Any takers?

Jacob will be celebrating his 8th birthday in March. He decided to write out his birthday gift list to help me decide on a gift for him. Number 2 on his list, right under a Nintendo DS, is a baby brother. If any of you would like to fill either of his requests, please feel free.

Birthday Part II

So, I didn't tell you about the BEST part of my birthday. My gift from Mike. He did buy me a gift, it's lovely and all that, but do you wanna know what makes him the best husband in the WORLD?!? He snuck home from work and cleaned the house for me! He Cleaned My House! It smelled like PINE when I got home. Things were sparkling that I didn't know could sparkle!

Now, I should clarify that since I left Jury Duty early enough to go to work, I had to go home to change into work clothes thereby finding him there and ruining the surprise. I know, I suck. BUT, he still did it. Is that not the best gift ever?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Guess what I got for my birthday?
Well? Come on...just guess, you'll never get it!
Okay, ready here it is....

A Cold!
Yay me! Oh yeah, and....
JURY DUTY! *sigh*

Yes sir, I kept thinking I'd get out of it, everyone else does. Sure enough I called in Thursday night and Woo Hoo, I was told to show up downtown at the Courthouse, 8:30 am.

So poor sad me drug my sick booty downtown, parked in the stinky underground, and trekked through the POURING RAIN to the courthouse. On my birthday. By myself. With a cold.

I happen to have a long history of having birthdays that start out sucking, but then turn out great. Melanie was great at rescuing my birthdays for me, every year it turned into something fun when she showed up. Well, here I am again, with another birthday in the crapper and my Melanie is in Texas. What's a girl to do?

Well, first I waited out the first release of Jury Duty people, hoping they would let me go. No luck. My big problem was that I HAD to go into work that day, I had a project (nearly done) that was due on Monday. So, cranky as I was I decided to just go ask if they would let me go. They were very nice and pushed my date back to May. Yay.

Well, the birthday definetly took a turn for the better at work. One of the girls had made a cake, my boss/friend Keri had scheduled a birthday lunch for me, and then my sis Steffy showed up at my office with baby Luke, balloons, and the most GORGEOUS butterfly cupcakes that she and Michelle made the night before. See...
My good friend Tracy was able to come to lunch, and Michelle & Mike took me out to dinner that night.

All in all, a great end to a bad beginning.

What I Like About You...

An ode to my girlfriends. I've been thinking a lot lately about the people in my life that I'm thankful for. While my immediate family are in a catergory all their own, I really appreciate my girlfriends & how they keep me sane when life gets crazy. Here just just a few of the many fabulous women I'm priveledged to know...

Amber. I love how you were always up for an adventure! Any crazy thing I wanted to do, you were the only one who was, #1-Willing to do it, and #2-Just as excited as I was about it. I miss having a partner in crime, not many people have the nerve that you do. I also miss comparing stories about our sassy little girls. Anything Kiernan did that surprised me, Channing had already done. From talking back, to painting nails those girly girls would have made quite the pair.

Keri. The smartest, most levelheaded chick I know! You are so funny and yet I can count on you to make the smart decisions and cut through all of the crap when I don't have a clue. I can't believe our girls are growing up best friends?!? Who'd of thought that back when we were out partying till all hours in college, one day we'd have two prissy little devils (oops, angels) leading us around on a string? I'm so glad K and Abbi love each other so much, I can't think of any other mom as sensible as you are to help me keep the inevitable drama to a minmum.

Melanie. Melanie. Melanie! I knew we'd be the best of friends the very first time you told me my jeans looked terrible and they fit me all wrong. We raised our babies together! I love that you were always willing to jump on the "crafty wagon" with me, we've beaded, we've sewn, we've painted, we've cleaned each others houses (mine more often than yours), I moved a pregnant you, you moved a pregnant me. I was always able to count on you for ANYTHING. I can't tell you what that meant to me when I was so far from home. We've shared drama and we've had really great times. I miss you.

