As I said earlier, I ran out of space here.  So, I've had to put up a new blog for our family.  Here it is:

http://y8sfamily2011.blogspot.com/

Please update your address books, blogs, etc.  I'm going to leave it public for a bit while everyone figures this out.  :)  Thanks!

It's the last Friday of March, and I am starting to think that it will indeed go out like a lion.  It has been super windy.  We've had a tiny bit of rain to go along with it, but not much.  Typical for us.  But I can't complain, really.  Places north and east of us are getting snow.  Places north and west of us are getting tornadoes.  I'll take a little wind and ominous clouds over that any day. 

It's been a productive week for me.  I finally had the energy and desire to clean.  I started the redo on the girls' bathroom - I turned the cabinets around so that they opened differently, installed the glass knobs on the cabinets, painted the pink stripe on the wall, and installed the new towel hooks.  It's starting to take shape.  I need to go pick up some moulding for the mirror.  It's looking pretty dang girly now.  Ha ha ha.  Jocey loves it. 

I'm getting frustrated with the ringing in my ears again.  It's making it difficult to concentrate and hear things clearly.  I have ideas on what is causing it.  All I know for sure though is that 6 months dealing with it is RIDICULOUS!  I hope it's not something permanent. 

I'm looking forward to the weekend and having Jon home, even if he is doing homework the whole weekend.

My house is a mess.  Officially.  I'm admitting it out loud.  I've taken on the projects of painting the girls' rooms and so the rest of the house has GONE TO POT! 

The weekend was good and bad.  Saturday was bad, Sunday was good.  Saturday consisted of  Jon being gone most of the day (he went golfing with his brother in laws and nephews), Jocey having a R.O.U.G.H. day with attitude, Caylee being miserable teething, and me?  Oh dear.  It was a wonderfully, huge bummer of a day.  On so many levels.  I am choosing to forget about it and to let go of a few things that are hurting my ego. 

Sunday though, it definitely redeemed the weekend for me.  We had a good day.  We lounged around.  We wrestled with the kids.  We laughed.  We had time to ourselves.  It was just good.  It helped me to get a positive start to my week.  I needed that.  My kitchen is finally clean.

I'm FINALLY done with Jocey's room.  It only took 2 weeks, but it's done, put back together.  I took some panorama shots so you could see it fairly seamlessly. 

So I received a message from Google today telling me that I have used all the free space in my account.  Holy crap, Batman!  What do I do now?  I'm going to try and figure that out.  In the meantime, forgive the mess, the lack of entries, and hopefully I'll be back soon.

I was reading to Jocey tonight. The book of choice -


This was one of my favorites growing up.  I remember laying in bed and my dad reading various Dr. Seuss books to us: Horton, Bartholomew Cubbins, The Grinch, Cat in the Hat, etc.  And I had a small moment tonight where I felt a little tug at my heart for the Seuss.  Jocey was rhyming right along with me.  She loved this book (it was the first time I've read it to her).  She could anticipate what the rhyming words were.  It was awesome.  My favorite?

Jon and I sat here last night talking about all the places we'd like to visit.  We talked about Greece, Rome, Venice, Germany, and of course, Paris.  I told him of Paris and the different things I would want to show him there.  I want to go back and just BE there.  I want to visit each of the bridges.  I want to go back to Sacre Couer and just sit and admire its' beauty (that is my favorite cathedral in Paris).  I want to sit in the parks and enjoy croissants, baguettes, and cheese.  I love how the people are just there, in the moment.  It's unlike anything else I've experienced.  And something I didn't get to experience...I want a picture of me being kissed in front of the Eiffel Tower.  Cliche, I know.  But I want one. 

I was sitting on the couch today, my girls next to me watching morning cartoons.  I look over to see this:


They sat like this for most of the show.  I am so grateful my girls love each other so much.