On the Catwalk...

yeah on the catwalk, yeah I do my little turn on the catwalk! Sorry - just had to sing that classic 80's song. I know I know - two posts in one night - don't forget the one right below this, but I had to share this! I just made my debut on the THE CATWALK. The fashionistas at Scrapinstyletv.com pick their favorite LO's each week. Well, my house for sale LO got chosen by Kayla (cool name!). I am SHOCKED. That LO was by NO means a favorite of mine so to see someone - a great scrapping someone pick it - is just amazing to me. I know you don't read my blog Kayla - but THANKS! That just made my night!

Two long days

So I am just going to say that the last two days have been tiring! A lot of fun, and two good days off, but tiring! Physically tiring - like last night after salon night I could barely stand, luckily when I woke up this morning and got ready for our trip to Shipshewana I felt none of the soreness from the night before. Tonight - kind of sore again due to just a long hot day shopping and traveling. We had a great day though and it was good to get out. We left at 8:00 this morning and stopped and had breakfast at a great place in Kalamazoo off the highway - kind of became a tradition for the drive to Shipsee. Then back on the road for the rest of the trip. We hit a TON of construction so the drive up there took about 3 hours - with breakfast. Hope mom didn't hate my driving too much - I know i stressed her out a bit b/c I like to just GO - don't get in my way - LOL! We shopped at the flea market for about 2 hours - that was enough. It was HOT! I got my nippers, cheap sunglasses, two watches, looked for a quilt and didn't find one for the right price. The girls got a few things too - some little cheap plates/bowls, and $1 toys. After the market we ALWAYS head to Das Essenhaus. I LOVE this place. Great family style dining - with a TON of good food. Mom tried to talk me into eating on the regular restaurant side since it was just us two and the girls. I would have nothing of it - LOL. I looked at the price of a roast beef dinner on that side and it was $10 - not including drinks and desserts and only 2 side choices. The family style is $15/pp, but you get a little salad, bread (with amish peanut butter - YUM), chicken, roast beef, corn, potatos, stuffing, amish noodles, a drink and a dessert (uh - yes - we took that to go b/c we were STUFFED). So for $15 - you get all of that that you want! Good deal I would say. So we enjoyed that food - although would have enjoyed it more without Selah, but nonetheless we enjoyed it. It was good to be in the air with an ice water and a fountain pop!!! And we couldn't head home without my mom getting the girls new horse stuffed animals and a ride on the amish horse and buggy around the grounds. I stayed back and went in two shops and then got the car ready for the ride home. It was thundering off in the background so the ride was just a shorter one and we just beat the rain while we scurried into the car! Off we were on the way home! Again - more road construction and oddly enough - we got stopped on the road just by the Michigan border for a TREE that lay across the whole road. There was some amazing lightning and we assume that some hit the tree and made it fall. Luckily no cars were under it - kind of scary. If we had left 5 minutes before, that could have been scary. Some guys had gotten out of there cars to somehow manhandle the whole tree to get it off the road so cars could continue on. Just bizarre stuff on our travels - kind of thanking God right now for protecting us b/c it was crazy! So we had a great time - home by 6:00 to my mom and I came home with the girls here by 7:00. We took a shower together (so much easier for me to have them in the shower with me than to lean over the tub with my big belly!). Girls were in bed sleeping by 8:00!!! So two great busy days off! It will kind of be nice to be at work tomorrow - b/c work is actually relaxing to me - a break. Kyle is gone again tonight helping his brother move some last things from their sold cottage!

Have I told you I feel like a single mom? Well I do - still haven't gotten over it - sorry for bringing it up again. I am not complaining - just saying I am kind of sick of it already. The girls miss their dad like crazy. Everyday when we are heading home from somewhere they ask "will Daddy be home?" I am sure they just expect me to say no. And basically that is the fact - he's not home. I don't blame him either. He is just working hard - doing his best. He aims to please - everyone. Just right now it seems like he's aiming to please everyone but his family. Work is VERY demanding for him right now and then he needs his time too - so it's not like I can blame him for needing to get away either - just feels like it's a lot! This too shall pass!

