I got "tagged".

A fellow blogger tagged me and asked me to play along. Here are the rules:

Ladies please list 10 random facts about yourself and answer the questions
below!

1. Some of the best things that I cook don't have recipes...well they probably do, but I don't use recipes. They are things that have been passed on to me from women that I love.

2. I never thought I would have girls. I always imagined myself raising boys...don't know why. But now that I have my girls I can't imagine life any other way.

3. I cry at church. Not sure why, the music moves me and touches my spirit and after communion...look out for the water works.

4. I have saved and printed all the emails that my husband and I sent one another before we were married...I need to put them all in a binder. Kind of a journal of the beginning of our relationship.

5. I lack self-confidence. Again, not sure why and I try to come off as a put together, has it all kind of girl but sometimes I am REALLY insecure and I don't want to pass that along to my girls.

6. I LOVE my parents. And I don't tell them enough, but they were/are fantastic. Sure they made mistakes (who doesn't) but overall they were top notch!

7. My husband does most of the cooking in our house and ALL of the really good cooking :) And what he doesn't know is that I love to watch him doing it, and don't really mind the crazy clean up...most the time!

8. I never realized how selfless a mother has to be until I became one and I'm surprised sometimes and how naturally it can come to a person.

9. I'm an avid reader and as I've gotten older I am enjoying more and more historical material...my dad would be so proud.

10. I wish I had taken the time to talk to my grandparents and learn more about their history and families when I had the chance. I think they have so much knowledge to share and unfortunately not enough young people today care.


If you could change places with someone for one day who would it
be and why?
~No one in particular but sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to be a young person unattached living in a foreign land...A 20-something in Paris or London or Berlin, exploring a new place and learning new things.


What is your favorite Holiday and why?
~I love Christmas, I mean...who doesn't. But I would have to say I appreciate and really enjoy Thanksgiving. It's my mom's favorite too. She enjoys being able to cook for those that she loves and more importantly I love that there is no materialism attached. It's all about thanks and gratitude and stopping to remember what's really important.

What is your favorite memory from childhood?
~Has to be playing softball, in the front yard on 20th street with friends and family, later in the big backyard on Deerfield and of course all the summer nights at Lanman. It seems to be a staple of my childhood and I like that included LOTS of family and friends and not just my immediate family.

What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink?
~Coke Zero, to say that I am a bit of an addict would be putting it mildly.

What advice would you give me for being newly married?
~Communicate, no matter what. It's better to be open, honest and share what you are feeling right from the beginning and make sure to have a date night. Especially after you have kids so you can stay connected.

What is your favorite store to shop at?
~These have changed over the years. I love Target, I can always find something good there. I can't walk out of Hobby Lobby without a good deal and Macy's can really get me in trouble.

Hope my answers did not disappoint, Maddie!

A day of greats.

Yesterday was a good day...no, a great day. Mitch is in Utah visiting friends. Gigi got home on Friday night. She informed me that my uncle Barry and Aunt Sandy were going to be in Kankakee so she was going to be spending Saturday at the nursing home with Grandma and visiting her brothers and wives. Well, we had no plans...and haven't seen my Grandma since October so it seemed like a good opportunity to see a whole lot of family. My Uncle Barry and Aunt Sandy had never even met Kiersten so it seemed as good a time as any for the girls to spend the day with their Great-Grandma and Great Aunts and Uncles. Fortunately Uncle Carl and Aunt Jane only live a few miles away and were available too! The last time we saw them was shortly after moving to Decatur almost 11 months ago.

It was especially nice to see Uncle Barry because back in October he suffered a massive critical cardiac arrest. My mom actually went to California to be with him and my aunt while he was hospitalized. Most people that suffer the type of cardiac arrest that he had don't survive and everyday we are reminded what a miracle he is. My mom recalls fondly when the cardiologist came into the room and said to them "You died, God wasn't ready for you and sent you back." Not only is he doing miraculously well, but the doctors can't believe the improvements that he continues to make. God is so good and we need to remember that when things look bleak. Anyway, it was a great day. I wasn't sure how the girls would do. I drove the 2 hours up to Clifton, IL and was hoping that the girls would behave long enough for me to stay for an hour. They did fantastic and we were able to visit for 3. 5 hours. When we got home I asked the girls what their favorite part of the day was, to which Leah replied "Dancing to the music!" Growing up my Uncle taught himself to play the organ. When we were little he would play occasionally. And at some point they sold their Organ. They move a lot for his work. Typically in a new location every 2 years give or take. The last time we were all together, Christmas 2009 he entertained us as well. The organ needed tuning badly...it gave us all a good laugh, but the girls didn't seem to mind. I hope they have many more chances to get to know their greats!

The Bump has Arrived!

