Happy Fourth of July

36 weeks ♥

Catch up in photos

Well hello there blog world. I've been pretty much absent for almost two months minus my scrappy updates. Not for lack of thoughts but lack of time, focus, energy & funny. In fact I'm not quite sure I have the 'funny' yet but I'll give it a go. I am in my second trimester of pregnancy (YAY!!!) and excited, very Very VERY excited to be done with the 'morning' sickness that seemed would never end. So how about we catch up in bullets & photos and then my ocdness will be satisfied and I can try to go back to my regularly scheduled blog program. ;)

Since January is nearly over we'll just start with the happenings after vacation & the end of morning sickness since nothing happened around here that first week or so anyhow. And there's a lot and not much to catch up on with December - we flew, we visited, we conquered, we returned.

So first order of business after getting home was to pick up Jackie & the new pup - Luna - from our friend's house. Luna is already bigger than when we picked her up & we haven't had her a full month yet. They get along like siblings - they snuggle, play, love, argue & fight...and {more than} occasionally poop or pee in the house. They are adorable and snuggly though so we keep them around.

About a week after being home {I was still sick most days} we got a little snow. Not enough to really play in...only an inch and a half or so. But the ice was enough to put us on a 2 hour delay for work/school one day. This Cali girl finally drove on snowy/ice roads and didn't hit anything so I call that a win.

One of Michael's gifts was a shaving set. It's a cute 'razor', foam & foam brush. Daddy helped him shave one night & of course I had to take some pictures.

One night I was short on dinner ideas but had a craving for Mexican. I was thinking enchiladas but we were out of tortillas. Then I remembered a meal from a dinner out in Cali & thought it would be fun to try out our own. We made loaded nachos - cooked up chicken & added enchilada sauce, refried beans, bell pepper, onion, olives, tomato & of course added the cheese while toppings were hot. We all dove in and the kids loved it.

Over Christmas Lydia added to her baby doll collection. She was a ballerina mommy this day with two babies...maybe three? She has grown up so much and is loads of fun to play with.

And here she is posing after making herself 'pretty'. She likes to put on jewelry and bows in her hair and do the same to mommy. It's cute.

The dogs really are like having two more kids around the house. When Shawn comes home he has the kids excited to see him and the dogs jumping up to get his attention too.

This week Shawn had a staff duty day {24 hour shift} so I made myself busy. That morning Lydia & I went out a did a little shopping, came home & fixed up their rooms a little. I've been wanting to get canvas bins for her shelf since Shawn made it....some months ago, but like many things on my 'lists' never got around to it. A little birdie told me that K-Mart had good bins for a good price I jumped on it. I was happily surprised to see they were on sale! Only $2.50 a bin and now Lydia's toys are more organized and easier for her & me {when I help} to clean up. She was so excited she emptied one of them and was playing with just the bin - I may go and get her another at that price. I also got the kids new bedding. Lydia finally has twin sized bedding - she chose princess and Michael was stoked to see Transformer sheets. I also found a great steal at Target - twin down comforters for only $15. I'll share more about my thoughts of decorating a kids room in another post but these blankets will make things much easier for me.

That same day we were treated to some interesting Kennessee weather and a rainbow - two actually. There is a very faint one to the right of the brighter one. If I were an old wife I would tell people that seeing two rainbows when you're pregnant means you're having two babies. But I'm not, so I won't. ;)

And that pretty much sums it up. Between housework, the kids and the dogs I try to get in some organizing {because it makes me all kinds of happy} and some scrapping. I have to get more lists going so I can really finally finish the kids' room before the new little one{s?} arrive and/or we move just for me to do it all over again {but know what I'm doing that time around}.

PS - Only 11 days until LOOOOOOOOOOST....have you caught up yet??

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a happy thanksgiving, enjoy your turkey, family, friends and pie! Even if you're not in the states, any day is a good day for pie. :-)

Some things I'm thankful for this year:

• My family being together & healthy to enjoy this holiday.
• Two pumpkin pies chilling in the fridge.
• Good friends to enjoy leftovers with.
• Watching the parade with my kids.
• Mashed potatoes & gravy I'll be enjoying later
• My family that I'll be visiting in less than one month.
• Loaded leftover turkey sandwich I'll have for lunch tomorrow

 And a surprise that no one in this house was expecting

• the bun in the oven {not talking turkey} that will make us a family of 5.
• the hope that 'morning' sickness will have an end in sight, hopefully sooner than later.
  

