Humble Abode

I did a handful of mini home improvement projects to get ready for my sister's visit. Since I LOVE when other people post about their home decor, I thought I'd share some of ours. Charlie is nice enough to share his room with Josh and I. We have a pretty large bedroom so it doesn't seem too bad. We just can't have Charlie grow too much more!

my sister, D

and one of Josh and Chach

I shouldn't be blogging right now

Denise is coming to town tomorrow night and I have been spending all my free time getting ready for her arrival. Ever since I had a third child, the house work seems so impossible. I actually have three different people who will be helping me tomorrow by babysitting so I can get organized. Yes, I admit, I'm not one of those moms who has a spotless home at all times. --Wait are there really moms like that out there or is that just what we want people to think?? Anyway, I'm proud of myself for actually asking for help. I sent out an email asking if anyone wanted to babysit swap with me and lo and behold I got a good response. I will have to take pictures of how spotless I get my house once I am done. With all this extra effort, it better look like the Taj Mahal.
I just had to blog, though. Tonight was one of those nights where I ran to my camera to capture a cute dad and kids moment. Everyone was so riled up after dinner. There was a massive sword fight going on. Josh was at a disadvantage because Noah and PK had the broom and swiffer.

Presley takes no prisoners!



He pretends he doesn't, but Noah loves to be cornered and tickled. Only dad can bring that face out of Noah:).


I brought my camera to our church building last week during our weekly institute class and snapped some pictures in the nursery room. We meet in the COOLEST building for church. It is a total hip, urban loft-type thing. It has it all; exposed brick, exposed beams and all sorts of industrial machinery in the rafters. It is a renovated factory. Ugh, I would love for the nursery room to be my living room. It has these giant windows that let in so much light.

Our Monday

It was like this outside:



But like this inside:

How was yours?

photo of the day

Free Photo Session in Utah!

image courtesy of Elizabeth Jenson Photography

My good friend, Lizzy is doing a photo session give away! Check out her photo blog. She does such a great job.

I'm Lucky, so Lucky!

So much to say, so little time! First off, I have to announce that my sister is coming to visit me!!! Yippee! Josh was going to surprise me and have her come, but it was getting too complicated with all my plans coming up. When he told me I couldn't believe it! She will be out here from a Friday to a Monday. Quick trip, but she will be out here without kiddos. {I don't know if some of you get like this, but sometimes things just seem so impossible with kids. I thought it would be a couple of years if ever that Denise would be able to come out.} I am so excited. Josh is so thoughtful to do this. Love him to pieces. He got a voucher when he flew out to his grandma's funeral in the fall and decided to give it to Dee. I have been missing her so much. It is almost everyday that I am in the city and thinking, "this would be cool to show my sis." Cannot wait!

In other happenings, I have just come off of my two weeks living off our food storage. It was an experiment we did as part of my calling at church as the Provident Living Specialist. It was a good way to assess my food storage, but oh so miserable! Seriously, I became such a whiner during the last few days. We ran completely out of milk on day 9 and I didn't want to use dry milk. We did a lot of toast for breakfast. I kept craving fruit so I had canned pineapples and peaches a lot. So sick of those. It was funny because knowing that we had to ration out things made us want to eat them even more. Like the milk for instance! I made cookies one night and we HAD to have milk with them, not water. Ugh! One of the biggest things I learned was to always have ranch dressing and peanut butter. The ranch will get Presley to eat her veggies and peanut butter was such a great energy booster when the meals were lacking. We put pb in oatmeal and bake it in a lot of desserts. It was good to have items that I use in multiple recipes. Tomato/spaghetti sauce, black and refried beans, CHEESE (of course). I froze two loaves of bread and from now on will always try to have at least one loaf in the freezer at all times. It thaws so nicely in the fridge. I atually started a blog for my calling. I am just too bloggy sometimes I swear. The blog is www.cambridgefirstpl.blogspot.com if you want to check it out for any provident living tips. It's kind of fun:).

I'll conclude this post with some spying pictures of my kids. They do the cutest things. I swear.:

Noah almost had Charlie asleep on his lap. Presley was jealous he wasn't on her lap!

