Where'd we go?

Last weekend was a busy, busy weekend... dad worked until 2:40AM on Friday night/Saturday morning and was back at work on Saturday by 8AM.  So... that meant is was 'girl time' on Friday and Saturday and did I have big plans for us ladies!

Friday night was date night.  We order pizza every Friday night, but since daddy wasn't home, we decided to have a date at Broadway and dined in!  Yes, I dined in with an almost 4 and almost 2 year old on my own!  We did fantastic, the girls enjoyed going "out to eat".  After dinner, we headed to Home Depot.  I knew this was going to be a stretch, but I HAD to get my flowers and my garden stuff in order to plant on Saturday and I KNEW it was going to be a zoo, so Friday night it was.  And how do I get full cooperation... well that's easy.  Bribery- we'll go to McDonalds for ice-cream if you girls cooperate.

Now, it was a tad stressful at Home Depot trying to get seeds, flowers, tomato cages, and whatever else we got while Franny insisted on not sitting in the cart, but standing up every time I turned my back.  And Nece wanting to 'go in there' non-stop (that's code for the greenhouse type things they have in the garden center in the parking lot).  The poor people around us had to listen to "sit down, no, come on, full cooperation, girls, good job, let's roll and 'mom, am I being good' for a good 45 minutes.  But, if I had attempted that on Saturday morning... it would have been a nightmare.

And I wasn't paying close attention to the time, and was reminded on our way home at 7:50 that we had to get ice-cream.  I did promise, and they were good, and it was a Friday, so I sugared them up at essentially bedtime.  It's all about creating memories, right?!?!  And as a lady at Home Depot said to me, when I looked at her and said it's all about creating memories, she laughed and said "I've been there, and its a trip you'll never forget, it'll be your memory."

Saturday morning... quick clean of the house and outside to plant the garden with my little ladies!  So, we did learn some things last year and made some adjustments this year... most noteably the location of the garden.  We'll see what happens.  And what did we plant?!?!

• Corn
• Sunflowers (4 footers)
• Beans
• Snap Peas
• Beets
• Onions
• Cucumbers
• Marigolds
• and an Herb Garden that has Basil, Oregeno, Cilantro, Chives and Green Onions

And the pictures you've been waiting for:

And because it was an absolutely perfect day out, the girls had pizza in their house. 

And we finished out an absolutely perfect and beautiful day with a bonfire (yes, it's the same pictures from a couple weeks ago, but it's still our bonfire).

And Sunday, dad was home so we were able to tag team a bit. Errands were run, meals for the week planned, flowers planted, laundry finished and spent some time outside enjoying an absolutely perfect day playing with my little ladies.

This past week... no progress on the girls room.  80 degree and sun every day, which means evenings outside watering flowers, the garden and eachother; playing on the swingset with our friend Mya; visiting with the neighbors and taking a Wednesday evening to visit baby Ella.  I'm so mad at myself that I didn't have my camera on Weds evening as we met baby Ella, saw Avery, Amy and Jesse.  Nece LOVED holding the baby and the girls played so well together!  Amy, I know you read this, we need to get together sooner rather than later and I WILL have my camera with me next time.

And whats in store for this weekend... not exactly sure yet.  I do know its supposed to be another perfect weekend, and I do know there is some work to be done in my front flower beds, and a bedroom needs to be painted to keep the project moving and I toyed with the idea of visiting Grandma M for part of the weekend.  We'll just wait and see what happens and update you early next week.

I did miss a birthday in our house earlier this week... I'll do that post this weekend sometime!  Have a good one... 

Update on the Girls Room

The chaos began in early May, and we're slowly settling into being crowded... we are continuing to make progress upstairs.  We've taped, mudded, sanded and primed.  I've been informed there are a couple spots that need to be re-mudded, sanded and primed... but we should be ready to paint soon.  Unfortunately, we won't be seeing paint this weekend as Marc is scheduled to work long days Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Maybe Sunday, but I'd prefer he enjoy his day outside as it's supposed to be 70 and sunny.  MUCH better than the crap we've had since last weekend... cold and rain.

And this is what's accumulated and is everywhere... gross!

Not sure when the next room update will come, as we have to finish prepping the walls and ceilings; I need to get the paint (yes, it's picked out... can anybody guess what color(s) and how many that room will be painted?)

A Visit from Tim and Celina!

This past week started every morning with, "Mom, XYZ number of sleeps until Tim and Celina come to visit." 

Yes, Nece... Tim and Celina will be here ins XYZ sleeps."

So, Thursday evening was very exciting for the girls, as 7:30 rolled around and they pulled into the driveway.  A couple hours of hanging out and then Friday was a BIG day.  Tim and Celina took the girls to an indoor playground, off to the Golden Arches for lunch (and from what I hear, Tim ate most of the hot fudge sundae) and finally to Mall of America for an afternoon full of rides!  After a full day, everybody came home and then we ventured out to dinner.  Overall, everybody did well... it's very different, as Tim and Celina saw, going out to dinner with two littles versus just the adults.  And a visit Saturday morning before they pulled out of town and headed back to Chicago with a car full of baby stuff! 

As hard as it is to part with the baby stuff, I am glad to be rid of it... and to know that it's going to family and at least one more baby will get good use out of it makes me feel great!  We can hardly wait to find out what that little one is going to be in August!

Thanks Tim and Celina for visiting.  We hope you had a good time, and we know the girls had a blast with you!  Celina, you look fantastic for being 26 weeks along, and we'll see you guys in about six weeks!

A couple pictures from Thursday evening!

Uncle Tim looks a bit nervous as the girls play with his phone!

 

Uncle tim playing barbies!

And a construction update coming soon!

And... the chaos begins.

So, what happens in our house when we get a phone call on a Friday morning from Grandma M that says, "I miss those girls, I don't have anything going on this weekend... I am coming up to get them for the weekend."

This:

To this:

Okay, so it's not entirely true that this happened as a result of Grandma M calling.  We had been talking about making the house more functional and moving the girls upstairs.  Remember, I mentioned that awhile back?!?!  Marc is only working minimally from April 30- May 4th, so it made sense to get started on this project.  The original plan was for Marc to work upstairs and I'd keep the girls busy all weekend... after I saw the beginning stages of the mess on Friday afternoon, I cannot tell you how glad we were to have the girls stay with grandma, grandpa and Jon.  I was able to get cleaned out and organized (as much as you can say this is organization right now) and the girls were able to have a dedicated weekend full of fun with their cousins, Auntie Erica, Uncle Jon and Grandma/Grandpa.  THANK YOU very much, I never realized how much that phone call was going to help us out.

And the chaos of how we're going to be living for the next 4 weeks at least.  And what is the positive of this mess... and yes, there is a positive to this disaster... bags upon bags of clothes that no longer fit, bedding that is no longer needed and some baby toys are ready to be donated AND my garbage is overflowing... There aren't pictures to show the 'after', but we're not living in this much of a mess... but it seems close as we've lost an entire level of our house including TONS of storage space for the time being.

And of course, we were able to have a bit of fun at a bonfire both Friday and Saturday night.

So, what's next?

• finish sheet rocking
• tape and mud
• trim
• paint (stay tuned on the colors... there is a hint in one of the pictures)
• rip out carpet
• lay new carpet
• decorate
• get the girls upstairs
• clean
• begin the next project of turning Franny's room into our room

Stay tuned... I'm sure there will be additional updates!