Boating and Fishing

So...I think we have a lot of fun as a family. We love to be together and do things together. Yesterday, Jeremy got the day off work for his birthday (which was the day before, but we was already scheduled out in advance). Jeremy's dad, otherwise known as "Gramps" offered to take us fishing on his boat. This was the first time we had a chance to go out on it. So, prepared (or unprepared) as we felt, we embarked on taking the girls out with us fishing. We had a great time. We caught lots of fish, however only 4 "keepers". Nicole was very excited about fishing, even though the excitement only last a few minutes. Here's a photo run down of our day.


Hannah was checking out the bait and "smiling" at the camera.

Don't they look adorable in their life vests? They both kept it on and tolerated them very well. I was pleased.

Ready to go...Nicole was SOOOO excited!



Can you tell that these girls LOVE their daddy? It's so sweet.

Fisher-lady Nicole.

Hannah even got in on the action. She liked making the reel spin.

Hannah fishing with Gramps

Hannah was brave enough to hold a (dead) shrimp. I'm not even that brave.

Nicole learning to be captain.

Refreshing

We had a beautiful thing happen this weekend. A break from our extremely HOT weather. We had our first real cool front move in and our family took every opportunity to be outside enjoying it:-) We loved putting on our light jackets and jeans and playing all day in the yard and garden. Those of you up north who are freezing, we thank you for sharing some of the cool air:-)

So....I mentioned the garden. Where we live, the Best time to plant a garden is now, just after the fall equinox. So, we were busy this weekend tilling our soil and planting seeds. Hopefully we'll do better with the cooler weather. I had to share some sweet pictures from the weekend.


I had to put this picture first, even though it was taken last. It was by far the best of the day. Jeremy transplanted my gardenia tree....with Nicole's help of course. Isn't she cute?

Hannah is almost able to climb up this slide ladder all by herself. I'll be happy when that happens:-)

Nicole got busy working with the shovel

Seriously, she was really trying to be like her daddy...so cute.

Hannah enjoyed playing with the seeds

Paying very close attention to daddy's instructions (haha)

Dirty feet

Nicole sat in the corner of the garden and played in the dirt long after we were finished.

Time for a break

The Good, The Bad, and The Yummy

If you know me at all, you know I'll start with the yummy:-)

This morning we had a fun morning of making homemade applesauce and apple pie. Over the next couple of weeks, Nicole and I are reading some fun books about apples and everything you can do with them. We have lots of recipes to try out, including apple butter, apple bread and apple cake. But, today it was applesauce and apple pie. Hannah even tried to get in on the action, although, she really just spent her time eating the apples rather than trying to make anything out of them. That's my girl:-)


I can't seem to get a "normal" looking picture out of Hannah right now. This apple was not sour, it was her "smile" face she makes every time I hold the camera up.

Trying to "smile" and eat at the same time.

This is maybe a little better....it just looks like she's eating a sour apple, doesn't it?

Making Applesauce (the recipe is found here)


I didn't have a potato masher, so we had to use a pastry blender. The apple sauce isn't "saucy" it's a bit chunky, but actually very good.



Making the Apple Pie. Nicole was in charge of filling the pie with the cut up apples and sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on top.



Our finished product. Looks good on the outside. We'll have our taste test later.


Our house smelled so yummy and just like apples and Cinnamon. I just wish we could have had the windows open. It's hard to get in the autumn mood with near record breaking high temperatures....but we tried today. Hopefully this weekend it will cool off a bit (mid 80s) and we can enjoy being outside.

OK, The Good and The Bad....

