what a weekend!

Things have been totally crazy around here lately. Our entire weekend was booked from start to finish with all sorts of busyness. I'm a little worn out - to say the least!

The weekend started with a trip to the Preschool's Fall Festival on Friday night.
The next day, we went to our little friend Faith's 2nd birthday party and then David came home to paint baby Charlie's room (!) and our new addition (!).
Saturday evening, Avery and I celebrated my mom's birthday with her. We took at little shopping excursion to my favorite store - Ann Taylor LOFT and helped her pick out some cute, cute, cute clothes. I was a little jealous!
After church on Sunday, our church held it's Fall Festival.
Then we went home and crashed... Big Time.

Here are some of the pictures from our weekend:

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

happiness is...

a present from a sweet, precious husband...who REALLY listens to me. In my world, new shoes are even BETTER than a dozen cupcakes.

We were in Target the other day when I spied these little beauties... David went back later and bought them for me. Isn't that the best? After 8 years of marriage, he definitely knows the way to my heart.

almost wordless wednesday

Question: What do you do when your mommy is pregnant and grouchy?

Answer: You go to your Happy Place.

fall is here

...and it's time to get out my beloved Space Heater.

It's been a real trooper over the years, that one.

While we lived in Ohio, it braved cold, snowy, winters (and even some spring and summer days) and faithfully kept my toesies nice and warm. Our relationship was a tight-knit one. One-sided and slightly needy, but tight-knit none the less.

A few years later, our family returned South and our relationship took a turn for the worst. Winter months were chilly, but the long Summer months were unbearably hot. The mere sight of my once-loved Space Heater made me want to pummel it across the room.

My long-suffering friend remained steadfast and endured a summer or two of solitude in the closet where it quietly waited for the seasons to change and our Love Fest to begin again.

The weather is finally becoming chilly-ish and the time has come for my Space Heater's long-awaited return to our drafty, old home. It has assured me that it's ready to get Mavricky on the coldness.

I've missed you, my friend.

Someone else has too...

how i spent my weekend

My youngest sister, Katharine, came over on Saturday night.
We had some c-r-a-z-y fun together. The kind of fun that EVERY teenaged girl dreams of having on the weekend: take-out and a rented movie with her pregnant, 30-something-year-old sister, brother-in-law, and their two-year-old.
Good times.

Avery LOVES her Aunt Ka-Ka and I do too. We relaxed and talked about how awesome college is going to be for her next year and how bad it stinks to be in high school. Because it really does.

Anyway ~ that pretty much was the highlight of my weekend.

Here are some other not-as-fun things that I did:

First, I stole from my neighbors.
Kinda.
Well... no... I guess I really did.

It was for a good cause: a little something I like to call Project Keeping Pregnant Lady Sane.

I wanted to fill my s-weet new door basket with beautiful fall foliage. Since it's still stinkin' 80 degrees here, we don't have much of that yet.

So, I bought 2 bunches of slightly over-priced fall flowers at one of my favorite boutiquey garden stores here in town. I couldn't afford to fill the entire basket with flowers AND because I'm chatty and an over-sharer, I shared that little tid-bit with the owner of the store. She suggested that I put some Magnolia leaves in the basket to fill it a little more. Genius, right? I mean, what Southerner doesn't like Magnolia leaves?

Sometimes, it pays to be chatty.

The only problem is that I don't exactly own a Magnolia tree. My across-the-street neighbors (affectionately known as 4:20 around here) do.

Being the crazy, pregnant FREAK Crafter that I've become, I decided to walk across the street and ask my neighbors if I could have some of their branches.

I felt really brave until I started picturing 4:20's reaction to my request (kind of a cross between pity and confusion). Then, I started getting a little nervous.

I half-heartedly knocked on their door and waited approximately 4 seconds before determining that no one was home. Then, I just said to myself, "Oh, I'm sure they won't care if I just take a few leaves..." and quickly grabbed the leaves and ran back home.

Nice. Really nice.

Here is a picture of the stolen goods in all their glory -

Next, I worked on a canvas for Charlie's room.
I wanted to match the cars in his bedding - which is a hodge-podge assortment of sale items from the Pottery Barn Outlet and Target.

