Back in Charleston

As I mentioned in the last post, we have been really busy getting the house ready for the baby to arrive in five weeks...or less...YIKES! Here are a few pictures from the non-painting moments.

Emma with braids. She looked so old and was so proud of them!

Jonah tried sitting in Emma's booster chair at the table. He loved it, but he was able to move the table, so he went back to the highchair. Since this picture we have purchased a table and chairs for the kitchen and will be moving him to a booster soon...once he gets adjusted to his new room.

We took some time off of projects to watch the Steeler's playoff game together. We had a picnic dinner in front of the TV, which the kids thought was the coolest thing in the world.

Last Saturday I opened the garage door and found a flood. The water heater - which is OLD and past its life expectancy - began spewing water everywhere. Thankfully it is covered by the home warranty and after two plumber visits that day, we got the leak contained and an order for a new water heater on Monday. A weekend of no hot water gave us some perspective but we were SO thankful that the water heater went out while it was still covered. When the plumber opened the control panel he and Mike found that the unit had actually been on fire. You can see the scorch marks on the unit. Praise the Lord for his protection and provision. The water heater is directly below Emma's bed and the reality of what could have happened if the unit had actually ignited is horrifying. So, now we have a new water heater and HOT SHOWERS!

Oh, my little boy! He is obsessed with painting and Mike gave him a paintbrush. While I was taking out the garbage yesterday he opened the fireplace and started "painting" with the ashes. When I walked in he had the most proud grin on his face. He is so darn cute...that is for a reason. He might not be around if he wasn't so sweet and cute! He is all boy and into everything and has been taking things apart and trying to see how they work and learning how to use tools like daddy. I am sure we have many, many more fun surprises with this one!

Today I took the kids to the aquarium and had so much fun. Jonah was old enough to be completely in amazement of the animals and Emma was a sponge wanting to know all about each exhibit and what the animals ate and where they live. The highlight of the aquarium for Emma is the loggerhead sea turtle which we could not find in the tank today. She was just devastated by that but handled her disappointment so well. She did not have one of her emotional outbursts over it but quietly cried and asked if we could come and look for her again. Bless her heart! So we came home and had a "special lunch" of macaroni and cheese and flower shaped sandwiches.

Another side note is that Jonah has tried and absolutely LOVES sunflower seed butter. Since he cannot have peanut he is always upset to not be able to have what Emma is having. He has eaten so much of it since Friday when we got it. We had to get it at Trader Joes and during that trip the van died, I had to call AAA, and spent Saturday dealing with the car at the Honda Dealership - FUN! So thankful for AAA. Jonah has his 18 month checkup on Tuesday so I will do a post with an update on him then. He has changed so much and it is so fun to see his personality growing and developing with his interests and temper tantrums!