OH yeah - had my 34 week appt. yesterday! Wow - like next appt they will start "checking" my "progress" (if you know what I mean LOL). I had lost a pound in 2 weeks - kind of odd at this point and I cannot believe. I EAT! I eat a TON! I love my ice cream and sweets. I think it can only be b/c I have been busy chasing the girls! We haven't had time to do our bike rides or walks so it's not from that. Who knows - I am sure it is no concern - next appt I will probably have gained 5 - LOL! The babe is definitely growing b/c she is so right there. Just still shoving my insides around like mad! I totally know I will miss that feelingin a little over a month. :(

OK - this ended up being a longer post than I thought - LOL! That's what you get when Kyle is gone - you get me talking to you b/c I can't tell you the last conversation we had together. Oh wait - it was the night we got to go out together just us two - two weekends ago! So you get my blabbermouth instead of him - LOL! This will probably be my last post until next Mon./Tue. We are off on Fri. morning to the cottage! Hope you all have an awesome Labor Day weekend!

My scrapbooks

So, Monday I had seen on numerous forums out there the questions about 8 x 8 scrapbooks. One of the forums was a question by Lynette. She was looking for a good 8 x 8. It got me thinking - I should tell people what I like to do for my scrapbooks. I buy these albums in 8 x 8 for my girls main albums. Then to dress them up I wrap a ribbon of choice around the cover and tie in the front. I also attach these little metal self-adhesive letters for the monogram. This personalizes the book and keeps it nice and classy I think. These albums are only $14.99 too - which I think is a pretty good page. I guess by time I doll them up I have $20 into them. Still not bad. I have never been into the opening on the front for a picture personally so when I found these books I went with them. They work great for me. Braelyn is on her second and Selah still on first book. The girls have other albums too (like the Baby Daze Album), and also our family album - which leads me to the second forum question. There was a gal looking for an 8 x 8 three ring bound album. I happen to have a two ring bound album in 8 x 8 that I thought she might be interested in. It has a family theme on the outside. It is made by Leisure Arts and it is called the Memories in the Making collection. I cannot find it online though unfortunately. For those that are local I buy them at our LSS in Jenison - Pages in Time. They have such an array of books! Here are a few pictures of my albums just for those who want to see what my LO's go into. I currently have 50+ LO's to print - I am waiting for another sale thru ScrapbookPictures. Last time they had a .99 8 x 8 printed LO deal I think I had like 100+ printed. I need one of those sales again b/c I have found that they are the best at printing my LO's!

(BTW - I just bought the next babies album b/c I do up a page for visitors to sign right at the hospital, and I even picked out the initials that I think we will go with!!! How daring is that?! It's almost like my mind is made up!!!)

So tonight I am doing family salon night and then tomorrow morning we leave bright and early to head down to Indiana for Shipshewana - a flea market! I love going once a summer at least. I hope tomorrow is not sweltering hot or it might be a quick shopping day. I will be packing lots of water and ice cold wash clothes! I am going with the two girls and my mom!

Talk at you later folks!

MandaKay

Short One Today

Hubby got home safe yesterday and we were all glad to see him! He called me this morning from work and said "I hope you can have this baby on a weekend", and of course I ask why. He said he was just given two more projects to run and they are two hours away - so travel time alone in a day is 4 hours. So late nights and early mornings - busy busy for him. I have so much anxiety over it b/c I feel like a single mother - LOL. Add on the fact that I work part time - our poor girls. All is good though - we get to spend all next weekend together up at a cottage with friends - good family time.

Just wanted to spotlight a couple blogs just in case you haven't scoped them out yet. Very inspirational!

Shabby Miss Jenn Designs Blog - fabulous LO's spotlighting her designs!

The-Lilypad Blog - Monday morning challenges and Fri. morning new product spotlights!

Back to work for me, hope you all have a phenomenal day!

I found it...

My scrapping mojo that is. I finished up the two LO's I was working on and even went on to do another. They are NOTHING spectacular, but they are done. They say what they need to say and that is what matters in life and in my scrapping theory. So hopefully I can keep it up, although this coming week will be busy again with work and a salon night at home, and then getting ready for Labor Day weekend! So without further ado...here are the LO's I had such a hard time with.

And here is the LO that I started and finished on Sat. I had to get everything done that I wanted to on Sat. b/c Kyle is back and I just don't get as much guilt free scrap time!

Well, Selah is snug in the babies room crib, and Braelyn WAS tucked into her bed and called me and asked to sleep with me - we'll see how that goes. She seems to have something against her new bed. I hope it will be fine once Kyle gets back. I have been falling asleep here at my computer so I am heading to bed. Happy Sunday everyone!

