98% and a Friday Photo Dump

On a Saturday.

Looking through my Instagram photos from this week made me realize two things. 

1. I take a lot of pictures of my face.

2. I take a lot of pictures of Remy.

That's what happens when your older two kids run and hide from you every time they see a camera.

It seems that sir Remy is hitting a bit of a growth spurt. I guess that's a really nice way of saying that the kid is sleeping terribly, yells at people and thinks he's a four year old.

John's been spending a lot of time in our creepy cellar lately doing manly things like sanding and playing with power tools. 

"Remy keeps rubbing his butt on me!" - Olivia

After this week's cafeteria incident, little lady has been working on her 'tude.

I could just eat him up. 

This is what my beauty routine has come to. Hiding out in the bathroom during Remy's naptime using the fastest at home color I could find. Whatever keeps me out of the salon and away from my stylist's shears.

Owen has big plans for the future. They include "building robots that can help mankind as we know it."

In one week, he learned how to climb the baby gates and took his first two steps.

I won't say he's walking yet, because those two steps took an iPhone and a whole hell of a lot of coaxing, but past experience tells me that full blown running isn't far off.

I woke up yesterday feeling 98% pain and nausea free for the first time in two months. 

IT. WAS. GLORIOUS. 

Fingers crossed it's a new trend.

Hope the weekend treats y'all well! We're semi-snowed in working on more of our never-ending house 

to-do list and I'm hoping to bribe at least one of my children into letting me take their picture.

What do you have planned?

Year Six

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being “in love” which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident."

A friend of mine posted this quote to Facebook a few months ago. It perfectly describes what we have.

To a freakin'  T. 

I love this man even when I can't stand him.

Happy "we've been married six years and still love each other", le husband. <3

....

My momma arrived last night. And being the saint she is, she immediately sprung into super Granny action. Insisting that we go out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary, ordering pizza for the kids, cleaning my kitchen. God bless that woman. 

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Friday Photo Dump...on a Saturday.

I wish I could take credit for my new lamps, but my husband is basically Martha in a man's body.

Remember when I talked about making this house feel like our own? It's already under way!

First proper snow of the year. And of course, it happened on a day that I needed to be out on the roads. Thank you baby Jesus for trucks with four wheel drive and husbands that will leave work to bring you places because your car can't handle this white nonsense.

This is my face.

This is Olivia's face. She's snuggly.

Little dude is still obsessed.

Trouble with a capital T. Holy crap, is he all over the place.

9 weeks. I won't pretend that it looks like a pregnant belly yet, but I feel like I'm sporting one. 

I'm feeling jiggly?

....

Have a great weekend!

Friday Photo Dump

It feels silly to even call this a photo dump.

I literally took 3 Instagram pictures this week.

I really don't have a good excuse. I have an extra set of hands this week and a husband that has had two four-day weekends in a row. I should be social media-ing it up. I guess I've just been busy lazy and I've honestly had an insane amount of Dr. Pepper this week. I'm not sure if the two are related, but it felt like it was worth mentioning. 

But...BUT!

We're working on a couple of projects that I'm super, duper, extra excited to share with y'all.

But I'll be working that into my New Year's day post.

...

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Happy New Year's Eve Eve!

Friday Photo Dump and a Tale of Embarrassment

Yesterday was technically our Friday. My mother-in-law arrived from Louisiana and the kids wrapped up their last day of school before the holidays. I even had big plans to sleep past 6AM today, but obviously that didn't happen.

...

Me, my baby girl, and Suzy the damn Webkin.

My R2D2.

Remy completely disregarding the rule about no standing in the bathtub.

I swear I'm not complaining (ha!) but on top of the dental pain, the morning (all day) sickness, and the fatigue, I am now coming down with my yearly cold of death. My voice is on the way out which I'm sure will make my husband jump with glee.

Popcorn smothered in butter and diet coke. The two things I would eat all day, every day lately.

Remy has a really tough life obviously.

....

Let me preface this by saying that before I was a parent, I was one of "those" people who would say things like.."well, when I have kids, I will never let them behave that way." and statements like "I will never let my kids wear any sort of character clothing. How tacky."  Ha. If you're one of "those" people, trust me when I say that you will get yours. 

After my mother-in-law arrived here Thursday night, we decided to go out to dinner. We piled into the truck and headed towards a reasonably priced buffet type restaurant that happens to be popular with the locals here. It's nothing special, but that place was hopping last night. The line was out the front door. Busy. Lots of people.

After sitting down and scarfing down our first plates of food, Olivia announces that she needs to "moos the batroom and I can't hold it."

I volunteer to take her and halfway to the restroom, I realize that Owen is following a few steps behind us. But I obviously wasn't paying close enough attention.

Baby girl does her business in the yucky restroom, washes up, we open the door and there stands Owen waiting for us.

Barefoot.

BAREFOOT.

My son had just used a public men's restroom with no shoes or socks on.

My immediate reaction was "WHY FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY ARE YOU NOT WEARING SHOES?! OMG YOUR FEET PROBABLY HAVE E.COLI ON THEM! DID YOUR MOTHER RAISE YOU IN A BARN?"

My next reaction? 

Well, I'm not walking back the table in front of the rest of the restaurant with the barefoot bandit.

