This Past Weekend

This past weekend we had a visit from Matthew's family~ Grandma, Uncle Bryan and Aunt Rosie, and Uncle Aaron... the girls LOVED all the extra attention! Matthew and I enjoyed the relief of a few extra helping hands... sorry to see you all go, we had fun!!!

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Everyone going for a walk Friday morning, while Daddy was at work and I was at a doctor's appt. (fyi: ultrasound next appt to determine c-section or not)

We went to Peter Piper Pizza later that day, you'd like to think it was for the girls... but all of Matthew's brothers are little kids at heart so everyone had a blast! Although Kacey got stuck at the top of the toyland, she wasn't frantic but she wasn't coming down either... luckily Aunt Rosie was able to go up and rescue her :)



POOL TIME!

They love their Uncle Bryan :)
I posted almost the same picture 3 times, so I could get everyone in it... This one has Aunt Rosie and Uncle Aaron...

This one has Grandma...

Sunday Morning Pictures

(we tell Kacey to look up and smile, but Kylie ends up thinking we're telling her)

Off They Go...

Matthew has only asked me about 1,000 times if he and Kylie could leave the night before I'd scheduled for their Disneyland trip- which essentially means I'd go one full day w/o seeing Kylie- finally today I caved. This way they're nice and rested and can go straight into the park at 9 am on both days. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the first day in Kylie's whole life that we haven't seen eachother... I know it sounds like it's not a big deal, but I am truly heartbroken. It's just one more step of her growing up that I'm not ready for, although she is... which kinda makes me feel better but I was still crying as they left. Kylie's so cute, Matthew walked in after his class tonight and Kylie told him that I was sad and I was crying because she was leaving for Disneyland. So Matthew asks me how long it would take me to pack up for Kacey and I to go too (which just really isn't feasible for me and it's nice for them to have daddy/daughter time... I keep telling myself) ... Kylie was getting furious, "No no, Kacey can't come, no Mommy... no just me and you Daddy!!!"

How happy does she look?!!??

So off they go to Disneyland, they'll be back in 2 days. Let's just hope I don't go into labor, which I never have all by myself. I've always been induced, but I've got my folks here. My mom, in case Matthew can't get back in time, to be with me at the hospital. And my dad on Kacey duty... which would be hilarious because I think the last diaper he changed was mine. And he has a problem with telling my girls "no." I can just see Kacey waking up in the middle of the night not wanting to sleep and him and her having a little party. Fingers crossed we don't come to that and the 2 days fly by.

7 Days of Pretty

7 Days and 7 Pretty Pictures

Kylie's stomach bug is much better, and the polka dots are now all over like the dr said would happen... still looks very similar to a heat rash. Tomorrow she's supposed to start soccer again, I don't think we're going to go... disney postponed + no soccer= no fun in our house. Luckily some of Matthew's family is coming into town this weekend, that's what I'm clinging to keeping her upbeat.

So here are the past 7 days...

The girls with my folks...

This was at the Venetian the other day when we went out for lunch for an early celebration for my Momma's birthday. She looks FaBuLoUs!!! She (and I) decided to go on diets/making healthier choices last September (although I got pregnant and bailed on her, she kept going strong). In 11 months, she's lost 72 pounds! 72 POUNDS! How amazing is that!!??!! And she lost it w/o surgery or diet pills... the old fashioned way of eating healthy. I am so proud of her, she hasn't been this weight since before she had me. It's so inspiring and it shows how with persistence and dedication, anything is possible... she went from a size 22 to a size 10 or 12, depending on the namebrand. And losing the weight even made it possible for her to get off of her high blood pressure meds... so awesome! She's undoubtedly added years onto her life with her new healthier lifestyle, and she's just happier in general (buying a cute new, smaller-sized wardrobe will do that to you!) GO MOM!

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Last night, Matthew gave me a well-needed Mommy night out. He's been coming face to face with the wrath of a hot pregnant woman, and I think he's been scared for his life :) About 5:30 pm I headed out for some SHOPPING. It's Kohls clearance time, and last week I did major shopping for the girls and Saturday we did major shopping for Matthew... but there wasn't really time for me. Time is limited with the munchkins. THAT and I had a 30% off, and it expired today. Whenever I get the 30%, we always buy Matthew a new suit. This time he got a gorgeous Chaps grey pinstripe suit.

