Handy Dad Meets Chalkboard Paint

Now that we own our home, it's fun to paint and not feel like we are flushing money down the toilet as we decorate someone else's property. We decided to paint the large wall next to the fridge in our kitchen dark charcoal with blackboard paint. Almost every wall in our home is white, so it's quite a contrast but we needed a place where we could express ourselves, have it be a bit more "homey" and for Abby to learn and draw.

Here are the three phases of Grant's handiwork.





Grant couldn't wait the full three days before writing and Abby had to throw some flowers on there, too.

And now we can learn letters, numbers and even God's principals during our every day.



317. Abby's no-crying nap time ( i will never take this for granted!)
318. the right verse on the right day
319. health insurance
320. ford's sweet disposition

Double Trouble at Dr. John's

We had our second trip to the doctor's office (Ford is 50% for height and weight and has a nice, tiny 25% head) with both kids, only this time, I did it alone. Dr. John listened to bunny's heart and she was just fine. Whew! Abby has gone from hating the doctor's office to having it be her turn when the stethoscope gets passed around. For the record, Ford weighs more than half of Abby's weight now.



That night we had some friends over for a BBQ and they brought "stuff!" Abby loved the "crafty" stuff they brought over -- pom poms (supposed to paste them on to paper but instead they went down the drain and plugged it up), twisty craft items (maybe used for making glasses, bracelets etc but instead have almost poked Ford in the eye endlessly) and cute cut-outs that can be colored (whew. i found the permanent pens that were included). It was AWESOME. Abby shared each and every toy without a thought about it. Here she is with "So-So"... a new gal to look up to. Boy, am I happy about that.




313. a wonderful breeze and no A/C
314. a bear supposedly roaming in our neighborhood
315. Ford easily falling asleep at night
316. a miraculous bathing suit falling from the sky (okay, arriving in the mail - thx hillary!)

Happy Weekend

Hope your weekend was grand. Ours held a BBQ with friends and some hard work. For now, here are a few fun pics of the kids.

Abby with "Bobby" - the girl version of Bob the Tomato - (but she's now been renamed April - go figure!) after a long nap...



and Ford, peeking over.


310. reading two great books at once
311. our pastor's legacy and integrity
312. truly not minding the mind-numbing lack of sleep i'm getting

Home Of The Brave

We had a glorious 4th of July. Blasting music celebrating America, ridiculous food and ice cream and a fireworks show to rival all others, right on top of the Rose Bowl. Yep. Our friends literally look down into the Rose Bowl from their yard and so, the fireworks from there are insane.

Mackenzie was lots of help at the party... and here is Abby with some sah-weet new kicks that we found in the "hand me down" pile. (better pic to follow soon)




And Abby was telling Ford something really juicy and secretive. Maybe she already subscribes to US Weekly and I just don't know it.



There is no use showing a picture of Grant and I as we were always juggling someone or the rosemary fries or trying to have a conversation with someone whom we couldn't completely focus on because of the kids. And those fireworks? Yeah...those were viewed from inside where the sound didn't bother the 4 littlest ears.

305. living in the land of the free
306. no crying during the fireworks
307. grassfed burgers
308. special IPA beer
309. new kicks from the "passed on" pile!

Calling Bob The Tomato

I realized I've failed you. I've never explained just how crucial Bob the Tomato has become at our house. Before Ford was born, someone gave Abby her first Veggie Tales DVD (thanks, Kelli!). She was actually a bit afraid of it at first but she became obsessed with the fact that Bob and Larry could talk. She's hold the DVD case for hours on end. That morphed into, "Did you have any good dreams last night?" "Yes! About Bob!" Soon I was getting her up from her nap and she'd ask for a "Bob and Larry sandwich!" (tomato and cucumber on a bagel with cream cheese). After I found the ridiculously bad for you "fruit (i use that word lightly) snacks" shaped like the Veggie Tales that she can only have "on the weekends!", she carries the box around with her now, too. In fact, here is her toy chest. At the top? Two boxes with pictures of her best friends.



Bob likes to kiss her ouchies, sing to her when she goes to sleep and is an all around great guy. Just ask her!


Now when we walk into the market her first words are, "Mom! Look at all the Bob's!" And the other day, they actually had tomato balloons. Now, that's a good day.


Someone told me about a personalize-able CD where Bob talks to you. I can only imagine the sheer joy and pandemonium this will set into motion. She's just going to have to wait until Christmas to find out!

Also, I saw these and it's taking all of my will power to resist making them or praying that someone will deliver them to my doorstep.

301. air conditioning that works
302. abby's longer than normal nap habit
303. books that encourage me to stay the course with discipline
304. the view from my computer

Weekend Update

1. I found crayon on the wall again today. And the toilet. And the tile behind the toilet. The orange waxy crayon was dangling off the side of the tub when I found it. Very suspicious. At least the clean-up took 3 minutes (baby wipes!) instead of 30.
2. Ford is in size 2 diapers. I think 5 minutes ago Abby was in size 2. And he's 11 1/2 lbs at 7 weeks. Whew. A beautiful hunk of love.
3. I am remembering the post-baby + nursing clothing dilemma. I have about 3 options that get rotated throughout each week.
4. Abby got the frame for her big girl bed. Now... a mattress that won't kill her with off-gases. Yikes!
5. Abby stayed up till 10pm watching fireworks on Friday night, and plans to stay up again on the 4th for round two. Needless to say, she's sleep-deprived.
6. She was taught how to "shop" by big-girl Mackenzie when we took Mackenzie to ice cream for her birthday.


7. Our boy is really starting to smile now.

8. Abby has started saying, "uh huh... uh huh..." And I'm suddenly hearing my voice come out of her mouth. I think I say "uh huh" a zillion times a day as she is talking to me and I want her to know I am listening. I was showing her the DVDs so she could pick one (bad idea)... and as I flipped through them she kept saying "uh huh... uh huh..." I said, "does that mean you want to watch that one?" "no, mom! keep going, please. uh huh... uh huh..."
9. We went to a concert in the park last night ...

and even met up with Pema and her family...


So far- fabulous weekend. Hope yours is wonderful too!

and for those of you who ask what this is... counting our blessings :
297. the perfect picnic
298. shade for the concert amid thousands of people
299. a behaved dog when we leave the house
300. abby's "baby" white trash hair

Yogurt Mask

People often ask me if Abby is acting out since Ford arrived. Although she has her moments of screaming at him when he won't stop crying, it's usually things like this that keep me guessing.



Yep. A yogurt mask. And while I know their benefits can be many, I don't think the clean up required has me excited for Abby to try them every day. Hey, at least she's not ripping off the I Love Mommy bib that I forced her to wear, right?

Other than that, she will tell me "Mommy! I wanna pinch Ford!" Followed quickly sometime later with "I like 'em. I love 'em. I wanna kiss 'em." (We're still working on our pronouns!) I keep telling myself this is "the blessing of being two" and that she'll grow out of it and they will have a future filled with playing tag, swapping stickers, smashing monster trucks, playing dress up and wanting to go to the same college....but you just never know. Please. Please tell me that I'm right, that she'll never have a rebellious stage and that we will never be at odds. Okay, okay. A mom can dream.

293. warm brownies
294. looking forward to holiday plans
295. a swing that ford loves
296. our smiley mailman