Surge of Energy

I know I haven't posted many updates... that's because I've had a sudden SURGE of energy. I laugh because for the first 6 months of this pregnancy, I was so tired all the time. 9pm would roll around and I'd say, "I'm going to bed, Lee!" He'd kind of laugh at me and do whatever until he was tired. Now I have a ton of energy, and he's teaching 8am classes.... so he's the one exhausted by 9pm and I'm the one staying up doing stuff.

Last Friday was a fun day. My friend, Roberta and I made height charts! They were super easy and it was fun to do it together. (side note, I LOVE doing stuff with her. We have the same need for crafting/making stuff and we mostly always do it together. I have some wonderful friends here!) My board is stained with a really light blue/sea greenish color with silver lettering. And she painted her's gray and had white lettering. She had to leave before it was complete, so I didn't get a picture. And mine will look much better when it's not against these awful yellow walls.

After she left, I put Will down for a nap and I went out in the garage to build some shelves for Amy's room. At one point, I came back in to see what Amy was doing... and she was painting! But not in a bad way- totally 'good' painting! (you never know with my kids!)

She drew out several pictures, got her paints out and was creating away. Such a good girl! I love the middle picture- she drew the nativity. Which, wow-I didn't realize she had been listening all of Christmas! It's hard to tell here, but the yellow is baby Jesus in his manger, the purple is the angel and the people to the right are Mary and Joseph. The top picture is the sun, mountains and grass and I can't remember what the bottom one is (I think it's just scribble paint).

That night, I got to go out to dinner with some new friends... the mom's from Amy's dance class. One lady wants to start a monthly Bunco group (a game I've never played) or a dinner group. So for this first time, we all went to dinner. It was so fun and at a delicious Mexican place! We stayed for over 2 hours! I'm sure our waitress hated us! But I really like these ladies and it was so great to get to know some new people. New friends are always great.

Saturday was deemed 'carpet cleaning day." We were going to do it earlier in the week, but once we realized the "drying" time, we pushed it to Saturday. Let me just say- do it yourself carpet cleaning- what a deal!! I'd never done it before, until the Mississippi house. I remember lamenting to mom about the cost of carpet cleaning (about $100 per room) and she said, "Just rent a thing and do it yourself!" So for $30 (plus the solution, which is around $12- but you don't use it all), we tried it and it made a believer out of Lee and I.

My mom has a magnet that says "I love a man with dishpan hands" (because Dad always does the dishes). I think I'm going to get one that says, "I love a man that cleans my carpets." He really likes doing it- and he's a pro! The dreadful grape juice puke stain came right up..... well every stain came right up!

The kids loved running around in the empty room! That is until Lee chased them out. :)

The only rooms that are carpeted are ours and Will's. We didn't move his furniture out, but we did our's. Lee leaned our mattress against the couch and the kids loved their new play area.

(there's also a video of this)

Amy found a notebook and also decided to write some stories. 

And they enjoyed being the "King and Queen" of their castle.

After all that, I went to the paint store to get some paint for Amy's shelves. A friend gave me the most awesome tip- she goes to the paint store and gets cans of discounted paint. She get's 5 gallon buckets for $35 and 1 gallons for $4. So I headed over to see what I could find. I just needed a whitish color- and I found a quart for only $2! (The same color/size was $12 at Home Depot!) I had wanted to hang the shelves that night as well, but I was too exhausted.

Sunday was church and then we were invited over to the Westmoreland's for dinner. A few other young couples (the Reece's and Snell's) were over too. It was fun to socialize with everyone. Monday morning, it was shelf hanging time!

So, this is the BEFORE of Amy's book area. She had a bookcase in Mississipppi, but it was cheap and falling apart so we sold it before we left. Then when we moved here, I just used the baby changing table. The middle shelf broke off (not being made to support books) and then we just threw the books into this area. It was always a MESS! Plus, it stuck out pretty far from the wall, so it took up a lot of space.