So, last night was all for me, all normal clothes- nothing maternity. I picked up my mom, who's a super fun shopping partner because well, all the above information... something about losing lots and lots of weight makes you love going shopping for clothes. We were gone for 3+ hours. No "Mommy, I want something in your pocketbook... Kacey's touching me... Mommy, I want something else!" Just peaceful, "me" time... shopping and loving it! I came home with two huge bags stuffed to the brim. Matthew peeked inside, and I told him there was nothing for him all me. I got crazy good deals, so much for so cheap, then another 30% off. (I refuse to spend a lot of $$$ on one item of clothing, because in an instant with my girls, it can be ruined) I got 2 dozen tops, 6 bermuda shorts, 2 pairs of shoes, 2 dresses, 2 necklaces, 1 pair of earrings, and a nice pair of navy slacks... the picture doesn't do the mound justice.

Thank you to my awesome husband who lets me buy whatever I want :) and never hounds me about how much I spent or if I really need it... etc etc...

***(you're really very good to me)***

disneyland ???

So Matthew's surprise birthday present/Daddy & daughter Disneyland trip was tomorrow and Wednesday (was- keyword).

Surprisingly, me and my inability to leave my children- or have my children leave me- is not the reason.

Kylie woke up this morning with "polka dots." I made a dr appt for this afternoon, and glad I did because I found my morning cleaning up throw up (how many times I've been thrown up on in THIS pregnancy alone, ugh... I know, gross, but I do feel that I deserve a special comfy chair in heaven or something!!! I admit I sacrficed myself so to "steer Kylie clear" of the new bedding, if you get my drift). The dr said it's probably a viral infection and a stomach bug combo. Just what you want when going on rollercoasters. Needless to say, he gave me a dr's excuse -no lie- to get out of my hotel reservation without penalty.

Disney is rescheduled for this same time next week... I'm not sure who's more bummed, Kylie or Matthew. Although Matthew's keeping his spirits up thinking next week more kids will have started school. Kylie's another story, because she feels better and the polka dots don't bother her at all (it even just looks like a little heat rash) so reasoning that she's sick and we have to wait until she's better, just isn't cutting it. I'm totally lying to her- "Mickey Mouse isn't at Disneyland tomorrow- he called and he's got a cold, you and Daddy will go next week so you're sure to see him."

Anyone got any good excuses, please pass it along my way. She's so bummed.

Look at those EYES!

Well, so my girls got my skin... BUT they certainly have their Daddy's blue eyes! I didn't even know about these pictures, I guess they were playing "photo shoot." I just found them while I was trying to upload the Sunday pictures to the computer.

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Now for the Sunday morning pictures... the girls have a thing for pocketbooks (I guess people here call them purses, I always called them pocketbooks... either way, big fetish in our house)

Yes 4 weeks left and counting... get this girl out of me!

New Bedding

I love how just buying new sheets and a comforter can change and brighten up a bedroom... so the girls both got new bedding! I bought it yesterday and washed everything, Matthew put it all on her bed and KYLIE WAS IN HEAVEN! I mean it's super cute, I love it, but she LOVES it, which makes it all that much better. I feel so good when little things like that make her SO unbelievably happy!!!

Kylie's is a soft purple princess type theme with hearts, and 2 matching decorative pillows of course (can't forget those!) she loves that little princess pillow!!!

I got Kacey a new set too, she's still in the crib and we're not forcing her out for the new baby- fortunately we do have 2 cribs- even after the climbing out of the crib incident and cast... we're still holding onto our sanity with her in the crib. But I did buy her a set for her big girl's bed that she'll get whenever she's ready for it. Although I have the comforter folded in the corner of her crib because it's so sticking cute! It's soft pink with various flowers and ladybugs, and she adores her pillows also as you can see!

