That's My Girl

 

"I didn't want my tummy to be naked."

She is my little helper.
While I was putting away groceries in the kitchen after a trip to the store, Grace was helping put the toilet paper "away."

Construction

52:7

This week we began the demo of our garage which will one day turn into a new bedroom/bathroom/laundry room. When we first bought our house, we thought we would live here a few years then move on to a bigger place when our family grew. Well, reality happened, the economy took a nose dive, and our starter home turned into our home for awhile. I actually don't mind. I love our neighborhood: We are close to a huge park, in a great elementary school district, and have great neighbors. However, when Joe got a job where he could work from home, the need for more space came quicker then we had anticipated.
I pray this project goes as smoothly as possible and I can't thank my dad enough for all he is doing. I love you Dad! And Mom, thanks for giving up your husband for awhile. You must really love us. :)

Don't Cry Over Spilled Cheerios... Eat Them with Your Brother Instead

52:6

Grace spilled some Cheerios on the floor and was quite devastated about it; until Owen came speed crawling to the rescue. He started munching away and Grace decided to join him. All was well again.

And since I missed last week...

52:5 

Yes, I am making a ridiculous face, but the expression on my daughters face makes it all worth it.

Highlight of Visiting Grandma...

Jumping on the bed.

Seeing Grandma and Papa is pretty cool too.

10 Months

22.5 lbs

• Makes the cutest "monkey" face 

•  Is standing on his own

•  LOVES soup, and I mean screams if there is pause between the spoonfuls entering his mouth
• Just got his second haircut 
• Very happy, content personality

Reality

52:4

Just so you know, reality happens to be the picture on the left about 70% of the time. I like having a clean house. A place for everything and everything in its place. However, after my two lovely children were born, there wasn't quite as much time for cleaning, and a whole lot more messes. I do still love a clean kitchen/house, so every-once-in-a-while my kitchen looks like the one on the right.

"Good moms have sticky floors, messy kitchens, laundry piles, dirty ovens, and happy kids." -  Lovely quote I found on Pintrest

I thought I would also share the lyrics of one of my favorite songs:
(I tried to find an audio version to imbed, but the only ones I could find had random family photos of people I don't know attached to them. And apparently, uploading my own copy of the song onto blogger is WAY too complicated and not worth the time.)

Sacred 
by Caedmon's Call

This house is a good mess
It's the proof of life
No way would I trade jobs
But it don't pay overtime

I'll get to the laundry
I don't know when
I'm saying a prayer tonight
Cause tomorrow it starts again

Could it be that everything is sacred?
And all this time
Everything I've dreamed of
Has been right before my eyes

The children are sleeping
But they're running through my mind
The sun makes them happy
And the music makes them unwind

My cup runneth over
And I worry about the stain
Teach me to run to You
Like they run to me for every little thing

When I forget to drink from you
I can feel the banks harden
Lord, make me like a stream
To feed the garden

Wake up, little sleeper
The Lord, God Almighty
Made your Mama keeper
So rise and shine
Rise and shine cause

Everything is sacred
And all this time
Everything I've dreamed of
Has been right before my eyes

First Snow

52:3

This last week, Salem has experienced some crazy weather. Sunday, we woke up to snow. It snowed again on Monday, then proceeded to rain for the next three days. On Thursday, we woke up to major flooding. Most of Turner was underwater, and I saw some pretty amazing pictures of the parts of Salem surrounding Mill Creek (although I didn't venture out to see for myself). 

Motivated by some unfortunate flooding in a friends basement, we decided to check our crawl space. When we moved into the house, there as a sump pump that didn't work. We purchased a new one intending to install it that first summer, which, of course, never happened. I kind of wondered why the pump was even there in the first place. Well, I now know.

Good news: we had a brand new sump pump in the garage. Bad news: the water in the crawl space was too high to install it. Since Joe and I are both rather clever and resourceful, we came up with a solution involving a garden hose and Gorilla Tape. Worked like a charm. We saved our forced air ducts and our garage from the impending doom. 

Quite the week of weather. Now I think it's time for a warm, sunny spell.