Happy Fourth of July!!

It certainly doesn't feel like July!! It's only 72 degrees outside right now!! Unheard of and completely wonderful!! We were supposed to go see fireworks last night, but about an hour before we were supposed to go, there was a torrential downpour. So much so that Clinton County was under a flood warning until midnight. Bleh. That's okay. It should be a perfect night for fireworks tonight. My fourth photos won't look so patriotic though - I had Libby in her red, white and blue last night instead. Oh well. Not too much else going on here this weekend. Libby is spending the night at Nate's mom and dad's tonight. That will give Nate and I time to feed our new addiction: Boom Blox!! This game is so highly addictive it's not even funny. It's kind of like a puzzle game, but way more fun!! Tomorrow I think we're going to take Libby to see her very first movie ever!! We're going to see Wall-E. It looks super cute, so I can't wait to see it!! I'm anxious to see what she thinks of the whole movie experience!! I should have some cute pictures to update with probably Sunday. Now I'm off to get ready for some barbecue!! :)

Bringing back the blog

Yes, it's true. This blog has been neglected for over a year now!! Sheesh!! It hasn't really been a year since I've blogged. I had a Typepad blog for a few months, but I couldn't justify spending 9 bucks a month on something that I hardly updated!! So here I am. I figure now is as good a time as any to start updating again and revive this blog. A lot has happened since I last updated this blog. Two of the most important things being that Libby turned three and that she will become a big sister in December of this year!! I'll be 17 weeks on Thursday. I can hardly believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone so far!! We're almost halfway there!! Unbelievable!! I had a doctor's appointment today. This was the first time I brought Libby with me. She was so cute!! As soon as the doctor walked in she asked her her name. She's just so friendly!! She was so concerned that the doctor was going to hurt me. I had to keep reassuring her that that was not the case!! My blood pressure today was perfect!! 112/64. I think maybe I'm finally starting to relax. I figured it would be higher today since I had to keep telling Libby not to touch everything in the room!! LOL. She got to hear the heartbeat today too. I'm not quite sure she really understood what she was hearing, but I thought it was pretty awesome that she got to hear it!! The heartbeat today was 155, which is right about where it has been. I scheduled my 20 week ultrasound, so July 24 is the big day!! I can't wait to see what this little munchkin is!! I can't wait to know if it's a little Liam or Claire in there!! Oh yes. Names. For a boy it's William Garen. We'll call him Liam. William is Nate's middle name, his dad's name and my grandpa's name. Garen is my dad's first name. We're keeping it all in the family if it's a boy. For a girl, we've tossed around so many names. First it was Charlotte, but I couldn't handle calling her Charlie which is what Nate and his mom were really excited about. Then we tossed around Abbey, but Nate was never 100% sold on that name. The more I thought about it the more I didn't like Libby and Abbey together...almost seemed kinda gimmicky to me. Claire was a name that we considered for the middle name of several name choices. Then we thought, if we like it so much as a middle name, why not make it her first name? So Claire it is. Her middle name will be Suzanne. Claire Suzanne. So pretty!! Can't wait to find out!!!

I've been feeling good lately. The only thing that seems to give me problems is dairy. Yuck. I made myself some eggs and toast this morning and thought I'd have some yogurt with it. I couldn't handle it. The first bite I took, I gagged. Then I thought I would wash it down with my water....took 2 more bites and the smell was just too much. Yesterday the milk on my cereal made me feel awful too. *sigh* Good thing for calcium supplements!! My favorite thing to drink right now is lemonade. I don't really have a favorite food right now. I fill up pretty quickly and heartburn is doing a number on me. I did make cupcakes this past weekend. YUM!! Nothing like cupcakes with homemade buttercream frosting!! I think I might just go get one right now!!

This week is going to be a short one for us. We get out early on Thursday and have Friday off for the fourth. Thursday night we're going to watch fireworks. We're all so excited about that!! We had so much fun last year!! Other than that, nothing really going on this weekend. Just hanging out together and having a nice relaxing weekend!! Well, I'm wrapping this up for now. I'm going to try to scrap and hopefully edit some photos!!

We're baaaaackkk!!

Yep, we're back from visiting my dad and Kathy. I am always so sad when we leave there - I just HATE saying goodbye. On the flip side though it's always nice to come back home. We have so much laundry to do and lots of picking up to do from all the toys and stuff we brought back. Libby and I both napped this afternoon to try to catch up on sleep that we missed by staying up late. I have TONS of pictures to share but I only have time to share a few right now. We're getting ready for dinner...Nate's grilling burgers and Libby's taking a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse break. :)

Here's Libby playing on my dad's drum set....she LOVED these!!



Libby had lots of fun playing on the playground behind my sister's house...



Libby enjoying some ice cream with Grandpa


Telling secrets with Grandma!! :)


Petting the cute lil goat in the petting zoo...


Our lil family....


The sweetest face I've ever seen!!



