My computer just registered the fact that it is now Wednesday, July 15.  So let me start off by wishing Mom a happy birthday……HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

July is half over and I think we’ve spent half of those days outside playing either at home or a park and the other half wishing it would stop raining or that the sun would dry the ground quicker.

After over two and half years we are finally starting to remodel the house.  First task was replacing the front window.  This is the one task that we actually paid somebody to do for us.  The funny thing was that they took out the window leaving this big opening to the outside but whenever the guys came in or went out they kept closing the door behind them……Think about….Pretty funny don’t ya think?!

Next task is repainting the upstairs living room.  Test patches confirmed the need to prime the walls.  We have 5 gallons of primer, new rollers and brushes so maybe tomorrow night we’ll get started on that.  The color of choice for that room is “Seed”.  What’s it like?  A light light green.

If you haven’t noticed yet, double clicky your way over to the gallery and enjoy the couple of pictures we already have posted for this month.  For a change I’m putting them up close to real time….don’t get used to this though.

Before I get started, Congratulations to TJ and Keri on the birth of their second child, Lily, who was born yesterday.  After watching Connor for a week I’m sure he’ll be a great older brother.

I’m sure you’ve heard people say they are having a bad week, well let me just say that if Jack could speak full thoughts he would be saying that he is having the worst week of his life.

This week we purchased a video camera.  Yup our very own video camera.  If you want details about it you’ll have to talk to Damion.  All I know is that it is a Canon HF11 with HD capabilities.  Once Damion figures the editing software and teaches me how to upload videos we’ll share our kids’ cuteness & funniness with you!

Yesterday we took the camera to the park and shot some footage while the kids played but unfortunately our time there was shortened by Jack pushing Anna into a slide which resulted in blood from her bottom lip getting on her, Damion and the slide.  For the record we are not sure if the push was intentional or not but at bed time Anna accepted the not present apology from Jack.  This morning the lip was a bit swollen but seems like it will heal okay.  

The one thing that came to light while watching the video from yesterday is that Jack squeals a lot!  I know he makes noises (boy he likes making random noises) but the amount of squealing surprised me.  Guess I’ve learned to ignore it.  Yesterday afternoon I mowed the backyard while the kids played.  Jack took Anna’s stroller, with Baby in it still, from her and proceeded to mimic me.  He went back and forth in the yard and when I stopped he stopped and when I shut off the mower a couple of times he too stopped and came closer to us and ran back to the stroller when I started the mower.  Today he once again stole the stroller, with Baby in it again, and pushed it around the yard.  Any guesses as to who is getting his own outside push toy this weekend?

Tonight per Anna’s request, she and Damion will be camping out in the backyard.  We even got her a youth sleeping bag.  She is excited.  She didn’t understand why she could nap in the backyard.  After our walk to Starbucks (fewer calories if you walk to get it :) ) we put the kids down for a short nap.  Damion took that time to lay out the tent so Anna can help put it up later.  He said while doing that he looked up and saw Anna in her window looking out at him.  They said hi to each other, he told her she should be napping and she walked away.  Too bad she’s not excited, eh?

Oh, and let me not forget a public thank you to Adam!  He saw my previous post asking for somebody to watch Anna & Jack so I could go scrapbook supply shopping.  He proposed a night out for all of us.  Adam & Damion took the kids to Gander Mountain & Guitar Center while I spent an hour and a half at Scrapadoodle.  I got a bunch more stuff bought for next weekend.  So, THANK YOU ADAM!!!

Much to Damion’s annoyance I let the kids play with stuff (read as dirty dishes) in the sink while I’m making dinner or doing anything that puts me in the kitchen for an extended period (read as more than 5 minutes).  Today the task was making cookies and phase one of dinner.  At one point Anna got down to get a cookie and cookie dough (for the record I think she prefers the cookie dough over the cookies) and went back to her spot at the sink.  A bit later she got my attention and said, “Mommy, your cookies make me happy.”  What a sweetheart!

Today I took on the task of mowing the backyard, seriously I think the kids could have gotten lost in it, okay maybe it wasn’t quite that bad.  We usually bag our clippings but out of pure laziness I decided to let the mower “mulch” the clippings.  Now when I was going to do this the kids were going to be in the backyard playing.  Apparently Jack didn’t get the memo about the playing part.  He spent a portion of the time walking beside me and making the happiest little noises he could make.  At one point I stopped the mower to talk with Anna and Jack ran to the mower and held onto the handle part with a great look of determination.  Is he to young to have mowing our lawn, of course you have to overlook the fact that he can’t push the mower.

Also, if anybody is in the area over the next two weeks and want to watch our kids for an hour or two, let me know….I have some scrapbook shopping to do.