Day 151: Happy 30th!!

Today is my beautiful sister's 30th Birthday!

I think my sister is one of the most amazing people in my life. As a baby I would sleep on her stomach. When I was little she'd stay home from school to take care of me when I was sick. In middle school she would drive me to school and pick me up after she got off work so that I didn't have to ride the bus. In high school she came down for my proms to do my hair and help me get ready. In college she let me wash my clothes at her house and live there during the summers. Most importantly, she is a great example of a Christian woman. She has always encouraged me and given me advice when I need it. She has always been there when I've needed her and even though she sometimes treats me a little more like her child than her sister, I'm grateful for that. I'd do anything for her...including changing Blake's stinky diapers... and now at age 30 my dear sister is going on a mission trip to Costa Rica, has 2 gorgeous daughters, a wonderful husband, a job that she loves, and she is training for the Chicago Marathon... I am so happy for her and proud of her for everything that she's accomplished.

Happy Birthday Ren! I love you!!

Quote of the Day:

"So, I've been to a crack house" ~Tara

Day 150: Thunderstorms

I don't know about you, but when I was little we spent just about every waking minute outside. We climbed trees, made bombs, build forts, dug tunnels in the garden, played in the junk yard, and well just about anything else that we weren't really supposed to do...even the rain didn't stop us from playing outside, we'd just get on the trampoline or play in the mud. About the only time that we would stay inside was when there was a thunderstorm. On those days we built forts out of blankets, played lava monster, made houses out of playing cards, played board games or card games...there was never a dull moment in our house, but with 5 kids running around I'm sure my mom was happy that we usually got along well enough to keep each other busy.

There was a thunderstorm today and it wasn't that bad but sitting with the girls made me think about all the things we did as kids. We'd find the most random things to keep ourselves busy and today my nieces did too....with a house full of toys they sat down and played with some paper cups

Blake even sat and watched the rain for about 10 minutes...that's the longest that she has ever sat still and not been asleep

Day 149: Bop it

I was babysitting tonight and we had a bop it competition. I haven't played bob it in years, but I must say that I'm still pretty good at it. I won with a high score of 70!

We also watched The Sandlot, which was one of my favorite movies as a child, but I didn't remember all the cussing that is in that movie...I don't know what its rated but I totally remember watching that movie when I was like 6 years old. It's strange that you don't even notice things like that until you're sitting there with a bunch of young kids wondering if you are corrupting their young minds.

Quote of the Day:

"I'm not crying! I'm just sweating through my eyes!"

Day 148: Going home...blah

We drove all over south west Georgia and in one of the small towns we passed through we saw this hospital

which reminds me more of the hospital in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

When we finally got home we had to clean up. Blake wanted to help so I told her to throw some stuff in the trash. She walked off and came back a while later clapping her hands and saying "Yay!" but the trash wasn't in the trashcan in the kitchen...so I went to look for it and this is what I found....

we were in the kitchen and Blake walked all the way through the house to put the trash in the trashcan in my room...

The girls were so tired. Blake fell asleep during dinner.

Day 147: Crab Killer

Taylor found a dead crab on the beach and put it in my chair. So I threw it....which was apparently the wrong action to take....

Quote of the Day:

"Jessica! You broke it!" ~Taylor as she then ran to her mother to tell on me. Then looking back over her shoulder, glaring at me with a very serious face, she whispered "you're a crab killer!"

Day 146: More Sand Castles

Ren and Jers decided to help build the sand castle today. I opted out because my upper back is just a few minutes in the sun away from blistering. But Jeremy did pretty good...until he got tired.

I personally like the ramp put in for the handicap...that end with stairs....

