Like Father...Like Son!

Over Christmas break I saw a picture of Lee in his parent's bedroom that made look twice. The picture was of Lee when he was about 5-6 years old. It looked like Johnathan with more hair. I knew that Johnathan looked like Lee, but I did not realize how much until I saw that picture. I asked his mom if she would scan it for me and she did. Today, for fun, I decided to crop a picture of Johnathan and the picture of Lee, put them side by side and compare. This is what I got...

Crazy!!! Johnathan will never be able to deny that Lee is his dad. While Johnathan does have some of my features (the chin and the eyes), he is Lee made over!

The Sword

Last night Johnathan was sick. So, at 11 pm I found myself at Walgreens trying to find medicine for him. While I was there I decided to walk down the toy isle and see if there was anything cheap I could buy for him to cheer him up (because you know he needs more toys - hahaha!). I walked down the toy isle and found NOTHING! It was cheap, that is for sure! I started to leave when I saw something out of the corner of my eye... a foam pirate's sword! Now, that's what I'm talking about! I mean what 3 year boy would not want a foam sword? So, I decided he needed one. I pulled one out of the display box only to find that it was broken on the end. So, I put it back and pulled another one out. The second one was also defective. So, the search began. I was determined Johnathan needed one of the swords and I was going to find one that was not defective. Finally, I found one that was decent. The only thing wrong with it was that it had one little nick right above the handle. I decided to get it, because it was the best one on the box and I was sure Johnathan would not even notice it!

He did not get to see the sword last night, because when I came home he was asleep, but when he saw it this morning his face lit up and he said, " Who is this sword?" (meaning - whose sword is this?) So, I told him that it was his. I told him that last night I bought it for him because he was sick and I wanted to give him something to make him happy. He was so excited and immediately began playing with it. Then, he stopped and looked at it, then looked at me and said, "Ugh! Look at this! It is broken!" and pointed right to the little nick at the top of the handle! I mean come on! Why does my 3 year old boy have to be one to notice stuff like that??!! I just told him it was supposed to look like that and he was fine, but man my bubble sure did pop! So much for the hero sword buying mom I thought I was.

BTW - He loves the sword anyway, nicks and all!

It is over!

My stressful night has ended well. I am not going to need therapy. I did cry alot, but I am glad all is well. It will be fun to see what new ideas ABC has for the show. I have read a lot of rumors, but who knows.

Today

Tori woke up this morning with fever. I do not think she is sick, but she is teething. In fact she has 2 teeth coming in on the top. I would feel crummy too. The good thing is she has not been too fussy. She has slept a lot though.

It has been a beautiful day here and so Johnathan has lived outside today. I love days like today. He is able to get his energy out and I am able to attempt to get some things done. He colored a person on the sidewalk with chalk and chased a few giants away with some sticks he has found and claimed as his own. He also has enjoyed be able to ride his bike and scooter whenever he wanted to today. I love days like today!

I spent a good portion of my day looking for a picture I never found, that I am almost positive now, never existed. Anyway, going through the pictures was fun. Most of them were of Johnathan as a baby. He looked at a lot of them with me. We had fun. He asked who the baby was in every picture. Everytime I said, "That is you, Johnathan." He kept asking though. I guess he thought we didn't have that many pictures of him. The cutest was how excited he got once I told him the baby was him. One time he said, "Oh that is so sweet mommy."

I was somewhat productive today. I caught up on some emails, picked up around the house, worked on some things for my party on Saturday and cleaned the kitchen. I think I am even going to cook super tonight. However, I also think I have made myself be productive out of sheer desire to try to not think about tonight. Yes, tonight is a big night for me. I have become very addicted to Grey's Anantomy and Meredith is now like family to me, well they all are. If I think about the fact she may be dead I get sad. That is sad, isn't it? Don't tell me. Just let me think I am normal. However, Junebug has assured me that she has forbid Mereddith to die, so I think I may be okay. Just know that if she dies, I will most definitely be crying and I may need some therapy. I will let you know how I am after the show.

That is my day!

The Chat Box

The chat box is Out of Order at the moment. My new computer, as advanced as it is, will not let me chat. :-( Everytime I try to chat this security thing comes up. I can not figure out how to cut it off. Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions I am up for that. Otherwise, even though I have an extremely new computer, which I love, I will not be able to chat.