A Day of Milestones

So if Michael turning 5 wasn't enough he had to start kindergarten. Who does he think he is right? Just growing up leaving me alone with Lydia all day and making me set my alarm M-F...I haven't done that in years. Though I haven't really had a need since the kids are up by 6 anyway. Or were. The first day of school was also the first day that I had to wake Michael up in the morning. Bummer right? It would have been nice to enjoy it.

Then it was Lydia's turn to get all 'big girl' on me. It kind of just happened but then she made a decision and there's no turning back. She handed me a dirty diaper, yes a dirty one. After cleaning her up I realized I was out of diapers. o.O So she got a pair of panties until we made it to the store. Before I could make it out she announced she was going to use the potty. And then she did. And then she did 3 more times {including a poo}. And then I was waiting for pigs to fly by my window. Because that just.doesn't.happen. Right? Michael was nearly 4 before he was interested and we struggled. So for my not yet 3 year old to just do it....I was shocked. Of course it hasn't been that smooth since starting, that pig never flew by.

All in the same day that Michael started kindergarten and Lydia decided to go potty, Shawn found a gray hair. Not his first and definitely not the last but it was interesting timing for one to pop up on such a momentous day. Luckily I didn't have an extra fine line...though there may have been a pimple. Is anyone else out there trying to fight aging {or at least slow it as much as possible} while also fighting the signs of your youth in some degree of acne. Typically it's a hormonal thing for me...I'll put Shawn on alert. ;)

So I promise I've been doing more than washing peed on laundry, adjusting to my son being in school full time and scrutenizing my face in the mirror. But that will be for another day. If your child is in school - congratulations, enjoy your time! If your kids go back to school at the normal after summer time then enjoy your time!

This is Going to Stink or The Time When I Wanted to Spray the World with Febreeze

Or maybe just our campsite. Michael turned 5 last Sunday and after his party we left for our camping trip. It was a fun time & I'll share more about that another day when I've moved past the stench.

But first let me apologize for this post. I'm sure it will stink in every way. When I was up at 3am Friday morning sitting by the fire pit, which had turned more into a smoke pit, I had a some catchy one liners and a funny little post written up. Or I wasn't funny but so tired that I thought I was. Either way I couldn't get to my notebook to write any of it down so I'll never really know.

Back to the stink. So we were camping and Thursday was our last night. I ended up in the kids' mattress because they woke up wanting snuggles. Jackie was in there too, unleashed. Shawn went answer nature's call and didn't zip the tent right away. Jackie bolted. She had woke me up a few times growling at some critter or another, and now she would meet her match.

I heard Jackie bark, Shawn yell for her to come back and the next thing I knew Jackie was back in the tent with a strange odor and spitting something up. Was it a bad odor? I couldn't tell, it was just odd but almost familiar. I sent her outside so Shawn could see what she was spitting up & then he broke the news - Jackie was sprayed by a skunk.

Yuck!

Did you know that a skunk's spray is an oil & used in some perfumes because of it's lingering quality? Also, when your dog is sprayed in the face at the campsite next door and is in your tent for less than a minute every.single.thing. will smell like skunk. Every.thing. All of the laundry, bedding, mattresses, tent, truck (thanks to the husband leaving the windows down all of the time), folding canvas chairs and diapers. Yes, diapers. We lost nearly a full pack of 60.

So all of this happened at 3am which meant I was up since 3am Friday morning. Luckily the kids stayed asleep and somehow Shawn slept in the tent but I just couldn't. My stomach turned just walking near the tent. So while waiting for the sun to rise I thought about my blog post and how funny it could be - this is rather disappointing. We packed up camp as quickly as possible and I started on laundry and baths as soon as we got home, there is still some cleaning to do and poor Jackie needs another vinegar/baking soda treatment before I'll snuggle her on my couch or anywhere. Tomato juice didn't do anything for her but give us another mess to clean up. I never want to smell that smell again and no diaper will ever compare to that stench.

I still have pictures to upload & will share more soon. Now it's 9am and I haven't had my coffee which really is just wrong.

Due to High Demand

So apparently my semi hiatus has been upsetting to some, troubling even. I have had several requests to post about our life & not just my {s}crap. Don't worry, the popularity isn't going to my head, the kids may get an ego boost though. See, it's only been my step mom asking for pictures of her grandkids. Every phone call she asks if I've blogged lately, other than scrapping. I kept telling her I would put some pictures up so here we go. I'll do at least one post a week with photos between my scrappy posts and maybe even a third organizational post of some sort. Also, I do have some news to share but am still writing the post up on all that...until then happy reading! {& pondering}

I tortured the kids with the camera one day before letting them fly kites & play with their sidewalk chalk. They took too long to "smile&lookatthecameraalready" and the wind died down but they still had fun with the chalk. I finally ordered some updated prints for the house - last of Lydia was when she was 3 months old - OVER two years ago. And I don't mean professional photo - no snapshot or anything. So that will be a project for the coming week.