Well off to eat dinner and then it's time for Calista's softball game. Till next time!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Sometimes it still feels a little unreal that I get to celebrate Mother's day. This will be my 3rd Mother's day and I feel so happy when people wish me a happy day. It's because of my sweet Libby that I get to be a part of this special day. I feel so very blessed to be the mommy of such a beautiful, sweet, intelligent little girl. I was reading about an accident that happened in Orange County, CA last week. A family was in their minivan when a tractor trailer rammed into the back of their van. The 3 children ages 2, 4 and 5 were killed. I bawled my eyes out reading that story and I still cry when I think about it. In an instant those parents lost their 3 beautiful babies. It's so terrifying how fragile life is, especially when you have children. I know I hugged Libby a little tighter and held her a little longer tonight when I put her to bed. Her little personality is just blossoming so much. She's sweet and loving...she has become very affectionate and I love that!! I mean she's always been that way, but she's at the age where she makes the decision to be affectionate. She decides that she wants to give hugs and kisses. If I'm laying on the floor in the living room playing with her, she'll come over and lay down right next to me, and press her forehead to mine and say "awwwww", touch my face and hair and just look at me and smile. Talk about melting my heart!! I want to always remember these moments - they're just so special and are really what life is all about.

This entry has to be short because it's nearly midnight and I'm ready to hit the hay. I went to the Brad Paisley concert on Thursday night and we didn't get home till 1 a.m. I'm still trying to catch up on the sleep I missed!! What an awesome concert that was though!! I will definitely be going the next time he comes to town!! :)

And lastly, here's a sweet picture of Libby checking out her sweet cousin, Dalton! I can't wait to see him again!! He's SUCH a sweet baby!! I have a couple of other pictures of Libby snuggling up to him, but those will be scrapped soon, so they can wait!! :) Night all!! Happy Mother's day to all the mommies and all those who want to be mommies and are trying to be mommies. I hope your day comes for you soon!!

Welcome Dalton Alexander!!

So our first nephew, Dalton Alexander, was born this past Tuesday, May 1st!! He is a beautiful, healthy baby!! He weighed in at 8 pounds even and was 19.5 inches long!! We went to visit him that night and it was sooo sweet holding a newborn again!!
I know Calista is so excited to be a big sister now!! And I can't WAIT for Libby to meet him for the first time. I think we'll stop in on Sunday and visit him. Can't wait to take more pictures of him!! It will be so much fun being able to scrap boy pages now!! :)

So tonight Nate, Libby and I are going to Texas Roadhouse with Steph and Jason. None of us have been there before so it should be fun! From the looks of the menu it looks delish!! The rest of the weekend will be spent just hanging out which sounds wonderful to me. Tomorrow is National Scrapbooking Day, so I'm really excited about that!! Lots of shopping and scrapping time is in my future!! :)

So here are some recent pictures of Miss Libby. The three on the left are from our recent trip to the Botanical Gardens. You'll be seeing lots of these kinds of pictures this year since we got a membership there! We took Libby to the Children's Garden this last time and she LOVED it!!

Well, she'll be getting up from her nap before too long here and I have to get my hair dried. Happy Scrapping/Shopping tomorrow for all my scrapping friends!! I need to get my wishlist started!! :)

Happy Friday!!

NSD is coming......

I know I'm excited about NSD!! Are you?? Saturday is SURE to be an awesome day!! I know lots of my CT's have awesome goodies and sales planned!! The Digi Shoppe has a brand new look and a 35% off sale May 4-6. I know the Sweet Shoppe girls all have fabulous stuff planned too. New designers are making their debut and I know for a fact that Laura Deacetis and Robin Carlton have some FAB-U-LOUS new products coming!!

I'm on a roll!!

Yep, here I am posting a second time in one week!! I can hardly believe it. So it's a rainy, getting colder Tuesday. Yes, colder. We had some nasty thunderstorms earlier today and with it came a cold front. I am so bummed about it. One, because I was seriously getting used to the warm, springy weather. Two, because on Easter it's only supposed to be in the low 40s. What a bummer! I have no idea what Libby and I are going to wear. Ugh.

So Nate and I took off work yesterday and we took Libby out to breakfast and to the Botanical Gardens. The gardens are absolutely gorgeous and it's such a favorite place of ours. The tulips are in bloom now and oh my are they gorgeous! I got some amazing pictures too!! :)







We had so much fun that we decided to buy an annual membership there. That way we can go whenever we want. YAY!! It's so relaxing and peaceful there!

So in other eventful news, Libby got her haircut yesterday!! Her very first haircut!! She was soooo good!! I wasn't sure how she would be but she just stared at herself in the mirror most of the time (practicing for when she's a teen, I'm sure, LOL). She looked away occasionally to see what was going on around her.




Then we took her to the park after that. I have some adorable pictures from there too, but those will have to wait another day! :)

Alright, off to spend some time with Nate and Libby....

Till next time :)