In Search of Myself

For Priscilla *edited*

You guys HAVE to read what Priscilla wrote on her blog about me.  She is SO funny.  (Oh, she now has a blog in jenjen.typepad.com world!  It's so much cooler than blogger!  Click here to run over there -- I designed the banner and colors, what do you think?!)  Anyway, this is what she said:

Not only has Jenny inspired me to try blogging, I also feel inspired to try my hand at digi scrapping. Not to copy her of course, but she does such a great job at chronicling Jake's life!   I want to have memories in print for my girls too, and of course the new baby!
So here I am, the scrapbook virgin, so hmmm would that make Jenny the scrapbook slut? hee hee  No, no, no, she's the scrapbook queen!  I am anakin to her obi-wan, without destroying her in the end of course.

Guys, I laughed so hard I almost choked on my lunch.  I'm STILL laughing about it.  She is freaking hilarious.

Priscilla was over Monday night for Jake's birthday and was asking questions about how to do stuff in Photoshop, so I was like, "Here, let me show you."  And I threw this page together and she got really mad that I was able to do it so fast, but she likes the page and I told her I'd post it for her.  ;o)  (Now you know, the reason it didn't take long is that I've done a page like this before and I have a general idea of how the LO should look -- if I'm copying myself, OF COURSE it's going to be easy!!!)  YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU, GIRL!!!

Quick funnies.

Now this needs to be pre-empted by the fact that we talk to Jake a LOT about the dangers of going in the street or a parking lot by himself or running away from us -- that you can get hit by a car this way.  (And he will add "Get squoosh like a bug." )  My mom lives on a pretty busy street, she's on the downward slope of a hill that people fly down, so it would be VERY easy for Jake to get hit by a car if he ever got away from us.  So we have DRILLED it into his head that he NEVER goes near a street and never walks away from us in a parking lot.  Anyway, we went through the drive-through at Wendy's on Sunday to get Jake some fries and my mom a frosty (we were going to Quizno's to get sandwiches for lunch) but the frosty machine wasn't working right, so we had to pull up and wait on them to bring it to us.  Mom decided she really had to go to the bathroom, so she got out of the car to go inside.  As she was getting out, Jake shouted "No Nana!  Can't go in da road!  You get hit by a car!"  Then after they brought me the frosty I decided to pull into a parking space to wait for mom, and Jake yells "NO!  You can't leave Nana!"  (the kid is loyal.  He freaks out whenever we drop anyone off because he thinks we're abandoning them -- like if we take my dad to pick up his truck at the repair shop.  It's SO funny.)

My mom was telling Jake that my dad was going on a camping trip and would be gone for a few weeks. 
Jake said "Oh, you be so sad."
Mom was like "eh."  LOL.

Last week Jake and Nana were getting ready to walk out the door:
Jake: You got yo' purse?
Nana: Yes, Jake.
Jake: You got yo' money?

Ok, the last one is a mommy/daddy funny.  We were carpooling and on our way to pick Jake up.
Lou: Oh look, gas is down to $2.98
me: Well damn, they're practically GIVING it away.

Family pictures.

I can't decide which one I like better.  This is actually what most of our family pictures look like, me trying to corral Jake, Lou looking like he can't believe we're taking MORE picutures (look down the sidebar on the right, the "Happy together" typelist to see what I mean.)  I think we're cute, though.  ;o)  (oh, and Lou is clutching the ring-bearer pillow and Jake has his Thomas trains in his hands . . . just in case you were wondering.)

My lil' man in his tux.

So tired.

This is what Jake looked like at 9:30 p.m. yesterday after a VERY FULL day of birthday fun.

I am SO exhausted today.  Like, seriously.  And I have a ton of catching up to do.  I have lots of cute pictures from the weekend to show you, but bear with me as I try to get stuff done today.  Thank you all for the birthday wishes!!!

Weekend stress.

This weekend is going to be freakishly busy for us.  Jake's birthday is on Monday.  But that's not the stresser.  Lou's cousin is getting married tomorrow, and I was asked 3 weeks ago to be the piano player.  I've met with a violinist 3 times to practice ('cause I have nothing better to do . . . ) and I've gotten my music more or less ready.  At first they said all I would have to play was Pachabel's Canon with the violin, and MAYBE the Wedding March at the end.  Then they told me the next week I would have to do the Bridal Chorus, too.  Then I was told TWO FREAKING DAYS AGO that they don't want the Pachabel's Canon as the parents and grandparents are being walked in, just for the bridesmaids -- so I need to just play "something classical -- anything."  And when told this, I said very flately "In two days."  And he sputtered and said "Well, um, yeah" and I said "You must have a lot of faith in my abilities to think I can just pull something out of a hat."  Stupid freaking . . . Um, I mean, no really!  This is going to be fun!

The worst part of it, is that I'm not getting PAID to play for the wedding (not to mention all the time I have put in practicing with the violinist), and I have played TONS of weddings and been well paid for them. I SWEAR, the next time someone asks me to play the piano for a wedding -- I don't care if it's my SISTER -- I'm going to say "I'd love to. My fee is $200." Then if that doesn't price me out of it, at least I'll make some $$$$!

