The Stevie Times

4-5 Inches

2012-02-12T15:04:00.000-05:00

Surprise!

Sarah got a new haircut.

(G'mas... please don't kill me)

Yup, it is short... but oh so fun and cute.

Her hair used to be down to her lower back, almost to her lil' bum.

Not any more.

Want to know what Sarah's favorite part is?

Shaking her head to make her hair fly out.

I'm constantly seeing her toss her hair and hold her head differently.

She really enjoys it.

Here is a picture (not the best) from a couple of weeks ago to show you how long it was.

It has been a real challenge brushing Sarah's hair out. She is so active, that by the end of the day, all of the bouncing, flipping and rolling around she has done turns her hair into quite the rats nest.

So, Saturday, after brushing out a terrible mess, we decided it would be a lot easier if we took off 4-5 inches of Sarah's hair.

Here's a lock of evidence.

I'm sort of having a hard time with it.

I love it and think it is so cute,

but... I don't think I should have done such a drastic change while still surging with post-baby hormones.

There have been tears... lots of tears (hidden in my room so Sarah won't see, of course)

She is so darling though, it'll just take a little adjusting for mom.

We are both very excited about having less tangles.

Sarah really loves it.

Today at church she ran up to everyone and asked them how they liked her new hair.

She was so excited to show her friends.

Oh, I love this sweet, sweet girl.

Short hair 'n all.

One Month

2012-02-09T15:52:00.000-05:00

Guess who is one month today?

I can hardly believe it, can you?

Every day Zak is becoming more and more alert.

I'm just dying for when he starts to smile back at me. Anyday now, any day.

He is starting to fill out his {big} little body more.

A little roll on his thigh.

His forearm has one too.

He still keeps his arms in the fetal position, most of the time.

Especially when he has his plug.

Oh, but he is still so tiny.

Love his little feet.

Happy One Month lil' Zakster!

Oh, and don't you just love this lil' quilt?

I think it is gorgeous.

My dear, sweet friend Cathy made it for me.

She is pretty much amazing.

Both of our families were stationed in Ft. Benning, Georgia at the same time.

I haven't seen Cathy in, mmm... 20ish years.

We've gotten back in touch through facebook and blogs.

It is so fun to see her sweet little family and be back in touch with her.

When she found out I was having a little boy, she watched what I was pinning on Pinterest, and made me a quilt in the colors I LOVE and a quilt pattern I had pinned.

She also threw in some adorable drawstring bags I had pinned as well.

What a wonderful friend!
(I'm so undeserving!)

So, everyone can ooo and aaah over this beautiful gift.

She is quite the quilter. I'm totally jealous of her mad skills.

She even pieced together some of the back too.

I love it.

You're the BEST Cathy!

Can't wait for our next visit to Utah so I can thank you in person.

Poor Abby

2012-02-08T20:30:00.001-05:00

So many of you already know about this... but I haven't told the blog... so here we go.

The last weekend in January we made a temple trip, blogged about HERE.

On the long drive home Abby wasn't her usual perky self. I was assuming it was because she was tired from traveling. The girls were up late, and I was exhausted, so on the drive home we decided it would be best for me to stay home (although, secretly in my head, my plan was to bounce out of bed early Sunday morning, get the girls and I dressed and ready for church...um, yeah. That didn't happen.).

It ended up being a good thing because Abby became very fevered all Sunday long. I was bracing myself with throw up buckets never more than an arms length away. But she never got sick to her stomach. Well, she did throw up once, with perfect timing I might add. I had answered my door and was trapped talking to a solicitor. Abby walked up, fussing and insisted I hold her. Just as I picked her up, she gagged and then... yup. All over me and the door. I'll never forget how big the eyes of that solicitor got. Makes me laugh to think about it. It was the perfect way out of talking to her. hehe.

Anyway. Abby's fever persisted several days.

Finally on Thursday morning (the 2nd) we took her in to urgent care.

No, Ryan took her in as I went to drop Sarah off at preschool.

Poor, poor Abby.

They had to put a catheter in to get a urine sample (so wish she was potty trained, *sigh*).

I'm so glad it was Ryan and not me. I get weepy just thinking about how terrifying that must have been for her.

We had to wait several days to hear back if the culture was positive for a UTI, but started her on antibiotics immediately.

Test results came in and it was positive.

No. Fun.

Although, there is a plus side to everything. Yes, Abby is a little more cranky than usual, and has had a lot of rough moments. But, for the most part she has been just tired. Will put herself down for naps and then go to bed with ease as well.

See exhibit A:

Abby will find a pillow and curl up and crash. It has made this transition from 2 to 3 quite nice when she is sleeping most of the day. Kind of feel guilty for enjoying her recovery time so much.

Sorry you've been feeling so yucky... hopefully soon you'll be back to your bouncy, twirly, giggly self.

On a completely different note.

I found this really cool thing on Pinterest.

You empty the contents of a glowstick into a jar with glitter dust and it looks like fairies in a jar.

My eyes sparkled at the sight of it and I fell in love... it was so magical.

Must recreate.

See...

well that was the picture some one ~~photoshopped~~ posted on line.

Liars.

*hmph*

We tried it ourselves today.

These are the results we got.

A glowing slime jar.

Doesn't look magical at all.

*sad face*

AND

I'm a bit concerned that Sarah and I are going to turn into Ninja Turtles or something.

Sarah would love that... She's really into Ninjas.

Oh well. We got pretty excited about it.

Sarah is still too little to know how much of a let down this really was.

Dirty Rotten Pinterest Liars.

*Hmfph*

Sunday Best

2012-02-06T04:32:00.000-05:00

Today was the Zakster's first day at church.

Didn't he look like such a stud?

I think I'm going to enjoy dressing this lil' fella.

Sharing

2012-02-05T23:21:00.000-05:00

I turned around to find Sarah had shared her favorite toy {of the day}.

What a sweet big sister she is turning out to be.

Hotel Photoshoot

2012-02-05T23:11:00.001-05:00

Had some time to kill while Ryan was at the temple.

So what better time to take advantage of good lighting and a happy, alert baby.

Hmm... will they be blue?

Abby has taken more of an interest in Zak lately.

Maybe it is because she sees how Sarah is constantly smothering him and wants to be like big sister.

Regardless... I threw her in for some shots.

These next two make me laugh because she kept sticking her fingers in his eyes and nose.

Love this.

Hehe... cross-eyed babies. So cute.

Looking at these pictures now, I can see how she was starting to not feel so well in her little eyes.

Poor lil' Abby.

Being so strong.

This isn't my favorite picture, but I love how you can see he chubby cheeks!

Gotta remember this hair.

Such a sweet, sweet lil' guy.

Good Weather --> Off to DC

2012-02-05T20:59:00.000-05:00

Well, apparently being a little stir crazy results in a last minute trip to DC at our house.

I know, some people think I'm crazy for going less than three weeks post baby, but really, our girls do awesome in the car, plus they get to go swimming and have some activities to look forward to. So going on a road trip is much easier than dealing with whiny kiddos at home all weekend.

So... here is our trip.

Pittsburgh can be terrible in the winters. Cold, icy and gloomy. Very, VERY gloomy.

So when Ryan saw that the weather was amazing last weekend we jumped on the chance to make a overnight temple trip.

We've given up on the idea of driving down and back in one day, it is too long and hard.

So to encourage ourselves to make it to the temple we budget in four hotel stays a year so we have little trips to look forward to. It has worked. The girls LOVE it!

We got off late (mommy and Zak had a rough night and couldn't get out of bed), so I didn't think I was going to make it to a session Friday evening. So we just checked into the hotel to let the girls swim.

Here they are all excited and ready to go.

I told Abby to stand by Sarah and Daddy for a picture, and she was so excited about swimming that she laid one on Ryan.

All set and ready to go.

Except for one tiny problem.

Some other kid had a little accident in the pool.

Yuck!

So, the hotel had it closed for the rest of the night to get it cleaned up.
The girls were bummed, but it ended up being great because I was able to hurry and change and make it to the last session at the temple that night. It was so nice to get away and have a little time to myself.

The next morning Ryan got up and went to a session in the morning and then afterwards we all went swimming. Or rather, the girls wen swimming with Daddy and I stayed at the side of the pool with the Zakster.

My little fishies.

The girls had so much fun with Ryan.

They are water babies, just like their parents.

Since the sun was out and it was so nice, we had a really hard time just leaving for home, so we crazily decided to hit up the Natural History museum before we left.

Abby has missed out on the carousel the previous trips, so we had to let her have a turn to ride.

I love this picture of Ryan.

Even if it is blurry.

Abby had a ball. She loved it!

Yay for the {over-priced} carousel ride!

We begged the girls for some pictures in front of the national monument.

Here is what we got.

Did a lot better once we asked for some silly pictures.

Abby must think that she is making the silliest face ever.
Just stood there giggling with her eyes tightly shut.
I think it is funny how Sarah looks like the monument is coming out of her head.

I wish I had video of this last one.

Abby was twirling circles and Sarah kept bringing her finger to her nose to make herself go crosse-eyed. It was really cute watching them perform for the camera.

It was a nice little get away. I was exhausted on Sunday, but it was so worth it.

Oh, and I scored an awesome deal while we were down there.

I had to run into Target to get some Desitin for Zak.

Right next to the baby cremes they had an entire aisle of baby items on clearance.

Including a Sit 'n Stand stroller.

On sale for $70 bucks!
I've been wanting to get one forever.

I had a gift card so I ended up getting the stroller for $35!!!

What. A. Steal!

I haven't seen one that cheap on Craigslist, and this was brand new!

Wahoo!

I'd say that was our instant blessing for going to the temple.

I'll take it!

Thanks Ry for arranging our little temple trip.

I sure needed it.

Love you!

Sunlight

2012-01-30T21:23:00.000-05:00

We've been having a little bit of sunshine lately.

Well... maybe it is still overcast a little, but it sure has looked a heck of a lot brighter outside, and I'll take that any day over the typical dark and gloomy weather that is typical of Pittsburgh this time of year.

So... how could I resist capturing even more pictures of the Zakster.

I'll resist commentary... you can just look at them with out narration.

Enjoy!

New Trick

2012-01-30T13:47:00.000-05:00

Since Abby is trying to figure out winking, Sarah decided she needed a new trick as well.
So... she is learning how to cross her eyes.

She is almost there... we'll keep you posted on this important progress.

Daddy's little Rocks

2012-01-30T13:45:00.000-05:00

Zak is totally rockin' the fo-hawk look.

I've tried combing it down after washing it, and it sticks right back up.

So funny.

I'm pretty sure that Daddy doesn't mind.

Here he is doing his classic lip pose.

Even Daddy can't help sneak in a snuggle or ten between school and work.

Rock on lil' Zak!

Snug as a Bug

2012-01-30T13:32:00.000-05:00

Yes, yes... I know.

My posts filled with an overabundance of the Zakster may be too much.

But, I'm pretty sure the grandma's don't mind... so for the rest of you, sorry.

This is another post of {probably} too many pictures.

I just love watching this lil' fella.

It is amazing how time just flies when you sit and watch them sleep.

I love looking at every tiny, little feature he has.

Especially that little nose.

Sure is inviting for the sisters to snuggle with him.

Even Abby wanted in on this snuggle session.

Awe... teeny little yawn.

This picture made me laugh.

It is so funny to me how different newborns look in every picture you take.

It seems as though their little faces completely morph with every click of the camera.

Anyway. I love it. Can't wait to start capturing little smiles, that is just the best.

Well, off to snuggle my new little bug.

I'm a Princess

2012-01-30T13:02:00.011-05:00

Oh my... we thought Sarah was a princess at this age, but she grew into superheros.

I'm not so sure our lil' Abby will do the same.

She ADORES anything princessy or girly.

She insists on wearing a skirt or dress everyday.

Once she is all girly-ed up she'll turn to me and with a big smile on her face beam,

"Look Mom! I'm a princess!"

Yes, Abby, yes you are a princess. And don't you forget it!

(love this cheesy grin)

If she spots her Sunday dresses (which of course are more frilly and girly) she'll throw a fit until we find something just as good or better (usually it ends up being dress up clothes tossed on top of her skirt and leggings). It is so different than Sarah. We've had to add quite a bit to her wardrobe just so she isn't wearing the same skirt day in and day out. (Thanks G'mas for helping with that!)

I love it though. Makes life easy when you can just mention princess this or that to get Abby to cooperate, and she'll do just about anything, even put herself to bed.

It is a fun stage... and I kind of hope she doesn't grow out of it like Sarah did.

Oh, and Mom... check out how cute these leggings are with this outfit you got.

Yes... she is standing on the table... we live on the dangerous side at our house.

I love you Princess Abby.

Night Owl

2012-01-29T12:32:00.000-05:00

We have a little night owl on our hands.

Every night, some time between 10pm and Midnight, the little Zakster will wake up...

A hungry little monster... and then after he is fed.

becomes quite content to sit and hang out for an hour or so.

It is his best happy and awake time during the day... er, um... night.

It makes it impossible to put him down and go to bed myself.

