Weekend Warriors

This last weekend we had a lot on our plates. Friday I started painting Abbie's room. It was quite an undertaking with 3 small children demanding attention and one little girl who kept trying to sneak the paint brushes and paint. Oh that Hayden!! On Saturday things went much better with both Matt and I at work.

After much browsing on the internet, asking friend's opinions, and lots of time on pinterest I decided I needed to stay true to us and go with a simple yet very sweet and delicate pink and white stripe.

Since it was Abbie's room we were painting I decided she needed to get to work, too. I know I have said this a million times, but I LOVE MY moby!!!

The just about finished product. We still have to get furniture in and touch up a few spots. So glad to have most of it done. I am NOT a fan of painting!!
We did two walls in the stripe and one wall solid.
In addition, Saturday night we had a dinner for all the doctors on staff at our near by hospital. We've nicknamed it "Dr. Prom." Thanks to my sweet friend and visiting teacher Sandy for doing my hair and makeup.
I really didn't know what to do for a dress, but luckily Shabby Apple had a few great choices. I LOVE that website!!
This was our first night leaving all 3 kids with a babysitter other than family. I knew that we left them in capable hands so I wasn't worried. When we got home I got to see these beautiful sleeiping faces.

There are a couple funny things here: Hayden has about 3 binkies with her - she's obsessed. Abbie and Hayden both have their arm(s) out to the same side. And when I got home I couldn't find Abbie for a couple minutes and got really freaked out. We were painting in her room and her pack n play was in there but it was a total mess and had no door on the room. I first checked there. I had laid a blanket on my bed and thought that they had maybe placed her on my bed to sleep. Nope not in there. Where could she be? My heart started beating fast...I went in to check on Hayden and... duh! of course she was there in the baby crib. Hayden had moved to the toddler bed a couple weeks ago and we just left the crib in her room since Abbie's room wasn't ready yet. So there were my two girls sleeping peacefully in the same room together. Ahhhh! Then at 4:30 am Hayden woke us up because we had forgotten to tell the babysitter that Hayden now MUST have her pink and brown blanket (no wonder she had to read Hayden "like 100 books" according to Carter before she fell asleep). So Matt went hunting at 4:30am for about 30 minutes for a stinkin blanket. He searched and searched until finally he said a quick prayer and found it about 30 seconds later. Why do we wait so long before we turn to God?

Watch Out World, Carter is now an Orange Belt!

You may want to think twice before you mess with this little boy:

As of last night he is now an Orange Belt!!

Carter testing with other "tiny tigers"

Carter has been taking Karate for about 4 weeks now and has picked up really fast on it. His instructors were impressed with him enough that they invited him to test to become an orange belt. They said they couldn't believe how fast he was picking up on things and were very excited to have him test so quickly.

Here is a video of Carter testing:

Here is Carter with Dad who will be presenting him with his orange belt.

Group hug with Mrs. Hanlin their tiny tigers instructor.

Carter was SOOO excited to become an orange belt!!

This is his tough guy face that he is supposed to have as he does his form.

About two weeks earlier, Carter earned his white belt - your first belt you get in Karate.

At the beginning of class, they do many exercises including push ups - which I think is adorable to watch. Carter's form gets better and better. He is at the end of the first row.

Practicing his form.

Karate is very time intensive, but I think Carter has found his niche. He loves it and is always excited to go. With other activities we've tried he has burnt out rather quickly. He is determined to go all the way to a black belt which he says he will get by the time he is 16. I love the discipline and the respect it teaches. Plus he has a check list that he has to mark off everyday to make sure he is putting forth a "black belt" effort at home. What mom wouldn't love that!!

Happy Valentine's 2012

This dress Hayden got for Christmas, but it looked like a perfect one for Valentine's Day as well (the Sunday before Valentine's). Whenever she wears this dress, she takes my breath away!

Matt all day couldn't stop telling Hayden how beautiful she looked. In fact, when we walked into church - we always have to meet Matt at church since he is at meetings all morning - he got all teary eyed because she looked so beatufiul.

Abbie's Christmas/ Valentine's dress. Actually, a friend gave it to us as a baby gift. It's beauitful!

The attempted kid picture.

Abbie on Valentine's Day. My sister-in-law Jen gave Abbie this adorable dress/top. She looked so cute in it!

Her smiles get me all teary-eyed - everytime!! She has just started to laugh as well. These are the precious moments of life!

Whitney's Wedding Shower

Call me crazy, I did a couple times, or call me a busy body but in the midst of giving birth to a baby, celebrating the birth of my two older children and Chirstmas I also threw my beautiful Sister-in-law a wedding shower.

I am not a creative type. I am not a make things look pretty type. I am a practical type A personality who does like things to be organized - though you can't always tell that by the state of my house. So I spent a lot of time on how I could make this Wedding Shower Brunch on New Years Eve run smoothly and still look nice - not so plain jane which is my normal route (my practical part coming out). My sweet friend Heidi threw me an incredibly beautiful baby shower and though I knew I could never do anything on that level I wanted to try my best.

Because of our high guest count, we could not do this at someone's house so we had it in a church gym. We sent out around 100 invites and had 55+ people in attendance.

I am so disappointed I didn't get a total finished look with the water pitchers which had lemon and limes in them, but this is how our tables turned out. I wanted a very fresh and organic look. Since it was in the morning I wanted a bright, happy look. I was pretty pleased at how it turned out and was impressed with myself - this was totally out of my comfort zone and my natural abilities.

Centerpiece for food table.

Our food: french toast bake, sausage soufle, muffins, fresh fruit with dip.

The lovebirds!

Our guests.

I absolutely adore both Whitney and Ryan. They had to wait a long time for all of this to come about. Whitney waited for Ryan while he served his two year mission. They had a lot of people doubt them and a lot of negativity about their relationship, but I always hoped that Whitney would make it through. I could tell from the first time that I met Ryan (he drove 2 hrs to go to a Pumpkin Patch with Bonnie, Carter and I and Whit wasn't even there) that he was a GOOD GOOD guy and would make a great partner and father someday. Plus, he is one cute fella. So even though the timing wasn't ideal, I was so glad that I was able to give them this gift, which they were so sweet and appreciative of, and that I was able to help celebrate that they made it and will make it for the rest of eternity!

December Catch-Up

Abbie looking so precious at about 2 weeks.

This was our first night out. Matt had a surgery center Holiday party he needed to go to, so we thought we'd tag along. It was at a restaurant I really wanted to check out. It was great to get out and Abbie slept the entire time in her car seat. She is two weeks in this picture.

A medical supply rep that Matt works with and friends with gave Abbie this beautiful dress that she looks so cute in!!

I know I blogged about my parents coming out, but I don't think this picture was included in that post.

Love that hand on her cheek.

I remember Hayden having a picture very similar to this. She was in the swing and Carter put cars all around her. Wouldn't want the baby to get bored, now would we!

Who doesn't just melt at the site of a kid in a cowboy hat?!?

This should have gone in my November post, but here is Carter's November artwork. Great job, C Man.

Santa's little helper.

Both kids got a picture to paint in their stocking. Hayden decided not only to paint her picture, but herself as well.


It's a blurry picture, but you get the idea.