Where did it go?

My scrapping mojo? Where did it run off to. I have two LO's half done and I cannot for the life of me finish them. Why do things like that happen when I have all the time in the world to scrap with no hubby around. And believe me - it is NOT for lack of GREAT supplies - I mean honestly - I have FABULOUS stuff to work with. I think that may be part of my problem - I am a bit intimidated by some of the great stuff I have. The other thing is, is that the two LO's require a fair amount of journaling - to tell a story so that is rough for me - I am not a good writer. So today (last day without hubby) I will make myself finish up those LO's so that I can move on to others!

Last night's girls night was great! I got NOTHING done, but it was so nice to hang out with some great girls and chat and laugh and have yummy food. The night always goes so quickly. I think around 12:30am we wrapped it up. So - the girls went to bed great last night and then NOT good in the middle of the night. I am not sure what is going on. I was so irate and crabby. It started around 3:15am when Braelyn came into my room. No big deal at that point. I figured I would let her sleep with me since I didn't really mind the company. Problem is she did not fall back asleep, therefore keeping me awake. I brought her back to her room after making her go potty. Just when I start falling back asleep I hear both girls crying. Ugh. Up I get again and calm them down - warning Braelyn not to wake Selah up when she is awake. Repeat that last step - I hear crying again when I njust start falling back to sleep. Braelyn is in the bathroom (which I am sure was just to pass time for her b/c I just had her go at 3:30am), and Selah is awake. Now it is 4:15am and Selah is chatting away - this carried on until at least 5:00am - when I stopped looking at the clock. So that is not the worst of it. I have a monitor in their room so this morning at 7:11am I hear Braelyn say "wake up Selah, Wake up". Now I am ready to lose it. I am the roll of mother and father and it is wearing on me - and to make matters worse now I am working on lack of sleep. I probably got 4 hours last night. Not enough for a crabby pregnant woman. So my morning started with a LONG time out for Braelyn and an early start. Selah is about ready to go back down for her morning nap and I am half tempted to put Braelyn down to. Problem is then I don't think she will take much of an afternoon nap. She is "grounded" from cartoons this morning too. I am probably being a bit harsh, but at minimum she could have just come out of the room and let Selah keep sleeping. So needless to say today and tonight the girls will NOT be sharing a room. They will sleep seperately for MY sanity. So I thought the sleeping together was going good, but I am getting ever more frustrated. We will see how it goes with Kyle back home I guess.

Today I have NOTHING planned. A load of laundry, some more cleaning here and there, and just hanging out. It is pretty wet and dreary out this morning yet and I am sure I will be taking a nap when the kids do. A good day for that I think. I spent too much money already this weekend so I figure I have to stay in b/c doing anything outside of the home will require money.

So there is my re-cap and my day plans. If anyone has an urge to scrap or finish a LO for me feel free to email me - LOL! J/K!

Have a great Sat.!

Mama went a shopping!

So what happens when the hubby goes away??? Mama goes a shopping. I am NOT a shopper. I don't really enjoy it unless I have a TON of extra money floating around. It actually generally stresses me out, but I had a coupon to Old Navy for $10 off a $75 purchase. It expired today and I had a whole virtual shopping cart filled at work - just over $75. Problem is I get cheap and I think "why pay $5 for shipping when I can go to the store, see and feel the clothes, and save the $5. So that is what I did. Instant gratification too. Problem with that, is that when you shop online you can see a running tab and I think I had like $90 total by time I used the coupon and it added the shipping and tax, and at the store you are just tossing things into the cart - paying NO attention to proces. Needles to say I spent quite a bit more b/c I decided to buy it at the store.

First picture is an outfit that Braelyn and Selah each got - matching. Next outfit is Braelyn's - something for church and school. Third picture is Selah's skirt - church. And the fourth pic is Braelyn's camo pants and Selah got the matching green. So I ended up with 4 pairs of pants, two skirts, two tights, two little tees and the little sweater vest for Braelyn. I think that is pretty good for under $150. Good fall wardrobe. Kyle will be happy with the camo pants so that is how I will justify it all to him. :)