Overall Jeremy did pretty good. It was it was bigger than Chichen Itza. But the people down the beach made an even bigger one

Quote of the Day:

"It's daytime! It's time to go to the beach!" ~Taylor at 3:15 am

"No it's not, that's just a light on outside your window, go back to bed" ~Me

"There's no beach for little girls today?" ~Taylor with huge tears in her eyes

"there is still a beach, but it's WAY to early to go outside. you'll have to wait. go back to bed" ~Me

"you don't want me to go to the beach?" ~Taylor...crying

"....just go ask mommy if you can go to the beach" ~Me

As Jers is building a sand castle "are you gonna build a church daddy?" ~Taylor

Day 145: Spread the Love, Share your Crabs

Taylor and I started working on yet another sand castle when I happened to look down the beach and saw this woman building Chichen Itza, like she had a squirt bottle and a chisel...not wanting to have to compete with that Taylor and I made a volcano

which we later turned into a castle...and by we I mean me, because Taylor didn't want to sit in the sand and she ran for cover when it started to rain...

we would've kept working on it but the rain was messing it up : (

We ate at Joe's Crab Shack tonight!

Me and Tay were pretty excited about some crab legs! It was so tasty!

(I am also well aware of the fact that I look like I'm naked under the bib, but I promise that I had clothes on)

Day 144: Landshark

I decided to become a walking advertisement for Landshark Lager.

....ok so really I just got sunburnt when I was playing in the sand with Taylor yesterday. I swear I put on sunscreen! The sun just hates me! Surprisingly this is the ONLY spot I got burnt....it makes no sense. I should send a picture of this to Jimmy Buffett.

Day 143: Stingrays

So Blake woke up at 6:00 am and came and woke up Jeh-gee (aka me)... so we had breakfast on the balcony. Blake was asleep when we got to Destin (and just a baby last year) so this was really her first time enjoying the view. She absolutely loved it!

We also saw a ton of stingrays today! They would swim right up to you...which kinda creeped me out, so I got out of the water but it was still really cool!

(I don't know if you can see them that well....they are the dark spots)

T-bug with one of the sand castles made today

(the others were destroyed)

Day 142: DESTIN!

Today I discovered that there are places in Georgia that are less civilized than Effingham. I am now quite grateful that I grew up in Effingham instead of one of those places...at least I can find an area with good cell service in Effingham, we spent about 2 hours driving like 65 mph with no bars...nothing. just empty roads...some towns didn't even look like people lived there. It was a little spooky, but it made the drive a little more interesting. When we finally got to Destin me and Taylor went for a walk on the beach because she was so excited about seeing the ocean...

...here's the view of the place where we are staying

(we were standing in the ocean)

Oh! and today was my brothers' 25th birthday! Happy Quarter of a Century Daniel and Timothy! (...in case you don't know, they are twins)

Quote of the Day:

"Citytrends! It's like the Dairy Queen of clothes" ~Jeremy

Day 141: just 1 more day

I had the girls all day today...I'm exhausted...

Taylor drew a picture of her and all of her friends at the beach

Beach TOMORROW! I can't wait!

Day 140: Aunt Mommy

I've kinda been playing the "mommy" role so that Ren and Jeremy can get stuff done before we leave for vacation, and I just have to say that this is really good birth control (not that I'm planning on trying to have any kids right now, just for future reference). Now I absolutely LOVE my nieces, but they wear me out. I honestly do not know how Ren has the energy to go to work, train for a marathon, come home, cook dinner, play with the girls, clean the house, and answer the billions of questions that Taylor asks while trying to keep Blake from completely demolishing everything or eating something (I swear she's like a goat, she had grass in her mouth the other day...I don't even know where she got it, we were inside all day). But it's not all bad...they make me laugh and there are definitely more good moments than bad. But I know that I am not ready for that stage of life. I realize that Ren has Jeremy and he does a lot too, and maybe I'll feel different if I get married one day, but for the foreseeable future, I don't want kids. I am perfectly happy to just be an aunt...even though Blake forgets my name and calls me "maa" and tries to put her dirty diapers in my room and punched me in the face (she somehow poked me in the eye and busted my lip at the same time) and Taylor tries to boss me around, I love those 2 little girls! I mean, seriously, how could you not love this face:

(I also doubt that my kids would be as pretty as Taylor and Blake or as cute as Brett and Jake...I wouldn't want to give them a complex about being the "homely" kids of the family)

Day 139: Smile so I can see you

I had a pretty eventful day! Last night I got called to go fill out a paper application at a hospital in town. I got there, filled out the application, took an assessment test, had an interview, and was then asked if I wanted days or nights....how crazy is that?! I am so relieved, I didn't even realize how worried I was about getting a job.

