dinner table discussions

my family got together tonight for dinner. and when i say “my family”, i mean my mom, dad, brother and guest, moms twin, 3 cousins and spouses and children, and my little personal family.  so it was quite the “to do”.  at any one given moment there was an infant being fed and lots of cackling going on (i call the hoard of women that is my family “the cackling hens”).  at one point during the evening as kristen and i sat in a back room feeding our youngins, the converstation(s) in the other room reached a really loud volume… they were discussing politics.

in my family, that is an explosive topic.  my moms side of the family are very much conservative Republican George W Bush lovin people.  my mom’s twins side of the family love Hillary Clinton.  so discussions of politics usually turn into “polite” arguments where no one actually listens to anyone else.  it is amazing to me how different a set of twins can be.  my mom hearts the NRA and has a conceal/carry gun permit and sees all world events through the “Revelation” filter.  her twin sister hates guns and thinks Hillary is the messiah.  what is the funniest part to me though is that Kristen and I have some of the strongest opinions in the family, and we are the only two who don’t want to discuss politics.  we both understand that no one is going to change thier minds, so why argue about it. but one thing that was weird was when my mom and her twin moved simultaneously though on opposite sides of the room to sit next to the same person and ask the same question.

all in all it was a good evening.  babies got passed around to everyone, cooper didn’t scream his little head off, charlotte only spit up on jamie, and wilson was actually awake for a few minutes.

oh, speaking of charlotte … she got melissa.  we were at aunt jemimah’s house and melissa was holding charlotte when charlotte blew out her diaper and totally sprayed poo all over melissa’s pants.  embarassing, but hilarious at the same time.  i think i will make a running list of all the people that charlotte has pooped on, and then bring that list out when she brings a date over to the house.

so that was our evening.  quite a success by most standards.

more like “p.s. you suck”

jamie and i just watched the movie “PS I Love You”.  i’m used to crying at the end of movies … but seriously, did you have to make me cry THROUGH THE ENTIRE FREAKING MOVIE??!! sorry for shouting. it was wonderfully horrid though.  if jamie had not been in the room, i would have been blubbering like a baby, snot running down my face, and not actually seeing the movie cause my eyes were puffed shut from crying. sigh, i love Love movies. especially when they don’t happen the way you think they should but still end pretty well.  the only problem with girls watching love movies is that somewhere inside of you, you wish you were the main character (yes, don’t lie you do it too).  but the weird thing about this movie is (stop reading this now if you haven’t seen the movie and ever plan to, plot spoilers up ahead!! serioiusly) that i don’t want to be her. i don’t want my husband to die. i don’t want him to send me letters. i don’t want to sleep with his best friend and only find out it was his best friend after i’ve slept with him and then have him tell me stories of him and my dead husband when they were kids. i don’t want to make shoes. though i would like to take my mom to ireland. so i guess this would be the exception to that girls-wanting-to-be-the-main-character-in-hopelessly-romantic-movies.

i’m just glad i have found my jerry.

and there’s my answer

its raining. its been raining since yesterday. this is why i couldn’t live in london or seattle. no sunshine = sad jennifer.  but during my blog-stalking today, i read a post that gave me chills. what her little boy said really hit home. rain = growth.  just wanted to share that with you.

the baby pool

My parents are taking me and Charlotte to Florida in September (Jamie will be away at a conference, so he’ll have to miss the fun).  In anticipation of this trip, I started to look for baby bathing suits for Charlotte.  Before you say anything, I already know … you can’t take a baby younger than 6 months swimming because they cannot regulate their own body temperature and therefore can get super cold really fast (the internet is a great resource).  So despite my failure to find her a bathing suit and my subsequent surrender to the fact that I can’t take her swimming, I was remembering the baby pool that is at almost every outdoor pool.

