Ten on Tuesday

1. Yesterday Lisa, Kelly and I took our kids to the one of the Metroparks to play in the river and have a picnic. Kelly had been there before but this was new to me and Lisa. The kids all loved it. Finding rocks, walking in the river, trying to catch tiny fish - it was a perfect way to spend a couple hours. It was a good thing we'd brought extra clothes because they were soaked by the time we left!

2. Before:


3. After:


4. I have an ultrasound tomorrow afternoon. Very excited to see how big this baby boy has gotten. Also, to make sure he's still a boy.

5. I'm over the 90+ degree heat. Especially since the pool is closed during the week now.

6. This is Mackenzie right after the first time she fell in the river yesterday. Notice I had said first. She fell at least two more times.


7. I started washing the girls' fall clothes yesterday and the last load is finally in the dryer. I like to wash them after they've been in plastic tubs for two years. Well, Mac's have been since they were Emma's. We also have some things from Emma from my friend/neighbor Beth. Now I have to put them all away tomorrow. Fun times.

8. Speaking of friend/neighbor Beth, here's Emma after her game Saturday with Caroline, her friend and Beth's daughter.


9. There's a park near us that has an old-school merry-go-round. How awesome is that?

(Emma, Graham who is hidden, Titus, Mackenzie)

10. I ordered pictures last week from Shutterfly because they sent me an email coupon code for 101 free prints - I hadn't ordered since March 2009. Now I'm working on my free 8x8 photo book. Maybe I should go a year and half between orders more often.

4 hours

Four Hours. That's how long Emma played with the play-doh I'd just made. Mackenzie made it about 2 hours before she decided to take a nap. But the freshly made pink and purple play-doh entertained Emma for twice as long. In fact, she probably would've kept on playing except that I made her clean up because we had to leave.

Rock the Park

So our town does these Friday night concerts four times a summer. They're not the typical family concerts in the park, but rather for adults 21 and over. This past Friday was the first one and Michael and I attended. We went with some of the girls I work out with and their husbands.

The band was The Breakfast Club, so it was all 80's music. Some pop, some hair metal. Definitely some Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. Which made me happy. Of course, I couldn't get all of us together at the same time but we did get this photo of five of us, but we're missing five others that were there but somewhere else at the concert.

(Kelly, Lisa, me, Megan, Tracey)

I think this was the first time in, oh, maybe years, we'd been out as a couple with friends but without kids. It was good. We should do it more often. Except that's probably not going to happen with a baby arriving in less than 5 weeks. But it's a nice thought.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Malachi turned 3 and his party was Sunday. He likes horses. There was a pinata which was very fun and funny, too.


2. Had friends over yesterday. Stefanie and her girls, Julia and Frankie, went with us to the pool and then came over for some playtime.


3. The garage sale was a success. We had a lot of strollers for sale. No, we weren't selling all our baby gear - we were multiple times why we were selling everything. My friends Beth and Lisa put stuff in it (the majority of the baby stuff) as well as my mom and Michael's mom.

4. Speaking of the strollers, the girls wanted to go for rides.


5. Lemonade was sold.


6. Scrapbook supplies were sold. This was the table Friday morning. I think I ended up selling about 1/2 to 2/3 of the product. I should've taken an after photo. Regardless, I was pleased.

7. One of the girls favorite summer activities has been squirting daddy with water guns when he mows.

8. Friday night we went to Chipotle. Where while walking out Mackenzie kept sing-songing "It won't hurt. It won't hurt," as she was pulling on Michael's hand/leaning over the curb/jumping. Then she fell. And it hurt. A lot.

9.Tomorrow is Michael's last day home with us. He goes back to school Thursday. The girls are sad. I'm sad. Thinking he's sad, too. The end of summer always stinks.

10. But that means Emma will go back to school soon and she can't wait. She's very excited. And it also means we'll have a baby soon. Six weeks and counting...

