is this kid really supposed to be andy's?

jagger decided to show us where he hid his banana the other day. 

what a nice surprise...

(for those of you who aren't in the know, andy hid a bowl of soup under the cushions of the couch when he was a kid)

books are like crack to me

    i have an addiction to books.  they truly are like crack to me.  when i am in the middle of a book, it is all i can think about.  while i am doing other things (working, taking care of the kids, etc) all i can think about is when i can squeeze in my next fix.  i will go without food and sleep to cram in a few more chapters.  if i'm driving somewhere, i take the book with me so i can read a sentence while sitting at a stoplight.  i am forever toting around several books at a time, you know... just in case (i like to have options).  i dream of having library in my home with walls covered in books.  i think my body physically needs books around in order for me to survive.

    i inherited my love of books and reading from my parents.  they were good role models and i have many memories of them reading.  my mom was constantly taking me to the library and we always would leave with way more books than what we could read in the few weeks time we were allotted.  my dad was always willing to get me whatever books piqued my interest.  i even have a memory of my dad trying to read a book while he was driving (dangerous, i know, but a fond memory never-the-less).  

     it has been hard to get much reading done in the past two years (since jagger was born).  what little time or energy i had was devoted elsewhere and the few books that i did read were mostly parenting and baby books.  i have finally broken free of that rut and in the past month and a half, i have read 9 books.  i just started no. 10 today, and it feels so good.  i love getting lost in a story.  it's like a watching movie in my head.  i didn't realize how much i missed it.

     i am a fiction reader.  i have in the last few years really enjoyed reading young adult fiction (harry potter series, twilight series), and now it's generally the first section i look to when i need a new book.  can i share a secret with you?  i'm a bit of a book snob.  they say never judge a book by it's cover, but i totally do.  a cover has to catch my eye in order for me to even pick up the book.  it's terrible i know, and i'm trying to get past it, but it is a hard habit to break!

     i really want to foster a love of reading in my boys.  i look forward to taking them to the library to get their library cards.  i look forward to reading stories aloud on long car trips.  i look forward to all of us gathered together in bed to read a chapter before going to sleep.  i look forward to them telling me about the stories they are reading.  i just can't wait :)  

psst...terry....I need to borrow the last book of the dragon fire series!

picnic

Yesterday was our annual community church picnic.  It was a good time.  I am so thankful for the church family that we have here in Warren.  We have several women from the congregation that are willing to watch the kids throughout the week and it has been a huge help!  Yesterday I was able to hand off the babies so I could chase Jagger around and snap a few pics.  

Here is just a sample from our day:

Comedian, Will McDaniel, entertaining the crowd

Jagger insisted on playing with the big kids.  That gun is half his size!

We traded the big gun for one more his size and 

he figured out how to shoot all by himself :)

The big kids decided to play too!  

Slade needs shades, his future is so bright :)

Cash just enjoying being outside and watching the adults play volleyball

It was a good day.  It was a long day.  Jagger slept good after all that running around. And Corey slept good too, since he didn't get his usual Sunday afternoon nap!

finger paintin' fun

jagger seems to enjoy artsy activities. 

he really enjoys coloring with crayons (everywhere! you should see my dining room walls). 

he received an art easel for his birthday that has one side that's a chalkboard and he is constantly scribbling with chalk.  

today we went out and got some paint to try finger painting. 

huge success!  he knew what to do immediately, i didn't even have to show him. 

corey is good at art and i love all things artsy, so maybe we have a little picasso on our hands.  or maybe not picasso so much as pollock.

here is some randomness for you:

• cash has four teeth, two on top and two on bottom.  the ones that came in on top are those that are next to the front teeth, so he looks like a little kid that has lost his front teeth.
  
• slade has only one tooth on the bottom.  i think he is getting one on top too, but it is taking forever and causing him (and us) a lot of grief.
• both cash and slade are sitting up like pros.
• slade wants so badly to be crawling, but can't quite do it yet.  he kind of scoots around on his butt to get where he wants.
• cash rolls everywhere, and sometime does a bit of an army crawl.
• cash consistently sleeps through the night and usually wakes up happy.
• we are lucky if slade sleeps a solid 4 hours at night, and generally he screams at the top of his lungs to let us know he is awake.
• slade thinks jagger is hilarious.  he just sits and watches jagger and laughs and laughs big deep belly laughs.
• jagger is starting to get a little bit possessive about his toys. we are starting to hear "no! mine!" when one of the babies has a toy.  we are trying to teach him to trade with them if he wants what they have.  he trades about 50% of the time.

well, that's all for now.  wow, this is a really long post. 

looking for...

someone to pay me (and pay me well) to read books & magazines, watch copious amount of television & movies, surf the net for hours at a time, and occasionally get crafty.  I will also work for someone who will pay for me to go to school and take classes that interest me, whether they apply to a degree or not.  I think that I have the perfect skill set for these tasks and will make my employer proud.  Please email me with offers asap.  I am willing to begin working immediately.

In fact, to show my dedication to this line of work, I'm off to watch tv.  

This show in particular:

do any of you watch it? Hilarious.  I want Shawn to be my friend in real life.  

If you don't watch it, you need to start.  It's a nice way to end the week.

secrets

do you guys ever watch conan o'brien?
he has this recurring segment called "secrets" where he has celebrities share their secrets (not real ones) and i think it's hilarious.
i'm going to share a real secret with you today.
ok here it is....
it is essential for company to come over to our house because otherwise we would never clean it.
we are slobs of the highest order.
even when we do attempt to keep our house in order, i swear we have the ability to trash it in less than 5 mins.

the thought of someone stopping by unannounced mortifies me.

i'm not exaggerating here, it gets bad.  like to the point where there are no clean dishes and i think to myself, "hey, i'll just drink out of this measuring cup"
so, it is important for us to have regularly scheduled company because it forces us to clean on a regular basis.

thank you to magen and mike for coming over on tuesdays and thursdays.  because of you guys, our house will not be condemned.

there is a part two to this secret...

a little part of me is hoping that one of the boys will be a neat freak and want to clean the house for me.  wishful thinking?

jagger could be the one.  he loves to pretend vacuum and mop and sweep.  maybe when he gets older, he'll pick up the real thing.  wouldn't that be fabulous?!

  


do you guys think less of me now?  

i hope not too much.

and if you're going to stop by, please give us a few days notice, or we just might not let you in the house :)

the monkey on my back

alternate title: the slumbering beast