Lovin' my boys

So there are a million and two things that need to get done, but this morning my boys needed a little mama lovin'. We played on the floor together for about an hour, just tickling and zurburtsing (sp?) and laughing and more tickling. It was a blast. I've been so task oriented these past 10 days or so that we haven't done nearly enough of that. The boys have played with Daddy a lot and played with friends a bunch, but we haven't had much concentrated Mommy fun--I'm fixing that! Last night I went to Bible study and Pete took care of the boys. This morning when Jon woke up, he said, "Mama, did you go to Bible study last night?" I told him that I did, to which he replied, "When I get bigger, I'm going to go to my OWN Bible study! And when Sammers gets bigger, he will go to his own Bible study too." That's what we're praying for son! :) Many pictures of the new place to come, for now, back to the kiddos.

What a week!!--and it's only Wednesday night

This will be a short update...We were able to get in the house on Monday evening, since then I'm not really sure where to start...we've stripped wallpaper and border in two rooms and spackled and sanded. I've primed and painted the top half of one room. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll get the other room and a half done. Pete's mom came down to help do as much of this as possible before we move in on Saturday. She's probably the most efficient person/hardest worker that I've ever met. However, Tuesday night she went out to eat and midway through last night discovered that she had eaten something bad. Poor thing was up most of the night vomiting and well...use your imagination. She slept off and on most of today. Here's a few pics of the progress...don't worry, that paint is wet, it should dry darker. The first two are the before, then the during, then the while the paint is drying...after pics to come after the furniture is in and curtains are up, etc...

I'm off to catch some z's before tomorrow comes!

Scattered...

A quick post before we have our walk-thru at the house--the closing is in less than 24hours!! A few scattered thoughts some for you, some because I just want to remember them--you figure out which is which! ~survived the root canal today, it was my 4th in my lifetime. Overall, much less painful than the infection/absess that I had two weeks ago that led to the root canal. ~I'm working my way through the to-do list which is not in Excel format--yes, I'm a geek ~Jon cracks us up on a regular basis. Earlier this week I told him to ask Daddy how work was and if he had any meetings. Now everyday he asks him. It's adorable. Also, when Pete asks him the same questions, he answers, "Good. Yes, I had a meeting with Mommy and Sammers" ~Sam is kind of walking. He's taken eight to ten steps at a time and he does it at various times most days. He doesn't do it all the time--he's a pretty proficient crawler, but he's doing it more and more. ~Jon is really sweet with Sam. If Sam's upset about something and starts crying, Jon will sing to him--usually the ABC's. :) ~Sam, who has been known for his constant smiles, just started making this scrunchy face. He scrunches his nose all up whenever he gets frustrated or mad--it's pretty funny. I've been trying to capture it on film, but so far I've been unsuccessful. I'll post a pic as soon as I do. ~Pete's job is changing a bit. The short version--he's going to be doing some scheduling/planning on the production side of things, overseeing/managing a few people, and (my personal favorite) traveling a lot less. The company really needed someone to fill this gap that they had and they needed someone who is very detail oriented to help them make things more efficient. Mr. Efficiency himself should be perfect for the job! ~We're still really enjoying our new church. I've started attending a women's Bible study on Tuesday nights. The sermon this past week was incredible and tied right in with what we are studying--I love when God does stuff like that! You can click here to hear the sermon--it's probably 45 minutes long, but I promise it's worth it! ~Moving day is a week from Saturday!! Yay!! ~We're heading back to Virginia from August 13th to 17th for Bethanie May and Tyler Cooke's wedding. Hopefully we'll see many of you then! Off to inspect the house! :)

the to do list

in no particular order, as of this morning:

• get groceries
• clean out the fridge
• pack up the closets, except for the essentials
• take some things to Goodwill
• call electric co., cable co., water/sewage, and various other utility co's re: the move
• post our riding mower on Craigs List
• make appt. to get the van serviced/take the van...
• try to hang out with some friends and their kids (not exactly a have to, just a want to)
• some more that I'm sure I'm forgetting...

