Philly Cheese Steaks

I'm kind of on a Philly Cheese Steak kick right now & had them twice last week.  David said he wasn't going to have any more, but I bet I'll end up at the grocery this week picking up some stuff for more, even if he eats something else. He takes care of me, so he'll cook it too :)  For some reason, that cheesy meat doesn't hurt my stomach too bad, so it's a great filling dinner for me, since it actually has meat! 

Anyway, Emma has really gotten into helping in the kitchen.  She likes to watch & she likes to stir.  A little scary when she insists on stirring veggies over a hot stove! She does have LOTS of supervision! 

Stirring Onions & Bell Pepper. Her sweet daddy is holding her arm.

So proud of herself! 

Totally unrelated, yesterday I went to Walmart (yeah, I know) & when I came home there was a PIG at the bottom of my driveway.  A little black pig, about the size of a small dog. And oh, there was a small dog with him, that looked like a black mop. Seriously, I don't know if that poor dog could see or not, it was awful. You couldn't see his eyes.  Anyway, they would. not. move. I had to honk like 15 times before they finally figured out I wanted them out of my driveway & moved. URGH. I seriously hate animals running around the neighborhood, it is SO RUDE. I understand a one-time thing, but they were obviously both out together. Whatever. Ugh. 

Play Date with Valerie & "Baby" Jack

My parents are in Nashville this weekend. My mom is working on recording an album. No, seriously, she is, with a group she sings with. Anyway, we decided to spend the weekend at home since the next few months look pretty jam-packed. 

When I found out my parents would be out of town, I checked with Valerie to see if they might be available to come over & play this weekend, & thankfully they were! They've had kind of a busy week - Lee (Valerie's hubby, Jack's daddy) had emergency surgery to remove his appendix on Monday, but thankfully is doing great! Valerie was still up to getting out of the house & taking the long drive down to our house, & arrived around 1 this afternoon.

Emma eagerly awaiting her visitors...

Sweet Jack & Valerie!

They enjoyed taking all the magnets off the fridge.

So yeah, that's unfortunately all the pictures I took.  Valerie & I had a great time catching up & talking, & the kiddos had fun playing with all of Emma's toys.  We moved between Emma's room & the living room, playing with the kitchen, blocks, house, Baby Stella, etc.  We also went outside to see the fish & ate some chocolate chip cookies. Thankfully, Emma only knocked Jack over (by accident) once, when she was giving him a hug goodbye! He landed on her foam PBK chair, so he was fine :) She wanted to help him up, but I think that's what upset him the most! Jack was so cute & sweet, but was pretty shy & kept going for the front door. He wasn't too sure of what to make of us - can't say as I blame him! They both did great until the very end when they started getting tired.  Emma started yelling indistinguishable words.  I have no idea...

Anyway, they had to head out around 3:30 to make it back to their neck of the woods by 5 for a birthday party.  We had so much fun with them & wish they could have stayed & played longer! Can't wait to do it again soon - next time we'll have to come up & try out Jack's toys!

Emma had so much fun & finally ended up crashing on the couch while watching Beauty & the Beast. 

She's been asleep for probably about an hour.  Toys are now all picked up & I'm working on a little laundry & relaxing! I'm super excited that my house is clean & I'm looking at a full night & day tomorrow AT HOME! Although, you know I'm a busy bee & I've already pretty much decided that tomorrow I'll start going through the baby stuff & seeing what we can use for Baby Brother.  I think we have a few "gender-neutral" things he can wear, but not much. Time to start making a list, start washing clothes, & start getting his room all ready for him - I seriously can't wait!!! 

Cookin' & Cleanin'

Last week Emma & I made a chocolate cake together.  It's Pioneer Woman's "Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever." Seriously, it's delicious!!! You can find the recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_chocol/

Emma was a great helper with stirring & helping me measure. She had so much fun.

The best part, of course, was eating it! Girl-friend loves her some chocolate!

Yesterday, Emma played hard with Grandma, Grandpa, & Aunt Susan, and then continued to play after they left.  Needless to say, she made a big mess! Here she is helping clean up her play food & kitchen. She would stand like that & I would tell her to Clean Up! Then she'd giggle & pick up one thing & put it away.

At one point, she put herself in time out. I never figured out why, but thought it was funny!

She's getting too big & is such a good helper. I know she'll be a great big sister - she is so excited about meeting "Her Baby!"

Emma's Big Girl Room

Although Emma's room is still not 100% done, it's about 95%, so I decided to go ahead & post some pictures. At this point, I do still want to get some white curtains (shears) to replace the pink from her nursery, but haven't found anything I really like yet. Also, I still need to hang back up her name, I just need to decide where to put it.  A few things will be re-arranged, etc, but overall I'm VERY happy with how it's turned out. 

View when you first walk into her room. 