The next day Shawn was having fun with Michael on the little rope swing. Yes, that is our tree that Michael is swinging into. I was a little concerned for his safety but still grabbed the camera before telling Shawn to stop before he fell and broke something - no time for a trip to the ER!

Happy Mother's Day

This morning Michael woke me up asking for cream for his poison ivy {yes, it's been an interesting week in this house} and breakfast. I asked him what today was and he said Sunday, then remembered it was Mother's Day and ran to get my gifts he made at school and was hiding since Friday. He made me close my eyes while he got them out of the cabinet and then announced I could open them. He was so excited! He made me a butterfly magnet, a card, drew a picture with a description of me & had a recipe book from his class. I cried. I'm a sap.

Lydia was upset that she didn't have anything for me so I gave her paper & crayons and she drew me a little picture. From the arguments & back talking I don't think they fully understand the concept of Mother's Day. Though aside from hand made gifts at school, it's pretty much like any other weekend. And that's okay, today is all about spending time with my kids, the people in my life that make this day special for me.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mom's out there! Special hugs sent to those who are missing their moms or children on this day.

I Just Blinked

How many times do you look at your kids and think - wow, that happened fast! It seems there are so many stages of motherhood or parenting even that we're waiting for something to hurry up and happen already. We want the 9 months of pregnancy to be finished - esp in that last 4-6 weeks, we can't wait for them to smile, get teeth, crawl, walk, talk and reach all of those special milestones that we have the camera close by to capture. And then when they start on those milestones it seems they're running full force borrowing the car keys and moving out on their own.

While I'm still waiting for mine to sleep through the night in their own bed, so often I look at them now and think "when did they get so big?". Then I usually grab them to steal a hug and kiss and depending on the time of month I'll tear up a little or begin bawling like a baby. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want them to be infants 2.5 and almost 5 years later...could you imagine?!?

I am savoring the memories of years past, enjoying the moments of today and looking forward to them growing more each coming year.

This weekend I did Lydia's hair in piggy braids, like pigtails but braided and Michael asked for a mohawk. The way he stated it was "I want my hair like this {motioning his hands like a teepee over his head} the way that so&so at school does". Fortunately I knew which kid in class he was talking about did my best to create the mohawk/fohawk look. Next time I get his hair cut I'll ask the stylist to cut his hair to make this look easier to achieve, it was really cute & fun on him.

That same day Shawn was fixing up the storage shed - rearranging shelves & FINALLY going through his stuff out there. He thinks I have stuff to look through and purge but the only things I claim as being mine are the 3 tubs of Christmas decor and 1 tub that house my childhood. So clearly he's confused. ;) Before or during that project he thought it would be fun to make the kids a rope swing on our tree. At first the wood at the bottom was a rounded rectangle but Lydia had trouble holding herself up so he made it round. I teared up a little at him doing this because I my dad made my sister & I a rope swing just like that when we were about their age. I'm sure my dad looks at us and says "when did they grow up?" and even as I type this I tear up a little because I know how much my dad loves me and how blessed I was to have him raising me.

The kids had LOTS of fun on the swing and while Lydia's learning to hold herself up she has mastered the art of falling off without getting hurt. :D I'm sure they'll enjoy it over the summer and maybe when their kids are playing on a rope swing they'll remember daddy making theirs.

And of course I couldn't leave out our third child. Jackie LOVES Shawn and will sit with/cuddle him every chance she gets. I had to take this picture last night because she was sitting perched on his shoulder like a parrot. LOL She's been a fun addition to the family and I don't think she'll grow too fast considering she's full size, at least one of our children listen. ;)

Happy Easter!

We enjoyed the nice weather this morning & early afternoon. Most of the day was spent playing outside with the kids' new toy golf sets, flying kites & drawing with 3D chalk - stuff really works! In the morning the kids colored eggs and after lunch they hunted for eggs filled with candy. The weather turned cold and rainy later in the afternoon so the rest of the day was spent inside. I am looking forward to more spring weather and time spent outside with the kids. I hope you all enjoyed your Easter!