Too quiet

When we got home from church last Sunday Emma was reading books in her room while I made lunch. After it became quiet for an uncomfortable amount of time, I went searching and this is what I found. She had parked herself on her potty in her church dress (after grabbing Jarrah's bone- see it on the tub?) and found her little hair ties. They used to be separated by color. There are about 50 each of six or seven colors. She had opened each one and threw them on the floor. I walked in and said "hi Emma!" and she looked at me, quite pleased with herself and pointed to the floor and said "mess mommy!". She then proceeded to open the last section and throw the yellow ones on the floor and then said "yellow mess mommy!". I couldn't help but smile at her and also couldn't help sorting all 300 and some hair ties back into their appropriately colored homes.

Tu-Tu much

Emma got a hand me down tu-tu and finally mastered hopping!












And Emma, much to the delight of the neighbors I'm sure, was singing at the top of her lungs.
















But for now, back to the hopping.

Don't you hate it when...

- You tear a finger nail and have to cut it really short and then it's not ready to cut when all the others are and then your fingers are not on the same clipping schedule

- You finally give in to be the one to change the garage bag, tie it up, take it outside to the garage can and then the next thing you have to throw away is really stinky! You wish you had waited 10 more minutes to tie up the trash. Now you have to untie the bag outside and add it, use up an entire new trash bag to tie it up in, or just toss it in the new bag and accept the fact that the kitchen will stink for about 2.5 days until the bag is full enough to tie up without guilt of under using a garage bag.

- You let your dog outside to potty before you go on a walk specifically so you don't have to pick up poo and carry it with you the remainder of the walk only to have the dog "double poo". Now you've wasted a trip outside prior to your walk and the compartment under the stroller smells like poo even though you double tied the wal-mart bag.

- You sweep the entire house and put away all the shoes and, wait, what's that you hear? The mower man showed up and now your house will be covered in tracked-in grass clippings in less than 10 minutes.

- You wake up early so you do extra chores in the morning only to arrive to work later than the days you wake up late.

- You pat yourself on the back for remembering to put on sunscreen and then you look in the mirror that night and find you missed a huge patch your your neck and shoulder. So you try to fix it the next day by putting double sunscreen on the red part and single layered sunscreen on the unburned part. But the edges of the original sunburn got missed and now you have an even weirder pattern on your neck and wish it was turtle neck season.

- You decide to risk it and not try on the new shirt before purchasing it only to get home and find out that the size was mis-marked. AND the size you thought you bought would have been the correct size.

- Anybody have any more to add?

Pearly whites

I decided Jarrah needed her teeth cleaned. The vet suggested we let them do it for us. Since I didn't want to spend $400+ on my DOG'S teeth I decided to do it myself. Sans the drugs to knock her out even. I tried loving on her and getting her to lay down. She knew immediately that something was up.
I think she could smell the baking soda on the cloth I was using. I see all the internet ads that say "an Ashland mom has found the secret to whitening your teeth and it's in your cupboard right now" so I figured "why not try it on the dog"?! She thought maybe she'd distract me by trying to play.
She ran all around the house and barked and hid behind the dining room table. Emma thought it was hilarious and everytime I'd get close to Jarrah she'd take off!

I gave her a pep-talk and after that didn't work, I brought out her treatie jar and sat it in the middle of the living room floor. I told her if she let me clean her teeth with the cloth (I pointed to the cloth) then she's get a treatie (no need to point to the jar, that's all she was looking at).

It worked! Sort of. I got about 3 teeth rubbed with the baking soda and contrary to the "Ashland mom" internet ad, Jarrah's teeth are FAAARRR from white.

I figure I can keep it up and maybe I'll be the next "Ashland mom" on the internet ad. Actually, I'm pretty sure I don't want to be on the internet ad. It's usually on the side bar of my hotmail that scrolls between the "Ashland mom" and "hot singles". I think I'll settle for a dog whose breath isn't mistakable for Emma's poopy diapers.

Proof that it's summertime

Sandal tan- need I say more?!

Keeping it real

Our household is adjusting to Jon's new venture: school. It's not a super easy transition, in fact, it's hard for Jon to not stress out and it's hard for me to not stress out because Jon's stressed out.
So we find ourselves in a GREAT place to practice our faith. We are trying to keep giving our anxieties and fears to God daily, hourly, even by the minute.

In other random news for our family:

-Jarrah appears to have insomnia and has been up pacing at night. It keeps me awake and I'm less than kind to her when I get her to tell her to "put it!".

-Jarrah also is allergic to grass so she has all these bare patches on her legs where she's licked the fur off. She sort of looks like a baboon.

-Emma has a cold. It's always weird to me when I (and now Emma) has a cold in the summer. I have steered clear of getting hers so far but considering all the snot she's rubbed on me just today; it will be a miracle if I don't wake up with the sniffles.

-Jon looks good in his green scrubs.

-I am knee high in taxes at work.

-I LOVE the heat. July has not disappointed and I can welcome at least another month of these temps I hope.

-I'm tired to watching Clifford.

-I'm tired of second-guessing myself and comparing myself to others.

-I want VERY much to be the person that God made me to be (which includes accepting that it is not like anyone else). I want to accept that there is no "mold" and no "perfect way" for most things including raising a child.

-I would love to own all the scriptures I've been reading.

-I know that God is faithful to help me with all of these things as I surrender to Him and allow Him to change me.

Butterfly and a popsicle

Emma loves the butterfly wings she got for her birthday and likes to "fly" around the house with Jarrah on her leash.

Emma and Nana shared a popsicle

It proved to be a little bit cold.

Make that A LOT cold!