The Rest of our Outings

I used my $2.50 store credit. How could I let the credit expire? It’s like throwing money away, right?

I fed Leah a bottle in her stroller, saved Molly from being smashed inside 4 turning jewelry displays and fielded 3 conversations about “How busy we must be!” I replaced about 14 jewelry items to their proper homes, opened 23 ring boxes that had been snapped shut, and taught Ryan the difference between pearls and white beads.

Finally, I found a clearance fashion ring worth $2.40. Oh, yeah, it was worth it.

Next, off to the Dollar Store! After all, Ryan’s 5 1/2 Birthday party supplies weren’t going to jump over to my house by themselves.

(The twins and I came home from the Hospital on his whole birthday, so we put off his kid party until the Spring. I had six months, but now I had only two days and a family road trip the morning after his party, to prepare.)

Molly convinced herself that we needed to prepare now for her 3 year old party in June. I ignored her repeated requests for pink noise makers, balloons and cookies. Really, she requested everything and everything pink she saw.

I let out, “It’s Ryan’s special day!” as cheerily as I could as she continued with her pleas.

I just kept plotting along, throwing red streamers, golden mini-trophies and juice boxes into my basket, which was now, causing my forearm to feel slightly numb.

On our way to the check out counter, Molly put her foot down. Literally, stomped her foot and exclaimed,

“I want to GO to JUNE’s house!”

Followed by another foot stomp and a even louder exclamation,

“For my PINK-ah-LISH-ous party! Now!”

You may think, at this point, I could have pontificated the virtues of using an inside voice and being self-less. What did I do?

Laugh!

“Who’s house do you want to go to for your party?” I asked surprisingly.

Molly slightly hyper-ventilating explained, “June’s house for my, my, my 3 party.”

I’m quite positive, all the ‘How old is big sister?’ conversations with on-lookers, have gotten her mind a bit cloudy on when her birthday will come along.

I assured her that I will make her pink cupcakes in a few months and gave her a hug.

More importantly, I headed home. Enough outings for one day. I still had to make dinner, make sure all our clothes were clean for our road trip and email my family about Leah and Claire in the Cutest Baby contest for our local paper.

More to Come…

Love,

Jess

Proverbs 31:15

¹⁵ She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

Just checking in to say I’m busy working on verse 15.

I came up with a recipe file of 31 family meals.

I started feeding the babies baby mush cereal. Leah likes it the best.

I made a portion of {birthday} food for my worker.

I am giving myself a lot of homework for this verse so I’ll be writing on it for a while. (or until a different verse catches my attention more )

Coming Up: Menu planning, freezer inventory, shopping list, coupons, recipes

Love,

Jess

In honor of my husband’s special day, I enlisted the help of some folks to tell Pete how great he is. (Which happens to tie in nicely with my  Proverbs 31 hands on learning  series.)

Proverbs 31:23

²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

Okay here it goes…

First, I admire how generous Pete is with his time – everyone comes to Pete with computer questions eventually, and he always has time to help. Second, after attending Bible Study with Pete I have come to respect his unique and well thought-out insights as well as his desire to learn and grow. Pete is a faithful friend.

-Jay (Bible Study Leader)

I have friends who are smarter than me, and brotha, you’re one of them. You are a valuable friend for your insights.  Thanks Pete!

-Jeremy (Friend)

Pete is a pretty special guy in my book. Not only has he been one of the best employees I’ve ever had the honor to have work for me, but I also consider him a good friend.

He’s one of the smartest guys I know, and I think he could pretty much figure out almost any problem he puts his mind to. He has a way of seeing things before others do that is particularly impressive. I know he doesn’t give himself credit for how bright he actually is, but he really is an extraordinary person.

I feel blessed to know him, work with him, and call him my friend.

-Erich (Employer)

It’s hard to believe that when we first met Peter was just 18 years old. We were so blessed when just a few years later he met with us privately to tell us he was going to ask Jessica to marry him. We could never have asked for a better son-in-law.

He is industrious, energetic and loving. He is a godly husband and father who has made such a difference in our daughter’s and in our lives. We wish him a very happy 30th birthday and we hope many more. May God continue to bless him always.

-Dennis and Lucy (The Inlaws)

The thing that has stood out most, in my relatively short time in knowing Pete, is his ability to be slow to react, quick to stay cool, and his ability to view situations or people in a positive light.  There have been many times that I have been quick to judge something and Pete presented his view and completely changed my outlook on it.  He certainly seems wise in that way.

-Josh (Co-Worker)

I agree with all the statements above and then some! I am so proud to have a guy like Pete. {happy birthday, you elder, you!}

Love,

Jess

To the girl with eyes that say everything – I love you! You’ve made our lives full of joy and laughter with a whole lot of hustle and bustle thrown in!

I hope you are always as energetic and strong as you are at two years old.

Check out Molly’s tea party at the Kobies blog (our friends). Her friend Lucy (thanks Becki!) posted all the photos.

photo credit

My Birthday

I’d love to have some powerful words to express about the last 30 years or the next 30 years.

But really, right now I’m trying to get my almost 2 year old out of her Dad’s night stand (which stores all sorts of man treasures like M-80s, candy, watches, shoe laces, cologne, earplugs and video games)

&

trying to ignore the “Mom, I think there is a huge problem down here [in the living room], um…nevermind!”

So until my brilliant, thought provoking insights about life come tumbling out…I’ll be eating cupcakes!!!

Have a great weekend! I’ll be back next week, much older and wiser!

