What did you say??

Here is the conversation Ben and I had this morning:

Ben: Mom, can I bring my underwear to school for show-and-tell tomorrow?
Me: What?? No. That's gross.
Ben: But I'll bring clean underwear.

Oh. Okay. Well, in that case it's much better. Here I thought he wanted to bring his dirty underwear to school to show his teacher and friends?! ;) Funny kid. (The reason he wants to bring it is because they are learning about the letter "U" and are supposed to bring something that starts with the letter of the week for show-and-tell.) I better find our umbrella before he actually stuffs his underwear in his backpack without me knowing.

Now here is what Emma said this morning:

Emma: Mom, I want to watch oatmeal and eat Bambi.
Me: You want to eat Bambi?
Emma: (laughs) NO! Yuck! I want to eat oatmeal, silly.

I think Emma is the silly one!

My 18-month old

It's hard to believe my baby is 18 months now. Josh had his first official day in nursery on Sunday. He cried for the first 10 minutes, had to have the nursery leader carry him around, then he fell asleep on the other nursery leader's lap for the last 30 minutes. Compared to our other kids' first experience in nursery, I would say this was a success! Josh had his 18-month well-check on Monday and weighs 23 lbs. 11 oz. and is 34" (which means 20% for weight and 90% for height... he's definitely a Schipaanboord!) His vocabulary consists of ball, mama, dada, up, balloon, woof, bye, meow and he can sign "more", "eat", "thirsty", "milk" and "all done." He can point to his nose, ears, eyes, teeth and tongue, but likes to point to other peoples' body parts instead of his own. Josh loves to copy his older brother and sister, especially with their night time routine. He has to be the first one to get a vitamin and pushes everyone out of the way so he can get his toothbrush first. He loves books but with a 20-second attention span, I have to summarize and turn the pages as fast as I can, unless it's a Jan Pienkowski pop-up book. He could look at those for at least 5 minutes! ;)) He loves to eat and speaking of eating, I just had to pull him out of the snack drawer because he dumped the pop tarts out and was eating one of them. Then he dropped it and Truman jumped at the chance to eat something other than dog food which made Josh cry. Nice. Josh has a huge balloon fetish. If he sees one he will automatically throw a tantrum, pointing to the "boon" until he gets one or I distract him with something else (which is pretty tough!) Last month I took Ben to get his haircut. While we were waiting Josh walked right up to a kid who had just finished and tried to steal his balloon. The kid was very nice and ended up giving it to him. I'm not sure I want to be rewarding that kind of behavior, but Josh felt differently. Even amidst the balloon tantrums and pop tart fiascos, he is still my lovable little guy. I love his big hugs, slobbery kisses, and huge laughs. Our family wouldn't be the same without our Joshua Dean!

Here is a video I took of him this morning. I love his little giggle as he is running to get the ball. He has the sweetest laugh!

Check out the floors!

After a week of living in a demo zone, we finally have our new floors in. Jake and I are really excited about how they turned out. The tile was ripped out, we took out the ugly gold chandelier, Jake installed a new brushed nickel chandelier, I spray painted the light fixture above the sink a metallic silver to match the chandelier, bought new rugs, and replaced the green and white striped curtains with chocolate brown curtains (to match my rugs.) We still have more we want to do to the kitchen (stainless steal appliances, new countertops, new backsplash, and I need a new painting with a silver frame) but Jake has to remind me, one thing at a time. For now we are both really happy with the floors and can't wait to tackle more projects (bathroom updates are next on my big list!)

25:46

Today I ran 3 miles in 25:46, my fastest time yet. That averages out to just over 8 1/2 min. miles. There is no way I could have held that pace for much longer, but it was nice to know I'm getting faster and stronger. Also, I noticed my heart rate dropped nearly 40 bpm within 2 minutes of finishing my run, which I'm told is great. Last Saturday I ran 6 miles without stopping in 58:06, the first time I've ever done that (ran 6 and no stopping.) I feel great. Salt Lake City Half Marathon here I come!!! 93 days and counting...

I sold some stuff on eBay so I could make a little cash to buy some more clothes. I took the kids to Park City on Tuesday and we spent over 4 hours there at the Outlet stores. I found 3 sweaters, puff vest, a couple dressy shirts, and a pair of pants. The kids did great and I felt like the trip was a major success. I actually like buying new clothes now... probably a little too much Jake would say. ;)

The best news of all... I hit my original goal to lose 30 lbs. last week. I'm in the 130s now. WOO HOO! Only a couple more lbs. now until 130 and then I'll post full body shots. I know you're all dying to see them, but you will just have to be patient. ;)

5 days until NEW FLOORS!!

For Christmas Jake put a catalog from Lumber Liquidators in my stocking and told me we were getting new flooring in the kitchen, hallway, and entry (something we both have wanted since we bought the house over a year ago.) We finally chose our installer yesterday after 20 estimates. He's going to come over Wednesday and start demo'ing our tile and then hopefully by next weekend we will have beautiful bamboo flooring. Being the environmentalist that Jake is, he has always wanted bamboo and I also like the idea of using it for the same reasons he does (but also because it's very pretty.) We are getting bamboo that is more expensive than the norm because of it's hardness but to me it will be worth it. With 3 kids and a dog I didn't want the soft stuff that scratches easily. Anyway, can't wait to show you all the finished product next week. To tide you over I'm posting pics of the finished product from people who actually used the flooring we are getting. We're excited!!

No turning back now...

I signed up for the SLC 1/2 Marathon. It's done. I've committed. No turning back now. If anyone else wants to join me, the more the merrier. I've already roped my two sisters and a couple friends into doing it. For more info, check out the webpage HERE. I promise you it will be worth the $60... and if it's not, well, at least you know you can run 13.1 miles and you will be healthier than if you didn't do it. So, what are you waiting for??!