Geez-a-Lou!

Has it really been over a week since I updated this bad boy? Sheesh, time flies.

Well, we did not get to go to Vegas. McKenna's fever worsened and she began vomitting in the afternoon. We still held out hope that it would be a brief virus and maybe she'd feel better by morning. But the night before we were supposed to leave, she woke up every hour either burning up or drenched in sweat. At 1:30am she woke up and was acting as happy as a clam and asked for some juice. So we gave her a bit but about 30 seconds later she was throwing up all over herself, her bed, her Mommy....so into the bath she went. We were up until 2am bathing her and changing sheets. And the next morning she still had a fever and said her tummy hurt so we decided it was best not to go. Driving four hours through the desert with a sick kid would not be a smart idea and I really didn't want to get my cousin sick. You know how long it takes pregnant women to get over a virus! Bleck! I didn't want to be the one responsible for giving her a risky fever and vomitting either. Fevers are always scary when you're pregnant. So we just felt it was best to stay home.

Which means I missed Alyson's first baby shower. :( The sadness of that fact was almost enough to make me want to fly to Tennessee (where she lives) and throw her my own shower just so I could "be there".

And I had to cancel Kyla's baby dedication which I don't think we'll be able to reschedule for probably a year because her Godparents (Mike & Alyson) live in Tennessee and it's hard for everyone to get together (schedules, finances, pregnancy, etc.) But the important thing about a baby dedication is that it's a symbolic act to show your family and friends that you are committed to raising your child with Jesus as your shepherd. And that is still what we are going to do. Our home is already the Lord's home and our values are already the Lord's values. Mike and Alyson are already her Godparents and I know that they are already upholding her in prayer as are the rest of our family. These things are already so, even if the actual ceremony doesn't take place for quite some time!

So even though I was sad to not be able to go, I tried to make the best of the situation. First I tried to console myself by buying Elsie Flannigan's "52 Scrapbooking Challenges" book. But they were sold out. I was so disappointed. I love Elsie's style and I am so excited to see what kinds of challenges she's created. But I guess I'll have to wait until October. Phooey. So I decided if I couldn't console myself with shopping (ok, maybe I did still shop. Just not online) then I would work on making my home pretty. So the entire weekend was spent going through ALL the girls clothes and toys and organizing them all (and throwing out TEN bags worth of stuff!). We bought a new end table/lamp combo for the living room (in the dark cherry wood that matches the tv stand), new lamp for the dining room, toy organizer for the girls so that they can actually FIND all the Mr. Potato Head pieces or all the art supplies instead of having to dig through a pile of junk in a toybox, new mocha-colored 600 thread count Egyptian Cotton sheets (on sale at Target for HALF price! Woohoo!) for Erick & I, a shoe organizer (because my shoe diva of a husband has maxed out our current shoe organizer), a laundry-sorter and maybe I also bought a couple of outfits at Forever 21 and NY&CO. = P Oh! And a new coffee pot! When Gina started the thread asking for recommendations I thought "I'm pretty happy with my dinky little cheapo pot." But then I looked at it and I thought "Well, except it's white." I don't know what I was thinking getting a white coffee pot when we got married. Almost six years later and the thing is so yellowed and stained that it's just plain gross looking! So I decided to look for a black pot and that's when Erick saw, fell in love with and insisted on buying this:


This is when the truth came out. Erick hates my coffee. It's too weak. It's true, I always make it weaker then they recommend on the canister and I buy the cheapest coffee they make (MJB anyone?) but he's always drank it so I figured he liked it. But he could not have been happier or more insistant that I order this pot IMMEDIATELY. LOL! Can you believe that? It's like my whole marriage has been based on a lie. He's never liked my coffee!

So that's what we ended up doing this weekend - organizing the home. (Hey Julie, I FINALLY hung those pictures that have been sitting on my dresser for a whole year! LOL!) I still want to buy ONE more thing to make our little apartment feel more like a home. I really want this:


Erick has a massive media collection and it's outgrown the media storage that we already have. He actually has dvds "climbing the walls" because he stacks them on top of the shelves that are already full. So I thought we could buy this and fill it with just dvds. Our cd cases were handmade with solid wood by my step-dad and he left them unfinished so we could stain them if we wanted. So I think we will stain them to match the rest of the furniture, use those for the cds and use this thing for dvds. Isn't it so nice?

Ok, I know this must be so boring to read but I just LOVE anything that has to do with making a home! It makes me so happy! Which is why I scrapped a layout about "my job". = D

And also this week, McKenna and I have been doing a nightly preschool lesson. For her birthday she received a couple of books to help her practice her letters. So each night we work on one letter. She LOVES this time of night! Every single day she asks "Is it time for a preschool lesson yet?" She concentrates so hard and practices even when it's not preschool time. She can now write the word TOY, she can also do a lower-case 'A', a 'P' and a capital 'M'. I am so proud of her! I don't intend to homeschool but I do want to make learning fun for her and to encourage her to seek knowledge on her own, not just because it's part of her homework. So I'm really excited that we're doing this together. My Dad was always really good about trying to find things in our everyday life to teach us and educate us and I hope that I've picked up that ability as well. Unfortunately, I am terrible at retaining knowledge that I don't need to use on a regular basis so I have a feeling that as my kids get older and smarter, I'll be doing a lot of research on the internet to be able to answer their questions like "Why is the sky blue?" I can answer the questions like "Why do bad things happen to good people" and "If there is a God then why can't I see Him?" But don't even ask me to explain how gravity works.

Ok, before I go, I wanted to share this cute picture I took today during our playdate with my sister and nephews.

First, here is Luke and McKenna a little over 2 years ago:


And here they are today:


Isn't that cute? I can't believe how much they've both grown. Oh and yes, they are normally both dressed. But Lukey was eating carrots in a white shirt so Mel took that off. And McKenna, no matter what I dress her in, will ALWAYS change into one of her many princess nightgowns in the middle of the day!

And here is one of Kyla making her "cheese" face. Cracks me up when she does this:


By the way, Kyla has two new words in her vocabulary: "Clap" which is one of her favorite things to do now and "Buff". Don't ask me how or why that came to be. Erick said it for some reason or another and she repeated him. We were shocked and then laughing and asked her to say it again. She did, two or three times after that! So funny but what a weird word for a baby to have in her vocabulary right? LOL!


Ok, enough rambling. The girls need dinner (McKenna wants waffles and bananas for dinner?) and I think I'm going to clean my sinks with ajax. Exciting I know. But I'm actually looking forward to it??