Now..... Voila!

The shelves only stick out 5 inches from the wall, and all the books face outwards. Don't you just love it? I know I do!!

And they were SO easy to make. I didn't even have to call Dad or Adam for help! They are just a 1x4 for the back, a 1x4 for the bottom and a 1x2 for the front, all screwed together. That's it. A little sanding and paint and they were good to go. I made 4 of them, and the total cost of the wood was less than $20. So much cheaper than any other shelf I've seen! I had seen these around, on different sites, but I watched this video from Ana White (a favorite web site of mine) and it really was that easy. (though I don't have a cool Kreg Jig to make pocket holes). I've decided that I LOVE building stuff (I guess it's in my blood- given Dad and Adam's talents), holding a power tool is so much fun! I have several more projects in mind!

I put the 4th shelf in Will's room, but I'm going to have to make him a second one. He has some books of his own, but he mostly gets all the board books. He can be kind of destructive.

I also moved Amy's bed and am going to rearrange a few things, so I'll post those pictures when I'm done. I found/ordered the coolest thing for Amy's stuffed animals, I'm just waiting for it to come in.

So there you have it- the Wade weekend round up!

Amy's Puppet Show

Amy has been asking me, over and over again, for the longest time to make sock puppets. I'm not sure where she got the idea, but it's one that she's stuck with. Although I love craft projects, for some reason I kept putting this one off. Yesterday, I finally gave in.

She was so cute, and everything was her idea. She was not to be stopped! We got out some old socks, a bunch of felt, scissors, Una's button bag and the glue gun. YES, the glue gun! Mine has a high or low temp setting, so I put in on the low. She did so great with it- not burning her fingers once! (although the temp IS really low, I'm not sure if you can even burn your fingers with the temp it was at)

I made one, showing her what to do.....

And then she went to work.

She decided the one I made was "me," so she made the rest of the family, including Tyler....

Dad. Mom. Amy. Will. Tyler

I love the shirt and pants on Lee- so inventive cutting out the separate pieces and gluing the together!

But oh no, she didn't stop there. She decided we needed a stage too. So she told me to 'find a really huge box and cut a hole in it." We seem to always have boxes, so that wasn't a problem. She added some buttons to the front and then decided to paint the whole thing- luckily we had paint!

She was so focused on this project. She worked on it for almost 2 hours, never deviating from her plan. When it was dry, and after dinner, she put on a puppet show for us. I have it on video... its really long- so I need to edit it, I'll post that as soon as I can.

This is when Will wanted to join her, don't let this fool you- she did NOT want Will in her "show."

This was such a great project for her and she did an incredible job! She was so focused and determined to finish everything to her own satisfaction. It was fun to watch her! (and I got to have an uninterrupted conversation with grandma- which is always nice! Oh, Will was napping while she did all of this. :)

Great Job Amy!!

Dis-Infecting

Today I woke with extra vigor- to clean! I guess 2 full days of doing nothing will do that to you.... Amy was sick again this morning, so I was determined to get this demon of a disease out of this house.

This is where she sits when she thinks she's going to throw up. 

I can tolerate illness. We are rarely sick (thankfully) and when we do get sick, its just a minimal cold. Once in awhile Lee will get the flu, but that's about it. The one illness I canNOT handle is the stomach virus. All the germs, throw up, and other bodily things... ewwwwww! I spent the first 4 months of this pregnancy throwing up multiple times a day, with 2 little ones by my side...... and that was enough yacking for me. I'm DONE with it. So, being the only one who hasn't caught this dreaded thing yet- I started cleaning. And cleaning I did!

Every single room in this house has been mopped, vacuumed, floor boards cleaned, dusted, sprayed, wiped, sanitized, you name it. I washed everything, and I mean EVERYthing..... sheets, blankets, comforters, pillows, clothing, towels.... if it was cloth- it was washed. (I'm slightly scared of our gas and water bills next month as everything got the hot water treatment today). It was sunny and warm out- almost 70 degrees and breezy (shocking!) so every window was also opened and the house got to air out.