I ordered the white furniture from Target & David put it together. We replaced the X-Long Twin bed with a standard twin. Nanny & Papa got her the quilt from Pottery Barn Teen for Christmas.  My mom also painted the awesome canvas over her bed (sorry, I should have gotten a close up - I will later & post it). The pink pillow is from Target & I love it!

Her dresser with the new mirror from IKEA.  I do have plans to revamp the items on top of the dresser, but leaving it as is for now.

These are the curtains from her nursery. While they "go" I kind of what something more subtle to tone down the pink walls. Also, I want to make some changes to the buckets of toys below the window. Believe it or not, I have put away (hidden) TONS of stuff, but she has SO MUCH. I can't wait to get her play room together & move a lot upstairs. 

Her bed and new rug from Target. I went with a white bedskirt, but please ignore the wrinkles! They have somewhat fallen out, but I probably should iron it.

Her fun bow holder my mom got at the Sprayberry Craft Show last year. It's sadly very full & I've even put away a lot of the smaller bows that she doesn't wear as much!

Dollhouse & shelf.

Pegs which I haven't put anything on yet and her "nightstand" which is no where close to her bed :) This section needs a little work, I'm thinking about hanging her name above the pegs. Need to work on what to put on the nightstand too - unfortunately it's pretty handy for her humidifier.

Her dresser decorations for now. I found the picture frame at Kohls, the basket at Hobby Lobby in the Valentine's section, and fell in love with the Cupcakes from Pottery Barn Teen!

A few items on her shelf - her jewelry box, handprint, letter E, and Piggy Bank.

Dollhouse which currently houses a lot of her books. Will likely re-work what's in here too.

So yeah, it's a work in progress & I still have plans, but nothing major really.  Will post a few updates as they occur :)

Happy Tuesday!

Ok, I can tell it's going to be a long week, especially considering it's only Tuesday.

I had my doctors appointment today to check on Baby Boy.  He's doing great, his heartbeat was in the 140s. Everything looked fine with me to.  Ultrasound results were normal too.

He's been moving around a lot, which I love.  David has felt him a little, but I need to try again, he should be able to feel him moving around better now.  Haven't tried yet with Emma, but will soon.

Nothing very exciting going on around here.  Last night I cleaned bathrooms, so tonight I'll probably take it easier, since my back was killing me last night.  Started the dishes & some laundry, so that'll probably do it :)

The Weekend Recap

Following our busy week of back to work (3 day work week!), the weekend was definitely welcome!

Saturday Emma & I spent shopping with Nanny & Atchie. I was able to get a few more things for Emma & Baby Boy's bedrooms.  Emma's room only needs new curtains & Nanny is going to paint a canvas for her wall to match her new bedding. Baby Boy only needs new curtains & a few accessories - I may decide to get a cover for the changing pad, etc, but he is close too. His room does need to be emptied out & painted & I need to go through all the baby stuff, so there's definitely a lot of work still to do. I also found a dress to wear to my brother's wedding in March & bought a shower gift for next weekend.  Pretty productive trip to Marietta! We were able to meet up with Papa & went to pick up Nene from Rehab & took her out for some BBQ for dinner, where David joined us.  Pretty fun Saturday!

Emma fell asleep on the way home last night (around 7:15 - she hadn't taken a nap). We expected her to wake up once we made it home, but she stayed asleep, so we put her in bed - clothes & all.  Apparently this was a bit of a mistake, because at 3:30 she came into our room, telling me she needed a change & "to watch a movie or something." I told her it was still night time, but took her back in her room to change her & put her back to bed. I found her clean pjs and a dry pull up & pulled off her shirt & put on the pj top. When I went to pull down her pants, I realized they were soaked & cold! I felt sooo bad! Anyway, I got her wiped off, diapered, & dressed. Please remember this was 3:30 in the morning & she needed to go back to sleep - that's the only reason she didn't get a bath right then! Then I had to change her sheets because of course they were soaked too.  Keep in mind that I did all this from the bathroom light in the hall, because I wanted to make sure she knew it wasn't time to get up yet! Finally, she was in bed & happy & dry & I headed to bed, where I stayed awake for the next hour worrying about her. David didn't even know she'd been up.  Around 4:30, I'm guessing, she came back in & got in bed with us (on David's side), then she got up & told me she wanted to go back to bed. At this point - it was Daddy's turn! She went back to bed & slept pretty good until probably around 7:45 (thankfully, I finally did too).  I told David to get up with her & I slept until just before 9 - I was exhausted.

Anywho, today I finished putting Emma's room together, besides the curtains & a few things yet to be hung on the wall.  It's looking pretty cute if I do say so myself.  No worries, pictures will be posted once it's all complete - should be very soon!

I went through a few boxes that we had been storing at my in-law's since before we moved.  Now they are either put away or boxed back up for later.  Lots of laundry has been done today too.  By the way, Emma loves to help with laundry. She can load & unload the washer/dryer - pretty helpful.  The dryer just finished, so I asked her to put the clothes from the dryer into the laundry basket, & she did it all by herself & then pushed the laundry basket into our room.  She now needs to learn how to fold :)

It's about time for a bath, so I've got to head out.  Kind of looking forward to the week, kind of not.  This will be a full 5 day work week (ok, outside of the Dr's appointment I have Tuesday afternoon), so I'm hoping I can make it through.  I've been a lot more tired lately & haven't been feeling very well the past few days, but I'm trying to muddle through.  I'll just do what I can, I guess.

