Correction to my previous post

Oops. When I wrote earlier about what I love, I made a grave error. I forgot to list the most important -- my hubby!! Why I forgot, I don't know. I'll blame pregnancy brain for that one (seriously, thanks to my seemingly missing brain cells, one day I put the dirty laundry in the trash can instead of the washing machine, put the milk in the pantry, and put my car keys and cell phone in the refrigerator).

So, without further ado, here is the short list of things I love about my hubby:

-- he makes me laugh, especially when I'm determined not to
-- he's patient, kind, loyal, and unfailingly understanding
-- he's a great daddy and loves our babies
-- he makes sure that family comes first
-- he's always there when I need him
-- he helps me be a better person
-- he's (almost!) as silly as I am
-- he's very logical and level-headed when faced with a tough decision
-- he's my opposite in a lot of ways
and last but not least,
-- he's my best friend!

My favorites

I've been in a perpetually grouchy mood for the past few days, so I thought I needed a reminder that things really aren't that bad. :-)

Things I love:
-- my hilarious, exuberant, adventurous, beautiful children
-- springtime in central Texas
-- naptime
-- baby kicks
-- that the baby's nursery is almost finished
-- maternity shirts that cover my belly. Particularly the gray tunic that my friend Jana gave me. I'll be wearing it a lot over the next 7 weeks. :-)
-- our new bedroom furniture (which hasn't actually arrived in our home yet, but it will be here next week!!!)
-- my new treadmill (which also hasn't been delivered yet, but will also be here next week!!)
-- bluebonnets
-- strawberry cheesecake ice cream with crushed-up Oreos and chocolate magic shell
-- having the windows open
-- swimming

Bluebonnet pictures, 2011 edition

This weekend we attempted taking our annual bluebonnet pictures with the kids. It didn't really work out for a couple of reasons, mainly because it was too windy and sunny, but we did get some funny pictures. :-) Enjoy!

Oliver's self portrait

This is a self-portrait that Oliver drew in his Sunday school class this morning! It's a little Tim Burton-esque, don't you think? He drew a mouthful of teeth in lieu of a smile, and his teacher asked him why, and he said, "Well, because I usually show all of my teeth when I smile!" Makes sense to me! :-)

Working outside

Dennis has been working hard on trimming our big trees in the front yard, and the kids have been glad to "help"! There's not much for them to do besides hauling the limbs and branches to the big pile, but they've also been having fun pretending that they're cutting limbs, too. :-)






We also found these little guys nesting in one of the tree branches. Cute from a distance, but I wouldn't want them crawling on me!

Glimmer Paint

The other day, I was looking for new and interesting craft ideas, and found this fun activity for making glimmer paint on the Family Fun website.

You'll need equal parts water, salt, and flour (I used 2/3 cup), plus food coloring. Mix the first 3 ingredients together well, then divide it into squeezable containers or a small ziploc bag, and add your food coloring. I actually had to add a little bit of extra water to ours, since the wind dried out our concoction a little bit before I had a chance to scoop it into the bags. It ended up a little too watery, so next time I'll try to mix it up and divide it inside instead.



If you're using ziploc bags, after you add a couple of drops of food coloring, you can get your helpers to smush the food coloring around to mix it for you!


After the colors are mixed, snip the end of the bag and let the kids start creating! Ours was too runny, but they had fun anyway. An added bonus is that it cleans up very easily, too.

What have we been up to?

I've been pretty lazy about posting lately! I rarely get up early these days and have been reading during the kids' naps, which cuts down on my computer time.

Things are going well here, though! I'm almost 32 weeks pregnant now. The baby is growing fine and my belly has been measuring ahead of schedule for the past 3 OB visits. I can't remember if my belly measured big with Oliver, but I know that I started measuring small with Buttercup around 36 weeks until she was born at 39 weeks. At any rate, the baby seems to be healthy and perfect, and he's getting bigger and stronger every day! He's so big now that his movements are mostly uncomfortable for me, but I still love feeling them. It's also kind of funny when he pokes an appendage out really far and it distorts my belly -- it's really neat. Actually, baby movements are the only thing I'll miss about not being pregnant again, ha ha!

Oliver and Buttercup are both doing really well. Buttercup is turning out to be such a sweet little girl. Lately she's been more inclined to be a good friend instead of picking fights at the playgrounds. :-) She still has her feisty side though, and she's not going to let anyone push her around -- which is a good thing! It also seems like she's going to be a tomboy, not really caring for sparkly pink princess stuff (not that we have much or even any of that at home). I'm pretty relieved about that so far, since I'm not exactly a girly girl myself. Funny story -- we ran into an old friend the other day, and my friend's daughter was decked out in a matching outfit with coordinating hairbows, her hair neatly fixed, and wearing sparkly shoes. In comparison, Buttercup was wearing an outfit of her choice (pink "running" shorts and a t-shirt), with purple socks, beat-up tennis shoes, and her hair was all ratty because she doesn't like me to comb it. Awesome. :-D

Oliver is doing great at his preschool, and is always so excited to tell me about his day when I pick him up from school. And this past weekend, he looked at me and said, "Mom, I wish today was a school day." He's never said that before! I'm so happy that he loves his school so much. I think he's really going to miss it this summer. He's also continuing to do well with swim lessons. He's still nervous before his class, but he's so proud of himself and excited after it's over. And, of course, he's still really into Legos and building with them. Aunt Anna bought him a small Lego kit the other day, and he put the entire thing together by himself!! Very impressive. I don't think I could have put it together as quickly as he did. ;-)

In other news, since we have a 3 bedroom house and a baby on the way, we moved Buttercup into Oliver's room in January. I anticipated a looooong adjustment period, but it really only took a week or so for Buttercup to get used to being in a new room! They both love rooming together now, and it seems like it's brought them closer together. I'm so glad we made that decision!

That's it for now, more pictures coming soon!