Lookalikes or not?

I love freshly washed babies.  I love wrapping them up in their super soft towels and snuggling them.  They're always so cute, that I have to take a bunch of pictures.  Seriously, I have a lot.  Anyway, I was thinking, hey! Both kids in the same pose?  Smells like a comparison blog to me.  So here you go.  Jason at 15 months and Jilly at 2 years old, wrapped up in the same towel after a bath.  How much do you think they look alike?

To me, the older they get, the less alike they look.  Jason is much skinnier and longer, whereas Jilly had (still has) those chubby cheeks.  She definitely looks like her dad and he definitely looks like his mom.  But they still look related.  You also see the difference in personalities.  Jason is more reserved, more serious, whereas Jilly is just silly and goofy and shows it. 

Either way, I can't get enough of these two!  Love them!!

What a difference!

When we got married, we didn't have tons of furniture and everything was second hand.  I had a loveseat that had originally been my dad's, given to another friend after his death, and eventually came back to me.  Steve had an old loveseat of his cousin's.  We had some other stuff that we'd collected over the years.  Well, here were are 5 years later and we still have the same stuff.  However, it's now all 10+ years old and having gotten a lot of use by us, friends and two crazy kids.  It was really starting to show it's age.

Here's a rough look of how we were arranged before.

Toy shelf next to the blue loveseat.

Blue loveseat and black loveseat at right angle, with end table in the corner. 

Blue loveseat across from the entertainment center, and the beautiful picture of Christ above the black loveseat.

 

 And the DVD rack in the corner, next to the entertainment center, blocked off by the rocking chair, toy container and another tub.

The blue loveseat of mine was one of those with two recliners attached to each other.  Neither sat up straight anymore and tacks and staples were coming out all over.  Not to mention The Great Rift Valley was growing between the two recliners, where the kids hid all sorts of toys and snacks and other assorted materials.  The black loveseat was losing all the stuffing and the springs were wearing out.  So this meant that if you sat down and leaned back too fast, then you would slam your head into the wooden frame.  There were holes and stains all over this stuff and they were beyond repair.  But it just wasn't in the budget to get new stuff, so we lived with it, because it was (just barely) better than sitting on the floor. 

A few months ago, my mom and step-dad mentioned they wanted to get a new couch for their family room.  As such, they would be getting rid of their current couch and chair + ottoman.  They knew that we needed new stuff, so they promised it to us.  They needed some time to order the new stuff, so we made so.  Then a couple weeks ago, they decided to bring over the furniture because they needed the room empty to paint while waiting for the new couch.  SWEET!!!!  It took us a little bit to move things around and decide how we wanted it all laid out, but we settled on a new arrangement and we LOVE IT!!!  They gave us a black leather couch and a tan microfiber chair + ottoman.  Both haven't been used very heavily, even though they're a few years old, so they're in great condition.  Plus, the leather is great for kids because it's so easy to clean!  We got rid of a couple things in the room and man, it feels so much cleaner now!  So here's the new layout:

Black couch along the wall where the toy shelf and blue loveseat were.  With the chair & ottoman in the corner, where the end table had been.  I re hung the pictures above the couch, centering our wedding photo collage and then adding our wedding photo, needlepoint my cousin made and picture of the San Antonio temple Steve's mom brought us.  We think it keeps a nice wedding theme over there.

 I re-centered the picture of Christ and Mary Magdalene on the wall, so it was more balanced.  There's nothing really on that wall, so it's the focus point of the wall and room.  I love it!!

And we moved the toy shelf over in front of the fireplace (betcha didn't know we had one, because we have always had it obstructed), to block it from the kids.  It's next to the entertainment center now.  The DVD rack got moved to our bedroom, where we keep it away from the kids. 

Overall the apartment is much more balanced and it actually looks nice!!!  It's such a relief to have a presentable living space that has not only comfortable, but non-dangerous furniture!  So come on over, because it's a nice place to hang out. :-D

Holy Moly, what do I do now?

What's that way down there below me?  Oh yeah.....that's my comfort zone.  I am way beyond it now.  This week I was released from Primary (sniff, sniff) after 3 years and given a new calling.  That's me on the right.

Yup, I was called as the Ward Choir Director.  OH MY.  I am quite daunted by this. I have modest musical talents.  I play a little piano and can read music.  I'm a good complementary choir singer, I can hold the harmony and help bulk up an alto section.  I can even lead music.  BUT I am not a real director.  I do not have a good ear for hearing something wrong and being able to pick out what the problem is and correct it.  I have almost no experience choosing choral music. How am I going to do this?!

In talking with the bishop, he helped put me at ease, at least a little bit.  He expressed that it wasn't so much about wonderfully technical music, as much as getting people to participate.  He gave me some pointers of who to ask for help in choosing music.  He said it didn't matter that I don't have a proper director's ear, it matters that I just give the choir something to follow and can run through the music with them.  *phew!*  I can probably handle that.  Steve gave me some good encouragement too.  He reminded me the choir didn't need to be performing John Rutter, that singing hymns with a slightly varied arrangement would be great.  Hmm...Maybe I can do this after all?

I'm still pretty nervous about how to manage this.  It's pretty far beyond what I'm used to, but I've been in how many choirs, for how many years?  I've probably picked up more than I think in that time.  And if I'm struggling, I know some pretty darn awesome directors out there to lean on.  And basically it all comes down to this:

PLEASE JOIN THE CHOIR!!! :-D

Shame on me!

::hangs head in shame::

It's been almost 2 months since I posted.  I am sorry.  Our summer has been busy, but there are still things to be blogged about!  I mean, if you look at our blog, you won't even know Jason turned 1 over two months ago.  Or that we went to Lake Chelan.  Or how Steve's & my birthdays went.  Or how awesome it is that school started again.  Or about the visit from the Halls and Frueans.  That's a lot of stuff not to be blogged about!  So how about this deal?  I will start working on posts, updating about our summer.  And you will comment on them when I post them?  Let's shake on it.  Awesome.

Stay tuned!  If I have my way, something will be up this afternoon.