Look who's going to be TWO

NonaJane is going to be two next month. In 3 weeks and 6 days to be exact.  Thankfully with all the distractions in my life right now I haven't had time to panic about this.  Until right now.  Now I am panicked.  She won't be one anymore. She definitely won't be a baby anymore.  She will be TWO.
She has discovered some new sayings lately, and upped her cute and sassy factor by 10.  She will now tell you to "Go Away" if she doesn't like what you are saying or doing.  When people ask her her name she now confidently replies with "Nona!".  She dances like a wild woman to music, sings along to "Happy" and "Let it Go", and can officially climb anywhere and jump off of anything. Last night she was jumping off the end table, knocked my lamp onto the floor and broke it.  You know, really cute stuff.  She can count to 10, but her favorite thing to do is repeat random numbers until you can't take it anymore "8, 9, 8, 9, 8, 9, 8, NINE!!!!"  She likes to sing the alphabet too, but she seems to get stuck at 'H', so she will just start over. and over, and over again.  And if you dare try to help get her PAST the H, she will yell at you.  And for some reason I think it is the CUTEST thing ever.  Every time she gets stubborn and yells, it makes me smile from ear to ear. Her strong will, her seriousness, her mission to be independent, it is all my favorite stuff about her.  She loves to color, especially on the table when you aren't looking. She is really pretty good at coloring too. She likes to use a wide variety of colors, she fills the page, and is already proud of her work yelling "Watch!!" and "look!"  She continues to eat a wide variety, stealing food off her brother's plate and pretty much begging all day long. "Hungry" might be her favorite word.  Our little girl knows what she wants, and usually won't give up until she gets it.

NonaJane you bring such joy to our lives. You make me smile and laugh, you push me around and challenge me.  Yet despite your stubborn front, you are the sweetest thing.  You love to give me kisses, and you hold onto my arm when I read to you. You sing along with me at night "you are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me HAPPY", you are bursting with joy when I get home from work, and you miss me if I leave the room for a minute.  You love me with such passion, with such joy.  You demand that you want "mommy" and you aren't afraid to tell people "NO!"  You speak your mind, you   live every moment to it's fullest. You exude enough happiness from one squeal, one smile, one giddy dance, to make every frustration, every challenge, every exhausting moment simply melt away.

NonaJane, we LOVE you.

Clinging to my raft, riding the tidal wave

enjoying lunches at Fritz's

apparently I have been too busy to take pictures
 that are actually related to this post… so instead
enjoy some of these cuties :)

Sometimes things in your life can get really still… almost a boring still. Like you're just waiting for something big to happen. For a rock to be thrown into that still glassy pond.  Not that there isn't a serene joy when you come upon the stillness, the perfection, of an undisturbed pond. But it seems that the temptation to throw boulders or handfuls of rocks is just too great.   Similar to how fun it is to kick your legs in a pool as hard as you can until the surface looks like the ocean.

Jack all dressed and ready to go to WORK

My life was kind of like the serene, calm, and beautiful pond- a few weeks ago. Truth is that I'm just not at a point in my life where I am ready to relax and appreciate the quiet.  So what did I do? I threw a boulder. Or two. Maybe a dump truck load into that beautiful pond.  First I went and sold my car back in December to drive the 1,000 dollar car (which has now greatly amplified it's squeaking and rattling.  My mom said it sounded like a bucket of golf balls rattling down the side, and my co-workers said it sounded like a large rock was perhaps stuck in my wheel.  Either way, pretty sure a car shouldn't sound like that. But it's still running:)) Then this week we sold our house.  We sold it in under 24 hours, and for asking price!  I'm starting to have my panicky moments when I realize "holy crap. We SOLD our house" why on earth would we do that!?  But, figure it is a little late for those thoughts so we better ride these tidal waves that we have created.

Jack posing in front of the toastytote display… plastered in OUR pictures!!!

 A little update on the housing front… our tidal wave will NOT be taking us to the home which I previously blogged about.  Turns out (thru inspections) that the home was being held up by 2x4's and decorative porch posts (not exaggerating), there was a significant water leak in the attic, and a sewer back up which was causing draining water from the tub to come up through the sink.  Adam said "HELL no", thus the house search continues.  We are circling around a lovely for sale by owner home.. but haven't made the official commitment.  Our only fears with making the dive is that we will be making a significant cut in square footage. But that is neither here nor there (HA hadn't used that little nugget for a transition in awhile!)

Meanwhile… while we were creating this chaos at home, I received several emails from Hoffman International (Jack's talent agency).       1) Jack's Ball Jars commercial was picked up for television use! 2) Jack and NonaJane were both presented with opportunities to attend a casting to work with Hallmark.  All week Adam was driving them to and from auditions and castings (from which they were chosen!)  Complete craziness that it all happened to fall in the midst of placing our house on the market,  and trying to house hunt ourselves.  The kids both did great at their photo shoots. So much so that Jack was called back this week for another shoot! The director on the set informed Adam that they would likely be using our kids "a lot"!!!

Jack's head shot

Then today, I joined my neighbor Christian with his toastytote team down at the WW1 museum in Kansas City.  His company was part of SparkLab KC which is a mentorship  for local entrepreneurs.  Today the 10 companies involved in SparkLab gave their 'pitches' to Kansas Cities biggest investors.  We're talking about people with fancy loafers, goofy glasses, and money falling out of their sleeves. Ok, I didn't actually see money falling out of anyones sleeves, but I'm pretty sure I could smell it on them.  I mean we got a fully catered breakfast AND lunch. Not donuts, there was yogurt, fancy granola, jams, and cakes with drizzly icing and nuts on top. Serious stuff here.  The food was served on bamboo plates with servers hovering to see if you needed more water!  Anyhow, since I have become the 'face of toastytote'… (I know, I know, pretty famous. But try to control your excitement.)  The team needed me to be part of their pitch. I basically worked as their on-stage Vanna White. I demonstrated the use of the toastytote, moving it thru it's 5 different uses for the audience to see.  Afterwards there was a bit of a meet and greet, or mingle you could call it.  Many of the investors took time to talk to me,  praising my demonstration skills and asking me if I have demo'd other products (Ha! yea right).  But the biggest revelation of the day is that toastytote is possibly working their way to QVC.  If they do…. guess who might REALLY get famous??? Only the 'face of toastytote'!!!  Almost as famous as Jack's forehead and hands in the Ball Jars commercial!!! I hope you are lining up for autographs tomorrow :)

So here I am, sitting in a wave pool clinging to my raft.  Feeling mildly panicked, the adrenaline rushing, partly wishing the water would calm… but very well knowing that as SOON as it does… I'll probably throw another rock.  Life is short, let's enjoy the ride while we can.