I even washed all the toys... if it wasn't electronic, it was thrown in the soapy/alcohol water tub.

Despite getting sick this morning, Amy was in good spirits (which she usually is). I gave her a stamp pad and some vegetables.... cut potatoes, celery stalk, celery leaves and the bottom of a romaine lettuce head. Then she stamped away. She loved seeing what different shapes everything made!

I wouldn't give Amy much to eat, and I wouldn't let her get on anything carpeted. Thank goodness most of our house has wood floors!

They usually play really well together, and they did today too. My wonderful friend Roberta gave me this balloon (and chocolate!) for my birthday. Will loves carrying it around. He looks like a kid at a carnival, as he just carries the balloon everywhere.

I did so many loads of laundry. I lost count after 10. I even folded it AND put it away... all in the same day! Trust me, that's a record!!

Will and I sat down for a grapefruit snack. Oh how I love grapefruit!

Amy saw us eating it and said, "Can I be hungry too?" I let her have just one half. But she did good the rest of the day. She ran to the bathroom several times, but never actually threw up. I said to her, "What do you do if you have to throw up?" She said, "I run to the bathroom. And if I can't make it, I throw up on the floor, not the carpet or a bed." Exactly...I've trained her well. :)

So that was my day. By 4pm I was incredibly worn out. That's when the "oh yeah, I'm 7 months pregnant" reality set in. I called Lee and asked him to bring a pizza for dinner. I was able to cash in some Papa's Points (from Papa Johns) and we got one for free. Yippee!!

So now I'm sore, my back is hurting and yes, I'm realizing how tired I really am. I probably did too much. But that's ok, it's nice to know the house is super duper clean. Want to come visit? It will probably only be like this for a few more days.

Happy Birthday to ME!

33! Can you believe it? As of 5:16am, eastern time, I am THIRTY THREE years old. I don't feel a day over 32! :)

This morning started off well, the kids woke up and we all snuggled in bed together. I love the mornings with my kiddos and hubby. Although it still amazes me how such little people can take up so much space on a bed! I had woken up early and then crawled back in. Then, without me really knowing, I fell back asleep. When I woke up, it was 10am! Wowsers! Lee was kind enough to get the kids out and let me have a nap! Such a great guy- and apparently I needed it. 

We don't have church until 1pm, so we got the kids ready and took a few pictures. Amy is wearing a dress MeMe/Papa got her for her birthday. It was so cute on her and she loved it. 

Lee was behind me doing heavens knows what to get them laughing this hard. 

So we were all ready for church, I was having a great hair day.... and boom- Amy threw up. Right in the carpeted entryway of our room. Will and Lee both had a stomach virus last week and I guess Amy was next on it's list (although thankfully neither of them threw up!) Lee had to do some clerk stuff at church, so I stayed home with the kids. I was kind of bummed out about it. I had been cooped up all week and really wanted to get out and see everyone. Plus, yes, I'll admit it, I actually like going to church.  

So the next 4 hours were spent with me and Amy on the air mattress (Will was around too, he wanders). Let's see, we watched "Cheaper by the Dozen," about 6 episodes of the old cartoon "Heathcliff," and an episode of the tv show "Psych." We used our Netflix subscription cost today! Lee then had some more stuff to do, so he was later than usual. Thankfully I had a freezer meal to cook. The twice baked potatoes, and they were delicious! 

Birthday girl at her finest

He's always snuggled up to me

My vantage point all day

the "sicko"

Actually, Amy was fine all day. Never even seemed sick. So I just figured that something didn't settle right this morning. This evening I was talking to Mom on the phone and boom- she threw up again. {insert SIGH here} The poor thing. The funny thing about it was it was in the exact same spot as this morning. Lee walked in and exclaimed, "IN THE SAME SPOT???!!!!" It made the whole situation kind of funny. So we tucked her in bed and hopefully she'll feel better in the next few days.