It's here, it's here...although I'm not really all that excited about it. Of course I am, I just enjoyed not having to wear maternity clothes. On the flip side, now it's starting to be more obvious that I am in fact preggers and not just getting chunky, ha! Tomorrow I will be 23 weeks along. YAY! Some time the time seems to fly and others it drags by like a 500 pound weight. We had a prenatal appt. last week (2/15) and Mitch came with me. We knew the doctor would be going over ultrasound and bloodwork results with us so I wanted him to be there. God is good, and our quad screen came back negative...which means no down syndrome, trisomy 18, spina bifida, etc were detected. Overall the ultrasound looked good too. Dr. Morrisetty began by explaining that I have an anterior placenta which means that the placenta is attached to the front of the uterus. This means it might be more difficult for me to feel the baby move. Well, I'm feeling the baby move all the time...started around 19 weeks so that's no big deal. But the position of the baby during the ultrasound and the position of the placenta made it difficult to measure everything that they need to measure during a 20 week ultrasound. So I have to go back around 28 weeks. No big deal...the same thing happened with Kiersten. And who is going to complain about the chance to see their little one in utero AGAIN...not me, that's for sure!

The "bump" picture I attached was taken last night, 22 weeks and 5 days. On Monday night (2/20) the baby was doing some serious moving and shaking! I had Mitch put his hand on my stomach and he couldn't believe all the movement he could feel. I think we have a future dancer, or wrestler in there...kid was all over the place. It was great for him to be able to feel it all. And much earlier than in previous pregnancies. I like to let him feel the baby move. I think it gets him attached and involved. I'm hoping it won't be too much longer before the girls get their chance. Leah is very aware that their is a baby in my belly. She has started telling everyone, no insisting to everyone that it is a "boy baby" and that she is getting a little brother. Sister will be disappointed if it's a girl but she will have to get used to it. I keep telling her "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit." We talk about how God gets to make that decision, so I guess if she has a problem with it, she can take it up with him HA! Oh and of course after Daddy took a picture of the bump, Leah insisted that she get a "pretty princess picture"...so here it is.

Upstairs renovations done...almost.

For the past month our upstairs has looked like a war zone. When we purchased our home here in Decatur we knew there would come a time that some minor renovations would need to be done. There are 4 bedrooms upstairs but the previous owners had put french doors in between the master bedroom and the neighboring bedroom and made one of the rooms a walk-in closet/dressing room so to speak. So since we moved in 10 months ago there have been doors between 2 rooms and we had to remove lots of closet organizers/shelving from the master bedroom walls. This left lots of holes to patch and work to be done. Back in early January Mitch removed the french doors, framed the opening, sheetrock, mud and lots of work later it was finally done. Last weekend we set to work on painting the guest room that would soon become Leah's room. The plan was/is to move Leah to the guest room with her queen bed. Move Kiersten into Leah's old room and keep the nursery the way it is in anticipation for baby #3. Leah's existing room is pink so we went with a lavender shade for the new room and I am so happy with how it turned out. More importantly, Leah was super excited with how it turned out. Same furniture that she always had, curtains from her room in new Jersey. Some new bedding and a new picture on the wall and girlfriend is in heaven. I found the adorable "fairy" duvet at companykids.com and the pink fairy picture on the wall half-off at Hobby Lobby. Now Leah wants to play in her room all the time!!! I am so happy she loves it, and it is the perfect girly room for my brown-eyed girl.

Even more exciting is the master bedroom. I have been waiting and waiting to have a bedroom that doesn't have walls that are full of holes! The color of the existing master bedroom/former walk-in closet was a brick, rust red. It was a good color but it made our furniture blend into the walls and really didn't match the bedding I had bought just before we found out we would be relocating from New Jersey. Friday night after the girls went to bed, Mitch and I set to work priming and trimming the room to prepare it for a fresh coat of paint. We settled on a neutral beige shade that we knew would leave us options in the future. It's the same color we had in New Jersey but it looks much lighter here...we think because of ALL the natural light we have. We painted on Saturday morning. It was done by noonish so we set to work moving Leah's room from one room to the next. Furniture was rearranged, curtains and pictures were hung and she was officially moved around 5 pm...we were exhausted but got to work on our room and it feels so good to have so much done.

Still more to do though...There are no closet doors on Leah's closet. The previous owner had removed them (with a room for a closet next door, who needs'em?) and were using the closet to hold a large TV, whatever. We also bought closet organizers so we could keep it nice and tidy and make a place for everything. Also have to get to work on Kiersten's new big girl room. She is about to be done with her crib...trying to climb both in and out. We have her bed together, some of the linens, but pictures, curtains need hung and some of the linens are in the mail. It's going to have a really cute theme and I hope she will love it as much as Leah loves her room. Excited for the big reveal!!!

That LOVE day!