Side Note: I'm obsessed with the blue and green color combination lately. So fun.

Side Note to the Side Note:
In this picture, all of Charlie's stuff is sitting on top of Gunner's crate (that's a crate cover in green and pink that you see).

Side Note to the Side Note to the...Side Note:
I'm going to have to (sadly) put Gunner - and his ENORMOUS crate - in our room after Charlie's arrival (the curse of itty-bitty house syndrome), so I'm craft-blog searching for easy-peasy, no-sew solutions for a new crate cover like a mad-woman.

I free-handed the cars (after eye-balling the ones on his crib sheet) on canvas and then painted them with acrylic paint. Sadly, it wasn't until I was about half-way finished that I noticed that the color is a little off, but what-evs. It's done now.

It's time to move along and NOT obsesses.
I'm definitely not obsessing.
Definitely not.

I kinda copied the canvas idea from my friend Maribeth. She did something similar with a train in her little boy's room.

There I go again...stealing. What have I become?!?

Finally, at 11 Saturday night, I had the sudden, Craft-Blog-induced urge to distress my cabinets. So I did.


David and I got a lot done this weekend - laundry, painting, etc. But that's boring and who wants to read about that, right?

Of course a weekend wouldn't be complete without the obligatory trip to Target for diapers and browsing... and the equally important trip to Archiver's for... well...the purchasing of lovely things.
Who says you can't buy happiness?

There you have it: confessions of a crazy, crafting Clepto.
I feel better.

not gonna do it

Just look at him. He's mocking me. He's saying, "Gotcha now, Sucka!"

It's true and I hate him.

I've tried to keep this from happening...

I've begged.
I've pleaded.
I've coerced and bribed.
I've kicked and screamed (in my heart).
I've prayed for mercy and just a little more time...


All to keep my little sweet'ums from potty training.
It's not working.

Someone is determined.
Someone is obsessed.
Someone is even more strong-willed than her mommy.

I've been purposefully ignoring signs of potty-training readiness for awhile now. It's becoming painfully obvious that the signs will no longer be ignored.

Sign #1
Following me into the bathroom and watching my every move while providing riveting commentary on the action:
"Mommy. A pee pee in potty."
"Mommy. A paper. He-ah go (Here 'ya go)."
"Mommy. I wash hands too."

Sign #2
Pointing out the status of her diaper at various points in the day - to which I typically respond with something purposefully casual and blatantly non-committal like:
"Oh. Cool."
"Oh, really?"
or "Hmmm."

Sign #3
Removing her diaper approximately 20 times a day despite my threats of Time Out and 'Pankin's. Then - proceeding to urinate on the floor in almost every room in our house.

Gunner was very confused by Sign #3. As he was checking out her vast array of "territorial markings", I thought I glimpsed a little flash in his eyes. One that said, "Oh. So we're doing THIS now? Cool."

Quickly, I looked at him and said, "Um... NO. We are NOT doing that now. Move along, Mister."

Sign #3 was the breaking point for me and David. Sign #3 drove us to finally give in and buy the most obnoxious potty in the entire world.

Avery adores it.
She begs to sit on it a million times a day.
She presses Elmo's evil little hand and listens to his bi-lingual phrases of encouragement with sheer delight.
Occasionally, she even does her "business" in it (a fact which shocks me).

I'm not warming up to do the Happy Dance just yet, though.
Why? Because I'm a Realist, people.

I know that in a few weeks, when our little Charlie enters the picture, Avery will regress and all of my stress, hard work, sticker charts, and candy bribery will be for naught.

So - I've made a decision. I will not drive myself crazy trying to do this nightmarish process with her right now. I just can't. It makes me tired to just think about it. I'm 34 weeks pregnant for cryin' out loud!

In my mind, I still have a good year before I need to feel any sort of pressure to get her out of diapers and I plan on taking full advantage.

So --- Here's the plan:
Let her use the potty when she wants to, BUT DON'T pressure her OR myself with expectations of any sort.

