signs of spring !!

yay!! my first little bloom. funny, how I planted a bunch of these crocus bulbs, and so far just one little guy has popped up! I have about 15 bunches of daffodils on the verge of opening up any day! I can not wait!! and we are finally in the 60's every day! this was Tatum after church on Sunday.. we went to grab Subway and then headed outside....

and Brigham on his bike.. he still isn't too thrilled about it! Though his little sister not only constantly stands at the front door and says "go side"... , but after she gets outside, runs to the garage and gets "bike"..(a little one that Brigham used at 1-2 yrs), but she also tries to get on Brig's big boy bike!! we are so going to have a little dare devil on our hands with her!

and the NESTING has begun..... the entire garage got swept out, cleaned out, and re organized. AHHHHHH. such visual peace.. I LOVE it!! this weekend we are heading to Menard's to pick up one of those big plastic storage benches for toys(sports equipment). I got a bunch of little plastic boxes and lids and put them on the shelves, so that everything has a place. I would love to put down tile floor and paint the walls... but I suppose I have to have limits.. LOL

I did however, paint my front door!

It used to be a duller, more Mulberry color, and I wanted it to POP, so we went with this red color!

don't mind the streaks though...

(it still wasn't dry when I took the pics)

and in preparation for our newest arrival, we are having to reorganize the kids room... meaning switching out the changing table /dresser from Brigham's room, into Tatum's room, and getting him a new dresser. We did some furniture shopping 2 weeks ago, and as we did find the dresser for his room, we also found a new bed for our room!

We've been looking for a few years, but never find exactly what I want.. and for the right price.

this had both =)

My hope is that in the next house, everything in our master bed/bath rooms will become the guest room. I love the cottage-y feel to it, and how everything matches so well.

and plus, the fact that I already have decorating ideas for our new master bedroom!!

and this adorable thing showed up in my mail box over the weekend! so cute, and thanks to a uber talented 'pea' on the photography side of 2-peas, who so kindly made it for Tatum's nursery. thanks Heather!

oh, and the nesting(spring cleaning..) continues.. I am taking all my albums and converting them from strap hinge into 3 ring binder types. The ones I like best are American Crafts.

It is so much easier since, I scrap in such a random order. I can just put them in a sleeve, and flip to where I need to insert the page. easy peasy!
I am using pink and green for Tatum.

and red, blue, black for Brigham!

So I totally love hearing from you all!! I am so glad to 'know' who is checking out my blog! I still know there is a whole bunch of you that didn't speak up.. so here is your chance. You can comment on this post, and I'll do another one soon too.

The more you comment, the more you get entered into the drawing....which will happen right before Easter.

so I know I haven't revealed the prize... but it will include chocolate for sure!!

a few randomitities

yep. its that word again. notice how I use it when I am lacking creative titles? it couldn't be that our lives are always random?. no way. ..lol
------so lots going on... the weather has finally gotten nice here in Indiana! 2 weekends ago I was out in my yard getting it all cleaned up and ready for the bits of green sprouts to start taking over! I can. not. wait! I actually get giddy this time of year and have officially changed my favorite season from fall to spring. I got my first pedicure of the year, and some new fun flops. ( i live in these all summer long.. could be why my feet have expanded and my heels are one mega callus.
anywho.. its fun, and I love hearing the birds sing and the airplanes buzz overhead.
Tatum is having a ball too, as this is all new to her. We have realized that she is lightening fast and also a dare devil. nothing at all like her older brother. I have a feeling this is going to be the summer I actually go buy one of those kid leashes. Oh, my goodness, did I really say that?
Ok, I would never put my child on a leash, but we'll have to put the smack down on boundaries quickly!
Brigham is super psyched to get back on his bike, and he is already practicing baseball. We'll sign him up for t-ball in a few weeks. Let the craziness begin.
--------went out for St. Patty's day last night and got carded. Yep! either its a normality to have prego women coming in for an evening that is all about the excess of alcohol consumption, OR the wrinkles on my face are not as visible as they seem, and I still do look 19 years old.
we did have a great time out, and I wish I had brought my camera. It was amazing to see the time and effort that people put forth in their Irish gear!
---Thought the kindergarten decision was a done deal. now there is a petition (of sorts) getting started to create a single half day class. While I am ok, with pulling him of an all day classroom, this would be more ideal. They need to have 20 kids, and so far they have several parents leaning this way.. not sure the number, but it could happen, as a few moms put the pressure on the principal of the school.
Truthfully, I would be ok, with sending him to all day kindergarten, but we're not sure that the teachers could handle him that long!! Plus, I am slightly hoping that he will get tired out from longer 5 days a week, and therefore take naps along with Tatum and his new sibling.
------Brigham was helper of the day today. It cracks me up the things the kids take for show and tell. Today was a stuffed parrot , that I got at Oriental Trading last summer for his jungle party. He just found it tucked away in the closet last week, and it has now become his favorite thing! I made some yummy 'fruity pebbles' rice krispie treats last night around midnight, while my husband continued the festivities in our living room.
If you haven't tried making them.. they are heavenly (in a non chocolate sort of way!).I am so glad I made extras.. as this un born babe has a definite sweet tooth.. lol.
---here are some pics from a quick photo shoot I did with Tatum. Found the wings and tutu at Michael's.. not the greatest, but it was super cheap(money wise) and I wanted to see how she would do . I actually am wanting to get her a peti skirt for her birthday session. I am still waiting on my new back drop and seamless papers to arrive, so I pulled out my mega hunk of white fabric.. threw it in the dryer and once I started editing, realized that the wrinkles show up pretty good. which makes these pictures pretty bad. =(... so instead of these being used in some marketing, they're going to scrapped up. I still think they are uber cute.