TGIF - thank goodness it is Fri. tomorrow. I say it every Fri. - but truly mean it. I LOVE Fri. because I have Fri., Sat., and Sunday off! No real schedule to follow - other than the usuals. Tomorrow I am taking the girls after Selah's morning nap to Jenison to our local scrapbook store to get some paper and embellies. What for - you may ask??? Well since we redid the rooms I need to get the girls' names done for the wall. We have had Braelyn's - so hers will just get moved. Her's hang on the wall by ribbons on pegs - in the CurlyMT font so we just need to move hers over to the new room. For Selah I got the wooden letters from Oriental Trading Company (can't find them now online - sorry). Anyway - they are basic white letters and I am going to paste paper on and add ribbons and embellies. I hope they turn out. So hers will set on a shelf in the room. Then I need to just order the new babies once we are for sure set on the name. I totally am set on what I want it to be - and I THINK Kyle is too - we just don't really talk about it much. But I would like to get them ordered soon anyway. So I have a list of things to get from the scrapbook store - including the new baby's album b/c I make a scrapbook page for people that come to visit can sign - so I need to have that all ready to go. Then I am going to lunch at FAZOLI's!!! So excited about that - I LOVE fazoli's as do the girls. If anyone wants to join me - call me in AM!

Hope you all have a great weekend planned and I am sure I will check back in this weekend!

LO's and pics

First things first! I have a GREAT big FIRST birthday to shout out! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHABBY MISS JENN DESIGNS!!! Shabby Miss Jenn opened up shop one year ago! Jenn created 3 new kits - one of them being Scrumptious Strawberry - which I chose to use for this LO of Selah sneaking cantaloup during a family prayer at an outdoor party. Along with these three new kits - she has her first original three kits on sale for $2 each. And to add to that, if you make ANY purchase from the store you get a GREAT Creative Team Freebie. This part in and of itself is amazing. Shabby Miss Jenn let any of us make quickpages or use any of her products to make things for the freebie. There are quickpages, word art, cards, templates, a quickpage album, etc... - AMAZING! So don't hesitate to A. wish SMJD a Happy Birthday, and B. Go get a good deal at her store!

Here is a LO I did for the blog challenge at The-Lilypad. The challenge is to use Amy Martin's new Rubber Band shapes in a LO - how EASY is that - I mean these rubber band shapes are great and easy to use! It was great to do a boy LO too. My brother-in-law sent this picture by email along with the story of how my nephew got the big ole bruiser and needed stitches. Used Natalie's new Denim and Dirt kit - her first full kit too - seriously - she better do more!

Went to the fair tonight - so fun! I got a few pics I can share!

The classic Dumbo ride. Selah's first fair ride ever!!! She liked it! Braelyn was a good big sister on the ride!

Kyle and the girls on the ferris wheel. I was going to go in one "car" with Selah and Kyle in one with Braelyn until we got to the stairs to get on and the guy said I could not go on b/c of pregnancy. I was a little bummed. Kyle just took both girls - again - they LOVED it!

Me and Selah on the Carousel - the one ride I got to go on!

The girls each got 5 free tickets from their summer reading program and each ride was only one ticket so they each got to go on 5 rides - which was plenty for them and for mom and dad! They did the dumbo ride, the ferris wheel, circus train ride, carousal, and fun house. We got cotton candy and popcorn as dessert. Dinner was a hot dog for the girls, pizza for Kyle and I, and fries for us all! Yummy! It was a fun family night!

OK - it's late - I am going to bed. Kyle went to bed about 1/2 hr. ago and we RARELY go to bed at different times, but I had LO's to post and a blog post to get done!!! Work again tomorrow.

Have a great Wed. everyone!

Accomplishment!!!

First off - thank you all again for your support and words of encouragement after my last post. Amazingly since then I have felt much better again - so I think just journaling it helped! Sorry you all had to be my sounding board.

So we have accomplished our task for the weekend! Here is a picture of Braelyn and Selah's new room. The room got extremely small once we had the bunk bed set up, but it works nonetheless. I love how the two colors turned out. One is called Mellow Coral and the other is Iris Pink (which is really a light purple). My brother in law Brian came and helped me as did my sister-in-law Nina - super nice of both of them! Kyle pretty much just tried to keep the kids out of our way. We had the room done by about 1:00 and then it was CLEAN UP time. There was a ton of cleaning to be done so we put the kids to bed and went at it. I cleaned my wood floors too which is nice to have done - but man is it a TON of work!

