**New House Pics**

Our house is coming along swimmingly! The interior was painted this weekend and it turned out really cool! The blue room is my kitchen and the khaki room is the family room. I am standing in the same spot in both the kitchen pics~just facing opposite directions. That is where the kitchen table will go. The blue turned out a bit bluer than what I thought but it's really growing on me. I'm planning a distressed black kitchen table. You can see the stairs that lead up to the bedrooms at the back right corner of the family room. Lastly is a pic of Caroline's very lime green room. She absolutely LOVES it!

We are set to close mid-July. That is if our current house sells. . .

Piggy Tails!

Greta has FINALLY spouted a small bit of hair and that was all Mommy needed for pigtails! Here's my happy gal. OK, so you can barely see the piggies. But they are there!

Tomorrow is Another Day

There are some days I love being a mommy and there are some days I don't. Today was a don't day. On one hand, everyone survived, there were no phone calls to Dr Stroman, and no need for pastoral counsel. So in that regard it was a good day. But by the end of the day, my mantra was "I do not need a martini to make it through the day." (Thanks to my friend Kary for that one!)

The day started out well enough~Amelia and Greta slept long enough for me to shower, dress, do my hair AND put on some make-up. I was ready to go the prom! Drove carpool, came home, fed the little girls breakfast, picked up a bit, yadda yadda yadda, looking forward to a little Oprah. Then phone started to ring. In my world, a ringing phone is never a good thing. (Unless it is during the universal naptime when one of my Girlfriends will call to chat!) Tim called to tell me he would be working much later than expected. Not a huge deal EXCEPT I had planned to go grocery shopping when he was home. So I begin to round up the girls for a trip to Costco and Meijer. Phone rings again. This time it is our builder. She needs to know what colors we want each room painted. OK, no problem. When does she need this info? Today. Spectacular. So I load 'em up and we head out. How bad can a trip to the paint store, Costco, and Meijer be with a 1 year old and a 2 year old?

First stop paint store. OK, my first gripe is that the lighting in these places sucks. How can a girl decide between "Witty Green" and "Laudable Lime" when it is almost dark? Secondly, why does everyone look at you like you are a circus freak when you enter a store with 2 small children? I am sorry but I will not live in a box. So we grab out 50 paint chips are we're on our way.

Next stop, Costco. My girls love it because generally there is food to taste and lots to look at. Well, not so on Tuesday. First of all, Tuesday is Senior Day. In my experience, seniors either adore small children and come pinch their cheeks or complain loudly about how in their day children were not taken in public. Seniors also~forgive my "age-ism" here~but are VERY SLOW. When shopping with 2 toddlers, fast is key. Also it seems that the tasting tables were all for grown-ups. Amelia was not happy that her only options were smoked salmon, chipolte salsa, and almond-crusted scrod. Finally, this last fun part was trying to convince a 2yr old the the swing set that is set up for display is not to be played on. Calgon take me away.

After this fun trip, we hit a drive-thru and headed home. Of course, Greta fell asleep. Hard. (JD will feel my pain here) Amelia was asking for "night night" and her pacifier (I weally cwyin Mommy!) but Miss G would have none of it. We played "in and out bed" for 90 minutes they both finally crashed.

Enter Caroline. 20 full minutes after the little girls fell asleep, Big Sis storms in and YELLS "MOM! CAN I PLAY OUTSIDE?!?" Ugh. Awake little girls. So I pile 'em in the minivan and we're off to grocery shop. Starts out well. The store has the little carts for the kids so they thought that was great. Until Amelia started mowing people over while yellling "Move out of way!!" Greta turns around in the cart and flings whatever I have on the floor. Including a cup of yogurt that burst. After 2 hours in hell, we get home. I unload the van and proceed to have the bottom rip out of a 12 pack of MGD bottles. It was not pretty. I seriously considered laying on the floor of the garage and lapping it up.

Now they are all asleep, I have a nice glass of Barefoot Chardonnay, and as Scarlet said, "Tomorrow is another day."

Anyone wanna do the "Running Man"?

Someone sent me this and I laughed so hard I almost peed. It reminded me of my step-brothers~greatest dancers ever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg&eurl

50 Random Things About Jen. . .

1. I am not a natural blond.
2. I have a degree in Communications.
3. I am one class short of a degree in Political Science.
4. I do not drink enough water.
5. My first job was at County Seat selling Guess jeans.
6. My CDs are alphabetized.
7. So are my cookbooks~by genre and then author.
8. I love the Food Network.
9. I can not work my flat iron.
10. I love Wendy's.
11. I am terrified of having a baby boy.
12. U2's "The Joshua Tree" is my favorite album ever.
13. I want to be a writer.
14. I want to be a caterer.
15. I wanted to name a baby girl Grace Kathleen and my husband talked me out of it~3 times.
16. I am afraid of gauchos.
17. I adore Ebay.
18. I want to dress like a hip cool mom, but I fail miserably.
19. I once baked a 13x9 pan of bronwies and ate the whole thing in one day.
20. I found out I was pregnant the next day.
21. My first car was a 1987 Mercury Sable that was the color of dirt.
22. I love Ronald Reagan.
23. I do not like bananas.
24. I am learning to like wine~a lot.
25. I swore I would never dress my kids alike. Then I had 3 really cute girls.
26. And now I am sick of it so no more matching.
27. I have a crush on Alfonso Ribero~Carleton from "The Fresh Prince".
28. I also have a crush on Brit Hume.
29. I am terrible at sticking to an exercise regime.
30. My favorite color is aqua blue.
31. My favorite singer ever is Billy Joel.
32. I have re-decorated my bedroom 7 times in the past 12 years.
33. Unreliability is my biggest pet peeve.
34. And lateness.
35. And having more than 10 items in the express lane.
36. I am a closet Guns and Roses fan.
37. My heart skips a beat everytime the UPS truck turns on to my street.
38. I sometimes buy TV dinners for my kids.
39. I am an avid scrapbooker. At least for my oldest daughter's book I am!
40. The other girls' books got ruined when the basement flooded. Yeah, that's it. . .A flood. . .
41. I love old cheesey Christian "rock"
42. I visit consignment shops on vacation.
43. I hate to make dinner.
44. I love to cook.
45. I had never set foot in Walmart til I was in college.
46. I was 24 the first time I tried a cigarette.
47. I once threw a shoe at my sister and gave her a black eye.
48. My first boyfriend is married to my best friend.
49. I am not good at arts and crafts.
50. I do not put batteries in my girls' noisy toys.