Now, Junebug, I have lots to say about Rob Lowe and Sally Fields. In fact, I posted it on the side column on Sunday and it stayed there until today. I guess you missed it. Oh well. I do think Sally Fields is a wonderful crier. I love watching anything she is in. I also love watching Rob Lowe, but not necessarily because he is a great actor, he just really hot! And, yes I can still say that even though I am very happily married. I did however miss Sunday night's episode, because the person I am so happily married too had a HUGE paper due and I got sucked into helping. Such is life as an eternal student's wife. No telling what he is going to have me doing when he teaching too.

Anyway, thats the low down on the chat box. I will notify everyone when it is back up again. Goodnight!

Imagination Land

Okay, so I have heard that if a child has a wonderful imagination that means they are going to be really smart. Well, I think we might have a genius on our hands. Johnathan lives in Imagination Land. Very rarely does he exist in our world. As a result we must live in this world occasionally, and I have to be honest sometimes it scares me. Most of the time though it just makes me laugh. The funniest thing to me though are the conversations that Johnathan can have with us while in his little land. The conversation I am going to share with you was one we had in the car on the way to the gym this morning. It started off great (in reality) and then, well...read it for yourself. You will see what I am talking about.

Johnathan: Is Christmas coming?
Me: Well, no, christmas will not be here for a while. But, Tori's birthday is coming in April.
Johnathan: Oh. And then it is my birthday?
Me: Yes, your birthday will come in August, after sister's birthday.
Johnathan: Oh, then I will be the baby?
Me: No, Johnathan sister will always be the baby. She will always be younger than you and you will always be older than her.
Johnathan (after a little thought): Oh, and then one day I will be older than you?
Me (thinking, "wow, we are having a wonderful conversation): Well, no Johnathan. See, I will always be older than you and you will always be older then sister and daddy will always be older than me. But, one day you can be my age, I will just be older too.
Johnathan: Oh, and then you will be a tree?
Me: What? Did you just say I am going to be a tree?
Johnathan: Yes! You will be the monkey in the tree.
Me: Oh! Wow. So I get to be the monkey in the tree?
Johnathan: Yes. And, you will will eat bananas.
Me (giving up on the whole thing): Oh ok.

He went on to tell me that he was going to be a girl when he was older (we are still working on the fact that he can never be a girl) and that our house was ugly because we have a cow living in it.

As much as I want him to get to the point where we can have "normal" conversations, I am loving the conversations we have right now, even if they are extremely off the wall. Johnathan brings one of the biggests blessings to our home...laughter!

beautiful nail

i love having my nails done. it is very realxing for me. my friend amanda knows this about me, so when she saw this video, she immediately thought of me and forwarded it. i am so glad she did. it made me laugh so hard i was crying. anyway, i thought maybe i should share the fun with you today. enjoy!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8126430922330991484&q=genre:comedy&pr=goog-sl&hl=en

"Hey, how about let's take a picture of ... "

This morning when I realized Tori was pulling up on Johnathan's train table I hurried to find a camera. The closest one I could find was the one on my cell. So, I grabbed and took some pictures of her standing up at the traintable. Once Johnathan realized what I was doing he started saying, " Hey, let's take a picture of ___". So I would take a picture of it and then I would have to show him. He would then immediately think of something else we needed a picture of. The pictures got pretty goofy. Here are my favorites (and please remember i was being forced to take this pictures).

This was Johnathan's 1st pose for the camera - he is so goofy!

Next, we had to have the picture of the wonderful airplane Johnathan built out of legos. Well he told me it was an airplane, I don't know though. It looks more like a , well I don't know what it looks like. Oh well! He was proud of it anyway.

Here is another goofy face by Johnathan. Not sure what he is thinking. But if you ask me, Tori looks very confused. I think she is wondering how she ended up being the little sister of this wild boy.

Okay, so this one makes me laugh really hard. See this one was planned out. What you can not see, or atleast you can not see it well, is that there is a money flashlight and a dog flashlight sitting next to Johnathan on the sleeping bag. Johnathan really wanted to document his play date with the flashlights. He said, "Hey, how about we take a picture of me and the dog and the monkey together on the blanket." So, we did.