---got my spring marketing whipped up and ordered, and will hopefully get them sent out early next week. I'll post a sample soon. Hoping that with this nicer weather, people will want to get out and I can not wait til' the color starts popping up!

----oh, yeah... I totally know that there a bunch of you that read my blog regularly.. but you never comment. So here is a challenge.. the next time you stop by leave me a comment.. tell me hi, and how you came across my blog. For my next 3 posts, I'll take all the comments.. put them in a drawing for a super cool prize. don't know what that is yet.. but it WILL be super cool.

promise.

have a fantastic day!

happy St. Patty's day !!

may the luck of the Irish be with ya today!

we're all in green today... eating green foods, and tonight Andrew and I are going out with friends to an Irish pub where my brother works. They have a cool band, and its always a good time there.

Enjoy your day, and leave me a comment with anything you're doing to celebrate!

yipee ky yi yay!

or something like that..

last week we had kindergarten roundup. total western/cowboy/round up theme.. get it

round up?

everything was decked out hard core.. like the kids got there and they all had sheriff badges with their names on it, and they got to pick one of three color bandannas to wear.

the kids were sent off to one of the three class rooms, while the parents went to the library (totally themed up) to hear from the principal, nurse and each of the three kindergarten teachers.

I really thought the whole evening was going to be like an open house thing, where we just walked around and stuff.

The speakers were very informative and I can not believe all that they offer at this school.

Poor Andrew was in and out of the room, as he was chasing Tatum around so he didn't get to hear much.. but when it was done, he came up to me and said " I don't know why you even considered a private school.. you should see these class rooms.!"

oh, my gosh, where they cool. each room had a different theme.. and for all of you know how crazy I am for themes.. I was in heaven. seriously, from the outside of the hallways and into the classrooms, every inch was done in theme.

stuff like... a Paris cafe(where they had cafe tables set up, black and white and pink and windows all had cute little curtains hanging..

and a beach theme, where everything was fish,shells, surf boards and umbrellas and chaise lounges and palm trees, etc.

and there was a diner theme.. and yeah, they had brought in like a table and vinyl bench set for the kids to read at. lots of neon in this room.

I can't remember all the other ones, but oh. my. gosh. sooooo COOL!

the school was built 10 years ago, and when they did, they went around to the area schools and brought over all the Golden Apple Winners(which my friend Emily won last week =)!!), and other award winning teachers and clumped them all together in one school.

this place has state of the art technology, and they gave examples of the kinds of things they do in kindergarten. AMAZING!

oh, yeah.. and in the cafeteria.. they have centerpieces on the tables. the principal finds that if the environment is nice, than the kids will behave better and not mess around at lunch.

I hadn't shared on the blog about the frustrations we were having in the last two months, trying to decide on what to do about Brigham's schooling next year.

The cut off here is Aug. 1st, and he will turn 5 on July 13th, making him one of the youngest kids.

All last fall, we were set on holding him back and sending him to another year of PreK, mostly so he is bigger and more mature for sports(of course).. academically, he is pretty far ahead of many kids in his class. Since he could talk, he was obsessed with letters, reading and then in preschool last year, he developed a big interest in spelling. Basically as parents we are constantly talking to him about words, spelling, and last fall we started doing math. He is super interested in these topics, which helps, but we take advantage of many situations, in the car or at the dinner table to work with him. Actually the kid will spend an hour at the kitchen table with one of those fat lined notebooks, and just write his letters over and over, and then try and write out sentences. kinda funny.

so yeah.. in that sense he was ready, but we weren't sure about maturity.

