I couldn't help but post some of these fantastic pictures from Jonathan's sister, Ashley's wedding. [/COLOR][/B] This is some of us waiting around for the bride and groom to come out of the temple. The men behind me are (from left to right): Jonathan's brother Tyson, Jonathan's dad, and Jonathan's bro-in-law Andrew. Plus cousin Elijah. And me and the children, of course. It was drizzly that day, so waiting around outside wasn't the greatest, although the company sure made it more fun. Jonathan's sister, Ashley, and new husband Larsen. Isn't Ashley's dress fantastic? A friend of Larsen's family made it for Ashley, per Ashley's design suggestions. Very vintage. Very classy. Aren't these two the cutest in their wedding outfits? I had to include both pictures, because one was better of Paul, and the other better of Anna. Of course. Why can't you ever have a picture where ALL children look their best? This was at the reception that night. A candy bar. With all sorts of delectables to choose from. All the candies were various shades of peach, to match the wedding colors (peach and grey). Each guest got to choose a variety of candies to take home with them in their mini peach Chinese take-out box. Needless to say, we went back to get multiple take-out boxes for the kids. And then we plundered the leftover loot after the reception was over, too. What a brilliant idea! And of course, handsome Jonathan posing with his brother Golden, bro-in-law Andrew, and new bro-in-law Larsen. Sharp looking bunch, huh? Plus, Jonathan's wearing his first new suit since the one he bought for OUR wedding, almost 7 years ago.
Sadly to report, I have no family pictures to show. We were all so busy in the festivities of the day that we didn't get to take any pictures of Jonathan's whole family. I'm REALLY hoping to get some the photographer took, though.
Oh: and for those who are interested in my due date? It's Sept. 14. Which translates to Oct. 1st, pretty much, since my body likes to hang onto these babies for as long as possible. And our #3 is a boy. We're so thrilled.
About a month ago, I had a sweet little girl scout come to my door. Dream come true! That hasn't happened to me since I was a teenager living with my parents. And it certainly didn't happen living in an apartment complex in Boston. But I guess with every respectable neighborhood of homes comes a respectable girl scout. And believe me, she was successful at my house. Probably because that little baby growing inside of me made EVERYTHING sound disgusting to eat EXCEPT for her solicited cookies. So, yes, I ordered 7 boxes from her. She said she'd bring them at the end of February. No sign of her yet. But still, my craving lingers and lingers... Where are those cookies?
For the past few months, my bathtub drain has been driving me crazy. [/COLOR]Maybe it's because "drain" is not at all what it did. I'd pour a half a bottle of Draino down it, find my problem fixed for about three days, and then discover the shower water about calf-deep once again, only 5 minutes into showering. What's the deal? I've lived in a house full of four sisters, all with mid-back length hair, and had no such problems. I've lived in apartments with 5 other girls, all using the same shower, and never found such problems. And now that it's lonely ol' me (and my cutie daughter and son a couple times a week) using this shower, why is the drain getting clogged on a ridiculously frequent basis?
I kept waiting for Jonathan to fix it. I guess because somewhere in the back of my mind it seems like this sort of thing should come innately to men. But bless his heart, when Jonathan was home no one wanted him fixing things around the house. We wanted face time with him. Quality time with him. Bonding time with him. Fixing shower drains didn't seem like quality enough time.
So I took it upon myself, finally, to resolve my problem. I found some basic steps on the internet, and proceeded. I obtained the toilet plunger from under the sink. Lined it with a thick layer of vaseline. Filled the tub up with a couple inches of water. Removed the drain head. Put the plunger in the water and sealed it around the drain opening. Pumped it back and forth four or five times, listening to the water moving back and forth inside the pipe. Yanked the plunger off the drain. WHOOSH! Something happened somewhere, and then I heard the rapid rushing of water down the drain. YES!!! I did it! Drain plug problem solved. And I must admit, every time I take a shower now, I look down affectionately at my little drainy wainy and take pride thinking that I fixed him. What's my next household project? Hmm... Recaulking the shower? Putting in marble countertops? Reroofing the house? Probably.
I've been dying to do this for years now.[/B] [/COLOR] And tonight, thanks to Jean's blog, I found a way to do it. A typing test. I love typing. And Jonathan always makes fun of me for it because I'm more interested in speed than accuracy. It's true. He's right. My typical typing: type type type, delete delete, type type type type type, delete, type type, delete, delete, delete.... you get the picture. But it feels so good to just fly over the keys, doesn't it? I think part of my penchant for typing fast comes from the fact that I took piano for quite a few years growing up. And although I'm not the most amazing pianist in existence now, I'd like to say I trained these little fingers of mine for speed on the keys. Thank you, Mrs. Smith, my 7th grade typing teacher who trained me well. "H H, J J, H H, J J," I can still hear her calling. Try out the test. I dare you. See how fast you are.