We were going to go out to dinner tomorrow night, but we'll postpone that for now. That's ok, we'll celebrate eventually. I'm also saving/putting any birthday money received towards a fancy new camera. Hopefully that will come in the next few months.

So that was my birthday... it consisted of an air mattress, movies and puke. :) If anything- we'll definitely be cleaning our carpet this week! Which YAY- I've been meaning to do that since we moved in!

Just a Few Pictures

Friday night I had a few friends over for Craft Group. It was a weird night, and not many could come, but we had fun with the few that did! We made some Fake Photo Canvas'.... and one gal just came to chat. I'm always up for that!

Amy cracks me up.... this girl LOVES oatmeal. She asks for it all the time. The crazy thing is she loves it dry, yes DRY. Here she is eating it for her bed time snack. When I asked her what she wanted for a snack she said, "Do we have any oatmeal?" I said, "Yes." She replied with, "I know you said I can only have it at breakfast, but can I have some now?" I gave in. There's a good chance she won't have a heart attack any time soon!

Will is just a rugrat. We laugh at him all the time. And what surprises me most is how well he plays with you. Not like in building legos or that kind of stuff, but he actually teases you. Like here, he purposefully sat in my seat, got comfortable with his chips and when I came back to 'my' seat he just laughed, laughed, laughed. He's always stealing my spot. He loves climbing in our bed, getting on my side, pulling up the blanket and pretending he's asleep. Again- always stealing my spot. Maybe Amy did that too at 18 months, I can't remember that far back.

Will with a crayon is bad news for our walls. Amy never did that, which is why she's always had crayons in her room. But he tends to run in her room the moment she leaves, so he swipes crayons and before we know it, we have masterpieces everywhere. So I bought some magic erasers and Amy wanted to help. But then Will wanted to help too.... hey, works for me!

I tried the super cheap knock off- I think they were called Redi-Shine or something and they worked just as well as the pricier ones- so take note and save yourself a few dollars. Also, I read online that a damp sponge and baking soda works too. I tried it, and it did work well- it just takes a little more elbow grease (meaning 'hard work' Ben, you can't 'buy' elbow grease) and I was too lazy to go very far with it.

I also tried my hand at making my own liquid hand soap. It worked! I know, I know..... but I get mentally bored sometimes....

That's it for now! I got up early because I couldn't fall back asleep after Will woke up. Now maybe I'll go take a nap before everyone else starts to stir... :) 

Happy Birthday Amy!

Can anyone else believe that our sweet Amy is FIVE?? Wow- time does fly by! Lee and I were reminiscing last night about that day 5 years ago...... the last night Lee ever worked night shift. I remember him saying, "Now, have that baby so I don't have to work all night!" Amy heard him, and around midnight we were journeying to the hospital... soon to be joined by my parents, my mother in law and my grandmother (who happened to be in town from NY). Such a fun day! And now she's FIVE. WOW.

We debated back and forth on whether to throw a party or take the family to Chuck E. Cheese. The good ol' mouse won out. I'm glad too- although I've always been a 'party' girl, I'm just too tired this year to mess with it. I told her we'd have a big party next year. She was fine with it.... honestly she just loves Chuck E. Cheese. It kind of makes me laugh.... growing up we could have friend parties every other year (on our even numbered birthdays) On the odd years we got to pick a place where the family could go to dinner..... and we always chose Chuck E. Cheese! That place has been around for a long time! (until we got older, then we chose the all-you-can-eat Sizzler) I think I'm going to establish that tradition with my kids as well.

Amy was very specific about her cake request. "A barbie cake with a white dress and pink flowers." I tried to comply, but that exhaustion creeps up on me every day and I just don't have the stamina that I used to. I can't decide if it's pregnancy, or if I'm catching a cold. Maybe both? Anyhow, this is all I came up with.....

