself up for you to EXPECT this to be funny. Anyway, here-goes...

Last night there was nothing on...except SlingBlade. My husband and I inevitably watch this movie once every 2 years. It is a great classic movie that I would have NEVER watched. Why? Because I originally confused it with the movie BladeRunner (which I thought has Wesley Snipes in it for some reason but it doesn't). Anyway, a few years ago my husband corrected me on that train of thought and I watched SlingBlade for the first time. It's a great movie! Really great. Like a Forest Gump, RainMan type movie. So for days after we watch this movie, Mike continously does the "Karl" impression of this guy and we crack up at ourselves because honestly - who else would find it funny?

So tonight, we were eating dinner in shifts (as usually happens when you have an unpredictable 7 week old.) As I was taking our sleeping newborn to bed, my husband and my 3 year old daughter were finishing up eating dinner. Just as I crossed the threshold to the next room I hear/see him do the Karl "SlingBlade" impression He thrust his jaw out into an underbite, made the face and did the voice. ...underbite, heavy hillbilly throaty voice and say "I sure do like these taters...mmmmmmmm..hmmmmm..."

Kendall lets out the biggest giggle (but what does she know about how funny daddy truly is). The funniest most endearing thing was seeing the whole thing. I started cracking up but I'm holding a sleeping baby. It's like holding a time bomb - you pray she doesn't wake up or you'll suffer the wrath. I'm trying to lay sweet Avery in her bed while my body gyrates from being on the brink of uncontrollable laughter...the impression playing over and over in my head.

When I came back out finally able to laugh out loud, the moment had passed and I got "that" look from both of them. (I could hear in my head "mom you are so lame"). That's right...I love my family. It's because we are weird. That's why Mike and I are so right for each other. He gets my craziness and still makes me laugh so hard my sides ache. And now...I am passing it on to my daughter...she is JUST as quirky as I am and it is unbelievable the strange habits that I have that she has...but that's another day, another post. BEDTIME!