Snow Days!

We've been hit with Winter Storm 2011! It came in Sunday night & we got 4-5 inches of snow.  Then came in the freezing rain & sleet right on top, which left a big icy mess! Oh well, it definitely looks pretty!

Our backyard, the pond is partially frozen over. 

Drive way

Our snowy house

On Monday, we were home all day and spent a little time outside enjoying the snow.  All bundled up to go outside!

Throwing snowballs

 Daddy wrote Emma's name in the snow.

She said her daddy was going to build a snowman.  Unfortunately, with the ice/snow, it didn't pack well, so he couldn't build her one.  I made a snowman pile to appease her :)

I think she likes it!

Daddy and a block of snow.

Emma wanted to hold it too.  Then she "threw" it like her daddy.

David worked on painting Emma's new room Monday also, she was very excited to have a pink room.  She says pink is her favorite!

Today, David went into work around 9:30, but Emma's school was closed for the day, so she & I stayed home.  She's been very good all day, watching movies, playing, & "helping" me.  I worked off & on from home all day, which was good.  My inbox shouldn't be too bad when I get to go back to work.

For the last 30 minutes, Emma has been in her room reading her books nicely to herself. Such a sweet little monkey.  :)

Haven't heard the word on school for her tomorrow - we will see!

It's a....

BOY!!!! We found out on Thursday that we are expecting a bouncing baby boy! We are over the moon excited about having one of each!

No, we haven't picked out names yet. I will let you know the name once we have it finalized.

I have, however, picked out bedding.  We are going to go with a subtle car theme - the bedding below is what we chose - it's the Hayden bedding from Pottery Barn Kids.  I bought the quilt and a couple sets of sheets - I don't do a bumper.  When he starts wiggling around a lot, I have a white breathable bumper that we can use & will feel a whole lot better about.  We are also doing a white bed skirt.

We picked up light blue paint today at Home Depot, along with pink to go with Emma's new room.  David will do Emma's room first and then he can start on Baby Boy's room.  Our nursery furniture is dark wood, so I think everything will go nicely.  We have one car watercolor painting of a red sports car so far, so I'll pick up a few other wall decs (definitely letters once we decide the name) and a few little items to sit around.  I'd really like to find a cute lamp too.  I'm very excited about his room, especially since it's come together pretty easily! I will definitely post pics of Emma's big girl room & Baby Boy's room once they're done.  

Now, all this new kiddo needs is clothes! Poor baby, all he has is pink! :) I'll pick things up as I like them & they're on sale - no biggie! I do need to start going through are boxes of baby stuff & determining exactly what we need.  I think we have a few sleepers/onesies that Baby Boy can use. 

Anywho, things are finally moving along & I'm getting excited about getting things ready for our new addition! 

Christmas Round 4

Ok, this will be my final Christmas post for 2010.  But first, a quick look at how we spent New Year's Eve....

Emma got her Big Girl Bed (finally!) She was so happy! She's slept great in it! 

Then we ate Papa Johns & watched Harry & the Henderson's. It was a hit!

New Year's Day, we headed to the Scrivner's for Christmas! Emma & her big cousin William were playing with a cool remote control car!

Grandma wanted a picture of all the grandkids - not too bad for 4 kids - a 5 year old, 2 2 1/2 year olds, & a 2 week old!

Needless to say, it didn't last long, but they were cute! :)

Thompson likes to hold his baby sister Lorelei too!

Emma giving William a hug.

Aunt Megan fixed Lorelei up with the hair bows! Love it! :)

Emma playing in her Tutu and Cape.  She wore them all night.

The big boys played too - with David's remote control helicopter that Santa brought.

The next day, Emma wore the following All. Day. Long.  She loves her new shirt from Great Scott & Aunt Shawna!

So that's that.  Christmas is over & on Sunday Emma wore a tutu all day & her mommy wore pjs until 3:30, when all the Christmas decorations were finally taken down!

We had a very blessed Christmas! Happy New Year!

Visiting with the Dreibelbis!

Wednesday after work, we headed up to Ball Ground, so we'd get a chance to see David's grandparents & Aunts & Uncles before they left Thursday morning.

Emma enjoyed playing marbles with Aunt Susan. 

Uncle David, Grandpa, Uncle Don

Grandpa Jay, Grandpa, & Grandma

Uncle David

Emma girl :)

Emma wanted Grandma's help with putting the Daddy in the car.

Grandma, Emma, & Olivia. Emma was Grandma's shadow.

Reading a book with Grandma before bed.

We had a great time & were glad to get a chance to see everyone before they had to go back home!