OPERATION BIG SISTER ROOM DAY 1

Well, we finally started making some progress on getting London and Kinley in the same room.  My in-laws came to watch the girls for us this afternoon so we could do some running around without having to haul the girls around with us.  It's amazing what you can do when you don't have any kids tagging along.

First off Matt and I took off and stopped into Sherwin Williams to grab some paint swatches.  Did you know there are about 9309482 shades of white?  We grabbed all the white paint swatches we could and headed to our next stop... Garden Ridge.

We picked up a new mattress for Kinley there then headed home to drop it off.  I know I know, some of you are thinking... Garden Ridge for a mattress???  Yes, I just can't justify spending a whole lot of money on a kids mattress and the ones we have for the girls are really comfy and the best part, they are under $200 for a twin set.

After we dropped off the mattresses we headed to Ikea.  We lucked out and found the dresser, matched the paint color to one of our many paint swatches and found its location (because you have to know the aisle and bin number at Ikea) very quick and we were out of there faster than I had planned.... which is always nice.  And again, it would have taken three times as long to get through that maze of a store with 2 kids.

After a quick stop at Sherwin Williams again to pick up the chosen paint color and some brushes we headed to our favorite cupcake place for an after dinner sweet and picked up Fajitas for dinner!!

We had a good dinner and chatted with Matt's mom for a bit, let the girls play outside on the trampoline in hopes they would work off the sugar high from their mini cupcakes, then said our good bye's.

We quickly brought all the pieces of the dresser upstairs and started assembly.  That is the downside of Ikea ...the assembly.  BUT, its worth the great bargain and again, I've always had good luck with stuff from Ikea.  And, Matt and I are a pretty good team at putting stuff together.  No arguments have ever come out of putting something together.

We had to call it quits at about 10 .... we had 2 tired girls that were getting very cranky.  Luckily, along with getting most of the dresser assembled,  we were able to at least get their mattresses set up and they are sleeping on real sheets and pillows tonight.

After church and lunch tomorrow we will finish assembling the dresser and maybe move the wall shelves around to get ready for the beds.  Oh, and putting all the clothes back into the dresser!!  That will be great to get the off the closet floor and out of random baskets.  See all the junk on top of the dresser.... It will soon have a new home!!

We decided not to even try to start to paint the beds until the girls are gone to Nana's later in the week since we found that they wanted to help put every screw and peg in the dresser....and help screw them in...and hammer.... and pour out the 3000 other screws that we were trying to keep together.  I don't want to have to try and keep them away from painting.  YIKES.

I'll keep ya'll posted on the progress.  I'm hoping it all comes together quickly :)  I'm exhausted now and hoping I can sleep all night.  I've had terrible insomnia the past few nights.  Crazy pregnancy hormones!

Operation big sister room will continue tomorrow :)

ROOM MAKEOVER....AGAIN

Well with sweet baby Holland on the way we had to do some rearranging of people.  Since London is the oldest and has always had her own room we gave her two options...

1.  Make her room into a room for her and Kinley
2.  Let Kinley and Holland share a room

I really wasn't sure what she would pick but she wanted Kinley in her room.  Soooo, the transition started by just talking about moving rooms with Kinley.

About 3 weeks ago both girls wanted to sleep together on the floor... so we made them a bed on the floor and well, they are still on the floor.  They were on blankets in Kinley's room for about 2 weeks and now we have London's mattress and box spring on the floor that they are sleeping on.  Pitiful I know but It is totally their choice and it is nice to at least have Kinley out of her room and the crib.  I am hoping to have Kinley's mattress set this weekend.

I have always loved the look of two twin beds with matching bedding, so with London wanting to share a room with Kinley, my mind started turning and I began searching for the perfect beds.  Something classic and timeless but that wouldn't break the bank.  Ha.... everything I found that I loved was so expensive.

Here is the bed or beds I fell in love with...
Restoration Hardware $1199... YIKES and to think i wanted 2.  UH, not going to happen.



So, I saved the pic on my phone and it got looked at alot, and I was convinced I could find one similar and much cheaper.  Well, I just happened to mention wanting new beds for the girls to my aunt one afternoon while swimming and showed her the pic and she instantly said, "Daddy Joe (my uncle) could do those easily."  In fact, my cousin had been talking to him (he is her dad) about building a day bed for her son.  Oh, I was so excited.  I think I forwarded him the pic that moment and asked if he could build 2 for me.  Well guess what..... he built me 2 beds and I  LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!!  He is so talented and is great at building things.

Here are a few pics of the beds toward the end of the building process...