In other words, become something that I'm not: laid back.
No problem. I can do that...

Alright, now He's really mocking me.
I can almost hear his obnoxious laughter ringing in my ears.

Jerk.

house update

Some of my friends and family have been asking about the house progress. I am happy to report that things are coming along. It is VERY exciting!

We still have some work to do on the landscaping. We are hoping to add some more shrubs, another window box, and to plant grass seed in the yard within the next couple of weeks or so. We will have some shutters made for the addition soon as well.

David has been sheet rocking and dry walling all week.
Poor guy.
I have to say, that I'm kinda happy that I can't be involved in that process. It looks pretty horrible.

He joked that breathing all that drywall dust took a couple of years off his life...I didn't laugh. That's NOT a funny joke - especially when you're pregnant.

He tells me that the room should be ready to be painted this weekend. After that, our friend Brad will help him put up the trim and carpet the room. Originally, we were hoping to hardwood the room, but hardwood isn't as budget friendly as carpet. Plus - we figure that Charlie and Avery might enjoy having one room with carpet to roll around on.

The first picture was taken just after the slurry coat was put on...so it isn't quite dry in the picture. It's dry now and completely matches. Hooray! I also included a picture of my new lantern. I just love it.

one for you. one for me.

After making my Halloween banner, I decided to make a banner for my friend Jamie. Her baby is due just a few weeks before Charlie. I loved it so much that I decided that I had to make one for my little man too.

I'm planning on using it at the hospital as a door decoration and again for his homecoming.

I love making things for my little guy.

Here's a peek or two:

34 weeks and... c-r-a-z-y.

I think I have a new love language: It's Drywall.

Drywall dust has never looked more attractive. I sincerely mean that.


When David emerged from our room addition looking like this, Avery almost lost her mind. She kept saying, "carey!"

It took a little convincing before she recognized that this strange, ghostly-looking man was indeed her daddy.

Gunner took one look at him and went nuts too. I thought that he was going to eat David. He was not happy about Mr. 'Carey Dust Man. Not at all.

I have to say that I'm so proud of my Handi-Man. He's been working his rear-end off to help get the house finished for Charlie's arrival.

I've been working around the house too. Sort of.

When I was pregnant with Avery, a nice bowl of ice cream could calm my raging hormones and clear my racing thoughts in no time. A big 'ol bowl of cereal could almost make me forget about my lack of sleep and massive leg cramps.

There's nothing like a mint-chocolate chip milkshake to make all your troubles disappear...

With this pregnancy, however, I've been forced to think "sugar-free" and "low carb" when it comes to comfort.
If I eat one more stinkin' cheese stick I may go completely nutso.
Ugh.
It turns out that Comfort Food has a serious problem with being low-fat and healthy.

My solution? Crafting.

It's low-carb.
It's sugar-free.
More importantly, it's not a stinkin' cheese stick.

What WAS a brilliant solution has become a little bit of a problem, as of late. It seems that I've turned into a decoupaging-scrapbook-paper-buying-crazed-lunatic.

Here are some examples of my obsessed craziness from THIS WEEK:

First, I made a little sign for our door.
Because it was completely necessary.
It's all about practicality, people.

Then I made some blocks for Charlie's shelf in his room.
Again, totally necessary and practical.


While I had the Mod Podge out, I made these little frames with scrapbook papers and ribbon.
I liked them so much that I made some for Christmas too - 'cause I'm going to NEED those later.

After that, I started the "Halloween Craftiness Kick" that I've settled into for the last couple of days.

Funkins were 50% off at Hobby Lobby, so I decided to carve this one for Avery's room. I put one of those little fake lights inside to turn on at night.
She loves her "birthday cake" light and tries to blow it out at least 20 times a day.

Then, I made these votives out of food jars and crepe paper.
Avery painted the Mod Podge on the the outside and helped me put the paper squares on the jars. She kept saying, "I hep Mommy. I paint."
Then she got "diwrty" and decided to stop.
That girl can't stand being dirty.