I am definitely in the lull of the last month of pregnancy. Some days I feel great, others I can't do much more than what is required of me. That's just the way it is. This pregnancy has been both faster and slower than my other two. I pretty much forget I'm pregnant until someone asks me how I feel OR I can't get into a full upright standing position in less than a minute because my sciatic nerve is acting up again. The biggest difference, that honestly has me somewhat freaking out, is all the contractions I've been having. They are not labor contractions for sure, they are "practice" braxton hicks contractions. But, I feel like I have them constantly. Here's the deal though...I CAN NOT have this baby before 37 weeks. If I'm earlier than that, my midwife is legally not allowed to deliver the baby and I have to go to the hospital, which I don't want to do for many many reasons. So...please pray that I do not go into labor until at least the 26th. Really though, I'll probably still be overdue and all this worry will be for nothing, but it's a bit unsettling to be having contractions so much. On the upside, my midwife also says that every contraction you have now is one less I'll have in labor...hmmmm...I think I've already had more than I did with both girls combined, not sure I buy into that one:-) Either way, I'm feeling pretty desperate to have our little boy. I'm already being worn down emotionally at the thought of being overdue. I just want to get to 37 weeks and have the little guy and start out life as a family of 5 (wow...that's crazy!)

I am very thankful though for a few things.

1. Jeremy who is incredibly supportive and wonderful. He has not once complained if I just couldn't get to dinner and get something out or if I'm so tired after the girls go to sleep that I just want to lay on the couch and talk . I love him so much...he's a great husband and I'm incredibly thankful for him. He also puts up with my constant ice crushing, late night snacks and frequent potty breaks.

2. For my mom and mother-in-law who offer to help me a bit on their days off. My mom was gracious enough to just ride around in the car with me all morning yesterday while I ran in and out of different stores and did a ton of errands. I accomplished more yesterday in an hour and half than I would have in 3 days if I would have had to take the girls in and out of the car seat for every stop.

3. This may sound lame...but I'm incredibly thankful for our mattress topper we bought a few months ago. We were thinking of buying a new mattress, but someone suggested we try a memory foam topper that was being sold at Sam's Club. I LOVE this thing...especially while pregnant. For the most part, I sleep incredibly well and comfortably. I didn't realize how much support it gave me until we had to spend a couple of nights in hotels last month while on vacation. I hardly slept at all those nights and seriously couldn't wait to get home to sleep in my own bed. I love to lay down on my bed...it's the best $120 we've spent in our room I'd say.

So, that's our update for the day. We have a busy weekend ahead of us so look for some fun pictures in a few days.

I love this

Closet Renovation

This weekend we made a HUGE dent in our "Things we need to do before baby comes" checklist. We tackled the "kid's" closet (It's weird not to say the girl's...but it's not just theirs anymore).

Before, we simply had one bar to hang clothes on, and two long shelves. In the far right corner, he had 4 basket shelves that basically held most of Hannah's clothes. There was not much thought or organization involved when we built it a few years ago. We just thought that was the way you built a closet, one long clothing rack and a couple of shelves. The baskets were added just before Hannah was born.

Well...a few months ago I started realizing that we needed to do something major about our lack of space, or so it felt. We started doing some research and looking around at some "closet systems". We picked out bits and pieces we liked and made something I think will work out very well for us for a long time.


I forgot to take a picture with all the stuff in it. But, this is the left side of the closet, before.

Right side of the closet, with the baskets.

All the stuff that was on the shelves.


Daddy had a few very eager helpers. They were so sweet.


The beauty of it is that it's completely customizable as they get older and toys and needs change.

Here's a run down.


This is the, pretty much, finished closet (a few things to add and organize here and there). As you can see we have the shoe holders down low. I'm going to label the openings with"N", "H", and "E". This way Nicole (and others like daddy and grandmas) can find shoes and Nicole knows where hers belong. Their laundry basket is in the middle of the two units. The unit on the left contains several large and smaller plastic boxes. These boxes are organized (and labeled) according to toy/game type. There are large boxes for purses, balls, dolls, etc. The small boxes contains animals/people, puzzles, games, etc. I LOVE what I did here. Rather than store all of the boxes of puzzles and games, they are now very compactly stored in pencil zipper cases with a picture of the puzzle included.

I love this system...it's already working pretty great. EVERYTHING is labeled...and most things are up high so my little re-organizers can't get to it.