I can't wait to get them in their room!!  Kinley has been asking about her new bed lately and I'm ready to finish the transition of getting Kinley settled in London's room. 

We will have to paint them once we get them home.  Luckily our neighbor has a paint sprayer and you bet I'm going to see if we can borrow it :)

In the mean time, I have been looking for a new dresser that can fit 2 sets of girls stuff in them.  I'm thinking I can combine panties and socks in one drawer, use a drawer for shorts and one for pj's.  

I found this dresser at Ikea and I think it will match well with the beds... and since we are painting the beds ourselves, we can match the paint color to the dresser!!  I will probably try to change out the drawer pulls if I can find some that will fit.  I love it because it has the same base as the beds and has the raised panels on the drawers like the beds.  And Ikea is always so reasonably priced and has always held up well for me.

Here is the matching nightstand that matches the dresser.  How cute will it be between the two beds!!!

I'll be sure and post pics when the room is done!!  I'm so excited and am ready to have the new 'sisters' room complete.  Then I can finally move on to focusing on the nursery.  

NOAH'S ARK

Did you know there is an ark in Houston?  A real one with animals and water....

and tunnels....

and it is oh so fun to play on!!!

We went to this pool with some friends.  My understanding is that the pools are owned by a church and this is part of their recreation department.  Pretty awesome if you ask me.  There is also a large pool with diving boards in a separate fenced in area.  It was $6 per person for all day and they even had a concession stand!!

I wasn't too sure if London or Kinley would enjoy it for very long but went hoping for the best.  Well, I'll just say I had to drag them out of there!!  

London had a great time on the slides and tunnels from the get go ( I was afraid she would get bored after a few slides) and as I suspected, Kinley was a little overwhelmed.  I mean, she won't even go in the kiddie part or down the kiddie slides at the neighborhood pools.  I thought she would just sit in the water by my feet and play.

This was Kinley's favorite spot for a while...

After a little convincing her to come on the ark with me I decided I would slide down the slide with her.  It was a sight to see I'm sure, me and all 7 months pregnant of belly and Kinley sliding out of the ark.  She sort of liked it and I went down a few more times with her.  Finally I snuck away when she and London were at the top together and that was the end of the slide fear.  She LOVED the slides and couldn't run around fast enough to climb to the top again!!

London was the best big sister and sooo sweet to help Kinley to the top each time.  She was so patient with her and so excited for her each time Kinley went down the slide.  

There was a small rainbow slide too that the girls did a few times.  Once Kinley slid down and did a little twist towards the bottom.  She jumped up so fast and laughed and told me, "I did a fancy trick!!"

The girls played so hard and had a great time.  

Kinley was worn out and started her nap early in the car.  London on the other hand wanted Sonic so we made a quick stop for lunch then headed home for Kinley to finish her nap..... in a bed :)

I'm so glad we went to play on Noah's Ark and will definitely be back for more fun!!!

(sorry for the blurry hazy pics... I think the heat and humidity plus the bright 

sun/shade combo at the pool made for some funky looking pics)

SWEET HOLLAND

So, I realized I hardly ever talk about my pregnancy on here.  Yes, I am definitely still pregnant and all is going well and pretty uneventful ..... thank goodness.

Today I had the fun 28 week visit.  It was full of 'stuff', I felt like I needed a check list to make sure I had everything done before I left.

Here's how it went

I arrived at 11 and was handed the dreaded bottle of orange juice, orange sugar water, flat orange soda, well whatever you want to call that orange stuff you have to drink for the glucose test.  I was told I had 3 minutes to drink it.  YUCK.  It actually didn't taste terrible but I am not one who can sit and drink a whole can of anything at once.... so guzzling down a bottle of orange sugary flat soda juice wasn't exactly fun.... but I did it.

Matt arrived just as I took my last drink {check off #1: drink orange stuff}

Luckily we were called back for a sonogram {check off #2: sonogram} and got to see our sweet girl.  Everything looked great and my placenta had moved further away from my cervix as hoped.  That was the whole reason for another sonogram was to check my placenta since it was low and a little too close to my cervix at my 20 week sonogram.  The sono tech checked all her organs and the important stuff, measured alot of things and everything looked great.

Holland must have known we were looking at her because she was posing.  She had her hand under her chin..  ha ha!!

Matt left to go back to work after the sonogram and I waited some more......  DING!!, 12:00 and my 1 hour was up and I had to get my blood drawn.  {check off #3:  blood draw}

That took all of a few minutes and I was back in the waiting room.  Finally I was called back to see the dr. The nurse came in and gave me my rhogam shot {check off #4: rhogam shot}, did my vitals and was out the door.  The dr. came in about 10 minutes later... She was pleased with the sonogram results and I had no questions so luckily I was out the door.

