Siblings

Proud Papa. He finishes the last day of the Bar Exam today. I'm so excited to have him home and done with the Bar Beast.

Although it's still an adjustment that she's working through, Tessa LOVES her little brother and just wants to snuggle with and pet him. My two beans. Sweet Pea and Bubsy.

Cole Jacob

Stats -
Date: July 20, 2009
Time: 3:23 P.M. CST
Place: Allen, Texas
Weight: 10 Lbs. 9 Oz.
Weight: Yeah, no typo, 10 Lbs. 9 Oz.
Length: 22 in.
C-Section: No, not this time.
Tough Woman of the day: Maren

Proud of you two
Love, Daddy

Some recent pics

HOW do kids do this? I remember my little brother getting the spaghetti sauce beard and wondering how he managed to do it. He finally learned how to avoid it sometime around 17 years old. Juuuuuuuuust kidding, Jon.... It was more like 18. Mwahahahaha.
At least it matches?

Yep, a toilet picture. She said I could post it. I'll remind her that she granted me permission when she's 15 and mortified.

Awwwwww. Swimming on the 4th. I was in too much of an overheated crusty mood to join them. My loss. My loss.

Such good friends. Swimming and watching fireworks. I had my feet up, trying to calm those bloated puppies. Didn't work.

The city did a great job with the fireworks. Tessa snuggled with me on what is left of my lap and "oohed" and "aahed" along with me. The best.

It turns out...

that I prefer having a bird poop on my head than accidentally picking up a petrified dead mouse. Oh, the life lessons we learn.

Keeping the World Safe From ...Weirdos

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

Love, the proud Americans, Maren, Jake, Tessa, and Cole too -- May the booming from tonight's fireworks inspire him to come early.

I won, I won, I won!!!

I won a dress! Can you believe it? I won a Shabby Apple dress from a blog giveaway. There are 6 styles to choose from and I get to have my choice. Hooray! Nevermind that I won't be able to fit in it for a little while thanks to baby boy. I'll get there. And a new dress is great incentive to lose baby weight, right?
Luck-y me. About every 4 years I win something. Some of you may remember the 80's costume contest? And then 4 years later the backstage passes to the John Mayer concert = awesome. Now a $75 dress. Fun, fun, fun.

photo c/o mab888 on flickr.com

Another man's trash is sometimes still trash.

Our neighbors moved, and we think considering what was in the pile where our property meets, that the people who rent the house out are remodeling a bit. As a result, there is a huge pile of trash waiting to be taken away when bulky day rolls around. Also as a result, we've had human raccoons hanging out in our alley way for a few days. Now, I recognize picking up what someone has thrown out and making money from it as an honest way to make money, but it's a little uncomfortable to have people you don't know tossing things around next to your driveway.
Our neighbors were very polite and quiet people. They left a tidy pile for the city to pick up. However, as the days or even hours went by after they took off, the pile seemed to get bigger. I now know it's because it's been fluffed up by the "collectors". Jake had to push some things back over the property line and use a stick to fling a bra and thong back on over as well. Ew.
We caught these two on the job. I named them Gumbo and Tootsie.

If you think it's wrong to take pictures of unsuspecting people through a hole in your fence, well, you're probably right. However, I figured it was fair game considering they were sorting on my property line. Plus, I wanted to show you. Jake asked them if they'd just be careful about keeping things in a pile, and they were nice enough to comply. I don't know if anything good was left over considering the all of the others who had already gone through it, but I know they did score big on two broken sinks. And from the looks of the truck bed, they'd been working the neighborhood pretty well. It's an honest way to make money, but I can still be intrigued, right?

After the rain yesterday and last night, it is now a sodden pile of trash/treasure? and bulky day can't come soon enough.