plaid star: Goings On

Because Annie R. did it, and frankly I'm a copycat.

-School is in full swing and the 3 "big" kids are doing great. Sable has taken to Kindergarten without falter, and has had a crush on a classmate named Spencer since pretty much the first day. They look a LOT alike. I think their children would have some kind of blonde haired, blue eyed super powers. Like maybe they could transform evil doers into mousy brunettes and send them running for a dark corner.
Rome has finally learned to love reading. He discovered the "Big Nate" books and is blowing through them at breakneck speed. It's awesome to see him reading a chapter book unprompted or forced. I love it more than I can say.
Capri is a 10 year old pre-teen and I can't hardly believe we're at this stage. Although in all fairness I feel we've been in it since she was about 2. Luckily she's a truly good girl and apologizes after every eye roll.

Game night

Dance class for Capri again this year.
Sable is doing "baking class" with me at home.

-Oz is home with me, no preschool this year and maybe never (which I'm 100% cool with). I figure at some point we'll do some home pre-schooling but for now I'm happy with our schedule. He's talking lots, but mostly you need a translator (me) to understand him. He's fully (and I mean FULLY, no bed time wetting) potty trained. People keep saying how awesome it must feel for me. Honestly, I don't mind diapers. But seeing as he's 3, I guess it makes sense. Plus, his tiny underpants are adorable.

The resemblance is uncanny.

-Jeff is still, and may always be, working the dog-watch shift (middle of the night) for the KCPD. His Sergeant is a legitimately good guy (finally!) and they get along great.

-I'm still toiling (Exaggeration? Sure.) away on the house, covering nearly every surface with paint. I just finished painting the kitchen cabinets a creamy white. It only took me 3 months! But seriously, I took such a long break in the middle of the project that we got completely used to having no handles on the cabinets. When I finally got them back on, we were still trying to open them the old way for days after. I also just cleaned out the inside of the kitchen window - that only took me 8 YEARS to do. Yep, I've been needing to do that since we moved here. Yikes. It looks awesome now so don't worry. More paint to come - quarter round, baseboards, my bedroom, oh my!

Not a great picture, and the new light over the sink isn't in.

But Karen (Jeff's sister) wanted a pic, and she's so dang sweet I can't say no.

-Mom and Dad came to KC a little bit ago. We had a great time and were spoiled. I've now got new curtains, rods, and a new light fixture in the kitchen. We're putting a new light fixture over the kitchen sink, a new fixture in the kitchen, moving the old kitchen fixture into the dining room (done today!) and moving the chandelier out of the dining room into the foyer. Got all that? It's going to be awesome if it doesn't kill Jeff.
Dad took Rome fishing 2 days while they were here. I hate fishing. I cannot understand why anybody on this earth would ever voluntarily fish. But Rome LOVES fishing so thank goodness for Papa.
We all saw the new Imax 3D Wizard of Oz and it was pretty cool. Our Oz decided that 3D Oz was mostly better without the 3D glasses and that $3.75 fruit snacks are just as good if you eat them all off of the movie theater floor.

We went to Riverfest during Mom and Dad's visit. It's tiny but there were tons of free inflatables and a free bull ride.
It proved that Rome and Oz are actually octopuses.

-I hate writing/talking/posting about gym/exercise related things. Who cares? But since it's been a pretty big change in my life I figure I'll go ahead. I'm finally back at the gym after over a year of not going. I do 3 days a week - 2 days weights & cardio, 1 day Bodyflow (class that combines Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates). My main drive was feeling better because truly I'd started to feel awful. I feel lots better (it's been a couple months of going) and it's now a legit part of my schedule. That's it, all the exercise talk you'll get from me.

-Jeff and I celebrated being married for 12 years. We did it! Only infinity left to go. No problem, we've got this.

-My brother Josh got married in DC. Capri and I took our first girl's trip and went to the wedding. I was a bridesmaid. My brother's know how much I love that! And in case you somehow miss the sarcasm on that one I'll just go ahead and say it, I'm being sarcastic. The bridal party took 1 million pictures in front of the Jefferson Memorial, I probably ruined most of them. Sorry Josh, I tried. Dan, Rob and Spencer probably ruined the rest. We're quite a bunch of gems! But we were all happy to actually BE TOGETHER as siblings. Or at least I was. It was hard to not pull everybody away from their wives and make them pay attention to only me. I may have punched Josh several times because he didn't say "hello" to me when we first saw him in DC. It's true that the rest of the family was there all clamoring for his attention, also hamburgers were being ordered, but still. Hello!

My brother Rob. Like I said, gems.

-Jeff and I are watching "Titanic" right now. He declared that "this movie probably wouldn't have done so well if it didn't have that haunting song". Love that guy.