The other thing that makes me laugh is the fact that it looks like Tori is trying to run away. Don't worry if I were Tori I would have tried to run too!

This was the last one Johnathan posed for. He said (word for word), "Mommy, how about let's take a picture of me in the basket with this book." So we did. HAHAHA. He makes me laugh so much.

My life would be so boring without Johnathan!

brownie dog

for those of you who do not know, johnathan has an imaginary dog named brownie dog. johnathan has had brownie dog for a few months now and we have adopted brownie dog into our family. we can not go anywhere without him and if we do johnathan makes sure we know that brownie dog is not with us. last week the kids and i were outside compusa, in the car, waiting for lee to finish returning our computer (another story for another day) when all of a sudden johnathan started freaking out. i could not figure it out and then i realized it. i should have figured it out. somehow brownie dog got out of the car and johnathan would not calm down until brownie dog was back in the car. so, i rolled down the window and brownie dog crawled in and all was well. well this week brownie dog has begun biting johnathan. i am sure brownie dog is not to fault in this. however, we have to deal with it on a regular basis now. johnathan makes sure we know every time brownie dog bites him, even if we are at a friend's house (yes, that happened). after he tells us, then we tell him to tell brownie dog not to bite him again. this is followed by johnathan going in the other room and in a loud vioce saying "do never bite me dog!" to brownie dog. wow, how much fun is johnathan?! he makes me laugh all the time!

my heart day

okay, so today is heart day 2007 and i wish i could tell you that i had a very unique day. but, actually it was not much different than any other day, other than i got a very nice card from my husband and the promise of a wonderful date night friday night (with no kids, yay!!). i started out my day get the kids ready to go to the gym with me (i had an appointment with my personal trainer). i got them all dressed and opened to door to find out that it was not just cold outside - it was the kind of cold that takes your breath away. well, i loaded the kids up, got them all settled in the car, got myself all settled in the car (you know put music on, warmed it up, etc) and we headed off to gym. i got the front row spot this morning, which was awesome! i unloaded the kids and checked them into the nursery. then i was off to work out. well, i walked in to find out that the personal trainer assigned to me was not there, due to snow (not sure where she lived - it wasn't fort worth). that was cool i would just do my own thing. so, i decided to hop on the elliptical for an hour and call it a day. well, the elliptical must not have liked me to much, because as soon as i began to get on, one of the pedals popped back and hit me right in the shin. no, i did not say any bad words, but i wanted to. it hurt! i did not let it get me down though. i had an awesome hour on that thing and then went and rescued the kids. i had lunch with a friend. while at lunch with my friend it snowed. however, it was the horrible kind of snow that is so pretty but won't stay around. it is only good if it sticks around long enough to play in it. oh well at least we had some snow! then, i played on my computer, while the kids napped. once the kids woke up and supper time rolled around lee and i decided that cici's would be an awesome place for heart day supper (this is what happens when you have kids, for those of you who do not have kids yet - something to look forward to. hahahaha). we figured that being the cold wednesday it was (and being heart day and all) that cici's would be empty. we were wrong! it was packed and very loud! we had some good pizza though! we got back into the car only for both kids to start crying. lee and i just looked at each other, smiled and said, "happy heart day". life with kids changes everything. well, both kids are in bed my heart day is coming to an end. i hope everyone had a wonderful heart day and i hope there are no boyfriends or husbands in trouble. i will let you know on friday if mine is or not. :-)

things i have learned

being a mom is one the most challenging, yet most rewarding thing i have ever done. i love being a mom (most days) and on a good day take my job very seriously. i have a wonderful mom to learn from and for the most part being mom was a natural thing for me. i mean i have always wanted kids (even if they came sooner than i had planned) and i have always pictured my life being like this. but, there are some things that i have learned since i have become a mom that no one can teach you. well, they can try, but you can not really learn them until you are a mom. so, here are some things i have learned, in no particular order.

