Alexis is 7!

Ok, so a little late but not too bad right? Having 2 kids with birthdays right around the holidays is rough...at least, that's my excuse.

So, what can I say about my baby girl? I can't believe how much you've grown in the last year, from innocent kindergartner to, dare I say it?, wise first grader, who is just growing up waaaaaayyy too fast! This year you lost 4 teeth, went to a Hannah Montana concert, learned to do a backbend from a stand and then a back walkover, made more new friends (as if that's even possible), learned to rollerskate, and were granted the freedom to play outside in the neighborhood without parental supervision!

You love to read (you now read at a 3.5 grade level), draw, make books, sing, dance, show off your gymnastic talent, ride your bike, fix hair, hog the mirror in the morning, try all sorts of crazy outfit combinations (you want to be a fashion designer when you grow up), sew (important for that future career, thanks for all the scarves!), go on special ice cream dates with mommy, roll your eyes, and hang with your family and friends. You are excited about the new baby, you enjoy giving me the daily update on how big my belly is getting, and you are having fun helping mommy and daddy pick out names (you've come up with some good ones!).

I look forward to witnessing everything you will learn and accomplish in the coming year, and I can't wait to see how you grow and change with the addition of a new little brother or sister. I LOVE YOU!

Stay Beautiful, by Taylor Swift
You're beautiful

Every little piece love, and don't you know

You're really gonna be someone, ask anyone

And when you find everything you looked for

I hope your life leads you back to my door

Oh but if it don't, stay beautiful

Happy Birthday Lexi!

Love this quote

"I am the one who starts out to get her a child a drink of water, who stops briefly to pick up a paper clip from the floor, and ends up weeding the garden with absolutely no understanding of why that child is still thirsty."

From the book If I'm Diapering a Watermelon, Then Where'd I Leave the Baby?: Help for the Highly Distractible Mom by Carol Barnier.

Totally going on the Christmas list...

According to Spencer

Walking out to the car after gymnastics yesterday, a little boy waves to Spencer.

Spencer: Mama, you know why he just said bye to me? Because we're best friends.

Me: Oh really? What's his name?

Spencer: I forget.

New Playroom!

The big playroom redesign is (almost) finished! Here's some pictures, if you want to view them with notes go to my flickr page.

Entertainment center where I envisioned the tv going, only I liked the room so much without one we decided to put in a stereo instead - big hit!

Dress up corner holding our (surprisingly) large costume collectionDesk/Creativity Center/BookshelvesWall still needs magnet strips for hanging artwork and some kind of decal, probably the dandelion one talked about in previous post

Girl corner: Boy corner:Yes, we really have rings in our house:

That's about it, still in need of some artwork, I have canvases for the kids to paint and I will hang those next to each window. Gotta go pick Lexi up now!

It's time to start designing the upstairs, starting with the playroom. For the walls, I'm thinking we're going to do a light green. I was originally thinking blue, but I read that the most conflicts happen in a blue room, so definitely not a good color for a playroom. We're going to do a decal on the wall, these are the choices:

Definitely going to do this, in different colors though:

Major storage is needed, so we're off to Ikea! I can't decide if we want to do their child storage:Or their more adult storage and just use pretty baskets and bins (everything will be in white):

Love these:

I love all the options for the child storage, I'm just afraid they will be outgrown eventually and will look too "babyish". The adult stuff could grow with them and be repurposed later. How long does furniture from Ikea actually last? One thing I really like about the child options are they're safe for them to climb on, even the buckets. And they come with wall anchors so they won't tip.

Anyway, I'm going to Ikea on Thursday, I need to see it in person. Anyone have any ideas/insight?

Spencer is 4 (and a half)!

Ok, I am officially the worst mother ever. My baby turned 4 and I didn't even post anything for him. Now, he's on the other side of 4 1/2 headed to 5. I will never feel right about myself if I don't post something so here goes:


Spencer,

You are growing up so fast. This year you started preschool, you made new friends, you started (and then quit) karate, you started gymnastics (which you love and are quite good at), you said goodbye to sissy while she went off to kindergarten, you were my helper, my errand buddy, my carloop assistant. You are hillariously funny, we can't wait to see what you're going to say next. You are kind and gentle, you love to give names to all of your stuffed animals and you worry about them when they are not around. If you leave one in the car, you will go out and get it at bedtime so it will not be scared. You can hang with the girls, but you also relish anytime there is a boy around, then you can play pirates and bad guys and cars and all things boy.

This song pretty much sums up how I feel about you (and it's also one of your favorite songs at the moment):

My Heart (does a little dance)
Joanie Bartels

My heart does a little dance,
Every time I see you.
My heart does a little dance,
Every time I'm near you.

When you walk into the room,
I can hear my heart go boom boom boom.
Just a smile on your sweet face,
I can feel my heart begin to race.

My heart does a little dance,

Every time I see you.

My heart does a little dance,

Every time I'm near you.

My heart does a little dance,
Every time I see you.
My heart does a little dance,
Every time I'm near you.

Love's the name of this happy sound,
When my heart begins to pound.
Like a drum with that strong back beat,
I can feel it all the way to my feet.

My heart does a little dance,
Every time I see you.
My heart does a little dance,
Every time I'm near you.

My heart does a little dance,
Every time I see you.
My heart does a little dance,
Every time I'm near you.

I've never felt this way,
Standing here outside your door.
Trying to find the words to say,
You're the one my heart beats for.

My heart...does a little dance
My heart...does a little dance

Happy Birthday Spencer!

Wow, I just realized I never posted for my little man turning 4! I must do that, even though he's 4 1/2 now :-)

My baby is 6!

