Who Has The Golden Ticket?

In this case, I really should say, "Who has the golden key?" but that doesn't really go with the tune. Oh well. A few weeks ago, I got a call from my sister. She was checking to see if we could watch the kiddos while she and my brother-in-law went to see if Bridget won a car.

Photo courtesy of http://kdecradio.com/win-this-car/

Um, yeah! It was fun to have four kids running around and not at all as tiring as I expected.

We had a little dance party, went for a walk, let them run around for a bit, ordered take out from Old Armory and capped off the night with Ratatouille.

Ever since, Owen says on a daily basis that he wants to play with Liza and Erin. Can't wait until our annual Pinter's date!

Oh, and Bridget didn't end up winning the car. But she was standing right next to the guy (above) who did win!

Photo courtesy of http://kdecradio.com/win-this-car/

Roof Update {2} - During!

The During Phase of our roof update was a fun time for the whole family. The boys loved looking at all the equipment and materials, Gspice didn't have to mow, and I got to freak out when I'd hear loud noises when I was in the shower every morning. You know, the usual.

It was actually a pretty easy project to live through. It's not quite living with an interior remodel - Not one bit. We got to go about our daily lives without an issue during the whole thing which was a really nice during such a tough week. The only part I was concerned about was all of the rain but it turned out that we didn't get as much as anticipated.

We have three main areas of roof. There's the roof over the kitchen, the roof over the front porch, and then the roof over the rest of the house. TG Construction tackled it in those three sections and in that order as well. They had to work with a lot of reports of rain but they managed to get it done over four work days.

Below are more fun photos! Again, please ignore the landscaping. My goodness, it's bad. We've got that gorgeous weed garden in the back that's trying to take over our life! needs tackling!

And we can't end the post without one sneaky preview of the finished product! Here's the front roof completed! The machine was left in that spot all weekend because they just had that side left to do on Monday. I tell you, the TG boys work fast!

See the BEFORE here!

Jack {18 Months!}

Jack is 18 months old. How can this be? No, seriously. How. Can. This. Be??? Wasn't he this small just yesterday?

Without a doubt, the last year and a half has gone by so fast. Too fast. I would definitely go back and slow it down just a smidge if I could. That being said, our sweet little nugget has continued to be his same sweet self. Most of the time :)

Jack's personality has grown so much. He's still super sweet and loves to see others smile but this kid has a lot to deal with - namely, his brother. Owen can be a bit of a terror to Jack. Pushing him down for no reason at all, taking away the toy(s) Jack is playing with, poking his eyeballs...you get the idea. While it makes Jack cry, I've definitely noticed a bit of defiance. Jack is starting to stick up for himself! He'll hold on to those toys for dear life! I can definitely tell that when I try to pry my phone from his little fingers!

I've also noticed that they will play together a little bit more. It's SO FUN to hear their giggling when they shuffle around. We now have a rule that if Jack is laughing when Owen sits on him, we won't intervene but if he starts to cry, then Owen has to stop. Just trying to teach them good healthy playing habits I know we'll come to enjoy in the years to come. (Help me!)

Although Jack is a pretty easy going little kid, there are times when that is most certainly not the case. When he's frustrated, doesn't want to do something, can't have what he wants; holy meltdown city! Jack physically melts to the floor. He'll even melt in the middle of the street if he doesn't want to hold our hand. I'm holding out on the hope that this will subside when Jack stops teething. We can all hope, right?

Speaking of teething, this poor little nugget is working on all four of his canines. OUCH. He fusses a bit more than usual these days but otherwise, it's been going rather well considering. Jack loves that paci though (I can understand why!) Still no sign of his upper lateral incisors.

Toddler vocabularies are really fascinating. It took Owen awhile to start saying a bunch of words but it does seem that Jack has picked up a few more words early on. He still says thank you when you give him something or do something for him which is so stinkin' adorable. Milk, ball, truck, bus, Jack, Mommy, Daddy, kitty, papa, bird, help, No!, yes, and up are a few of the others. I'm sure that I've missed some. He also likes to sing and dance too which might be the cutest thing I've seen. The Sesame Street tune comes on, he's wiggling. Songs on the radio, he's wiggling. Owen sings a song, he's wiggling. I love it!

Jack still eats like he always has. He'll eat just about anything and it often includes cramming as much food in there as possible which just freaks me out. I'm constantly telling him to chew, which he'll respond me a wide grin and placate me with a couple of chomp, chomps. One thing I'll note, Jack loves little cherry tomatoes! I have a fellow tomato lover now! Owen won't go near them so it's nice that at least one of my children likes tomatoes. I've noticed that he doesn't tend to eat all of his carrots though. Maybe it hurts his teeth. We're still working on not throwing things on the floor. We now tell both boys that we'll take their food away if they throw their food. It seems mean, but it does seem to be working. The food that ends up on the floor tends to be accidents or near the end of the meal anyway. As soon as this bad habit ends, we'll most likely move our table back out to the dining room. Can't wait to have more room in the kitchen again!

Despite how much Jack has been eating (which is a ton!), his stats didn't seem to hold up. No big deal, our boy moves around like crazy too. Luckily, this little tot still doesn't mind going to the doctor one bit. I'm hopeful that he never will :)

18-Month Appointment (9/9/2016)

Weight: 22.5 lb

Height: 30.5 in

15-Month Appointment (6/14/2016)

Weight: 23 lb

Height: 30 in

12-Month Appointment (3/7/2016)

Weight: 19 lb 15 oz
Height: 29.5 in

 

Roof Update {1} - Before!

Most of you probably saw the photo I posted the other day with what looked like another home project! Yep, we're updating the shingles on our roof!

To me, this is only mildly exciting as it's a big expense but the look will be refreshed and pretty. We've never had issues with our roof but we could tell it was beginning to suffer in the past year. Just look at the front roof that's over our porch!

Yikes! I had noticed it before but it wasn't until I did some digging regarding new home and car insurance that this came to be a "Let's-Fix-This-Now" issue. Let me back up a little bit - it'll be quick.

Our auto insurance renews every year in July. We bought our vehicle in 2013 so it's relatively new and expensive to insure. Yes, I get that. However, we've never had an accident and have never filed a claim. Imagine my frustration when our insurance kept going up every year, and over $100 this year alone. I called our agent to get a better understanding of how auto insurance works and he told me that auto insurance rates depend on everyone else; the types of cars they drive, the accidents they get into, the claims they file. Seriously? How annoying, but fine. I can deal with that. So then I asked if it would make a difference if we switched both our home and auto insurance. It sure would, BUT not with the condition of our roof. Okay, fine. Fast forward to September and we're getting it done! Suppose we'll look at getting some new insurance soon too :)

The rest of the roof looked okay but you could see the shingles were old. But if we're going to do it at all, we've got to do the whole shebang! Just ignore our landscaping. That's a project for another day!

The work was officially started on Wednesday so we're in the "During" phase as we speak. I'll update you soon with those fun photos! Until then, here's a cute photo of the boys watching the work from their favorite living room spot.

P.S. With new shingles on the house, we'll need to look at our garage relatively soon. That roof is in pretty bad shape but our estimate did not include that one. I'm okay with that because I'm hoping to bit of an overhaul soon. I just need to talk with the person I'm hoping will do this for us first! Until, here's a fun little rendering I did on a post-it note.

I've got a confession to make...

I don't like to vacuum. That's not my confession but that's a good place to start.

I don't vacuum all that often because it's often a struggle. For one, Gspice has seriously super annoyingly sensitive nostrils. I get it, allergies and what not but I literally cannot vacuum if he's in the house or will come home within 4-6 hours of me vacuuming. Sometimes, I just vacuum anyway and hope he won't have a reaction. Sorry, Gspice.

Secondly, we have to pick up the mess before I can vacuum and that doesn't always happen. I can pick things up quickly enough but I'm often pretty tired when I finally get a chance to clean up and then am not motivated to vacuum. I'd rather nap, thank you!

That brings me to my next point. You should move things around when you vacuum so you can vacuum underneath. This is where I should confess that rarely happens. Sure, I'll move the chairs and the ottoman but EVERYTHING ELSE stays put.

Until yesterday.

Ladies and gentlemen, I moved the couch.

Guys, this couch has not moved since June 2012. You can imagine what the floor might have looked like because I'll spare you a photo. I didn't even take one because it will forever be seared in to my brain. Just imagine lots of missing books, toys, pacifiers and sippy cups. Add a heathly layer of dust and cat hair and there you go!

Now all I need to do is move our large king bed....

Let Me Love You

It has been far too long since I created a music video post. I do these mainly for myself because I have a terrible memory. I love certain songs and when the next set of songs come out, I forget about the ones I liked. It's a vicious cycle, people. This helps me keep track of the ones I love! I'll admit right now that some are downright ridiculous, but that might be why I like them!









 
This video freaks me out but I love the song. What can you do?


Again, this video? What the heck! I do love Dolla $ign, though :)




Won't ever watch Suicide Squad, but this video is semi-okay.


This video is a hard no, but I do love the song. Very much.