Is it nesting?? Or am I just NUTS??

Okay, so I cleaned my laundry room today. No, I REALLY cleaned it. Our laundry room is between the kitchen and the garage. It turns into a dumping ground when I'm in a hurry to clean the kitchen and "hide" things I'm not ready to put away yet. In addition to the regular laundry room, it turns into a storage/work room of sorts as our office is in the basement and I like to keep certain things handy. Well....today I did it. I cleaned it out, put everything away, I even scrubbed down the washer, dryer, and other areas that had collected laundry room grime. I bought a big container of fabric softener from Costco and it's poor design made a mess with splatters everywhere. I even broke out the Dyson and vaccumed BEHIND the appliances. In the almost 8 years I've been married and owned a washer/dryer - I can honestly say that I don't think I have ever scrubbed anything in my laundry room. We've moved 3 times in those 8 years, so it gets cleaned somewhat by default. But today was a first. I wish I would have thought to take a before picture!! (It's better that you don't see it anyhow!)

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!

I would like to take a quick minute to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all my Family & Friends. We had a nice weekend as a family and were able to do some special things to honor the mothers in my family that have long since left this earth. My husband and kids did a great job with the special treatment today and it has been a most wonderful day. I'm grateful for my own mother and grandmothers, my mother in law, and grandma in-laws. They are all such examples to me in so many different ways. They have given me the keys I need to be the best mother I can. It's not easy being the mom, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I LOVE my children and my husband too!! Thanks for a great day!!

Kaya, Logan, & Mommy (27 1/2 weeks along)

Flowers from Aaron

Logan putting a rose in the vase at Grandma Jean's grave.

Kaya smelling the rose at Grandma Jean's grave.The kids totally racked out with Aaron on the couch this afternoon. Even Mom got a nap in today!

I'm in the double digits!!!

It just dawned on me that I am now in the double digits of the countdown to having a baby. I surely don't mind being pregnant, however, it feels like I have been pregnant forever and it still seems like forever until the baby will be born! I know it goes by fast, especially now that we're enjoying Spring and being outdoors more. It sure makes the days go by quicker when we get to spend so much time outside in the beautiful weather. Something about being cooped up indoors during the winter just makes the days go by slower. I'm so excited for all my friends that have recently had babies and it has been so fun to see pictures of their little ones. It makes me even more excited to have another baby, sleepless nights and all!

The FINISHED backyard!!!!!!

We officially have a FINISHED backyard. Having a 1/3 acre has been a challenge to get landscaped due to the size and cost. We've almost been in the house 3 years and have finally been able to get the backyard done. YEAH!!! We used a landscaping company do do most of the work. Aaron, his sister, & myself put together the playground. Aaron & our home teacher put the sand in the sandbox. And then Aaron and about 12 people from our neighborhood installed the sod in about 80 minutes on Saturday morning. It was such a huge blessing to have so much help. The kids have been in heaven since yesterday. I literally had to drag Logan in kicking and screaming last night when it was time to eat dinner and get ready for bed. After church this morning and naps after lunch - the kids went right out back to play. We have had pleasant temps and it has been nice to open up the windows, turn the TV off, and play outside to our hearts content. As an added bonus, Aaron & I got the garage cleaned out yesterday. I invested in some inexpensive shelves and utitlity hooks to get things more organized. It looks fabulous!!

Kaya was right.....

I had another ultrasound today and the doctor declared that we would be adding another girl to our family! The baby has turned head down (yeah!!) and everything looks healthy and well. I got a nice DVD with the recorded ultrasound, but only got 1 printed picture that isn't even too clear. I will be 25 weeks tomorrow and my due date will be August 7th. Kaya has been SO adamant since day 1 that she would be getting a baby sister that I am especially happy for her. She tells everyone that "Mommy's going to have my baby sister so that I can get bunk beds!" Silly girl!! We're just happy to know that everything is healthy and progressing at it should be.

What you can kind of see is that the baby is facing to the left. You can see a little bit of the head, the arm extended out and the baby's knee is bent like she's squatting. On the regular part of the ultrasound, I could see her nose really well. It looks just like Kaya's & Logan's!! So much fun!!

Her Mother's Daughter

I was asked to make an arrangment today for work for a special delivery this afternoon. Due to the timing, I needed to make it at home. While Logan napped, I got to work with the flowers in the kitchen. Kaya loves flowers just as much as I do and wanted to watch. Kaya kept asking if she could have some flowers for herself. Since these are for work, I was only able to give her some of the scraps. I did think to give her an extra piece of oasis foam so that Kaya could make her own arrangement. This is what Kaya came up with:

Not too bad for an almost 4 year old. Maybe this new style will catch on! She kept asking if I thought her arrangment was beautiful. Then she asked if Daddy would think it was gorgeous. She is quite proud of the arrangment she made. Here's a picture of what I did:

Quick Update

Heather & the kids just got back from a trip to California to visit all the grandparents. The digital camera got left at home so we'll have to bum some pictures off our family for the blog. We had a good time visiting family and going to the beach. They had records temps in the 90's while we were there! It was awesome! Our yard is about 90% done. It just needs sand in the sandbox and grass. I won't bore you with more pictures though. We'll just put some up of the finished product. Before flying out to CA, Heather had to do corsages & boutonnieres for the local High School Jr. Prom for work. She ended up doing close to 40 corsages and 40 boutonnieres - ALL BY HERSELF. For those who know, that really is a lot of work. This is the 3rd formal dance she's done since working at the grocery store and each dance, the orders have about doubled. Word is getting out! She's going to have to get help for the next dance. The kids are doing well and are getting excited for warmer weather. It snowed again last night. Ugh. We definitely need the moisture but we are so ready for warmer weather. Heather goes back to the doctor for another ultrasound on Tuesday. Hopefully we'll have some fun pictures to post of the new baby for next week! Anyhow - that's it from this end. Hope all is well with your families!!