• i have learned how to carry about 10 bags, 3 cups, my purse, and baby all in one trip
• i have learned where everything is in walmart to insure that i do not have to stay there long when there with both kids
• i have learned how to have a conversation with someone on the phone while both kids are crying
• i have learned how to take a 5 minute shower when i do not have time and how to take an hour shower when i need some alone time
• i have learned how to truly enjoy the a quiet house
• i have learned how to be a apart of johnathan's pretend world, even when i don't want to be.
• i have learned that babysitters are the best thing in the whole world
• i have learned that kids are the most wonderful blessing i could ever have
• i have learned that time goes by way to fast
• i have learned how to say, "it seems like yesterday..." like a real grown up
• i have learned things that used to take me 10 minutes to do now take an hour
• i have learned why my mom made do chores when i was little - and btw i still hate it!
• i have learned that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch everyday really is a good thing
• i have learned that if the weather is not good for outside playtime, it is going to be a bad day
• i have learned that time with my husband, without kids, is priceless
• i have learned how to take my time shopping when i am by myself and how to speed shop when i have the kids
• i have learned how to do just about everything with only one hand

i think the one thing i have learned the most though, or i should say grasped the most, since i have had kids, is how loved i really am by God. He allowed His son to be tortured for me. wow! i love a lot of people, but i can not say that i love anyone enough to let my little babies go through that for them. something to think about it.

things i miss

i had a hard time thinking about what to blog about today. but then i thought about something that i am really missing today, and one thing lead to another until i came up with a whole list of things i miss. here they are (in no particular order)...

• mcalister's deli (all though there are rumors we are getting one about 15 min away)
• night out with the love of my life that do not have to be planned a week or two in advance so you can have a babysitter
• being able to eat whatever i want, whenever i want, and not gain a pound (oh, wait, did i ever have that? hahaha ok, maybe when i was 5)
• drinking diet coke all the time (i am a water only chick now - well, ok i drink 1 diet coke a day - but those that know me, know that is big deal)
• lunch dates with kirsten v at beagle bagel or mcalister's deli
• beagle bagel
• my brain (johnathan took half and then tori took the other half)
• my blonde hair (yes, it is light brown now - thanks to revlon)
• my clothes i wore before johnathan (i want those back before the year is over - and i will get them!)
• my freshman and sophomore year of college (those were some fun times!)
• being able to watch whatever i want on tv whenever i want - johnathan has control of the tv now (except for thursday nights from 8-9)
• the days when i did not have so much responsibility - being grown up is not as fun as i thought it was when i was 10
• being able to sleep late every saturday (i do get to some, when lee loses the coin toss the night before)
• chbc - don't get me wrong i love the church i go to now, chbc will always hold a special place in my life - i grew up there
• being caught up on laundry (i don't think i will ever get that one back)
• friends that i have not seen in forever because i live so far away from everyone
• zaxby's
• kyoto's fried rice and pink sauce
• being able to shop in peace (this is not possible with 2 kids - unless a babysitter is in the mix somehow)

i think the thing i miss the most today is the relationship i used to have with my sister. today is her 27th birthday and i can not tell her happy birthday. i love her more than she will ever know and i can't tell her. i still pray for the day that she will wake up and realize she needs Christ and that her children need a mom. i love you, crystal and happy birthday!

life

have you ever seen the movie "the incredibles"? well, in the movie there is a scene where the mom calls the dad at work, while she bathing the baby (great multitasker, like most moms), to tell him that is official. they are finally moved in. the dad then makes a remark about how they have already lived there for a while and the mom clarifies that it is official because they have unpacked the last box. well, it is official. we are now completely moved into our town home. yes, after almost a year, lee and i have finally gotten things completely organized and where we want it. you see normally by the time we figure out things are not working in the apartment we are in, we move. but, since we are not moving again for long time, we have decided to completely settle. empty the last box in other words.

lee and i also had a first for our relationship yesterday. when lee and i met we both each had a huge cd collection. he had his cds and i had mine. well, after almost 5 years of marriage, we decided it was time to combine the two collections and just have one collection. we had so many duplicates it was not funny. so, we are officially a one cd collection family now.

do you know how you do things out of habit and have no clue why? well, see today is sunday and out of habit i always take nap on sunday. not really because i am tired, but because that is what you do on sunday afternoon, or at least that is what my mom and dad always told me. thanks mom and dad! i am truly thankful that i had parents that believed in sunday afternoon naps, they are better than naps any other day of week!