This past Tuesday was Valentine's Day. The girls were super excited. Even Kiersten was in the spirit telling everyone "Happy Vawentime's Day" It was precious. Leah couldn't wait to wear the Valentines-Heart Dress that she picked out while shopping at Carter's with Gigi. She was super excited for her party at school. We bought some heart swirly straws, ring pops, and stickers for the treat bags. We bought the cards to share with her classmates and she wrote her name so nicely on all of them. We signed up to bring cookies to the party and Leah did a great job picking out heart shaped sugar cookies with red crystal sprinkles. She was set!!! On Party day she got spoiled. Even Kiersten got in on some of the action, playing games and enjoying treats at the party.

When we got home the treats just kept coming. The girls got cards with money and stickers from Gigi and Papa, they got cards with stickers from Mike and Julie in New Jersey, and small packages of treats from Aunt Lori and Uncle Todd and Aunt Lisa and Uncle Brian. They certainly are loved...not to mention window clings and a new movie from Grandma Tootie and Grandpa Dave.

Mitch and I weren't really able to celebrate Valentine's. With it falling on a Tuesday I had to hit the road by 4:30 to get to Mattoon to teach. We semi-celebrated the weekend before. Mitch got us tickets to see "Chicago" at the Little Theatre on the Square in Sullivan. We got our babysitter for the night, enjoyed a quick dinner and then REALLY, REALLY enjoyed a great performance.

I couldn't let the holiday go by without getting the girls a little something. We got them new piggy banks for their bedrooms that are in the middle of renovations. With a new baby on the way, we are re-doing the guest room for Leah and then re-doing the room that Leah is in for Kiersten. New bed-spreads, curtains, etc...and for some reason the girls just LOVE piggy banks so I knew they would be a big hit. Leah's room has lavendar walls so she got the pink princess piggy and Kiersten's room has coral pink walls so she got purple. They were so excited and wanted coins so they could "play" with them. And of course Barbies...what little girls doesn't just love Barbie? It was a very Happy Valentines for all of us! Now onto Easter, and the shelves are stocked already too!

23 months already!

Today is February 8th...that means we are one month away from 2!!! How can that be? I still think of her as the little baby-bug that I cradle in my arms. But the truth is, she is far from a baby. This little wonder talks in full sentences, jumps and plays like she is 4 and is definitely one smart cookie. I will wait to write about all of that next month for her actual birthday, but I am just in LOVE with, and in AWE of who she is turning out to be. What a sweet, sweet girl. I was getting her dressed this morning and she said to me "looking good, Momma." Did I mention that she is funny too! As I type this she is trying to "ride" our dog Neo and yelling "giddy up, Ye-Yo" and he is just taking it.

I love these pictures...doesn't she look like she belongs in a little Seattle coffee house? She was sick when these were taken, and insisted on wearing sisters hat. She sat in the kitchen and played on the iPad forever. I think she is more fluent in iPad than I am. Then she moved onto the living room for some snuggling with Daddy. She rocks my world and I am blessed!

Girly-Ness

We just can't escape it! But really I wouldn't want to. This weekend we had my niece Macy over for a sleepover. Cynthia and I met in Sullivan at McDonald's for lunch on Saturday and we brought Macy home with us. At first she wasn't sure she wanted to come, and was a little apprehensive, but we walked in the door and they hit the ground running. We wasted no time in getting out the dress-up clothes. They each took a turn with one of the outfits, and then it was chasing, running, sprinting around the loop in the house...only they weren't "running" they were mermaids swimming as fast as they could...Mermaids that run in plastic dress-up heels that clomp, clomp, clomp louder than anything. Kiersten of course thought it was great! She ran and yelled right along with them. There were Barbies and Faries and Dress-up clothes EVERYWHERE! They proceeded upstairs to Leah's room where they jumped on the bed and giggled, and giggled and giggled!!! Mitch just shook his head at it all and I couldn't help but think "You better get used to it. We could very well be raising three girls in the very near future!" But oh my, did they have fun!

While Kiersten took her nap Leah and Macy watched Mulan. And afterwards they played and played some more. We had a quick dinner and went to church where they big girls got to go to F3 (Family, Faith and Fun) in the gym. After church we came home and had ice cream sundaes before they headed up to a bath. Then it was a quick episode of Lazytown and they were off to bed. It was about 9:15-9:30 when all was quiet in the house and it started all over again at 7 AM on Sunday. Mitch and the girls made Pancakes. They played outside and JUMPED, JUMPED, JUMPED on the trampoline. After lunch Leah and Macy watched the Wizard of Oz and about that time Matt and Cynthia showed up. We partook in a bit of Superbowl festivities...meaning lots of junkfood! And then they headed home. Leah had so much fun, Kiersten too! We will definitely do it again some time.