The Jolliff Family

This blog post will find many asleep by the end of it, but I am super excited about it:) My dad is off on Monday's and volunteered to come over today and install a microwave in our kitchen since our other one bit the dust a week or so ago. We decided we wanted an over the stove one and it looks great, and works great too. I never realized how much I used a microwave until ours broke. He also installed a ceiling fan in Sam's room. It is great to have the extra light in there and I'm sure he takes after his mom by liking the feel of the fan:) In fact, he's sleeping like a charm as I type!!

Speaking of friends, we had a couple and their three kiddos over this evening for a fun time of slip and slide in our back yard. The kids and the two grown men enjoyed playing on the slip and slide. Unfortunately, slip and slide is not recommended for pregnant woman or I would have enjoyed myself as well I'm sure:) We can't wait to have some more people over to use the slip and slide!!

Yesterday, Amanda and Susan hosted a wonderful sprinkle for Baby J2. Complete with cute decorations, wonderful food and some fun games. I even was given some unique ideas for baby names! I was gifted with lots of essentials for this little one to come! I am reminded this week just how special all my friends are. From the friends who I have known for a long time, to the friends that I have made in the last few years living in Indiana, I am so blessed. Having these ladies (not all pictured, sorry!) to celebrate the joys of life together is so wonderful. Someone at church says "Friends are family you pick" and so many people at church and work have become our family away from family, and we are blessed because of them! Thanks for a fun day ladies, can't wait for you (and me) to meet #2!

Earlier this week, Sam and I headed back to Illinois to visit my good friend Becky and her three week old, Ethan. Sara met us at Becky's house and we spent a wonderful two days together. Sam loved baby Ethan and the dog Max too!! It was so fun to visit with Becky and Sara. We had lots of laughs and good food and gave Sara an initiation by fire with the two kiddos:) Ethan is a great baby and it was fun to see Becky be a mommy. I am fortunate to have "way back when" friends like these two (we missed you Jennifer) and hopefully we can all get together again sooner than later.

Our Thursday started off very stormy, so we ran to the grocery store and stayed in the rest of the morning. What do we do on a rainy day you ask? Well, build with the blocks was a big activity today. He is really into "hiding the tiger" where I build a little fort around a plastic tiger (thank you Beau) and he acts like he doesn't know where the tiger is. It's pretty funny and provides good entertainment for sometime. Then after block time, it is time to rearrange the pots and pans under our stove. Who needs toys anyway really?! Gotta neatly organize them on one side of the kitchen, then he nicely moved them to the other side:) Then Grandpa Purcell came over for a few hours with my mom for a knee follow-up. While he was here, he put up a ceiling fan. Sam of course helped big time and especially loved the ladder and hammer. Again, who really needs toys?! Hap came home for some last minute supervision for my dad. Thankfully he came home because I would have b...

Our neighborhood association had a get together at a local indoor "theme park". It is sorta like a big Chuck E Cheese, with games for adults and go carts and such. We got in free and enjoyed 90 minutes of playing on the games and a free meal. Sam especially enjoyed test driving all three cars they had and riding the ponies over and over. Hap and I enjoyed some intense competition in the race car department (we won't mention who won the race), with a little 'whac a mole' in between. We had a fun time, especially on this rainy rainy evening! We then went and picked out a ceiling fan for our bedroom, pictures to come later on in the week. Good night:)

Today was such a fun day spent with some girlfriends. Emily, who moved to DC last January was in town and a couple of us got together and enjoyed some time together. We ate a wonderful brunch at LePeeps and spent a long time just catching up with life. We then headed to an "upscale nail salon" and had a pedicure. It felt wonderful and each of our feet are now sporting some wild cajun shrimp nail polish. We wondered why we didn't do this when she lived in town!! I sure do miss Emily, as I know the other gals do too and can't wait to do this again!!

Nathan came to in town for his bachelor weekend and was able to spend Thursday with us. Sam loved having Uncle Nathan around. They played together outside, took a nap together and read some books. He was sad to see "Nahsah" (or something like that) leave!

Sam and I went to Illinois for a few days over the weekend for a bridal shower and I'm just now getting some pictures posted! Sam enjoyed playing outside, going to the circus and playing with his cousins. We had a great weekend. Does this lion tamer remind you of a certain someone from the movie "Dumb and Dumber"? Sam enjoyed the circus when the animals were out performing but when the people did freaky body bending things, he wasn't much into that!! His favorites were the lions and the four elephants! I remember going to the Shriner's Circus as a kid at the fair grounds and seeing the elephants put up the circus tent. I have a feeling we'll be attending many more times! The handsome cousins enjoyed playing together for the morning. They are so good with Sam. I am always amazed at how big they are getting too! We then joined Grandma Jolliff, Great Grandma Jolliff and Aunt Mindy for a lunch at Joyce's cafe. Sorry no pictures of the cafe, but the ...

Who is this big boy? When he is sleeping at night, I go look at him and can see that little baby we brought home with us just about two years ago but when I look at these pictures from today, I see a big boy, no longer a baby. Everyday is even better than the day before. "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" 1 Corinthians 9:15

Let me first start this blog posting by saying that I'm not in a bad mood. In fact, I'm in a pretty good mood. However, there are a few things I must get off my chest. These things have been bothering me for sometime, but tonight was the tipping point for me. Typically, going to the grocery store is an ok experience but a few things erk me so badly. Starting before I even get inside the store... 1. Slanted parking spaces- It is obvious which direction the parking spaces are facing and people continually go down the wrong direction and either get mad at you for going the right direction OR try and maneuver their car to get into the parking spot the "right" way. If you don't see tail lights, you are going the wrong way. Not that difficult. These people are usually about 97 years old or talking on their cell phone, which brings me to point 2. Blue tooth devices- You know that I'm talking about, the device that you can barely see that goes in the ear ...