Q. How do you know if you're BIG?

A. When you can reach the light switch!

Sara reminds me every day that she is HUGE! And I tell her every day that she certainly is!!! She may be itty-bitty in size, but she has a GIANT personality, and HUGE blue eyes, and the MOST sweetness you've ever seen! I am sad to think that her days of being my baby are limited. I want her to stay itty-bitty just as badly as she wants to be BIG!

Cousins...

...walking to the park.

The kids REACT!!!

We were lucky to have the sonogram on my birthday! What a perfect gift! When I picked the kids up from school they wanted to know if they were getting a brother or sister, but I told them they had to wait. They spent the afternoon excitedly guessing and then second guessing what they thought. Before opening my presents from the kids, I had a present for them. They were so funny:

IT'S A...

GIRL!

We had our sonogram this morning and got to peak in on our baby! She was very active and wiggly! It was comforting to see that she is right on track with her growth and very healthy. Now we can officially begin our hunt for baby names!

Got any ideas?

HOPE

Many of you know how much I love Nie Nie, although I've never actually met her. I've learned so much through her powerful story and incredible example. Here is an amazing video about HOPE. Nie Nie's story is one that could have caused so much despair, yet she continues to triumph through the power of hope. Her picture is one of the ones at the very beginning of the video with her daughter...before her accident:

What's your bet...BOY or GIRL?

??????

We will find out on Monday!!!

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy - Part 2

I wasn't sure if I'd get to it, but by some small miracle I did. Here is a bird to match the tree :-)

Little Biker

Rylie has been wanting to ride her bike without training wheels all summer. She's been ready for the longest time! We've just been too busy and gone too much to take her out. After her begging I finally told Aaron that taking Rylie out on her bike was one of the chores on his "hubby-do-list". He was happy to oblige. It only took a few minutes before Rylie was riding like a pro. She really was ready! I feel bad we didn't get to this sooner. So here is a video Aaron took on his phone while running with her. It cracks me up to hear her giggling all the way :-)

Way to go Rylie! Now we just need to work on braking :-)

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy

I love finding simple crafts. I found this idea here. You can use any surface but I chose to use a canvas board. I guesso-ed it (a primer I always use on canvas before painting), painted it, and then mod-podged on my favorite wrapping paper in the shape of a tree (I cut it out before hand). The flowers are also from the same wrapping paper. I then mod-podged over the whole canvas using the same matte mod-podge.

I bought this wrapping paper months ago and loved it so much that I wanted to use the color scheme for the girls' future bedroom that is slowly, painfully slowly,... being constructed in the basement. I want to paint the walls the light robin egg blue color with white trim. And then maybe have a garden them with flowers and bird houses. The girls have cute white twin beds (they can be bunked) that totally go. Who knew I would find a way to incorporate the wrapping paper in the actual decorating!

I'm thinking of doing a matching canvas with a bird cut out and mod-podged on with the same wrapping paper. What do you think?

Must see 9/11 VIDEO

Rylie's first day!

Rylie started kindergarten this morning!!! She was so excited! And maybe just a little nervous. I thought she looked adorable in her uniform. I gave her a big, long squeeze good-bye and immediately plopped my sunglasses back over my eyes so she wouldn't see them whelming up with tears. I quickly recovered and watched her walk into her classroom through the big window. She looked so little! I lingered as long as I could and of course I started crying as I walked out the building to my car... holding hands with Sara. I can't wait to pick Rylie up at 11:15 and see how her first day of school went! In the mean time, I can enjoy some one-on-one with my sweet Sara.

Bravely walking into the classroom...

So eager to learn!

P.S. How can parents stand having ALL-DAY kindergarten??? What a sad concept!

Update on the first day of school

It turns out Sam and Kaeli did have a great first day of school yesterday! Both made a new friend from their class and both love their teachers! I have to say I LOVE this school! In fact, they're using a curriculum that I think is awesome! They also had their teachers read "The Leader In Me" by Stephen R. Covey over the summer. It is their theme and something each teacher will be teaching the kids. They had a special assembly yesterday as the principal introduced it. Each child will have a leadership role in their classroom. I checked out the book from the library and started reading it last night. It is so cool to be teaching the kids these things! The school has an emphasis on history which is a really neat idea, learning from our past and finding heroes they can look up to that really existed! They're also studying famous artists and their work, which of course I love. The kids, depending on their grade, will learn dance, drama, and film making. I am so excited to see all of this develop. Rylie had her kindergarten orientation/assessment yesterday too and blew her teacher away at how well she can read. Rylie was really cute about it and I don't think anyone is more excited about starting school than she is! On the other hand, I think I will be a mess that first day...seeing another baby of mine start on the road of independence. I will be sure to wear my sunglasses so she can't see me BAWLING!!! What a way to pull on the heart strings. I'd rather my babies just stayed little and never left!!! I wish I could live in slow motion so each moment could be enjoyed longer and deeper. I guess this is what it feels like to be a mother. I hear it only gets more difficult....