rainy days

our fence fell down during all the rain we've been getting... so now we have an AMAZING view of our neighbor's yard. and consequently, since we have no curtains... well, you know. so... we decided to build a new fence! scoob is channeling his inner carpenter (from the beckman side of the family) and is feeling confident that we can get this done quickly. we went to home depot with joel, maria, papa, gramma, grampa, and our neighbor with her 4 kids (wow...) and i think we got everything. here goes nothing!

thankfulness

i am thankful for...

god. actually, sorry... God. he has blessed my little family so much over the past year and i really couldn't be thankful for the rest of this list without him. sorry. Him.

my boys. all of them. matt, jack, pepe, and greco. mostly the first two though. these guys make everything worth it. they brighten every one of my days. then maybe they destroy everything in the garage or play in the toilet water - but then they look at me with a sweet sweet face and everything is okay again.

my beautiful house! it is always a work in progress (especially the yard right now) but i love it. being able to turn off all the lights and lock the doors at night in my house is wonderful. and then to walk down the hall and check on my sleeping scoob is even better. but then squishing under the covers with my hubby and my little dog and knowing that the house is OURS (not the landlord's) is the best part of all.

our families. free babysitting 20 minutes in either direction is priceless. lemme tell you. it was ROUGH going back to work last year when the boy was only 4 weeks old. but knowing he was going up to papa and kimma's house made it so much easier. we are so blessed to have family close by to help us with jack and the house.

a job. as hard as it is to say it... "i am thankful for a job". this is definitely not the best year so far... i would even say that this could be in the running for "hardest year yet". but with the economy the way it is and the profession the way it is in the district that we work in.... "i am thankful for a job".

our friends. most of them. =) man, when i'm having a rough day, i can always count on someone to call me up for poor man's noodles, or someone to come over and coax me into watching three hours of baltimore's best, or my favorite elf to come over and get crafty with me. or even, just when i'm about to murderize someone, one of our friend's will call up with an invitation for my hubby to go to vegas. our friends really lift me up and keep me on my toes.

now. i would be remiss not to include a pic or two of jack so for anyone who made it through to the end of this post... enjoy.

the hair and the turtle

went down to the salon and got our hairs did the other night. cousin alisa mia gave jack his first haircut and he looked soooo handsome!

we also set up the mr. turtle pool that we finally found on craigslist (thanks klimas' for picking it up!) and let jack go wild. it's been so hot that he was totally stoked to splash around for a bit. here's some pics of our goings ons...

news

after a few awful job offers (mostly middle school) i was offered a long term sub position (second grade) at reidy creek today. this means i take over this classroom until one of two things happens:

1. the teacher comes back from whatever she's doing or

2. a permanent position opens up somewhere for me

hopefully #2 happens sooner rather than later since long term subs don't get benefits.

also. kind of bummer news that we need some prayers for. our good dog, greco, has something wrong. basically his stomach has swelled up with "fluid" (we don't know what it is) and we don't know why. so we had bloodwork done yesterday and tomorrow we are getting an ultrasound to see if he has a heart condition (not uncommon for boxers, apparently). it also could be a liver problem which is just s bad if not worse than a heart condition. so, we would appreciate prayers for greco's health. =)

more updates as news develops.

jack's first birthday!

so in true simmons fashion we celebrated jack's birthday with not one but two parties, a trip to disneyland, and a dinner out with mommy and daddy. weeklong? just about. so here are links to pics of the parties (if they work):

Family Dinner

Birthday Beach Bash

both parties were super fun and there was only one incident involving a party hat...

i'm working on pics of disneyland too. although if you can - imagine an adorable cherub straight from heaven. in a boat. surrounded by small animatronic children singing in harmony.

that's what it was like. for reals.

first steps?

i think so. last night while at the klimas' house (holla!), jack spent a good amount of time practicing his walking. no he's no expert... yet. but! he did take several steps from kim to me or from me to her SOLO! and then he would lunge at whoever was closest - but he's really trying. these steps were preceded by other first tries at our house - most notably with plus (holla squared!) that ended with him lunging into the bottom of the couch. awesome baby only gets awesomer with age.

a little less greco

poor guy got the big snip today. he was wandering around the house like a sailor just off the boat. and he has a "party hat" that he has to wear for TWO WEEKS! poor babe. i'll get a picture to post later.