Oh dear...

Things are backing up around here.

After taking a 3 week hiatus from normal life we are slowly trying to get back to normal. The only problem is the fact that for 3 weeks I thought of all the projects that I have been wanting to get done around the house. My list is getting longer everyday, the projects are piling up and I am running out of time. So the very last thing I have been in the mood to do is pull out my camera and sit down on the computer and blog. Hopefully after I get my ginormous list of to do's done I can blog. But for now....

• I switched Bode and Laine's room. Bode had the bigger room and since he is soon to be out numbered it was necessary to make the move. His new set up looks great and he loves the change. The only problem is that made a huge mess through out the rest of the house that still has yet to be picked up.
• Laine and baby girl #2 room's room is in shambles. I never got around to decorating Laine's room so I am now taking advantage of having 2 girls to get it done. So far it is just a mess of stuff waiting to be put up, made over and cleaned up. Laine is actually sleeping in Bode's room because we haven't taken down the crib yet. She can now climb in and out of it so it just needs to be taken down. 
• Preschool starts in 18 days. I got a huge jump start while I was up in Pinetop. I found a new curriculum that I love and have printed every thing out up to spring break. It is just a matter of cutting out and laminating a ton of stuff to get everything where it needs to be. I bought new chairs and a cute little table to use this year. It should be fun! I am really excited to have one year under my belt and to be moving onto the next. So many fun new things.
• Laundry. The never ending battle of my life...
• Although I left a clean house 3 weeks ago and came home to a relatively clean house, it is in ruins now. Everything needs a good once over to get it all feeling good and lived in again. 
• Have you ever used the vacuum storage bags? They are awesome!! I cleared out a whole closet just by using a few bags. All the extra pillows, blankets and hand me down clothes were crowding both of the kids closets. Now all that stuff is taking up 1/2 of one closet. So much better! One top of clearing up the closets we had a large throwing out party in the kids's rooms. I got rid of so many toys! All the toys that the kids toss on the floor looking for the "good" toys are now gone. 5 garbage bags full of things got loaded up in the car and dropped off at Goodwill. Feels good to dejunk a bit. I am sure it would do a world of good to get rid of some more stuff. One closet at a time.

So if you happen to see me this week looking rather frumpy and frazzled it is because I have a million projects going and even more to get done floating around in my head. And as I re read this it actually sounds as though I may be "nesting" a bit. That is good. With Laine all my "nesting" consisted of me washing and folding her clothed over and over. Not to productive but that didn't make me tired.

Summer Happinings...

I am not quite sure how it is possible to celebrate the 4th of July in a place where temperatures hover between 105-115 degrees. I know it is possible and we will probably do it one day. For now we escape the hot, hot desert and travel up to the mountains.

Me at 24 weeks. Oh the beginnings of a nice full pregnant face.

Despite the look on Bode's face. He was so excited for the parade to start so he could get some candy. The parade didn't disappoint at all. All the cousins got a huge bag of candy.

Luckly little Laine Jo had her own personal umbrella holder.

Jeremiah and Laine have a special daddy daughter bond. I am very interested in what another little daughter will do to the mix. Laine has a good dad and I am excited that we will have two little girls with such a good daddy.

Man, like I said, these kids got tons of candy, frozen otter-pops (that melted all over the bags of candy), one float was making root beer floats and another was grilling hot dogs and handing them out. Not pictured here is my nephew Mike. He is quite the character. Either by accident or by plan he got the most candy. He would stand off to the side of all the kids and look sad. People would walk by and see him all alone and toss handfuls of candy at his feet. Later in the day we were just letting the kids eat all the candy. I walked outside to pick up lunch plates and he looks up at me so sweetly and says "Aunt Heidi, you like those red hot candies right?" I said "yes they are my favorite". He got all happy and handed me one and said "here I saved this one just for you." I took is and was pleasantly surprised to see that yes it was a red cinnamon candy but it had already been sucked on for awhile. He is such a funny kid.

Laine liked the parade. Mostly just the candy though. Every so often a loud float would come by and she would stick her fingers in her ears and tell them that there where too loud!

You may have noticed that there are a shortage of Bode pictures. Only because the kid was having so much fun playing with cousins the whole week to slow down enough to get a decent picture. Oh well. He was there and he had fun! Laine however stops for a picture every time.

 

After the parade is was on to a barbecue and more cousin fun waiting for the fireworks. Around 2 o'clock Lee read that the firework show was cancelled. Bummer. So we improvised with the kids and made a big scavenger hunt that went all over my Mom's house and then clear to the park. The kids had fun. Then we finished off the night with a movie outside. The plan was to have the movie so they could lay on the trampoline but it rained. So we improvised and set it up on the carport.

Bode and Laine had fun playing with dad on the trampoline.

 

Watching the movie.

Climbing fences in your scivies.

Bode even got a pedicure on the porch by grandma. Don't worry he chose a very manly blue to go on his toes.

After all the fun was over the only thing left to do was crash.

Happy 4th of July!!