We also looked into a Christian school here. Part of me was interested in the spiritual side of the education, but I also knew that a private school can't compete with state funded technology. they can't always attract the best teachers either. We also knew several people that send their kids to this school, and we didn't want to get stuck in that "christian" bubble. in a smaller school, where almost all families had SAHM's I just knew there would be too much drama, gossip and busy bodies. Not to mention it was $4ooo.oo a year!

personally, we as parents work with him almost daily on spiritual teachings as well as the solid program he takes part in at our church. We were kinda leaning towards wanting our children to be a light around potentially non-churched kids, rather than keep them grouped with kids that all had the same values and beliefs, etc.

The week before we went, I talked with his prek teacher, and she said he was totally ready. In fact, he would be really bored if we kept him in prek again, and even worse by the time he went to kindergarten at 6 years old.

So anyway, after the roundup, it was super easy. Plus the fact, that when we went to get Brig out of the class room, he DID NOT want to leave. He asked the teachers if he could come back tomorrow. And he said he wanted to come back to that school for a whole week!!

pretty cute.. I am so glad he had fun. They made rattle snakes, cowboy hats, and wrote their names out in rope... keeping with the theme of course!

So our decision is now whether to put him in half day or full day. The school actually doesn't truly offer half day, but what they do is put the kids in full day and then pull the (half day) kids out at lunch.

Sounds like they won't be missing anything academically by leaving early.

Also, to go all day it costs $1800.00!!

There is a chance we could qualify for a discount on that, but we won't know until July.

I remember a few years ago, when the first talk of all day kindergarten was brought up, many of my friends, were all like 'no way, I am never sending them all day.. I want to keep them with me, etc. etc.'. I felt so out of place, b/c I never felt that way, but I was made to feel like I would be a horrible mom if I wanted to send them all day. Many of those same women either are or plan to home school, so I guess that makes sense why they thought like that.

I actually can't wait to get the kids in school, so I can go back to work full time. Now with the baby on the way, obviously, I have to wait awhile, but I am still thinking that having Brigham in full day(if we afford it) would be good for him and a huge blessing to me with a newborn and a 2 year old at home.

luckily we don't have to make the decision til summer...

and the other yee haw thing, is that I have been busy planning Tatum's 2nd birthday party!

Its going to be a cowgirl/western theme, and I am so excited! I already have lots of good dishes/ props/decor left from Brigham's second party which was the Barnyard theme.

I have also been shopping online and picking things up here and there as I see them.

I already have the invitations in mind, and the menu and games planned out.

Her birthday isn't until May 9th, but I know I'll be busy nesting and doing other around then! (who am I kidding? nesting has already begun big time)

speaking of baby... had my 6 month check up and everything is moving right along.

I am craving salty things, and lots of sweets too. I have been eating a Klondike bar almost every night!! LOL

but mostly at lunch I have been eating fruits and veggies, so hopefully it balances out.

not really gaining much more weight. having fun wearing prego clothes ..Thanks Summer! =)

really popping out too, I'll have to take some pics this weekend and update ya'll on the baby bump!

well.. that's all for now!

tid bits, ta-da's, and ta-ta's

ok, so lots going on....

-first of all, THANK you so much for the well wishes for Andrew.

He still hasn't passed the stone, at least he hasn't found it. We're hoping that it just dissolved.

Unfortunately, we were not able to go to Indianapolis for our weekend get away.

When we returned home from the hospital , Friday morning, he was able to sleep. He was pretty doped up on meds, and wasn't complaining, so I basically just continued planning and packing as scheduled. The kids both napped earlier than usual, so we could head out of town by around 3 pm. I actually didn't have Andrew do much in preparation, and I was prepared to drive(even though I was really hoping to dig into my new scrap magazine =)......

anyway.. the car was packed... we stopped for gas and munchies.. and then headed to the interstate, when the check engine light came on in my car. Lovely. I thought it had been driving a bit weird, but Andrew was convinced it was just due to the fact that I ran into a curb the night before. yep.and I wasn't the one on meds.. lol-

so he got out and drove it a bit... but really wasn't wanting to take it out of town. We couldn't go get his car from the hospital garage either, b/c lately his car has been in and out of the shop, and Andrew wasn't sure it was ready for a road trip quite yet. Lovely.