This is the room - I tried to get a shot with both walls - the coral wall is the only wall we did that color - all other walls are the purple. We still have some stuff to hang yet - but mainly done! Notice the crib in the bottom bunk part - that is Selah's bed - poor girl. Should only be for a few months, then we will get her a mattress and she will be more comfy - I just can't move a 19 month old over to a big bed yet. We had gotten this double bunkbed for Braelyn's big girl bed, knowing one day her and Selah would share a room. Didn't anticipate it this early, but it's kind of fun. I hope they sleep well - it's probably good that they can't see eachother - they can talk, but that will get boring with not being able to actually make eye to eye contact. The double bed (mainly letting Kimmy know) is from Kidz Roomz - over on Alpine in G.R. - it was only like $900 and it is two double size beds - so more bang for your buck - they had it in different colors but we got black. You do not need to set it up as bunks either - so some day they will each have their own double size bed - for life!!! The quality is VERY good according to Kyle (who should know seeing he is a builder). It was not fun to put it all together, but we did it all today while the kids napped.

Here is Braelyn already up there playing on it. She seems excited to have an actual room - like a decorated room with a bunk. Selah didn't seem too impressed - although she did like being up on the bunk - but we will discourage that!

Close up of "B" playing up on her bed - with her "Barrel of Monkeys" - do you all remember those??? Great stuff. Her bedding is all different colors, but I picked the coral (which is the color of her sheets) and the purple (the color of her blanket).

And now the nursery is now set up as the nursery again. I actually feel more ready now - more excited. I even have the diaper stacker filled with new little baby diapers - so tiny and cute!



So our weekend was good - Saturday night, after a long days work, Kyle's mom offered to have our kids for the evening while we went out. I can't tell you how awesome it was for her to call us and ask us if she can have them - usually it is the other way around and then you feel guilty for asking. It was so needed for us at that point and it was a great night out. We went to Beltline Bar in Grand Rapids b/c we had never been there before and Kyle wanted to try it. It is a mexican cafe - we each had a wet burrito - very good. We even finished off dinner with a big bowl of Mexican Fried ice cream - YUMMO!!! We NEVER get dessert at dinner time so it was a true treat. We had great conversation and talked about a lot of things that we just haven't had time to talk about. I love going out with other people, but there is something great about just going out together - us two - best friends. Afterwards we went to Gander Mountain - which is a hunting/fishing store for those not from Michigan - I think there are a couple of them in Michigan. Kyle needed a tackle box for his "spoon" lures???!!! All in all a great night.



Sunday - just church, a great lunch at Mom's, and then naps and room arranging. Little more cleaning, dinner, and then movie night for me and Kyle. Flags of our Father is what we watched. I fell asleep - which tells you a little right there. I generally like war movies, but this one didn't hold my interest. Although it is a good story about the picture of the men raising the flag at Iwo Jima.



Work today and a pretty normal standard week this week. I think Tue night if it is not raining we will head out to the fair in the next town - about 15 minutes away. It is kids day and we can get 5 free tickets for rides per kid b/c of the book program they went thru at our library.

Hope you all have a good start to your week!

Overwhelmed

With life, with kids, with stuff in general. I feel like I can't lift myself out of the pit. Ugh - I hate that. I am a crabby crabby person. Most of the time I hide it so well - and I think I still am. Most of you that know me know that I don't act overwhelmed or sad in front of you. I put on a decent front I think. I'm just spent. Kyle is spent too - he said during dinner - "I think I am burnt out". He has been working his BUTT off on his job - putting in long stressful hours trying to keep everyone happy. We need a vacation, but obviously that cannot happen anytime soon. In fact - between now and Oct. - life is only going to get busier somehow. Not sure how that is possible. I feel pulled in every direction right now - how many more can I get pulled in? I just want to give up and say "I quit". Anyway - that is the overwhelming feeling I have. This is really my only place to confide I guess - sorry for those that actually read - LOL. So if you know me and you would have never guessed it - well - now you know. How many of you cover up these same feelings? I think we probably all do. I think my pregnancy hormones this time are so out of wack - I have kind of felt this the whole time. I told my girlfriend Julie (also a nurse at my Dr) that I probably should get on some medication - and yet I never have. I do admit though it would be so nice to just feel "normal". OK - enough.

I'll give about 10 random facts about me just to end the post on a good note!

1. I am an 80's child - born in 1980 and literally LOVE the 80's. 80's music is GREAT.

2. I am the youngest of 5 kids - what was my mom thinking - LOL!

3. I have only broke one bone in my body - oddly enough it was my collar bone - how wierd is that? I don't remember it a bit - I think I was only like 3 yrs old or something - and fell off a retaining wall. I did chip a bone in my finger once.

