Strawberry Picking...

strawberry picking...

She loves strawberries (he won't eat them)...

He LOVES ice cream...

She didn't even finish that little cup of ice cream (yay! mommy gets leftovers!!)...

We went strawberry picking on like the hottest Saturday yet.  Not only that, the wind was blowing the pollen up my nose and the strawberry plants were making my arms itch :)  But, all in all, we had a good time.  The kids had fun.  Homemade ice cream after always makes for happy kids!  The next day, we made homemade strawberry jelly.  Mmmmmmmm, so good!  

Princess

The whole princess thing has always been something I did not want to entertain in this family.  I didn't want Haley to have any clothes that had princess written on it, any princess decorations in her room, and we have yet to buy her a princess outfit...After watching the last couple seasons of Bachelor/Bachelorette, I have realized why I was so adamant about this.  I do not want my lil girl growing up thinking that she is THEE princess and everyone else is suppose to cater to her.  Now don't get me wrong...I am a strong advocate for chivalry and will raise our boys to be chivalrous.  I just don't want Haley thinking the world revolves around her.

After all this being said...our church held a princess dessert gala for all the preschool aged girls.  After lots of contemplation, I finally realized that it is okay for Haley to dress up like a princess every now and then.  Being that we don't have any princess stuff in our house, we had to borrow an outfit.  Haley had lots of fun dressing up like Cinderella.  We painted her toes and fingers, curled her hair, and put a lil makeup on her.

Here is a picture of her drying her hair!

All princessed up...with a busted lip :)

Eating dessert w/ mommy

Haley had face-painting and story time on the dock.

I cut off Belle's head, but at least Haley is smiling.

And during story time, we learned that all girls are God's princesses! 

room change...

Van's dad, step-mom, and Joshua came in town for the first weekend in May.  Connor's room (where they would be staying) was very crowded and I wanted to give them a more spacious place to stay.  This prompted me to change the rooms around.  When we moved in, one room was already painted green, so we made this Haley's room.  They told us we could repaint it, but it matched her bedding, so we left it.  This room also has a much bigger closet.  So it made sense that this would become the room that the kids would share and Colt would get Connor's old room.

Needless to say, this green would not match Connor's bedding.  So, Thursday morning (Note: company was arriving Friday evening) I got up and got to painting.  Friday morning everything was painted and dry, so Van helped me move the furniture around.  Here is the finished project.

When Van left for work, the house was a disaster.  I had the whole house cleaned and furniture put in its place before his family got here...I had to pat myself on the back with that, because I believe that is the absolute FIRST time I have ever been ready when company comes over :) What can I say...I'm a procrastinator at heart!

Now that it has been a couple of weeks with both kids sleeping in the same room, I am happy to report it was a pretty easy transition.  I always worry about change for the kids, especially when it has to do with their sleeping habits.  I value happy kids with enough sleep!  Connor has always been a good sleeper, so I wasn't as concerned about him.  Haley has done an amazing job transitioning to the big bed.  She stays in bed and sometimes even asks to be put to sleep.  I couldn't have asked for a better transition.  Now if potty training could just be that simple...

Family Night...

A couple of Saturday's ago we didn't have much going on...Van went Turkey hunting with a friend (saw and heard nothing), the kids and I had a play date in the morning (we even got some yard saling in).  By lunchtime, we were home with nothing to do the rest of the day.  We decided to have family night.  We ate dinner, went out for buy 1 get one 25 cent Blizzards at DQ, and rented a movie.  After watching the movie with the kids, we let them have a camp-out night in our bedroom.   

As you can see, they were very excited!  Haley did very good considering she was still sleeping in the crib at this time.  (I saw no need to transition her until she was potty trained or could climb out.)  This led me to the idea of moving the kids into the same room, to prepare them for when Colt arrives.  I will post about the room change soon.  Stay tuned...

crazy eyes...

Haley has this unique personality that can always add some laughter to my day.  To share a little with you...she has recently discovered a talent of hers.  On command, she can cross one of her eyes.

Wrightsville Beach

Well, for the most part, another basketball season has come to an end.  Except for the workouts that will happen a couple times a week and the never-ending calls to coaches, players, and new recruits, I get my husband back.  The end of season gets really hectic with practices, games, and recruiting at high school games.  I have learned that there is more than one reason they call it March 'Madness'.  I was needing a 'mom break' and alone time with my husband.  It almost felt like it was time for a honeymoon.  So the planning started...

Last weekend, I surprised Van with a trip to our absolute favorite place of all times...Wrightsville Beach.  It was amazing.  I found a great deal on the ocean and would highly recommend it (The Surf Suites).  We ate at Causeway Cafe' both mornings for breakfast (this is our absolute favorite breakfast joint ever)!  We enjoyed the warm sun, shopping at surf shops, walking on the beach, chowing down a surfer dog from Trolly Stop and popcorn shrimp at Dockside and overall we enjoyed each other's company without the kids interrupting every conversation we try to have.  The downside was that we only stayed for 2 nights...wish it was a whole week. (Just reminiscing and writing this very post is calming my nerves all over again.)  Unfortunately, we didn't take as many pictures as we wanted...

View from our balcony...Oceanic pier.

Yay! The lil man is halfway cooked...20 more weeks to go!

Van felt him kick for the first time tonight...

Spring Break

The second week in March was spring break for our family.  My dad took the boys (David & Van) out west for some awesome powder snowboarding.  They said it was some of the best days they ever had :)

My mom took me and the kids down to Florida to visit Karli for her spring break.  We had some much needed relaxation and warmer weather along with a few rainy days (so we shopped).  It was kind of nice as a mom to just let go and not worry about the kid's schedule.  They stayed up till midnight if they wanted and napped whenever they got tired during the day.  With those late nights came sleeping in...LOVED IT!  The first day we got there was the last day of Karli's golf tournament.

This is Karli's team with their 1st place trophy!

I made her stand by her score (79-74-77)! I'm so proud of my lil sis!

Go USF Bulls!