Noelle's "swearing"

Since Brad and I use very little slang (maybe an occasional "Oh my word" or "holy moley") it's fascinating to hear Noelle 'swear'. She seems to have a good grasp on when to swear - when she drops something or when something has caught her by surprise. What she hasn't quite grasped is the words. Right now her swear words consist of "Tornadoes!" and "Lobster!"
I'm certainly not complaining, just pondering.

Spence Family in the Spring

Here's a quick family picture at a park in Cincinnati. Sadie is getting new teeth all the time and she loves to run her tongue over them... therefore her tongue is out in this picture and most of the ones we take of her right now.

Weekend with My Brother and Sister-In-Law

My brother, Rodney, and his wife, Molly, drove from PA to visit for the weekend. We had a great time hanging out and catching up. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Rodney and Brad jamming in Brad's 'studio'

Noelle, snuggling with her beloved uncle

Swinging at a new-found park in Sawyer Point (I think)
After you walk over the Purple People Bridge, it's on the right. It's GREAT.

Rodney and Molly cuddling on our deck - ewww

I had to fire "my nanny"

For any of you who were jealous of my easy life because I had a "cleaning lady" and a "nanny" (see previous posts: cleaning lady (April 15) and nanny (April 5)), I'll have you know I had to fire my nanny.
I sat Sadie in her booster seat as I prepared our lunch. After a few moments I turned around to see Noelle, my nanny, tying up Sadie - feet and torso. I decided this was inappropriate behavior for a nanny and fired her on the spot. Now I have to do all the work again!

Tremors in KY?!

It's an odd sensation to be awaken because your bed is vibrating and the handles on your dresser are chattering against the wood. That's what happened around 5:30 this morning when we had a slight tremor, later discovered to be a result of an earthquake in Illinois. Brad looked at me and said, "Is our bed shaking?" I replied in the affirmative and in less then 10 seconds the whole thing was over.
I didn't think I'd experience such a thing in KY, but it's a good reminder of how powerful God is and how small I am. Nahum 1:5 "The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it."

My cleaning lady with a "holy big mess"

After we returned to our newly tiled house, I told Noelle that we would need to spend the day cleaning. She apparently took my comment very seriously because she turned into an official cleaning lady, along with a cart of supplies.

At one point Noelle asked if the high chair needed to be cleaned to which I replied, “Oh yes, the highchair always needs to be cleaned.” My cleaning lady’s sympathetic reply was “I understand, when my kids were babies they made a ‘holy big mess’."

I’m not sure if my mess is holy, but it’s certainly big!

Our new kitchen/dining room flooring

Here is a before and after picture of our kitchen and dining room floor. Brad did an awesome job and he had everything looking so good when the girls and I returned from VA.

We were advised to get dark grout so it won't stain. We plan on replacing the cabinet knobs and getting something darker to tie in all the colors.

Home Improvements

I was very excited to vacuum my dining room floor one final time on Monday...starting tomorrow the carpet in the dining room will no longer exist (carpet in casual dining areas should never exist to begin with, if you ask me).

This week has been a rather spontaneous week of home improvements. 2 weekends ago Brad and I decided it was time to move forward with reflooring our house - something we've been planning for about 2 years now. To complicate things we've been wanting to paint our basement and it only makes sense to paint before getting new carpet.
My mom was extremely gracious to fly from VA to help me paint. I should rephrase that, she was extremely gracious to fly from VA to do all the painting. It looks awesome.

Now we're ready for the next phase: laying tile in the kitchen and dining room. Since my talented and ambitions husband wants to do this himself (with a lot of experienced help), laying tile will be a 3 day project. I'm thinking it might be hard to have 2 preschool children in a house while the refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and dining room table are in the living room and we can't go near the kitchen and dining room so.... we're flying to VA with my mom tomorrow. It should all be a lot of fun until I have to fly back with the 2 of them by myself! What could go wrong? (please don't answer that).

I'll post picture once I return to my lovely palace.

My Nanny

I told the girls it was time to brush their teeth before bedtime. A few moments later I walked by the bathroom to see this sight. Noelle is taking care of the job herself. (for those of you not familiar with the little "finger toothbrush", it's a little rubber tip with soft bristles that goes on your finger to brush toddler's teeth... and protect mom from bites!) My 'nanny' is a good thing until she takes it upon herself to cut Sadie's hair or change a dirty diaper.

The Little Engine that Could

Now here's one way to get around.... Just sit back and relax and let your little sister do all the work.

What Sadie lacks in speed, she makes up for in cuteness :)