If you give a _____ a _____

Most people go through distinct phases in their lives. When you are young, sometimes you have friends and associate with people whose company you enjoy because they are funny and entertaining, in a Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O kind of way. They make you laugh, and hanging out with them gives you something to do. But as you grow older and hopefully mature, you realize that while those relationships may have been fulfilling once, and even though they may still be somewhat functional now, they are starting to be a little beneath you, and you should probably try to kick it up a notch. This is what has happened to Jarom and Alixa’s wire rack shelves. It was purchased a few years ago and has been a great thing for them to have in their past few kitchens, but Lix thought it was a little cheap and trashy and wanted to upgrade. So for her birthday Jarom told her that they could get some cabinets to install in its place. Unfortunately, after some research it was determined that cabinets would be a little too expensive and more of an installational challenge than Jarom wanted to take on. So he moved to plan b, which consisted of installing some shelves in the pantry so that the space in there could be maximized, and purchasing a buffet table to replace the metal shelves. Thanks to some kindly birthday donations from loving parents and some fortunate timing on a recent Walmart sale, both things were taken care of this week without destroying the budget.

One is before, one is after. You figure out which.

First up were the shelves in the pantry. Jarom enjoyed looking at all of the components and figuring out which ones they should get to be able to take greatest advantage of the irregular space of the pantry, while Alixa mostly just scared herself to death by playing with the pneumatic cutting tools that are used for customizing the length of the shelves (who would have guessed that it was on?!) After getting them on the walls and level, Jarom and Alixa started organizing the shelves and throwing away the foodstuffs that had expired. Thanks to some food storage “gifts” they have received from their mothers in the past year there were many items with sell by dates in the ‘08-‘09 range, and a few as far back as ‘05. Things got cleared out and organized, and it now looks great and holds all of our food. But if you give a Lixi an organized pantry that frees up some space in the kitchen, she’s probably going to want a new piece of furniture to fill the space. So the next step was the buffet table. Lix had looked at some higher end furniture places and found some that she liked, but at a hefty price. But on Monday as she meandered through Walmart she found one that was of fairly good quality and a full $100 below MSRP. So she snatched it up, made Nate help carry it around, and made Jarom spend about an hour putting it together. And if you give a Lixi a new piece of furniture in her kitchen, she’s going to want to paint an accent wall behind it. So she got some green paint, threw up some tape and down a drop cloth and did the whole thing while Jarom was out playing basketball one evening. She really wanted to keep going and paint the entire kitchen, but at some point you just have to explain to the mouse that it has had a cookie and it is time to be done.







Jenna has been busy training for her future career as a long distance runner. While Jarom never would have guessed this at the time, the fact that his house has a complete loop in it has turned out to be perhaps the single greatest feature. Jenna will spend dozens of minutes a day running around the loop as though it were a track. She will do this by herself or with a friend. Sometimes she wants her dad to chase her, and will chastise him severely if he should desire to stop for any reason. She sometimes runs with Kenna, although Kenna will usually stop before Jenna is ready to, giving up excuses like “too heavy” and instead offering to ride the bike alongside Jenna. She is very supportive and will clap and cheer her on, which makes me think that she will be a great trainer someday.

I apologize for the length of this video, but I am not exaggerating when I say that this had been going on for at least 5 minutes before it starts and at least 15 minutes after it stopped, so be thankful it isn't longer.

Baby Babbles Boutique is wrapping up a 3-week consignment sale this weekend, and it has been a mild success. There is still a lot of inventory, but it is slowly dwindling and nobody had to actually stay on-site for this sale, which was quite nice. The other exciting thing around here has been BYU’s run through the NCAA tournament and the Jimmermania that has become a staple on ESPN. Here’s hoping it will continue a little bit longer. Tomorrow Lix and Jenna are headed back up north for Kristi’s bridal shower and some hanging out while Jarom starts working some odd hours at work and enjoys the alone time that will be ever scarcer in a few more weeks when kid #2 arrives. Alixa is getting less and less comfortable and more and more anxious to be done with this whole ordeal. She is currently in the “we are never doing this again” phase, but Jarom will not be so easily duped. She went through this phase with Jenna during her last month, only to enter the “my baby is growing up so fast that I need another one to replace it” phase about 2 months after Jenna was born. She says that this time is different, but time will tell.

She LOVES pockets

Selection Sunday

Alixa has reached the 6-week mark in her new baby countdown, so she decided to take a weekend trip up to Delaware to have a little baby shower/party with many of her friends there. They had a great meal at the Olive Garden and there were many wonderful presents that little Bo will surely appreciate someday soon. Jarom took advantage of the trip to plan a little golf outing with Jason and JD, despite the chilly weather. It was a great time, and was capped off by both Jason and JD missing an 18-inch putt (they claim it was actually 19) that would have given their team the win.

Alixa's favorite Delaware people

It was a miracle that these two would sit down and play together without killing each other

Jenna was thrilled to have a few days to play with her cousins in Grandma’s house. She had a great time with Luke and Hailey and Adri and Juliet, with some visits from Loni and her girls as well. And the house is a veritable paradise for those kids. Jenna loves climbing the stairs and would often disappear for long stretches of time before Jarom or Lix would find her in someone’s room playing with toys. This did not please Lix because it meant that she had to climb approximately 3,429 flights of stairs during the 72-hour stay. She made Jarom promise that he would never make her live in a house with more than two levels, and if it can be less than that, all the better.

A relaxed gathering for little people

Running around Longwood Gardens

As they packed up to go, Jenna told her parents that she was poopy. They gave her a sniff and detected nothing, which is usually a foolproof test. But apparently this was an odorless #2 (why can’t she have more of those?) and so they ended up leaving the poor little girl in a poopy diaper all the way home and through the night until the next morning. At that point it had burned her poor little bum raw, so the last few days have been filled with a crying Jenna at every diaper change and the announcement that Jenna’s bum hurts pretty much every time she had to get into or out of a chair. Jarom and Lix felt like terrible people, which they are, but it seems to be getting better.

Jamie was upset about Jarom pulling this stunt with Ethan. She feels that only dads should be allowed to kill their kids. Whatever. He looks more like Jarom than JD anyway.

Jenna’s swearing problem has also become more prevalent in her everyday life. She now replaces most of her L’s and W’s with an F sound. This means that such common words as look, Luke, work, and walking have all become words that would not escape uncensored on any TV channel. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that Jenna is unwilling to move around without telling everyone how it is that she is moving, whether that be running, walking, or jumping. So poor Alixa has had to hang her head in shame every time she walks into a store with her daughter saying loudly, “I falking, I falking, I falking.” There have been some disbelieving stares as people try to process what they are hearing from such an otherwise cute little toddler.

The newest addition to Jenna's stuffed animal family, Brownie

At work, Jarom had his mid-year evaluation and it looks like he will be able to keep his job for a little while longer, which is great news. He has another hospital installation coming up in a few weeks, so Lix is already thinking about skipping town to head up for Kristi’s bridal shower while Jarom works the night shift. Baby Babbles Boutique is doing a consignment sale for the next three weekends, so that has distracted her a little for the time being. She is also in charge of her playgroup’s activities for the month. Her first was a field trip to the greatest fast food restaurant of all time, Chick-Fil-A. The next one will be a day at the park, which is wonderful because the beautiful Richmond spring weather seems to have arrived for good.