How can you with those chubby cheeks and bright eyes begging to be loved?

Arouses several silly faces... and ridiculous behaviors from mom and dad.

Love my little night owl.

Wish I could blame is on his father... but we all know where this trait comes from.

hehe

Drive-Thru Sledding

2012-01-29T11:49:00.000-05:00

Before my mom left we got a little snow storm.

The perfect amount for sledding.

Ryan bundled up the girls and let them come outside and sled down the driveway while he shoveled.

They had a blast.

Although, I need to find some gloves/mittens that are better suited for snow.

The snow clung to their little knit gloves and got their hands really cold.

Lil' Abby finally abandoned them and minutes later had bright red hands... of course she kicked and screamed when Ryan brought her into the house. We doubled up on her gloves and it helped for a couple more runs down the hill.

Thanks Ry for taking the time to build some fun snow memories with the girls.
They LOVED it and can't wait for our next big snow.

Sisterly Love

2012-01-26T01:50:00.001-05:00

I have THE best sisters!

The are so kind and loving (and crafty too).

So it really shouldn't have surprised me that they'd come up with baby boy projects to surprise me with.

My sweet sister in law Deb made this adorable quilt.

(Don't know how she found the time with a new baby 'n all)

She was evil and sent it to me weeks before Christmas with a big "Do NOT open 'til Christmas" stamped on the outside of the box (you'll be so proud Deb that I waited and didn't sneak a peek).

I oo-ed and ah-ed over it when I finally got to open it.

Perfect colors and I LOVE the animal print that she found.

Goes perfect with my little model, don't you think?

Then my talented sister pulled out her knitting needles and made me these cute booties.

They are so cute and tiny, just perfect for keeping Zak's little toesies warm.

I also don't know how Brooke found the time... four kids and still able to knit me a baby gift... one day I can hope to be half as amazing as you big sis.

Anywho...

I am super impressed with anyone who can knit, and Brooke has got some mad skills. She even knit the little ties (I would have used ribbon or something lazy like that).

Thank you so much my dear sisters.
I love you guys and Zak is so lucky to be spoiled by his amazing and talented Aunts!

PS - my other sister in law sent us some adorable outfits too... I would have dressed Zak in them... but they are still a little big (for a week or so at least). Thanks Em for the cute gift too! We love you too. ;)

Nesting with Grandmas

2012-01-25T22:32:00.000-05:00

While both Roberta and my Mom were in town, my sewing machine was constantly out. They were so sweet to help out with some of my to-do's on my baby project lists.

Here is what we got done.

Roberta helped me by whipping up several baby blankets for me.

She made these three two sided flannel blankets.

This silky and flannel blanket (this flannel fabric I LOVE!)

She also helped me pick out the fabric and then sew up this lil' flannel quilt.

I cut it all out and layed out the squares and she sewed it up and made the binding and hand sewed it on for me (staying up until who knows how late the night before she flew out).

My mom also helped me out by making some blankets.

She sewed the binding on these snuggly-fleece blankets

She sewed flannel on some cloth diapers for burp clothes

Don't they look so cute with my new quilt?

She also made me a new boppy cover, which I LOVE!

I bought this fabric for a different project that I never ended up following through on, and I'm so glad, I love it! It is so fun to look at while nursing lil' Zak.

Doesn't it just make you smile?

My mom also helped me figure out how to make a little changing pad for a dresser we have in our living room. It was lots of fun to make.

Makes changing this lil' guy a little more pleasant.

I sure was grateful for all of the help getting TONS of my to-do projects crossed off the list.

Thank you, thank you Roberta and Mom for all of your help!

I promise next time you visit I won't handcuff you to my sewing machine again...

unless you want me to. ;)

My Mom's Visit

2012-01-25T21:50:00.000-05:00

I almost don't want to blog about my mom's visit,
because it confirms the reality that she has gone home.
*sad face*

It was so wonderful to have my mom here. I just wanted to sit by her all day and not do anything but enjoy her company... which is pretty much all we did.

I can't really pinpoint what was best about her being here, but having her get up with the girls and putting them down each day was definitely at the top of the list.

I really slacked in the picture taking department. The first day after her arrival I was crazy and we went out and hit up clearance sales at target and such... totally wore myself out. So most of the time I was "resting" while G'ma and Daddy entertained the girls.

Here is a typical morning while she was here.

Girls crazy with energy, Abby snacking on a pancake g'ma made, a paintbrush keeping Sarah's hair back in a bun, everyone in jammies, and lil' Zak being doted upon.

Main doter... Sarah.

Zak's classic pose. He'll sit and hold it for minutes at a time.

I tried to get another picture of Zak holding his head up... here are my failed attempts.

Doesn't he look thrilled?

Yeah, his tummy wouldn't have any more of this nonsense.

The girls were very sweet to try and entertain themselves while Mommy and Grandma were distracted with craft projects (more on those later).

There was lots of snuggling and movie watching. The movie hit was Hercules that G'ma Newey bought for them. They love it... and I can't get the songs out of my head.

G'ma Lisa - notice the puppy she's holding... LOVES it! Thank you!

Favorite snuggle buddy.

Abby would rather snuggle up with my iPod and do puzzles or watch a princess show on it. She loves wearing princess dresses and the crown that Sarah made for her in preschool.

I thought this was a cute picture that I snapped of Ry and Abby.

G'ma Newey and her 9th grand-babe (3rd grandson).

Abby finally getting in on the snuggle time.

She has the best intentions... but usually she smashes his face in and pushes his head back... in a not so gentle way. We're working on it.

Every night while G'ma Newey was here she would snuggle up with the girls and read them stories, after which she'd tell Sarah an "Imagination Story"
The first night my mom started telling Sarah an imagination story Sarah asked my mom where she was reading the story from. My mom explained it was from her head and kept on telling the story. At the end Sarah sweetly asked her what the pages looked like in her mind. Thought that was so cute.

I could get the girls to do pretty much anything to earn their story time with G'ma.

Lightning fast baths... check.

Jammies on... check.

Hair prepped for church in the morning... check.

Brushing teeth... check.

Made our bedtime routines a dream!

My mom thought their little looks were so cute. Abby done up in curlers with a princess night gown on, Sarah with hair straight and long with and oversized Pittsburgh Pirates t-shirt as jammies. Shows both of their personalities perfectly.

Ready and waiting for story time with G'ma.

Abby filling in for G'ma for a bit.

We love Grandma!

I loved both of these pictures and couldn't pick which one to post.

Having grandma around makes everyone happy!

We sure loved having you here mom! I was so sad to see you go (but don't worry, I'm doing good). Thank you for all that you did while you were here (slaving away over my sewing machine!). It was so wonderful to have you around, thank you for coming!

I love you Mom!

Sunday Afternoon

2012-01-23T19:52:00.000-05:00

My first Sunday home was so nice. Ryan and the girls headed off to Church with my mom to help out and I got to get up late (we have 9am church), shower and snuggle lil' Zak.

Oh... and do a little photo shoot too.

(sorry... lots of pictures, but the Grandmas adore this kinda stuff)

Dare you not to laugh at this last one. ;)

Bringing Zak Home

2012-01-23T18:24:00.000-05:00

Here is Zak before his first car ride.

I wish I would have been thinking clearly when we got home. The girls and G'ma Berta had the house decorated so cute. There were signs and streamers up, it was very cute. But I came home, plopped on the couch and crashed. Soooo tired.

Here are the girls snuggling with their new baby brother.

They LOVE to kiss him!

Sarah does such a good job holding him (and always asks to do so).

My giggle bugs.

Mom trying to get smiles out of them...

Tickling baby brother.

Kissing baby brother (again).

I love the serious-adoring look on Sarah's face.

They sure do love their baby brother.

We decided to snap a few pictures of Zak after, the lighting was terrible and none of them turned out, but Zak kept lifting up his head, not even three days old... what a strong lil' guy!

Here is the only one that really turned out (and this is after brightening it as much as I could).

We love you baby Zak!

Sister visit, take two.

2012-01-23T17:47:00.000-05:00

The second day I was in the hospital Ryan had to work ALL day at the lab... kind of a bummer, but he still came and stayed the night with me afterward (he didn't get done until 3am though!!!). Since he new it would be a long day at the lab he left the van with Roberta so she could come visit me at the hospital.

Here she is snuggling lil' Zak.

Doesn't he look more like a one month old than a newborn... crazy!

Notice Abby in the background? Totally out. I think they came to visit around 5pm, which driving Abby in the car from 3-5pm is almost guaranteed she'll konk if she hasn't napped. Which, doesn't make for the most pleasant of Abby's when she wakes up some times.

Sarah still excited as ever about her new baby brother.

She love, Love, LOVES him!

Love that double chin!

Me trying to get Abby distracted from waking up a little on the cranky side.

Where is baby brother Abby?

(I just got my IV out in this picture, hooray!)

While the girls were there for their second visit they got to go and watch Zak get his hearing screening and get weighed and poked for his glucose test (they did it in the nursery, so they watched through the window). They thought it was fun getting to walk through the halls with little Zak. They also thought it was fun to raid the nutrition room for its apple juice. Yum, yum!

Thanks Roberta for wrestling the girls in and out of the hospital. It was such a treat to have them come and say hello to me, especially since Ryan was gone the whole day.

Totally random experience on this day. The Doctor came in to ask if we wanted to have Zak circumcised. He asked me if I knew all of which it entailed, assuming that he would explain the care and procedure I asked him to fill me in.
This older doctor then proceeded to draw a picture of a penis and foreskin on the permission form and explain how they would perform the procedure.
Er, um... thanks Doc. I knew that part, and now I'll have the memory of you explaining it, with pictures forever in my memory. Wish I would have gotten a picture of the doctor... kind of made the whole thing more hilarious if you saw him. Anyway. Thought that was pretty funny... and oddly, wanted to share/remember it.

Christmast 2011 Memories

2012-01-23T17:18:00.000-05:00

Just found this post I never finished... better just post it.

Watching Ryan and the girls decorate the tree while I took it easy on the couch.

Listening to Sarah sing the "Misfit" song from the Ruldolph the Red Nose Reindeer show. She would be playing with any of her toys and start talking about being a Dentist and then start singing the song. So cute.

Watching Abby dance, twirl and curtsey in her new princess Aurora dress. What a girly, girly girl.

Watching Sarah and Abby run around the house as they listened to "Run, Run Rudolph" one of their favorite upbeat Christmas songs.

Sarah preformed in a little trio along with our ward choir. She got up and sang with out Ryan or I by her side. She sang the child's part to Carol of the Questioning Child. Such a sweet moment, I was so proud I had to stop watching to keep myself from breaking out in uncontrollable sobs.

Watching how excited Sarah got to find our Elf on the Shelf, Eubie each morning. Loved hearing her giggle as she thought his new hiding spot was so funny (which was pretty much guaranteed anytime he was hanging upside down).

PIcture Perfect

2012-01-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

Less than a day old and freshly bathed... who could resist taking a billion photos.

Enjoy!

First little smirk caught on film.

Long little toes.

Totally relaxed.

Looking for something?

Love this picture, love the morning light in his hair.

He always furrows his eyebrows... like a little grumpy old man.

So tiny.

Ten tiny toes... security bracelets are in this year. Haven't you heard?

Yup, he's mine... has my name on him and everything.

And last, but not least his first picture for his modeling portfolio.
"Blue Steel"

Random unfinished post from December

2012-01-23T16:34:00.000-05:00

Another post I never finished...*sigh* obviously I was distracted a bit.

I've been trying to teach Abby how to wink, she hasn't figured it out yet, but she has figured out what it means to wink. So lately, anytime I wink at her, she'll ask me to "help" her wink (which is just me pushing one of her eyelids closed for her). It is pretty cute. One day she'll be able to do it on her own and I'll miss her sweet request for help.

We finally got our Bassinet set up in our bedroom, and Sarah was admiring it as I was folding the baby's clothes. I asked her if she could picture baby brother laying in his lil' bed. She said she could so I asked her what she thought he'd look like...
Me: So Sarah, what do you think baby brother will look like?
Sarah: (pause) Mmmm... the Bishop.
Me: (Surprised) What?!! Why do you think he will look like the Bishop?
Sarah: Because he is going to be bald, silly Mommy!

This made me laugh so hard.

Now if the baby does come out looking like the Bishop we may be in a bit of trouble. ;) By the way, Sarah calls me Silly Mommy all of the time. Anytime I say something wrong or try to tease her, Sarah's eyes light up and giggles while calling me Silly Mommy.

We recently moved the bedrooms around a bit to get ready for baby. We have a three bedroom house, but one of the bedrooms is small... like 7'x9' with no closet... it pretty much is an oversized closet. But we decided we liked the idea of having the girls sleep in that room with no toys or distractions at bedtime. We have loved it, and the girls think it is pretty special to have a new room. Especially since it has been the room that all of our guests have stayed in previously. Sarah is constantly telling people about her new room. Her clothes are still in her old bedroom (now the toy room/guest room/eventual nursery) so sometimes I tell Sarah to go get dressed in her room, in which she giggles with delight thinking I'm teasing her and calling me out, "You mean the toy room, Silly Mommy!!!

Meeting the big sisters.

2012-01-23T16:29:00.000-05:00

So while I was laboring away... here is what the big sisters to be were doing.

Yes we had some 50º+ degree weather... it was sunny and beautiful, so they played outside in our lil' sandpit. What fun, huh?

"Can I get a refill G'ma?"

"Why can't we do this every day?"

The girls opening their surprise hospital bags.

Sarah was pretty excited about her new buzz lightyear.

Abby was excited about her diaper kit for her baby dolls.

I LOVE this picture of Zak looking at his daddy.

Sarah loving on Zak.

Abby kissing her new baby brother.

Check out these rosy cheeks. My kids (and myself) get really rosy cheeks when we are tired, it was a little on the late side by the time they were able come visit us... it was interesting dealing with two rather tired new big sisters.

Meeting G'ma Berta

Mommy and Zak.

This is my "I'm tired, just had a baby and don't want to really take a picture face"
(But yes, Roberta, I am glad that you took it)

Oh, so new and snuggly.

This picture makes me think of my newborn picture... I need to figure out a way to get it on here so everyone can compare.

Watch out Zak, you have two VERY excited big sisters that love to hold and ~~smother~~ snuggle you any chance they can. So happy that you are in our lil' family!

Welcoming Baby Zak

2012-01-23T14:51:00.002-05:00

Okay... I realize this is an extremely long and wordy (big surprise) post... don't feel like you have to read it, or if you do, read it in parts... with chocolate or ice cream. You'll need some reward to make it through the whole thing. ;)

Let me start out by talking about my feelings the previous week or two.

Early on in this pregnancy I had convinced myself to not consider New Years to be my due date. I kept telling myself that my mental due date was January 10th. Even after I found out at 37 weeks that Zak was looking like he'd be a rather large baby (measuring over 9 lbs via ultrasound). All of my friends that were going out of town wished me luck on my delivery and said that I'd more than likely be a new mommy again by the time they got back at the beginning of January. I'd laugh and tell them it would be more like the 10th and they all thought I was crazy.

Well, I was mental ready to go past my due date... until my body decided to do something new this pregnancy and dilate on its own. I went into my appointment a week before my due date and I was dilated to 3cm. I was SO excited! My body never did anything before I was induced with both girls (and Abby was 10 days late!!!). This little piece of info RUINED my mental preparation for going past my due date. I almost wish that I never new I was dilated.
Every little cramp I'd pause and get excited that I was going into labor on my own. There was a couple of times that I really thought I was.

Then, my due date came and went, and my next appointment I begged them to induce me on Friday the 6th of January, but my midwives preferred not to induce any earlier than 41 weeks. *sigh* So we scheduled my induction for January 9th.

The Sunday before (the 8th) I was feeling pretty miserable and was crampy pretty much all day. I thought maybe I'd go into labor then, but no... my body just likes to be induced I guess.

Okay, onto the main event.

Welcoming Baby Zak.

Here is a picture of my view before Zak was born.

Where are my toes? Haven't seen them in weeks.

For the record (not that anyone does) but I'm not a fan of pregnancy shots... but for lil' Zak, here is what your mommy looked like before you came. HUGE!

Mom and Dad all ready to go in and have this BABY!

I will have to say, one huge perk to be induced is that you can get up, shower and get all purdy'd up before you have your baby. Kind of silly I guess... but I still do it.

The hospital we went to (Magee Women's Hospital) did something kind of different. They gave me a time slot for my induction. So sometime between 8am-Noon I'd receive a phone call letting me know when I could come in for my induction (it was like waiting for a repair man or something). Luckily they called me around 8:20am so I finished getting ready and we headed out.

We got all checked into the hospital... and I thought it would be nice to enjoy some sunshine so we opened the curtains to find this. Our friendly construction worker (lovingly named Bob) right outside my delivery room window. Well... as to not scar him for life, we decided it'd be best to keep the blind shut

(not before snapping a picture or two... that I'll regret posting later...)

They got me hooked up to the pitocin at quarter to 11am and things kicked right into gear. I came into the hospital at 4cm (yay progress) and was excited about how fast this delivery might go.

While I was filling out forms and getting asked a ga-gillion questions they slowly increased my pitocin until things were really moving. I'm not really a fan of epidurals because they make my blood pressure drop so low (and I inevitably get put on oxygen) so I wanted to hold out until things really got painful. When I told my midwife this she suggested I take some laps around the hospital and see if that helped. Boy did it ever. I think I was at about 5-6 cm and when I started walking around my contractions got so painful that I couldn't even walk through them. I decided that it was time for my epidural. I asked for a ball to sit on to see if that helped... I think it was worse trying to roll around on one of them during a contraction. I just wanted them to stop.

So they ordered my epidural and the anesthesiologist showed up in a jiffy.
Here is where the getting up and getting ready before having my baby backfired. The epidural was SO painful this time, not that it wasn't before, but he had to keep adjusting the needle and it hurt SO bad. I cried... yup, I'm a wus. And then because of that lovely mascara I foolishly put on, I had raccoon eyes. Yup, pretty embarrassing.

Because my blood pressure drops so much they slowly increased the dose of the epidural so as to ease my body into it. I immediately felt warm and tingly and was able to relax. It felt so nice...

until I felt like I had to use the bathroom.

Seriously?

I got the epidural at 2pm and shortly after felt like it was time to push.

My midwife checked things out and found that my water was on the verge of exploding, so she helped it out, and then it was go time.
It was a little un-nerving because I got the shakes really bad. Every contraction after this I felt I was fighting to keep him inside while they got things all set up. Their was meconium in my water, so they called in a peds unit to make sure Zak didn't aspirate/swallow any of it.
They also had the attending OB there with his small crew incase Zak got stuck. Because of his estimated large size, they were concerned his little shoulders would get stuck, and if that happened they would need extra help, and the attending there to make the call of an emergency C-section if necessary.

Well, it came time to push. I was feeling great (other than the shakes) until I began to push and learned the my epidural wasn't working down there. I guess it was partially working, but I still felt pretty much the whole thing. You women who have had your babies naturally... props to you! It hurt SO bad. I wanted to sob... but of course, because of my huge audience I was to embarrassed to, so I just, ya know, struggled to breath and whined a little about how much it hurt.
13 minutes of pushing (really 3 good pushes) and little Zak was out, no problems getting the shoulders out at all.
They cut his cord and rushed him over to the peds unit to check him out.

Zachary Ryan Stephenson

Born January 9th, 2012 at 3:43pm

20 inches and 10 lbs. 0 oz.

37 cm head circumference (can't believe I pushed that big head out!)

9.9 Apgar score.

After they checked him out I was finally able to hold my lil' Zak.

He is perfect. Absolutely perfect. I'm in love.

I didn't get to snuggle him as long as I wanted. They whisked him away to test his glucose levels (because he was a big baby they are really concerned about them) and then next time I held him was after he was all poked and bundled up.

Daddy and his new son!

Here is our first picture together... I look exhausted... because I WAS!

It was a lot of work getting this lil' fella out.

Welcome to the world my lil' Zak.

I'm so excited for all of the little adventures that are in store for you in our little family.

So blessed to have you as my son and am so excited to watch you grow day by day.

Roberta's Visit (most of it)

2012-01-23T14:07:00.000-05:00

I didn't really edit any of these pictures, so the coloring doesn't match... if I worried about it, then I'd never get caught up from the past weeks... so pretend like they all look perfect and match in their coloring. :D

The day before Roberta flew in to town I had a doctor's appointment and learned that the earliest the midwives would induce me was January 9th... and Roberta was only going to be in town until the 10th... so, she sweetly changed her flight plans and stayed until the 13th so I would have help when I got home from the hospital. Help that I was VERY grateful for.

So... most of Roberta's visit I was still pregnant and we just went about doing our day to day tasks... with a rather large and slow moving hostess waddling around the house.

We picked up Sarah from preschool and went a little early so that we could watch Sarah from the observation room for a bit.

Abby entertained herself with puzzles on my iPod.

Sarah listening to Mrs. Smith reading a story.

We had a lot of lazy days. Friday we had a pajama day and all stayed in our jammies the whole day... well at least the girls and I did. I was kind of a killjoy because I really wanted to have this baby by Friday... but no.

Here are the girls "cleaning" the windows with baby wipes... you can imagine how clean they got.

Roberta brought Michelle's wedding video, so we watched it, along with our own (see evidence on tv screen). Afterward Abby and Sarah pranced around while Ryan played songs on his guitar.

Sarah also got really serious and put on her superhero attire... spiderman glasses, gloves and a scarf. Doesn't she look like she could take on the world?

We of course had to take some silly pictures with the camera.

What is sillier than sticking out your tongue?

We had a little warm spell in the weather and Roberta was wonderful to take the girls out for long walks so the waddle queen could take a nap and relax.

Still able to find dandelion heads in January.

I also had fun playing with Roberta's camera... here are some fun shots I got.

I LOVE this little look of Abby's.

Laughing with G'ma Berta.

So cute!

Roberta brought a little bouquet for Abby... she of course adored it.

My brown-eyed girl.

My two silly monkeys.

Ry and Abby. I love Ryan's I'm-only-humoring-you-Liz facial expression.

We made sure to hit up Eat'n Park and get some smiley cookies (saved a few to celebrate baby brother's birthday).

Cheese!

Sunday was sort of depressing because EVERYONE in the ward stated the obvious.
"Haven't you had that baby yet Liz?"
"LIZ!!! I can't believe you're still pregnant!"
"I bet you are so ready to have that baby?"
I love everyone in the ward, but I just wanted to post a sign on my forehead saying something like,

"Yes, I'm still pregnant...surprise, surprise!"
I know everyone was just showing their love by inquiring about me, but still, it was a hard day.

So, to help out, I was ordered to the couch to take a nap while Roberta made rolls with the girls.

They LOVED it!

Ta-da! What a masterpiece!

Sarah even convinced Roberta into playing Guess Who with her.

And we convinced her to play Dominion with us after the lil' tikes were in bed.

It was such a great help to have Roberta here. I was exhausted and she did so many little things (probably more than I know about) that helped with those nesting urges. Things like washing and pressing my curtains, vacuuming out/under the couch (which I'm sure was disgusting), organizing cupboards, mopping the floors, stocking my freezer with meals, and sewing... lots and lots of sewing (more on that later).

Thank you so much Roberta! We love and appreciate ALL that you did (especially loving on the girls while their parents were distracted/exhausted/recuperating.

The rest of Roberta's visit was after the baby was born and will be included in later posts.

Impromptu Tea Party

2012-01-01T19:36:00.000-05:00

Since school has started up Sarah has been missing some of her friends that she used to play with quite regularly... one of them being her sweet friend Eva. I love having Eva over because her and Sarah play so nicely together.

I was feeling a bit spontaneous, so we decided to have Eva and her two older sisters over for a tea party.

It was so much fun. These girls are delightful and I fully enjoyed myself.

Thanks friends for coming to tea!

Christmas Day 2011

2012-01-01T19:30:00.000-05:00

Yes, yes... a gazillion pictures... but I promised, I narrowed it down from the pictures I love.

The Grandmas will at least love it, right?

Anyway... here we go.

Here is our little Christmas Spread this year.

Its kind of in a funny spot, but we thought it would be fun to watch the girls come down the stairs and have to run around the couch before they could see what Santa brought them.

Abby got Princess Aurora and a matching Dress for her to wear (I think she has pretty much worn it everyday since Christmas).

Sarah got a wooden block set and a Blue Knight and a Dragon.

She LOVED it!

We had a special treat this year. Grandma Lisa had to send her present to Sarah on Santa's sleigh because it was too big to mail. Sarah LOVES art, and was so excited to have an easel that is just like the one at her preschool.

Here is the standard sitting on the stairs picture.

I love Sarah's "whoa" face in this picture.

Abby immediately giggled upon seeing her new doll.

Sarah was so careful looking at her new knight and dragon toys...

of course Abby walked over to "help" and knocked down the whole set up.

Luckily Sarah is a good big sister and didn't get upset with Abby.

Here is Sarah going through her stocking, and our elf Eubie was sitting and watching her the whole time... in a non-creepy sort of way.

Abby was so happy with her new doll and dress. She danced and twirled. I love having a girly little princess! LOVE IT!

Santa also surprised Sarah with a yellow school bus that she asked for, where she got that from, I don't know. If you look close you can see the peg superheros that I painted for Sarah on the piano bench.

Here are the girls opening a little gift from each other.

Oh how I love these two girls!

We got lots of fun surprises, Sarah really loved this book about the birth of Jesus that was read by G'ma and G'pa Newey. She read the book several times (thank you!).

And no... we did not get another kitty... somehow I was crazy and agreed to watch our friend's cat at 39 weeks pregnant. Does not mesh well with the whole nesting phase, but its not forever.

Sarah with her new Sewing Kit!

I was pretty excited to give this to her. She loves it!