4. I went to the rainforest in Peru - the summer between 7th and 8th grade I think. Got sick and lost like 10 lbs. from eathing nothing. Had a HORRIBLE room mate and had to get switched.

5. I went to a private christian school my whole life.

6. Beauty school was the exception - I did that my senior year half days and then the year after - 1500 hrs of school to get my license.

7. I met Kyle - my husband at a party thru a girl from beauty school. The night I met him he proposed to me. It was all out of a conversation of me saying I would cook and clean for him - so he jokingly asked me. I was dating a highschool boyfriend at the time - which obviously didn't last much longer after that! Kyle swept me off my feet that night - but I had thought at the time that that was where it would end. I feel like I need to do a whole blog post just on our relationship - LOL!

8. I got married at 20 years old - have not regretted it ONCE to this day!

9. We honeymooned in Hawaii - FOR FREE!!!!

10. I LOVE Mc Donalds - like I could eat there everyday probably - HORRIBLE I know!

So - tomorrow is work and then I told Kyle we are staying home ALL weekend until the girls rooms are done!!! Hopefully I can show pics by Sat. night! I think I am going to like the colors we picked out!

Adios!

Enabler Alert!!!

So I have some more news that is SOOOOO exciting to me. If you are a reader of my blog and are NOT into digital scrapping - this will mean NOTHING to you. (although I do have a few LO's to show off!) The-Lilypad has their own BLOG!!! You can only imagine how cool this blog will be. So the first blog challenge is posted today and it ROCKS. The challenge is to scrap a LO with the colors of the Lilypad store (black, pink, and green). How easy is that. And to make it even easier the FABULOUS designers have made a BUNCH of paper and element packs at a super low rate ($1-$2)!!! These products are amazing and the colors are super fun! I have been amazed by the LO's created by the creative teams and we are going to flood the galleries to show you all the fabulous goodies! So play along and lets see what other GREAT LO's you girls can do! I think the blog will be a ton of fun so check it out!

And now - here are my LO's!

I had a lot of fun playing with these goodies. This last LO is done with a new little kit by a new designer coming to The-Lilypad Sept. 1 - very exciting.

Work today and Dr. appt. tomorrow - and a pretty slow laid back week! I am going to move the girls into Braelyn's room this week and then start painting! House is coming off the market this week due to some stuff that happened in the neighborhood this weekend - making it even harder to sell the house right now.

Hope you all have a great week and I can't wait to see you ALL participating in the new fun challange at The-Lilypad - come on now - great prizes available!

Some pictures of the weekend...

Thought I would post a few pics from the weekend. Zoo/pool day with Kyle's whole family.

Besides it being a HOT day - we had a good time at the zoo. A Tiger, a bear, little 3 month old pygmy goats, billy goats, monkeys, mountain lion, snow leopard (which was beautiful!), sting rays, sharks, and many more animals. I believe we got home at about 1:30 for the kids to nap good and then we met up with the family again at my sister-in-law's soon to be neighborhood pool and pavilion. It was great fun swimming with everyone and had a good dinner too.

After the pool is was time to come home, do baths, get kiddos in bed by 8:30 and then Kyle and I sat outside by a fire for a while - just talking and hanging out - it is so nice to do that with him. He LOVES sitting by a fire and we usually have good talks while out there!

I will be back to post tomorrow with some LO's and fun stuff - stay tuned!!!

Photo Action

Check out this photo - a before and an after! This is now my FAVORITE photo that I have ever taken - and mainly b/c of what the action did to it. Although I must admit - my heart fills with joy when I see my little three year old playing and praying!

Before: After:

This action is by Lauren Barden at The-Lilypad, and it is the sepia action in THIS pack!

Here is the LO I did with it!

That's all for tonight folks. I have a big long day tomorrow of breakfast, zoo, home for kiddos naps, and then the beach for dinner and swimming(?) with Kyle's whole family. It is going to be 90 degrees too - so hopefully I will figure out how to stay cool! Selah and Braelyn are going to love the zoo though! Hope you all have a great weekend!

I will have a few more great LO's to share come Monday morning!!!