I think it's rather ugly, but Amy loved it. She declared she was beautiful and told Mom and Grandma (who called to sing to her) all about it.

This morning I made a "birthday pancake" for her. A cake with 5 candles on it. It took me 3 tries. Will got the first 2 rejects.

Around 11am she said, "Mom do you know what I really like on birthdays?" "What Amy?" "Opening presents." "Well, we have to wait until Daddy gets home. He wants to see you open them too." "Ok. Do you know what else I really like? Eating cake." "I do too, let's sneak a piece." So we did, off her back.....

I saw online a great idea for naked Barbie's- throw some nail polish on them! I bought this set of 2 cheapo dolls for $3 from Target. Broke the blondie's poor legs off and nail polished away. If toys really are real (like in Toy Story) then I'm really sorry fake Barbie!

By afternoon time the kids were crazy. Will was driving us all insane. I don't know if he hasn't been feeling well, but lately he just won't eat. So he's starving and grumpy and no matter what you put in front of him, he won't eat. Amy was also getting restless. So I decided to take them to the Discovery Center for a little while.

That helped them burn a little energy. Amy even got to pet a Screech Owl. She was really excited about that one! Will threw a few fits and spent most of his time on the floor....

This adorable little girl (maybe around 5 or 6 yrs old) saw me and she said, "Are you having a baby?!" I said, "Yes I am!" "Is it a girl or a boy?" "It's a boy!" And then she said, "Oh, I don't like them...." and then sauntered off. hahahaha! I died laughing at her.

When we got home it was present time! Here's Amy with all of her gifts. Granny- she LOVES that horse! She keeps calling it a unicorn.

Then we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner/games/fun.

Will drove us nuts the whole time. He was also getting really tired. I did manage to get him to eat an apple before we went, so at least he had something in his tummy. He hadn't eaten since 9am!! And he didn't really eat any pizza once we got there. But Amy had fun, and that's the main thing. Lee racked up a lot of tickets for her, and what is Chuck E Cheese without tickets and prizes?

And yet, when we got home from that... we still had one more thing to do- the cake! I stuck the candles in (Amy counted to make sure I had five) and we sang. Afterwards, Amy declared she really didn't want any. Will ate a piece and spit it out. And Lee never eats cake. What the heck is wrong with my family?? I'll give some to my craft group tomorrow and the rest will go into the deep freeze. Want to come visit? We have cake!

All day long Amy has been saying, "Mom, when I get to blow out my candles... I can wish for ANYthing that I want??!" "Yes, Amy, anything." "Even like a unicorn or a dog or something?" "Yes, Amy." So after she blew out her candles she said, "Do you know what I wished for? I wished for UNICORN!!! " Thank heavens Granny got her that horse- Amy named it "Uni" and decided its really a unicorn instead.

After THAT was done (whew!) it was time for bed. We let Amy play with her new toys for awhile and Will fell right asleep. Thankfully the early part of our day was spent lazily on the couch! Neither kid slept well last night, which meant mommy didn't sleep well either. Although- to be honest, it was hard for me to fall asleep. I think I've developed restless leg syndrome or something. My legs kept bugging me and I could not get comfortable. So we were ALL tired today!

(We would have had Amy open her presents earlier (so we wouldn't have so much to do tonight), but since everyone was up all night, we all slept in. Except for poor Lee who had to teach an 8am class)

So that was Amy's birthday! She's such a sweet girl and we are so lucky to have her! She's a great sharer and as smart as a whip. You can't get anything past her. She makes us laugh constantly with all the things she says, and yes, even wears us out with all of her questions. I've been telling her for awhile that when she turned 5, she had to start putting her own seat belt on. Well today, I asked if she needed help with her seat belt and she said, "No Mom. I'm 5 now. I did it all by myself." She was also proud of herself when she sliced her own pizza and several other things. She's so big and independent now! We certainly L.O.V.E our beautiful little 5 year old!!!