I know I always write about the silly, funny things that Evan does... he is a funny kid. But I wanted to brag on him a little bit today.

He has just been amazing me lately with how smart he is!

Evan is fantastic with music. Ever since he could kinda talk, he has been able to kinda carry a tune. He couldn't say the words, but you could tell what he was singing for the most part. He also has more rhythm than most adults. When he dances, he actually dances to the beat. Over the past year, I've noticed him singing along to songs that I play a lot... like, "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, "7,8,9" by Barenaked Ladies, and of course... the ninja turtles theme song. But yesterday, this song came on the radio that I've never sang along with and definitely haven't played over and over, and he was singing along! I couldn't believe it! And sometimes, he'll hear the chorus to a song he's never heard before, and when the chorus comes on again, he sings along with it. It amazes me every time he does it.

He's also really smart with computers and other electronics. Awhile back, I taught him how to use the DVD player, and even though he doesn't fully understand it (b/c he can't read yet), for the most part, he can put a movie in correctly and watch it. He does better with VHS tapes b/c those are easier. But he knows that when the words come on the screen (the menu) that he's supposed to push the big button (play). And then a few weeks ago, I let him play some games on pbskids.org. He did so well after I showed him what to do. Now, Andrew has put links to them at the top of our browser, and he knows how to click them to get to his games. He also knows how to open the game World of Goo AND exit out of it. Whenever I help him with something on the computer, I see him watching me, and then the next time, he does it on his own. HE'S SO SMART! I don't know many other 3 year olds, but this seems very impressive to me for his age.

He's doing so great with pottying. We've been teaching him where his dirty clothes go, and he does it.

He's such a good kid. So smart.

And, of course, I don't want to leave out my Lauren. She is so close to walking. If I hold her hands, she actually goes pretty fast. She walks around the furniture. She babbles like crazy. She can wave bye bye. She gives the best kisses over and over.

Oh, and she's the prettiest baby I've ever seen. :D

I love my kids. They're so great.

And, yes, I'm bragging. :D

I forgot to post something funny that happened yesterday.

Yesterday was our ward potluck, so we stayed after to eat. Andrew went to make his plate while I waited with Lauren at the table. He finally came back, and I'm like, "Did you fix Evan's plate?" He says he didn't, so I'm like, "Fine, I'll do it. Where is Evan?" Andrew didn't know. I looked around the gym, but didn't see him. So I started fixing my plate and came back to my table. I still hadn't seen Evan, and I was starting to get worried.

Not long after I sat down, I hear someone say something like, "Oh! There's Evan!" I turned around and in walks Evan holding his pants, underwear, and shoes in his hands. Strutting his stuff in the front of the gym with the entire ward watching.

I probably should've been embarrassed, but I wasn't. I was trying really hard not to laugh. What I was concerned about, however, was that whenever he walks in with his pants and underwear completely off, it means he's pooped.

I wasn't entirely sure which bathroom he was in, but I chose the ladies' room for obvious reasons. (ie: I'm a GIRL!) One of the toilets had poop smeared on the toilet seat, so I assumed that's where he was. (If not, that is so disgusting.) He doesn't know how to wipe yet, so I had to clean him up. I did tell him he was a big boy for going poopoo on the potty but TELL US NEXT TIME! Am I right? Geez...

He's such a funny kid. It reminded me of my sister-in-law Lacey's Peyton story. :) (sorry for those who don't know what that is, but Andrew's family will.)

I love my Evan. Even if he doesn't wipe.

This will be the second blog post I've done tonight... I am on a roll! Click here for proof.

I started a blog for the Relief Society at church. Technically, it's MY blog about Relief Society and NOT the Relief Society's blog. I've only got two entries up so far, but I'm hoping it goes well. And that the ladies actually read it. When I announced today that I had started a blog, I got a lot o' blank stares. haha It's going to blow their minds when they see that I mentioned adding it to their RSS Feeds in the e-mail I sent out about it! haha

Anyway, it's just me and lil Lauren tonight. Andrew and Evan went to Tupelo. Work's been kinda slow for Andrew lately, so he's going to work for his mom tomorrow. Of course, Evan had to go. He loves his Grandma. :) They asked if we would go, but I declined. I figured I'd give Grandma free reign over Evan. She loves spoiling him, and I can't stand to watch it. haha He loves it, though, so that's why I let him go.

