7 Best Years...

...and more to come. I used to lose sleep wishing I would have asked Brandi out in our 6th grade class. But God had a plan for our lives and I thank Him every day of my life for it. I thank Him for these years we've been together. How we've started our own lives and family. How I have someone who can raise our children with all the love they deserve. I've never been the lonely type so I knew it meant something when I realized I NEEDED Brandi in my life. It meant I knew Brandi and I would never be apart. Brandi (and those angel babies she makes) are everything to me. Thank you God for the 7 best years ever! Love you Baber.

As I said in the post below, Jess and I have our 7th "dating" anniversary today. Yeah, we're nerds and we celebrate that stuff. But we cancelled the babysitting for our date, to be safe, since Paige still had a little cough today. We all felt fine though, so we had a family date instead. We went out to eat, and our kids were nutso. They were both GOOD, it wasn't that they were misbehaving, but they were in weird moods. We had to tell Paige to use a quieter voice like 20 times, because she was practically yelling everything she said. It was too funny to be stressful though. We went to Ross after that (lovely running into you, Skye and Will) and they were even more hyper there. We got what we needed and booked it out of there. Ha.

Anyway, I'm 31 weeks and a day. I wasn't posing for any pictures yesterday though. Ha.
I felt so much better today though. Plus the weather was nice today too. I always thought I liked the summer as much as the fall, until 3 or 4 years ago, when I realized I hate it with a passion and that fall is where it's AT. You're kind of brainwashed all your childhood, because the summer is when you don't have to go to school. But I realize now that with every 10 degree drop in temperature between late August and November, I'm about 50% happier, 50% more productive, and 50% better as a mom because I finally get energy and motivation again. Ha. So Cason got to finally play outside today.
Paige refused because she wanted to play a Dora game on the computer instead. Then Cason came in to play the soccer/bowling hybrid he's invented with his new bowling set. (Thanks Skifter and Sarah)

No Seven Year Itch 'Round Here

7 years ago today, Jess FINALLY asked me to "be his girl". I pretty much liked him off and on all through high school. Never REALLY "off" though, I just never thought he liked me that way, so I'd forget about it for a while.

I dated a guy for 3 years that I knew I wasn't at all compatible with, but I was too wimpy to break up with him because he was so nice. Finally one fourth of July we were all hanging out and Jess asked me for my email. We left the next day on a family vacation, and my boyfriend came with us. I kept checking my email during the trip, hoping to have one from Jess. (He did NOT email me I'll have you know). So I realized I obviously liked him, which meant that even though I had no idea if Jess liked ME, that it was time to break up with the boyfriend. I had to do it while I had the courage, so I broke up with the poor guy in the middle of our vacation, with MY family. It sounds cruel, but I had to seize the moment. Plus I think he was just continuing our relationship out of habit too, so it's not like I broke his heart. A few weeks later Jess finally emailed me, and from then on we emailed and talked on the phone almost every day. We started visiting each other, mostly him visiting me because I was scared (and rightly so) that I would get lost trying to drive to him in Phoenix. After a month of that he got the courage to ask me out. I knew as soon as we got together that he was going to be my husband.
He was the best ever then, and he just gets better. I love you Jess.

Sorry Party Goers

I started throwing up early this morning. :( Paige is coughing and feels really warm. I think we have 2 separate diseases, so hopefully we didn't get any of you that came to the party sick. Jess came home early to take care of us thankfully. Also thankfully, the air has a nice autumn feel to it the past few days so I got to cuddle on the couch with a blanket and my sick girl all day long. Cason came to cuddle every once in a while too, but he's feeling fine and happy as a clam. So he never stayed long. Way too many new toys to play with.

I wish I looked this cute when I was sick today. She asked me "How long will I be sick?" So sad.
I think we're both feeling a little bit better right now. Maybe we'll be back to normal tomorrow.

Monkey Portrait

Tonight Paige got out the little windup monkey she gave Cason for his birthday. She set him up on the coffee table so she would have a good view of him, and started drawing.
She was so proud when she finished and brought it for me to see. So cute.

Caso Party

Today we had Cason's birthday party. We try to keep it small, close family and friends, but still our house is packed and people can barely find a place to sit. Our boy is loved.
He got some awesome stuff. One of the first things he opened was a Transformer, and he's really into action figures lately, so he wouldn't even open the rest of his gifts. Paige and I took care of it for him while he played in the corner.

He was in kind of a weird mood today, sort of sleepy and quiet, but I think he still liked his party. He screamed "nooooo" when we mentioned the cake, but once we brought it out he looked pleased, and seemed to know it was all for him. He listened to us sing and then blew out his candles happily.

He was pretty tired though, so soon after he had some cake he had a little meltdown. Jess held him and everyone said he fell asleep almost immediately. So he missed the last bit of his own party.
We totally forgot about our main gift for him though, a toolbench, so Jess spotted it hiding in the baby room when he went in there to lay Cason down on the bed. We brought it out and the girls made good use of it for a while.
We had fun, but I was pretty bad about remembering pictures. Jess got some video of the gift opening, but we forgot to get any pics or video of the blowing out candles. :(
When he finally woke up he was VERY pleased with his tool bench.
He discovered all kinds of awesome things people had given him while he played with the Transformer. Including this little windup monkey from Paige. He's had his eye on that monkey for months, every time we go to Hastings.
Now I'm blogging while they take a bath with their new bath paints. (Don't worry Jess is in there with them. Haha.) He also got some tablets to dye the water cool colors.
I'll leave you with these unrelated, but awesome pictures.

Cason being a rockstar the other day.
Cason attempting to wrestle Gia to the ground the other night.

Princess Ballet

Princess Ballet continues to be one of the cuter things around.

We got there early, and Cason was asleep, so Paige and I hung out in the car until it was time.
At first I took a couple pictures through the little window by the door.
But then the lady reminded me it was the last class of the month, so they let us come in to watch. It was even cuter watching from inside the room. I was also surprised to see Paige was the outgoing girl of the class. She was really attentive and counted out loudly and confidently, everything they did. "PLIE ONE! PLIE TWO!" It was quite cute and made me proud. She's much braver than I.

Here are a billion pictures:
At the end they did "freeze dance". They just dance freely around the room,
and once in a while the music stops and they freeze in whatever position they were in. Only Paige wanted to spice it up a little, so she'd totally change her position to a more interesting hands on the floor, foot in the air pose. EVERY time. Even though she was completely standing every time the music stopped. Haha.
They usually finish up with some kind of craft, and today it was this necklace she's sporting proudly:

Snail Captives

Today was so nice once the rain started. We were driving and they were both SO excited when we'd hit a puddle and splash through it. When we got home they decided to pretend it was much cooler than it really was, and changed clothes to play outside.
Then we picked Jess up from work, and they were SO excited to see a bunch of snails on the sidewalk when we got home. We let them collect snails for a good hour out there. They had them all in a pile, and were having the cutest conversations. Cason would bring one over and everytime he told her "Look Paige, anu-one (another one) snail". Or "I found it." Paige always said "I saw. I found one too."
Then they moved them to this rock, and every time one came near the edge Cason yelled "Snail trying SCAPE!"
Then he'd move them to the middle and tell Paige "I SAVE him!"

Paige gave them each a name. I heard "Olidia", "Maliala", "Malica", "Paulino" and MANY more.