Painting

We decided since we would be here in Pullman for 3 more years, we would paint our apartment and make it a little more our own. We decided to just start with the master bedroom and the living room.

Our room we painted a color called olive branch. I really like how it turned out. It looks really nice with our bedding.


Now I just need to make some curtains to go in there too. I think it'll have to wait till after the baby gets here. I have way too many projects going on right now.

And we painted our living room. The color is called honey. I really love it. At first I thought it kind of looked like a hispanic hacienda, but if it does, it looks good, and I love it.

You might be able to kind of see another project on the wall there too. I'm putting my kids blessing outfits in shadow boxes. Then my wonderful mother in law is cutting me some vinyl to put under them that says, "I have no greater joy then to hear that my children walk in truth." It's a scripture. I can't wait to get the vinyl and put it up so it's all complete!!

I was a little worried about how the paint would look with our furniture, but I think it looks really good and coordinates really well. Espescially with our picture on the wall.

A big thanks to my good friend Rachael for helping me decide what colors and walls to paint! She's really good at that kind of stuff.

Me and Ava

We were at my Mom's house back in June and took this picture. We don't get many pictures with me and the kids because I'm usually behind the camera. So here I am in all my pregnant-chubby glory, with my Ava girl. I had just finished this dress for Ava so we wanted to get a picture.

I might have already posted this picture, but she looks so cute in this dress. Whenever we take pictures of her she does this with her hands. She's so cute.

Mish Mash

Parker has discovered sunglasses. He loves them! It's so funny, he's figured out how to say it and runs around asking for them. Since they have elastic they kind of pull his cheeks up and it looks a little funny.

This is another dress I made for Ava. Unfortunately, she is so tall that it was way to short, so we had to improvise with a pair of leggings to go with it. I didn't love the sleeves that were on the pattern, so I made my own. It's still pretty cute.

We have moved the kids into the same room together. I was really hesitant to do this because I thought it would be a nightmare and that they would just play instead of sleep. But the other choices of putting the baby with Parker or with Ava just seemed to be even more complicated. It would for sure not work to have Parker with him, and I would feel bad putting him with Ava when she is starting school and needs a good night sleep. So we put them together on bunkbeds. We are on night #2 with them in the same room and tonight was a complete success. No crying or screaming. They got in bed and stayed there. I think they talked to each other for a few minutes, but then it was silent. The first night was a little more hairy. Ava did great. Parker on the other hand was totally freaked out. I think because everything was new, he wasn't sure how to react. New room, new bed, new bedding, new music (Ava likes to listen to sounds of the ocean when she sleeps). So he was totally freaking out. I ended up laying in there with him for a little bit till he got used to it all. I think once he realized Ava was in there with him, he was good to go. (Ava is kind of his 'security blanket' in new situations) So after a few minutes I told him I needed to go to the bathroom, and he let me leave. Then he fell asleep on his own.

There are only a couple drawbacks so far. 1st, in the morning whoever wakes up first, wakes the other one up. It was 6:15 this morning. 2nd, nap time. I think because it's still light, it's easier for them to just play. They played for an hour and a half today before I just had to lay in there for a few minutes to make sure they didn't play. They fell asleep really quick after that. So if anyone has any solutions to that one, let me know. I have noticed that the last few days, Ava has been much nicer and more affectionate towards Parker. It's cute, she keeps hugging him and kissing him and saying he wants to snuggle with her. Hopefully, that isn't just a fluke.

The Final Game

Ava finished up her t-ball season with a bang this year- literally. I have a video of it actually, but I'll just tell you about it. First, Ava was running to first base and somehow, she and Cody completely collided. Ava being somewhat of a wimp layed on the ground and cried, while Cody kept running. After finally recovering, she finished making her way around the bases. Then a little later, one of her team mates felt that he had to run with the ball till he was 4 feet from the first basemen before throwing it to them, which nailed Ava in the shoulder and again caused another round of tears. It was slightly exhausting. All the injuries caused Ava to be extra sensitive. So she would cry whenever she didn't catch the ball. Granted, she did have some ball hogs who would wrestle the ball out of your hands so they could throw it. But still, I kept thinking of that line in A League of Their Own, "there's NO crying in baseball!"