I have to go back every 2 weeks now until I'm 35 weeks.  I hope the last 12 weeks are smooth sailing and comfortable :)

OK, so there you have it.... a pregnancy update......finally

FUN WITH FRIENDS

I'm finally rested from the crazy week of VBS.  I feel like I can finally sit down and think straight.

Friday we finished up VBS and just as I was getting into my nap, Matt calls and says our out of town friends want us to come have fajitas and spend the night.  Sooooo, I slowly packed a change of clothes for all of us and we headed to the other side of Houston for a night with friends.  We had great fajitas, great cookies for dessert and great time hanging out with amazing friends.

 The kids played dress-up....

and then it started to rain (not much but enough to get wet) and the kids darted outside to play in the rain.... in thier pj's!!!

We had to head home just as it quit raining to get ready for a b-day party.  Matt met his dad for a b-day lunch with his brother while the girls and I rested and then we headed to the b-day.  

party fun!!!

Today we had a play date with the moms in our Sunday school class.  It was at a big indoor play area and the girls had a blast.  There were slides, tunnels, big nets to climb up, and so many fun thing to climb in and on...  

Kinley just woke from her nap so I'm going to see if I can get some errands done.  : )

Happy Monday!!

VBS DAY 5

Whew!!!  What a week.  We ended VBS today with the fruit of the spirit KINDNESS.   You would have thought it was the last day of school.  The kids were WILD!!!

I always came back a little early from the big show to get the snacks ready and much to my surprise London came back from the big show looking like this....

She had pulled her tooth out right in the middle of the big show.  I was shocked that {1} she pulled it out knowing i was no where near and {2} she went and got the other teacher and let her take the lead on what to do next!!  Her top tooth is loose ...but not real loose....now but I think it might be a while before it falls out.

Friday the nursery did a western parade for all the nursery kids.  I dressed Kinley in the only western thing she owns and she wore some boots that were a few sizes too big for her.  She was so excited about her outfit that she had me put the boots next to her pillow the night before.... and yes, I packed her tennies too so she could have shoes that fit if she wanted.  BUT, when I picked her up, her teacher said she never wanted her boots off.  :)

Here is a short video of the western parade!!!  I was trying to take pics with a camera in one hand and hold my phone with video in the other so excuse the poor quality!!

Here are some more pics from the parade...

Before leaving VBS we stopped by the VBS General Store to pick up a CD, posters of the big show cast, and pre-order our DVD!!  I love that London is more into VBS and the characters and songs than some of the other more trendy things these days.  I can only hope and pray she stays that way!!

After VBS I had promised London we would eat lunch at Chick-fil-A with friends.  We lucked out because each kid and me since I volunteered got a coupon for a free 8-piece nugget!!!!  The kids had a blast and I let them play a while then we headed home for a much needed nap.  

VBS was fun but so tiring.  I was worn out from the action pack fun filled week...... but I'm sure I'll be back to volunteer next year :)

VBS DAY DAY 4

Today was a great day at VBS.  The fruit of the spirit we talked about was PATIENCE.  I think this is such a hard one with 6 year olds because I know mine has a hard time waiting on even things that come quick sometimes.

Kinley did much better in the nursery and my attempt to snoop on her turned into a brief visit with her and she didn't even cry when I told her I was leaving.  She was so happy when I picked her up and talked all about getting to see the big show today.  She has brought home the cutest crafts too.....

I just love seeing what she has done for the day!!

My mom came to watch the big show as well.  I think she really enjoyed it.  London was thrilled to see her Nana at VBS!!

Tomorrow the nursery is having a western parade.  Kinley is excited about her outfit and is determined to wear boots ...that are too big.  I plan of packing her tennies and hopefully she will let her teacher change her shoes after the parade!!  She even wanted to sleep with the boots next to her...and yes, the girls are on the palate again :)

London has really enjoyed VBS and was so excited her friend came with her.  I managed to get a few pics of her today...

On the way out we had to stop by the VBS General Store...  London wanted to browse and see what she wanted and of course she wants both VBS posters, the DVD of the big show (pre-ordered) and I'll probably end up getting the CD (mainly for Kinley) with some cute VBS western songs they have been playing all week.

Yesterday there were over 3300 kids.  WHEW....  we had 4 of our 26 out today but I couldn't tell.  The kids were excited and loved the games we played.

One more day to go......

I better get to bed.  I told London I would take her and 2 friends to Chick-fil-A after VBS tomorrow.....  It's going to be a long afternoon!!