Updates and Progress

Well, as usual it's been busy around here to say the least. Lots to catch you all up on!

Last Wednesday we bought a new car. We now have a Mazda5 that will fit our entire family in it! It's a 2009 and so far we both really like driving it. I couldn't believe how EASY it was to put all the car seats in it (seriously, for the first time in over two years I didn't have to fight or struggle to get them in there! I didn't even break a sweat in 100+ heat!). It's also a breeze to load up all the girls. Of course it is short on cargo space, so we'll have to figure out something for the big trips that we make, but overall I'm very pleased with our purchase.

I finished Riley's bed on Saturday and yesterday (Sunday) Matt assembled it. I have mixed feelings with how it turned out. Overall I'm pleased with my staining job, but I'm NOT pleased with the color it turned out. The stain that I used (a red mahogany, which was one of the darker finishes) turned out much more brown and lighter than I expected, despite doing two coats of stain. I really don't know what other stain color choice would have worked better, but it's too late now.

Today I spent all morning long cleaning out and re-arranging the girls room. They helped, of course, but it's not like they could help actually move furniture around so that was all left to me. I am TIRED to say the least, but their room looks great. However, I won't be holding my breath that it will stay looking good for very long. Those two sure can mess up a room quickly!

I also have finished painting the nightstand that will go in Emmaline's/Little Brother's room and hope to start on the chest of drawers tomorrow. Once that is painted, then I can get sheets on the toddler bed (which is in their room, but not made-up at the moment) and finish that room up. I still haven't decided if we should actually transition Emmaline out of the crib yet or wait until after Little Brother arrives, so we'll have to see what actually ends up happening there.

The girls and I also did some light shopping for Little Brother on Saturday. We hit up a few thrift stores and found a couple of outfits and a crib sheet for cheap. It' s nice that I am actually starting to get some clothes together for this guy to wear.

Matt and I are still working on figuring out a name for Little Brother, but so far nothing has stuck.

Matt also started back to work full time this week. He has all the rest of this week where it is just the teachers going in and then next week he will get his students. So the next couple of weeks are going to be really full for him. But he's excited to get back to the grind and start off a new school year.

Speaking of school years, it dawned upon me last night that I actually have to start doing full-time school with the girls again next week. Since we've been back from our trip, we haven't done any school because I've been so occupied trying to get things done around the house. Although the girls enjoyed the break, we need to start back in. So next week we will get back to business.

Tomorrow is Matt's birthday, but since he will be busy with school we went ahead and had his birthday "party" tonight. The girls helped make some cupcakes for him and wrapped up a bunch of "presents" for him to open (my girls' idea of presents is funny because they usually wrap up a random assortment of their toys. So this year, Matt got some cars, a mirror, a baby-doll pacifier, and a few other things- you know, what every adult male would want!). He did get a few real presents too, so don't go feeling too sorry for the fellow.

And lastly, I have to mention that I might not be able to keep updating the blog as frequently. Yesterday (Sunday) Adrianne CHEWED a hole in my computer cord! I don't know WHAT possessed her to put the cord in her mouth (after all, she KNOWS that she could have gotten shocked-or worse!). But for whatever reason, while I was loading up the dishwasher and the girls were watching a movie, she put the cord in her mouth and bit on it, making a small hole in the outer protective wrap. It started sparking, at which point she came crying and told me about the cord. I was able to unplug it quickly and Adrianne and I had a LONG talk about how dangerous it was. She was really upset, and felt really badly that she had damaged my computer. (I should note here that my laptop computer battery is shot so it doesn't work unless it is actually plugged up to the outlet, so no power supply cord means no computer for me!) SO until we get the power supply cord replaced, I have to use Matt's computer (which he takes to work with him).

Until next time!