I found this cute little project on another blog and decided that it would be fun to make. It's a candy cane garland - varnished to keep away the bugs.
This one almost made me nuts.
Just so you know, stringing candy corn is NOT recommended if you are preggo...especially if you have "The Sugah".
Too tempting.
Too frustrating.
But thankfully, also "too cute".
I only cheated a couple of times...

I decided to make these little gifts for Avery's teachers at preschool.
I had to make one for myself too, of course!



It isn't enough for ME to be crafty crazy...evidently, my innocent little one has started to catch the "fevah" too.
This craft is decidedly not super-original, but she LOVED painting her pumpkin cut-out for her daddy.
You should have seen her run up to him with that little pumpkin in her hand when he walked in the door after work.
She was so proud of herself and so pleased to give it to him. It was a really sweet moment.

There you have it.
Some pregnant women may eat pickles and ice cream...THIS pregnant woman is channeling Martha.
I'm officially crazy.

almost wordless wednesday

I LOVE this picture! It's from our morning outing to the Zoo last week with our friends Faith and Kris. The girls decided that they wanted to hold hands all on their own. You should have seen Kris and me scramble to get pictures of the preciousness! Mine were all terrible, so I stole this one from Kris' website... I'm not ashamed either. So there.

Here's another one of the girls actually sitting next to each other without (gasp!) moving:

Notice that there's no blurriness in this picture. Getting this shot was lots of work for Kris and me. The two-year-old stillness lasted for approximately 2.4 seconds and involved some serious begging and bribery. It cost me the promise of one "lellow" starburst, a bite of my carefully rationed cheese stick (which she promptly spit out), a few sips of my diet coke,

...and what was left of my dignity.

Worth it. Totally.

Can you see now why I can't title this post as "Wordless Wednesday"? Chattiness has always been my downfall.
Sigh.

avery the animal lover

Poor Gunner. He can't seem to catch a break when it comes to Avery these days. It seems that two year olds are quite good at tormenting animals.

How did you like the part when Gunner made a break for it while she was distracted by her fancy bracelets? Pretty clever, huh?

It didn't take long for Little Miss Sassy Pants to put a stop to that nonsense.

By the way, did you notice that I did nothing to rescue poor Gunner from his tiny tormentor? In fact, I pretty much encouraged her somewhat delinquent behavior...because it made for good footage and a laugh or two.

Pregnancy has made me such a meanie.
Mean, mean, mean.

pretty papers and the VP debate

Oh how I wish, wish, wish I had a better camera!

Maribeth and I went to an Archiver's class last Wednesday night and got all inspired 'n stuff.

After the class, we spent approximately a year-and-a-half picking out fun papers and over-priced glittery what-nots to make our very own Halloween banners to hang in our houses...we could have stayed even longer had the Archiver's ladies been merciful enough to listen to our shameless begging for longer store hours.

Heartless Scrapbooking Meanies. ;-)

Maribeth and I are both married to Political Science Majors and self-professed Political Junkies and decided that watching the Vice-Presidential debates with them would be something short of water-torture.

I'm not lying when I tell you that the Presidential Debates are even more exciting to David than watching the Super Bowl.

SO last Thursday night, after the kiddos were tucked in bed, Maribeth came over to my house for some crafty awesomeness and David went over to watch the debate with Josh (on their big 'ol flatscreen - of course... because how else would you watch the Presidential Debates?).

A couple of hours later, David came home after all wild-eyed and jazzed up from heated conversation and debate madness.

Maribeth and I were wild-eyed and jazzed for a different reason... one not involving pausing the DVR and discussing in excruciating detail the various implications of each statement made in the VP Debate, but glittery prettiness and papered cuteness.

Here is the best photo I could find out of like a million-and-one possibilities.


Sadly, you can't see any of the teeny tiny glittery details in my picture, but they're there! I'm sure Maribeth's photos will be fabulous (since her husband is a photographer). Maybe you will get a better idea of the cuteness if she posts hers on her blog.

I am enjoying my Halloween banner so much. Every time I walk into my kitchen I get just a little happier. Cute things can boost my mood almost as much as this place. ALMOST.