Tracy. You and I have more history than anyone. I can't even wrap my head around all that we've experienced together. We were friends before we could drive?! We've gone through high school, college, boys, jobs, foreign countries, husbands, babies, all while staying wonderful friends! When you and I get together it's ALWAYS a blast, I laugh so much it hurts. We never run out of things to say...just ask our husbands & friends! What a joy it is to be together again, even if we don't manage to get together much, just knowing your around is a relief.

Baby Teeth *shiver*

I can handle a lot of things that happen when you have kids. Throw up, poo, boogers, backwash, ect. I do great with reptiles, most bugs, and animals of any variety. There is one big thing that sicks me out though...loosing teeth. Wiggly teeth, bleeding teeth, lost teeth, eww, eww, EWW!!!

So I noticed a few weeks ago that Kiernans grown up teeth came in BEHIND her baby teeth. Hmm, that can't be good since her baby teeth weren't remotely loose. I called the dentist to inquire and they confirmed my suspicions, "Bring her in, they'll have to be pulled." EWW.

I wanted Mike to do it, but he's really busy at work this week, so it was up to me. We went in and they took us right back, I guess they didn't want to give us time to change our mind. Kiernan was a total trooper, although the laughing gas may have helped a bit. It's actually a little nose mask that looked hilarious, and sure enough after a few minutes that child was feeling no pain! The Dr asked me to hold her hands which meant I would be right on top of the action...no problem, I'll just look away. As soon as the GIANT clamp for the little teeth came out I turned my head and BOOM...A MIRROR!! *look away, look away, look away* Boom...ANOTHER mirror! *close your eyes, CLOSE THEM!* *peeking* EWWWWWW, Eww, Eww, Eww! Twist, turn, yank....POP!

We went in to have two pulled, but the dentist decided to pull FOUR because her mouth was so crowded. She never cried, whined, or fussed...amazing! I wish I could say the same for me. While SERIOUSLY grossed out, I was commended by the Dr. for not fainting...apparently it happens a lot.

Here she is before and after (remember, my camera sucks), as well as going through the treasure chest for being so good. While the treasure chest is a nice treat, trauma like that deserves a trip to Target! She got a puppy dog & I felt much better.

Happy New Year!

It certainly FEELS like a new year to us. We are finally feeling settled in our new home, we've started attending our new ward (church building), Mike will be going back to work after several weeks off of "required" vacation, and my in and out schedule at work (because of the holidays) will go back to being a normal schedule. The last month or two have been chaos for us.

Today was the first day at our new ward. This is THE most uncomfortable that I have ever felt going into a new ward before. I really don't know why, ward changes aren't anything unusual for us. Frankly, we've essentially switched wards every two years for a long time now. Something about this switch really got to us though. I think we were really just too comfortable where we were, especially being there with Mike's family. The Coleman kids made up half of the primary, at least it felt like it. The ward we are now attending is the first building that I ever attended church in. It felt weird being there, I kept getting flashes of the time I spent there when Mike & I were dating. It felt like being sent back to freshman year, when you should have already graduated. Oh well, it really was fine, I did enjoy it, but it was still a transition. Jacob was spending his time during sacrament writing notes to himself on scratch paper. At one point Mike looked over & Jake had just written this:
"I'm scared. I should have stayed home."
Hee. He'll get used to it just like the rest of us.

I'm thankful to feel like we're getting a fresh start. We continue to work on the house. It's totally liveable, but now we're working on the little extras that make it nice. I've been sewing a lot of curtains & pillows, Mike's been building things for me, the kids are just happy to have their own home. We are truely happy with what we've got here in the house & we look forward to continued improvement.

I have not really made an resolutions, they always get broken. I am just simply trying to improve. Actually, I think this one may work out for me..."improving" is ever so much easier than specific improvements.

Another Jacob-ism:
I was headed to the shower with a new razor in my hand. Jake stopped me, "Mom, why do you have dads razor?"
"I don't. This is mine."
"You SHAVE?!?"
"Yes" *puzzled as to why this is such a shock*
"Let me see!" He then walks up & peers closely at my face.
OHHHHH, I see.
"No Jake, not my face. My legs."

Happy New Year to all of our friends & family. I still don't have a working camera, so blogging may be a bit sketchy for awhile.