Anyway, I'm leaving work at 2 p.m. today to go home and get ready for the rehearsal, then there's a rehearsal dinner at Lou's aunt and uncle's house.  The wedding is tomorrow at 5 p.m., but we all have to be there at 3.  Sunday we're having a family brunch for Jake's birthday, and Monday Lou and I both have the day off to hang out with Jake.  So I'll probably talk to you guys on Tuesday.  *hugs*

Almost 3

I took Jake for his 3 year check-up on Wednesday afternoon.  Now that he's older, he has big-boy check-ups -- he stands on a scale instead of sitting in the baby scale, and they even checked his blood pressure!  (Which he thought was totally weird -- but Nurse Carrie, who I ADORE, held the blood pressure thing and said "This wants to hug your arm!  Are you ready?"  SO CUTE.)  He was 38 pounds and 40 inches tall (although I still say he's 41 inches.)  That put him in the 96th and 95th percentiles (no surprise.)  I love the way the doctor (whom I also adore) explains the percentiles, every time "Now if we took 100 little boys, all born the same day as Jake, he would be taller than 96 of them . . ."  He said that Jake looks great, although I need to start MAKING him eat veggies, and said "Honestly, Mr. Jake isn't a kid I worry about one bit.  You're doing a great job."  When he asked if Jake was active, "is he running, jumping, climbing . . . " I laughed and said "Oh good lord, you have no idea."  Jake mostly hid in the corner the whole time we talked, but he was very well behaved when the doctor did have to look at him (we've been telling Jake for two weeks now that we had to stop by the doctor's office so that they could tell him "Happy Birthday."  And Carrie was so nice about it and made a big deal for him and talked to him about his birthday.)  It was actually a pretty fun visit.

Ok, and in this picture, I had very neatly stacked all of Jake's papers and coloring books and stickers and crayons on his little table . . . and then he decided he wanted to eat some yogurt (that's where he likes to sit to do that, for some reason), and instead of asking me for help, he just grabbed a spoon, ran over and swept EVERYTHING to the floor.  Nice.

Speaking of Birthday Parties . . .

 

 

Last Friday night, Priscilla and I had a half birthday party for Elauna.

Why, you ask?

Well, a few weeks ago we all went to Party City together to shop for Jake's birthday party stuff.  Ever since then, Elauna has been OBSESSED with having a birthday party and has been asking about having HER party . . . and the poor girl's birthday is in MARCH.  So instead of making her wait the whole next half year for her birthday, we decided to have a HALF-birthday party.

Plus, you know how obsessed Jake is with the concept of birthdays.  He TOTALLY understood the half-birthday thing.  My dad has yet to understand why we did it, but my 3 year old is good with it.  Ok.

And yea, I just wanted an excuse to bake chocolate cupcakes.  You got me.

Jake and Lana sat so nicely together on my piano bench and ate their cupcakes.  They mostly just licked pink frosting off and then would ask me for more and I'd squirt more on.  They had a BLAST.  (Although, at once point Elauna tried to grab the cupcake, slipped backwards so she was laying back trying not to fall off the bench because there was no back of a chair to lean on, the newly frosted cupcake landed on the back of my hand -- and stuck because of the frosting -- while I tried to help her, and Priscilla and I laughed SO HARD.  We felt bad about it, but DANG, it was funny.  I even took a picture of the frosting on my hand, that's how funny it was.  And ever since then, Jake has been telling me that Lana fell down.  Poor kid.)

ANYWAY, we find any excuse we can to have a party.  You can bet that when March 12th rolls around, we're having one of these for Jake.

click here to see a short video I took of Jake and Elauna -- it's worth the download wait, it's SO cute.

I'm so proud!!!

Look what Priscilla did!  And she did it all by herself (with her hubby), with no help from me!  I can't WAIT to see what else she's going to come up with, as she gets the hang of all this!!!

Zoe's birthday

 

 

Zoe turned 2 on August 17th, they had her birthday party on August 27th.  I'm just now getting around to catching up on things for my blog . . .

Mom started watching Zoe when she was 5 months old.  It was supposed to be for one school semester, from Jan. to May, but then they extended it just over the summer.  Then just the fall semester.  Then just the spring semester.  Then please through the summer.  Now we're at another fall semester, and mom still has Zoe.  My dad is the one who convinced mom to keep watching her, he says Zoe NEEDS mom.  Long story.  I've decided I'm going to be a big person and be nice, so I'm not going to elaborate one way or the other.  But I will say: if you have someone who watches your child you should be thankful and grateful to them and kissing the ground they walk on and NEVER take them for granted or pay them late or pick your child up late 'cause you felt like going to Target.  Ok then.

ANYWAY, no one else from church but us came to the party -- the other people there were all Zoe's dad's friends from school -- they're all pursuing their masters or doctorates and they were . . . well, pretentious.  (That's putting it nicely.  Priscilla will be laughing when she reads this, 'cause she's been told all the details.)  And you all know that's one of the things that makes me completely insane, so Jake and I sat and played in the living room most of the time.  There was one other little girl there and Jake pretty much just ignored her.  Jake stood behind the couch as Zoe opened her presents and Zoe kept turning around and showing them to him and wanting to share -- which was really cute.  Then when they brought the cake out, boy Jake was right there!  He LOVES birthdays and cakes and the singing of the birthday song and OH MY WORD was I happy that he didn't blow the candles out for her.  I knew he was thinking about it, but he didn't.

We got Zoe a really cute pair of purple pajamas from Cater's ('cause I don't believe in buying toys for kids who already have a million toys) and Jake had watched me wrap them so he was really excited when she opened them.  I didn't hand-make a card this year, but I did put a cool dog note-card on the present and that made Jake happy.