Kirk and I have both noticed the increased togetherness we've felt as a family lately. A blessing of our current situation I guess.
Bruce is fighting naps, but once napping will sleep for 3 hours. Crazy kid! He is understanding more about the world around us. Things he often says..."I'm so proud" "Poor Henry" We often talk about using the potty, but we're waiting for him to want to. Today we had the following conversation after I heard him toot.
Me: Do you need to go poop?
B
whispers: Yes
Me: Do you want to use the potty?
B: No
then he runs behind the couch to do his duty,
even coming to grab two of his cars and then returns to his hideoutHenry is a light to our family. He has his trying moments, mostly related to sleeping, but he's generally such a happy baby. I don't know why it drives me nuts, but when Kirk comes home and picks up Henry he usually has to present Henry to me who 99% of the time smiles and fawns over me. Henry is just starting on rice and oatmeal cereal. He's just not into it, but we're still trying it every day. He rolls over with ease and would chew on his brother's cars or our electronics (phone, remote control, etc) if he could.
I stay busy. Taking the boys to the park or zoo during the week, spray painting items to decorate with (my new hobby), getting all the good deals, and playing computer games with Kirk. Did I mention I like to read? We have a fantastic group of libraries in town. We go to story time each week and we're always checking out books. I've discovered that the Young Adult section has some really great fiction. We are still trying to sell our house in Kansas City.
So the moral of the story is that some brands of spray paint are better than others.
but couldn't find what I wanted. I found this and had a vision of a solid table that could serve many purposes and match his room.
Exhibit A...displays said room after an hour of picking up and folding. You'd never realize from the looks of this room that I love an organized space. Earlier in the week I felt like moving stuff around from our entry closet to a hall closet so our coats and shoes would be easily accessible and our games could be unpacked.
Exhibit B...see, I can be orderly. Order definitely takes time. Or maybe I just take a lot of time getting things organized. I get lulled into complacency living in a mess and then bam! I have to do something about it, now! Thank goodness for those jolts of clarity!
Hooray for the fourth of July! I love singing patriotic songs at church. I wish we could sing them ALL year! 
We barbecued with some friends. It's inevitable that Christy will end up holding Henry. That's fine by me, we're happy to hand him over! On a serious note, Bruce adores Christy. Even to the point of shrugging me off at times. I'll admit it hurt my feelings at one point. This particular interaction was followed only a few days after Bruce only wanted daddy to play with him, get him a drink, etc. Now that I've had time to think about it I'm okay with it. I should be glad that there are people in my children's lives who are kind, generous, and loving. Of course I want those types of interactions for them. Talking with Kirk helped me recognize another point. Henry does the same thing to a certain degree. He is all smiles for me if Kirk is holding him and vice versa. It's not extreme by any means, he's smiley to us as we're holding him but I see the correlation. I can take it. I get em forever!
The two large frames that I bought at a garage sale for $2 really confounded me. I finally decided to paint them black and the inside canvas I was inspired by this. We just put them up and I'm iffy. Maybe it's just because I'm not used to that space being occupied.
Instead of leaves I wanted to paint these (just a solid color, no eye or wing details etc), but Kirk vetoed it. I'll sit on it...whoo knows, maybe the owls will have a comeback.
And my practical kitchen addition. I thought if I was accountable to a posted list that I would plan out meals a bit better. At a meeting a few weeks ago, the topic was friendship and the speaker mentioned how she loved the color yellow because it was so cheerful and uplifting. I am definitely a product of my environment. If it's overcast I'm depressed. If the house is tidy I'm energetic. Anyway, since we spend a lot of time in the kitchen I thought I'd add some yellow where I could. Here's where I got the frame idea. Wish I had a dry erase marker on hand so I could make it look complete, but you get the idea.
needs something, anything! I got these at the thrift store (I paid $4 for all three)
and am currently doing this. Black paint to come after they're dry.
