my sweet little family: November 2007

Wedding Extravaganza, day 1

11:13 PM

We're here in A-TOWN, AND, we brought along our laptop so I can still do fun bloggie stuff (in our spare time)! Just thought I'd show a lil' sumthin' sumthin'...

Uncle Jon listening to my husband talk about none other than....

This was also what they were watching.....seriously, sermons on vacation?

Nana Judy posing with her YUMMY dumplings and gravy! It has to be my favorite meal! YUMMY!

My sweet little terror, who is into everything here at Nana and Bapa's house....

The beautiful, Aunt Holly, and of course, the beautiful, Avery Joy!

Ahhhh....sister lovin!

Tomorrow is the bridal brunch/shower, the men's brunch, I'm sure there will be some decorating, and then the rehearsal and dinner....

oh yeah.....it's 11:23 pm here, and Livvie STILL isn't sleeping......urgh!

3:00 PM

Tomorrow starts the wedding weekend festivities, so I'll be absent from bloggieville till Monday sometime! We'll be up in A-TOWN celebrating in the wedding of PG's brother DJ, to Rachelle (who is great!) PG and I are in the wedding party, and our girls...yes, both of them...are flower girls (along with all the other nieces and nephews from Rachelle's side)! It will be a weekend full of family, that's for sure!

In other news, I'm just super excited! I am designing a blog for a family that is going to be appearing on Super Nanny after the 1st of the year! How fun is that?!

Have a happy weekend, y'all!

So...So...FUNK-DA-FIED!

7:11 PM

Merry Christmas to ME!

(if you're wondering, yes, there is black, brown, reddish, and golden colors all mixed in there together...I asked for FUNKY...she sure did what I asked!)

Bedroom Remodel

10:08 PM

When I painted these squares on Avery's wall a little over 2 years ago, I swore that, as long as we lived in this house, I would never paint over them.....

Just like I always do...I changed my mind. After all, Livvie was going to be moving out of my bedroom to room with Avery, so of course they had to have matching bedding, right? And, the matching bedding had to be accompanied by new painted walls, right?

So, we began on Wednesday, and said goodbye to Avery's pretty fun walls...

Avery was adamant that she HAD to help me out, so she got all dressed up and 'helped' me prime the walls.

She had lots of fun painting letters all over the walls... It took 2 coats of primer to cover all of those squares up. And, wouldn't you know it....I didn't do it right! Look who had to come in and finish up my mess...

Yup, I guess I didn't paint up high enough, thick enough, and what ever else I did wrong... oh well...

The next morning, Avery read Daddy some stories as he started painting the real color on the walls!

It's called Floral Medallion, but I think it looks like bubble gum pink! I just love it!

After 2 coats of the pink (and Thanksgiving dinner) Daddy was back at painting the top of the walls... I suck at 'cutting in', so I stay out of his way...

So, after that was done, we bought some trim to paint a burgundy color, and put up between the 2 wall colors. We did that all on Friday, and on Saturday night, Daddy put up the trim and it was finished! Now all it needed was some decoration!!!

So, here is the room, in all of it's glory. Not 10 minutes after it was decorated, it was messy...again...

Before and After

Those little things above the trim are some flowers I cut out from the wall paper border. I just taped them up to see if I like them or not. We think they look kinda tacky...

Avery's favorite thing in her new room...the bulletin board to put all her school works of art!

So, there you have it! This is what my family did over Thanksgiving! Thanks mom and dad for watching the girls so much for us! It was a nice and much needed break from the day to day tasks of parenthood!

Freebie goodness...

9:46 PM

So, ya wanna know how to make a FREE signature for the bottom of your bloggie entry? I was snooping around a couple weeks ago, and found THIS site!

Just thought I'd pass it along to y'all...

When it gives you the "code", here is where you place it: SETTINGS, FORMATTING, POST TEMPLATE

The not-so-good, very bad night...

11:30 AM

Livvie is sick.......again. Don't know where it came from, but it's here. Not to mention she's getting her top 2 teeth (finally).

Picture this.....Nana and Bapa sleeping in the Living Room, Avery, Mommy, and Livvie sleeping in my room, and Daddy sleeping in the office/guest room.

Livvie LOVES her sucky, but can't suck on it when she can't breathe out of her nose. She's stuffed up, and CRABBY, and she keeps waking up...crying. Not to mention she didn't go to sleep till 11 pm.

It's 2:00 am now...

Nana Dianne hears her crying, so she comes and gets her to settle her down. 10 minutes later, she puts her back in her crib. Livvie wakes up again, and I try to bring her in bed with Avery and I, but she's not having it...

-----insert VERY tired mommy, daddy, grandparents here.....------

I decide to use the nose sucker to get her boogies out, and that causes the whole house to wake up. Let's just say Livvie hates it...

We're at a loss. Avery is awake...very awake. Livvie is awake...very awake. And, unfortunately, we're all awake now...

So, picture this.... 4:00 am, mommy giving Livvie a bath to try to get her less congested. Daddy is moving Avery's bed into the office to be with him (Avery's bed was in my room because of painting her room). My parents are trying to sleep out in the living room...BUT, the living room is where Livvie is wide awake, walking around and NOT sleeping....

Livvie finally gave in, and she and the rest of us, were back sleeping by around 4:45 am.

If I NEVER see 2 am-4 am again.....I'll be JUST fine....

Our Thanksgiving...

10:04 PM

Hope you all had a fabulous turkey day!

Here are some photos of our day of Thanksgiving goodness!!!

