Blooming Fuchsia

It is finally finished! The girls' room has been a work in and out of progress for a while now. We made one final push this weekend to finish it up. Originally, we thought we were done about the time Levi's nursery was done....the girls were disappointed when they saw there room. They said that Levi's room was so pretty and cute and they were sad because theirs was "boring." They had a point and it kind of bothered me after that but I just figured it would have to do. As the reality of a new baby got closer and closer, and I knew that they may have a little identity crisis when he got here so I asked Shawn if he was up to painting just one wall of their room...and pink at that! I knew exactly how to get to the heart of my girls and and I knew just what they needed in order to love their room. So this past Friday, we bought the paint, "Blooming Fuchsia," and Shawn had it knocked out in no time. I purchased bulletin boards and began painting those...that little craft project took about 3 times longer than it took Shawn to paint the wall...but it was all worth it. When Elle came home from school on Friday, Shawn brought her upstairs and we surprised her with the makeover. Both girls were so much fun to watch as they let it soak in that they really had a pink wall!!! They loved it and I know it made them feel so special. We are so glad we got to do this little thing for them. One of the most important things to me as a parent is doing things for my kids so that they feel very special and very loved by us. I think we accomplished that this weekend! I can't finish this post without bragging on Shawn. I did a lot of the creative thinking and he did almost all of the muscle work. It was a lot of work and I'm so thankful that he was totally on board to do this and was just as excited as me, to surprise our girls.

Here's Elle's reaction upon noticing the color

I love this picture. She moved closer to see the color better and I love Shawn's big smile in the background.

The girls posing with their beloved pink wall and bulletin boards.

The Rest of the Story

Things slowed down towards the end of Spring Break due to the fact that I'd run out of steam, but we still managed to have lots of fun in the girls' eyes. Here's a picture recap:
On Friday, Shawn took the girls for a hike to "The Lost Pond." It's a little pond that can be seen from a bridge, but doesn't really have a trail to get to it. The girls think we've taken them to a whole other world when they go there. I don't think many have gone to it before so we always feel like it's our little secret, even though you can sort of see it from the road. This was a real treat for them. They had the best time doing nothing but throwing rock after rock after rock into that pond. Elle found some fossils in the rocks that she immediately declared would be going to show and tell with her this coming Friday.

On Saturday, we knew the weather was going to be freezing and very windy so we took the girls to the bowling alley. This was another very special treat for them. This is definitely a treat trip because it gets expensive! They had a wonderful time of course but about 6 frames in, all they wanted to do was eat....bowling is a little bit mundane to them. Being the amazing parents that we are, we.endured.Ci.Ci's.pizza. This was the holy grail of sacrifices for me...I just do not like this place at all. But I will say, I think it has moved above Gatti's on the places to eat list. Gatti's is off the list all together. Eww Eww Eww. Anyway, they were so so excited to go eat at Ci Ci's pizza.

Shawn was very patient and helpful with both girls. He took each of them up there every single time it was there time to bowl and helped them line up the metal thingy thing (that's the technical name) and was very encouraging to them :)

The final score

Why yes, I am trying to steal a bowling ball by putting in under my shirt. Like Ava's pose?...I think she was going for the statue look.

8 months

I'm 8 months preggie today. I have 26 or less days left. I am ready! I think this is the most prepared mentally and physically of all 3 pregnancies...experience helps. I can not wait to have Levi on the outside. The pregnancy has been pretty typical which means I'm exhausted, easily annoyed, overtired, achy, sleepy, and impatient! I am day dreaming about Levi all the time at this point. I dream about his toes, little hairy ears, hair on his head (or not?), temperament, cheek roundness, eye color, length, weight...it's all such a mystery except that I know he's going to be active....he's proven that already and anyone who sits near me and happens to glance at my stomach can attest. So, pray for me for the next 26 days....actually pray for me for the next 18 years....it's going to be a wild ride as a mother to 3 and I can't wait to stick my hands up in the air and scream at the top of my lungs on every downhill curve!

The P's

I noticed a theme in our schedule today and I've been feeling bloggy lately as you can tell so here goes:

Pricing...making tags for one last consignment sale to rid our house of all the little girl clothes that don't fit either girl anymore.

Planning...making lists daily of things to do before Levi gets here.

Playground...gorgeous day today so we had to take advantage

Picnic...Daddy had a great idea today!