Edit...I thought of some more

oh yeah, in the midst of that there's also:

• get a root canal (tomorrow)
• close on the house (Friday)
• take drivers license test (stupid Ohio laws)/change license plates, etc (yes, we've been here for a few months and we haven't taken care of this, but we have been in touch with the VA DMV)
• get new glasses
• take down wallpaper and/or border in 4 rooms of the new house
• paint those 4 rooms
• some more than I'm sure I'm forgetting

I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed...if you think of it, say a prayer for me! Thanks!

some favs

Here's a few of my recent favorites: (heads up, they are varied and random) 1. Google Reader this tool has probably been around for a while, but I just discovered it in the past few months. You simply start an account, copy and paste your favorite blogs into the add subscription section and then you can check it whenever you feel led and see any new blogs that have been posted. This keeps my inbox from being flooded and lets me read blogs when I have time to do so! Love it! If you have a blog, let me know and I'll add you to my reader. 2. Kashi Vive Cereal Yummy and good for me and filling?!? Didn't know that existed. If you're interested in trying it, it's much cheaper at Walmart than Kroger or other grocery stores. Seriously, the surprise is that there's actually broccoli sprouts in it--don't worry, you can't taste it at all! 3. Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie dough in a family sized tub I love to make just a few cookies and eat them when they're still melty! Yummmmm! 4. Word Twist a game on Facebook that I play with my mom, my brothers, and my friends. It's slightly addictive, but lots of fun! 5. Biblegateway a website that lets you look up any passage of scripture in any version and it gives cross references. It has many neat features...it's quite helpful when trying to do an in-depth Bible study. 6. Word World PBS show that my son, Jon, has LOVED for months now. It had him knowing his letters and wanting to "build a word" when he was only a little over 2--amazing! It's cute, funny and VERY educational--LOVE it! That's all for now...off to feed the growing boys.

A little video of Sam's skills

time...goes by...so slowly...

or does it? does time fly? I think it's strange how when you are enjoying things--family, vacation, a night out, shopping, etc...--time seems to go so quickly. However, when you are waiting in anticipation for something--an important phone call, to move into a new place, to see a favorite person, etc..--time seems to crawl. I guess either way, we're supposed to try to enjoy each moment and make the most of them, right? I'm going to try to do that. *By the way, this post was inspired by the way time crawled yesterday while I was waiting to hear back from my dentist** and by how slowly the time seems to be going until we move. (We close on the house in 15 days and move in a week later!!)* **My tooth was infected and does need a root canal. I'm on antibiotics and doing much better!**

the miscellaneous other mishaps

I have one older brother and then when I was eight my mom had my brother, Joe, then nearly eight years later she had my brother, Matt. Being eight and then sixteen when my mom had my younger brothers, I was exposed to many, many aspects of motherhood. Many a night was spent babysitting for my brothers or for other people's children. I thought I knew most all that child rearing entailed. Here's a snip bit of things I would have said: Dirty diapers, spit up, late night feedings, dressing wiggling infants, bathing those same wigglers, playing with, reading to, and feeding little ones, getting vomited on, being a human horsey, and miscellaneous other mishaps. What I didn't realize is how many things fall into that last category. It's currently 1:16 am and I'm awake waiting for my pain meds to kick in. On Saturday, Jon, my almost three year old, head-butted me and apparently cracked my tooth in half. It's now infected and causing me pain that rivals childbirth--and I'm talking childbirth with no epidural. I went to the dentist yesterday and he gave me a few options. He said that it didn't appear to be infected, and gave me an option, which I chose, that did not include the root canal. I was hopeful to avoid my fourth root canal in my 29 years of life on this planet. It appears that I will be getting number 4 and at this point I hope it is sometime soon. Yikes, the hazards of the job!