Our First Family Trip to the Beach!

The girls weren't too sure about the sand and water so the boys ventured out first!

Grandma trying to talk the girls into how fun the beach is!
(they weren't buying it... yet)

Abram loved the water as long as his feet didn't touch the bottom.  Sophia was TERRIFIED of the sand!

Getting brave, the wet sand didn't seem to bother her until a wave came in.

Still not really sure about the water but at least she was standing in the sand!

Getting warmed up with Grandma!

Tim came home with a sore back because he carried Soph around most of the day like this, she WOULD NOT let her feet touch the sand!

Skipping on the beach (after she tried to chase a seagull!)!  This picture is so Amelia!

No, Sophia was not sitting in the sand, that would have been a miracle, Grandma was pulling her on the boogie board!

Cooling off with mommy!

Rocker boy! Trying anything to keep him happy, after skipping both morning and afternoon nap he was pretty much falling about by the end of the day!

Swiping grandma's water!

Getting brave!  Right before we left he FINALLY put his hands and feet into the sand!











It was a BEAUTIFUL day to be at the beach!  My kids have unfortunately inherited their mommy's love-hate relationship with sand.  By the end Amelia was having a ball swimming and rolling in the sand, it took the other two a bit longer!  So thankful Grandma and Papa were with us, it was much easier to contain three littles with lots of extra hands!

STAY TUNED:  We start school on WEDNESDAY - the day after tomorrow!

Our Week in Pictures!

Our week started off with a trip to the dentist!

Followed by a couple of mornings with a nice cool breeze.  Amelia has finally mastered pedaling! 

And Sophia is learning how to Hula Hoop!

Barefoot soccer (it didn't last real long...)

We tried to cover the driveway with chalk, we got two squares finished, then the rain came!

On Wednesday, we "went to the beach!"  We laid out beach towels in the living room and had a picnic.  Abram dressed for the occasion! 

Playing doctor with the girls!

The girls were trying to do somersaults, Tim thought he'd show them how it's really done!

We ended our week by crossing the kitchen off my "to-do-before-baby-comes" list.  We purged and purged and purged.  Abram always comes running when he hears the dishwasher open!











Stay tuned for a couple of fun posts next week!  We start school on August 1 - only 5 days away!

Teaching Toddlers!

Mommy didn't do such a good job planning... this week we had a FAMILY trip to the dentist!  Tim and I both needed to be seen, as well as Amelia.  When I set up our appointments it just made sense to do it all at once.  WRONG!

For one, you cannot find a babysitter, during the summer, on a Monday morning, at 8am!
Secondly, when mom and dad are both busy getting their teeth cleaned, who is left watching the kiddos?

Needless to say it was an adventure (one that the kids handled surprisingly well)!  Between squeezing the double stroller and single stroller into the room and multiple potty breaks between cleanings it was quite the morning!

I am very proud of the kiddos, they played so quietly while we waited!

Abram didn't really want to play, he was more interested in what George Stefanopolis was saying!

Yes, that is a second stroller you see in the background!  We thought it would be easier if we strapped them in... unfortunately, since we're teaching Amelia how to buckle and unbuckle her younger siblings from their car seats (for future use), she can also unbuckle them (and herself) from the stroller!

It worked out rather well, Abram stayed buckled and the girls wandered back and forth between Tim's room and mine!  Thankfully 8am on a Monday morning isn't a real busy time at the dentists' office!

After Tim and I were done it was Amelia's turn!

"and how are you going to show the dentist your teeth?"

She did so good!  I was so proud of her for sitting still and holding her mouth open - not at all like her mom when I was little that's for sure! :)

I will say, she did great until the dentist came in wearing his mask and magnifying glasses, then, she had a mild freakout but was quickly reminded that only little girls who let the dentist count their teeth get to pick a prize from the treasure chest!

Project Reveal!

After finishing the basement last summer and moving the master bedroom down there, we left the upstairs room (for the girls to share) very boring.

ENTER GRANDMA!

I didn't know what I wanted to do for the girls' room, just that I didn't want it to be pink, and I wanted it to be something they could grow into.  I never would've been able to do all this without my mom's help, she was at our house every day last week getting things put together and finished up (so that I could cross them off my list).  So without further ado, I give you the new and improved BIG GIRL ROOM!

First things first:  matching beds.  And notice the bed-sheet over the window, we've lived here three years and didn't even have curtains *hangs head in shame*

Next up: PAINT!

Before the room was a "basic blah beige" color.  Now it's a cheery buttery yellow (the girls say it looks like pineapple but it is NOT that yellow-ish)

Grandma rolled while I edged.  The girls had to watch so they were on their beds in the middle of the room most of the time!

*notice the post-it notes on Amelia's head board - if you saw my post about my project last week, the travel coloring case you'll understand, she has to save EVERY drawing!

Much better!  The girls even have matching dressers, Amelia's has pink handles and Sophia's has teal handles!

The details:  This was the most fun part of putting the room together!


Mom found these really fun pom-pom flowers on pinterest so we made a few to hang from the ceiling (did I mention they were SUPER easy)!

Finished project, just waiting to be hung!

We had this shelf, it use to be white and we didn't really have a place for it, so I painted it blue (similar in color to the turquoise pom-pom in the picture above but you can't really tell in this picture)!

Grandma making curtains (and talking on the phone at the same time - in case any of you were wondering where I get my innate need to multi-task!) !

The BEDDING!  I love, love, love this set.  So cute and girlie but not baby-ish!

And yes we kept the guard rail up to set a "boundary" of sorts for the girls, at least until they are use to sleeping together!  And no, there isn't room to move their beds apart.

The finished product!

The girls use the blue shelf (their mailbox they call it) for their special books.

They each have a crate for their many many many loved animals/blankets!

In case you were wondering what those fancy pom pom flowers were for!  

So glad this project is done!  I love how it turned out and the girls love their new BIG GIRL ROOM! 

Our Week In Pictures!

Grandma left her rotary mat at our house, for some reason the girls thought it was great fun to jump on, they pretended it was a trampoline

Abram had a turn too!

Working on a big project this week - stay tuned, finished pics coming on Monday!

Amelia's first "person" drawing... she told me this was a picture of me (I'm not sure how I feel about that?)!

Grandma helping us with our big project!

Reading time (you can't hear her but she was actually reading the story to all of us)

Keeping the girls busy on the first rainy day in FOREVER, mani/pedis all around!

"Shhhh don't tell sissy I took her animals!"

The first time Amelia has actually colored a picture with appropriate colors (instead of everything being one color etc).  We are saving this one for sure!

We hit 30 weeks this week with baby #4

One of Abram's current favorites!

Our big adventure - we are going dairy free for awhile (well Sophia is anyway), hoping to deal with some eczema issues, among other things!

Abram trying on his winter coat!

Even after hiding her long sleeves and jeans she still found them... "I'm all dressed for school mom!"












Until next week... stay tuned for our big project reveal!