After each picture I took, she kept saying, "One more time." And sticking up her index finger. "One more time. One more time." Silly girl, I guess I say that alot when I take their picture.

(i love those curls!!!)

I Hate...

the way they make little girl's shorts... has anyone noticed this? They are so small and so short! I've been going through my girls' clothes, passing down things from Kylie to Kacey's closet and from Kacey to Kadyn's closet (yes, our new name broadcasted!)... and of course there's been some back-to-school shopping we need to make room for (even though Kylie's the only one who goes and it's only Preschool, all 3 girls are getting new matching outfits in a big UPS package arriving today). BUT I know it's bad when the 2T's barely fit my Kacey who's just pushing the 5th percentile as a 23 month old. That really bothers me, it's like setting these little girls up for confidence issues and tighter/smaller clothing as teenagers.

Seriously, have any of you noticed this or am I just a raging pregnant woman? Well, I have found a solution. I've been buying boy shorts/even jeans and khakis for the girls, they're longer, roomier, and lots of times come with cute cargo pockets on the sides! AND you can actually see the shorts on their legs, they don't just cover the upper part of the thigh and disappear when the child sits, they actually go down the thigh a bit... and funny, the boys clothes fit true to size. I just wanna smack those big wig kid designer people!

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Not to be a huge complainer, I'll end this on a nice note... but I have to share the cutest thing Kacey did this morning. Matthew was getting ready for work and she goes into our closet... she puts on one of my high heels and starts walking around, "I'm a Princess, I'm a Princess!"

Look at her pose, she is too much!!! :)

We're still alive...

I know it's been longer than usual for my posting, I can explain in 2 words: Breaking Dawn. My book came Tuesday and I tried my hardest to "drag it out" and savor it longer... but 2 days and 750 pages later :) LOVED IT!!!

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Highlights from this week, include a recent conversation between Matthew and Kylie:

Matthew: "Kylie, you want Mommy and Kacey to come with us to Disneyland?"

Kylie (with enough conviction to cause temporary hearing loss): "NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Matthew: "Okay, well..."

Me: "Matthew enjoy this moment, there will be times down the road when she'll be trying to get rid of you... not trying to keep you all to herself. Enjoy it now while it lasts."

Matthew: "Kylie, what do you do when we go into the boy's potty?"

Kylie (with accompanying hand motions): "We cover our eyes."

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It was cute to watch. Kylie has a really hard time going into the boy's potty. She's a girl, and she knows the difference between the restrooms. He's tried to rush her in really fast so that I always don't have to do it, but as soon as she notices, she wants no part of it and runs right out. (we raise strong women in this house, and when their mind is set on something... there's nothing you can do!) So I've been working with her, the only way she can go to Disneyland is to go in the boy's potty in Disneyland with Daddy. So she's getting okay with it.

BUT, I think he's getting nervous... :) He keeps asking me if I'm sure I don't want to go... not like he's concerned about me, but more that he's concerned about him handling all the things you do with a girl... or maybe just "our girl." Obviously, Kylie will go on every ride 15 times, Tower of Terror here she comes, and she'll be a trooper from sun up to sun down. I reminded him that unlike Edward :) hehe, she has to eat so feed her regularly to avoid major meltdowns. (somewhere attached to the X chromosome on my side is a mutation that causes us to become terribly cranky when we don't eat). On top of that, she has some sweet little quirks... to say the least. Kylie likes baby powder on her chest before bed as well as milk every evening, her toes freshly painted every morning, she'll tell you how she wants her hair to be done- and if it's not good enough, you have to do it again... he'll be in that boat for sure and I won't be there to bail him out ;) Should be exciting! :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today he's the big 3 - 1 !!! Lucky him awoke to us 3 (in our grand voices) singing Happy Birthday! But he had to get up and get ready for work. Good thing Kylie was around to tell him what to wear this morning (how does he survive without her)... her choice today was a pink dress shirt! He was planning on leaving work at 11 am to come home and partay... but he didn't escape until 1:30. As you can see, we had birthday cake and played in the pool.
Gotta say, Matthew's tan is looking great!!! Usually out of the 4 of us, he burns... very painfully I might add. But it looks like there's some Italian skin under there afterall!!! :) Right after we sang, Kacey's goes, "I want some cake... want some cake... cake!!!" As if letting us know that she's here and she's gonna get some.

