{room decor}

We got Mylie her "big girl bed" a couple weeks ago. (Big adjustments, but that is a whole other story.) I decided I wanted to update her room a little bit with some new pillows and drapes. You can find the cutest home decor fabric at Warehouse Fabrics Inc. for such great prices. I found her cute bedding surprisingly at JCPenney.com. I wanted white and was having a hard time finding an all white bedding I loved. I think the coverlet was a whopping $20. (But then they get you on the sham and bedskirt, because they cost about the same or more each!) I just love the scalloped edges.

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I badly need to update the pictures in the frames in my kids' rooms. You'd think being my own photographer it wouldn't be such a chore, but I am always dreaming up the pictures I am going to get around to taking. I will do it before the baby gets here...

I was getting a little crafty. (Must be "nesting").

This is all old decor (below), minus the drapes, that I can't believe I was making or putting together 2 1/2 years ago. Although I know that Pink/blue/brown is way overdone now. Oh well...still cute.

Here are the drapes. I kind of just made them up and I think they turned out pretty cute!

Now the weirdest thing is having what we now call "The Boys' room." Pretty soon I am going to have "boys!" This is all old decor (nothing handmade here) that we got for Bennett. It was fun getting out his old crib stuff again for baby Coy. (By the way, that's the babe's name.) Bennett is so excited to have Coy share his room. He didn't mind one bit that we had to rearrange his room.

Mylie has withdrawals and still wants to sleep in her crib and I gave in on Sunday (I was desperate for her having nap). Big mistake. Now we have to constantly remind her this is "Coy's crib" (as she call's it). Sometimes she gets it.

I just had to add this little drawing Bennett did the other day all on his own. He got a piece of paper and asked for the crayons then came up to show me this. Of the purple figure he said "This is Coy when he is a little bigger." I just love this picture! Don't I have darling kids with awesome hair?

Lovely

Check out this lovely senior on my photo blog.

She is seeming like my favorite, I know...

But she just loves to pose!

I was setting up a shoot yesterday and Mylie wanted a turn. Just took a couple shots, but I thought they turned out darling (even if I am a little biased).

I have a couple new previews on my photo blog if you'd like to take a look...and much more coming! It's been a busy couple of weeks!

So Cute! I can't decide...

I love Etsy (everything handmade, etc). You can find so many cute things. I found these adorable baby burp cloths by PLM DeZigns. They are made out of cloth diapers (so very absorbent) and can be used for changing pads, too. Problem is I can't decide which ones I want to get. I don't want them to be too girly, but I love the flower patterns on so many of them. I think I narrowed it down to these ones. The only problem with the ones on the left is Bennett has Peanut Posh ties made from the same fabrics...so there not as new and fun..but they are the most "masculine." I am tempted to just get all of them, but that would be a bit pricy! Anyways...leave a vote for me if you would. I am so indecisive!

{new photo preview}

Take a look at Trey and Brielle and their darling family HERE.

{magnolias}

I am so tickled that my magnolia tree finally is full of flowers! It makes my heart happy. I love spring!!!

We planted our tree in spring of 2006. So of course, no flowers that year. 2007--no flowers. 2008--still no flowers. 2009--a total of 3 flowers! I was excited then. So this year I expected...maybe, hopefully 10 flowers? 2010--I'm counting at least 40 flowers!

I took Mylie out last night (she was more than willing) to take some pictures by my tree...especially before this next storm comes by and blows them all away.

Let's just say...I love my Magnolia Tree, but I especially love my Mylie.

Some beauty...

If you'd like to see some pictures of beautiful Senior, Megan, head on over to my photo blog!

Easter Part I: {coloring eggs}

Here is one of about 3 Easter posts. Hopefully I get around to the others. We love coloring eggs at Easter time.

Helping put on the finishing touches!




I decided to make some pretty eggs to share at the family easter egg hunt at my Grandma's.

Bennett put every single sticker from the egg dying kit on one egg. As soon as he was done, he took them all off again so he could eat his egg!

Mini Sessions

An affordable way to get some high quality photos! Click here for more details!

I am 28!...and some belly pics

Today was my birthday. Woohoo. The best part was that my sis planned a little pizza and movie get together for this afternoon so I didn't spend the entire day cleaning bathrooms and doing laundry (it is still a Tuesday after all.) Now I am oficially not the only girl in this country that has not seen "New Moon." I won't say too much about my opinions of it, because I don't want to offend any die hards :) Mylie just kept saying the whole time "he's naked...he's naked." I guess she even noticed that they were trying to show off plenty of six packs.

Cake and ice cream was good tonight, too. Russ made German chocolate cake, my favorite, and Bennett just couldn't get over the fact that it wasn't anything but a boring rectangle. He kept asking me what kind of cake I wanted like I was supposed to have it made into something fun. Now I wonder where he got that idea?

