Old as dirt

A conversation with a five-year old:

Jared: Mommy, what happens when you get old like dirt?
Mommy: Well, then you're old.
Jared: But what will happen when Daddy gets old like dirt?
Keep in mind that Daddy is in the room with us! :)
Mommy: When Daddy gets old I guess we'll put him in a rocking chair on a front porch somewhere.
Jared: Why?
Mommy: Because for some reason, old people seem to like to sit on the front porch and rock.
Jared: Daddy, let's put you on the porch!!!!

Too funny! Of course, Scott thought it sounded like a great idea!

Baby Dedication

Madison was dedicated at our church yesterday. We had a picture of us taken before dedication. The three latter pictures are from after dedication...while we were in the Children's Wing. Evie was in her class, so she's absent from the photos.

Jared was less than cooperative for the photo shoot, as you can tell. Feel free to leave a comment with suggestion captions for the photos. :-)

A Gold Star Day

After a string of less-than-stellar days with my sweet son, I am happy to report we are having a gold star day!! The following conversation took place just a few minutes ago:

Jared: Mommy, are you still my friend?
Mom: No, Jared. I'm your Mommy.
Jared: Well, you're nice to me and you play with me. You're my friend.
Mom: You're right, Jared. I'm your friend AND your Mommy.

Yay!! :-)

Snyder Visit

I've been remiss in posting pics from the Snyder's visit after Christmas. We had a blast....LOTS of cards! We went tubing which was sooo much fun. I even went down the hill a couple of times. Below is our New Year's Eve dinner....BBQ!

Their first night in town, we went to the zoo to check out the Christmas lights. They are amazing (both the lights and the Snyders)!

Who do they look most like?

My friend, Renae, told me about a look-alike meter available on myheritage.com. After downloading pics of my family, the site told me that Jared looks more like me by 5%; Evie and Madison both hit the middle of the scale, looking like me and Scott equally. Don't know what to think of that!

Getting dressed this morning

I couldn't resist taking a couple pics of Evie in her new outfit.

Misc Jan pics of Madison

Here she is trying out sweet potatoes. She didn't seem to like them the first day, but by the third day they were a hit!

Somehow, while kicking her toy, she managed to get her foot caught in the ring. Surpisingly, she wasn't upset.

I bought Madison some bugs to look at and play with while in her carseat. Evie had some that we borrowed from Edan.

Tag....I'm it??

Well, Renae tagged me so I consider myself "it."

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person’s blog who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself
4. Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog.


So, here are seven random/weird things about me:

1. I have fallen asleep while driving 3 times. The first time, I rear-ended a semi on the interstate while trying to pass him at 55 miles an hour. I fell asleep after changing lanes and woke up when I went "BUMP!" The driver didn't even pull over. Praise the Lord for early-80's Buicks that can stand up to anything. It was the morning after my high school graduation and I had stayed up the entire night at a school-sponsored lock-in. The second time, I side-swiped a guard rail about a mile from home...almost made it. I had to crawl out of my car from the passenger's door for a week or so until I got my car fixed (same Buick). Last time was as a married adult in 1998. We were driving to NC from the Atlanta airport. Scott was asleep and I dozed off and crossed 3 lanes of traffic...someone honked their horn and I jolted into gear again. Scott woke up andI played dumb. :) Thankfully no one (not even me) ever got hurt. I no longer drive when I'm tired.

2. I was bitten by a pitt-bull dog when I was 13. It was Coon Dog Day in my little teeny weeny hometown. We were at a cook-out at a friend's house. I sat down beside a friendly dog named Duke and said, "hi, puppy" and the dog bit me. Was he offended that I called him a puppy?? Thirteen stitches in my upper lip later, the dog was put to sleep. Very sad.

3. Around 1997/'98, I was "encouraged" by my boss at the time to join Toast Masters. TM is a speaking club that helps people in the business world speak better in public. I ended up mostly enjoying it....mostly.

4. I have a real fear of traveling out of the US. I hate the idea of being on foreign soil without my US Constitutional rights. Imagine my dismay when God called me and Scott to adoption and we traveled to Russia. Other than two separate day-trips to Canada I had not been out of the Country. We got stranded in France on our way home from our second trip to Russia. So, now I can add France to my travels. I think I'm done and I, once again, want to stay in the USA.

5. Scott and I met through a friend of mine that became Scott's college roommate. I would call to talk to my friend, Mike, and Scott often answered the phone. He would answer and I would say, "hi, Scott." His reply?? "Hold on, I'll get Mike." After months of these conversations, I finally asked him if he could at least be polite and say hi back to me. He said, "hi, hold on, I'll get Mike." That conversation took place 17 years ago.

6. I have not lived close to any family since I got married and moved away from home in 1992. I got married and immediately moved to Atlanta for 8 months (3 hours from family). We then spent 14 months in California. After that, 12 years in Texas. While in Texas, my parents moved to New Mexico (500 miles away) and my inlaws moved to southeast Texas (5 hours away). I now live in Ohio (500 miles away from my sister and relatives).