Wow Lexi, where has the time gone? So many things have happened for you this year - you started kindergarten, you learned how to ride a bike without training wheels, you can tie your shoes, you lost 2 teeth, you can fix your hair (and everyone else's), and you can read this post!!! You love reading, your friends (old and new), family-time, crafts with mommy, sewing, dress up, hair/makeup, fashion, cooking, gymnastics, going to shows, High School Musical, Hannah Montana, music in general, and you love to do anything "special" and out of the ordinary. If it's any change in routine, you are up for it girlie...you fly by the seat of your pants!

I can't even begin to describe how much I love you and how much I revel in your accomplishments. Every day you are growing stronger, more independent, and more self-confident than I could have ever dreamed. I always joke that the only reason you need me around is to drive you places, and I really believe that's true. You can get yourself ready from head to toe in the morning, one day you even surprised me and fixed my breakfast (if only I could teach you to make coffee)! You are a joy to be around, your light shines so bright people can't help but be drawn to you. I look forward to seeing the changes you go through this year, but I hope this year goes by slower than the last...your baby years are slipping away so fast. I love you so much - HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEXI!

PS - We had a really awesome "pretend sleepover" for you and all your friends - no boys allowed - but in the utter chaos of it all mommy forgot to take any pictures. :-( I am heartbroken, a group shot of everyone in their jammies would have been so great. Where is that rewind button?

Procrastination at its finest...

Instead of doing the massive amount of work I have to do for finals this week, I'm reading blogs and killing time. I need a break from my professor for a little while (I've been watching nonstop video streams since 4pm, I thought I had more time to watch them all!). I haven't written much lately, so here's a little something.

Spencer has been on an 'I love you' kick lately, he tells me all day long. It's so sweet and I am so not complaining! Here's what he said in the car the other day after leaving Wallyworld:

"Mommy, I always love you, even when we go to Walmart."

Wow, just how stressed do I get in Walmart?

Then today at Fishlips: "Mommy, I love you" (he says it in this sing-songy kind of way where he draws out the I, there's no way to explain how cute it is in print).
Literally 30 seconds later - after I told him to pick up the paper bits from the straw wrapper he was tearing apart - he screamed "I'm not listening to anything you say, only daddy!" After which he spit on me.
About five minutes later, after this episode was over, guess what? "Mommy, I love you"

Ah, the joys of having a 3 year old, it's like living with a bi-polar person off their meds. I already have enough crazy in my house, thank you very much!

From Spencer's mouth:

Mama, when I'm a grownup and you fall out of my belly, I'll be sure to
pick you up and put you back in.

For my beloved Jasmine:

Sleep

Your suffering shall end soon,
though mine has just begun.
I do not want to let you go,
But I’m told the time has come.

I’ll hold you while you go to sleep,
and wish that I could too–
I do not want to say goodbye;
I want to go with you.

Sleep now, my precious baby,
Dream of your favorite toy,
And hide n’ seek and tug of war–
Those games that brought us joy.

I’ll think how very blessed I've been
For all the years we've shared,
I'd not trade them for anything–
Though this heartbreak would be spared.
--Kathy Doerr

I love you and I miss you so much.

August Blast from the Past

Here is a picture from August 2004. Lexi is 2 years, 9 months and Spencer is 8 months old. Lexi still has some of her chunkiness and look at the size of Spencer!

Summer update

Sorry, I haven't posted in a long time. I've gotten caught up in the lazy pace of summer. We started out our summer sick. We all had some sort of flu virus, the kids had it for about a week each, I had it for a month, and my dad ended up in the hospital with it. It was not a good start to the summer, but we have all made a full recovery now.

Nick and I went to see Kenny Chesney and Sugarland in June where we had 7th row seats. It was so much fun, as his concerts always are. Here's some pics:

Nick and I in the car before the show

Sugarland rocking out Jennifer Nettles (of Sugarland) posing for my pic :-) Show's about to start! Finally! Mr. Entertainer of the Year!

Next we went to Nick's cousin's wedding. It was awesome, they had it at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, we had a great time.

Getting ready to leave the hotel

Food, Food, Food! Lexi and Mimi (my mom-in-law)
The beautiful bride Kristy

Lexi and my sis-in-law Miranda

Lexi, Miranda, Aunt Kelly, and me

Nick and his brother James Lexi in the dress I made, her "princess dress".

For my birthday, we decided to continue the tradition and get new tattoos. I got a celtic motherhood knot with a pink and blue star for both of my kids.

My sister's tattoo, if you know her you will know it fits her perfectly. She plans to get a devil duck on the other shoulder blade for her birthday in October. April's tattoo, she also got a puple dragonfly behind the other ear.

The other really cool thing that happened on my birthday was Lexi lost her 1st tooth! The tooth fairy visited her, she was so excited!Since her tooth had been lose for a while, my next project was to make her a tooth fairy pillow, I even bought the glow-in-the-dark thread. I figured I had at least another week, but she knocked it loose at dinner and it fell out that night. Since we were having a hard time finding a babysitter for them for when we went to get tattoos, we were joking that she was going to lose her first tooth at the tattoo parlor. That would have been a story for the baby book!

Other than that, we've just been hanging out in the pool and having fun. I've been doing a lot of sewing lately, I've made 6 pillowcases with names on them, Lexi's dress for the wedding, some pillows, a couple of purses, some reconstructed t-shirts, and a few other odds and ends. My father got me a new embroidery machine for my birthday, now I just have to order it and wait for it to arrive, YAY! It's a Brother PE-700 embroidery only machine. I have a Brother 270D right now, which I love, but it only does 4x4 embroidery and I always want to do bigger designs. I can't wait!!

A pic of the pillowcases I've started making for each birthday party we go to. I use the pillowcase as the gift bag. It turns out really cute.

Finally, I'll leave you with a picture from July 21, 2001 - the day Nick and I got married!