Hello out there!

In my dreams I have a huge audience of readers that are sad that I have not blogged in a while…. and then reality hits lol. I know of only a handful of people that actually read this lol. Oh well. I thought I would get on and update what’s going on around our household.
Let’s start with our trip. Jeff and I took a much needed long weekend away to Fredericksburg, Tx. It was amazing and wonderful. Since Avery was born in February of 2010, we only had maybe 2 or 3 nights away from the kids and each time was for a wedding so we were gone for less than 24 hours. Needless to say, I told Jeff that before baby #3, Jackson Max, gets here I needed a “recharge” weekend. Little did I know that it would be a great rebonding for us. The day-to-day routine of dinner, baths, bedtime for the girls, and then me passing out reading a book while Jeff passes out on the sofa watching TV all by 9pm, was starting to wear on us. Not in a bad way, just in a “we need a date” sort of way. We are going to be young empty nesters in about 18 years so we think it is very important that we keep up our relationship!
Anyways, I tried to take lots of pictures, and I did the first day around town, but then I slacked off the rest of the trip. I always regret that! I hate being in pictures so unless we are doing something that lends itself to a good photo-op, the camera stays in the bag. I need to get better about this! Here’s a few of what I did take:
We stayed at a bed and breakfast right of of Main street so we were just walks from all of the shops and attractions. I took some pictures around the house. It was very cute and quiet but it was not the typical B&B where the owners greet you at the door and cook breakfast for you in the morning. There was a crew that came in and made breakfast every morning so it wasn’t as personable as I had hoped. We liked it but will probably try somewhere else next time.



We ate lots of yummy food. Hondo’s is a favorite there.

We also ate some not so yummy food. Jeff is a huge german food fan and since Fredericksburg is an old german town he wanted his fix. I, on the other hand, am not a fan and choked it down for him…

We drove out to Luckenbach just for the fun of it. It consists of a dance hall and an old post office. Pretty much just a tourist trap lol

And, the best part is the piece of art we got. The pictures don’t do it justice AT ALL but I fell in love with it because of it’s thick texture and shape. The artist is actually an engineer and home remodeler who started making her creations as backsplashes and parts of a home but evolved into free standing pieces. It is the focal point of our living room now and we LOVE it!! I wish I could tell the artist, Megan Zavaleta, how much we love it! You can see some more of her work here.
Thank you mom and dad, and hannah and daniel, for watching the girls and holding down the fort while we were gone. We really really appreciate it and are so thankful to have family close for these things. Avery still tells me how much fun she had with Nanna and Pappy while mommy and daddy went on their trip. Maybe we will have to go on another one

Happy Birthday Avery Grace!

I can not believe my first baby is already 3 years old. It’s so cliché and I know I say it  A LOT but, where in the world does time go??
February 4th I was about to loose my mind ready to finally have my first baby! I was getting so impatient and hormonal I wrote this post. Little did I know that the next few hours would the ‘go time.’
3 years ago this morning I went into the hospital a little after midnight when I thought that my water had broken. I wasn’t really sure since it wasn’t a huge gush that you see on TV but by the time I got to the hospital I was soaking wet so I knew I was right! I got the epidural probably just about an hour after I got there and was able to fall right asleep. I don’t remember any contractions with her birth. I literally slept through the whole thing except when the nurses came to check me. Around 7am I could feel a little pressure and knew it was time. The doc came in, I pushed maybe twice, and here she was! Born at 7:11 am. Quite possibly the easiest most uneventful birth known to man haha.
Today, she loves to dance and sing. Her favorite color is pink and she will make sure you know it! Her favorite movie is Toy Story (all 3). She is a HUGE daddy’s girl and she says he is her prince all the time. I swear I did not put those words in her mouth! She is all girl and loves to dress up and be a princess. She is getting more and more social and is convinced that every kid she sees is her best friend. She is seriously so smart! I don’t just say this as a proud mom. I get told all the time how advanced she is and I swear she tells me things that I have no idea where she learned it. (she was telling me this morning all about what a fever is…. random tidbit of the day for her lol) She gets that from her dad. Along with her being so smart comes some serious tantrums. She tests my patience every day but I try my hardest to make sure she knows how much I love her and that is why I have to discipline when she gets “smart” with me. lol 
She is a wonderful big sister to Norah and even though they naturally have some sharing issues she really loves to help her and make sure Norah always has her teddy bear, blanket, and puppy dog. She had  a blast this morning showing Norah how to play one of the games on my iPad and would get so proud of her when she “did it”. I think she is pretty excited about having a baby brother soon but I am not really sure how much she really understands what a boy is lol.
I am so blessed and can go on and on about them forever. but for now, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVERY! We love you!!
I have to say that the days my children were born were the best days of my life. They changed Jeff and my lives forever and for the better. I thank God for giving me the blessing of being a mommy
Unfortunately, we had a whole day of fun planned but the car wouldn’t start so that will all have to be postponed. We are going to make a pink cake (with pink icing and pink sprinkles lol). We had planned to go to storytime at the library and the park and the craft store to get something fun to do but looks like that will have to happen another day. We will be having a party with family in a few weeks and it will be a “Jessie” theme from Toy Story.

