A different kind of era

I think I may have mentioned before that my mom had given me a bunch of Golden Books with Eloise Wilkin as an illustrator. It's where we got the idea for Eloise's name. We have most of the book listed on that website, which is pretty neat.

The other day Eloise picked out a few she wanted to read. When we came across this one I was cracking up the entire time. Pay special attention to Daddy. (This is Dave's dream, and it's not the chores.)

He smokes his pipe while chopping wood.

He smokes his pipe while gardening.

And even when he washes the dog.

When he needs to use both hands, little Susie holds the pipe.

However, he does know his priorities and removes the pipe for an affirming hug.

And finally for dinner. I'm sure mom doesn't allow that in the house.

BTW, this family gets alot done in one day. This is just a small sampling. Daddy was smoking his pipe the entire time they were doing their chores. I wish I was that motivated. Maybe it's the pipe?

A new kind of kitchen

With all the crummy weather we have been having, my closets seem to be thinning at a drastic rate. I'm all for it. I love to get rid of extra junk that has no purpose. If I haven't used it in a year or can't think of a creative use for it, it's gone.

I found some cute IKEA items laying around and I had the bright idea to organize a kitchen area for the girls.
It's funny how the moment you move things, they start playing with them again. I'm sure it won't last long, but at least it's cute. (the picture I took of the entire kitchen isn't working, but it really is cute!)

Favorite Link Friday

Thanks to all those who tell me they love FLF. It's been really fun for me to do and I love passing on the great ideas and articles I find throughout the week. There is so much information to be passed around, it's great!

*My friend Melinda sent me this great idea about homemade dryer balls.

*What a cute birthday cake!

*Making diapers for dolls. I may try this for Lily so she can get used to baby.

*Check out the brownie cream cheese pie

*Um....delicious!

Have a great weekend!

Swimsuit Season

This last weekend Dave and I took the girls out shopping for their swimsuits. I really wanted him to go b/c I know he has a definite opinion about what they wear. As the daddy of two girls, I can understand why he has an opinion. I love that he cares and I love that he gets to participate in this aspect of their lives. Not b/c it's a swimsuit, but b/c he really cares about how modest they are. And so do I. For some families, little girl binki's are okay, for this family, they aren't. Sure, they are adorable, but I'm a little freaked out about my 3 yr old showing more skin than she should and looking like a 16 yr old. She's only young once, I'd like to enjoy the little girl.

Don't worry, I'm not going to go this extreme.

Here's my options:
One piece: This is not helpful when your daughter has to go potty quickly or if you are potty training. I just don't want to pull off the entire suit. They are cute, just not funcitonal for us.

Two piece: This is either the t-shirt board shorts, which we love, or the small tankini/bikini which show off alot. I'm all for the tankini, if it actually hit at the waist. It does for Lily, just not Eloise. And the bikini bottoms seem a bit small for me. I don't want her bum bum hanging out. And frankly, I don't think anyone else does.

This is the one we chose for Eloise. Dave's not a huge fan b/c he wanted it more swimsuit looking on top, but it serves a few purposes. I don't have to put on as much sunscreen, she's not showing too much off, and she can go potty by herself. And the bottoms are full coverage.

I did find a few other swimsuits online that I might purchase next year.
This one from Lands End.
And this one from LL Bean

I know there are most sites out there with cute swimsuits. Share please if you know of a good one.

Now it's time to find one for mama that doesn't make me look like a beached whale. Even though I fully expect to look like one in the middle of June.

How did that get there?

Every night part of our clean up routine is to put away clothes in our laundry baskets. Each girl has a hamper in her room that they can put their clothes in. They are pretty good. In fact, they are too good.

A few weeks ago I was doing laundry and heard a weird clanking sound as I was moving the clothes to the dryer. Two Little People had mysteriously made their way into my laundry.

The next load I discovered a small little squishy ball. Thankfully I didn't dry that one or it would have been a disaster.
(I know you are all wondering how I miss these objects before I put them into the wash. I have no idea. Maybe I'm sorting too fast, who knows.)

Then today, I discovered this:

(that's Ming Ming from Wonder Pets and a few books)

I'm fairly certain I know who the tiny culprit is. She loves to put her laundry away and never puts up a stink when asked. Now I know why she spends so much time putting her dirty clothes away.

Favorite Link Friday

Have a great weekend everyone!

*I love Little Window Shoppe. And they keep coming up with great ideas. Little Fairy Crowns. Eloise is obsessed with being a fairy. She really wants to fly. I think this is where we will head for her 4th birthday party.

*For those dealing with the tooth fairy.

*This is impressive. I love her style and creativity in small places. 7 in one house!

*Just a cute design blog.

*Comparing our motherhood, especially in Christian circles. Long but encouraging.

*A clothing company similar to Down East Basics. It's called Shade. I think I may be ordering.

Where did all the TP go?

One thing I didn't realize about potty training girls is that you have to teach them about the appropriate amount of toilet paper to use.