By the way - if you live by a Graeter's Ice Cream Shop, you may be the luckiest person in the universe. We lived near them in when we were in Columbus, Ohio. I miss them like crazy.

Wonderful. Oh, so wonderful.

During my pregnancy with Avery, I had to force myself not to stop there every day. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that Graeter's is the best ice cream in the WORLD. It'll make you want to slap somebody. Seriously.

almost wordless wednesday

While drying my hair the other day, I noticed that the house was unusually quiet. After a little investigation, this is what I discovered:


Thankfully, I discovered the little stinker before things got ugly.

Lesson of the day: Silence can be deadly if you are a MAC.

baby song - take 2

Remember this post?

Seems that we are slowly making progress with our little Avery. Check it out!

what happens when mommy stops being nice?

People get scared.

Then people get movin'.

Particularly husbands.

After my melt-down on Friday, David called for reinforcements.

I imagine that the phone calls went something like this:
Uh.
Dude.
Jennifer's not doing so hot.
I need help. Stat.

We've got some super-great friends who were more than willing to help us out. Our friends John and Bryan spent all day on Saturday helping David in the yard. I seriously love them for working so hard- and I especially love their sweet wives for letting them come.

Avery loved watching Daddy and "Dohn" work in the yard through the window.

Honestly, I probably could have done the same thing, but I figured that standing in the yard and micro-managing might be just a tad obnoxious... and staring out the window all day might be a little bit creepy. Reluctantly, I decided to get out of the house for a few hours. I DID manage to slip these little yard plans into David's pocket when I left:

When Avery and I returned home, we heard honking coming from down the street. This is what we saw:


That, my friends is what we like to call classy. REALLL classy.
I laughed my rear off.

32 weeks and counting

Kisses for Charlie...

We had our most recent OB appointment last week. Things are going well. I've managed to control my Gestational Diabetes through dietary changes - which is good (but not so fun). Baby Charlie's heartbeat was nice and strong and my doctor says that he probably weighs 3 pounds right now.

Avery watched the doctor as he listened to Charlie's heartbeat and measured my tummy. She was fascinated. During the days since my appointment, she has been touching my tummy like the doctor did and saying, "Doctah said. A Chayee. Seepin."
Translation: The Doctor said Charlie is sleeping.

It's impossible to know what's going on in that sweet little head during these changes, but we've been praying that she will adjust well after our little boy arrives.

Avery had a little emotional melt-down at school the day after we brought Charlie's cradle home from my parent's house. One of my friends suggested letting Avery play and climb into the cradle so that she can feel like she's a part of all the changes. She seems to like that a lot. She's been putting all of her baby dolls in it and patting their backs to help them take their "naps".

Here she is pretending to be a baby. She found a random paci around the house and likes to play with it. She insisted that I rub her back and give her a bottle too!


It's so hard to believe that we will have a new little person added to our family in just a few short days.
I try to imagine what it will be like based on what it was like when Avery joined our family, but I know that this time will be so different... It kind of scares me a little bit. I want Avery to feel loved, but I want Charlie to get all the attention that he needs. I worry that I won't be able to provide for their emotional needs and stay sane. Does that make sense?

emotional breakdown #579

Over the last month, we've experienced a few set-backs and delays with our house renovation project. Set-backs and delays that have caused our simple addition to take quite a bit longer than expected.

Slow progress is not a problem unless you can't see your feet anymore.
Slow progress is no big deal unless you are popping out a baby in 2 months.
Slow progress is nothing at all --- unless you're hormonally challenged and feel like you weigh a million pounds.
Slow progress is no biggie unless you're pregnant.

The thing is, Pregnant girls hate to wait. Hate it.
Pregnant girls like food served right away.
Pregnant girls like Sleep Time right away.
Pregnant girls want the ever-growing To Do List completed right away.
Patience isn't something that pregnant girls are good at. Pretty ironic since pregnant girls have to wait over 9 months to have a baby, right? Believe me, the irony is not lost on me.

Instead of saying and doing things that could possibly send my child running to therapy and my husband running out the door, I tried to channel my frustration in more productive directions over the last few months.