Ren and Jeremy went to a Braves game tonight so I got to watch the girls and Andrew came over to hang out with us!!

Shortly after we put the girls to bed, Andrew's car alarm went off. Neither one of us wanted to go outside, but luckily our neighbor came over to check out the situation. We called the cops and Andrew decided that we needed a weapon...so I got what Andrew called "the punisher" out of the attic....aka my old tee ball bat.

I really don't know what Andrew expected to do with the bat...it's like Taylor's size...but it made him feel better. The cops came by and told us that some other people in the neighborhood had seen the guy that was causing all the commotion and they were patrolling the area. And the neighborhood watch people were out patrolling too (they have spotlights and stuff...it's pretty hardcore). Naturally I was a little worried about being home alone with the girls, so Andrew volunteered to stay till Ren and Jeremy got home. He and I sat and watched all the patrol cars drive by and I listened to Andrew talk about what he'd say if he saw the guy....it was pretty much hilarious.

Ren and Jeremy got home after midnight and told me where the gun is...that's nice to know now...

Quote of the Day:

"talk to the hand" ~Andrew (holding up his hand)

taylor looking at his hand~ "hey!"

"it's only ok to be raceist when they're trying to steal your stuff"

Day 138: Cricket

Everyone knows that I hate bugs. Well the other night my sister put a fake cricket in my bed and I didn't freak out when I found it, I actually kinda laughed.

(I took this picture with my phone...so its not so great)

But now Taylor has discovered that you can play a trick by putting that little cricket in people's beds and she has decided to run around the house putting it in someone's bed and then telling them to go look. Once we finally convinced her that was not the way to do it she put the cricket down in the kitchen and I have since then come across that thing 3 times and did a double take each time because it looks more real when you just glance at it. I'm about ready to throw that darn cricket in the trash...but when I told Taylor that she said "it's ok Jessica, it's just pretend"...

And apparently my bed is the cool place to be, because every time I come in my room the girls are in it giggling like crazy.

....come to find out they were putting the cricket in my bed...again

Day 137: Errands

I had to run all over town today. I went to my storage unit twice, once to put stuff in and once to get stuff out (and of course what I had to get out was at the very back of the unit). After all my errands and cleaning up my room some, I picked up the girls from school. Blake was hungry so I fed her some spaghetti o's ....she insisted on feeding herself....

later we went to the store and I had to keep Blake busy in the car...she thought it was hilarious to wear Ren's sunglasses

Day 136: Farkle

Whenever I'm at my parent's house, my mother and I have a tradition of playing boggle on Sunday mornings before church starts (my dad has to get there early to pray with the preacher and all that jazz), but the boggle game is MIA so I decided that we would play farkle!

And we discovered that I'm like an expert Farkle player! ...ok so maybe I'm not an expert, but I did win!

Day 135: Grad Party

My parents threw me a graduation party in Pooler, and my mom made the traditional chocolate cake with cream cheese icing (it's pretty much the only cake my brothers will eat)

(although, I'm technically not an RN yet...)

Brett was really the star of the party. I bribed him with food so that he will like me and I think he ate a little too much cake cause he was pretty wound up...I'm such a good aunt!

Quote of the Day:

"there's all kinds of dumb in that classroom" ~Timothy

Day 134: a black hole

I drove to Effingham today. Which is always kinda boring because 16 is so uninteresting (except my car did decide to not work for about 30 minutes after I stopped for gas...that was fun...). I had to stay at my brother Michael's house this time because of my bad back (I'm too young to be saying that) and the shortest route to his house is to take this dirt road.