33 weeks

33 weeks today. Technically 7 weeks to go, but waiting on the hospital to call to schedule my c-section. It'll be nice to have a date on the calendar; to know. To maybe use it to get Michael to commit to a name. :)

Still feeling good. The swelling still isn't too bad, some days my feet look worse than others, but overall I don't think it's anything anyone would notice. Went to boot camp Monday...where I sat and watched everyone and yelled "go team!" when they were doing sprints. I did participate in step class yesterday. And based on how sweaty I am and how red my face is, I'd say I'm getting a really good workout in. Although I always get at least one look each week like, "what are you doing here?"

Adding leg cramps (which actually I've had but left off my list on the layout below) and reflux to my list of pregnancy fun. It's a bit annoying to not be able to bend over with the reflux kicking in. But it could be worse, it could be heartburn. Or carpel tunnel. So far that hasn't come back. Fingers crossed. At my appointment last week I had actually lost a pound since my appointment two weeks prior. I was good with that considering at that appointment I'd gained 4 pounds in two weeks.

The boy has had the hiccups lately. Emma had them all the time. Mackenzie never had them. But in the last week he's started to get them, maybe 3 or 4 times now. Makes me smile each time.

The girls room is done except to hang some pictures and the transition to them sharing a room could not have gone smoother. Next, on to the boy's room: bedding, paint, organizing, cleaning, getting the baby gear down, clothes put away, just getting ready. The next 7 weeks are going to go fast.

Lastly, two recent pregnancy layouts from Write.Click.Scrapbook. I'm determined to get some pages in his section of my pregnancy album. I think he's tied with Mackenzie at 3 right now. Emma? Oh, maybe twenty or so.

ten on tuesday

1. Emma's into posing lately. Which is usually funny (except when I'm trying to get a good picture). But what's funnier is when Mackenzie tries to copy her. Hee hee.


2. Trampoline jumping at my sister's.




3. Posing? Or just making funny faces? Sometimes she thinks it's the same thing.


4. Michael built the girls a new sandbox. Very cool. Very big (6ft x 6ft). Currently holding over 1 ton of sand. Mason sand which is perfect for building roads and castles and such. They love it.
Love. It.




5. Also, it's very dirty. This is not quick-brush-off-before-going-in-the-house sand. It's hose-them-down-and-they-go-in-naked sand. The girls now have 3 sets of sand clothes. Did I mention how much they love it? And how much I love that Michael built this for them? That it makes us happy seeing them so happy playing it?


6. Watched the Twins Day parade Saturday.


(When I was taking this, she was telling me "Go sit down Mommy.")

7. Got my new lens and filters Friday. (Thanks, Marie.) Wondering why it was necessary to package them like this:



8. My Mom.



9. I'm pricing things for my garage sale this weekend. This pile is done. Now to pull out the two boxes in the laundry room and start them.


10. Michael got me flowers for our anniversary yesterday. He even remembered I'm not a rose fan. :) Love the mix of flowers and colors.

7 Years

7 years ago today Michael and I were married.

We've gone from this:



To this:

(photo taken tonight by Emma. The first one was just us, then Mackenzie snuck in.)

7 years
2 houses
(almost) 3 children

Life is good. No, not just good. Wonderful. Fantastic. Full of love and happiness and fun. More than I dreamed of having. Unbelievably blessed. I love you, Michael.

soccer begins

Tuesday night was Emma's first soccer practice. (Please excuse the strange cropping of this photo, I was trying to crop out the other children.) She loved it. She was a bit shy with the coach at first but that didn't last too long. When I asked her what she learned, she said "I played Simon Says." Which was true. It was a great way for the coach to get the kids kicking the ball. But then I asked again what she learned and she said which part of her foot to use to kick the ball and how to stand like a soccer player (more on that later).


She thinks her shoes are really cool and asked if she could have some soccer cleats like them but without the spikes. I explained those would then just be regular tennis shoes, not soccer cleats. Her reply? "Oh."

Last night was a skills clinic (just an hour) for 4 and 5-year-olds. She said she really liked that and learned a lot including how to jump without moving your feet. Now, we're not quite sure how that goes, and when we ask her to show us she says she can't b/c she can't do it. Huh. Regardless, she liked it.

She even let me take some pictures when we got home.




The "stand like a soccer player" pose she learned at practice. Although she told me that night her hands were supposed to be on her hips. Guess she forgot.


Then she started getting silly.