As for the "big gift," that Kylie did manage to keep secret. It's a Disneyland getaway for later this month for him and Kylie, complete with hotel reservation and Disney gift card. I figure without Kacey and me slowing them down, they'll have a fabulous time and get on all the rides quite a few times! (This is a big thing on my part-- I'm a little nervous, I've never spent a night away from Kylie... well one night, when I was in the hospital giving birth to Kacey. Nor do I do vacations, or anything for that matter, without my girls. It's just my thing, I worry too much and I just can't handle it. Matthew's been begging me to leave the girls with my folks so WE can take a small CA-type vacation. Now he's down-played it with us just doing a "Vegas Vacation," just staying in town and getting a nice hotel, seeing some shows, eating at all the great places. But I refuse, I'm just not strong enough and everything would remind me of the girls, I'd cry the whole time and would be miserable and would have to come home early-- it would just be a waste. So this trip with them leaving is a BIG step for me, and I know Matthew's still shocked I'm going through with it. -- hopefully I don't chicken out last minute and Kacey and I drag ourselves along, but it is still an option-- I know Kylie will be fine without me, she won't even miss me... but I'll be in tears that whole night for sure missing my baby... I'm sure you'll read a blog post about it later)

Back to birthday boy, I feel so bad for him... it's his birthday and he can't get a moment's peace. His phone was ringing non-stop this afternoon and then he spent over an hour on his work intranet doing emails... and now he's sitting in a (very hard- and I enjoy math) statistics class for 4 hours... Happy Birthday Dear! Love you :)

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So the girls are in bed, I'm all alone, there's nothing good on tv (is there ever?!!), I don't even teach the Sunday school lesson this Sunday... and my Breaking Dawn book doesn't get here until tomorrow! Grrrrrrrrrr.

Sunday

Morning pictures were rough this morning... people blinking, heads in the wrong direction, who wants to sit by who... this was the best we could do. I know all are shocked, my girls aren't in matching outfits!!! Sometimes I've gotta do it to showcase all our pretty dresses. Kacey's dress was actually one of my faves back when it was Kylie's, it crisscrosses in the back, oh I love it! And well Kylie's dress, is adorable, and she and I matched in brown today. Her dress was a fun clearance find... like under $3 at Kohls clearance last season! Love that!!! She looks so thrilled here. She was a little upset this morning- we couldn't find her pink scripture bag. We searched the house, luckily her Sunbeam teacher had it from last week. (Totally Matthew's fault, Kacey and I left early last week- Nursery issues- and Matthew forgot to make sure Kylie had it when he picked her up from Sunbeams)

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So, this afternoon during Kacey's nap... and while Daddy was on visits... Kylie and I worked on Daddy's birthday cake for tomorrow. I used to buy one, but I've found it's a little more special when I make it and I have a few little secrets (from my mom, the expert cake maker/decorator for YEARS!)that make homemade cakes exceptionally good. As you can see, I'm not the only one who thinks it's exceptionally good... this is what I found after letting it cool for 30 minutes. Somebody's got sneaky little fingers and apparently one bite wasn't enough.

PS- Kylie can't wait until tomorrow for Daddy's birthday... she's already taken out the Tinkerbell party hats! I know he's going to be thrilled for that ;)

Happy (early) Birthday to Daddy!

Matthew's birthday is Monday, he'll be 31... I love it when his birthday rolls around because it changes our age gap from 3 to 4 years!!! I love that he's always so much older than me!!! (I rub it in too, probably always will)

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With his birthday falling on a Monday, I was kinda bummed. Mondays are always difficult in our house-- his busiest day at work by far, conference calls, meetings and cleaning up whatever business mess happened over the weekend, and of course class at night. But I guess I should be grateful... he just barely got out of a 5-day training in Boca Raton that was going to have him gone during his birthday (he moved it to October, which I guess I'm thankful for now, but I won't be in October) ANYHOW, we celebrated his birthday meal today at:

SUPER yummy!