We have a common phrase we hear from the bathroom at least twice a day, "uh oh. Mom, it's plugged." Hmm....I wonder why?

We often talk about the right amount to use. We want her to have just enough to not get pee or poo on her hands and not too much to plug the toilet. There is no 1 or 2 sheet rule in our house. It's use what you can to keep those hands clean. Maybe that's my problem, she thinks she has to use an entire roll to keep out the "ickies".

I've given up trying to find deals on TP b/c we were going through it so fast. Costco helps us out with their 40-some-odd pack of TP. It's keeps me stocked for at least 3 months. I knew Costco had my best interests in mind when it came to teaching the ladies to use the right amount.

It's no surprise....

...that she is a crib jumper.

Look at what our little Lily can do.




A daredevil, just like her sister (this is when she was 20 months).

Favorite Link Friday

Sorry for the delay, but I was so excited about the guest post!

But here's what I've found this week:

*Home Management Notebooks: I've thought of doing this many times and I think this woman has some great ideas about how to get started.

*This looks like beautiful Mac and Cheese. It's almost Spring so it's time to give this dish one last hoorah!

*This makes me look forward to Spring. Even me, who loves Winter and Fall could use a break from this cold weather.

*Supermom Central: this site is one of those you could follow a 1000 rabbit trails.

*I don't like those disposable nursing pads so I'm always looking for ones that you can reuse. I don't think I have enough black shirts to cover these prints, but they are brilliant, for sure.

*Interesting post about generations

Have a great weekend!

Guest Post

This is so exciting.

I asked Shannan over at Rocks in My Dryer if I could borrow an idea she uses for posts called 'What I'd Like for You to Know' here on my blog. Instead, she offered up that I do a guest post over there! Wow!

I wrote a post on Home Birth. I would love for you all to head on over there and have a read.

I'll be doing a delayed Favorite Link Friday later in the day tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

They were bad to begin with

Yesterday, at the mall, I had a flashback.

I looked over at a teenage girl and what did my eyes behold...ACID WASHED, PEGGED JEANS!
Yes, I saw them in the flesh. Those same familiar pants I (we) wore back in the 8th grade. The ones I made my mom sew so tight to my calf that I could barely get them off by myself.

I wanted to run over and tell her to stop. Stop wearing such hideous jeans. I did that 15 years ago and it was bad then. Don't repeat my same mistake. Go back to the bootleg, please!

What would have been worse is if she paired them with an over-sized hypercolor sweatshirt and a neon ESPRIT bag that her mom bought for $30. Thankfully, there was no neon. Just those ridiculously out of date, but apparently back in style, acid-washed jeans.

What I'd really like to know? What company sat around their concept table and came up with this idea. No wait, what idiot came up with the idea and didn't immediately lose their job? A group of people somewhere said, "Yes. Acid-washed, pegged jeans are a great idea! Let's go for it." I have a feeling they were in their early 20's and do not remember that horrible phase. They will now and in about 10 years and be saying, "Why did we ever think that looked good?"

A crib-jumper and the time change

Spring time change is never fun. You lose and hour of sleep and your children take an extra hour to fall asleep. My routine-oriented mind loses it about a week before the time change trying to strategize moving them up an hour to make the transition smoother. (Angela is rolling her eyes at me right now, and many others may be too. Call me neurotic, whatever.)

But....alas, I did not go into crazy, organized Kate mode. I just let the transition happen and knew that in a week, we would be back on track.

Night #1 - I had Dave home and Lily barely took a nap. Dave put Lily down and Eloise and I, as previously posted, had donut night.

Night #2 - I'm on my own and we now have a crib jumper on our hands. "This is serious" (quote from Wonder Pets that I've been hearing all day. Emphasis on no 'r' in serious and that's how the duck says it).

Today she woke up from her nap and I had just come home from cooking. I heard a bit of rummaging around in there and then she's out. I asked Dave if he had put her to sleep in her big girl bed. Nope. Crib. She got out.

I was impressed, that was the first time. She has successfully mastered how to get down off the bunk beds, so I guess it was just a matter of time.

Tonight, she was screaming hysterically b/c she didn't want to go to sleep. Then...the hush. Was she asleep? No. She was standing behind me when I was on the computer. Creepy. Yes. Infuriating, even more so. I swiftly corrected her that it wasn't okay to be crib jumping, especially at night. This did not go over well. She screamed for another 30 minutes. I even tried to barter with her that I would leave the door open if she stopped crying. No luck.

So the mama who has a hard time with transition is now dealing with two transitional things, time change and a crib jumper. Fantastic.

Doesn't get much better than donuts

Dave and I are huge fans of taking the girls out individually. We don't plan it on the calendar, but if we are headed somewhere fun, we grab a hand and out we go. Dave mostly takes the girls to Taco Bell or to get his hair cut. I like to be a little more adventurous.