We tried stopping in at a mechanic, but they didn't have the right system to check a Jetta's controls. So we went back home, all the way I was fuming in side, more disappointed , and Brigham kept asking when we were going to Indianapolis. I hated to let my kids down. And who was I kidding, I was really looking forward to some time away.. to make messes and not have to clean them up, and just relax with no schedules to follow.

As we got home, Andrew proceeded to tell me that he really was still in pain, and that the car thing was just GOd sending us a sign that we shouldn't go. I really feel badly for not putting the needs of my husband first. I just didn't realize what he was going thru, was really that bad. So needless to say, the rest of our evening contained some shouting and a whole lot of tears! The kids and I went to bed around 8pm, we were all so exhausted.

We got up the next morning to drop the jetta off at the dealer, and then we went to IHOP for a special breakfast. and later a trip to Target.

I think that smoothed things over with Brigham.. and of course Tatum had no clue! Target definitely smoothed things over for me =)

Good news is that my car only need a new vacuum hose so it was only $50.00. phew!

Andrew 's stomach pain ceased, but he has had lower back (kidney?) pain for the last couple days now. He is still taking meds, so he basically slept thru church on Sunday!! lol..we were sitting in the second row, too, so afterwards, he apologized to the pastor, for sleeping during his message!!

-our church celebrated its 2nd anniversary, with a big Mexican Fiesta... it was really good.. and I paid big time for it all afternoon with heart burn.

- I have finished a long and detailed task for my philanthropic organization, PEO. I was asked last spring to be chairman of the program committee, and I said yes, without fully knowing what my responsibilities would be. Since last fall, I have been busy, trying to find hosts, and hostesses for each meeting(twice a month) and then a program for each meeting. Basically the last two weeks have been spent finalizing the program to be put into our booklets, and also getting changes in membership to update our books..so yeah... I am glad that is over. I was just asked to be on the committee as well for our guest tea in June, but I think it should be fairly easy..

-been playing with my camera on my boy for a change.. love his expression here.

just wait , I got some uber cute props for Tatum to be my guinea pig with... hoping to get to that this week...

-last week at MOPS, we had a pampering day. ahhhhhh. it was so wonderful.

got my makeup done

(you can kinda see the pink streaks better, with the way my hair is done here.)

got a manicure. that lasted all of 3 days!! maybe this is why I stopped getting my nails done after I had Brigham. ( for 12 years before that, I was an every two week kinda girl for getting my nails done)

and the TA-DA is..................................

my photography business! yep. this is what I was going to reveal months ago.. but kept wanting to work on things some more, before the big reveal.. so anyway... the above is a glimpse of my business cards . and you can check out my site :

ELLE MI - PHOTOGRAPHY

I have been up and running since about September. I have had lots of success so far, and am having a blast with it. Its amazing that my hobby, and love for being creative, as brought us income so quickly! It totally has been a God thing, because, we had been talking about me going back to work at some point, but this business has been able to help with financing the 'extras'.

I can't believe how much fun I am having doing it too. I love to meet new people, and especially new little people =).

I'm going to set up a link on my blog to my site, so check back often, for fun stuff. I am getting ready to launch a spring special soon.


and the Ta-Ta's ........

actually have a double meaning.

last week, while in my room, changing my clothes, Tatum was keeping a close watch on me(as she often does). As I took off my shirt, she pointed at my chest area and exclaimed with a huge grin... " ta-ta's"!!!.

so that had us laughing for awhile.

until just a few days ago, and Brigham started trying to get her to say her name.

She is really becoming verbal now and knows about 20 words, and is easily repeating what we say.

So proud big brother, keeps asking her "Tatum, what's your name?" over and over until finally.. she exclaims with a big ol' grin.....

"ta- ta"!!!!!.

and she hasn't wavered from this either. we even were on skype with gma and gpa Holland over the weekend and they were asking her what her name was, to which she proudly screamed out

"Ta-Ta"!!!!

quick update...

well..so somethings never happen as planned..

like posting.. lol

I have been super busy working on some things and running here and there.. finally yesterday, I decided, gosh darn it it was time for me to sit down and blog.

well.. got my pics ready.. had everything ready to go and then of course life happened!!

and last night around 2am, I was awakened to the sound of Brigham getting sick. Bless his little heart he had woken up and went into the bathroom and preceded to throw up. all by himself, without, even alerting us.

I nudged Andrew and he went in to help.. though the kid didn't want any help.

He came back in and slept in a sleeping bag on our floor. smart kid.

he knows we don't like an extra person in the bed.(something we have never allowed, unless extreme circumstances.)

I experienced one of the proudest moments as a mom. seriously. I can't believe that he just woke up, and took care of it all by himself. not making a single bit of mess. He definitely gets a major treat later.

and then about an hour later, Andrew was up . I kinda heard him in the bathroom, and then some groaning, and then he was pacing in and out of the bedroom.

Finally I asked him what was wrong and he said he had bad heartburn.. gas like issues. He had taken tums, gas-x and forced down my suggestion of warm milk.. lol.

well, after nearly two hours of him getting up and down, and being completely miserable, I sent him to the ER around 5:30am.

I managed to finally get back to sleep, as were both kids.. when the phone rang.

He called to say it was a kidney stone. Holy cow! no wonder the poor guy was in pain.

He was pretty hopped up on narcs, so I had to pile the kids in the car and go get him..

Of course then, we had to run around to two different pharmacy's to get his scripts filled.

So by 10:30 am we were back home, and luckily he was able to get some sleep.

That has been our last several hours..

funny, thing is that we had a get a way planned to leave late this afternoon, and Andrew was just going to call in sick , so that maybe we could leave earlier.

guess God is making sure he really was sick!! LOL

that God.. such a funny dude.

so anyway, now we're prepping to head to Indianapolis. Andrew should really have a blast, as he will be hopped up pretty badly on some heavy meds! ( I am going to take notes of the funny things he says..=P)

the rest of us are going to hang out as the pool, find a good restaurant, and then we'll go to the children's museum on Saturday.

hope you all enjoy your weekend. I'll update soon!

oh, and if you're of the praying type... please pray that Andrew passes this stone very soon.

thanks.

my new do and the belly

well, I had an appt to get my hair highlighted on Valentine's day. Decided to surprise Andrew with a little 'theme' for the special romantic evening we had planned.. lol But, I did add some pink to my hair.. and I am LOVING it!!! seriously it is so much fun. Its kinda subtle the way I have my hair done here, but I can flip it out, and it looks pretty fiesty!

The rest of my hair got "blondified".. it actually looks a tad more redish here, but that is just the lighting in my 'studio' .. !! haaaha. I was actually inspired to funk my hair up a bit, by the gorgeous Lisa D... who has dawned shades of both pink and blue! I am actually thinking about purple for the next go around.. we shall see.. Andrew loves my rockstar hair !

and the bump !

so here I am at almost 23 weeks along... starting to pooch out a tad now.. though I still just feel in the chubby stage!

I did however have a mom at Pre K, come up to me yesterday with her hands outstretched , assuming the position, to cop a feel of the belly.

(does that make anyone else uncomfortable???)

Stats: I have gained about 8 lbs so far...

-totally craving diet dr. pepper.. like in a 6 per day consumption craving...

-salty snacks like cheezy crackers or Cheeze flavored Chexmix

-loving ice cream at night, (and who am I kidding.. enjoying a heath icecream bar in the afternoons!)

-anything and everything is giving me heartburn.. so I pretty much just eat what I want. and deal later. ugh. Tums are my best friend...

-went thru a 2 week spell, of eating Italian a- LOT.

-done with the nausea.. thank goodness... unless I am in the vacinity of a poopy diaper.. than I almost always puke.

-feeling more energy at night, but almost always having to take a nap when the kids do

-finding it more difficult to carry Tatum around(even though she's a mere 24lbs)!

-enjoying the constant reminders of the amazing little person growing inside me, as he/she practices karate moves

and I did some other fun poses for Andrew for his Valentine's day gift.... you can check them out here. You'll need to scroll up and click on the 'his gift' link to see them =)

See , told you, getting pink hair is loads of fun!!!!

well, I am off to edit from a photoshoot this morning and then attempt to throw something together for dinner... oh, yeah.. and shop for a new car.(but that's a whole 'nother post =P )

happy heart day

these were the two cards we sent out to family this year

and these were the treat bags that Brigham took to his class party Thursday.
Daddy was making fun of me, b/c I wasn't letting me kid take 'cool' valentines.. like spider man, or sponge bob, or any other character type thing. Well, Brigham had no idea that those were even options... and he loved the ones he got to help make!
We set up an assembly line, and he wrote out his name on the cards, then I folded the toppers, and he put marshmallows in the bags, and I stapled them.
easy peasy.. and they were totally unique. got the template from HeatherAnn Designs.(her link is to the left). As we were heading into school , he told the kids and parents he saw all about the pink marshmallows that he brought. what a proud kid. and I'll take these moments while I can get them... lol

and he helped me make these cookies to take into his class. Well, guess he just got covered in flour and ate a bunch of cookie dough.. but I'll count the time together in the kitchen as help =)

I was amazed at the number of moms/teachers that came up and were so surprised and impressed that I made the cookies. really they were simple. just got out my pastry bags and went to town.

but I guess when every other kind of cookie was store bought from a box, then these stood out amongst the crowd!

Brigham's party was low key.. in fact I wasn't even sure that parents were supposed to be there. I didn't think so , so I scheduled a photo session for the time he would be in preK. After I dropped him off, I came home to find a msg , that the sweet baby I was supposed to photo, was sick... so we rescheduled for this week.

I hurried and showered and got Tatum dressed and we headed into his school about 15 minutes after his party started... well, no other parents were there cept the room moms, so we just kinda roamed the halls. I didn't want to intrude, but I did manage to go in for a few minutes and snap some photos of them playing Bingo. ( ya know , I have to scrap this party!) And Tatum was in heaven b/c she got to play in the little kitchen and with the babies.

We ended up being able to participate in the 'valentine feast', which was perfect for this hungry mama.

This was the first year that I had not thrown a valentine party at our house. The past two years, we invited several of Brigham's friends and their moms over to play games, decorate cookies, read valentine stories and just play. Most of his friends are in school now, so they all have their own parties. For a party planning girl like me, you know how I was disappointed.. but it was also nice just to relax on Friday.

So maybe I'll start the tradition next year for Tatum and her friends, since Brig will be in school..

anyway.. I hope you all have a great day filled with mooshy love stuff !

had the big US today and we're having a.........

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baby !!!!!

yep, it(according to my dr.) is absolutely gorgeous!! all ten fingers , all ten toes, all major organs accounted for. although baby didn't cooperate much and stayed snuggled up close to my belly most of the time the us tech was able to get us some great pictures!!. I even endulged in pancakes and oj thinking it would make the baby do gymnastics during the exam... but no.... it just seemed pretty sleepy.. though it did wave its little hand a few times, so that was pretty cute!! baby was actually measuring a week ahead, so now I pretty much have no clue of the due date (as I have now heard 3).
so I can NOT believe that I didn't cave and find out the gender.
Andrew didn't want to find out with either of the first two..... but I am a planner... gosh, darn it and have priorities: of getting a nursery decorated and getting those first bits of clothing hanging in the closet!!
so the last couple months ,I had been saying that I would respect my husband's wishes for this (possible) last child we have and let us be surprised. On Monday night, he and I were talking, and I was really trying hard to sway his mind.
Well, yesterday at MOPS (mothers of preschoolers), our speaker talked about "respecting our husbands". It was actually the coolest talk I have heard in a long time and put so much into perspective, about why men do and think the things they do. We as wives now know this bit of secret information, and can act accordingly towards our man to create a happy home, one that he will want to be a part of. =)
She spoke on lots of different topics giving our surface understanding of it, and then what it means in practice. She used lots of scripture to back up the points found in an excellent book (which I am buying this weekend =P), called "for women only", by Shaunti Feldhahn.
so basically after hearing this talk, I decided it was not too hard for me to honor and respect Andrew's wishes of being surprised on delivery day!
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well, I am busy assembling v-day goodies for Brigham's class party tomorrow, and I have cookies baking in the oven. We are going to decorate them after naptime. Between our busy outings this past weekend(because the weather was FABULOUS here!) I managed to get some scrapping done. Not all of these are new, but I don't know that I have shared them on my blog before. apparantly this is a shrine to miss T.!!! lol

I'll post later with our little heart day creations!

there's a reason God made kids cute!

its so we don't beat the living day lights out of them!! LOL..

(they are pretty cute aren't they?)

seriously, I think it could have something to do with pregnancy hormones... but a 4 year old boy that talks non-stop all day and a 1 year old girl that doesn't not stop moving all day... and is loving the use of her newly found 'shrill' voice... is about to drive me into the loony bin!
At our marriage class last night they were teaching/encouraging us how to pray with our spouse. This is something that Andrew and I have struggled with for a long time. We do great at meals and bedtime, WITH kids... but just he and I has been a bit awkward. So we are going to start asking each other each night what can we pray for the other for the next day.. we'll do it alone and then get together the next night and pray together and talk about it. So my constant prayer right now is... Lord give me patience to get through the next hour... (who am I kidding.... the next 15 minutes!! LOL) and give me self control (with my tongue) not to react out of anger and to be able to discern what actions of theirs really need to be disciplined, and what actions are just them being their age!
Oh, side note on the class... some of you have asked me about it... its the Alpha Marriage Class. It basically has 7 Topics. We'll meet for 8 weeks and we have homework on our own to do.

