Take a nap? Or play?

Mom: "Jade, are you sleeping in there?"

Jade: "Um, oh, Hi mom! What, you have the camera with you...no, no I'm not sleeping"
Jade: "*grin* Hi world!!! I'm not sleeping at all! I'm playing in my crib!! I can stand, I'm so big and tall"

Mom: "Oh dear, my child is going crazy."

An evening at the park ~from Jade

Yesterday evening Dad and Mom said we were gonna go meet some friends at the park. That sounded cool to me, so off we went. When we arrived at the park though, we were told it was about to close. So Kris and I were sad. But then the adults made a change of plans and we decided to go to a different park. When we arrived at the other park Ben was there. Ben is a really funny guy, he jumped around and laughed and smiled and had me cracking up!
Pretty soon we were off walking towards the play ground. Kyri and I chilled in our strollers, we like to hang out together like this. While we were chillin' my mom was being a total goof. Good thing not to many people were around, otherwise I'd be very embarrassed.
She and Kris did this funky see-saw type thing where they would go up and down holding on with their arms. Mom wasn't too great at it, but she had lots of fun anyway.
She called Dad over and was all "Honey, do this with me, it's so fun!" He teased her a bit and didn't lower the handle bars...mom is SO short.
They did it for a short while, but every time Dad would go up in the air mom would fall and drop him. Mom is very weak.
Pretty soon I got bored watching mom act like a kid. So I watched Ben get a free ride on this really cool...contraption. Kris twisted the pole and the ride would move.
The park was lots of fun, but my bed time comes pretty early these days, so we had to leave.
Dad and Mom said we could come back to the park some other day. I hope we can do this again soon!

pics

Jade: "Look ma, I'm standing!"
Jade: "You are over there workin' and I'm over here climbing on my toys. Now which one of us is having the better time?"

Mom: "You come over here, ya little stinker and let me tickle you!"

Jade: "hee, hee"

Playing with sand

Among many errand runs, eating yummy food and watching lots of tv, we somehow managed a trip to downtown to check out what the sand sculptures looked like this year. Here are Jade and I at my favorite one.In domestic news, I made my very first pillow this weekend. Woohoo! And I found the material I want to use to make curtains for Jadey's room (sage green with cream polka dots).

EFF picnic ~from Jade

Earlier this afternoon Mom said we had to get all "ready." She changed me out of my jeans and t-shirt and put me in a bathing suit and sun dress. Then she took our picture. I was gonna smile but I just cut my third tooth the other day and I like to suck on my lips. So I just posed like this:When we got to the picnic the kiddie pool Mom was gonna put me in was a lot bigger then she expected and I didn't like it at all. So, no picture. Dad got to have fun and throw around a football; Mom was gonna play but it's been so long since she's thrown a football she was pathetic!
Here is a pic of my good friend Kristen and my other good friend Kyri. They were chilling together, aren't they good looking? I like having good looking friends.
At one point Mom said she was tired of holding me, I can't imagine why! I'm such a cool, good baby to hold. Anyway, she gave me to Dad and he went over to hang with his friend. Lucky for me, his friend has a little daughter for me to talk with. She is a lot younger then me...I'm a whole three months older then she is. Oh yeah.
Here is me chilling with Kyri. I wasn't sure about the grass mom had me sitting in.
So she gave me a cracker to chew on and sitting in the grass wasn't all that bad. Poor Kyri, I think she wanted a cracker too.
After the picnic dinner all the guys and kiddos lined up and got into great big sacks. I wasn't sure what they were doing, even my Dad got into a sack.
Then they all started bouncing and running in their sacks and it cracked me up! I thought it was SOOO funny! Dad almost won, but not quite.
After a few hours of fun, I got tired and cranky. My friend Juliana held me when I was really sleepy and she made me happy. But then it was time to go.
Maybe next year I'll get to do the sack race with Daddy, when I'm a bit bigger and learn how to walk. Lata!

My breakfast poem

I woke up very early
Okay, so it was late
I went into my kitchen
To decide my breakfast fate

I toasted an English muffin
and cooked myself an egg
I fried myself some bacon
and that is what I made.


Folks, it's raining again. I'm gonna go shopping. Good day.

Cleaning day Monday

It seems like fall has been right around the corner all summer long. With all the rain and "cool" weather we have been having I feel like we are missing most of summer and going right into fall. Thankfully that is not a bad thing, were I close to a warm sandy beach, I probably would be in tears, but since I do not live near a nice, warm, sandy beach, I can look forward to Fall even though I feel I didn't get much of a summer.
That all being said. This is what I'd like to look like this fall. Boring huh? I think the only thing I might change is wearing a shirt with more color in it, but other then that I think the jacket, bag, jeans and adorable flats are a perfect look for someone like me:) Not to mention the cute sunglasses . Jade is teething again, oh the joys! Someone I don't know gave me a tip on how to dance with Dance, Dance, Revolution better...and what do you know...she was right. Not that I'm suddenly amazing, but I've gotten better and thats so fun! Now to just get my friendies over to do it with me! lol

Today is cleaning day. I like Mondays for the most part. Even though Sunday is the beginning of the week, Mondays are the days I always feel are the start to my week. I like Mondays to start off clean and fresh, even if it is muggy outside:)

In other random news, peanut butter ice-cream, any kind of peanut butter ice-cream, is to DIE for!! I LOVE it:)

Jade is starting to crawl...