Love,

Messy Jessy

• Molly loves to play with her “guys” and “babies” (fisher price little people) in the doll house.
• Sample day at the local membership mega-mart. Molly struggles to stay awake to eat her chip crumb snack from the sample lady that thought salsa would be too spicy for her to eat. Ryan chilled in the freezer department using the ledge as a bench to scarf down blueberries in a cup.
• Neat Pete blew out candles to his double-decker chocolate chip cookie and frosting 29th Birthday cake. The treat was created by my personal baker Sam. (We went to visit “him” at the membership mega-mart.)

Happy Birthday Peter!

You are finally as old and as wise as I.

You are many things, but one thing you are not, is lame. In other words, you are super awesome.

Together Till the End

Though you annoy me, on certain crabby days

I count you as a blessing in many fantastic ways

As glimpses of time crease around your eyes

Your appeal increases, its really no surprise

Your loving manner shines in every phase

Bringing you joy and honor, really pays

I’ll stick with you until your last breath sighs

Cause no one else remembers my killer thighs

Love You!

Us circa 1999 (Yes, those were the killer thigh days...*sigh*)

Renovation blues draggin’ ya down? Why not have a drop off birthday party with 7 kids under the age of 5.

Shake off the sawdust and cover those outlets! Be sure to remove all table saws and 10″ screwdrivers from the play area. Or if you are like me you do this as guest arrive.

Plan to get behind on your scheduled projects and try to have fun. I really believe hospitality is an attitude not a state or condition of my home.

Here are some highlights from Ryan’s 4th birthday super hero party.

We used cardboard and pipe cleaners (yes I know they are chenille stems but I just can’t convert) to create a party sign for the front door. Placing a sign at the door before company is expected is a welcoming tradition that Ry has established.

Pre-party happy jitters.

I keep a stack of white lunch sacks on hand for parties. By decorating them myself I always have the ‘theme’ I need.

Contents: mini play-doh cans (purchased at 50% off in the Halloween area), candy and batman fruit snacks.

I bought only a few commercial items. The balloons were a gift from Ry's party helper Grammy Lu.

We made a Bat Cave from a washing machine box, Spider-Man and Friends Memory game pieces and tempera paint. We kept the top open a bit and cut out two eye spy holes on one side and a secret mail slot on the other side.

For this super hero party I gathered all the toys in the house that would work as party props. Featured here is singing Spider-man with steamers.

Each guest wore a custom painted Super shirt. They each used fabric markers to decorate their own capes (white flour sacks). The little guests 2 and under had capes (1/2 a flour sack) with Velcro tabs on their shoulders. The doorway shown in the upper left of this photo was draped in red streamers for decoration and fun!

Super Molly snacked on pretzels.

Super Colin goes for a ride without his cape!

My baker Sam made this cake for Ryan. You know Sam don't you? He has his own club and everything. Sam put in extra Spider-Man details since we were having a multi-hero party.

This picture speaks for itself.

Who wants a photo? We want CAKE!

Of course the nice part about not having any furnishings in the party area was freedom! We ran, played Spider-Man Hoops, Spider-Man Clothes Pin Drop and Super-Man Jump.

Of course you can't beat an after party, "I love you Mom!"

]]> http://justablink.com/2008/11/party-time-during-home-projects/feed/ 7 http://justablink.com/2008/10/lately-2/ http://justablink.com/2008/10/lately-2/#comments Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:21:27 +0000 Jessica http://themcwilliams.info/?p=1124 Do-It-Yourself

We are deep in the midst of giving our main level a face lift.  Thanks to my father-in-law (fil) Phil our new flooring is installed! It is so much better than the previous dirty carpet. [That will be his new blog name, Fil Phil.] It is so fun to see plans spring into realities.

We are over time, over budget and overwhelmed. We’ll manage but I can tell that I have some heart work to do as I seem to be fumbling a bit with my patience and grace during this challenge.

Kids

Meanwhile, my little guy just turned 4! We had a doughnut breakfast around a patio table in the middle of the living room to celebrate. His Super Hero party will be coming when I can have a tool-free floor again.

Kitchen

This morning I botched a double batch of apple oatmeal cookies I was going to send to Texas. What? Who knew that 1 cup of baking soda is not the same as 1 tsp.? Yikes!

Yes, that is my refrigerator in the living room.  So technically this is a picture of my kitchiving room.

Decorating

I moved my dresser into the kids room and made a mock diaper station on the top. Nice move. No pictures yet because it’s “nap” time which really is more like WW 3 this afternoon. We are going on 45 minutes of battle…still no quietness from either of them. Geesh!

Things I want to do but it might be too late (too cold):

• Paint a rehab dresser and place it in my room.
• Re-purpose a office hutch topper into a toy storage unit for the new living room.
• Fix up a $5 (garage sale find) bookcase for all the littering kids books reproducing in my home!

Sneak peek at my dresser rehab.

Bin-a-Week is making a cameo in the background.

That’s us lately. Have a good weekend.

Over the summer months we are taking a break from our meetings but we got together for a BBQ at the Carter’s house on June 29, 2008.

It just happened to be Molly’s Birthday so we brought cupcakes for dessert.

Molly took a break to flip through some books on a miniature sized easy chair.

Ryan absolutely loves watermelon. I think he ate about 5 or 6 pieces. He is just like his parents!

We had a great time letting the kids play around as we enjoyed the nice summer breeze from the screen porch. For more photos visit the Flickr set!