Pizza...from Papa Johns (and yes this is day 2 for that shirt and proud of it!)

Peeps...blue in honor of Levi

Popped-out Pooped-out Preggie...you really can use my stomach as a shelf!

Ode to Green

I love a holiday that celebrates the color green! In honor of that, here's a glimpse of green from our home.Found this little gem in one of the garage sale boxes from the last garage sale I had. I think I must have bought it at a consignment sale years ago and couldn't stand not having it, but by the last garage sale I guess I thought I wouldn't need it ever. I was so excited when I found it while pricing clothes!

The behavior chart today....both girls stayed on dark green. That's a good thing :)

The girls posing in the shirts that Shawn's cousin brought for them at the baby shower. They LOVE these shirts and were so excited to wear them today.

Green Jello cheesecake that the girls helped me make.

I might have too many choices at this point...I do love green nail polish though. I'm wearing the one on the far right and loving it :)

Adventures: Day 3

Today held lots of new adventures and a few old favorites. We started the day by going to the hospital where I will deliver. We preregistered and took a short tour with the girls. The rooms are huge, the walls are freshly painted, the floors are new, and there's lot of natural light in every room. Very nice indeed. It was weird though because there was only one mommy and baby on the whole floor, which can hold 22 women....but Shawn reminded me that just down the road in Round Rock, there are 3 large hospitals within a few miles of each other so maybe the one here isn't quite as busy all the time. Works for me. Being there, made me wish my water would break NOW. I kept hoping it would before I left, but no such luck. I laughed when the lady giving us the tour informed me that siblings weren't allowed to stay overnight with new mommies. I told her that this was a vacation for me and that I would have no problem complying with the hospitals rules. Next, since today was so rainy, we headed home and the girls got to watch one of my very favorite movies of all times; The Neverending Story. They both really really liked it. Yeah! After the movie, we had about 15 minutes before Shawn came home for lunch, so I repainted their toenails. Elle picked pink with glitter and Ava picked purple with glitter. They always feel so fancy after they get their toes painted. After naps, we headed to Gattiland, where on Tuesday night, all games are half price. We ate some nasty over-priced pizza and headed to the gameroom. We let them play just about anything they wanted. We also had a free ticket for the bumper cars. Elle has never been big enough for the cars, until now. I was really interested to see how she would handle it. She loved it! She and Shawn rode them and she did a great job bumping into him and taking a few hits too! She was so proud of herself for trying something new. After we couldn't take the sensory overload another second, we turned in our tickets and true to form, Elle got a Polly Pocket doll that cost 575 tickets and Ava got 2 suckers that cost a total of 20 tickets. They were both happy as could be. :) We let them attempt sleeping in their tent again tonite and this time we gave them flashlights which kept them preoccupied for at least 45 minutes. Finally, they started bickering and we knew that meant it was time to go to sleep. They didn't put up much of a fight. What another full day it has been. Hoping tomorrow is more low key, because my energy level is plummeting like a rock! Who knows what tomorrow will bring....

Hello.....Feet???

Are you still down there? I'm guessing you are because I saw you up close the other day when I painted your nails green for St. Patties day....unfortunately I don't get to enjoy the hard work because I can't see you....We'll get reacquainted soon though :)

Campy Stuff

What a great and L O N G day it has been. We started today with making blueberry muffins together....cooking with my girls is an exercise in patience but we all made it through and the muffins were so good. Then we got ready and headed to Target for a few nesting essentials. After that I took the girls to a playground they had never been to before and won mother of the year for letting them play there for a full hour. Then we headed to IKEA to eat lunch just because we had never done it before. Another thing to mark off the list of to do's. If you haven't ever eaten there, save yourself and eat anywhere else. Better choices, better tastes, and cheaper prices at just about anywhere else you choose....but remember, it was all for the children. Anyway, then it was naptime and after that we headed to our favorite fishing spot. We caught a total of 5 perch and the girls showed me that they were no longer afraid to pick up worms. That made me more proud than just about anything else! Next we continued the outdoorsy theme with hot dogs for dinner, followed by stove top S'mores. They were delish. Last, we surprised the girls with a new tent just for them. While they took baths, I set it up in their room and they went crazy when they saw it set up. They couldn't comprehend that we had done that and that they were allowed to sleep in it all night if they wanted. I will say though, that as I write this, 40 minutes after putting them to bed, they are both in their own beds sleeping...I don't blame them. The idea of tent camping is fun, but actually sleeping on the ground, not so much. I am sure they will have hours of fun tomorrow as they pretend all kinds of stuff in the tent. Okay so that was our Monday...I'm exhausted but ready for whatever new adventures find us tomorrow!