Now on to the belly pics...Can't promise I'll ever get around to doing this again. This is just to prove to all of you out there that always say I don't ever get big when I'm pregnant that you don't know what your talking about! We took these on Saturday when I was 18 weeks (4 months) pregnant and exactly 5 months away from my Aug. 20 due date. I know people that look about this big (small) when they are about to deliver. And I still have 5 months to grow! This is definitely the fastest I've grown. It's like my body totally knows what to do! Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I actually really like it. Nothing like not having to try to suck in after you eat two pieces of cake for your birthday!

What I've been up to...

Valentine's & Mylie's Birthday

I am finally getting around to posting about Valentine's and Mylie's birthday! Between all of my children's sicknesses (the latest being pink-eye...ask me how much I love shoving ointment in their eyeballs three times a day) and being stuck on watching the Olympics (thank goodness they are finally over), I haven't really felt like being on the computer.

Mylie's birthday and Valentine's was so fun! I really look foward to and get excited for my children's birthdays as if I am a little kid! We had everybody over for a light dinner as well as cake and ice cream. It is fun to have a great excuse for a Valentine's party every year and get to decorate Valentine's style!



Here are a few things I'd like to remember about my sweet little Mylie at age two:

1. She is always singing, whether it be primary songs, Michael Buble (yes, she can hold her own on those songs as well), or just making up songs. She knows and can completely sing several primary songs including My Heavenly Father Loves Me, I am a Child of God, Families can be Together Forever, and the list goes on and on. If she doesn't know a song completely, she will just merge it into another song and make a medley of whatever she can think of. I knew she would be a singer when she was singing Happy Birthday to You when she was only 13 months old. I am not kidding!

2. Obviously she was an early talker. This girl can talk and talk about anything. She loves to pretend talk on the phone and my favorite thing about this is she always likes to pretend to talk to Amber (my sister who recently passed away.) The latest thing she was talking to her about was how she remembered Amber putting her shoes on her "on the couch." This was seriously months ago, but one of the last times we visited Amber before she really went downhill, she did actually put Mylie's shoes on her on her couch!

3. She has recently begun using big words ...like "well actually..."

4. She can count to 14 and can recognize about 5 letters or more out of the alphabet.

5. She loves vegetables especially peas, broccoli, and canned green beans. She would eat an entire can of green beans if I would let her!

6. She is the skinniest little thing. She is average for her height, but has never been on the charts for her weight. She weighed in at 18 lbs. 7 oz. at her 2 year old checkup! But that was a whopping 5 oz. heavier than she had been only 2 weeks previously. She has been sick with one thing after the other almost the entire year of 2010!

7. She just loves her brother, Bennett. They love to play together and love to hug each other. I just love it!

8. She loves sign language and her favorite show is the Baby Einstein "First Signs." She knows so many signs, I can't keep track of them.

9. She bravely gave up her binkie at age two...I will tell a story on that later. But she still loves her blanky and her bear. They are a must have every time she goes night-night. She is just like her big brother. They both have to have the bear and blanky.

10. And last of all, I can't help but love her to pieces. She gives the best hugs and frequently just announces out of the blue "I love you!"

I just had to make sure to take a picture of Mylie with her binkie before we threw it away. I have one with Bennett and I just treasure it. One last link to being my little baby. As with Bennett, I started telling Mylie about a month leading up to her birthday that when she turns two she will be a big girl and we will have to throw her binkies away. So two days after her birthday, she proudly chucked all six of them into the outside garbage can so there is no going back. Later that day when I was rocking her prior to her nap she says "Where's my binkies?" So I asked her "Mylie, where did you put your binkies?" And she answers proudly "In the garbage." After that she is completely silent for a few moments as she ponders this and furrows her brow slightly. The next thing she says as she realizes what she has done is simply "Uh, oh..." Needless to say, she took her nap and although she asked about them for a few days after (mostly as a game) she has been completely fine. I think it was harder for me than for her!

Now on to the pics and the party!!!


We had a Hello Kitty/Valentine's party.





The cake. Don't get me started on the "Royal Icing" that never did harden. I obviously don't know what I am doing, but if you don't look too closely, the cake turned out OK. Although when I look at it, it just makes me a little mad still.











Russell accused me of making a shrine to Mylie. Why not? She is the cutest little two-year-old girl ever!

Okay one more thing about Valentine's Day...

WHOPPERS--a Valentine Tradition

Every year since I can remember, someone has been dropping off Whoppers on Valentine's Day, first as a I was a child growing up and now to me as an adult and my children. This person always rings the doorbell and runs and we find big full-size Whoppers on the doorstep! Even two years ago when I was in the hospital having just had Mylie, the Whoppers still found us! Even though he will never admit it is him I have to say thanks to my wonderful dad for the funnest Valentine tradition ever that is now even funner with children! (And just so you know, even though it was only two weeks since Valentines, the last Whopper of the three containers was eaten yesterday! My kids love them...and I guess I have to admit that I ate more than I should have, too!)