Another reason I didn't want to go is b/c oooffff....

THIS!!!!!

For those of you too lazy to go to the link, it's a freakin' awesome mattress pad! 4 inches of down alternative and memory foam goodness... *sigh* It is heaven... This will be my first night to sleep on it, and I was definitely not giving that up. :)

Another thing I love about it besides it's billowy goodness is what the receipt says at the very bottom:

You saved $334.70.

Heck yes, we did! Thank you, Linda, (Andrew's mom) for using your coupon and picking that up for us. You rock! Best birthday money I ever spent... maybe now I won't wake up sore in the mornings... *crosses fingers*

In other terribly exciting news, I, Johanna the avid livejournaler, am going to have a column in a paper! Woot! Remember long ago when I said that I thought it would be fun to have my own newspaper column? No? What kind of reader are you anyway? geez...

well, my fellow lj-er freejenkins, who just so happens to work for a newspaper in Texas, said to e-mail him about it... so I did. I sent him a couple of samples, and bada-bing-bada-boom, his editor asked me to write more. It's not a paying gig, but it'll get my foot in the door for other opportunities. I'm excited about it.

And for those of you who don't live in Texas and are really sad that you won't be able to read my amazing work (ha!), they are a very innovatical (just like that word) newspaper and put copies of their papers online. So wipe away those tears, my friends. You can still read them. If they're printed... which might not happen after freejenkins reads this and finds out what a dork I'm being about this. haha

I'm just THAT excited, okay? :D

Well, I think I'm going to go crawl into my extremely cozy bed and sleep like a rock (hopefully). Good night!

I don't know if a lot of you new readers realize this, but I've had this here livejournal for a loooong time. Technically, I had a ujournal before I had a livejournal, but ujournal chose to completely die on me one day, so I moved to the ole lj and have been here ever since. I started my uj way back in December 2002. Yowza... that's nearly 7 years ago! UJ died in 2004, and after much pain and agony over losing my previous entries, I finally decided to start a livejournal and have been at its mercy ever since. Amazing, right? Yeah, I knew you were excited about that.

That's a long time to be putting my thoughts out to the world. My brain is constantly in "journal think." (which I wrote about long ago if you're interested.) Sometimes though, I have days or even weeks when I can't come up with a topic. That seems to be the case lately. I think that knowing that so many more people read this makes me have major brain farts. I've been wanting more people to read this since forever, and now that they do... I can't write. Crap noodles...

SO! Here's my solution:

POST OLD ENTRIES!

It's so SIMPLE! I'm a genius!

First thing I did was go to my memories section of my journal. There are only TWO that I deemed memorable. Probably b/c I forgot that there was a memory section of my journal. Anyway, since one entry has to do with the day I got engaged and it's really the event that's memorable and not the entry itself, I decided to go with the other one.

EXPLANATION: I had one other boyfriend besides Andrew, and it wasn't the prettiest break-up in the world. I apparently wrote this long after it happened. I must've thought I was being pretty philosophical at the time to make it a memory... at any rate, here it is. My philosophical genius...

( Cut for those who really don't care to read old crap )

Here's a text conversation that Andrew and I just had:

Me: I just found a dried booger on my leg
Andrew: Awesome, were you saving it for later and forgot about it?
Me: haha, I guess but they don't taste as good dry as they do fresh
Andrew: Add a little milk or water
Me: I bet juice is good

We're so cool. :)

I had some REALLY weird dreams last night.

Dream 1:
I dreamed that we had to go to the town where ebrake works, and we were going to stay in the hotel where she works. I looked around for her, and I saw her once, but she didn't see me. Then I somehow end up at her house, but it's just me and the kids b/c Andrew had to go somewhere. And her husband Jose was gone. Evan and Jonah are playing, and Lauren's crawling on their bed. We're sitting in complete silence watching a show, and then this video of Jose shows up on their computer and he tells her that he just got his test results back and he has MD (Medical Disease). I immediately grab Lauren off their bed thinking that she's going to catch it somehow. And so we sit in silence some more, and I'm finally like "So, how's it going?" And she apologizes for not talking.

