We're Home!

Hello all! Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but we just made it back into town last night! I'll update soon on our happenings. But a quick sneak-peek:

We had been driving in the van for a couple of hours. All of the kids had been sleeping and Claire wakes up:

Claire: Mom, are we almost home?

Me: No, but we're gettting closer. You slept for over an hour.

Claire: I haven't been sleeping!

Me: Yes you have...for almost an hour and a half.

Claire: No, I wasn't! I was just being really quiet back here!

what's.in.her.mouth?

This afternoon, Claire and I were burping Amelia after she ate. This is how our conversation went....

Claire: "Wow, she's really spitting up a lot!"

Me: "Yes she is!"

Amelia: (obviously poops)

Me: "Wow, Amelia! That was a big poop. You've got it coming out of both ends!"

Claire: "She has poop coming out of her mouth?"

Josh and Me: (laughter...laughter...laughter)

bird.feeders

Last week I did a fun and easy craft with the girls. We decided to make bird feeders. We took old bagels and covered them with Crisco. Then we dunked them in bird seed and hung them in the tree with some string. I think we hung them on Tuesday morning, and we've been watching all week to see if any birds are interested in eating them. We have seen a lot of birds, but we haven't seen any eating off of our bird feeders. We woke up this morning to find our bird feeders completely gone! Claire asked, "What do you think ate them?" I said, "Probably a bird or a squirrel or a chipmunk." Meredith added her own theory...."I think a giraffe ate them! They have long necks that can reach up in trees!"

Logical thought process on a certain level...deer, maybe....but giraffe, not so much around here. Where does she come up with this stuff? Regardless of where it comes from, it makes me laugh, and so I'm thankful! :)

let's.fight

Conversation in our kitchen this evening....

Meredith (while holding Amelia's pacifier): "How 'bout we fight over this!"

(Claire ignores Meredith.)

Meredith: "Claire! How 'bout we fight over this!"

Me: "Meredith, why do you want to fight over something?"

Meredith: "So we can say, 'It's mine, it's mine!" "No mine! Mine!"

Seriously?

Christmas.all.year

No joke! We found Christmas lights on the big pine tree near our driveway on the edge of our property. Josh and I completely cracked up! Now we just have to find out if they work... :) At least they'll already be up for Christmas; the girls will be so excited.

Ahhh yes, the siding. Here is what most of the house looks like on the outside. The top pic is the front door/front porch area. The second pic is the back of the house located outside the dining room and beside the covered deck.

This is what the sided part looks like. This is the back of the house, and the door heads into our utility/laundry room. (Honestly, the picture doesn't do it justice.)

The side that is closest to the pole barn is also completely sided, however I didn't take any pictures of it yet. I can't wait until the whole house is done! It will look so good...although I will miss the green/blue color as well as the "EasyGard" print stamped all over the house. And even when the entire house is sided, Claire's name will live on forever under the siding. (Who knew the siding wasn't going up right away? She wrote her name on the house wrap back in October...right next to the front door!)

three.favorite.girls

Today is Amelia's 4 week birthday. Last night, it finally occurred to me (after 4 weeks) that I don't have any pictures of my three favorite girls together. I've thought about taking a picture of all of the girls several times over the last few weeks, however, Claire and Meredith typically look something like this while hanging out at home:

I think there is something oxymoronic about this photo.

Notice the striped tights and the Barbie sandals.

Let's just say that they really like to choose their own outfits (which is fine at home), but they typically aren't "photo shoot" outfits. So, last night, I was feeling extremely guilty for not having any pictures of all three of my children together. (Gina would have been SO on top of this type of thing....please don't disown me as your SIL.) Anyway, while everyone was in their pjs, I grabbed the camera for a few pics. I'll definitely get some better settings/outfits in the future, but this will do for now! It just seems like when everyone looks good, we're running late to wherever we're going. And by the time we get back, people are hungry and look frazzled! Who can relate?

On a side note, I was outside taking pictures of the new siding today (I'll post them soon), and I am just so excited! We have a fantastic lilac bush next to the garage! Josh was excited that I was excited. After the poison ivy and all of the mosquitoes last week, he said I needed something to get excited about here in the great outdoors. If you put your nose up to the screen, you can almost smell the sweet scent :)

huge.post

I will begin by saying that you may need to read this post in 2-3 sittings just because it is soooo long. I haven't been posting lately for a couple of reasons:

Reason #1: I don't know if I told anyone, but I had a baby. I haven't totally adjusted to having this 3rd adorable baby around. Maybe it's all of the nursing...totally a full time job. Maybe it's the sleep deprivation. Maybe it's the laundry or cooking or cleaning. Who am I kidding? There isn't much cleaning going on these days. Where is my mom when I need her? :)

Reason #2: Our computer hasn't been wireless for a week or so. My genius computer guy (Brian), had been in San Diego for week. He and Kristi then headed directly up to the UP for several days. Hello, didn't he know I was going to have this computer problem before he left? Let's just say that my office isn't the most comfy place to sit to do a fun post. To make a long story short, Brian came over tonight, clicked a couple of buttons, and WHAM-O the wireless works. Thank you genius-Brian.


I'll start with that cute little baby that takes up a lot of my time and sleep these days. She was extremely alert the other evening, so I grabbed the camera.

This one, I call "the claw" for good reason...her face looks so innocent, but watch out (rrrrrr)!

We also broke out the baby bathtub last week to give her an actual bath. (We were all getting sick of the sponge baths.) Although, after experiencing the baby tub, maybe Amelia preferred the sponge bath! You be the judge:

I think she liked it :)

On to the bad news of the post...I totally have poison ivy. Yuck! It's this whole "living-in-the-country" thing. Not that I've never had poison ivy before, but we've only lived here 5 weeks! It's not even full-blown summer yet! The worst part is that it is on my torso which isn't good with the whole nursing thing....and it has been spreading. My doctor prescribed some meds for me today, and she says, "This will definitely help, but Amelia might be extremely cranky over the next few days!" I can handle Amelia's crankiness when I'm not itchy and miserable! So, needless to say, prayers would be appreciated for my itchiness and Amelia's crankiness.

Good news regarding the house...Josh started working on the laundry room on the inside and the siding on the outside. He's decided he should have an "indoor" project for the rainy days and an "outdoor" project for the nice days. I have pics of the laundry room, but I haven't taken any of the siding (although it looks awesome!). I'll take some and post them soon. And, I will just say it now so that no one else has to...I am so spoiled with this laundry room. Thank you Josh for your willingness to please me :) Here are some pics:

Here is the flooring:

This is the awesome utility sink. It's super-deep and will be located right next to the washer. I'm pretty sure lots of poopy baby clothes will soak in this sink. Speaking of poopy baby clothes...Amelia pooped out her diaper the other day, totally all over her outfit. It was down her leg and in her toes...not kidding. I don't think I've ever cleaned up so much baby poop, and this is my 3rd baby for cryin' out loud! I've literally dealt with a lot of crap in the last 5 years. Did I use "literally" correctly, Dave?

These are the cabinets that Josh is building. He and my dad also installed the counter top for my "folding space". The utility sink will be installed right down there to the left of the washer.

Here is a pic of the room from the doorway to the family room/kitchen area: