Adding Insult to Injury

Normally I don't blog about my various
bumps and bruises, because frankly there
would be an insane number of posts that
would baffle and horrify you all.
But this one, dear readers, is especially heinous,
AND IT'S A WEEK OLD.
What an interesting shade
of greenish-yellow!
(And no, the wall behind me is
not that color in real life, it just
looks weird in the picture.)

Well this is how it happened.
The ill-appearing water heater
pictured above sprang a leak
sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

You can't really blame it, seeing as
how it's been doing its water heater thing
for the last THIRTY YEARS!

When water heaters die, they weep
for joy at the idea of retirement.
It's hard work to keep
that water constantly hot, day in
and day out, week after week,
year after year.

This weeping resulted in a tidal wave
on the tile floor, which
I happened upon that morning in the DARK,
and I fell, in what I am sure
was the most undignified way,
banging my arm on the
knob, bruising my arm pretty much from
the wrist to the elbow,
and getting a nice slice on the skin for good measure.

There shall be no more weeping in our house.

Cinnamon rolls and sweet cheeks

Crystal baked up a storm during her visit.
Best. Cinnamon. Rolls. Ever.

Cassia was totally into Parker's Nintendo DS.
She was also into the viewing screen on my camera, too.
Guess it's 'cuz her mean mom doesn't let
her watch TV yet, ha ha. Just kidding, Crystal :)

Caught snuggling again by the paparazzi!

Check out the sweet cheeks at that baby!
Looks like she took this picture herself.

Crystal's Baby Shower

On Saturday we threw a surprise baby shower
for Crystal to celebrate the impending doom,
er, birth of her baby boy in April.

Yes, there were BOYS at this baby shower.
We are such rebels!

The most hilarious part of the shower-
the baby food taste test.
Flavors included: sweet potatoes, ham
(which Jeremy said tasted like cat food)
and apples. After their reaction to
the ham, I didn't make them try
the mac n cheese or peas.

Oh look who came to cuddle with me again!

Parker's guess at the size of the ribbon
that would go around Crystal's belly was just a BIT off..

We hung a sign so there would be no confusion.

Jeremy still appears confused, however.

He did a great job on the cupcakes, though.

Party!

Last week we celebrated Aaron's birthday.
Looks good for 70, eh?
Okay he's only 53,
but those are the only candles in the house.

Cassia & Crystal also flew in from Washington,
so there was all kinds of partying going on.Me, Lily, Cassia, & Mary.
(Mary is the one hanging upside down by one leg.)
Cassia is almost 2, and Lily just turned 3.
Cassia is pausing to reflect on this rare
opportunity for a tea party with her cousin.

I apparently have a very comfortable lap,
because Cassia seemed quite happy in it.Jeremy was trying out a new empire-waist apron.

Here's Jeremy singing part of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
while making bread.
Guess it helped to get the kneading rhythm just right.

2010!

(A new year's tradition sure to endear you to the neighbors.)
Here's to the first post of the year, and a new decade of blogging!

Five!

Tomorrow is our 5th anniversary at Gatesgreen Drive.
The home improvement list seems to get longer every year,
but looking back over the last 5 years, we've actually accomplished a couple of them:

Things we've torn up/thrown out/or
otherwise destroyed and dragged to the dump:

A tree in the front yard shaped like a rainbow
Two hideous scraggly bushes blocking the front window
A wooden clothesline in the backyard ( CEMENTED into the ground)
A chain-link fence with a stump growing into it
Two bathroom floors
A linoleum kitchen floor with lots of knife marks in it
2 nasty ceiling fans in the family room that screamed 1981
7 single-pane windows
A crooked exterior door requiring a running start and a slam to get it shut


Things we've added/replaced:

A wood privacy fence between our house and the neighbors
4 mulch flowerbeds with rock dividers
Tons of grass seed, flowers, 4 rosebushes and 4 boxwoods
Kitchen pantry, cabinets, and counter top
2 light fixtures in the family room
1 bathroom light fixture
1 hallway light fixture
1 exterior door that closes properly
7 energy-efficient windows that don't leak
New furnace
New air conditioner
Painted every inch of every wall, door, trim, and ceiling at least twice
New closet door in family room
Installed hardware on the kitchen cabinet doors and drawers
New porch light
New lamppost fixture
A new mailbox and post that doesn't lean at a 45 angle
2 Built-in bookcases in the family room
Faux wood blinds in all the windows
Installed the house numbers so at least one house on this street is identifiable
(Virginians are weird)
A sandbox in the backyard (which should also go on the ripped out list, as it didn't make it the entire 5 years before we took it apart after it was overrun by weeds and stray cats)
Baseboards in 2 bathrooms
There are probably more, but this is getting exhausting.

So this may explain where all of our money has been going.
Here's to spending all our money at Lowe's and Home Depot in 2010!

The big present

Parker's big present this year was a
Nintendo DS Lite. He has been pining for it
ALL year. At the end of the video, you can see
he starts to tear up. He gave me the BIGGEST
hug and could barely whisper "thank you"
because he was so overcome!