What happens when you mix two toddlers and a paper shredder?

A big mess, that's what.

Well, after 5(+) years of living in Florida...

We finally have a patio. The patio itself wrapped up yesterday, and I had to let it dry for a day. I spent all afternoon assembling furniture ALL BY MYSELF :). The kids were really good, although they are now starting to meltdown.


As you can see, we have TONS of room on this patio for all the things we wanted. You can't see the color very well, but it looks like natural stone. Very pretty!

Being (sort of) nice to each other for a change

Giving Sissy a little hug...

JR has felt better. He had to have three shots yesterday, and he's been pretty cranky and clingy. Of course, no matter how bad you feel - you're always up for hugging your favorite sister.

For those interested - JR is 28 lbs and 34 inches long. Just two pounds and 3.5 inches smaller than his sister!

We have poopage.

So, anyone who is familiar with our potty-training plight is aware that we have promised Janna the world if she would just ditch the stupid diapers. Well, one such thing promised was a barbie doll if she would poop on the potty. Without going into too many details, I managed to get her to do so. After her nap time, we went down to Walmart (the only store with toys nearby) and she got to pick out her first Barbie. Thankfully, someone brilliant at Walmart put all the really expensive ones at the very top. Janna's level had very moderately priced ones. So, she picked out "Barbie and Tanner" which is Barbie with a Dog. She is her mother's daughter "Mommy said a Barbie - so lets find the Barbie with the MOST stuff in it." Of course, I would have tried to get away with the packages that have TWO Barbies in it. She'll learn.

Anyhow, after she found her Barbie, she found the Barbie car. Any little girl (who played with Barbie) knows that the only thing cooler than a BARBIE is a BARBIE with a CAR. She was ready to put the Barbie back to have the car - so I caved and got her both. What's the point of having a Barbie car without a Barbie?

Let me tell you that Barbies have changed since I was a little girl. First of all, the head no longer pops off - at least not like it did when I was little. I remember my Barbie's head popping off every time I brushed her hair! Secondly, those of you who had barbies circa 1988 will remember the soft legs that had knees that "popped" as you bent them. No more - Barbie had a knee transplant and now she has fully functioning joints. Same with the elbows - no more solid state bent or straight - now she can do the Macarena! There was also no jewelry (rings or earrings). She has panties imprinted onto the plastic. Oh, and the most disturbing thing - the hips. These hips can do ANYTHING. The positions that I could contort this Barbie into was astonishing.

The funniest part was the dog. After Janna went to bed, I broke out all the small pieces that I had to confiscate because of JR. Tanner (Barbie's rather LARGE dog) eats and poops. If you placed the little brown pellets in his mouth (his mouth opens when you lift his tail) he swallows them down. When you push the tail down, he poops. Barbie comes with a pooper scooper and garbage can too.

Where's Ken when you need him?

Here's Janna with the crown we picked up at Walmart. She had one at Grandma's house (in Minneapolis), and keeps asking for it. So, we picked up another one.


I like this picture because it looks like she's doing the hula.

Happy 4th of July!

So, we had a pretty mellow 4th. We planned on heading over to the parade, but got rained out. The parade went on as planned, we just didn't want to deal with the drizzle. So, the kids had a happy 4th at home - nice and dry.

We had previously decided not to do any fireworks, and from what I hear they got cancelled anyway. We did pop some firecrackers at home. Janna and the girls across the street got a kick out of that.

Janna in Daddy's silly hat. Such a cute one that Jeff snapped.

JR in his 4th of July outfit. Love that Oshkosh hat.
Janna's outfit for the 4th.
Yummy s'mores.

Marshmallow string. The obligatory watermelon slices for the 4th.

6/30/07: Some random pictures of the kiddos

First, my baby boy who was enjoying a cookie and being rather fussy about something. The cookie helped him get over it.

Just look at these beautiful curls...



Janna wouldn't let me get a good picture of her, so here is one of her sipping on some water before bed time. Most of her face is covered, but you do get a good look at those beautiful baby blues.