Last week we had an awful lot of snowy days.[/COLOR][/B] I didn't mind, really. I enjoyed getting outside to shovel the snow and get some fresh air. But one night in particular we had an awful lot of snow dumped on us. Again, I didn't mind getting out to shovel it, but once I got into it a little, I realized the intensity of the task that lay before me. As is normal with heavy snowfall, I had to shovel each spot two or three times to clear the deep snow away from the driveway. Which amounted to the above picture. Again, no complaining. Good exercise. Muscles burning. Feeling good. But I'll confess that when I headed over to begin shoveling our sidewalks, I felt greatly humbled. Our neighbors to the left had snow-blowed the sidewalk in front of our house without me asking them to. And our neighbors behind us had snow-blowed the sidewalk on the side of our house without me asking them to. Can you believe it? Is that "Minnesota Nice", or what? And please note, this act of service was done before 7:00 in the morning, because I never saw them out my window in action. As soon as we can save enough to buy one, this will be me behind our own snowblower. Watch out. I'm going to repay these good deeds by snowblowing our entire neighborhood.
Jonathan really wanted to put up pictures of his facial hair. [/B][/COLOR] And when I saw this venue for presentation, I knew it was the best way to execute a complete analysis of the facial hair in action. What's your favorite, he wants to know? Needless to say, he got some pretty uncomfortable looks from people on the day he wore the mustache to work. But please note it was JUST one day of mustache at work. I think that allowed him to keep his job.
The night we drove back from Wisconsin after our Thanksgiving holiday, it snowed here in MN. Naturally, I woke up the next morning and shoveled. And shoveled. And shoveled some more. It doesn't help that we live on a corner, so not only do we have a sidewalk in FRONT of our house to shovel, but we also have one on the SIDE of our house to shovel. After 45 minutes of sub-par, but sufficient shoveling, I walked back into the garage and set down the snow shovel. Literally seconds later, I hear a loud noise coming closer. I look up. It's a snow plow. The snow plow is plowing the road in front of my house. The snow plow is taking no notice of the newly shoveled sidewalks and driveway in front of my house. Kaploowie. The snow plow deposited all the snow from the street onto my driveway and sidewalks, only to mandate that I shovel yet again. Bah. (By the way, the house picture is NOT mine. Clearly, THEY didn't shovel their sidewalks again after the snow plow splatter.)
Jonathan shaved off the beard this morning.[/COLOR] [/B] And in celebration, we decided to dress up as elves, learn a dance together, and invite Pearce Brosnan whose beard may forever stay on because I don't have to kiss it. We're pretty coordinated, aren't we?
If it weren't for all the candy and creepy gory stuff that comes with it, I think this holiday would be runner up for my favorite. What's not to love about meeting your neighbors, dressing your children up like they've always wanted to look, and enjoying the many things fall has to offer? Here are our 3 day highlights. Oct. 30: Playing with friends on the hay bale maze at the pumpkin patch. Oct. 31: Preschool Halloween party at our house. (Whew, what a mess that many kids can make!!!) Plus, yummy monster toes to snack on. (SO good -- they tasted a lot like fresh pretzels. Mmmmm...) Then trick-or-treating, of course. (Thanks, Anna and Andrew for the Japanese outfit -- I think it's going strong here on year 2!) Nov. 1: The great candy exchange. Paul says, "Anna, you want 'dis one? I twade you." Anna responds, "Uh, I think that one's my favorite. Do you want this one instead." Paul, "Oh. Shuh. I wove 'dat one!" Oh, candy. How do you please my children so much more easily than I can please my children?
From Boston to Minnesota. [/COLOR][/SIZE]That was the big move. Everyone warned us about the bitter winters. "Bah," I thought. "Big deal. Boston winters are bad. Minnesota will just be one more notch colder. We'll be FINE." In theory, yes. But one thing I failed to remember was that in Boston we lived in an apartment building where we didn't pay for our heat. That's right. Heat was included in the rent. So of course I kept our thermostat at a pleasant 80 degrees. Naturally, Boston winters didn't seem THAT cold. Now that we're here in MN and winter is approaching (it snowed on Sunday), my thermostat is on my mind a lot. I'll admit, I'm getting chilly. But BOY, I don't want to have to empty out my pockets to pay for high heating costs. (I know, it's inevitable, despite my efforts to control it.) So our thermostat is set at 62 degrees, and I'm bundling up in our house. Right now I'm wearing two pairs of socks and my super warm fuzzy slippers. But my hands feel like ice. So let me end by saying two things: 1)I miss free heat and 2)I think it's going to be a long, cold winter, and we haven't even hit winter yet... Donations to heating funds, anyone?
My Opera