On the right unit are books and homeschool stuff. I'm excited to have a place to store Nicole's Lapbooks that we make when we are done with a unit. I'm hoping to sort of organize our books better and rotate in and out on bookshelves they can reach so they get a variety of books. I'll also be able to bring some books in that I want easy access to, but I don't want the girls to rip apart, if you know what I mean.

This is a view of the far left corner. I found an idea online for long narrow closets like ours. A lady suggested using shower rods to hang your clothes on. They are cheap and can moved when needed since they aren't installed with brackets, just tension springs. Our closet was only 26" deep, so we used several small shower rods. All shirts & dresses will now be hung up. Hannah's rod is on the bottom, Nicole's shirts/jackets are in the middle, and her longer dresses on upper rod. Then, Jeremy's put a large shelf in up high for random storage stuff. Right now it's filled with items we'll need when baby boy arrives, but that we don't want out yet.

This is a view of the right side. It's not finished. I need to pick up a couple more shower rods. Baby boy's clothes will be on the bottom rail and I think I'm going to hang blankets on another rod above it. Again, we have another shelf for random items. Actually....these are items I purchased on clearance for birthdays/Christmas and Pull-ups for later.

The only thing in the dresser now are PJs (far left corner for everyone) and pants/shorts.

I still don't have a good system for organizing socks. Right now I can't keep Nicole and Hannah's straight...I'm pretty sure Nicole often wears Hannah's smaller socks and Hannah wears Nicole's bigger socks more often than not. So...any ideas?

We are excited about our new system...it seems like it will work well AND it was fun to work together on it. It was a little stressful at times with the girls home with us, at least when Jeremy was cutting wood and had screws all over the floor...but we managed. I love that he enjoys and has the ability to do projects like this. He's amazing!

It's not about ME......

So, I've noticed that I've been a Blog-Hog lately. My past few posts have been All About ME! Well, not today.

We went to the park this morning with our friends Teri, Hunter and Nathanael. Teri made me do it, even though it's a zillion degree outside (OK, not a zillion, but it is way to hot for October). We played in the shade however in the rock pit and it was fun. Hannah is a daring little girl who scares me sometimes. She totally thinks she's three and can do what three year olds do. Nicole is becoming more social with other children around. There was a lot of interaction between her and Hunter, which is good....my friend Teri even noticed it.

I don't really have any stories to tell....just pictures to show. Enjoy.


Awe....a nice picture of Hannah.

This is the face I get when I ask her to smile.

Or this one....

So...Nicole really was playing with other kids, but she also still loves to just sit and scoop and fill.

Nicole and Hunter, sitting on a rock, hanging out. They were really cute.

It's not Sew easy

Jeremy was away a couple of weeks ago, and I was trying to figure out what I would do in the evenings to keep myself busy until I pass out from exhaustion (the only way I can sleep when he's gone). Since we don't have cable/satellite and I thought I'd get bored watching movies every night and I'm just to darn pregnant to finish painting the bathroom on a ladder in the shower, I thought I should come up with something else.

While at Jo-Ann Fabric store, I found some really cute fabric to make a blanket with. So, I decided to make our soon to be born little boy his very own blanket from his mommy. It's actually much larger than I imagined, so it's more of a bed blanket than a carry around the house blanket, but that's ok. I even sewed the "taggies" on.




Then, I started looking online for other small project for beginning sewers and found some items I thought would be handy to know how to sew.

I've only made two of these blocks. The orange/brown one is not finished yet, and it was my first...that's why it's a little (ok, a lot) lopsided. The blue/green one is a little better. These square blocks are super easy to make, so I want to keep practicing. They would be cute baby shower gifts if I can get them to look normal. I love that I can pick out fabrics with different textures. It's hard to tell, but the green is bumpy, the crazy blue/green/pink design is silky, and the light blue is flannel. Also, the brown is courderoy. I can also put bells or tissue paper inside to make noise.


People pay a lot of money for "sensory blocks" for babies.

