2nd Generation of Friends

So my BFF Kim is here and we are having fin mostly just hanging out and talking like crazy, cause we both have kids and we have to be pretty flexible with all that. Tonight a big thunderstorm rolled in and we sat on the porch to watch it. Here is Kat and Olivia making nice.

Oh and by the way we have our new niece, Lucy who was born on Wednesday. She is so sweet and alert and really fun to snuggle. Here is a picture of LeRoy the big brother:
On Tuesday I leave for my big road trip to Virginia. I will be posting hopefully if my realitives have WiFi so stay tuned!!

Have You Seen My House?

So this week I haven't blogged much cause I have been running around trying to make my house presentable for my BFF Kim who is coming on Friday. She hasn't seen me in a grown up house since 2001. I wish I had my crap together enough to show her I am not the same slob she lived with in college. Since Jason and I have really come together and made some beatiful houses. (way too many to think about). Since we don't have money to paint this house is incredible behind schedule. We usually would just stick it all on a credit card and make it happen. It is so annoying to be responsible and own your own company now! But I think we are making do. Here is evidence that I have been productive with what I have:

I don't know why everything is glowing. It must be the cleanliness... or the humidity.

At the same time Sheri is having her baby today and so I am on super Aunt duty! I am so excited to see my new niece and find out her name! As Kim would say- Birthday Birthday Coming to Earth Day!

Gonna Party Like it's My Birthday!

I'm 31 y'all! I cannot emphasis enough the difference a good birthday makes. Last year turning 30 was AWFUL. This year I could care less cause I got to have the birthday weekend celebration! Jason surprised me Saturday with a treasure map that I had to follow for the day. I ended up spending the day at a spa getting a massage, facial, mani\pedi and lunch. I even got my eyebrows done, I felt so POSH! Then I went and got my hair cut- highlights too! I got a little carried away and now I have no hair left, but after the initial shock has worn off I think I am going to like my new look. I had something similar back in the Russia days so it's fine with the DH, but I am still figuring out how to recreate what the hairdresser did. Lucky for me (not really) I got to try it out in front of the whole Sunday school while I taught. The reaction has been pretty decent. Thank goodness for my loving family! Also I was very touched by all the family and friends that wished me a happy birthday. Being back in the US is so great!

Play Dates = Play Doh

I watch my niece and nephew (Ruby and LeRoy) when their mom has her prenatal check-ups. Today we made Play-Doh. Luckily I happened to have a few thousand cookie cutters available.

I should just be glad they are healthy.... it's not ADD I swear!

Happy Birthday Baby

Yesterday Jason turned 34. Thanks to everyone who wished him a Happy Birthday! I have to say it is great to be in America for these things! We made him a big banner we hung on the outside of the house, and his favorite German Chocolate Cake.
Then he got Guitar Hero. I wanted him to have a completely indulgent present for his birthday. Especially for the hard few months he has had and the sacrifices we have made lately. He is our hero. Happy Birthday Jason.

Summer Lovin'

So I have been going from loving summer to hating it. Mostly I love the weather and the freedom to just go and have fun, but then I hate that I have to entertain 3 little people constantly and still maintain a house. Ungh. But here are some pictures of the good times.

We are going to the community pool every night after Jason is home from work.I came home from Enrichment last night and this little guy was at the door to welcome me. Pretty!



Here is Kat after I cut 5 inches of her hair off before church. Jason was scared, but it has been so much easier to manage since! It was either a trim or cornrows for the summer!

Here is our project for today. We made collages. When I told them what we were doing they broke into song singing, "we're making collages! we don't know what they are-re!" over. and over. I hope the rest of you out there are enjoying your summer!

I'll Be Loving You Forever

One of my lifetime long dreams has finaly come true. I didn't even put it on my "Bucket List" cause I didn't think it was possible BUT New Kids on the Block has reunited and are coming to Houston TX in October. And today my friends, I got tickets. When I was a kid they were the first band I ever loved. The first pin ups I tore out of Bop Magazine. But they never came to the DC area on a day other then Sunday. I never got to go. So more then 15 years later I can finally stay out late enough to go! Happy Early Birthday to me!

