The best picture of the summer!

For some reason when Reece was only a few months old he did this open mouth crazy face with my dad. He doesn't do it with anyone else and of course my dad, being as silly as he is, just eggs him on. At an outdoor concert in Michigan, with Jackson sleeping peacefully in Pops lap, Reece started the face. Who knows what the hundred people around us thought, but it was very funny. Poor Jackson has no idea what he's in for. Reece and Pops are just waiting for him to get a little bigger to join in the fun.

FUN FINDS

Here is my IKEA island. I got this when visiting my sister in Michigan. I don't have a ton of cupboards so this really freed up the space!

The basket is lavender from my mom. You can't tell how much is actually in there. It's a pile about 6-7 inches high! I have started harvesting it by pulling the leaves off the stem. It is taking FOREVER. But my hands smell really good!

This candle holder is another fun find, $6.99!

My sister is collecting this pottery from the 70's I'm guessing and I found these two pieces for $0.80 each!


This book was only $.50 and another piece of pottery for $1.00.

Is the tea crock not the cutest? $1.80 at Good*will! The silver wire basket now has napkins on my island and the planter was 60 cents and still had a ten dollar price tag from Tar*get!



Avery saw this at the Salvation Army and said she thought it would be so cute in her room painted....pink of course. We thought her fairies from Mimi would fit perfectly.

Here is the pen holder I posted about ealier.


This purse and shoes.... $9 each on clearance rack at Ross. One of my favorite stores. I seriously had a dream that I was holding this saddle bag type bag in a dream the night before I went shopping. My mouth fell open when I saw it. No Lie! I wish it was Co*ach and real leather, but the price was too good to pass up. The shoes are Nin*e We*st and I love that brand of shoes.

So despite spending endless hours in my pajamas, hugging the porcelin throne, and watching a ridiculous amount of t.v., it seems I still found some pretty sweet bargains. Thought I would share and maybe get you inspired to think outside the box.

Lots of Changes

Obviously the biggest change right now is that fact that we are expecting baby #3. But in addition to that, we have put hardwood floors throughout the whole first floor. I'm loving it! I hate carpet and with my allergies and kids, oh AND two labs, it is much easier to keep clean. Which of course is awesome. We took all the carpet and laid it out in the basement and I can't believe the difference it has made. Shane even salvaged the entire rug pad and it is so much warmer and softer on the toes from the concrete. While we were moving everything in the basement to put the carpet down, I decided to redo the entire layout and it is awesome. I still have an entire wall for sewing, scrapbooking, canvases, and any other craft I can come up with. My books are all on a bookcase that Shane originally made for a closet and as soon as we move the guest bed I can bring in the shelving for all of the kids toys. They have a huge area now to play and in two days have already trashed it. Why did I ever think a ball pit was a good idea? HA! They actually have spent so much time down there that we are converting the playroom into the dining room that it should be. All this opportunity for decorating and I barely have energy to get dressed in the morning. I'm almost to week 12 and then I hope the energy level will start to get better. Slowly but surely.

Since I spent the morning throwing up I went ahead and ordered these two things... one is a needle case for my Knitpicks interchangeable needles and the second is a tote bag that a lady made me that I met at a festival. She's online at crazy4dyeing.com

Baby Names

So this time I am having a hard time coming up with girl names. Pretty much the names that have been on my list previously have been used by other friends or I just don't like them anymore. Of course if I am carrying a boy then there is no reason to even bother worrying about it, but I'm one of those weird OCD types that likes to walk into my ultrasound and know the name when I see it on the screen. So any ideas? And don't give me a name that you want to use for yourself. Remember on "Friends" when Rachel stole Monica's baby name? I may also be one of those weird types that can reference just about any instance to an episode of "Friends". The boy name that we are thinking about is Kenan William, and don't tell me if you hate it because I went through that when we named Avery, (uh -hum MOM). Kenan means little Kenneth after my dad and grandpa and William is after my other grandpa. We figured since Reece got all three names from Shane's side of the family we would give our next boy all names from my side. If you end up sending me a fabulous name that I just have to use, then I will make you one of my bible canvases. (8x10 you can pick the word and the verses in the background, shipping free.)

Fun with Dad

My boys having fun. Reece loves when Shane plays rough with him, because all day he hears Avery and I telling him to calm down! I just noticed that with his head shaved he looks bald on top. HA! Sorry babe!

Catching Up

In the month of June we spent all but 5 days out traveling. It was a lot of fun. But I am excited to get back into a schedule and have some summer fun at home with the kiddos. Photos of the past month coming soon. Just need to upload them to the site.

The reason we were gone so much was so that Shane could have uninteruppted time to rip out the old floors and put in hardwood. I detest carpet and am so glad that we decided to get this done. It's close to being finished. There is a three foot span on the front wall and back of the first floor walls that need to be finished and then we can put the baseboards on. I, of course, will be excited to get all of the furniture out of the basement and back up on the first floor. It's hard to be motivated to clean when everything is a disaster so I am staying upstairs today in the office catching up on all the blogs that I haven't read for weeks.