Here is the before of Avery's room taken yesterday. It's still "in progress", so I'll wait to share the other photos till another time...

And, what's Thanksgiving without a present, right? Here is Avery with her new sing along CD player. We had multiple concerts throughout the day...I don't think I want to hear the High School Musical soundtrack for a couple of months now....

And, Livvie got a fun set of keys and some cute little cars to play with!

We discovered a new tradition for Thanksgiving last year, and we kept up with the tradition this year as well....Perkins! Everyone can get what they want, and then you can leave and not have to do dishes! That's what I say is something to be thankful for!

Here is Avery with her big Thanksgiving meal of......wait......hot dog and french fries, again...

Livvie enjoyed some corn, dressing and some roast beef!

My parents.....Can you tell my mom used the flat iron on my dad's hair? I can't either! I guess he has a cowlick or something! :)

I forgot to get the girls in a photo with their matching sweaters, so this is all I got...

After we went out to eat, we were off to Walmart to get some more painting supplies, and then back home to paint!

During supper tonight, Liv was doing what I think we all WISH we were doing.....

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...................

Hope your Turkey day was grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

11:39 PM

My parents are making the trek over here from Wisconsin tomorrow morning, and we all are VERY excited to see them!

I might be MIA...because instead of blogging, I think I just might be painting the girls room, shopping with mom, eating out, or just enjoying the company of my parents...

So, if you don't hear from me, hope you have a HAPPY Thanksgiving!

back home...

9:53 PM

We got back home from our marathon A-TOWN trip this evening. It was a quick trip, but we are so glad we went.

To say the funeral was sorrowful doesn't seem to put it into words. To watch a 14 year old boy and a 21 year old girl walking behind their father's casket is just heart-wrenching. Shasta even got up and spoke a little bit about her father, and there were sniffles heard all over the packed sanctuary. The whole thing is just so tragic, and the pastor said what we all were feeling - "It's okay to not like it". How can you be okay with it? I know God is almighty and sovereign...I get that. I know His ways are perfect, I do. I am just hurting so much for this little 14 year old boy who is feeling such sadness because he begged his daddy to put up Christmas lights, not knowing that it would kill him. And the wife who stood there and tried to lessen her husbands fall... The pain they will feel as they drive up to their house and relive it over and over again makes me sick, not to mention what Christmas and Christmas lights are going to be tainted with now...

sigh..........

The rest of our time in A-TOWN went well. The girls were great travelers on the way there. Livvie slept...

And Avery watched some fun movies...

When we got to Nana and Bapa's house, Nana pulled out this Jasmine number for Avery! Nana Judy always has such fun treasures, and this one did not disappoint! Avery LOVES it! Thanks Nana!

Livvie just had such a funny grin on her face as she stuck out her tummy and checked herself over!

We went out to a super yummy restaurant to celebrate Bapa Ron's birthday! Uncle DJ and Rachelle came with, and it was nice to just sit and enjoy each other. It's crazy to think that DJ and Rachelle will be getting married in less than 2 weeks.... Both the girls are flower girls, and PG and I will be in the bridal party, so it will be a action packed weekend of fun!

After the funeral today, we met at Culver's for lunch...gotta love Culver's! I caught Uncle DJ when he wasn't expecting a photo to be taken..... Sorry ladies, he's off the market and getting hitched to an awesome gal!

Bapa Ron was probably wondering why I was taking pictures, and Nana Judy...well...if you know Nana Judy, she's laughing most of the time. We just love her!!!

The trip home didn't go as well. Livvie got pretty crabby during the last 45 minutes or so. Did I mention that she has 4 teeth coming in (I think)?

I had Avery's conferences this evening at school. She is doing great, and it's so nice to hear her teacher share what she's been doing at school with me. Letting Avery go to school was a difficult transition for me, so it's always fun to hear what she's doing when she's not under my nose...

So random I can barely stand it.....

10:13 PM

Avery made Daddy and I a Thanksgiving present at school! How fun! It's a cute little turkey tea light holder, and her hand as a turkey! It's always fun to get something that your child made for you! THANKS AVERY!!!!!

The girls and I took a trip to BIG TOWN this last week to pick up Liv's 1 year photos. Don't know why they chose a stark white background, but oh well...I like the girl in the photo a whole lot. I didn't want to take the time to scan it in, so I just took a photo of it. My baby is 1...

In other news, we are leaving tomorrow after church to go to A-TOWN for the funeral of Shasta's father. We'll be staying with PG's parents, and seeing his brother and fiance (they get married in 2 weeks.....OMGoodness...I should start tanning or something!)

And, my parents are coming on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. PG and I will be painting the girls' room, so goodbye to the colorful square walls! :(

I am officially (as of today) a Bare Essentials lady! I should clarify...I am not a lady who trys to cram it down your throat...I just bought some for my own personal use! I finally gave in after seeing my mom and the QVC stuff, and spent some of my blog design money...on ME! Can you believe it?

And, in other painful news......ugh...I decided I wanted my body back. I am now a drying up well...

I am very uncomfortable, and wishing I could be wearing a large bag of packing peanuts, because boy...I am in some pain... I haven't had my body to myself for a long time. If I think back, the last time I was in control of what I ate and did, was back before we began fertility treatment. So, since January of 2006, I have been sharing my body with either a medication, a pregnancy, or a pump.

I think I'm going to faint when I start gaining weight instead of losing for once...Lord, help me...........what have I done!

yesterday and today...

10:03 PM

Seems I don't have much time to blog during the day. Livvie gets mad at me every time I try to sit down at the computer, so the only time I really have, is after the girls' bed time.