This was just a funny picture of Abby. The glasses light up (as you can see on Sarah in the background) and the girls pretty much think they are the coolest ever!

We kind of rushed through our present time so that we could get ready for Church, then hurried home and got ready for a dinner with friends.

It was so nice. I kind of felt bad because I was feeling really sore that day and walking and standing was really uncomfortable, so I wasn't much help in the kitchen... and all I contributed to the dinner was burnt rolls and cranberry relish. Luckily my two friends didn't make me feel guilty and were happy to provide a completely delicious Turkey and Ham Dinner. YUM!

Here is a shot of our little gang.

We also brought an older sister from the ward with us who didn't have any plans.

It was a wonderful Christmas. It was great spending time with wonderful friends so that we didn't have too much time to miss all of our loved ones that are so far away.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-01T18:40:00.000-05:00

I hope my girls don't remember how lame our Christmas Eve really was this year. I think a majority of the day was filled with cleaning and preparing for baby brother's arrival, one of Ryan's sweet gifts to me this year (and really, was better than any tangible gift he could have given me).

So as the day went on (and I needed a break) Sarah and I finally got around to making THIS nativity that I saw on pinterest ages ago. I actually had to keep waiting until I had enough toilet paper rolls to make it (which wasn't too long with how often we've been changing out rolls lately).

I guess I haven't really had Sarah do coloring pages, because I am so impressed with how well she is able to stay in the lines. Lately I just give her a blank page and she goes to town, but it was really fun to color these with her and see how focused and well she did coloring them.

She really is becoming quite the little artist! I love it!

Here she is showing off our work. She did really well.

A better shot of the Nativity.

And no, that is not blood around Baby Jesus' head, it is his "halo" (it was a printable from a Catholic webpage). Sarah was determined that it should be red.

Later that evening we went to a friend's house for dinner. There were three families there and it was so nice, the kids ate for about 5 minutes and then all ran off to play. So the adults were able to sit and chat and enjoy some good conversation and fun.

Here are the cute kiddos that were there!

We then headed home to start on our family Christmas Eve traditions.

Here is Ryan reminding the girls about what the Christmas box is.

Posed "cheese" picture with the Christmas box.

Everyone got to help open the box this year.

Inside our Christmas box we have memories from previous years, candles that we light to read the Christmas story by, a cookie plate for Santa and other various things.

Ryan then began to tell the story of the Savior's birth from the bible.

Sarah did a great job listening...

Abby just wanted to turn the pages of mommy's scriptures.

We took a little break to open some presents via webcam with cousins and participate in a little bit of the Stephenson Christmas Eve traditions.

Then the girls zipped up in their new snuggly Christmas jammies and set out some cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.

It was so fun to have both girls so excited for Christmas.

I love Christmas Eve, I think I may like it even more that Christmas day. I have so many sweet, tender memories of Christmas Eves with my family, and Ryan's family does just as much too. It really is a chance to focus on the Savior before all the commotion of present opening begins.

Thanks for a beautiful Christmas my sweet lil' family.

Faces

2011-12-20T21:08:00.000-05:00

Lately Abby and I like to play a little game with each other where she makes a face and I copy her. I tried to get her to make some of the faces she does, but as soon as I poked my head behind the camera to capture it she would stop.

Getting ready for mommy to play along... oh how I love those big blue eyes.

This is her "sad" face.

Looks more like a scuz, but she always says "sad" in a little sad whiny voice, so I know that is the look she is going for.

Surprised.

Happy!

I had several unsuccessful attempts to get her angry face... it is so cute. Oh well... I'm sure I will get it eventually... maybe not when we're playing this game.

Of course Sarah has always been good at making faces... especially ones that make me laugh!

Oh how I love this goofy lil' girl!

Gabby Abby

2011-12-18T22:27:00.000-05:00

Abby has been slightly slower to get moving in her speech. Sarah was slower too... so I wasn't really worried. I know enough to be able to keep on top of how delayed she is and when to be concerned. She is really starting to be quite the talker. What she says often surprises us.

I love how you realize things that you say all of the time because you start to hear them back from your kids. Apparently I tell Abby, "I love it" a great deal because she has started telling it to me all. of. the. time.
Getting dressed for church, "I love your dress mommy."
Waking up in the morning, with my hair literally sticking straight up, "I love your hair."
After drawing a requested princess stick figure, "I love your picture."
I wish I could get the inflection on here... it is so cute, and so hard to catch spontaneously on film.
Guess if you want to hear it, you'll have to come visit. :D

Our whole family has been coughing up a storm. I think we should start a coughing chorus or something... make a little extra moolah for the holidays. Abby has had it the longest and worst... or so it feels. She has started coughing so hard that I've run to get the throw-up bucket because I thought she was going to lose it. Well, Ryan was coughing once and Abby, with her little vocabulary that is getting bigger and bigger each day, ran over to him...
"You coughing Daddy?"
"Yeah."
"Going to throw up?"
Apparently I made an impact with how many times I asked her that same question in the middle of her big coughing spells.

Abby knows change is a coming. She has become ultra clingy. If ever I run Sarah to preschool in the morning and leave her with Ryan it is set up for disaster for the rest of the day. Won't let me leave a room with out panicking and crying. She has also become quite the snuggler. One of my favorite things is to hear her sweetly ask for me to snuggle in bed with her at nap time or bedtime. It is really hard to say no, and most of the time I don't. But as of late, it is crunch time for Christmas and baby, and I know I'll fall asleep with her if I lay down, so I have to resist the temptation to give in.

We have a bunch of goofballs in our house, and I point it out often so Abby's favorite lil' game is to go through and talk about all of the family members.
"Silly Abby! Silly Mommy! Silly Sarah! Silly Daddy! Silly Baby Brother!"
She just giggles with delight thinking she is the funniest girl alive. I LOVE it!

It is so fun to hear Abby say all of these random phrases that she has picked up. Can't wait to share more and more Gabby Abby moments.

Good News!

2011-12-12T15:02:00.000-05:00

Our Lil' Fella FLIPPED!
He has been breech this ENTIRE pregnancy and now he is finally head down and ready to go...
all except the fact that he is HUGE! Oh boy, I'm in trouble.

The past couple of weeks have been anxiety filled for me. If this lil' guy remained breech then it was a guaranteed cesarian delivery. Which I know isn't the end of the world... but I was nervous and not looking forward to the extra recovery time (especially being so far away from family).

There is still the possibility of needed a c-section. This fella is measuring HUGE! I'm 37 weeks and he measures at 9lbs and 15oz. It isn't accurate, so he could really be anywhere between 7lbs 15oz and 10lbs 15oz... but still... I have at least three more weeks... and if he is already 8lbs, I'm in trouble!
We'll see what they say at my next appointment.
I see a group of midwives (that are very popular, and close) and they are not into inducing women. But I figure, if I'm headed toward a c-section... might as well try inducing me early, see if he will come out while he is "smaller." We'll see what they say about my next appointment!

But for now I get to stare at this cute lil' guys face until I meet him in person.

(technology is amazing!)

Sweet Lil' Abby

2011-12-09T17:31:00.001-05:00

There's a reason she's so sweet... and sticky!

Some lil' miss likes to drink the remainder syrup out of her dipping dish, and lick it dry.

Uh-oh! Busted!

Lip-smacking good!

Our Elf: Eubie

2011-12-09T17:29:00.000-05:00

I LOVE the magic of Christmas. I love watching little children's eyes sparkle as they learn about all of the wonders Christmas entails. So it is no surprise that I would fall in love with the "Elf on the Shelf" idea. My mother got all of the grandkids the story, with elf included and I was so excited to start the tradition this year.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this tradition. The elf is, of course, Santa's helper who has come to live with a family and keep tabs on the children and update Santa on how they've been. The elf uses magic to fly to the North pole and report to Santa. This magic of course disappears if the children touch or play with the elf. Each morning the elf will be hiding in a different spot for the children to spot in the morning. It is so fun, and Sarah is really getting into it.

Sarah has lovingly named our Elf, Eubie...
after a character in "The Happy Elf" a cheesy movie on Netflix right now.

I love to hear Sarah giggle and talk to Eubie when she spots him in the morning. The other day while she was still in bed I heard her calling out to him in a whisper, "Eubie...Eubie! Can you hear me? Did you check on me last night?"

She is the perfect age for such magic.
Hope it continues for several more years before the worlds spoils it.

We do talk about the true meaning of Christmas in our family too.
Lately Sarah has been including into her prayers at lunchtime,
"Bless us to have the Christmas spirit and remember baby Jesus."
So I don't feel too guilty for encouraging the Christmas Magic.

First Primary Talk

2011-12-09T17:02:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday Sarah gave her very first primary talk. She did such a great job. She talked about how the scriptures teach her about the birth and second coming of Christ.
I leave my Gospel Art kit at the church for singing time, so I decided it would be fun to print out some pictures and color them (well... I would have just printed them out in color, had our color ink not gone out). Sarah decided to help me out in the coloring realm. I had to post pictures of her detailed work.

She mostly copied how I colored mine, but I was so impressed with how well she stayed in the lines, and how long and hard she worked on them. Her focus on art has really increased since starting preschool, I just love it!

So great job Sarah on both your pictures and your sweet little talk.

Definitely a great way to start off our picture wall for the Christmas season!

Patient with Friends

2011-12-09T16:57:00.000-05:00

I love Sarah's hair... it is so pretty, shiny and long. She loves it too... but sometimes getting the tangles brushed out can be a whole lot of drama.

So imagine my surprise to look over and see Sarah patiently sitting still while her best friend brushed the tangles out of her hair.

All smiles... no tears when Emery does it.

They are such sweet friends, I just love watching them play together.

I wonder how much Emery would charge to come over and brush out Sarah's hair every morning.
Sure would make my life a whole lot easier.

Sweet Snugglers

2011-12-09T16:54:00.000-05:00

It seems as though most of our Fridays are spent in our pj's. Sarah doesn't have preschool on Fridays, and I'm usually spent from the week, so we spend it in our jammies watching shows and hanging out at home.

I thought it was cute to turn and find the girls snuggled up together watching their show,

and had to snap a picture of it.

Abby is apparently to distracted to show any facial expressions for a picture.

Love my sweet, sweet daughters.

Christmas Tree

2011-12-09T16:51:00.000-05:00

To help get Sarah to go to bed after having such a fun time on Thanksgiving day, we promised to set up the Christmas tree and decorate it in the morning. I ran out to Joann's to score some sweet deals on fabric, but Ryan told me that in the morning Sarah was waiting patiently at the top of the stairs before going down to see the Christmas tree. I guess we didn't explain that we'd be setting it up together as a family, but I thought it was darling that she waited upstairs without sneaking down to see the tree.

Ryan was in charge of this decorating fest. He ordered to me the couch and to unpack ornaments and pass them out to the girls. It was a little frustrating because the girls were SO excited to help and wanted to work like lightning, but all in all it was fun to do as a family.

Sarah got to put the Star on this year.

Ta-Da!!!
The girls were so proud of their work.

And I promise our skinny lil' tree is standing up straight, I guess the angle I took this picture at makes it look like it is going to fall over.

We now have it safely wedged between our couch and our piano... which slightly deters the girls from playing with the ornaments... but luckily, there are few that could break. Thank goodness for shatterproof ornaments.

Thanks sweetie for all of your hard work getting the tree set up and the decorations all pulled out. The house looks wonderful!

Thanksgiving

2011-12-09T16:44:00.000-05:00

We had such a fun Thanksgiving this year. Our friends the Bringhurst's moved out just a week before Thanksgiving hit and decided they'd like to spend it with us! It was fantastic and I wish I would have take more than just this one, single picture of the day.

We of course gorged ourselves on Turkey and all of the sides and even decided to cram a little pie in after. I've decided that being this far along pregnant is no fun during Thanksgiving. I literally only was able to have a bit or two of everything before I had to call it quits.

The kiddos all played so sweetly together too! I loved it. We let them roam through the house and play cowboys and indians while the grown ups sat and talked and even snuck in a game of Settlers.

It was a jam packed day that left no room for missing our families that were all so far away.
Thanks Nate & Sarah! You're welcome over anytime!

Randomness Related to Pregnancy

2011-12-09T16:24:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to for a while post some stories, thoughts and feelings from the pregnancy. It seems as though blogging has taken a major fall back on my list of things to get done regularly. Which to the grandma's... I apologize.

So, while I have a minute to myself (both of my girls are napping *gasp*) and for some reason I can't turn off my brain to join them, I figured I'd blog it out...

This is the first pregnancy where I got really sick all of the time. I'm not one who vomits easily, so it was mostly nausea combined with my regular migraine symptoms.
When I did feel up to eating... it was usually for something spicy... like pepperoni's.
It was always late at night too, but when you haven't eaten all day, and something finally sounds good, your go for it.

