Blue or Pink?

I have a secret.... the kids are skipping school tomorrow and seeing their newest sibling in action. My mom is coming along and is so excited to see her newest grand baby. I'll be having an elective ultrasound in Madison. They have a huge room and a play area for small children. The kids really wanted to be apart of seeing the baby and finding out the gender together. Unfortunately Brandon will not be able to be there. Which he's okay with, but he's asked me to tell him in a creative way. Can you say pressure. Good news is the the ultrasound comes with a DVD of the whole session, so I'll be putting it on YouTube for him to watch.

In anticipation for tomorrow I bought two outfits and plan on taking one back. Kid's are placing bets. I told the kids they had to make a guess and if they get it right they get a buck, yup $1.

So will it be a...........

Oliver Ray

or

Vayda Elizabeth

To be continued........

Happy 5th Birthday to our Lily Cakes!

xoxo

Yummy Cupcakes

This afternoon Lily and I made some cupcakes for her class tomorrow for her birthday treat. We decided to make a multicolor cupcakes. Lily had a blast mixing the food coloring into the cake mix. I had fun trying to spoon the mix into the pan but, soon became more tedious than fun! Out of the 30 cupcakes only 20 turned out nice. The rest were either badly burnt or just teeny tiny burnt which the kids gladly ate once they got home from school. Lily can't wait to show her classmates her magical cupcakes she made!

Couple of Adorable Nightstands

Do you remember these nightstands? Well I do! When I told Ryan and Sara that the nightstands were done I think I could hear them shouting and dancing from across the street! Kidding aside, they definitely were so happy to get them in their master bedroom. I have a couple more pieces to do and then their bedroom furniture is complete. Pictures to come!

Family Room

Remember this? I so love this buffet! I was even more pleased that it fit downstairs because I wouldn't have had the strength to move it back upstairs! A couple of weeks ago we changed up our family room. Before we did anything I had three criteria, we needed a table to play games with the kids, we wanted the kids computer downstairs and enough seating for everyone to watch a movie as a family. We originally wanted a sectional but didn't want the huge price tag that comes with it. So we decide to check out craigslist. We didn't find a sectional but we found a newer couch that is huge and you can differently fit 4 people on it. We bought it for a nifty price tag of $175, music to Brandon's ears. I don't know if I would have chosen that particular color but for the price it's differently growing on me more everyday. I feel we accomplished our agenda.

Lily's Birthday

Okay, so technical Friday wasn't Lily's birthday but, we decided to celebrate it a little early since Brandon would be out of town on her birthday. Friday night was filled with a lot of pizza, cake, gifts and laughter! She's such a little princess!

Science Fair

The kids had their Science Fair last week. Gabe made an awesome looking volcano! He wanted a ginormous volcano which meant he needed to round up a lot of newspaper in our neighborhood. I think he achieved his goal. Gabe had so much fun creating his own volcano.

Colin's project was finding out which battery was better Duracell or Energizer. He purchased two of the same flashlights and decided to test out the batteries. He did the experiment in the storage room and first shined the flashlight's on the TV screen to see which one was brighter...Duracell won this one. Then he left the flashlights on and checked them every 30 minutes....Duracell once again won by an extra 30 minutes. Another bonus about Duracell is it's $0.25 cheaper per battery. Just a little something I learned from Colin

Exciting News!

Our family has some exciting news-we will be soon adding an addition to our family. We couldn't be more excited! We told the kids a couple of weeks ago and they couldn't wait to tell all their friends. Since we told them, they talk about the baby daily. I've been really having horrible morning sickness and I'm waiting for it to be over soon. In the meantime I'm trying to enjoy this pregnancy since it will be our last. We feel so happy and blessed. All the love and support from our family and friends has been so wonderful! Thank you.

Celebrating Christmas On New Years Day

Christmas was a little belated with Brandon's family, but what a nice day to start the new year together. We had a blast. We had Papa Murphy's pizza and an awesome ice cream bar that reminded me of Cold Stone. Amazing. We also exchanged white elephant gifts. Always a fun game. Brandon's dad had put together a slide show of their family. It was filled with pictures of the kids (Brandon, Tami and Clint) growing up. It was shocking to see how Colin, Joshua and Jersey resemble their parents. It was definitely one of Brandon's favorite things. We all had a great time. When we got home we watched the movie Grown Ups. After watching the movie I definitely think it would be fun to get the whole family together for a long weekend up at a cabin.

Brandon's First Piece

Brandon found this on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago for $40. It had a picture of it and the ad read the buffet looks better in person. The woman bought it at a rummage sale and wanted to restore but didn't have time. Brandon got it for $20. Well when we got there I was a little shocked on how bad it looked in person and I think the picture looked nicer. Also I wasn't to happy to see she still had the rummage sale sticker on it for $10. I mean come on take off the sticker so I at least feel like I'm getting a deal. Brandon had sometime off during Christmas so he did this himself with my coaching. It took many hours of sanding and painting (I think 3 days). I let him chose the hardware for the drawers. He picked a gold which I love because it pops with the black paint. I told him we have to keep this because this is his first and he may decide it could be the last, but never the less it such a cool piece. It makes a great buffet or I hoping one day we can use it as a TV console in the living room with the flat screen we have in the family room.

Our Christmas Story - Short version

Our Christmas Story, went like this. The kids didn't get a pair of pajamas that looked like a pink nightmare but they did each get a pair of pj's. Probably not their favorite gift. Everyone got the gift they wanted. Gabe got a Spywatch, which could be a problem, he now is constantly spying on Brandon and I. Noah got the yellow semi he's been asking for and little portable dvd for the bus which was a request from his bus driver. Lily really wanted a jewelry set and a cotton candy maker. She didn't get the cotton candy maker but she received a jewelry set with a lot of other things. She loved all her gifts and after opening gifts she gave us a concert where she rocked Silent Night. We didn't get a leg lamp, but we got a canon camera from my mom. I love it more than a lamp decked out in fishnets and a nifty shade to top it off! But my sister-in-law and her husband have the leg lamp so I can always admire theirs! Nobody asked for a Red Ryder but Colin did ask for a phone. We debated on getting him a phone. We gave everyone their last gift the grand finale. Colin unwrapped a card with 120 minutes. We told him it was minutes he could use at a pay telephone. He didn't know what a pay telephone was, so I told him he can find them at the gas station. Brandon and I played it up asking him how cool it was and it was just as good as having a phone. He started getting tears in his eyes. Brandon found one more gift under the tree for Colin. Colin was so excited to get his own phone! On Christmas day my family came out to celebrate the day. We had fun playing UNO, twister and later the adults played cards. We had a wonderful Christmas!