House Pictures that are bigger than an inch.

So I must not be very good at posting pictures since I seemed to have posted them out of order and backwards. Sorry for the random placement of pictures, but after spending a half hour waiting for them to upload, they're staying this way! This picture is a view from our driveway. I like being in a small cul-de-sac where there are only three (4 after they build the final house) of us.
Here is a view from the furthest most corner of our fence. I can't wait til the grass turns green. Sadie loved running around in the yard. She didn't want to come back in the house. I told her "its okay, you're gonna live here and you can play outside all day!"

Here, Sadie is mimicking me as I go throughout the house explaining what everything is..."here we have the master bedroom, and over here is the closet, and a window with blinds...."
This is the master bath. I like that it has a window for natural light. I'd like to change out the mirror and put in two framed mirrors and upgraded water and light fixtures.
My assistant tour guide appreciating the pop-up ceiling.
This is a view of the yard from an upstairs window.
Sadie, laying claim to one of the bedrooms.
This is a view from the loft. The door leads to a bathroom. There are two bedrooms on the left and one on the right of the picture.
This is a picture of our neighbors. I like them. They seem nice and peaceful and green. And the good new is they are here to stay because they are a wildlife preservation. This is what really sold me on the house.
A view from the living room.
The kitchen. My stove/oven rocks and I can't wait to try out all of its features. the microwave seems complicated...I might have to read a book to figure it out.
A view from the living room into the breakfast nook and kitchen area. The door to the left is a half bath. The stairs are to the left of that. If you look inside the kitchen doorway you'll see another door and that is our laundry room.
This was supposed to be the first picture, but I apparently don't know what i'm doing.
I, of course, see this house as a huge canvas. There will be paint, decor, curtains, and fixtures put in over the next couple of months. Consider these the befores and the afters are soon to come. OR you know, you could always come out here and see for yourself. Now we have a place to put you up when you visit!

i'm gonna put a hexagon on you

I popped open a bag of multigrain chips on the way home from Costco. From the back seat, Sadie asked me for a "hexagon" chip.

At the risk of letting you see my stupid sign, i'm gonna go ahead and tell you that I didn't know what a hexagon is.

First I said:
"no...that's an octagon."
Then I thought:
It looks like a stop sign. wait. no. octagon is eight. stopsigns are octagons. (I drew a stopsign in my mind) this has six. Is it a hexagon? Is hexagon a real word? Sounds like some voodoo curse you put on someone. Maybe I shouldn't tell her one way or the other. I don't want to confuse her. Why don't I know this? And more importantly, why and how does she?

I thought quietly for the rest of the drive home from Costco. Sadie munched on hummus and "hexagon chips" in the back seat. "This is good hexagon chips, Mama." she chirped.

Later that day, I was walking with friends and I just had to ask.
"Emily? How many sides does a hexagon have?"
"Six."
"Wow. she (sadie) knows what a hexagon is and I don't."

I told Jared:
"Jared, Sadie called these 'hexagon' chips."
I held up the hectagonally shaped chip.
"Yep. That's my girl! I taught her that." He beamed.
I looked at him sheepishly. "I thought they were octagons at first."
He slapped his forehead with his hand and chuckled.
"Ohhh..." He smiled at me with teasing eyes "Sadie is smarter than Mama!"

I sure hope she's smarter than me.

I know its a small picture, but I didn't bring an actually camera, just the dinky one on my phone. More to come!

A corner to ourselves

I am marking it down in the history of us...

Today, we bought our first house. We finally (almost finally since we officially close on March 27th) have a little corner of the world to ourselves. Literally! The house is at the end of a cul-de-sac that backs to a wildlife preservation and neighbors a park so we don't have anyone behind us or next to us. We only have two other houses on our street. Its nice and tucked away and quiet.

We had to make some concessions, but who doesn't with the limited budget that accompanies a first home? Its a 2 story (wanted a single), has 1800sqft (we wanted 2000), and has 3 bedrooms (wanted 4). But its BRAND new. No one has lived in it and it has $16,000 worth of upgrades in it. Its totally energy efficient, has upgraded appliances, upgraded carpet, and the biggie...the lot. Its on a large lot that, like I said, backs up to a preservation that will never be developed. Its actually the only lot like it and the best one in the neighborhood! We're neighbors to the new TPC PGA golf course and the 5 diamond Marriott that will be opening soon, as well as million dollar homes; all of which will help keep our home value up. The schools are great and we're getting a brand new elementary school located inside the neighborhood slated to open in 2010. We also have a playground, basketball court, sand volleyball area, pavillion and walking trails. So those concessions we made were all for location, location, location (which is big for resale, resale, resale! (and with the deal we got on the house, we'll make money off of it.)!

I'm not going to sleep easy tonight. What, with my head swimming with decorating ideas, paint options, landscaping, and a refridgerator to pick out? I guess I should at least try. On that note, I'm off to dream of my future HGTV inspired realities.

My beautiful wife!

To date, I (Jared) haven't made a post to this blog since its inception, but this being Valentine's Day seems to be an appropriate occasion for my first time.