Then I decided to make a boppy slip cover. (A boppy is a nursing pillow by the way) I found a pattern online that I thought I could use. My first attempt looked great, except it wasn't big enough to attach in the back. (I don't have a picture of my first attempt) So, for my second attempt I decided to cut my fabric out an inch or so wider than the pattern. It helped, but it still wasn't enough to close the back very well. I didn't take a picture of the back because it doesn't look good. I put the velcro on in three sections. I'm going to take it off, and just do one long strip of velcro, I think that'll be better.



My third attempt I decided to rip apart my old (and very dirty) boppy slip cover and use IT as my pattern. This worked MUCH better. The third attempt fits better and it closes all the way in the back. It's actually got a little extra room. I just shipped this off to my sister-in-law yesterday (hope you like it Tiff)


So....I'm not a seamstress...I will not be making clothes. But, I'm hoping to learn a bit more how to use a sewing machine. I'm hoping to make more boppy slip covers and give them to friends. I'm hoping to figure out how to make a perfect looking soft cube for baby gifts and I'll keep making little taggie blankets every now and then. I don't have much patience or time, so whatever I do, can't take me more than an hour at a time. If anything, it's a fun little thing for me to do after the kids go to sleep if Jeremy's not home.

Now....I just need my own sewing machine....

Weekend Anniversary Getaway

Yesterday, Jeremy and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. In a lot of ways, I can't believe we've been married 6 years already! Seriously....we're getting old! haha. I love to celebrate our anniversary because we have a few little traditions we always try to do. One is watching our wedding ceremony, which we didn't get to yesterday, but we'll do it sometime this week. It's always fun to go back and look at who was there and laugh at certain parts in the ceremony. I think it's good too because it reminds us of the excitement of that wonderful day. I also usually put my wedding dress on, at least for a minute. I didn't attempt it this year though. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get it past my big 8 month pregnant belly. OK....goal for next year, to FIT into my wedding dress...that would be great!!

Anyway....our anniversary sort of snuck up on us this year. We've had a very busy 2 months between business trips and family vacation, it seems as though Jeremy hasn't been home much. Actually...I think he's been out of town for 6 weekends in a row! Poor guy. So...last week, around Tuesday we realized that we needed to figure out what we were going to do to celebrate. A simple hope to have a night out and a morning sleeping in turned into a whole weekend getaway. Honestly, I felt really bad even considering asking the grandparents to watch the girls the whole weekend. I know (by experience :-) it's not easy to keep those two little girls busy and out of trouble. It took some seriously talking into on Jeremy's part to make me consider this (not because I didn't want to leave them....that really didn't bother me, it was feeling bad for whoever was watching them). He talked me into it though, and we made plans.

We drove to Ft. Lauderdale after work Friday night and stayed at the same hotel as our wedding night. We got in pretty late, so we just hung out and relaxed. Slept in Saturday morning (yes...I was up at 7...but I forced myself to lay there until 8:30). I got a shower, dried my hair, styled my hair and put on make up....all at the same time...a real treat to me. We spent Saturday walking around the Sawgrass Mills Mall. Seriously...I think this is the biggest mall ever! We walked for close to four hours I believe. I was beginning to think I may go into labor!

Then we went to this store.


Seriously....it was ridiculous! They have a two story parking garage that was packed! The giant two story warehouse was packed and people had baskets full of items. It was actually quite entertaining. We didn't buy a thing (we may have been the only ones to walk out of there empty handed...ever!) It was fun, an experience to be sure, but I was plum tuckered out. So, we went back to the hotel and watched football and napped the rest of the day! hahaha. I guess that's our way of relaxing...but it was perfect, I couldn't have asked for more.

Sunday, we went up to Jupiter and went to church. We knew a few people there and have heard a lot about this particular church, so we thought it would be fun. It was. The preaching was awesome, the worship was great, and it was great to get back to church again (see above note that Jeremy's missed 6 weekends in a row at home).

Then...the climax of our trip. We drove back south to Miami to watch the Miami Dolphins whoop up on the Buffalo Bills. Honestly, we weren't expecting much from the dolphins, they have not been good for a while, well...since Dan Marino retired, in my opinion.