Who said girls are always girly?

Serenity....

Making S'Mores

Daddy's the last one at the campfire setting his marshmallow on fire.

In the new tent!

Austin Kite Festival

I got wind (pun intended) of the Austin Kite Festival about a week ago and decided it would be a great way to kick off our week of Spring Break. It was on Sunday from 10-5 so we decided we'd leave right after worship and head to Austin. Shawn and I had high hopes for an exciting and fun afternoon. We had planned on riding the free buses down to Zilker park since parking was $7 but after seeing the lines for the bus and realizing that we'd be in line longer than we'd be at the festival, we decided on the $7 parking....that was a bit of a mistake....okay really there was no good answer. We parked and asked the attendant about how far the park was and she said it was about a mile....enter contractions. I was told last week by my dr to take it easy and stay off my feet as much as possible. A one mile walk while pushing Ava in a stroller was not dr's orders, but we didn't really have another choice. The traffic within about 2 miles of the park was HORRENDOUS! So, we just started walking and I started praying that I wouldn't send myself into labor....give me a few more weeks and I'll be ready, but not quite yet. We got there and as we were entering the park, others were leaving and handed us 16 tickets that they didn't use. You needed tickets for all the drinks, and such. So it was definitely a site to see...hundreds of kits at all different levels and different colors and sizes all flying in unison and none getting tangled. We have no idea how that was possible, but somehow people were doing it. First order of business....try out the porta potties. I am proud to say that after about a 30 minute wait, both of my children can now successfully say they've used a porta potty. I still get shivers thinking about it, eww eww eww. Also, Ava learned to breathe out of her mouth when something smells bad. Okay, onto the next thing. Then we went to find water....every booth was out...really? Really. So we had to get Dr. Pepper...another first for the girls. They both got to drink Dr. Pepper and I'm pretty sure they have fallen in love. Too bad, because that won't happen again if there is water anywhere around. But, they were so excited about it and couldn't stop talking about what a treat it was. They also got to eat cotton candy which Ava ate in the same manner that Cookie Monster eats cookies...never seen anyone eat it quite like that before. We then went to get popsicles because it was burning up and of course...they were out, but expecting more within the next 30 minutes. We went and sat for a while and watched all the kites and then headed back to the popsicle place. We waited a little while longer and finally more showed up. They were an all natural type and the girls and I got a Watermelon one....it was almost weird how much it tasted exactly like watermelon...like they had frozen a chunk of watermelon on a stick. Amazing! All of these foods and drinks came up to $15...or 15 tickets, just what we had been given so we ended up not paying a single penny for all the yummies. Then we headed back towards the car because I was walking so slow, we knew it would take us a while to get back there, get out of Austin traffic and get back to our house in time to clean up and head back to worship....we ended up with 30 minutes at home before we had to turn back around. We were exhausted. Shawn and I have learned a very important lesson from this "fun" day. Adults have a VERY different idea of what makes an event successful. To our girls, the fact that they got to drink some Dr. Pepper, eat some cotton candy, and have a popsicle, made this successful to them. Shawn and I are learning to change our perspective when we are doing things that are more for the girls than us....if they are happy, even if what they did was mundane to us, then it was great and yesterday was a great success! We can now mark that off the list of things to do!

First taste of Dr. Pepper...Elle should be on a commerical for them.

Ava was proud of her cotton candy beard.

The Austin skyline and all the kites.

My high point...popsicles. It was so hot and these just hit the spot.

Billions of Burp Cloths

I've found that I have an obsession with personalized burp cloths. I love the idea of coming up with designs and colors and I guess it just scratches my creative itch. This is a picture of all the materials, ribbon, and threads ready to go. I loved looking at all of it like this before actually taking out the needle and thread.

So below you'll see all the burp cloths finished. I absolutely love love love how they turned out. They are like eye candy to me and will bring alittle color and joy to a not so fun job.

Okay this is just a little something extra. I saw this online at Old Navy a few weeks ago and popped into the store yesterday and they happened to have exactly one 0-3 month left. I love this little outfit and I'm adding it to the list of possibilities for coming home or 1st trip to church.