Building Strong Foundations
The Art of Communication
Resolving Conflict
The power of Forgiveness
Parents and Inlaws
Good Sex
Love in Action

The content is fabulous! The majority of it is spent watching a DVD of a British couple( oh... I could listen to them forever. love their accents!) and then throughout the evening we stop and break out with our spouse. We meet in a host couple's home with 7 other couples ranging from newly married no kids, to married 26 years and four teenagers. The cool thing is the time spent is solely on each other. There is no group talk or sharing. The host couple has set up a little 'date' spot for each of us throughout their massive home!
We each get to be secluded and surrounded by lovely music, white linen table cloths on a table for two. candles, flowers, and then as we are completing our exercise, we are served a delicious desert and coffee. Its such a cozy time away for Andrew and I to really talk about issues. The lessons are great at looking at individual strengths and weaknesses, how we do or don't work together and how we see things differently. pretty cool.
It really stresses marriage time weekly.
We've always been good on date nights. Thankfully with my parents living in town, we can get a babysitter and head out to dinner , movie, drinks.. whatever. The problem is that we usually end up spending our time talking about the kids. about other drama brought into our lives.. and we never get to focus on us. We're making it a priority to have fun together. To get back to doing those things we did when we were dating.. talking about dreams and our future.. laughing.
not stressing.
So far its been a great little scheduled get away. If you are married, and especially if you have kids, I would urge to you to schedule a date night. This class encourages once a week... but that may be tough for some. Like I said, we have been good at getting out 1-2 times a month, but we are going to be intentional on getting it on the calendar.. that way nothing comes up... ya know.
like our marriage time is our priority and nothing else takes its place.
I am sure you've all heard about the seasons of marriage... the statistics actually are showing a higher divorce rate after the kids are out of the house, b/c the husband and wife don't know each other anymore. They kind of co existed for the children's activities, and all that, but lost sight of why they fell in love in the first place. While Andrew and I do have really open lines of communication, we can always do better. Its amazing as we watch this dvd, and see examples of other couples, how many don't ever talk about feelings, dreams, expectations, desires.. etc.

ok, done with my PSA!!.... lol !

So , I did a little photo shoot with the kids .... here are some of my favorites! I have a couple cards in the works, but I'll post them after they go in the mail....

I am working on getting something pretty cute done for Brig's class party next week. Hopefully this picture will work!

oh, yeah.. and my girls night out on Saturday was sooo fun... and much needed! I met my friend Michelle for dinner at Don Pablos.. hadn't been there for a long time, and I was so wising I wasn't pg at the time so I could indulge in a yummy margarita..... oh well.....

we sat and talked and had a leisurely dinner w/ no drama.. and no interruptions!

then we headed to see Doubt.. which I would have to say I 'doubt' any of you would want to see. The story drug on forever, and then just sorta dropped a bomb at the end.. and then the credits..

oh, well.. it was still fun to be out. I can't remember the last movie I saw in the theatre..

then we headed to Starbux and sat on the comfy couches and talked for another two hours!

Anyway we decided its going to be a monthly thing.. planned on the calendar.... kinda thing.

moral of this post...: get your hubby time. and get your girlfriend time. = happy mama! =)

so I am off to finish a dessert and make a dinner to take to a friend who just had a baby...

oh, yeah.. the mama that I was supposed to take maternity shots of, cept she had the baby the day before our scheduled session!! LOL

so now I get to play with another newborn. horrible I know!! =P

Have a great Thursday!!

its snowing again!