Then we went into the popsicle phase. I could eat popsicles all day. So yummy. Now the cravings have moved to Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream... and has pretty much stayed there.
Since I don't think I really have it written down anywhere, I thought I'd just recall quickly what I craved with the girls. With Sarah the biggest thing I wanted all of the time was Apple Juice... which is probably why I gained so much weight... all of those calories and didn't fill me up. I also remember really loving Bit O' Honey and Swedish Fish. As for Abigail... the only thing I can really remember craving all of the time was meat. Big juicy steaks, hamburgers... you name the meat and I'd want it. Mostly steaks, but I thought it was so weird that I wanted meat so much. I think we went out to Golden Coral several times during that pregnancy to have their rotisserie chicken.

Okay... onto some more pregnancy randomness.

I am really not too much of a complainer (well to everyone but Ryan, sorry love). So I don't usually let on how much pain I've been having in this pregnancy. I've had tenderness with my ligaments connecting my legs to my hips with all pregnancies, but it hit a lot earlier with this pregnancy. I've also had a huge amount of lower back pain. I can't unload the dishwasher with out my back aching before I'm done. Also, having a breech baby I think has made a big difference. Since this lil' guy's head is up in my ribs I have had a hard time breathing when I lay down. It also seems more uncomfortable then I remember to bend over and pick things up off the floor. So Ryan usually gets an ear full of what is hurting every minute of the day, but to anyone else who asks..."I'm doing great!"

To go along with my discomfort. This morning actually I was walking from the girls room to go lay back down for a minute and Sarah sweetly asked me,
"Mommy, why are you doing the potty dance?"
(slightly confused) "Um, I'm not, I'm going back into my room."
"Well, then how come you are waddling like a penguin?"
Gee... thanks Sarah...

I've had a really hard time with names this pregnancy. I think we've settled on one, but it really hasn't clicked for me. I agree that we will name him this name, but I guess this whole pregnancy has been so surreal... and gone so quickly that I don't ever give myself time to think about it. So we've been testing out a name... it still feels weird to call him by it... but I figure it is the only way it will sink in. So I've been asking the girls frequently what baby brother's name is. Here is what happened with Abby the other evening.
Me: Abby, where's baby brother?
Abby: Wight dere! (Right there).
Me: That's right. Abby, what is baby brother's name?
Abby: JESUS!!

I still wonder if Abby really understands what is coming to her. She has been so snuggly and clingy lately, her world is going to be completely rocked when she loses a little bit of that mommy attention with baby brother. Sarah has been excited since they day we told her. As I've written previously, she would tell complete strangers how I have a baby in my tummy. She still will randomly tell people about her baby brother that is coming after Christmas. To Sarah... the next scheduled events are, Christmas, New Years, Baby Brother comes, G'ma visits and then her birthday. Hope she realizes that this is two full months that we're talking about... I worry she thinks they will be one right after the other.

All in all, I do feel very blessed with this pregnancy. I really can't complain, there are so many that have much tougher pregnancies than me... or that even struggle to get pregnant.
The timing was a surprise, but is turning out to be perfect. I'll get a good 5-6 months of help from Ryan before he starts his 3rd year med school duties. Where as we were planning on shooting for May, and I would have maybe gotten two months. Glad I'm not in charge of the big picture.

Well... that is it. Still not tired... so maybe we can get some pictures on here for the G'mas.

It is FINISHED!!!

2011-12-06T15:21:00.000-05:00

I'm done! Hooray!
I'm so glad to finally have all of these stinkin' ornaments done.

Now onto other projects (like getting ready for this baby to come, HA!)

If you want to check out my advent calendar and ornaments up close go to my craft blog

Craft. Me. This.

Be sure to leave me some love so I know how you liked it.

Sweet Mint Gum

2011-12-04T19:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I just had to write something to get a new post up... the last one was too depressing and so not me. ;) So, I'm going to share a story...that is probably too much information.

We have a junk drawer in our kitchen, and in that drawer Ryan and I keep packages of gum so we can grab some on the way out the door. Well, Abby hasn't been able to get into it... until recently. Abby LOVES my sweet mint Orbitz gum, and why wouldn't she, it is good! If she ever gets to my purse, or climbs into the car before me, the first thing she riffles for is my gum and gobbles up as many pieces as she can before we catch her (she just chews it a little and swallows it).

Well... she had started to get into the gum in the junk drawer, and I should have moved it after the first couple of episodes... but I was lazy and she only ever ate a piece or two. The other morning Ryan and I were "sleeping in" and the informant came upstairs to announce that Abby was eating all the gum. So, I finally willed myself out of bed and came down to the kitchen to find Abby with a pile of gum wrappers EVERYWHERE! The lil' stinker ate an entire box... or more!

The whole rest of the day Abby had sweet minty breath. It made me laugh anytime she came and got in my face to tell me something. Well... the fun continued... because later that evening I smelt the mint smell again... rather strong. Only, this time it had a slightly unpleasant aroma with it. Well... you guessed it. She filled her diaper, and it was minty poo! Made me laugh so hard. So, for any of you who believe that it takes 7 years... we can happily say that it does not. :)

Oh, and I apologize if that thoroughly grossed anyone out... I thought it was funny.

Therapy Post

2011-12-01T23:12:00.000-05:00

Today has been 'one of those days' and so I'm utilizing this blog for a therapy post.

It is late, I'm tired and sleep deprived... so I'll probably feel dumb posting this later, but for right now, as I'm being kept up by a defiant two year old, it is what I'm going to do to make myself feel better.

I don't know what it was about today that made it so crummy, could have been:
-that I woke up with an upset stomach (didn't I just get the pleasure of food poisoning!)

-that both girls were cranky and not listening well

-that the hour I had to take a nap while my dough rised was ruined by one little girl who refused to go to sleep (until right before I had to get up to finish the rolls)

-that I spent ALL afternoon getting rolls ready for the bake sale that, 1. didn't turn out right and 2. I didn't get finished in time to deliver them for the bake sale (the WHOLE point!)

-that I spilled every possible thing on the floor while baking all day!

-that the girls destroyed the house while I worked all day in the kitchen

-that I was just exhausted from two consecutive late, late nights

-that I realized I had forgotten to drop off Sarah's preschool tuition that morning

-that I had to wake the girls early from their nap

-that the girls whined and fussed all the way to help dad pick up some cells from a nearby lab

-that I was late getting dinner delivered for my dinner swap group

-that the girls spilled water ALL over the car, and the dinners on the drive to deliver the meals

-that it was a battle to get Abby to eat anything

-that Abby broke a hand mirror in the bathroom

-that Ryan has to work late in the lab, so I have to miss my "book club" tonight

-that I laid in bed with Abby for an hour and a half only to have her NOT fall asleep at bed time

-or that I just wasted a hunk of dough because I took all day to get to it and it was all dried out

-or that I'm sitting on the couch when I should be cleaning up my very messy house, but have a lil' night owl next to me who just wants to snuggle...
and I feel guilty that I don't want to and just want her to go. to. bed!

Wow... that is a long list... and then I sit here and think for a minute.

I am so blessed.

Lately I have been an emotional wreck, in fact I opted to not read my "book club's" selection this month because emotionally I didn't think I could handle it (it was about the Rwanda Genocide)
I think about all of the sweet, dear people in my life who are facing so much worse than spilt water in the car in their lives. Sometimes I feel like I can't handle all of the sad things that are happening to those around me (and I'm not really affected by it directly, but I just get so sad for them). I hear stories in the news that just make me want to cry. There is so much heartache in the world, and here I am letting the small stuff get to me. *sigh*

I'll blame it on hormones, or sleep deprivation... or the lack of chocolate in the house.

I don't even know where I am going with this, or if anyone is even reading this still...
I guess the only thing that I can do is to make a list of some of the stuff I am grateful for.
-my family

-a call from my sister when I was at the peak of my stress day (the moment I realized my rolls were blah and timed poorly)

-that I have two very sweet little girls... hope they don't look back on their childhood and only remember days like today where mom is blitz and can't control her temper

-that I have music in my home, a talented husband and lil girls who love to sing all day long

-crumbs on the floor, dirty dishes in the sink (or everywhere really)... because it means we have food on the table to eat

-dear sweet friends who do so much for me

-having my mom respond to my text with a phone call... it was so nice to hear her voice after a day like today

-for this glass of egg nog... yum!

-for the sweet lil' words of a two year old, "Mommy wait! I love you. Snuggle on the couch?"

-that I still have at least four weeks until the baby comes to finish all of my crazy projects
-for a sweet note from my hubby apologizing for having to work late and not being able to help out tonight

-that I didn't have heart burn for three whole days after my bout of food poisoning...silver lining

-that the cold/cough I had a few weeks ago ended quickly and didn't turn into bronchitis

-that tomorrow is Friday and I don't have to go anywhere or do anything if I don't want to

There are so many things that I am grateful for... but my eyelids are feeling heavy and my heart is feeling lighter from unloading a little. I'd say this was a therapy post that did its magic.

Here's to tomorrow and a day that will be much, much better.

Now to convince this lil' Abby bug that she is tired too...

Preschool Thanksgiving Celebration

2011-11-16T22:03:00.000-05:00

I really love the preschool Sarah goes to.

I had the hardest time make the decision which school to send her to, and I'm so glad I chose Arsenal.

The classroom is "closed" to parents and siblings (as most classrooms are). They do have an observation loft, so I can go and spy on the kids whenever, but I don't get to spend time in the classroom with Sarah.

So when the Fall & Thanksgiving Celebration came up today, I knew that Ryan, Abby and I all needed to go so that we could play with Sarah in her wonderful classroom.

Here are Sarah and Abby enjoying some Banana Muffins that Sarah's preschool made for our breakfast. They were yummy, great job Sarah!

Abby of course went crazy in the dress up area.

Sarah had fun helping her sister in and out of various princess dresses.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of her classroom. It is set up so cute. There is a secret loft the kids can climb up into and read stories, or just lay down on the pillows. All of the toys are labeled and organized so the kids can learn how to read the words and how to clean up properly.

There are also oodles and oodles of art supplies. Sarah really wanted me to paint a picture with her, but they didn't have the paints out because of the younger siblings that were there (thank goodness!). So we used some markers and had fun making a fairy tale scene with a castle, dragon, princess and horse.

Sarah had so much fun with us there. It was great to spend time together as a family and get to play in this wonderful classroom.

Thanks Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Nesbitt for having us for breakfast!

Lil' Seamstress

2011-11-16T21:52:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I'm working on some felt ornaments for an advent calendar in our home. It is based off of an advent calendar that my mother made when I was young and holds a great deal of sentimental value. What I didn't realize it held, was a lot of hard work and time. Those lil' ornaments take so much time to make! So every day and night I've been working on them trying to get them done so I can move onto something new.

The only reason I'm getting caught up on the blog is because I am burnt out and needed some sort of distraction (other than facebook, pinterest and email...ha!)

Well, this lil' miss loves to sit by my side and "watch" me sew. I'm terrible, I get grouchy and tell her to go away and put on a show to distract her. But that doesn't always work. She was really interested in what I was doing. So I took the advice of my mother and friend and gave her some fabric and a needle.

She wanted to make an owl (the ornament I was working on at the time) but I knew that would be too difficult. So I drew and "S" in pencil on her fabric and let her go to town.

I never expected her to do so well.

The only thing I did was tie a knot at the beginning of each letter, do one stitch and then when she was done I would tie off the letter.

It is not perfect, but I am so impressed with how well she did on her first sewing attempt ever.

The back had knots and thread that wasn't pulled all the way up, but the front looks so good.

Now she keeps bugging me to sew Abby's name on some fabric. I think I'm going to have to make a little sewing kit for this lil' miss for Christmas. She loves it!

Great Job Sarah!

No its not you...

2011-11-16T21:26:00.000-05:00

Its the pictures. Almost all of these are blurry.

I love them anyway... and figured the G'mas won't mind them one bit.

(one day I'll have a camera that will do auto-focus with my 50mm lens...*sigh*)

Yes, the girls are in their jammies, I have no clue what time of day it is.

So maybe the blurriness is just an artistic portrayal of how I was feeling this day. Ha!

The little animals that the girls are playing with are from the most recent conference Ryan went to (we didn't go this time). They are a squishy foam (like a stress ball). The girls love them, especially Sarah. Unfortunately, the material isn't child-durable. The limbs and ears have all but torn off, super glue works awesome, but I don't know how many times I can super glue it before it is a solid mass of crusty, super glued foam. We'll find out I guess.

Thanks for bringing back the perfect surprise from your trip Daddy!

Princess Duties

2011-11-16T21:13:00.000-05:00

I'm really starting to wonder how we ended up with such a girlie lil girl.

Abby is quite the princess. If I don't close her closet in the morning then she rummages through it and puts on whatever dress she can reach. The frillier the better.

This has resulted in going to the doctor's in princess costumes, tutus, petticoats and even nice sunday dresses. Usually she still will have "normal" clothes underneath, but the constant ooo's and ahh's from older adults only encourage her obsession with looking the part.

Here are some of Princess Abby's daily activities.

Caring for orphans.

Responding to royal fan {e}mail.

Unexpected surprises.

And {of course} lots and lots of twirling and dancing.

It is a tough job raising a princess.