7. I hate doing things just because they are rules made by others. For example, my current church has a new membership class. You CANNOT join the church unless you take this class. That really got under my skin. I don't remember Jesus requiring completion of a class....After much turmoil and two calls to the church office, I relunctantly took the class. Scott stayed home with the kids and intended to take the class next time it was offered. After I took the class (only me) our FAMILY received a letter welcoming us to the church. I was totally offended. :) And, no, Scott never took the class.

In the same rebellious nature of item #7, I am 'offing' the last two rules. While I hope that my RR friends, Superchikk (who, as a new mother, has nothing but time on her hands--ha!), and Edan will see this and also take the survey, I do not wish to tag anyone.

Dinner wtih Friends

Hannah was anxious to hold Madison. After arriving, Jared promptly told Hannah, "I love you." Too sweet! As for Evie, she followed Hannah around all evening.
We visited, ate dinner and watched Cars. James is the only kiddo absent from the photos... Check out Jared sitting on my lap (below)--that doesn't happen as often as it used to and I thoroughly enjoyed the moment!
Jacob also wanted to hold Madison...

I found my feet!

Madison "found" her feet a few days ago. Chewing on her big toe is a new activity! :)

Four Month Pics

Couldn't resist taking a couple picks of them sitting together.

I just love this expression! Can I gobble her up??

Kitchen - Really, it's complete this time!!

My sweet hubby stopped by a "scratch & dent" appliance place on New Year's Eve. He called and gave me the details on this nifty new black fridge. What a nice surprise! :)

New room decor for Madison

Jared's and Evie's rooms seem mostly complete and I've been wanting to finish Madison's. So, here's another attempt toward that goal. The oh-so-cute letters came from Hobby Lobby and the ribbon from Wal-Mart (thanks, Charity). Of all the stange things, the rod was the inspiration piece!! I'll explain: I found it at IKEA in Round Rock, TX this past Spring. James & Charity offered to bring it with them in July and, of course, it didn't fit in their suitcase either, so they checked it for us. Never mind that it had a twin rod to go with it and we could have just as easily checked it ourselves, but that would have been the easy thing to do....we seldom shoot for easy around our house! :) Anyway, the project was easy and is stinkin' adorable in her room.

Renae---Scott offered to take a "woo hoo" video and post it on 'Tube just for you....if I had taken the time to dry my hair today and put forth any grooming efforts whatsoever, I would have taken him up on the offer. You'll have to settle for this "WOO HOO!"

I went back and added some short ribbon knots to the rod....I thought it needed a little extra something.

Madison's First Taste of Cereal

No, cereal was NOT a big hit! I remember this far too well from the days of Evie. I loved her expression before the second bite...she knew what was coming. Plugging her with a paci after putting cereal in her mouth seemed to help food stay put. She only had a few bites, but it was a start. On the positive side, she napped well this afternoon and went longer before needing to be fed. I'm hoping this works as well for her as it did for Evie and gets her "system" in gear! :)

Below, the second bite....

Hand & Foot

Scott and I learned a fun (somewhat complex) card game called Hand and Foot while living in Texas. We spent many nights during 2002-2003 playing H&F with some good friends. I went through my old score book to see how the girls measured up with the guys. Turns out we were evenly matched. The girls won 13 games of H&F, compared to the guys' 14 wins. Not bad!

In case you don't know me very well (or at all), I have an invisible "A" permanently imprinted on my forehead. My old score pad is a 9x6 subject notebook I've had since my senior year of high school. It is COVERED in doodles and old phone numbers which I'm sure are disconnected/ changed by now. If you have EVER played a game (worth keeping score) at my house, there's a 99% chance I have evidence.

To Spade or not to Spade...

Yes, that is the question. The answer is simple...if you want to win, you spade! :) Scott and I have been playing Spades with James and Charity regularly since July 2, 2004. By regularly, I mean almost weekly....that came to a halt when we moved to Ohio in August 2006. We managed three card-playing visits during 2007, but the Browns really miss our regular dinner & dessert get togethers.

Well, let's start with the stats. In 2004, the guys won 41 games and the girls won 31. The guys won 18 games in 2005, while the girls won 15. A similar pattern followed in 2006, with the guys winning 29 and the girls winning 22. See the trend?? No matter how good it got for me and Charity, we still couldn't catch up with the boys.

This past July, in Ohio, the guys won 13 games and the girls won only 8 games. Depressing! Our luck changed in December!! That's right, last week Charity and I won 15 games while the guys only won 8. How sweet it was for the girls!!!

If you've never played Spades, I highly recommend starting NOW. We've known James and Charity since 1998. A friendship that started between us and Charity's parents....it grew into holiday gatherings where they included the Browns. Eventually Scott and I started serving in the youth ministry of our church with James and Charity. One kid later and the weekend Spades game was born (easy to do after putting our little boy to bed!).

Our friendship was built around the kitchen table. Are cards essential to our friendship? No, but the cards provided the comforting platform to be ourselves. I can't think of a single "off limits" topic in the last 4 years. That doesn't happen every day.