Deal or No Deal

If I were ever picked to go on this show, there is no way in HELL I would take Adam with. I would get offered $10 and he would start screaming "DEAL! DEAL! DEAL! We can hit Taco Bell on the way home!" And I would say no deal and no matter what amount of money I came home with our marriage would never be the same. So in this case ignorance would most definitely be bliss.

My first choice to take would be Angie. Especially if she had a couple drinks in her. ;) So, Angie, this is your official invite if I ever get picked on Deal or No Deal. We'll bring Eric along, too ~ he's a good team player. We could take Adam, too, he'll just have to stay at the hotel.

"JOEL" ~ A photo collection by Alyssa

Joel was hanging out on Alyssa's bed yesterday and she wanted to take his picture. Since I'm highly amazed, I mean amused, by her photography skills I let her go to town. The second picture *might* be Joel since he was wearing red; although so was Alyssa now that I think about it. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Adam!

Dear Adam,

Happy Birthday to my handsome hubby ~ 30 years young today! :) Hope you have a wonderful day and we're looking forward to celebrating with you through the day. Lots and lots of love!!!

Your silly ww and kids ~

The Girls Next Door

I hate to admit it, but I'm completely fascinated by this show. (For those of you who don't know, its a reality show following around Hugh Hefner's 3 live-in girlfriends). Its like a car wreck. I don't WANT to watch it because I can feel brain cells disappearing by the second, but I just can't stop. I'm dumbfounded by the relationships. I constantly am wondering how it "works", how the girlfriends get "picked", why someone would want to be in that situation . . .

Mommy time

A year ago, when it was just Alyssa and I, and I would trying to get out of the house by 9:10 in order to make a 9:30 jazzercise class I would get sooo stressed out and have such a hard time getting everything together. And this was only getting Alyssa dressed ~ I would just throw my hair up and toss on some comfty clothes and be ready to go. And more often than not Alyssa would eat breakfast in the car while we were driving.

Fast forward a year . . . earlier this week, Alyssa, Joel, and I were leaving the house by 9AM to run errands. We had each been fed, showered, dressed, etc.

I always worried that it would be midafternoon by the time I was ready to face the world with two kids, but its actually the opposite.

Of course it helps that Alyssa gets up about an hour earlier than she used to, hence mommy gets up a lot earlier.

You want WHAT?!

I found out this morning that Alyssa has a hard time pronouncing her "p"s . . . when she asked me for "mancakes" for breakfast!

Then and Now . . .

Alyssa and Joel when Joel was almost a week old . . .
Alyssa and Joel when Joel was almost 3 months old (ignore the spit up, please ~ it was the best picture I could get of the two of them! lol)

Home is where the heart is

We're approaching the one year anniversary of living in our "new" house and I'm kind of surprised that it still doesn't feel like home. I drove past our old house after church Saturday night and as soon as I turned the corner and saw the crab apple tree in the front yard and the green house that Adam and I painted ourselves (okay, I was 7 months pregnant, so I didn't paint, but I did have a say in the color!), my heart started bubbling with wonderful memories and love. I'm sure I'll feel that way about this house someday, but it reminded me again how much I miss our "home". In a way I still feel like I'm playing house or on a vacation; like this house is too big and grown up for me to own and at times I long for the small, coziness of the house on Bauman Ave. But, then I see things like this


the tulips that Adam and I planted together last fall and this place seems a little more like home.

Mommy's night out ~ we all survived!

Last night I went to a scrapping crop with my friend Angie. It was the first time I had left Adam with both kids for longer than running quickly to Target or the grocery store, so I think we were both a little nervous. Alone time with Alyssa when she was a baby was always really stressful for Adam, so I was afraid with two kids it would spell disaster . . . and I find him awfully brave because even I haven't had both kids alone at bedtime yet. But wouldn't you know that my little munchkins were complete angels for Daddy. *whew* I might actually get out of the house again before they are both in school.

Angie and I had a great time hanging out and getting back into scrapbooking. I always forget how much I love it when I have these "lapses" and it was so nice to be able to hang out with her without husbands or kids (or Chad ~ lol) around. ;) I'm really happy with the way my pages turned out and I'm within about 6 pages of having Alyssa's book caught up until her 2nd birthday, which feels really wonderful.

April ~ The month of fantastic Fridays!

Last Friday Adam had the day off for Good Friday. I always love having him around ~ not just because of the extra set of hands around the house, but because I actually like the guy, too. ;) I took Joel to his 2 month appointment and overall it went really well (minus the fact that we were there for an hour and a half).

Today my parents had Alyssa all day. My mom actually took her home with her yesterday and then I picked her up tonight. It was so blissful getting to sleep in until 8ish with Joel, then I spent most of the day cleaning. I had forgotten how wonderful it was to clean/pick up a room and then walk into it 15 minutes later and find that it was STILL clean and not completely destroyed. And its a lot less stressful to clean if you're not thinking "what was that crash?! Is that the sound of a chair being pushed across the kitchen floor? Its awfully quiet in Alyssa's room . . . ", etc.

Next Friday night I get to go to a scrapbooking crop with at least one of my closest friends. I haven't been to a crop in at least a year and a half, so I'm really looking forward to it. Should be a good time to catch up on gossip with Julia and hopefully catch up on Alyssa's book and start Joel's book.

The following Friday my handsome hubby turns the big 3-0! My mom is coming to spend the night and babysit the kids so that we can go out with friends to the comedy club and then out for drinks at a martini bar. I'm not sure which I'm looking forward to more. ;) It'll be Adam and my first big night out in a REALLY long time. Probably since November when we went to the BNL concert.

Roly Poly Joel

Our big guy rolled over from him tummy to his back last night ~ TWICE! But I must confess, we made him do it twice because we all missed it the first time. I put him down in the crib so that I could go downstairs and get Alyssa some peanut butter crackers and then by the time I came back he was on his back, happy as a clam. He was quite accommodating when I put him on his tummy again to see if I could get a repeat performance out of him. Alyssa used to just wail and cry and scream until either a) all her flailing rolled her over on accident or b) Mommy would take pity on her and help her flip over. Joel is quite the determined little guy; he already seems like more of a "deep thinker" who will like to figure things out by himself. Guess that means I better start working on my patience skills.

Easter Pictures

Joel dressed in his finest ~ even a neck tie!

Baby's 1st Easter bib ~ passed down from big sister, Alyssa.

Our pretty little Easter princess (who has curls that I would have killed for when I was younger!)

Guess I'm a diamond in the rough . . .

Stolen from Amber's blog:

Your Personality is the Rarest (INFJ)

Your personality type is introspective, principled, self critical, and sensitive. Only about 2% of all people have your personality - including 3% of all women and around 1% of all men. You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Makes sense, but still kind of surprised me.