At least I have lots of support from Disney and Barbie movies to make sure I get it right.

I love you my lil' Abby. You'll always be my princess.

Halloween Festivities (finally)

2011-11-16T21:03:00.000-05:00

I know... November is already half way over... and I am just barely getting to Halloween.

*sigh*

Sorry Grandmas (and whoever else happens to stop by)

Anyway. We had a little bit of craziness surrounding our Halloween.

The Saturday before Ryan was invited by some of the Dorris Duke Fellows to go pick pumpkins at a pumpkin patch. Ryan always feels guilty because they are constantly inviting him to things, and he always declining the invitation (granted, most of them are to dinner at bars or happy hour... but still, he feels bad).

So this was something he could say yes to the family coming to. The only set back was that the farm was 45 minutes away, and they wanted to meet up at 2-3pm to pick pumpkins, and we had our ward trunk or treat that night at 5pm (which we had signed up to bring Chili to).

So... we still decided to go, promising ourselves we'd only stay for half and hour and leave with plenty of time to get to the ward party.

It was cold and rainy... so the only pictures I got were in the barn with the baby animals.

Sarah saying "hi" to Tic Tack the calf.

Abby said "hi" too.

Sarah petting the donkey.

Well as you can guess we didn't leave in time. We didn't even get a pumpkin.

The girls did however get covered in mud and their boots and pants were soaked up to their thighs.

Oh, and Abby was completely soaked because she fell over into a huge mud puddle.

But, it was still fun getting to meet some of the other fellows and feeling somewhat social.

So, we rushed home and threw our costumes on and got ready to go to the ward Trunk or Treating party.

Here are Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.

The Snow White costume (all but the cape) is courtesy of my mother and her amazing sewing skills.

I did the sleeping beauty one, and it definitely has its faults. haha

Prince Phillip and Sleeping Beauty.

Oh Ryan, you are such a good sport.

Thanks for taking on the roll of the sexiest Disney prince out there.

The whole family.

Yes, I don't match, but I thought it was a clever costume.

I should have gotten a picture of my backside, but I was a magic 8 ball.

On the back I had the blue triangle, and my answer was, "It's a Boy"

If you notice, Ryan and I have hurried looks on our faces. That is because we are about half an hour late and my friend (who didn't want to go in by herself) was waiting in the car for us to get there.

We showed up just in time to catch all of the ward heading up for dinner, missed the trunk or treating by seconds. It really was sad. I felt so bad that I made my friend and her daughter miss it.

But we enjoyed some chili and pie and then walked around and did cute Halloween games with the kiddos.

Sarah eating a cookie off of a string.

Yup... that is the end of the pictures.

Halloween night was kind of crazy.

It was cold and started raining about an hour before trick or treating began.

This unfortunately made it miserable for the girls, Abby's cough kicked up and we had to banish her to the car, and Sarah's skirt was so long and got wet and heavy she didn't want to trick or treat anymore. So I walked around for a bit with my friend and her daughter and finally let Sarah just kick the skirt and then she had lots of fun hitting up the few houses by ours for candy.

We ended up with far too many treats (of which the adults at home happily inspected) and lots of cute memories of our two princesses trick or treating.

One cute thing about Abby's first real trick or treating experience is that every time she would get candy she would say, "Thank you much" first time we've heard her say this, and it was darling.

Till next year halloween!

Sweet Sister

2011-11-15T11:37:00.002-05:00

All I have to say is darn these pregnancy hormones.

I'm constantly being turned into an emotional blob, that melts into a puddle.

Like when reading about my sweet neice's baby blessing, and the loving and tender emotions surrounding her mother's love.

Or feeling so proud of another niece for performing so well in a piano recital...

Or from a call from a thoughtful sister or sister in law just to see how I'm feeling and keeping me company (on the phone) from a long day filled with just kids.

But lately, the most common recipe for an emotional Liz blob is my sweet, sweet Sarah.
She is becoming such a wonderful big sister and I love her so much, and am so proud of her. I tell her this often, but my heart aches for her to know how much I really mean the words I'm saying.

The other day we were eating some left over mac n' cheese and apples, and there was really only enough mac n' cheese for one good serving. I still split it into two bowls and hoped apples and whatever else I could rummage up would make up the difference. Both girls immediately scarfed down their bowls. Abby finished first and politely asked, "More mac n' cheese, please?" I told her how it was all gone, she looked to her sister who still had two or three bites left. Then Sarah, very slowly, snuck two fork fulls from her bowl into Abby's, "Look Abby! You have some more mac n' cheese."

And that is where the tears come in. So sweet and loving. She was starving (probably more so than Abby, based on what she'd eaten earlier, or hadn't rather) but saw how sad Abby was feeling and did her best to help. Thank you Sarah for being so sweet and loving (don't know where it comes from), it makes me want to be a better mommy.

So... I stick to bogging myself down with ridiculous craft ideas and trying to maintain my ever cluttered home. Its the only way I'm going to survive the remainder of these crazy hormones.

A Nose by any other name would still...smell?

2011-11-03T17:31:00.001-04:00

I don't know what has gotten into my girls.

Last week Sarah brought home three beaded bracelets (made with pipe cleaner and plastic beads). Of course one of them had to break and spill beads all over. I wasn't too concerned because both Sarah and Abby have out grown the putting-things-in-their-mouth stage, so I had them find all they could see, and figured the rest would show up or get vacuumed up later.

Well, I should have been worried about Abby and her obsession with putting things in her nose. She loves to pull fuzzies off of her blanket and sniff them up (weird, I know). Well, she was mindlessly watching a show and had a bead and *pop* up the nose she pushed it. She immediately started crying (and I quickly hung up on my mom) and went over to assess. The last thing I needed was to run her to the ER. Luckily Abby had a slight cold and her nose was... well, really lubricated. So I gently squeezed the bridge of her nose in a downward motion and we eventually got it out. *sigh* What a relief.

I really didn't think that story in of itself was enough to blog about (well maybe it would have been from the perspective of my mom who was on the phone while it happened)...
but in combination of what just happened... I had to.

So I was working on a project when all of the sudden I heard Sarah "blowing" her nose, and abruptly stopping and bursting into tears. Now Sarah is a drama queen, so I thought maybe whatever she blew out of her nose disturbed her. So I made my way upstairs to investigate. I found Sarah holding an apple with one hand and covering her nose with the other, bawling.
Huh?

Me: "What's wrong Sarah?"

Sarah: "My nose hurts"
Me: "Why... wait, did you put something in your nose?"

Sarah: "A-huh" (yes)

Me: "What?!! What did you put in your nose? *looks at apple* Did you put apple in your nose?"

Sarah: *nods*

Me: "Sweetie, why on Earth did you put apple in your nose!!"

Sarah: "I was trying to taste it different"

I have no clue how or why she thought to try and eat some apple with her nose, but sure enough, there was a slightly larger than her nostril hole sized chunk of apple shoved up her nose. Luckily a pair of tweezers were able to pull it out (with a little help of Sarah blowing it out at the end).

So... we are on high alert at our house for objects of a nostril-stuffing size.
Heaven help me if I find Ryan with something stuck in his nose! I may lose it.

Sarah's First Field Trip

2011-10-28T20:47:00.000-04:00

On the 26th of October Sarah got to take her first ever field trip with her preschool.

She was so excited!

I think one of the most exciting parts for her was riding on the bus.

I on the other hand, for got how bumpy it is to ride on the bus, was not comfortable at all for an 8 month pregnant lady. But it was worth it to see Sarah's excitement.

Here she is with our bus we took.

The first thing we did was take a hay ride up to the pumpkin patch.

Sarah with her BFF Emery.

Here I am with Sarah, all ready for our hay ride to the pumpkin patch!

Along the way they stopped and told us a fun story about the Farmer and his Scarecrow, Stuffie.

One morning the farmer came out to his pumpkin patch and saw that all of his pumpkins were painted green! He asked Stuffie the Scarecrow about it and he said that he thought the preschool kids would like green pumpkins, so he painted them green.

The Farmer explained how the kids were expecting orange pumpkins for halloween, and so he sent Stuffie out to paint them all back to orange.

Although, some of them he missed, so we may see a pumpkin or two that had green on them.

As we kept going there were Scarecrows along the way, every time we saw one we all had to yell,

"Do not paint the pumpkins green,

Leave them orange for Halloween!"

The kiddos really thought this was fun to do.

It had rained all night and morning and stopped hours before our field trip. So it was lots of fun squishing around in the mud to find our pumpkins. Sarah and I both got to pick one, and we had to pull them right off of the vine our selves.

Luckily they gave us bags to carry them in (which was great with the mud, and it was easier to carry)

Sarah in the pumpkin patch!

We all loaded back up into the tractor and headed the rest of the way through the farm.

The kids all got to go through a Candyland Corn Maze.

We then walked around where they had different nursery rhyme scenes set up and recited them all together.

Here is Sarah's documented height.

We then learned how pumpkins grow.

Then the kiddos got to slide down this big slide to get to the next area.

(My friend Joan even went down with Emery, who was a little timid about the slide. What a good mom!)

The kids all got a handfull of dried corn to feed to the animals.

Sarah fed the goats, sheep and a big cow who used her long tongue to lick them out of your hand. Sarah thought that was pretty funny.

We all washed up (as best we could) had a snack and then loaded back onto the bus to head home. It was such a cute first field trip. I'm so lucky that Ryan was able to stay home with Abby so that I could go with Sarah!

I love you SarBear. Thanks for letting your mama tag along on your first field trip!

DC Adventures

2011-10-28T17:12:00.000-04:00

Friday was the last day at the hotel for us.

Ryan had to be to his conference at 6am, and so it was up to me to get us packed up and checked out on time. Which wasn't hard considering the whole family ended getting up with Ryan at 5:30am.

º-º

So tired...but, I got the girls up and in their swim suits and went for a quick swim that morning and then got them dressed, bags all packed up and lugged out to the car (which was tricky because the baggage carts were all being used... and I probably carried things I shouldn't have... but I did it!).

We headed to a McDonalds around the corner to wait for Ryan to be done with his conference and then decided that Ryan needed to do something fun on this trip (since the only fun thing he did with us was go to McDonalds for ice cream Thursday evening). So we decided to be crazy and head to the National Mall in DC.

Honestly, I wasn't too excited at first. I was just dreading the drive to Columbia, MD, in rush hour to visit some friends.

But it was perfect. The drive into DC was beautiful AND we found a spot in a FREE 3-hour parking spot, just one smithsonian over from the Natural History Smithsonian (the one we wanted to take the girls to). So we walked over and got to explore the outside exhibit of the National Art Gallery.

We even had some older lady run up and scold me for not being in the family picture...

So yeah, family picture!

After she handed me my camera back she told me that I should be more careful because she could have run off with our camera. Thanks lady.

Here is Sarah picking the nose of a triceratops.

(this is for G'ma Lisa)

Here is Ry & Abby in the entrance of the Smithsonian.

It was crowded, and Abby kept wanting to run away from us, but we had so much fun exploring the exhibits. We probably only walked throw two or three of them, but we didn't care. The girls were having fun looking at all of the interesting things (like dung beetles, giant spiders, bones, dinosaurs and the Hope Diamond).

After three hours we decided it was time to go and headed to our good friends the Cramer's.

(They lived by us in Pittsburgh for two years)

They were kind enough to let us come crash at their house Friday night and watch our kids so Ryan and I could go to the temple Saturday morning (so grateful!!!)

Sarah and Abby had so much fun playing with their friends Cody & Kylee.

In fact, just yesterday Sarah told me that she had a dream about a giant scary spider... and that Cody moved back to Pittsburgh so she could play with him!!
It was a great way to finish up our little getaway.

Thanks Tiffany and Steve for feeding us, watching our kiddos and giving us a bed for the night.

You're the best!

McCrillis Gardens

2011-10-28T16:53:00.001-04:00

The hotel we stayed at in Bethesda had odd swimming hours (6am-10am and 4pm-8pm) so on Thursday when I had the girls to myself all day while Ryan was at his conference I researched something fun and free to do in the Bethesda area.

So I discovered...

McCrillis Gardens.

It is a home that sits on a large lot and is beautifully maintained. It was eventually donated to the Maryland National Parks Commission so that the public could enjoy the beauty of it.

We were so excited to go in.

Sarah asked me right at the front gate to take her picture by these "Beeeeautiful fowers"

As I was trying to get Abby to get in the picture as well we pleasantly discovered this fuzzy brown and black caterpillar (just follow where Sarah is looking, it is on the underside of a leaf).

With all of the tall trees, and the overcast day it was the perfect setting for lots and lots of pictures.

Sarah cooperated so well.

Abby... not so much. She had a cold, and was sort of being miss I'm-grumpy-and-don't-want-to-listen-or-do-anything-mom-says pants.

Here is the best I got...

Any halfway decent shot of Abby... was the one shot Sarah wasn't looking. *sigh*

They had several pavillions and gazeboes in the garden.

Here is my attempt at getting a shot of the three of us together.

Don't those trees in the background look great... they're at least in focus.

