Fingers, Toes and Belly Grows...

There are times when I struggle with what to do with my kids, I think every parent has those moments.  Those moments are a little more frequent these days, so I told Marin she could paint my toenails and I would paint her finger and toenails. Sold.  I told her just one color on my toes, and she picked out this cool tangerine/red color...with clear glitter to sprinkle on top.  For Marin's toes, we alternated two different pinks, and for her fingernails, my teal glittery polish.  She felt super fancy!

My girl at swim lessons.  This was her last day in Level I, and today was her first day in Level II.  She has come so far and I am so proud of her.  Swimming is something I'm not the best at, so knowing my girl is getting a head start on that makes me so relieved.  Owen started his preschool swim class today, so he'll have two weeks and we'll see how he does!

Poor Marin came upstairs at 2am Saturday and said her legs felt funny and she didn't feel well.  I wasn't sure what was going on, so I gave her something to drink and some Tylenol and sent her back to bed.  She was back upstairs in 5 minutes and said she was ready to throw up...which she did.  Fortunately she made it to the toilet.  But, she spent the night in our bed with a bucket, and daddy whisked her to the toilet every 20-30 minutes to barf....7 times.  Poor kid.  I felt so bad for her.  It was a long night, and even though Kris was the one hauling himself out of bed with her, I was still awake for every time.  She threw up twice the next morning after getting up and seemed to be OK after that.  BUT, it was a loong Saturday, and kind of put the kai-bash on any plans for anything.  I think it was just a 12 hour bug, fortunately.

 This is our cat, Peaches.  She is such a funny cat, loves her belly being scratched...I mean seriously, how many cats like that?!  She got pretty comfy on Kris's lap the other afternoon.

Daddy built a fort with the kids yesterday afternoon while I made dinner.  It was quite the fort!  And honestly, one of my favorite things has got to be working in the kitchen while my amazing husband plays with our kids in the next room.  Absolutely one of my fave things ever.  Kristoffer is such a great dad, and I am one lucky gal.

 The kids LOVE daddy.  They absolutely maul him.  He told me he's getting too old for this, and I told him it's not allowed, because we're not done having kids!

 So exhausting!

 The cat wasn't sure what to do with all the screaming and squeeling.

And then it was movie time, and everyone piled on daddy....again.  I told Kris that he should feel flattered.

Owen saw this picture on a binder and asked if that man was being spanked.  I almost died laughing, as did Kristoffer.  Even now, so funny.  Kids are so literal!

 I asked my hubby to take a few belly shots for me, which he did, but I should have done it in the morning.  By afternoon-time, I look and feel exhausted!  And here I am with my cute little photo-bomber.

27 weeks!  Crazy.  Seriously.  I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is flying by.  I can't really complain too much, because I know it will be over before I know it.  However difficult moments are, I do enjoy being pregnant.  It's an incredible feeling knowing I've been monumentally blessed to be a co-creator with my husband and the Lord in the creation of a fresh, new little life.  And that with all the complicated parts of creating a new human being, it's amazing how often it comes out right.  Really and truly!

 Kind of my more favorite picture.  I don't look completely wiped out here.  Baby girl is getting so BIG!  Nesting hasn't hit yet....which it will soon.  I try so hard to be productive about house projects, and I'm really losing steam with every passing day.  It's a lot of work to grow a baby, phew!  Grateful to have an amazing hubby who loves his wife.

Finished Projects!

It's slow going around here these days, thanks to my pregnant belly.  Which is totally where I want to be, but at the same time, it does make getting projects done around here a little on the, challenging side.  I have a list of projects to do on my calendar/wet erase board, and ever so slowly I've been able to check things off that list, which feels fantastic.  

One of those projects was to paint the basement halls.  They've never been painted, and the walls were as white as white could be, blech.  Looked so unwelcoming.  So, we chose to carry the family room color gray (Behr, Porpoise...it's Kristoffer's fave) down to the basement, and we just finished up today.  I did all the edging, since I don't need to be on a ladder with the low ceilings down there, and Kristoffer did the roller...since I'm terrible at rolling, trust me, I really am.  Already it looks so much better!  We just need to put the switch plates and vent grates back on, and the banister, and we'll call it complete!

Also, I don't think I posted the laundry room since it's been complete!  It was also just a plain old white, so my fabulous hubby put up some board and batten for me, to match what we did in the attached bathroom, and we painted the top the same as the bathroom, and the bottom the same white.  We also bought some metal shelves at Ikea and mounted those above the W/D in front of the window.  The laundry room is T.I.N.Y., so that was the place where it made the most sense to put shelves.  I'll be purchasing a collapsible metal drying rack to mount to the wall to the left of the dryer, but for now, my laundry room is so much more functional and pretty!

 It's hard to get good lighting with a window in the back.  I'll be getting a drink dispenser to put my liquid laundry detergent into to make that look a little nicer.