Tonight, Eloise and I hit the jackpot of mama dates. I took her to Trader Joe's with me to get a few things. I figured since we were out we might as well get dessert somewhere. Krispy Kreme is just down the street from TJ's. Every prego girl loves a donut, right?


To our great delight, the HOT NOW sign was out. When we got in there, Eloise must have stood in front of the glass watching the donuts for 10 minutes. All I could think about was getting in line so we could get a free one. She obviously wasn't aware of the delicious goodness that was awaiting her.

I finally peeled her away from watching the donuts swim in their "water" and travel down through the frosting fountain. We sat and ate our free donuts and I bought a chocolate milk to share. I spent $2.00! If that isn't overcoming recession, I don't know what is.

After we finished, I let her watch the donuts for a while longer. I tried to think of ways I could get the donut kid to give me another free one. No good ideas came to mind. As if pregnancy isn't enough to warrant a second trip through the free donut line, I felt a little and possibly a bit gluttonous. No second donut. I will thank myself when I'm not pushing out a 10 lb boy.

So next time you are out with the kiddos, look for the HOT NOW sign and it may be the best adventure your kid has had in a while, and the cheapest.

Favorite Link Friday - Special Edition

It's a special edition for Favorite Link Friday. Listen below to find out why...




We found out this morning and didn't tell anyone we were going in. Eloise and Lily came with us and had a great time watching. I had a really hard time going to the u/s place b/c I was worried that something was going to be wrong. Last time we were there I had found out I miscarried. I know that there is a baby growing strong in there, but the memories had surfaced and I had a bit of an emotional meltdown.

Once the u/s tech told us the sex, Eloise had a difficult time understanding that it wasn't a baby sister in there. So we went to Target and helped them pick out some jammies for their new little brother. I've never shopped in the boy section before, there really isn't that much to choose from. But we found some cute, plain jammies that help us get into the mode of buying blue. It goes without saying that Dave is over the moon excited about having a son.

So it's a BOY edition of FLF:

*I guess I'm going to have to start throwing parties with these type of action figures.

*The fabric on these cute totes makes me think that I might be able to fall in love with boy stuff.

*These cute swim trunks might get me excited about having a boy, but these types of clothes, don't. (sorry if I offend anyone. I'm a plain jane kind of girl)

*Not to let go of any girl stuff too soon, this is a cute website.

*I have always wanted to try this bread. I need to drown my sorrows in bread....kidding.

*Just for fun.

Have a great weekend!

19 weeks

Here's the first bump picture. I'm not feeling too much movement but my midwife thinks that I have an anterior placenta, which just means it's growing in the front. We are also having a hard time finding the heartbeat unless she moves to the side of my belly, which might also indicate the placenta is in front. It's normal and I'm not worried. We'll know for sure at the u/s.

There was no way I was getting a face shot when I took this. And I wasn't going to wait for Dave b/c he takes pictures at all the wrong angles. So this is the best I could do. It's a weird shot with bad lighting, but you get the idea, there's a baby in there.

Joy in the small things

My parents bought the girls bunk beds for Christmas. Since we knew baby #3 was coming, we had to prepare (we only have a 3 bedroom house). My dad and Dave put them up 3 weeks ago and Eloise has been loving them ever since.

We haven't yet moved Lily, for a few reasons. One, I LOVE the crib. I see no need to move kids out of their cribs before 2 1/2 (unless of course a sibling is on the way). I would have kept Eloise in until she was 3, but she was the size of a 4 yr old at 2, so it wasn't long before she outgrew it. Two, Lily isn't ready. We've tried to move her to the big bed in her room but she keeps asking to go back in her "criby" after we lay her down. Three, we needed a top mattress.

With the economy the way that it is, Dave getting a 10% pay cut, and my frugal nature, I just couldn't bring myself to buy a new mattress at this time. I wanted to wait and find a good deal on Craigslist or see if anyone I knew had one. The Lord just kept telling me to wait.

Last week at bible study our small group had just wrapped up and I felt like I should let my group know we needed a mattress. I told them we were looking and if they knew anyone that had one (in good condition), we would gladly take it. A woman at our table said, "I have one and we would love to get rid of it". Wow! It was her sons at college and it even has an allergy protective cover b/c he has asthma and allergies. So cool!

This weekend we sold the box spring we had on Craigslist and picked up our new mattress. The girls think it's the coolest thing. After a few lessons in how to get up and down we feel pretty confident in them being up there. Eloise isn't quite sure she wants to sleep up there yet, but as she gets a bit more comfortable, I'm sure she'll be excited.

What an amazing blessing! I'm taking great joy in the small provisions.

(ignore the unmade bed and blankets strewn about. I didn't think it would be an accurate representation of their play if I made it all look really good before I took the picture :))

Just because...

...they are so stinkin' cute.

My mom has been begging me to put more pics on and I'm always happy to show off the girls.

On their way to Playhouse Disney Live

Dancing to the music

Waiting for Papa to build her bunk beds

Because sweeping the floor with the broom in your mouth works much better

And then using your body gets it even cleaner