my favorite 3 year old

johnathan is 3 now and despite his moodiness at times, he is my favorite 3 year old. he is always coming up with creative things to do and say. he is 300% boy and too much like his daddy. if something can break, he will figure out how to break it. when he was 1 someone gave us some flash cards from baby einstein that were supposed to be indestructible. well within 2 weeks our little johnathan had figured out how to destroy them. that is johnathan. johnathan is also always nice about everything he does, even if it is disobeying. johnathan does not throw himself on the floor and pitch a fit when we ask him to do something, he just doesn't do it. he does not talk back or say no, he just pretends we never said anything. johnathan also loves to repeat anything anyone is saying, whether or not he is using it right in his sentences. some of my favorite phrases from johnathan are, "i can't want to do that" (for "i don't want to do that") and "it is too easy" (for "it is too hard"). johnathan always has us on our feet trying to figure out who he is at the moment. some days it is one person the whole day, where there are other days it changes by the minute. my favorite was when he told me the other day that he was "lightening mcqueen buzz lightyear horse". i guess he couldn't decide which to be so he picked all three. johnathan also loves to talk on the phone. the other day he had me call like 3 or 4 different people, so he could talk to them. one of the phone calls was to mom and she asked him if he had pooped in the potty (this is big deal at our house right now). he was honest and said, "no, my daddy pooped in the potty." you never know what is going to come out of his mouth. johnathan also has a dog. his dog is named brownie dog and he has to go everywhere with us. the only thing is johnathan is the only one who can see brownie dog, so we never know when we leave him places. the other day in the car he started freaking out about something. once i calmed him down i realized that we had left brownie dog outside the car, so i had to roll the window so brownie dog could get back in the car. johnathan loves his little sister more than i can begin to tell you here. he takes such good care of her and makes sure that she stays out of trouble. he is also very quick to tell me when she does something wrong. yesterday, johnathan made sure i knew that his sister had knocked my vase of flowers off the table onto the floor from 3 feet away. i was amazed! but, then he confessed that really he did it. i love watching johnathan learn and love watching him just be him. i can not believe my little johnathan is growing up so fast. so for now, i am just going to enjoy my favorite 3 year old, even if i think he is from another planet sometimes.

Sick Day

Ok, so why is it that when the mom is sick life goes on? I mean seriously, if the husband is sick he gets to stay in bed. All he has to do is call his boss and say, "I am sick today and so I will not be coming into work", and then he has the wife to get him what he needs so that all he has to do is sleep all day. If the kids are sick, they also are treated special. They get food they normally wouldn't get (unless it's a stomach sick and then they get nothing) and they get to stay in bed and sleep or watch movies all day. However, if the mom is sick life goes on. I mean seriously there is no one to call and say, " I am sick and I will not be able to work today." And even if there were someone, there were no sick days alotted to us when we signed up for the job. Oh no! That would be too easy. The mom has to still get up and do everything she normally does. The only time this rule does not apply is if the mom is about to die or in the hospital. Where is the fairness in that? It makes the mom want to be the kid again so that her mom can take care of her. Even if her mom is sick too. :-) So, if you have been a mom or are a mom right now, please explain this mystery to me. Well, this sick mom is going on with life.

I'm Back!

Ok, so as always, I started something and then put it on hold until I had time to focus on it. However, I am figuring out that you can make time to do anything you want to. So, I as of today, Wednesday, February 7th, I am going to make time atleast once a week to blog, if not more. I would love to become a daily blogger. I just don't think I am ready for that commitment yet. Maybe one day.

Well, since my last blog tons has happened in our family. Here it is in 4 sentences. I am a stay at home mom now and enjoying my job as a Creative Partner for Initials Inc. Lee is STILL in school, working full time, and scheduled to teach 2 classes at the seminary next Fall. Tori is 10 months old, has two teeth and the ability to move around the house as she pleases. Johnathan is still 3 (hahaha), full of energy, and so much fun to watch as he is learning things and words everyday.

Ok, well that is it for today. We shall see if I can keep this up or not.