I sent the wee little caveman (who was in so much trouble) back to the table. Then Olivia and I counted to five, returned to our family, and hoped the many tables of patrons hadn't noticed. (they did.) 

....

My name is Jessica and my children were obviously raised in a barn.

Friday Photo Dump

On a Saturday.

It's glaringly obvious, based on the lack of Instagramming I've been doing, that I'm not feeling so wonderful lately.

Shortly before finding out about #4, I was having some dental issues and discovered I needed a couple teeth extracted ASAP. Unfortunately, the oral surgeon doesn't want to risk doing any sort of procedure on a newly pregnant woman, no matter how minor. So I'm stuck in limbo until I reach my second trimester. I appreciate his concern, but I'm in pain. I can't take anything other than the occasional tylenol and the two things that are necessary for life, eating and sleeping, are becoming increasingly difficult. If y'all could spare a prayer that would be appreciated. 

Fortunately, I get to kiss this little face every day. I'm still in awe that John and I managed to create this blue-eyed babe. I wonder if the next one will look like him. Or if Remy will continue to stick out like a sore thumb in our family pictures.

It's mid-December and we have yet to have any snow. If this were February, I'd be celebrating. But snow is the one thing I absolutely love about Christmas in PA. I mean, look at what our first Christmas in this house looked like.

It's just been so damn mild around here. Usually this time of year there is a steady line of snow shower after snow shower. I'm concerned that mother nature is saving it up. And we're going to be buried under 8 feet of snow come February.

My mother-in-law mentioned that this photo reminds her so much of John as a baby. I agree.

Half of my heart.

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Sorry if this whole post reads as a laundry list of complaints. All crap aside, life is especially sweet.

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Every year, Owen's school puts on a Santa's workshop for the kids to buy little presents for their family. I sent Owen to school with a five dollar bill and he came home with a school bag full of little trinkets for us. He, of course, couldn't wait until Christmas for us to open them. Imagine my confusion when he pulled a small package out of his school bag that was addressed to an "Elisabeth." 

Me: Who the heck is Elisabeth?

Him: The new baby, silly.

Me: Owen, we don't know what it is yet.

Him: Well, I want a little sister for Olivia and I want to name her Elisabeth. 

I just adore that boy.

....

Have a great weekend!

A Tuesday Photo Dump

I know I usually do these on Fridays. 

But I have a spare minute now. And I wanted to tell y'all how great this cup of 

cranberry pomegranate tea is.

Tsk. Tsk.

I won't inundate you with three weeks worth of Instagram because that would just be torturous. But here's a few for your viewing pleasure.

1. My mom and dad do Christmas right. Steaks! 2. Cuddles with the boy. 3. The many faces of Olivia. 

4. Remy helps me cook dinner. 5. Tired face. 6. My favorite new ornament has to be parachuting Santa.

7. More tired face. 8. Peanut butt. 9. My very humble Christmas mantle. 

10. Hell froze over. I caught le husband steam cleaning. 11. Thanksgiving table. 12. The view from our booth at our diner. 13. Bath time buddy. 14. Husband made a gumbo! 15. Rodaying buddy.

Carry on. <3

Friday Photo dump

...of epic proportions.

This is a catch-up post of sorts. Some from our trip to Louisiana, some taken in the past week or so of being home. If you can make it to the end of this post, then bless your sweet little heart.

My hometown. It isn't as quaint as you're imagining. It has a Target for Christ's sake. The closest Target located to my current home? 90 minutes. 90!

Remy hanging out at my parents' house.

This was right before we had family portraits done. (I'll be posting on that later today.) I'm sneaky, obviously.

My MIL is pretty fantastic, in that she purposely stocks her fridge with our favorite adult beverages before we arrive. Nothing say love like Abita. Am I right or am I right?

This photo of the kids makes me laugh. Such cheese.

Before le husband and I's day date. I wore a glorified t-shirt. So fancy.

Those girls. So silly.

Remy chatting with his Granny.

Le husband in vacation mode.

Nashville.

Cincinnati.

Cracker Barrel pajama time.

Painting in pajamas time. We obviously hate real clothes around here.

'tis the season for stealing your husband's flannel shirts!

Yum.

Cranky butt.

Cranky cat.

Getting dark at 4:30 isn't much fun.

This was my third outfit of the day. Remy's a punk. A pukey punk.

Finally busted out the furry hoodie.

My little shopping buddy!

Emergency rooms are fun. 

Dental treatment cases are fun. Expensive too.

Late night cake baking.

He gets bored and starts making me things.

A chalkboard for my kitchen. In my favorite color! <3

MIL scores cool points for le husband's birthday gift.

Hung my Maw's cross-stitching in Liv's room. Every time I catch a glimpse of them, it makes me smile.

Always in the damn car. 

This boy. <3

Angry Owen angry about Angry Birds.

I wonder how many bags of these I'll consume before the holidays are done?

Smooches!

Messy bun. Big earrings. Scarf. <3

Rocket man!

I have no clue what she's doing, but it looks enjoyable.

Someone learned to use his sippy!

Really y'all. I feel like I'm always in the stupid car.

Hello, handsome.

Beer and cookies!

Goob.

Gumbo-making le husband. <3

....

Anyone still here?

*crickets*

Sorry for the overload! Have a great Friday, y'all!