And this is my girl at swim lessons!  I'll skip to the next picture where you can see her face....

 She finished out her first of four weeks of lessons, and she has been doing SUCH a great job, I am so proud of her.  She was pretty nervous before she started, and I understand the fear, I'm a terrible swimmer, and I didn't learn to swim until I was close to maybe 12, so I have a little fear of water.  BUT, we try to encourage her to share concerns, and answered all the questions her little heart could conjure up.  We told her it didn't matter if she took a while to learn, as long as she was trying hard to do her best.  And honestly, from watching her the other day, she was actually having FUN!  It totally shocked me!  She was happy and smiling all through the lesson, and it made my mama heart happy :)  Her teacher is super sweet, and told us some things we could work on with her over the weekend, so you know where we'll be tomorrow morning!

A little belly picture for ya'll.  This was taken at 25 weeks.  Baby girl is popping right out!  She is feet down, and I can feel every kick right in my cervix or bladder, ouch!  BUT, strong enough for daddy to feel, which I love, it makes pregnancy so much more tangible for him when he can feel those kicks.  Still haven't decided on a name, this one could take a while, I think.  I'm trying hard to stay cool, so it's skirts and sandals most days!  And I've been trying hard to go to the gym, maybe 3ish days a week.  It's turning out that the best time to go is after quiet time and before dinner.  I always struggle with what to do during that time of day, and going to the gym is the perfect solution; we all get to go out of the house, kids get to play with new friends, mama is able to have some me-time, and exercise. 

 Haha, and if you notice, there is a kitty tail sticking out from under my dress.  Sunday mornings, the cat likes to hide under my dress, she thinks it's pretty cool.  We still love out cat, she's such a sweetheart and we are very happy to have her in our family.

I have a couple of furniture projects that I've finished, so I'll have to take pictures of those soon enough!

A Little of June

So we had a little Father's Day celebration...really and truly, it was pretty low key.  Daddy started out with a totally *man* breakfast, cinnamon rolls, thick cut bacon, chocolate milk, and strawberries with cream cheese dip (those were to make me feel better).  He was a pretty happy dad.  Owen gave daddy a box of Lucky Charms (I think Kris got...maybe a bowl out of the whole box), and Marin gave daddy some crazy socks, some with tacos on them, and some with donuts on them. 

 My sweet hubby worked so hard to do my laundry room.  The laundry room now matches the bathroom right next door, white board and batten on the bottom, sea green-ish on the top, and we added some stainless shelves in front of the window, it opened up my room so much.  Love my hubby!

 With his bestest helper.

 Oh, and Father's Day dinner was requested.  Homemade, FRESH pasta rolled with my Kitchen-Aid, sauteed mushrooms, seared chicken tenders and homemade alfredo sauce.  It was sinful, and so so SO delicious, fresh pasta is SO amazing!

My boy.  I love my boy.  Getting pants back on after going potty can be difficult.

 I went to get my hair done the other week and I figured I would take Marin for a haircut, too.  She had her hair styled, and she thought it was so pretty.

 I went to a work party, hosted by one of the girls at work at her home, and her back porch was amazing.  This beautiful pergola with wisteria growing on top, so pretty.  So I took pictures to show my hubby...

 And now my hubby is working hard to build a pergola on our back deck.  It's slow progress, but Kris totally loves these projects.

These two are hilarious.  Best of friends and irritating one another...sibling love!

 Our funny little furry Peaches.  She fell asleep like this.

We have a great splash pad near our house, and it's a great thing to do when we just can't find anything else to do, although, it's even been a little too hot for mama these past few days.

 My kids like to get wet once, then spend the rest of the time drying out on their towels.

 We've been making and loving peach smoothies lately, I make them in my Ninja, and they are so creamy and cold and wonderful, YUM!

 Marin snuck herself some breakfast one morning.  Yeah.

 Hanging with my buddy...and my belly.

 This was...23 weeks, I think?  Baby girl is growing!

 Love this boy.

Marin spent the weekend with Bestemor and Bestefar Barry, so Owen and I went on a date, which included taking my car through the car wash, Owen thought is was so cool

 And then we went to DQ for a burger and some ice cream, such a fun date with my boy.

 Mmmmm.

That same weekend, we took Owen to the air show at Hill Air Force Base.  It was so nice to take Owen to something he thought was totally cool.  Lots of cool, big vehicles, planes, flying tricks, we were there for a few hours, and that was perfect.

 Love my boys, just look at 'em!

My kids were playing with an empty shoe-box, and I just happened to see another random toy laying around that resembled a steering wheel, so I stuck it in the shoe box and the kids had fun decorating it..together.  It was super sweet.

 Then they drove Mr. Bear around in their car.

 Then Owen heard a BIG truck outside the window, and he was captivated.  He loves trucks, such a boy.

Hopefully I can remember to keep taking pictures.  My memory is terrible these days, and now that summer is in full swing, it's all I can do to stay cool, so we'll see!