It's kinda like a black hole...no cell phone service. no real signs of civilization. just trees...

but I got to see Jake! He reminds me of Daniel.

well except for the dimples

Quote of the Day:

"I wonder what Jake will sound like when he starts talking" ~me

"Like a man" ~Courtney

"awww, he's so talented" ~me

"yeah, he's more talented than most adults" ~Courtney

"Did you leave Jake here with mom?" ~Daniel

"No, Courtney said she's kinda attached to him"

"...I'm kinda attached to him too" ~Daniel

Day 133: the ipad

Jeremy got an ipad. and I got to read winnie the pooh on the ipad.

My new $11 power cord for my computer came in today! And it works!!! YAY!!

Oh and here is the final product of that painting I did for Lorin's office

(she's the new associate children's minister at our church, and her office is kinda scaringly depressing)

Day 132: When do you not need a scalpel?

Happy Graduation Amy!!! ...and all the other GCSU grads that came to celebrate!

You can totally tell that a nurse made Amy's cookie cake!

Day 131: Doctor's Appointment

I spent the morning painting the girls' new bunk beds.

But I had a doctor's appointment so Jeremy had to take over

Note to self: When they say that the oil based paint you are using only comes off with paint thinner...they mean it

So I'm pretty sure that this was my 1st Dr. Appointment in like 10 years...and it's weird being on the patient side of things. I had to sit in the little exam room for a while, so I got pretty familiar with the posters on the walls. One was about allergens and it had pictures of dogs, cats, dust, dust mites, and cockroaches....except the cockroach's picture didn't really look like a cockroach...

Oh and turns out I have a pinched nerve in my back from sleeping in my parent's guest bedroom....yay...so I started taking a little cocktail of prescriptions...If you talk to me and I get overly dramatic or moodier than usual then I'm sorry...it might just be all the medication/pain that I am currently dealing with...

...and I'm not really supposed to walk if it hurts...and we went shopping...hello motorized cart...

but I had to get a body pillow to sleep with to help with body alignment and all that jazz and it looks like a giraffe!

Quote of the Day:

"I wish I were a giraffe" ~Sarah

Day 130: Something Beautiful

I had a busy busy day:

• woke up early
• took ren to work
• helped get the girls ready for school
• made a doctor's appointment (which was quite a long process cause I had to find a doctor in Macon that would accept my insurance and would accept a new patient...tomorrow)
• took the girls to school
• got a storage unit
• unloaded all my stuff into the storage unit (thanks JW)
• hung out at the church for a little while (no kelly, I do NOT have a boyfriend)
• ordered a new power cord for my computer (found one for $11! Hopefully that's a good thing)
• unloaded some stuff at the house
• ate lunch (that's right I did all of that before lunch)
• got ready for my job interview (exciting!)
• went to my job interview (did the whole drug test/background check thing)
• picked the girls up from school
• picked ren up from work
• watched the girls
• ate dinner
• watched Big Bang Theory (so funny!)
• set up my room some
• wrote my blog
• went to bed...or at least I will be going to bed soon

My new room! ...and I guess sam's new room too...

this room is way bigger than my room at my apartment...but it's full of boxes and junk right now...I need to clean it up...

Quote of the Day: This requires a little background info: Taylor's favorite song right now is Something Beautiful by Needtobreathe, she was in the middle of singing twinkle twinkle when jeremy started playing Something Beautiful so then taylor was singing "up above the world so high like a something beautiful"

I tried to get a picture of her singing...but she just had to pose...she's so much like her mama

Day 129: Happy Mother's Day!

another busy day. After church and lunch and presents for Ren, Jeremy and I went back to Milledgeville to finish cleaning out my apartment...

My poor little room looks so empty...and small

OH and I got a new bag as a graduation present from the Carter's

LOVE it!!!!

Day 128: BSN Baby!

GRADUATION!

I don't know if you can see me, but that's my hand in the air...

during the ceremony I got hungry and Mikella offered me this...

...it looked horrible but and tasted slightly better than it looked (the clif bar. not the booklet thing)

I is graduated!

My most favorite sister ever!!

PINNING!

I these girls!!

me and my little Macon family...I don't know where the pictures of me with my whole family are...I know someone took them...(we kinda look like an at&t commercial)

...and for the record, I might have teared up a little on the walk back to my apartment, but I did not "breakdown and cry"