Dream 2:
I had a dream that the wheelchair kid, Artie, from Glee had some girl with him. He had some trick going where he told her something, but it meant something totally different and everybody knew it but her. Anyway, he ended up in the backseat of a car with her. She said no. To keep a long story from getting disgusting, they did it anyway. yeah, weird.

Dream 3:
I dreamed that this guy was upset that we couldn't remember who he was, and so I had a flashback of being in the woods, and he was there with his friends on dirt bikes. They asked where this one guy was, and then we saw him running through the woods with his clothes all torn. And then we saw a wolf behind him chasing him. So we're all scared and wanting to save him. I jumped on one of their dirt bikes and started driving away, but apparently the wolf liked dirt bikes and chased after me instead. I remember being very scared.

Dream 4:
There's a huge mix-up with coffins. This guy ordered a special one with star wars stuff on it for his house, but they accidentally gave him the plain one and put this dead lady in his. He was pretty upset, so we went outside (which was my dad's yard) and opened her coffin. There was ice and water in it. And I think they switched her back.

Dream 5:
There was some commercial that said it was for curly haired people. It was this lady with a nursing bra on, but it was a very pretty, sexy bra, and they demonstrated how easy it was for you to nurse with it by having a spider monkey nurse on her boob.

What is wrong with my brain? And before anyone asks, No, I'm not having crazy pregnant dreams. These are normal Johanna dreams. The pregnant ones get even weirder.

In more normal news, Evan's birthday was yesterday, and now he's THREEEEEE!! It's crazy. I can't believe my boy is three. And more importantly, I can't believe I have taken care of another human being for three whole years, and he's healthy and happy, and fairly normal. As normal as you can be with a weirdo for a mom like me. :)

He spent the day with his Papa and Granna Pettus. I put him in her car, and he said, "Go away, mom! Bye!" I feel so loved. haha

Well, that's all for now.

I told you I was freaky...

I'm glad crayons are non-toxic b/c Lauren finds them and eats them all the time. She gets really mad at me when I take them away, too. Silly girl.

Evan is in Tupelo right now. I miss the little guy, but I gotta admit... it's pretty cool cleaning house and it actually staying that way. haha but ultimately, I'd take him over a clean house any day. He always makes me laugh, and I miss him.

I called last night to talk to him and was told by Sarah afterwards that he peed his pants talking to me. Yeah, I'm THAT exciting! haha

I've been pretty productive today. Our bedrooms are clean except for vacuuming. I've folded some clothes and have more washing/drying. I unloaded/reloaded the dishwasher. And I have plans to sort through Evan's clothes and get rid of the too little ones and MAYBE clean the laundry room. It's gross. It never gets cleaned b/c I can close the door, and no one sees it. Spiders breed there, I think.

OH, and yesterday I swept and mopped all the laminate floors. I don't even remember the last time I mopped those. Gross, right? I hate mopping.

Today is a beautiful sunny day, and I think that boosts my mood. I'm much more productive and happy on sunny days.

I went to a Pampered Chef party last night. If I had tons of money, I would buy pretty much everything in that catalog. Unfortunately, I'm just a poor girl. Nobody likes me. she's just a poor girl from a poor family

I just found this... awesome!

Well, I should go back to being productive again. Wish me luck!

Sunday, while hurrying to take a shower for church, I mistakenly grabbed the conditioner instead of the shampoo. I didn't notice until I was looking for the conditioner and realized I had already used it. I considered using the shampoo and then using the conditioner again, but then I remembered long ago reading about the "no poo" method. So I took a chance and just went with the conditioner. My hair was either going to be really gross or the same as always--frizzy and crappy.

Best. Hair. Ever.

My hair was the curliest it's been in a looong time. And there was very little frizz. I tried it again today thinking that today my hair was going to be greasy and gross, but it wasn't! I didn't use as much mousse this time, so it's slightly frizzy, but still curlier than usual.