Let me tell you though...it was a very exciting game! We had amazing tickets....We were right on the 40 yard line (on the Bill's side), 4 rows up. yes ladies and gentleman, we could smell the sweat of the players (or maybe it was us...cuz it was H-O-T) It was so much fun. The dolphins had several interceptions, several sacks and some great plays. Most of which happened right in front of us
.

Oh, and right at the end of the national anthem, 2 fighter jets flew directly above us...they were so low and loud, it sent chills down my back. Very cool!

The "star" of the game (at least this guy *thinks* he's the star) had anther lousy game, so it was fun taunting him. I'm talking about none other than Terrell Owens "T.O." He walked around the Bills sideline like he was something special, with his shiny earring easily seen from the 4th row.

T.O. didn't have a great game, and he heard about it from the crowd. Other than him, I didn't really know anyone else on the teams very well. But...I know some Dolphins now. Whew...they did great. It was a blast.




We enjoyed our much needed and very relaxing weekend away. We realize this will probably be the last time we get away for several days for a few years. I don't think I'll get talked into leaving 3 kids with grandparents for more than a few hours for dinner any time soon. That'll just be way to much. Maybe though, maybe for our 10 year anniversary we can go away again. They'll be 7, 5 and 4 (wow...they'll be so big by then!)

I'm thankful for 6 wonderful years with Jeremy. I look forward to many, many, many more years to come.

Nothing New

I can't believe it's October. Finally I can start telling people I'm "due next month" I always look forward to that because it makes it not seem quite so far away.

Last week my friend Teri was asking me what I've been doing to prepare for baby boy. NOTHING!!!! I have done absolutely NOTHING! I really need to sit down and start going through my labor and delivery book I made with Hannah. It is full of information to remind me the stages of labor, Bible verses and Hymns to meditate on and all kinds of good stuff to keep me from freaking out. Yes, I'm using my midwife again. As long as everything goes smoothly, Lord willing, then baby boy is paid in full. I'm glad we don't have to put our baby on the credit card. That would just be weird. He wouldn't feel like he's "ours" until that account was at zero, you know? haha. Seriously though....I need to get on the ball. I need to start stocking up on diapers, wipes, pacies, find some old burp clothes and organize his clothes. Hmmm...I need to find his clothes. Yeah....I think I need to make a list of some things I need to find and do.

We have a lot of work we want to do on our house in the next 6 weeks. We need to completely re-do and reorganize the kid's bedroom closet. We have a good plan, now we just need to make the time. We need to have reorganize the garage (it's been embarrassing unusable for several months due to my freak out day of moving ALL of the girl's clothes and toys out of their room a few months ago). We need to work on a few other little fixer-upper things. Really, it's not much. We just need to dedicate ourselves to work hard the next 6 weekends....except this one.

Jeremy and I celebrate 6 years together this Sunday. Woohoo!!! I love my husband. He's the greatest. I'll tell you more about him though in my anniversary post. We just made some very fantastic plans for this weekend, that again, I'll tell you about later. But, we are psyched to have one more chance to get away all by ourselves before baby boy comes. We both realize this is probably the last time we'll get more than a few hours to ourselves for the next few years. Maybe by our 10 year anniversary the grandparents won't mind us leaving a 7 year old, a 5 year old and a 4 year old for a few days...what do you think? They should be easier to handle then, right? Hmmm...maybe we'll have to wait for our 15 or 20 year anniversary to get away again. Either way....we are looking forward to this weekend and that's all I have to say right now.

I don't have any new pictures right now because our camera batteries have been dead and I've not had the ambition to plug in the charger. I've been working hard on a new hobby. I can't wait to show you some of my creations, but it'll be a few more days.

Jeremy's softball season is getting ready to start. I think his first game is in two Mondays. I know he's excited to have some exercise and game time. I miss watching the games like I used to, but I like that this is part of our lives. I think the kids will have lots of memories of watching daddy play ball. I know I have a few of watching my dad when I was little.

Well...that's my update for today. I figured you might be missing us since I went from posting daily to not posting anything for almost a week. I'll be back soon with some new pictures and adventures. Have a super day!