This is such a sweet picture, and you can really see that Abby wasn't herself.

The one and only smile of the day
(that I caught on camera, she did enjoy running around the paths of the gardens)

I LOVED this mossy gazebo. It made me think of Ryan's G'ma June.

He promised her to build her a gazebo one day... I'm sure once we settle down and own a home, there will be a similar gazebo built in our backyard dedicated to G'ma June.

Do you think I can get it delivered pre-mossy? I just love the moss!

Sarah is such a great big sister.

The following shots were more like this, Sarah being oblivious and Abby picking the petals off of this hydrangea and throwing them at Sarah.

CHEESE!!!

I wanted to get a picture of this hosta with gianormous leaves. They were seriously bigger than my face... of course it was at this point that Sarah informed me that she had to go potty and couldn't hold it any longer.

So we ran to a potty... and she was right... she couldn't hold it any longer.

Of course, I didn't have a spar anything for her in the car.

*sigh*

The joys of being a mom.

It was a beautiful afternoon, I loved being outside in the cool fall air and letting the girls run around and explore the gardens. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be, but it was still beautiful. I hope that maybe we'll be in the DC area at the time of spring or early summer to see it in full bloom. I bet it is breath taking.

Hotel Beach Bums

2011-10-24T00:07:00.000-04:00

Ryan attended a conference this past weekend in Bethesda, Maryland and so the girls and I decided to tag along and enjoy a {mostly} free hotel stay.

The hotel luckily had a pool (other wise I don't know if I would have gone) and so we went swimming three times during our short little two night stay.

My lil' water babies were so excited to go to the pool I could have gotten them to do anything.

So, of course I begged them for a couple of photos before we went up to the pool.

They are becoming such sweet friends.

I love the adoring look on Abby's face in this one.

So excited!

Awe... loves!

Sarah was being so funny... and of course Abby had to be just like big sister.

I love this last one too!

Oh, I love my cute lil' girls.

It was so fun to go swimming with them. They are getting quite good. If Ryan would have been able to go with us, I would have braved letting them try to swim with out their floaties for a bit.

Thanks for getting mommy in the pool girls! I had fun swimming with you.

Pittsburgh's National Aviary

2011-10-23T23:46:00.000-04:00

The past two years I missed going to the Aviary on RADical days.

It is a pricey lil' place, so I was excited to remember this year, and go for free!

I met up with some friends and it was fun to get out of the house
(despite the cranky kids... what is the deal lately?)

Don't they look so cute...

Here is Sarah being an owl.
She loves to put her hands in her hoodie and pretend that she has wings.

We've received a lot of rain lately and so the kids were excited to see the sun a bit and run around outside... or course they wanted to continue that running inside the extremely crammed aviary... but we made it in and out with out loosing track of them too many times (and by them I mean Abby).

Sarah loves owls, and so she requested a picture with her friends by it.

While we were waiting to enter an exhibit the girls had fun looking at the toucans and this funny little black bird (don't remember the name) that kept coming over to say hi to them.

Sarah in front of a Macaw. She has a new favorite shirt with a Macaw on it that she loves. She'll walk up to random people in the store and tell them about her purple Macaw shirt (when she is wearing it). I don't know where she learned to call it a Macaw, and not a parrot, but I think it is fun that she loves it so.

It was a~~n exhausting~~ fun lil' trip out with friends.
Next time, if I dare go on the overwhelming busy "free" day, I'll try to make sure the girls have had a full nights rest so that they will hopefully listen a little better, and not wear mommy out quite so much.

Yay for free events!

Bulgarian Cultural Center

2011-10-23T23:05:00.000-04:00

One of the RADical days events included the Bulgarian Cultural Center being open to the public.

My brother Patrick served his mission there, so when I saw this on the RADical days event schedule, it was a "must-do".

Here we are, excited to go in!

(Yea... doesn't Abby look thrilled?)

It was a small, two story building. When we walked in it was eerily quiet, but we ventured upstairs to find someone to direct us to "the event". There were various paintings hung in a large room and they were setting up for something... just not any sort of RADical day event. hahah...greeeaaat.

Of course, it was a great room for enhancing our girls whines and screams, so we headed down to check out what could possibly be on the bottom floor. This was a small room, lined with display cases along the walls, and filled with tables in the middle of the room. At which, there was what appeared to be some meeting going on. Before we could slip back out un-noticed, and elderly gentleman swooped up next to us and eagerly asked us if we'd like a tour ("of what?" were my thoughts).

Well we walked around the tables of people eating/chatting and briefly caught snippets of Bulgarian history through Abby's wails and screams (she, of course, decided it would be a great time to show everyone she was two, and how else but a royal tantrum?). All the while, the sweet elderly man pressed on with his never-ending facts... which I'm sure were throughly interesting if I caught more than three words in a row.

I did however find the Martenista tradition pretty interesting.

It is a tradition where they celebrate the signs of spring and make and give each other these Martenitzas on the first of March. There is no one way to make one, but they are always done in red and white to symbolize purity and truth. Kind of a fun tradition. I thought it would have been cute if they had a small table set up for kids to try making their own Martenitza... but apparently, they don't get much traffic, even during RADical days.

Sarah thought these were picture worthy, and requested I take some to show Uncle Pat.

I did snag a little brochure with a little bit more info about Bulgaria (some that I could actually read and process when Abby wasn't screaming in my ear). I thought I would share a little about the Bulgarian Rose. Bulgaria is one of the main sources of "attar of rose" the main ingredient in fine perfumes. Bulgaria has an area over twenty miles wide and one hundred milles long known as the "Valley of the Roses", where three-quarters of the world's rose oil is produced.

Did you know that it takes 60,000 roses to produce just one ounce of rose oil? Crazy huh?

I can only imagine how beautiful the Valley of the Roses must be in May/June when Roses are at their peak. Maybe one day my brother can take us there?

Anyway. Sarah was great during our brief tour of Bulgarian history and artifacts.

Thanks for humoring me, lil' family, and bearing with me as I drag you through one lame event after another. Good thing they love me. ;)

Bedding and being Cool.

2011-09-29T18:41:00.000-04:00

So my friend, Cathy has become quite the quilter, and every time she whips out a new one the craving to become a quilter rages inside of me. I've been wanting to make a matching quilt set for the girls, but never can get up the motivation (or budget in the required fabric... it is pricey).

So you can only imagine how excited I was to find a cute quilt & sham set on clearance at Target for $16!!! Holy cow! What a deal?!! (It was 75% off).

To make it even better, they also were clearing out the coordinating bedding set (comforter & sheet set) for $14!!!

AND I had a $10 gift card to Target... so I got matching bedding for both beds for about $50!!

Say wha?!!!

I was so excited.

I normally wouldn't blog about something like this, but my mom requested pictures... so I had to share the awesomeness along with the pictures.

So here is the cute bedding.

(Don't the owls match great?)

The comforter is on the bed, with the quilt at the bottom, I liked the sham that came with the quilt set better so I used that. I didn't really consider the comforter set because the picture displayed the other side (which is the brown squares on the quilt), but when I realized the other side was so bright and cheery I was sold!

Really livens up the whole room.

I just love it!

Now I'm really tempted to paint all of the furniture in their room white...

Sarah love her cool, new bed.

Perfect for, er, Pirating?

She wouldn't take off her new pirate gear we snagged at the Dollar Store.

But doesn't she look so cool?

Speaking of cool.

That is all Sarah can be right now.

She does NOT like being called pretty, or cute, or beautiful, or amazing or anything else.

It has to be cool... or nothing.

Which is really awkward when we are out and about and some sweet little grandma comes up to the girls.

Sweet Old Lady: "Oh look how cute you two are?!! You are just soooo pretty."

Sarah: *Sarah scowls...* "I'm NOT pretty... I'm COOL!"

Sweet Old Lady: "Oh no, you are so pretty. Don't ever think you aren't pretty."

Sarah: "Hmffph"

Me: "Why thank you, Sarah, she is so nice to say that... say thank you."

Sarah: *growls* "I'm cool mom... not pretty"

Me: *awkward laugh* Thanks, lets keep shopping... haha ha ha...

So I have a cool daughter. Just so you all know.

Sarah is COOL... nothing else.

Bombs Away

2011-09-24T19:24:00.001-04:00

Yes, I know.

What on Earth?

Why is Liz posting a picture of random toys?

Toys that have nothing in common other than one thing.

They were all chucked out our bathroom window this morning.

Why?

Ask Sarah and Abby, because I still haven't figured it out.

Ryan and I were laying in bed, hopelessly willing ourselves to get up...

when I heard the girls playing in the bathroom.

My first thought was that they were getting into the water... a recent obsession of theirs.

When I finally got up to see what mischief was up, I found two girls standing on a chair (that I had pushed into the bathroom to move furniture around... don't ask, I'm pregnant/nesting) both sticking their heads and half of their upper bodies out the window.

I flipped!

I was so scared at what could of happened. It was a two story fall and wouldn't have ended well.

Abby didn't care that I pulled her off the chair and out of the bathroom, but Sarah knew she was in trouble. This isn't the first time she threw things out of the window...so I was mad, and she knew it.

So, after putting Sarah in her room, and having her scream and yell for a good 15 minutes she calmed down enough for us to have a talk about why mommy was so scared.

About what could have happened, and what she was teaching Abby.

I'm nervous now, and those child locks will be put to good use (and I won't leave chairs in the bathroom either).

So back to the toys.

Why these toys?

There is only one that really wasn't surprising.

Strawberry... Strawberry Shortcake.

Remember THIS post?

I don't know why Sarah has it out for this little doll.

She looks sweet enough to me.

Oh well.

Off they go into an indefinite time-out in the bag they were tossed out the window with.

Hay Day Fall Festival

2011-09-24T18:05:00.001-04:00

Today we headed up to Hartwood Acres for their annual Hay Day Fall Festival.

It is the kick off event for RADical days that we have loved so much in the past.

(See HERE or HERE)

We were really excited to take the girls.

Unfortunately, we had a late dinner resulting in late bedtimes the night before, so we (Ryan and I) weren't as excited when we arrived with two cranky/whiny lil' girls.

But we persisted to force the fun of the festivities on them.

Starting with...

A hay bale maze. Abby didn't really see the point, she walked right through in one shot.
(it was small)

She had a lot more fun going through again with Sarah, who took the long route.

And was pretty tickled with herself when she was done.

Okay, now we're starting to have some fun!

We got there right as they were getting the festival started, so we were one of the first to the petting zoo.

While they were tying all of the fences together we checked out the animals behind the fence.

and the cute pair of puppies they had there (it was really hard not to slip one under my shirt and run off).

Inside the fence was crazy!

They had cups of food or bottles of milk you could buy to feed the animals.

I'm so glad we were cheap and decided not to. The animals attacked you when they saw you had it. The sheep and goats especially, they would jump up on you to get it. That would have been disastrous if one had jumped up on Sarah or lil' Abby.

So we were content to walk around and let them sniff us out for food.

Or chase around... this poor duck. Anytime we turned our back to Abby she would run off after this duck. It was pretty funny because he would start quacking as he ran away. Made for lots of giggles.

Sarah was so excited to see the miniature ponies that were there to pet.

She sure does love horses!

Oh, and don't mind the bum staring you right in the face... on either side of Sarah...*cough cough* infact after this picture, I think you'll notice a lot of bums in the background of our pictures... sorry about that. There is only so much I'm willing to edit.

Back to the event.

Ryan being a sport for the mamarazzi.

I do have to give them props on the petting zoo. They had so many animals there. They had goats, sheep, miniature ponies, chickens, ducks, pigs and donkeys.
Most variety I've ever seen in a little petting zoo.

We then headed over to the bouncy castle...

which unfortunately had a height limit... so I had to tear Abby away kicking and screaming.

(don't mind the kid pulling out his wedgie... see bum apology a few lines up)

Sarah had fun though.

So instead I took Abby to wait in line for the train ride...which after we waited in line for a few minutes, it returned from its first and only trip to shut down.

Yes, due to the soft/muddy grass couldn't drive it around.

Gee thanks... but the girls were content to sit inside for a picture (phew!).

A tantrum or two later we headed over to wait in line for the face painting.

Which the line went right by the booth with a live owl!

Let me revise that face painting line.

A tantrum or two later we headed over to ~~wait~~ kick and scream in line while we waited forever for the face painting. Yes we waited in this little line for almost TWO HOURS!! Call us crazy. It really wasn't a long line. But the lady did the amazing face painting... you know the kind that really makes you look like an animal... and was being far too detailed to move the line along.

Luckily it was also by a research booth, so both Ryan and I went over and took turns taking the research questionnaire to get a free bag of chips.

Well worth it, considering Abby was only content to be held and my back was starting to kill me.

At long last... it was our turn!

Sarah chose to have a lion face painted on her... which the lady decided as she was talking with us, that she needed to take some short cuts on her work, and didn't put any yellow on Sarah's face to make her look more like a lion... which was okay... most people could tell she was a cat or something.

Abby picked the princess picture and got a crown on her forehead.