We shared the Oriental Potstickers for an appetizer, which wasn't my top choice but it was his birthday celebration so I went along with it... (potstickers are usually too gooey for my liking) but these were absolutely fabulous! The soy sauce and sesame seeds and all the other spices really complimented each other... I highly recommend it! Matthew had the filet mignon, which he said was so good he barely needed a knife to cut it. I had a crabcake sandwich, which was huge- I had to take half home....

So taking half home left room for dessert- two decadent slices of cheesecake, of course! One was a peanut butter and fudge ripple and the other was peanut butter cup and chocolate chip cookie dough... wow, huh! A pregnant woman's dream... oh wait, we were there for him, right????!!!! :)

Now, it's all I can do to keep Kylie quiet about his birthday present, more to come later.... and he doesn't help, always trying to bribe it out of her and trick her into saying something!!! You can do it Kylie, just a few more days! :)

Family Inaugural Swim

Today was the day... I called Matthew and said Mr. Pool Man gave us the go-ahead. Matthew was golfing, so I told him too bad and that we were going in. Hehe... we waited, he was home within the hour.

Us waiting

The first few steps in... at first you think it's a little cold, but after a few seconds, it couldn't be more PERFECT!

Refreshing.

Relaxing.

And just plain fun!

If you can't find us, or don't hear from me in a while... you know where to look!

We've Got Water...

...but I bet it's cold! It took 12+ hours to fill up. It was almost like having a newborn baby, Matthew set his alarm for nearly every hour last night to wake up and go check on the water. We had instructions to turn it off when the water hit the middle of the tiles. It looks fabulous, it's taunting us right now because they are chlorinating it and the special cleaning system we bought is working it's magic... so we must wait.

Today was also really nice because we got rid of this:

And got this:

The button on the sliding glass door is the most annoying (but useful) thing. You have 7 seconds to open and shut the door and push the reset button, which is specifically up high. Difficult when with two adults (one being slightly big in the mid section), two little girls, and a dog all trying to get out the door/push the reset button/ and shut the door in 7 seconds. It makes a terrible noise if you miss the time limit or if you don't push the button SO you know if you're kids are outside and shouldn't be. It's really a great safety tool, but we went ahead and did the safety fence with a lock. And on top of that, with our security system... anytime a door or window opens, our alarm system control pad (both upstairs and down) speaks to us like on an intercom and tells us, "fault garage door." Meaning the garage door opened, or "fault master bedroom window"... you've got the picture.

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Mr. Pool Man says that the chemicals and whatnot are doing their thing and we can go in Saturday (maybe sooner) so it will have a few days to warm up from the nice Vegas sun... I'M READY! On top of that, we sold the Universal Gym for our asking price and that leaves Saturday morning too.... I'm getting my backyard back!!!! YEAH!!!!

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This picture I just thought was funny... Battle of the Dirt Devils, mine and theirs. My girls have a thing for vacuums. In fact, on Sundays in nursery when they clean up, Kacey's usually assisting a Nursery Leader holding the vacuum. I usually have to "hide" as I vacuum or do little jobs just so I can get it done... but what ends up happening is everyone has to have their turn with the vacuum.

Saturday & Sunday

I bought Kylie a little play money set. She already knows all her coins- the girls milk my parents for all their change everytime they come over to our house. And my dad happily empties his pockets as long as they correctly name each coin. (He did the same thing with me, amazing how keeping it is great incentive to learn!) There is a house minimum of 10 coins per girl (my girls are demanding) and if you don't have the 20 to pass around, their tempers go flaring! :) Kacey's right about half the time too when identifying her coins- obviously the penny is the easiest, and dimes are called "diamonds"... the nickels and quarters cause Kacey some problems. But Kylie's got it down! So, I got Kylie this play money set so she could not only practice coins, but also learn dollars. She learned fast.... (Papa time for the big bucks please) This is SOOO my girl, it kept her content for an hour! Sunday Morning prior to church.
Sunday morning family picture.
Love this one, "Where's the baby?" (just a few weeks left)