I wanted to leave a post for all to see, but not in an obnoxious "Tom Cruise on Oprah" type fashion or in a cheesy "blare your radio (or iPod with big speakers) outside her window" way either. Blog posting is subtle enough to where it get the point across to those who elect to be interested, and in a way that is not in your face. Most of you who follow this blog know how special Courtney is, but I just wanted to take a minute to express my appreciation and love for her too.

She is the type of person that just by knowing her makes life worth while. She has a contagious smile and laugh that can brighten your day. She notices the little things that make you feel special, which is a big thing in itself. I love her big heart and sense of compassion that she has for others. I love that she is proud of who she is and that she is not afraid to show that. Courtney is a wonderful mother and it makes me so happy to see in my kids eyes how much they love her. And as the title of this post has already stated, my wife is beautiful. I still marvel at how someone as goofy looking as me got so lucky! I also marvel at the times when she doesn't see that about herself and how she could miss something so obvious and apparent, but speaking for all males...we do that quite a bit. I could go on and on but in the interest of time and blog posting capacity which would be exhausted I'll end on this note. I've been very blessed to be married to her. I love her dearly.

Jack's 6 months!

Today is Jack's 6 month anniversary of life outside of my womb.
He seems to like it on the outside. He's a pretty happy little guy. We celebrated with smooshed carrots and his first go round in a big boy high chair.

He spent about 20 minutes in the chair long after the carrots were gone just banging away with his little hands and chewing on the spoon. Ahhh...what lessons we can learn from a babe enjoying the simple things in life.
I couldn't resist getting him with all his splendid glorious chunklets.
Okay, let me say that Sadie won't keep bows in her hair for ANYTHING. Except....
...for when I put them in Jack's hair. All of the sudden, bows were cool to her. And although, she only wore them for about 15 minutes, it made me feel like Holly's hard work making those darn cute bows didn't go to waste!
So that makes it okay, right? I mean, we wouldn't want beautiful bows to go unused?!
Happy 6 month mark baby boy! I love you sooooo much!

Not that I don't love you if you live in San Antonio but...

I really miss you if you live in Baton Rouge. Or Florida. Or California. Or any other place that doesn't allow me to see you on a regular basis. I think about you all the time and wish more than ever that teleportation were possible.

The Lifetime Movie Network is my friend.

"Homeless to Harvard"
"Half a Dozen Babies"
"Why I Wore Lipstick to my Mastectomy"
"Family Sins"
"No Brother of Mine"
"Try to Remember"

I can't help it. Their gooey cheesiness sucks me in and...and... I find myself riveted; GLUED to the screen; slack-jawed as a homeless girl gives an impassioned speech to get herself in to Harvard or, as Tori Spelling attempts to play a sweet girl haunted by a robbery or, as young woman gives birth to what she thought would be 5 babies, but turns out to be 6 because the 6th is hiding and no one noticed till the moment of birth or...or...a female detective trying to trust her instincts in the face of her grandmother's killer.

Yes. I am admitting it here. I love the sticky, sappy, feta- cheese- stinkiness, of the Life Time Movie Channel. Part of of me likes to revel in how corny the movies are. But, there is a big part of me that likes to see LMN rise to the challenge of fulfilling the stereotype that they have succumb to: that they are a channel that appeals to the emotions of women.

Don't you just picture a woman going through a bad break up or menopause or a rough day at work watching Lifetime movies from her bed while clutching a pint of Ben and Jerry's and crying?
What is the appeal? Its all in the relationship baby. Women like watching relationships, yes, this is true but, more importantly for the LMN, its the relationship women form while watching another woman struggle through her journey. This 2 hour relationship we share with this character and her problems allow us to either examine our own struggles and celebrate the fact that we aren't being stalked by our best friend's dad, or to forget them for a while as we laugh at 'C list' actors attempt to act through convoluted plots and emotional torment.

Duped by Clorox

The commercials show a health conscious mother spraying her kids toys and lunch trays with the kids inches away, eating off of freshly sprayed surfaces, to prove there is "no harmful residue." Little hands are shown touching the once disease-ridden garbage can that is now safe for the tender embrace of a toddler. The bottle promotes: "Gentle enough to use around kids, pets, and food. No harsh fumes. Leaves no harmful residue. No rinsing necessary. Color safe. Use on counters, highchairs, lunchboxes, toys, pet bowls, telephones, doorknobs...etc."

As a health conscious mother myself, I picked up a bottle of this and diligently paid the $3.00 for it. While cleaning Sadie's highchair today, I noticed the spray looked a lot like water and bleach so I looked at the ingredients. Guess what they are?!
Am I the only one who had to pay the price equivalent to 2 gallons of bleach for a "sanitizing spray" that is comprised of 0.0095% BLEACH and 99.9905% WATER?
Hmmm...how many bottles of this stuff could I have made at HOME with 2 gallons of clorox?

Lesson learned. Just because its a name brand sold in a store, doesn't mean it is something you can't make at home. Read ingredients and save three bucks.