Welcome to the car wash!

This is how Daddy washes the car...This is how Jade supervises...
Supervising is fun!

Crawling and crackers

Jade is off and crawling, well, sort of. She takes a few crawling steps and then reverts back to her scooting along the ground crawl. Sometimes she reminds me of a little snake, but a very, very cute snake, of course.

We ran out of baby crackers today, so I decided to make some baby, teething crackers of my own. They look SO nasty. After they cool I'll give one to Jade and see what she thinks.

I'm curious if anyone has done any good bible studies recently. I've been doing a devotional type bible study by Beth Moore that has been nice, but I'd really like to supplement my quiet time with something a bit...meatier. Any thoughts or recommendations I'd gladly consider:)

Jade pics and working with Dad

This is Jade. Jade was crying. Jade was crying till she saw mom had the camera.
Jade doesn't want people thinking she is a cry baby. Jade will put on a fake smile if need be.
This is Jade happy. Jade loves being happy. Jade loves being happy on camera.
This is Jade no longer faking for the camera...this is Jade when she is laughing.
Jade and I went to go pick Jonathan up from work today. We arrived a bit early so he wasn't quite ready to leave. Jade wondered if she could help Daddy work. He said "okay" and put her on his lap.
Jade had fun slapping his desk. She loves helping Daddy work:)

Watercolors and new shoes

I use to enjoy doing little watercolors when I was in high school. I even managed to frame some of my creations and my Mom has them proudly displayed in her house. I feel like a little kid with pictures on the fridge every time I see them hanging in my parents house:)

Anyway, I haven't really painted much since high school, but a then a few days ago I decided our guest bathroom needed something on the walls. I didn't have anything that matched, so I decided to paint something. I even found a frame to a picture I wasn't planning on hanging in the house to use for my new picture. I now have the painting bug. I went to the craft store yesterday and bought some brushes and more watercolor paper. This afternoon I've been painting and listening to Frank Sinatra tunes.
My sister sent me a bunch of early birthday gifts this weekend, two of which were some brand new heals! Even though I am sick and I have no where to go I've been prancing around the house in my new shoes matched with ugly shorts and a t-shirt. Jade and I have been dancing to "Mack the Knife" and painting silly pictures. Ah, the joys of being a stay at home mom.

I was just thinking, I should invite over some of my stay at home girlfriends and we can all wear what ever we feel like and eat yummy snacks and paint and draw and play music. Wouldn't that be fun? But who has time to waste so much time...but me? LOL

Hope you all are having as nice a Tuesday as I am.

My weekend

So Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat and a bad headache. I had hoped my small cold would be over by the time the weekend arrived, but it didn't...it just got worse:(

Thursday Jade and I packed up into our rental car and headed into Seattle to setup for a conference I would be working at during the weekend. Poor Jade, she hates car rides and cried for about an hours worth of the trip. Once at our destination though she turned on her baby charm and smiled sweetly for all the moms and girls.

Friday I left at 6am to get to Seattle by 8am for the conference and left Jonathan with the task of getting Jade all ready to spend the day with some church friends. The conference was good, but really, really slow. Each hour dragged on as though it would never end and with each hour my throat got worse, my voice got deeper and had to blow my nose more. I felt bad for people who had to talk with me, so I proudly displayed my hand sanitizer on the table to show people I was trying to stay as clean as possible:)
Saturday I spoke with a vendor who worked the "Goodseed" booth. I had never heard of "Goodseed" before and was curious what he sold and why he was at a home school conference.

Most of the materials and books he sold were directed towards unbelievers or people who believed in different religions. He asked me if I was a Missionary (in my neighborhood, church, work, etc...) or if I didn't feel qualified to be one. Conversation with him was very interesting and in the end I bought one of his books called "by this Name" by John R Cross. The book explains Christianity and the Holy Bible starting with creation. Since it isn't written for a Christian everything about the Bible is dissected in an easy to read and understand way. I figured it would be a boring read but something nice to own in case I ever ran into anyone who had questions about God or the Bible that I couldn't answer. However, since the conference was so slow I decided to read it during my breaks. I LOVE the book, it is so interesting to read! You feel like you are reading an ancient story and right when I think I want to ask a question the writer takes a moment to stop and explain more in depth what he just wrote.
I don't know if you can get it at the library, but I would defiantly recommend it to anyone (granted, I haven't finished it yet)

Saturday was a hard day to be away from Jade for so long. With all the home school moms holding their little babies I missed her SO much.

Sunday I felt so bad we didn't try to go to church and I didn't attempt to do anything all day. I fed Jade, laid around, watch a movie, ate chicken soup and took a nice long nap. Jonathan kept busy with books and games. He recently just got himself the Xbox 360 so we played each other for a bit until I got to tried to even play xbox.

I am feeling better today, but I have a cough and sore throat. Jade seems bummed that I am not as animated and therefore not playing with her as much, but she is a trooper and will be just fine:)

Another gloomy summer day in Washington...what happened to our sunshine?