and for that reason we're staying put indoors! I am taking advantage of Disney playhouse today, so that I can get a start on some cleaning, organizing, decorating projects.
Speaking of, Thanks so much for your input for my chair!! We all seem to think alike.. lol. I was really leaning towards the floral #4 for the longest time, and then realized that it may get too dirty, being that light, and also it looked a tad like my mother's style. so I decided against it.
Then I was going for the top one, a little more eclectic style, but I just don't think it would go with the look we have now. I am envisioning our next home to have wood floors, and lots of character so the eclectic , rustic, style will go well. something we do not have in our current 'cookie cutter' style house!
.... and so I chose #5! the striped is a bit of a change for the room, and the lighter color choice will brighten the place up. it actually has every single shade and color from the living and dining rooms. something that will blend with our decor even should we change the wall colors. so now I have to wait 6-8 weeks to get my chair.....
and so I am working on switching up the kids rooms.
oh, yeah... a few of you reminded me that I never posted about being pregnant. so here it is.
"Baby number 3 is on the way!!". Its kind of funny, with Brigham I told people right away, and with Tatum and this one, I just sort of forget to say anything...lol.
ETA: and to some of my closest friends whom I failed to inform you of the due date.. (dang loss of memory cells..lol) its looking like July 4th!! kinda bumming me out though b/c we always have a fun day/night long celebration that day.. guess we may be seeing fireworks from the hospital!! LOL
I am actually starting to show more now, but I still feel chubby instead of pregnant. Like maternity clothes don't quite wear right just yet. I have the big ultrasound next week.. so we're pretty excited. Although I am totally respecting my husband this go around and not finding out the gender. Andrew didn't want to know on either before, but I am a planner, and so I just had to know.
Since we have one of each, and the boy and the girl were both first grandchildren of their kind... we were pretty spoiled. Tons and tons of clothes for both. Plus we don't really have room for another child right now, so I don't even want to stress about where we'll put it!
I am however, going into cleaning and organizing mode for the two kids' rooms right now. Just on the slim chance that we are still in this house in 6 months!!

So I realized that I never showed Tatum's nursery .. actually didn't stress too much about it either, but we did have it finished by her first birthday!! LOL

I like some expensive stuff, that I can't compromise on, so then I get thrifty in other areas to compensate... so here is a tour!

view from the doorway
the crib.. used from Brigham, and we added new PBK toile and rose bedding to it.
the topiary is a decal from Lowes, along with the 'Sleep, Dream.. Imagine' over the crib. they were way cheaper than Uppercase Living ones, and they look just as cute!

I bought the curtain panel from Target, but only one, since I knew I had scrap booking ribbon to pull it over to one side.Saved me $24 for window coverings! The little butterfly came from Michael's' on clearance for like $1.49 !

the window I got about 8-9 years ago on clearance at Hobby Lobby, and its found many a different home inside various rooms in our apartments/house over the years!

the glass jars came from Good will for about fifty or seventy five cents each. I just tied some pink ribbon around them and oh, so cute!

most of the decor I picked up clearance (right after Tatum was born in May) from the garden section of HL. I got most things for under $5.00!!

The flower arrangement here was sent to me in the hospital from my mom, in the same vase that her parents sent to her when I was born!! I thought it went well in this shabby chic nursery!

found the letters at JoAnn's in the dollar spot. Got the bakers rack at HL with my 40% off coupon! the baskets and other containers were 1/2 off at HL as well. I made the lamp with ribbon and a new shade. Hung the dresses up (which used to my my mother's!) for a vintage-y feel. Basically just tossed frames and stuffed animals around that had been given as gifts.

more garden gear. and a cheap cork board I found at Tj Maxx on clearance, the pushpins are roses. PERFECT!!
I just love it when I find a perfect accessory for a steal!

took some dollar black frames from Wally world, and painted them the same pink as the two walls in her room. Sanded them down a bit for a distressed look. perfect !

let me just tell you her shoe rack does not look like this anymore!! she since hugely out grew it, thus the reason for organizing today!

While I had the pink and green paint out for the walls, I decided to 'trash to treasure' and old mahogany wooden trash can we had.

the colors match perfectly!

an old UGLY chair that has been with us for awhile. I found this duvet cover at GoodWill for $15!! It was still in original packaging! bonus! and so now it covers the chair, but soon it will be the comforter on her big girl bed. the pillow was on clearance for $2 at Michaels, and the blanket was a gift. I did splurge on the canvas above.. but still it was only $20 bucks at Gordman's on sale.

there you have it. So now I am trying to get the dresser out of Brig's room and bring it into Tatum's room. The girl has waaaaay too many clothes, and she is definitely out growing her 2/3rds of his closet!

Why not use the closet in her room you ask?

Well, it is organized from side to side and top to bottom with scrap booking stuff. It really is so neat and tidy, and works well at hiding my hobby, that I don't want to touch it.

So we're looking at finding Brigham a new dresser for his room, and some of those organizational cubbies from Pottery Barn. Its amazing how the older he gets the more 'little' parts all of his toys have. Its pure chaos in his room, and I fear no time at all and Tatum's room will be the same!! LOL

We're praying hard for God to open a door for us somewhere else, and with a bigger house =)