Our new 2 year old!

The spunkiest little girl I know turned 2 on friday. It wasn't the most eventful day, and we didn't do a party this year, so it was pretty low key, but she had fun and so did her sisters.

I tried to do a little photoshoot with her earlier in the week to document our little girl growing up, and man, is she one hard kid to photograph. She didn't want to smile at me, so I was able to get some pictures of the "real" Lexie that we get to see everyday.


We are just amazed by her everyday. She is talking a ton. She's smart, and she's not scared of anything. Seriously, she thinks she's 5 and can keep up with her sisters.
Yes, that grumpy face is a prime example of Lexie and how she lets you know when she isn't happy. Too bad for her that it's one of her cutest faces!:)

She is incredibly active, and at the same time is the best cuddler ever. She loves to cuddle, and can always be soothed by sucking her thumb and playing with a mole on my face, weird, I know. She found a new one on the back of my neck too, so that keeps her happy as well. I really don't know why, but if it means I get extra cuddle time with her, I'll take it.

Happy, Happy late birthday sweetie, you are one crazy adorable girl. We love laughing with you, and watching you assert your independence as you grow up. Can I ask just one favor though? Will you PLEASE quit running away from me when we're outside. I just don't think I'll be able to catch you for much longer, and it's probably kinda disturbing for people to see a huge pregnant lady running down the street.:)

Baby Ethan {Newborn}

Alrighty, I'm WAY behind on blogging, I know. But between Halli finishing swim team for the year, fathers day, our 8th anniversary, and Lexie turning two, and just plain ol' summer fun, I have LOTS to get around too, and frankly, I'm tired!:)


At first having Halli home was great, she entertained her sisters and did a great job, she is now officially bored of summer, and I'm seriously lacking the energy to entertain them all day, so, sorry no blogging. :)

In the meantime, here is my latest photoshoot. Little baby Ethan, who is adorable and sweet and makes me want our own little one here soon! Check out some more photos of this little cutie here.

One seriously busy weekend!

this past weekend was just a little busy. My mom and dad flew in, so fun for us, and we didn't let them take a break the whole time they were here! There was a playhouse being built,


A very awesome baby shower for our little guy

A swim meet in some WAY too hot weather! (I know the picture is not of a swim meet, but this is my cutie niece, and we were at the swim meet when I took the picture, so I think it counts, right?)

My sister and her husband were moving all their stuff from our house to their new apartment on saturday.

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Then on sunday we went to their baby girls blessing. Her dress was gorgeous!

Then monday we finished up with the playhouse, and tuesday we sent my mom and dad back home. So, because of this WAY busy weekend (hey, I'm pregnant, that was all alot for me, I'm exhausted!), there area couple more posts to follow about some of the bigger stuff this weekend, so feel free to scroll on down and check it all out!

Evolution of a playhouse

So this past weekend, my mom and dad flew out here for the busiest weekend ever! There was a baby shower, a baby blessing, a swim meet, and a massive construction project that my poor dad didn't get hardly any break from the whole time!

It all started with a wall in the playroom. When the house was being built, my mom saw that the wall in the playroom opened up to the attic area above the garage, so it really was all her idea.:) We opened up the wall, and my dad went to work framing out the attic, laying the plywood floor, rewiring so there would be a light in there, and sheetrocking the room. I was amazed at just how fast he was able to get things done. Kevin and I would still be trying to figure out how to frame the room out if it were up to us!

Once the inside was ready for paint, he got to work on the outside while my mom started priming the inside. It was too confined for me to paint in there, so I was the babysitter while they all worked their tails off.

It's starting to come along, at least now you can see the outline of the house!

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Halli was so excited to get to help paint, my mom may not have been so excited for the help/extra work, but Halli sure did love it.

oohhh, I love seeing it all come together!

I know you're all dying to see the final product....

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ooh, what color will it be?

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How awesome could this possibly look?

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I know, I'm way too excited about a playhouse for my kids....

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So,

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Here it is!!!!

I am so in love with how it all turned out! We painted it after the girls were in bed, and the first thing Halli said to me the next morning when she saw it was that she was "shocked!"

But seriously, who wouldn't be?:)

The inside is alot bigger than I thought it would be too, it's an awfully big playhouse for these little girls!

They've barely come downstairs for the past two days, and they are thoroughly enjoying playing in their new house. Not only that, but Halli is SO excited to have a sleepover soon so they can all sleep in there!

Thanks so much mom and dad for everything! I know it was a ton of work, but there is no way on earth we could have ever done anything even close to this without you. You two are amazing, and I absolutely love my.....I mean my girls...new playhouse!:)

Like father, like son...a fabulous baby shower!

Kevin has been hoping and wishing for the past 7 years, since we got pregnant for the first time, for a little boy. We were thinking it just might not be in the cards for us, so when we learned in March that a baby boy would be joining our family, there was a very happy dad at our house.

Not only that, but we have some amazing friends and family that were just as excited for us as we were! Those same amazing friends and family got together and threw me and our little boy the most amazing baby shower ever this past weekend! I gotta say, after having thrown each of them a baby shower within the past two years, it was kinda fun to sit back and just show up and be pampered and see all the awesome stuff they did! Man, did they ever do some awesome stuff!

So, here are all the photos, yes, there are ALOT, but it was so great, I couldn't leave any out!

Allie will always be my sweet tooth buddy, I can always count on her to eat dessert with me when no other girls will! (dang other girls with willpower!:) So hence the picture of us in front of he most awesome candy table ever! It looked amazing, and tasted that way too, I still have WAY too much left over so if your itching for some sweets, give me a call!


Also, if you think I look a tall in that photo, you should know, I have flats on, and she's wearing heels...that's probably the closest we've ever been in height!:)

I told Halli she could come with me to the shower, and she promptly drew up this picture, so they just had to frame it and put it up at the shower. It says, "Welcome to the baby shower everyone." and then has a picture of me and baby JJ under a rainbow.

oh yeah, gotta sample some sweets!

A closer look at the candy buffet

Allie's mom was able to get those WAY cute lollipops, SO adorable!

Then there was to food table, with these way too cute fruit bouquet in a basketball of course!

How cute are the basketball pettifours?

My sister made these adorable bags to put the party favor (chocolate covered pretzels) in.

I love the centerpiece, Kevin's basketball, and shoes, along with itty bitty baby boy shoes, so cute!

The whole food table, there was some very yummy food, those girls know me too well, love it!

And last, my mom, sister and sister-in-law Jill, and four of my mom's five granddaughters, Lexie had to stay home.

This was the BEST shower, and I loved the whole thing. Not to mention, my friends have the best taste ever and I got the cutest boy clothes, now I just can't wait to meet this little boy and see what he looks like in these adorable outfits!

Thanks girls, you are all beyond amazing, and made me feel like the most special mom that night, It was a blast, and I love you all!

When the grandparents come to town

My parents came into town, (yea!!!) and got in at about 10:00 last night. They're here for a baby shower, a baby blessing, to spend some time with their 5 granddaughters, and my dad is taking care of a HUGE project for us that I've been daydreaming about for quite some time!

So they got in late last night, and by noon today, this is what we had....


A big 'ol mess in the playroom, and some holes cut in the wall.


I'm sure by looking at the picture above, you can guess just what we're planning on doing in there!

Here's what you can see through those holes in the wall.

There's still a LONG way to go, but I'm so excited to see it all happen, and even more excited that the girls and I get to hang out with grandma, and spy on grandpa's work for a week while they're here!