Just Keeping Up

I thought I would find a way to post everyday but then nothing interesting happened.... well interesting enough for my status line on Facebook but not for here. Today though was the first official day of Summer Vacation! So I did it up right. I conferenced with the kids at breakfast and told them what to expect. Since Adam has been at school he needed to know what we do around here. I also gave them the updated waking up schedule. Now that I don't have to get anyone out the door I will be serving breakfast at 8:30. No one is to leave their room (but to pee) before 7! I am hoping that they will all slide into that routine. Later we went to the Library and then WalMart to prepare for the pool tomorrow. I also took the kids to an animal shelter to see puppies. I knew it was wrong but I can't help it.

It's been a year and a half since our Great Dane died. I have to admit there were lots of thing I liked about not having a huge horse in the house. Like not guarding my food, or fortifying the house before we left it. Plus the whole having people over thing that is so much easier. But now that we are settled down more then we ever have been, and now that Kat and Adam are both going to be in school, I feel ready for a new dog. So I have been surfing almost everyday looking for a Great Dane. Jason only wants a Great Dane. It makes sense, we know them, they are great with kids, and so sweet. But I am not convinced a smaller dog wouldn't be nice. So after looking online I realized that a Great Dane can be pretty pricey. Like 300-1200 pricey. I looked into the rescue places but there is this whole process that can takes months. So today I thought I would cruise the shelters and see what was up. And besides doesn't petting puppies cheer everyone up? It was so fun and so sweet, but what I didn't consider is that Adam is now at that age he wants a dog of his own. So now I fear I am going to have to break his heart, as we fell in love with a beautiful girl puppy with blue eyes. We've talked Jason into looking at it tomorrow, but I know it's not the right time. Stay tuned!

Just about perfect

Before
So the reason I got to help decorate my impending neice's room is because it is a joint baby shower project. My family got together and pledged money to do it up. Here are the before and after pictures. The little girl in the after picture is Ruby, the soon to be big sister.






After
What you can't see in the picture is the other wall where we framed pictures of Little Golden Book characters, like the Saggy Baggy Elephant, and the Poky Little Puppy. And those two brown squares are going to be adorable head shots of my neice and nephew, but I just picked them up at Walmart so we haven't had a chance to hang them.

Thank you Ikea for all the cool stuff you sell!!

Monday Monday

So am I enjoying Blogger? Well, I like that I have it, I just don't like how you can't see who is visiting your site. I mean so far all the votes say I should cut my hair, but are they from people I know? I'll probably end up doing it anyways since I got a $12 trim, and a $12 result!

Sunday was nice. The chicken I put in the oven frozen at 11 am was falling apart wonderful at 4:30pm. Just in time to break my fast with James and his family. They had made Jello so it was a great meal! Then this morning I got to go to Ikea......

Ah Ikea. It was like a teleportation device. I walked in and I knew where I was and what I needed to do. It felt like home. The only weird part was having everyone speak English. After 5 years of pretty much living in a Belgian or German Ikea it was amazing being in a store I didn't have to pantomime every question. Plus, I got to help my sister in law pick out stuff to decorate her new baby's room, so that really helped the decorating jones I have been fighting. I will post before and after pictures tomorrow when we do up the room!

First business: Last night I was out at a girls scrapbooking party and I found out a lot of the ladies keep in touch by blogging. As many of you know, I was all into blogging a few years back. But since Jaosn switched servers and hasn't updated me on how to update my blog, I have fallen off the bandwagon. Plus I moved 3 times and got sucked into the world of facebook and myspace. So this is a temporary measure in lieu of www.theusualunusual.com .

SO ANYWAY

Today was another great Saturday. The other weekend we went to Burroughs Park that has a lake and lots of playgrounds and took these great pictures of the kids. Today we tried out the neighborhood pool. I was pleasently surprised. I am not a pool person. But Texas is hot enough to get even me in the water. I did a pretty good job protecting the kids from the sun, but of course Jason and me have some very random burns.