Norah’s Big Girl Room

I am so excited about this project!! I need to move the crib set out and into Jackson’s room so she needs to move up to a big girl bed. It took me a while to decide exactly what I wanted to do in there but I finally made some decisions and purchases.
Today, I bought this dresser and night stand in a grey color called “sandpiper”

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Here is the bedframe I will be getting as soon as she is ready. For now, the mattress will just go right on the floor

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I got these today at Target

I really want to get this lamp but we will see; it’s kinda pricey

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Id like to find a cool bird cage too to put on the dresser. maybe something like this one but hopefully I can find a cooler one.

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Now, this is the best part and I have been saving it for last!!! I planned all along to make her bedding since I made Avery’s when she moved to a big bed. I looked at tons of quilt patterns and went to the fabric store and even bought some fabric but nothing was “calling” to me. That is, until I saw this and fell in love!

I have found some DIY tutorials and plan to make this in a light pink/rose colored fabric. How pretty will that be with the dark iron bed, grey furniture, white shelves that are already in there, and the grey/green walls?! In fact, I just looked at Anthropologie’s website and they have a rose color one and they show it on a dark iron bed! Great minds think alike . I swear it was meant to be!

Baby Boy's Nursery

I really hope we settle on a name soon so that I can start calling him by something other than "baby boy." We are close so hopefully it will be soon.
I have had lots of thought about how I want to do a boys nursery. Given that we have a crib set that is dark brown and the bedding for it is a neutral cream, I can start there. After lots of thought and research and Pinterest "pinning" I have decided he needs an "upscale western" style nursery. Being our only Texas baby, it only seems fitting :).
I want to find a cowhide rug to be the main focal point in the room. As of yet, I have not found one that isn't huge and/or pricey so I hope to find one at the Houston rodeo in February. I plan to do navy blue curtains, just some simple straight panels. Paint the walls white (I really don't want to paint but the walls are a purple grey color so that will not do!) with a cream horizontal stripe across the room about 2/3 up the wall. Here I can hang some old deer antlers of my dad's that I plan to sproose up and hang with some frames full of song and book quotes. Those are just a few thoughts...
First, I have to get Norah transitioned to a big girl bed (which my design thoughts for that will be another post) and get the guest room furniture out of his room.
Man! I have a lot to do in the next 4 months. I am going to do all I can not to stress!
Here's some of my inspiration

IT’S A BOY!!

Holy Cow I can not believe I am actually having a boy!!! After being 1 of 3 girls and my sister having 3 girls and I have 2 girls already it was looking like the odds were not in my favor for having a boy. Sure enough, God has blessed us with a little boy. Honestly, I am over the moon excited but I am also a bit nervous. I have no idea what to expect from boys and I don’t have anyone close with experience with boys and I don’t even know where to begin and no reference to go from. Naturally of course, I went shopping and started with some clothes.
Here are some of his pictures from today. He seems to be perfectly healthy and normal and everything seems to be growing just fine. Praise God!

I love my girls with all of my being but I am so excited to have this little boy join us and add another element of love to our family!

Playroom Makeover… Part 3 Finger Painting and Trundle Bed

I started this post just about the paintings and then I realized I never mentioned the finished trundle bed and curtains. I made 2 very simple curtain panels out of that bird fabric I found and I LOVE them so much!!! Can’t really put my finger on why, but I do. I think they are very classy yet casual. The bed also turned out great! I got all of the bedding at Target and then made some throws out of left over fabric from the curtains. I also brought the little yellow table I painted in here, but now I am not too fond of the yellow so it may get refinished in the future.
Here is the finished product

So, anyways, back to to the paintings. They are hanging in the picture above. I love them but I think they need a little something more but I am not sure what it is yet. maybe frames?
Let me back up. I wanted to add some art above the trundle bed in here but since it is a play room after all, I figured who better to be the artists than the kids who play in here? So, we had a finger painting day. We don’t do this often (if at all) because Avery is just now getting to a point where she can handle a craft like this and Norah, well, she needs lots of help and direction. It was a blast though and their personalities really came out!! Avery wanted the paint to be put exactly where she wanted it and needed to be very precise (as much as an almost 3 year old can be anyways). She got really upset when I helped her splatter the paint lol! Norah, probably due to her age, just wanted to roll and smear all in it! she did a better job of really covering the canvas but didn’t have a real plan. She loved splattering and thought it was funny.
I was able to sit back and just let Avery paint so I got a few cute pictures but I really had to help Norah out. Luckily Jeff was home at this point and was able to take some pictures (don’t look at me and my pajamas! lol)

I am so thankful to have a room where we can do stuff like this!! Here’s some close-ups of the finished products.
Avery’s:

Norah’s:

I especially love the foot prints in Norah’s. Can you spot them? She took off running across hers and I actually kinda like it! lol
If I really want to get interpretive, Norah’s could be a field of flowers with a blue sky. There’s even foot prints in the grass! haha Ok, maybe a little bit of a stretch.
As I was cleaning up I wondered why I do these things to myself; I must be a glutton for punishment! But then I think back and can still remember days when I was little painting at my grandma’s house. Memories, that is why I do it! Who cares about the mess?!