Whoopin my butt

So starting today this pregnancy thing is whoopin' my butt. I LOVE being pregnant - always have. I LOVE communicating with this little babe in my tummy with all her swirling. Starting last night and today though - it's a whole new ball game. Last night was my FIRST night of not good sleep. Now I am not complaining in the least b/c I KNOW how fortunate I am to have this be my first night of sleeplessness. However, it does not end there. This morning I just did not feel good. I thought it would pass. I was having quite a few contractions and pressure down below, which really isn't all that abnormal for me lately. With this being my third pregnancy I have been contracting more and earlier. You see, the problem lies in the fact that the lower back pain is now coming with those contractions and this morning the contractions were quite frequent and uncomfortable. I debated calling the Dr. and of course I haven't yet b/c I know they are nothing and that it is pointless to call, but I did debate it. Hopefully by taking it easy here for a bit this afternoon they will just go away all together. I do feel like all of the sudden I am HUGE. Like my belly is like "ba-boom" - right there! :) So here's to hoping the baby girl settles down in there a bit and that my body slows down a bit.

Speaking of my baby girl, she still doesn't really have a name. I am open for suggestions yet people. We do have a list of top three so far, but nothing set in stone yet. When we do know we can't really even tell Braelyn b/c she will spill it! That girl can't keep a secret to save her life - although I am pretty sure she doesn't even know what a secret is - LOL! Hey - just thought of this - I don't think I shared baby #3's profile ultrasound did I? Forgive me if I am wrong, but I will post it - maybe you will have a name pop in your head just from looking at her - LOL!

Isn't she cute?! She seems to have a bit of a different nose and mouth area compared to Braelyn and Selah's ultrasound at this stage, so we will see if she looks different. I am guessing another hairy baby just b/c of the heartburn again. They say it is generally true that heartburn and hairy babies go hand in hand. So far so true for me. How wierd though if this baby comes out with light hair vs. dark. Braelyn and Selah were black haired babies!

Anyway - enough baby talk. I have a bunch to do before the party tonight and so far Selah has talked thru her whole nap. NOT a good thing. I am still hoping she falls asleep - I have gone in there once already to change her diaper thinking that might be it. We still have to run out and get Corbin's gift too before 5:00 - then it is off for his cool Blue Angels birthday party! I hear there is some really cool stuff in the works for the party - which is no suprise b/c my sister Tammy just ABSOLUTELY ROCKS at birthday parties. And it can't be any better that they have a great pool to entertain by! I am sure I will get pics tonight. Kyle won't be joining us there until probably 6:30 so my pictures might be of the later part of party - LOL!

Ta ta for now folks!

First Kid Dentist Experience

So today was Braelyn's big dentist appointment. First one! She did AWESOME to say the least. I think she did better than what I do at mine - LOL! Selah too did well for being a tag-alonger! I must RAVE about this dentist office. It is a pediatric dentist office, so right there I knew it was geared towards kids. The waiting room was fabulous with a train on a track by ceiling going around the whole office, and some good toys. The wait was SUPER short. By time I filled out the appropriate paper work they called Braelyn back! The office is set up as a pretty much open office. They had a few "rooms" sectioned off more (I think for kids that might be more apt to cry and for procedures), and so Braelyn could watch other kids getting examined and checked! They had a great fish tank in this area too and more toys. I could sit right by Braelyn and Selah and I watched. Selah was just intrigued. The hygenist did all her stuff with Braelyn and Braelyn was great - she listened and answered questions and just sat as good as gold. We waited a few minutes for the dentist - which is whatever dentist is available. The dentist just kind of rotate around the open area. The dentist we got was great - a middle aged man who was very friendly and informative. I am sure it helps that we didn't have to have x-rays or anything like that - it was just a routine first visit, but it went WAY better than expected. I would HIGHLY recommend the office - if you are in the area and want the name of it just let me know. My sister Tammy recommended it to me. I also had such great plans in my head to get pictures of the whole event and "shocker" I forgot my camera. ARGH. They would have been such cute photos. Next time for sure. She will go again in 6 months.

After the dentist we headed to the library to bring back books and to turn in the girls last paperwork for the summer reading program. They each finished it! Braelyn read 70 books and Selah 50! For their last prize they each got to pick a new book. Braelyn picked a "build a bear" book and Selah picked a little book with a CD. We picked up cookies from the bakery and the kids started to lose it. So did mom. Selah still NEEDS a morning nap and due to the dentist and running we skipped it. BAD thing. She was a wreck. It is HUMID today - 89% I hear. So a preggo woman hauling around 2 kiddos in humidity was probably not a great idea to begin with. Anyway - we made it home, kids played, I did bills/balancing, and then we did lunch by 11:45 and Selah got chucked in bed by 12:15. She is chatting away right now, so I will go in and get her soon. I layed in bed with Braelyn for about a half hour - that was nice too!