You remember the baby pool … that small shallow puddle of a ‘pool’ that was off in the corner, usually under some shade.  Well, I’ve started to feel kinda like that baby pool in my life.  Let me explain…

The baby pool always looked like fun. Safe fun. It wasn’t too deep to really drown in (I know I know, you can technically drown in only an inch of water, but you know what I mean), but it was deep enough to splash around in.  I feel like I’ve become safely shallow.  I am just “deep” enough to be able to splash around some decent thoughts or ideas, but not really deep enough to take a long swim.  During my blog-stalking sessions, I read all these great blogs of these people who have really put a lot of thought into their writing, and then I see my blog and the deepest thing I’ve put thought into was which picture to choose to compliment the silly blurb I’m publishing.  The baby pool also attracts just that … babies.  I would love to have some really thought-provoking conversations, but it seems like all the conversations I’ve had recently have been very surfacy … safely shallow, if you will.  And that’s because I haven’t tried to invite those thought-provoking, conversation-starting ideas out of anyone or have offered any myself.  And on top of all that, the one defining characteristic of baby pools is how many people “relieve themselves” in it.  (Just remember, if you hit a warm spot in a pool … KEEP GOING).  It’s not that I feel people have been dumping on me (sorry, bad pun) or that I have been unloading my issues on them … its just a general feeling of poopiness.  … So there ya go … my analogy of the baby pool I feel I’m swimming in.

Time to move to deeper waters…

my font

found this kinda funny.  What font are you?

You Are Arial Black

You are bold, over the top, and quite loud. You’ll stand up and stand up to get your point across. Subtlety isn’t really your thing. You sometimes come off as crass and abrasive. You’re not as passionate as people might think. You just enjoy overwhelming other people!

a thankless job

being a mom is neat.  its still wierd though because charlotte doesn’t really respond much yet.  she is just beginning to get a personality (like that high pitched scream she discovered she can do). she’s slowly moving out of the floppy-head-give-you-a-blank-stare-before-my-eyes-cross-again stage. she can focus on more things that are farther away, will turn her head to look at you when you talk, and has even begun to smile… well, not at me.  she smiles for daddy. and while i’m excited that she loves her daddy and he can make her smile, it irritates me that she hasn’t smiled when i walk into the room.  … but thats okay, i get to spend all day with her and get to work on teaching her to say “mama”.  one of these days i’ll be the recipient of one of her “firsts”.

beautiful picture

in the links to the left, you’ll see a link for SuperHero Designs.  and it is from this lady’s blog that i stole this picture…

the lady is a photographer and does some amazing work!  i think this picture is absolutely beautiful, so of course i had to share it with you! it makes me think of summer, childhood, fall, my grandparents, love, and dreams, all at the same time.  i wonder what she is thinking…  when i was growing up, my grandparents lived on the mainland facing Emerald Isle, so there were many many times in my childhood that i would spend evenings out either on the actual ocean side beach or out on thier dock in the sound watching the lights of the island slowly come on one by one.  i just remember it being so peaceful.  my childhood was an intersting one, with many turbulent times. but when i was there, it didn’t matter what was going on, had happened, or was going to happen… the world was at peace.  and seeing the stars wake up from thier daytime of sleeping and gazing at the moon as it tracked its way across the sky, always had a way of making the world right again.  … but that’s just what this picture reminds me of.  what does it make you think of?

BF4L

Scarlet and Charlotte … what a pair. Destined to forever have their names mixed up!

Joseph, Tabitha, and Scarlet came over the other night for dinner and play time.  Take a look…

In a few more months, the size difference won’t be so obvious (we hope!)

Charlotte couldn’t reach her own fist, so Scarlet offered hers.  What are friends for??

These two are going to have many more play dates, I am sure.  It will be funny to see what they are like when Charlotte can actually play back… hehe. Too cute

IMPACT

Unless you either don’t go to LWFC or you have been totally zoning out during services, you know that we just released our first magazine!

It’s super exciting, not only for the content, but for the fact that it has been in Pastor’s heart for so many years. Its so cool to see a vision finally come to fruition!

Check out Pastor Micah’s blog for more information and how to submit material for future editions.  Hehe, its so cool … we have a magazine!

Things That Are Probably True

Hey, some people may think so…

I’ve always wondered about that kid…

We’ve all been to THAT gas station!

Sorry, I had to!

And He’s very sad…

It’s not much worse than “Deer Park” if you think about it…

I think he needs to read his own sign…