She sat so patiently, can you see how focused her little face is.

So worth that wait to see their little faces when they saw themselves.

Sarah definitely thought it was cool.

Lots of giggles.

Well, they were ready to move on... didn't want to let me get a good picture of the two of them...*sigh*

(yes, yes... I know, more bums in the background)

We decided to walk around and check out the booths. I guess this was primarily tied to "green" awareness as lots of the booths were about saving energy and reducing waste. Which we didn't mind, our light company was there and gave away 4 energy lightbulbs! (sweet, those babies are expensive).

Abby was cute walking around watching her shadow... although it did make her vere off and almost knock over a display sign or two.

We stopped and colored a picture at one booth.

(just had to have another reason to get a bum right by their heads again... I guess)

I don't know what the point of this sign was... I think it was a band... random.

I'm glad we went through the Hay maze when we did, because some older kids started kicking the hay bales around, so it wasn't a maze anymore and the kids just started jumping from bale to bale instead.

Sarah still found a way to crawl through and use her sly lion prowling skills to navigate through the chaos.

Abby thought the idea of jumping on the bales was great and would stand up and yell, "SURPRISE" each time.

The whole time on the way to the fall festival we talked up getting a pony ride. Sarah was so excited. But when we first arrived it was no where to be seen. So with sad hearts we decided to call it a day and head to the car to go home. Luckily, the direction we were heading out was right by where they set up the pony rides. We walked up to the short line (miracle) to be one of the last few pony rides of the day.

What LUCK!

I don't know who was excited more. Sarah or Abby.

Abby got to ride Stella, a big brown horse.

And Sarah got to ride Stormy a white horse

(who was smallish, but she didn't care, it was white).

See... look how happy she is!

Loving every minute... unlike the boy leading the horse... although I think I did get him to smile when I asked him how he loved the exciting job he had today.

With promises of ice cream when we got home and drinks of water we headed happily back to the car to head home. It was a great day... and toward the end I had forgotten all about the earlier tantrums (pony rides will do that to a girl).

Oh, and I think that exhibit A and B will provide proof enough that it was a successful family day.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Can't wait for all of the free fun Radical Days has in store... and this year we are sure to go to more than just Phipps. ;)

Bring on FALL!

Preschool for Sarah

2011-09-16T09:55:00.000-04:00

Sarah started preschool on Monday (she missed the first week because we were in Utah still)

She was so excited to go to a real preschool and have a real teacher, and not mommy.

She did such a great job.

Was a little timid, but did great jumping right in and not crying for me.

One lucky thing that Sarah gets to do is some mornings she takes a public bus to school with Ryan (his work is just a few blocks away). She felt so special to be able to go and ride the bus with daddy.

Here we are walking from our car to her school.

It is the brownish building off to the right.

Sarah by her name on the door.

They start each day by washing their hands.

Here she is washing her hands with her BFF Emery.

Sarah and Emery sitting by their cubbies all ready for preschool to begin.

I'm so glad that we got into this preschool program, three hours, four days a week is perfect. I don't know how Sarah would have handled going to an all day preschool, five days a week (that was our other option). I feel even luckier that Sarah gets to go to preschool with her best friend, Emery. I don't know what we will do next year when they move away. *sniff sniff*

Can't think about that now. Just have to enjoy every minute of it now.

Well she is growing up.

Can't believe she is four and in preschool.

Great job Sarah! You are going to be amazing this year!

Yellowstone!

2011-09-14T11:13:00.000-04:00

When I was talking to my mom about our visit to Utah, we were originally coming home on September 1st. My mom told me how they had a quick little trip planned to Yellowstone over Labor day weekend the following day (the 2nd - 5th). I sighed and told my mom that if I was only flying home a few days later we could tag along. Without missing a beat my mom asked why I didn't just change my flight and go with them.

With that invitation I got my flight changed and went to Yellowstone with them.

It was so much fun. I feel a little guilty, because I'm sure it was a much different trip that it would have been with out two stir crazy little ones. But I hope they had fun with us there. I know that Sarah and Abby are so glad that we got to go.

Okay... now onto the photo-documentation!

All packed up and ready to go!

Pitstop for lunch on the way up.

It was very windy, and chilly!

Right after this we stopped at the Rainey Creek Country Store in Swan Valley, Idaho for some famous Square Ice Cream cones. Yum, yum!

Almost there. Here is G'ma and Abby in front of the Tetons.

Here are the girls and G'pa getting the fire ready for dinner.

I love how my Dad can so easily be one of the kids.

Every time my parents go up to Yellowstone they rent a lil' trailer. It is the perfect size and has a toilet and shower... not really camping I guess, but it is great to have running water (especially with kiddos).

It was even better to have electricity, so at night, we could let the kiddos unwind and watch a movie
(101 Dalmations, they'd never seen it so it was great for distracting them from trouble)

Saturday we spent in Yellowstone.

See proof:

Uncle Alex teaching Sarah how to skip rocks.

My brother is amazing at skipping rocks. He can skip up rock 20+ times. Its pretty incredible!

Testing it out.

Oh it was so beautiful up there.

We decided that a must see in Yellowstone would have to be Old Faithful.

We pulled in to find out we had just missed it and so headed over to the new visitors center to wait for the next eruption.

Here are the girls learning about animal tracks.

Taking a close look at animal bones.

What Sarah does... Abby does too!

Okay, here is the sad part of the story.

At the visitor center they had a movie all about geysers and how they work. We thought it would be fun to take the girls in and let the understand a little better about how they work, and get to see some cool footage of hot spots.

Boy were we wrong!

The show started showing how there is lava under the earth, and it heats up the water and that is what make Old Faithful erupt. Sarah, wide-eyed and terrified began to panic that we had brought her to a place where lava was going to make hot water explode all over us!

We had to leave the movie early and spend the next twenty minutes explaining how it was safe and that we would never take her somewhere she'd get hurt.

After much convincing we headed over to watch Old Faithful.

Abby had a great time. She got to sit on G'pa's lap and play games with him.

Sarah on the other hand was still pretty terrified and kept reminding us that she didn't want to do this, and wanted to go inside where it was safe. We got her to sit through it, but I don't think she really enjoyed it.

G'ma had the perfect solution. She took Sarah to the Old Faithful Gift shop and got her a pin (badge of honor) for Sarah to be able to show all of her friends how brave she was to watch Old Faithful.

We then headed to a beautiful picnic spot off of the Firehole River and had some lunch...and of course, threw some more rocks!

So happy to be out and running in the sun!

Goofy Sarah!

On our way to some mud pots we got to see a coyote hunting. It was pretty cool.

What? You can't tell what that is?

Let me zoom in...

Yeah, not much better, but that blurry thing is a coyote. Ha!

I forgot my zoom lense, I never used it, so I didn't even pack it to Utah.

Wish I would have remembered it. It would have been perfect for taking pictures of animals in Yellowstone!

Here we are at the Dragon's Mouth Hot Pot (not sure if thats the name). It was cool because it sounded like a dragon breathing fire or something when you sat there.

We also got to see some Bison (of course) and Elk.

Here is Sarah in front of the Elk.

Of course the Elk bends down to eat grass as I get a cute picture of Sarah.

He was massive though. Had about 6 points on each side of his rack.

We finished up our day in Yellowstone with dinner at Fishing Bridge.

It was a great day!

The next day we spent in the Tetons.

I was wiped out... didn't sleep good, and well, this baby boy I'm growing took most of my energy.

So after checking out a Native American Museum and Signal Mountain I fell asleep in the car on the way to a new visitors center. Abby did too, so they left us in the car while they went and saw a movie about the Tetons and the wild life found there (Sarah did great, loved learning about the gray wolf).

After that we headed to the Finger lakes to skip more rocks.

Shoulder rides are our friend. :)

It was beautiful! Perfect weather too. It was around 80 and so the girls took of their pants and played in the water until the sun went down behind the Tetons.

The water was crystal clear!

They were being such cute sisters.

Isn't that just GORGEOUS!

Love this cute lil' picture of Abby.

My cute parents in front of the Tetons.

*sigh* Can I move up here?

The next day was Labor day, and we packed up early to head home.

It was such a fun, short trip. I loved every minute of it and felt so lucky to be able to go with my parents and brother. Thanks for letting us tag along.

We love you guys!

Utah Trip: Take Two

2011-09-14T10:39:00.000-04:00

We were so lucky to have one more, short visit to Utah this summer.

Ryan's sister Michelle got married to a great guy Peter.

Aren't they so cute!

Hopefully I'll have some better pictures to post of the beautiful reception... but for now here are a couple.

Abby devouring yet another cupcake... or at least the frosting part.

Ry and Sarah.

I was thrilled when they called and asked us if we'd be able to come to the reception in Utah (they got married in the Minnesota Temple). I was excited to come and see family one more time before the baby comes. Being due a couple weeks after Christmas, I knew this would be the first year we wouldn't be able to make it out to Utah to visit. So thank you, thank you for getting married Michelle... and for wanting our little family there!

I was also excited to come because I had a new niece and nephew born in August.

Sweet lil' Emmaline

So, sooo, tiny!

And handsome lil' McKay

Can't believe I didn't get one photo of him while we were there... had to steal these from facebook!

But he sure is a darling lil' one.

We had so much fun while we were in town.

Can't believe how many family get-to-gethers we threw together in such a short amount of time.

I think we may have done more in this short little visit than in our longer visit in May.

My sweet sister brought Sarah a Schultüten – German “school cones,” given to kids in honor of the first day of school. Sarah was so tickled to receive a gift symbolizing that she'd be starting preschool when she got back. What a fun idea, I'll need to start doing my own next year. Thanks Brooke!

I tried to be good about taking pictures this trip... but alas, I failed miserably.

I did a snap a darling picture of cute baby Katie!

Check out her "muppet-smile"

When she is really happy she just opens her mouth as wide as she possibly can.

This smile is due to G'ma Newey saying hello to her.

Here is a cute lil' cousin shot.

Love Abby's lil' pose.

My dear sis and baby Katie.

I had a few friends get together to visit my sister in law Deb and meet her new baby (Emmaline).

Afterwards we swung by Denny's for some slow service and greasy food. Yum!

(Sorry Kara & Deb, it was a last minute decision on the way home)

June and Abby playing in the backyard.

These two little stinkers were playing so sweet, but as soon as I went inside they turned on the water and hosed each other down... completely soaked!

What a cutie though. Can't get mad at that face!

I got to celebrate my birthday while the girls and I were still in town.

My sweet in-laws took us out to breakfast and then my mother in law gave me a haircut.

I love it!

I'm kind of mad at myself. I didn't get a single picture of the fun we had with the Stephensons!

Grrr! We had breakfast together, went swimming, had playdates, and just hung out and enjoyed each other's company. Just didn't get the camera out to capture all of our fun times.

Ryan was only able to be there for 4 1/2 days, while the girls and I stayed for another ten. So most of our Stephenson get-togethers were held while Ry was still in town. We would have done more after, but I went up to Yellowstone with my family. More on that trip in another post!

Thanks family for making time for us while we were in town.

We sure do love and miss you guys!

Now its your turn to visit us... how about in January... after baby boy comes. ;)

Thrift Store SCORE!

2011-08-18T22:47:00.000-04:00

I grew up tagging along with my mother at various thrift stores. I loved it as a kid, we'd always work so hard to convince my mom to buy us things like half-working-typewriters, or some giant yard toy that we'd never get. Then we'd secretly score some new treasure in the toy department (probably an old MickyD toy for a dime) and think we were the luckiest kids on the planet.

When our family finally moved to Utah every Wednesday my mother would take my Grandma around to the DI, Thrift Store on Base and then to Wendy's for lunch. It was such a lovely routine, and I thoroughly enjoyed any opportunity I had to tag along.

So although some may find Thrift Store shopping gross and disgusting.

It will always be something I enjoy.

And how can you not? Especially when you find this lil' girls new favorite toy for $.95!!

Sarah has been obsessed with superheros lately.

She'll beg us to watch the old 1950s cartoons and sing the opening theme songs.

(I think Spiderman is her favorite to sing along with).

So on our latest thrifting expedition I was almost more excited to see superman waiting on the rack of cheap toys than Sarah was (although he is pretty rad with is one-two punching action).

We mostly scored some cheap kid games (that I'm sure we'll happily donate back when we move) that will be great for the lil' ones, and will sure to be a hit in primary (I'm the chorister). But for a dollar or two how could I pass up "Pop-up Pirate" or "The Oreo Matching Middles Game."

Oh, and I know that I mentioned it already.

But I'm really loving this sandpit.

It is the only thing keeping this little one out of the road and distracted for more than five minutes!

HEAVEN!

Now if I can only brave the heat long enough to let them play in it more.

Oh, and our Hostas are at their prime

(except for the poor bottom leaves that our van drives over, sorry plants)

It is so nice to have big, beautiful, leafy plants to help keep the weeds out

(unlike our neighbors side, who sadly mistook their hostas for weeds and whacked them all down... so sad)

Why is it I am finally feeling up to doing things... and summer is just about over?

*sigh*