Last night I tried to mow our yard b/c Kyle was working over time (16 hrs. in one day). I got the two rows all around the outside with the push mower (b/c I don't really trust myself on the rider), and as I came around the front of the house my neighbor guy was standing there crossing his arms and giving me a scowling look. I stopped and he said I should not be doing that and that he would jump on our rider and finish it up for me. I told him i didn't mind - all the while in my head thinking - wow - that would be nice. So he would not take no for an answer and he burned out the rest of the yard for me. I did give him a couple zuchini and a cantaloupe fresh from our garden. That was very kind of him. Kyle was very happy b/c of his busyness at work and fearing the thought of not having it done - LOL! Fear no more my sweet hardworking hubby!

And with that I am off to get Selah. Braelyn just woke up too! Have a good one!

Tubing

Sunday afternoon already. WOW. Back to work tomorrow - that is depressing - LOL!

We had a very fun weekend. Fri. night after dinner we came home and packed up the girls' things and brought them to my mom for bed. I got them there and put them to bed and back home I came to finish packing up our camping stuff. Sat. morning by 7:30am we were out the door to go to our friends where we all met for our tubing trip! About 8 of us were on our way up north a ways and had breakfast and then got to camp to set up. There were 4 tents and the motorhome that a few of us rode up in! We had 16 people tubing!!! Total blast! It was HOT getting set up and waiting for our tubing ride up the river, so getting in that river at 1:00 felt GREAT. The girls all tie up together and the guys all kind of stuck together - every once in a while we would all stop and refresh and stand up for a while. The sun was pretty much non-existant, and it cold by 5:00, but that happens every year. The 4 hr trip always seems to last 5 for us. We had a super dinner when we got back of burgers, party potatos, pasta salad, salad, chips, fruit and more! Good 'ole fire and hanging out at night and it made a perfect trip! This morning was just packing up and on the road by 9:00, a stop for a nice sit down breakfast, and then unloading. Still made it to my mom's for Sunday lunch and to get the kiddos - so good to see them, but they were ready for naps so we didn't stay too long today and now they are napping and I am cathching up on my long lost computer!!! Two weekends without is about doing me in! I need to scrap for some therapy!

This week is CRAZY. Tomorrow is work, nightime is cleaning out the camper more to return it to my mom. Tue. night is an adult dinner for my MIL's birthday. Wednesday night is my little nephew's 5th birthday party. Thur. work (and Wed. 1/2 day), and nothing at night (at this point - LOL), and then this weekend is some sort of family thing with Kyle's family. I won't even say what yet, b/c it has changed a billion times - LOL! So lots of crazy busy stuff for us - I find it wierd that I am saying this, but I am EXHAUSTED. I LOVE all the fun stuff we are doing, but I am getting BURNT OUT! I would kill for a weekend of just being home together and doing nothing. No work, no packing of things, no plans, just home. I am just a bit of a homebody I guess. I don't think my life will get any less busy either anytime soon. Braelyn starts school Sept. 11 and less than a month after that I will be having this little babe. Super excited for that.

Remember my plans of painting the girls rooms and getting the nursery re-set up and all that good stuff? Well of course it was put on hold b/c we had a couple that came thru our home (which is for sale for those just joining me here!) and they LOVED it and had their home sold and all that good stuff. Now I did and do not get my hopes up and yet I would HATE to paint it if they want to buy it. So we are giving them 2 more weeks. Kyle goes away the end of Aug. and I hope to do a bunch either right before he leaves or while he is gone. We can't keep putting this off - I feel like this baby will be here before we know it and I have a LONG list of things I want to do. Mark my words by Sept. 15 our house is coming OFF the market until next spring if it is not sold! Do not let me slip on that one - seriously - LOL!

So, tell me what you did this weekend?! Did you do any fun summer activity? Check in folks - especially you lurkers! Hope you all have a great week!

Edited to add - guess what - still no pics this weekend - LOL! I did take it and just NEVER took it out - we were too busy making memories (and boy do we have a lot of good jokes about the weekend!)