Presley got her coat on and went outside. When I went to check on her she was twirling with her umbrella.






Look out Jasper Johns!

Once in a while I will have the energy and patience to let the kids get out the paints while I am working on dinner. They didn't do too bad this time.

Talent Show and a Tag Along

We had a little talent show for the kids at church this morning. It was a fun way to kick off the morning. Such a great turn out and the kids had a blast watching all the talents. Presley's talent was ballet. She danced up in front with some of her friends from her ballet class. She becomes such a serious dancer when it's go time. She is in heaven when the spotlight is on her and she is considered a ballerina.


This picture is as they are waiting to do their finale leap. I wish I was a faster shooter to catch PK in mid leap, but alas, I let her leap right out of my frame. So you get to see the shot of her waiting. Sorry:).

Another waiting picture! This shot of Noah is him waiting for me to get the music set up. Noah's talent is break dancing. He has his own made up techniques that he puts his heart and soul into. He told me he was a little nervous, but he did awesome. When it was his turn to perform he wanted to bust right into it. I had to run up there and tell him to wait for the music. He danced to a ska song- "My Town" by Buck-O-Nine (that's what you get when white boys break dance, folks!)

Look at him go! Makes a momma proud, I tell ya!

Josh's shot of Presley watching.


It is already happening!! Last night we babysat Noah's friend, Gabe. I had to get the camera out because little Charlie was trying to tag along with his big brother. So cute. At first Noah and Gabe were playing video games and Charlie army crawled right in between them and proceeded to grab at the controller cords. then the boys were playing legos and Charlie inched his way next to them, tugging at their shirts! I can already forsee what is to come. Luckily for the moment, Noah is loving Charlie's interest in him.

** If you're up late reading this, don't forget to set your clock for day light savings! Ugh! Tomorrow's going to be a groggy day at church!

Tough Day

I had to add a quick post for PK. She had a rough day. First she was at school with the boys and none of them wanted to play princesses! She was crushed and threw herself on her bed and cried in her pillow. Drama! Then she got a hole in her ballet tights (more tears), and then she missed out on brownies after dinner. She told me she didn't want any then changed her mind after they were all gone. Ugh, I should've known she'd do that. I reached up on top of our fridge and found her a sweet treasure, sugar makes it all better. You can still see a little tear on her cheek!

8 Months Old

Gosh darn it. I was hoping we could figure out a way to get time to stop by now! Charlie is still growing at the speed of light. It seems like each morning I wake up, he has a new tooth (he's got six now for those keeping a tally). He can only wear outfits twice and then he has out grown it by the time it makes the laundry cycle and back out to him. He has completely out grown his car seat. We had to get a new rear facing, non-carrier one that a adjusts to forward facing when the time comes. It's exciting to see all this growth and development, but at the same time, a little sad. It seems like yesterday I was feeling "indigestion" on the fourth of July.

You can only see his top teeth when he's laying down. I love it when he gets a big grin while I change his diaper. All those staggered pearly whites!

Charlie is now doing the army crawl. He looks like an injured soldier, dragging his lame legs! It's cute to see that look of determination. This is a first for us. Noah and Presley were late crawlers. I have to do a new round of baby proofing. Paper is Charlie's biggest weakness. I have to remember not to grab a program at church because I have to take it away from him and cause a big crying fit (how's that for a run on sentence?). Because I am always fishing paper peices out of his mouth, Charlie is awesome at closing his lips super tight. It's like a steel door when he knows I want to get that paper out!
March is a busy month for us. I am determined to get all our doc/dentist appointments scheduled. Talk about a pain. Every dentist that takes our insurance is not taking new patients. Josh is convinced that one of his back teeth are hollow!! The last time either of us has been to the dentist was at least 3 years ago.
Also next week I am going with Noah's class on a field trip to the Children's Museum. I am so excited for the kids for this. They will all be getting to ride a bus (which they love) and Presley will get to spend the day w/ Noah's teachers who spoil her to bits. TTFN!