So, I looked up the "no poo" method again, and here it is, folks.

Don't Poo on Me

Oh, and this is for curly hair only. I don't think it works on straight hair...

Anyway, I'm going to continue doing it, and keep you updated. Not that you actually care, but I'm excited that my hair looks nice. :)

I've been cleaning out my e-mail inbox lately. Yeah, I know, random. I had over 7,000 in there, and now I'm to 400 something.

I've been sorting through and archiving things I want to keep, so I've been reading a lot of old stuff. It's been kinda fun.

Right now I'm watching The Little Mermaid with Evan, and Triton just sacrificed himself for his daughter. It made me remember an e-mail I read yesterday that Cheryl (my step-mom) sent me that said while they were watching that movie somewhere, Dad started to tear up during that part. And now I'm about to start crying.

I know my Dad would do anything for us kids. I love him so much. He's the best. I couldn't ask for a better Dad.

Evan went potty earlier and came in the living room with his pants and underwear in his hand. He said he needed help, and I told him to ask Daddy. Andrew said his pull-up had pee in it, so he threw it in the trash and left him pantsless. I was okay with that b/c I was about to give him a bath anyway. So Andrew left for class, and we're sitting there watching TV when I start smelling something.

It smelled like poop.

I knew Lauren was clean b/c she was in my lap, so I looked down and Evan was sitting on the rug scooting his butt across it... leaving brown streaks behind.

Oh. My. Gosh.

It reminded me of those dogs that scoot their butt on the floor. Anyway, needless to say, he immediately got a bath. I made him and Lauren stay in the back of the house until I got it cleaned up, and I took way longer than necessary just to get some alone time.

Kids... It's a good thing I love them. haha

I don't know what to do with Lauren lately. She screams and screams when I lay her down to sleep. I thought that something was wrong the other night, so I got her out of bed and tried to love her up. Turns out, she just didn't want to be in bed. She wanted to play and crawl around. And it's getting worse b/c she can stand up in her crib now, so instead of laying down and eventually going to sleep, she stands up and screams.

I remember staying in Evan's room until he fell asleep for awhile. It's kinda difficult to do that with the second child. Just now when I was in there, I could hear Evan saying, "Where's mommy? Where's Lauren?" And then sometimes he comes back there, and then she wants to watch him b/c she loves him.

Anyway, most of the time, I can tell she's really tired and wants to go to sleep, but she fights it. Why? I would love to get a nap. Why do babies fight it?

I guess I just miss my baby that went to bed so well.

Well, she's asleep now and not screaming, and Evan wants me to play a game. That sounds like fun. I think I shall.

I'm frustrated with companies that only put out a few of their product, so that when they run out, the price sky-rockets.

I'm talking to YOU, Disney! Grrrr... curse your clever marketing strategies...

It's lunch time, and my kids and I are eating saltine crackers. I am the best mother in the world. I got them out for Lauren to gnaw on, and now we're all eating them. Tasty, tasty.

Or as Fergie would say, "Tastey."

"Gnaw" is a weird word. Why the silent "g?" I should look it up in my History of English book. I sure do miss that class. I miss linguistics.

Okay, I just took a break to make us some lunch b/c I decided to be unlazy. I made sandwiches, but I didn't have any mayo. I used sour cream instead. I was kinda scared to eat it, but it turned out okay. Not as good as mayo, but edible. I could barely taste it, actually

Evan ate the ham out of his sandwich and left the bread and cheese. This is the same kid that ate like 6 slices of cheese earlier this week. I will never understand his eating habits.

I'm going to a ball game at my old high school tonight. No Andrew. No kids. Just me and my sister. woooooot! My niece is playing with the band. I've been wanting to go to see the band, anyway. I don't go to watch the games. I go to watch the band.

Band geeks unite!

Well, I've got nothing else to say. No exciting news except the scrape on my knee from the stroller accident is finally healed. I can kneel again! yay! I know you're excited, too.

Big gulps, huh? Well, see ya later!