Whenever I felt like screaming, I picked up a sharpie and labeled something.
Whenever my heart felt close to exploding, I scrubbed the toilet or alphabetized my canned goods.
Whenever I wanted to cry my eyes out, I decoupaged something.
It's a plan that worked beautifully for me.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday, I pulled into the driveway after a long day at the preschool and...lost my dang mind.

After hysterically sobbing for what was far too long to be deemed normal, I peered through my red, puffy eyes and saw David and Avery looking at me with what can only be described as complete bewilderment and shock.

I chose that moment to blubber out a mile-long laundry list of every irritation and concern that I had floating around in my crazy head.

After my rant was complete, David - my sweet husband - got up, went outside and began working like a mad man on the landscaping. At 7 at night.

That's love, my friends.
Or total fear.
I can't decide which.

After my emotional breakdown, something really cool happened: Our neighbors walked over to say "hi" and just...listened to us. Then they invited us to dinner.

That doesn't sound that cool, but it was...because it happened at the exact moment that our stressed-out family needed the diversion and conversation.

The timing of our neighbor's visit was no accident. God orchestrated it beautifully. It was like He reached down and gave me a big 'ol hug compliments of our sweet neighbors. I felt thankful, relieved, and totally understood.

When I thought about it all later, I realized (for the millionth time) that God cares about me. I mean, really, really cares about ME. He cares about those silly, hormonal pregnancy moments just as much as the huge, life-changing moments of heartache.

I tend to have this thought that God cares about the really big things in my life - but leaves the little details up to me to manage.

Not so. Not so.

I felt pretty loved when all was said and done. Loved by my husband, by our neighbors, but most of all, by my Heavenly Father.

almost wordless wednesday

Oh, hey Mommy! I'm just doing a little creative art here on the toilet.
And my face.
And the wall.

(I'm thinking about turning this idea in to The Crafty Crow. I'm pretty sure it's a brilliant idea. What do you think?)

rare footage: monkey girl sighting

I've been trying my best to take some video footage of Avery doing totally adorable things. You know, those cute, precious, two-year-old things that she does all day long - when NOT being filmed.

Sigh.

It's not been easy. I feel a little like one of those National Geographic videographers/documentarians who have to hide out for hours on end just to get the perfect footage of some rare, exotic animal doing something rare, exciting, and...exotic.

As a result, I have literally minutes upon minutes of footage to share.

Minutes upon minutes of Avery in her PJ's.

Minutes upon minutes of Avery with wild-woman hair and a cheeto-crusted face.

Minutes upon minutes of the very rare, very wild, Avery in her oh-so-natural environment.

I did it all for you, people. All for you.

I've spent thousands of dollars on adorable clothes and bows, only to have $3.99 pj's from Gap, teeny tiny bows from Walmart, and one sweet little girl with a crusty face, recorded for posterity's sake.

Ahhhh... What can you do?


Side Note:
If you watched the video and kindly overlooked the fact that Avery had NO BLOOMERS on --- bless you, bless you.

Bloomers and a bow are quite possibly two of the most important things that a Southern little girl can be wearing to accessorize her Southern wardrobe. Non-bloomer wearing is tantamount to going naked. It's just not decent. Not at all.

I hope that my Southern friends will look past the utter indecency of my diaper-clad toddler. It was a pregnant-mommy moment of weakness. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to show off the cuteness of my little girl in this footage - even if it meant sacrificing a little of my pride and Southern Mommy legitimacy.

biggest loser phenomenon

David and I are totally addicted to The Biggest Loser. We watch every season.

I love Bob and Gillian.
I love the drama.
I love the suspense.
I love the emotion.
I love watching the Incredible Shrinking People every week.

Most of all, I love to eat while I watch the show.

I can't explain it.
I can't stop it.
I can't help it.
Is it because the poor contestants can't eat? Am I sympathy eating? Am I unintentionally mocking them? Who knows.
What I do know is The Biggest Loser makes me HUNGRY.

The Biggest Loser = The Munchies.

Somehow, I don't think that's what the show's producers intended...