It's a good thing Cody was on her team. Well, good for Ava anyway, not so good for Cody. She followed him everywhere the entire season. The coach tried repeatedly to keep her in her position, but she just kept running over to wherever Cody was.

Here they are taking a little break- during the game. I knew I'd be the mom of the kid who is picking flowers in the outfield during a game.

Here's another little break during another inning.

Here's Ava trying to get to the ball first. I hate to tell you, she didn't make it and started crying.

Ava is repeatedly trying to hug Cody on and off the field, which he doesn't entirely love. Most of the time he tolerates it for a second then tried to get her off of him. During one of the games she chased him around the outfield trying to give him a hug. Poor Cody, what can I say, she just loves him!

Parker and the cooler

Parker loves pushing things around. Mostly, he loves anything with wheels. We were at the waterpark the other day and there was a kid in a wheelchair and Parker made a beeline for him and tried to push him and play with the wheels. He loves to play with strollers and shopping carts too. He just loves to push them. So at my Mom's house there was a shortage of wheels, but he found my mom's cooler and pushed it around. Grandma thought it was pretty funny because he kept pushing it around the car and back in a big circle. He didn't care that he wasn't going anywhere, he just wanted to push his cooler.

Westport Beach

Another day on vacation. We headed out to Westport beach for the day with Grandma, Grandpa, Lauren and Rachel. The weather started out kind of overcast and windy, but cleared up and became sunny. We found a little lean to that provided a really nice wind break. We flew some kites.

Parker blew some bubbles and played with the fruit snacks.

Ava had so much fun digging around in the sand. She just loved the beach!

The girls built a sand castle and collected a lot of shells.

Parker got really sandy buns. I tried to clean it off him when I changed his diaper, but it was no use. It hardly came off in the bath.

We had lunch and spent the day playing in the sand. It was a really fun day which we concluded by going to Grandma and Grandpa's pool to swim. The kids were in heaven. Such a fun day!

Northwest Trek

For our vacation this year we were going to go to Cannon Beach with Daniel's brother and his family. But the cabin rates were more expensive then I remember and I wasn't really relishing the idea of camping 7 months pregnant. So we decided to make another trip over to the west side and do some fun things. We decided to go to Northwest Trek one day and it was really fun. I used to go there as a kid on field trips. The day we went had perfect weather. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't raining.

Here's Parker and I on the tram. He did really well. I was afraid he was going to be difficult, but he really liked seeing all the animals too.

We saw a few of these mountain goats. They were surprisingly white for living in such a wet area.
We saw 4 moose. It was so cool. I have always wanted to see a moose and we saw 4 in 1 hour.

Ava with Aunt Alli on the tram. We got to see all the animals really closely on the tram.

We got to see the black bears. There were a few of them. There were some grizzly's too, but we didn't see any of them.

Here we all are at the entrance to the park. Alli, Steph, Lauren and Rachel came with us. We saw lots of other stuff too, including wolves, cougars, all kinds of owls and other big cats. It was a great day!

Blessing day

I've been so busy lately, running everywhere and vacationing, that I'm just now having time to catch up on my blog.

Over fourth of July I got to go to Utah for my neices and nephews blessing. It was really a fun trip, it was super busy, but really fun. I just went and Daniel stayed home with the kids, so I had a little vacation to myself.

My sister Melissa blessed her first baby. A little girl named Anna Regina. She is so stinkin' cute. She looks exactly like Melissa did when she was a baby.

Here's Miss Anna. I love her cheeks!

And my sister Sarah blessed her baby twins Olivia Kate and Andrew Steven. Olivia is adoreable. It's fun to see what Sarah's girls look like because all her other kids are boys. I also got to make her blessing dress and it turned out so cute. She looked perfect. Andrew is so much darker then Olivia, he looks like his brother's. He is so cute and snuggly too. I loved the hat they had for him.

Here's miss Olivia and Andrew. So cute!!

I had such a good time with my sisters. The only absent member of our family was Travis, but it's a little tricky getting him home from Iraq for a baby blessing. Lucky for me, he'll be home for our little guys blessing. Anyhow, I was able to spend time with every one of my sisters and my wonderful sister in law Stephanie. It was a really quick but fun trip. I loved it, but I did miss my little munchkins and Daniel and was ready to come home.