I got my pens organized. I know you are probably rolling your eyes. But I am weird like that. I found this little organizer in ltdcommodities magazine at my mom's house. It is a wooden box that says faith hope and love and in it are three wire candle holders. I decided to stick it on top of my fridge and I have a section for permanent, felt tip and dry erase markers. A picture will be sure to follow. It's right above my calender and next to my "inbox" so it is very convienent if I have to label something for the kids, color code the calender, or let's face it, just look cute! I had bought five packs of pens at the dollar store that had really pretty prints on them and stuck them in my SWENSONS 75th Anniversary glass that I got from my last trip to Ohio. This is the best burger place in my opinion. I am craving one right now actually. This is on my desk in teh office and quite handy.

Well, you can see my life is all kinds of exciting!

Zo*phran...my new best friend.

UPDATE!!!!!!!!
Just called Target. INSURANCE APPROVED IT!!! Only $6 for me! The pills run $47 A PIECE! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

I also need to apologize to some people that missed the big announcement on facebook...So Sorry to Julie and LARAE! It was not on purpose I just think that everybody sees that and knew. Love you both!

Already at 6 weeks my pants won't zip and I look like I've been eating too many doughnuts. My dad and sister are threatening twins, but just to let you all know this is normal for me and I just pop out really fast. I blame it all on my mother because I have absolutely no torso!


So this pregnancy has been brutal. Only a couple weeks in and I am way sicker than I was with the first two, yuck! My doctor called in Zophr*an today and I am dreading picking it up at Tar*get. You see my insurance doesn't want to pay for it. They would rather I go into the hospital apparently than give me the meds that will keep me eating and dehydrated. UGH! I am praying that I will show up and pay my $8 copay and go on with feeling better. The two samples I have had so far have worked wonders! I am even able to blog today because of it. Woohoo!

Last day of the first year of preschool

A little complaining and explaining...

So I am sure you have noticed that there haven't been many blogs from me lately. Well, quite frankly I have had some major allergy issues and have doing the bare minimum. For almost two months I have had a continuous sinus headache and it finally got so bad that I am now on 4 prescription meds to try and get some relief. As you know, I'm not crazy about using prescriptions continuously, but it got to the point that I was wheezing and couldn't breath iwth a headache, itchy nose and eyes, etc. etc. etc. Are you still reading? Can't believe you are, but good news. I am feeling better today. Yes today is the first day in 8 weeks that I haven't gone through the day wishing I could stay in bed. It has been a little depressing, but the sun is out and the meds are kicking in and I am getting EIGHT loads of laundry done. Keep in mind that I have the LARGEST capacity washing machine we could find at the appliance store. That is A LOT of laundry.
I even got a little crazy and cleaned out the bottom of my closet and reOrganized my purse hangers. I made homemade popcorn, cut up strawberries, checked out some sewing blogs, and cleaned up the toys in the living room. Honestly, I am exhausted. But at least I got something accomplished today.

A place to eat

After going to Roanoke on Friday to pick up our first CraigsList purchase, we have a place to eat comfortably as a family. I got the chairpads recovered and the rug rotated. We had to pull the table out from under the window so I am not too sure where that is going to go. I also pulled the dying palm tree down from my bedroom. Just not enough direct sunlight up there. Now it has a new home and will hopefully start growing again. Like my dollar store candle holders? I forgot to take a picture of the hutch. It ended up in the "dining" room because we don't really have walls in the ktichen as it is so open and lots of doors. It looks really pretty and I finally brought all all of the pretty serving pieces that we have received. Hardly used them because they were always packed away. Now the cabinet is half empty with room to grow! Next time I will have pictures with us sitting there. I still have to scotchguard the cushions so I am a little crazy about the kids eating there right now. Hence the highchair still for Reece!

We finally did it...

We found a table, with 6 chairs AND a hutch on Craigs List. Two years after looking, searching, and using the Snyder's 1970's olive green card table (although it was a blessing!), we bought a dining set. It has two leaves which was important to me as this is our only dining area. And the hutch has open and hidden storage. We are picking it up on Friday and will post pictures when it is all done. This may induce a total redecoration extravaganza on my part, but I can't wait. I even have had fabric WAITING to be used for this kitchen. Yeah! My three criteria for the set was that I wanted 6 chairs, round, with two leaves, padded chairs, and a matching hutch. The absolute bonus in all of this is that it is a perfect match to our kitchen cabinets. I was so excited to see this in person and to see that. I'm a nerd I know. Now I have to wait 5 days until we can go pick it up and hope to get the kitchen curtains made and scour the house for the perfect centerpiece.