Sunday, June 28, 2009

27 weeks


Today I am 27 weeks. My belly is the same size as my two friends who are pregnant and due in August. How nice...I even had a lady tell me this weekend (not in these exact words) that I was SO big!! Thanks! I really appreciate your bluntness! Anyway, I go to the doctor tomorrow and am lucky enough to get to drink that wonderful orange drink for my glucose test. Should be tasty!! I'm just hoping I haven't gained too much weight these past 4 weeks. However, I do have to say that Miss Carlyle has become so much more active this past month. I feel her kick and move all the time. Camden actually felt her kick really hard tonight and she thought it was so funny!! Up until now, I thought she might be more laid back, but I'm beginning to think otherwise. That's ok...she needs to be pretty active to keep up with Camden and Claire. Looking forward to the next few months..just don't see how my belly can get much bigger. I think the hardest thing is going to be staying cool!! OK...I'm off to bed!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Ready for a new job!!

Here's my hubby all dressed up, heading to the school board meeting in Arp,TX. The school board is going to officially approve him as the Associate Principal at the High School. He will sign his contract after the meeting tonight and then we all officially become Arp Tigers!! He is very excited to be a part of a smaller district, and the promotion and pay raise are just icing on the cake! We won't be looking to move until after Christmas some time. There's just too much going on right now, especially with baby Carlyle on the way. Arp ISD was very understanding and didn't push us to move by a certain date. So, the way it looks now is that Camden will be starting Kindergarten in Arp,TX. She doesn't start until next fall, so we have some time to get familiar with the surroundings, as well as the teachers. For those of you who dont know, Arp is about 20-25 minutes from our house right now. Not a long commute at all. Guess all we need to do now is to go out and get some marroon and white attire so we can fit in at the football games!! Go Tigers!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Aubrey turns 5!

Tonight we went over to the Acker's house to celebrate Aubrey's 5th birthday. Camden and Claire were so excited about getting to play in the water. The girls had such a fun time playing with all the kids, getting wet, and eating cake and ice cream. Despite the heat wave, we all had a good time. The kids didn't seem to notice how hot it was, however, the adults were walking through the sprinklers just to cool off. But, we all survived! Happy Birthday, Aubrey!!

Headed off to the sprinklers, hand in hand


Fun in the water



Time to try the slide


Now time for the best part...CAKE!


Mmmmmm....!!!


Claire's turn on the slide


Camden was so excited to try out Aubrey's new hula hoop. Bad news, I think she may need some more practice.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!

Today we celebrated Father's Day with Pops and Papa. We headed to see Pops after church and had lunch with everyone. After eating, the girls were so excited to give Pops his cards and gifts. Then, they had lots of fun dressing up with Jaxson. After they would dress up, they would come and give us all a fashion show. Then we headed home for naps, including mommy. It was so nice and refreshing!! After naps we went over to Nana and Papa's to have dinner with them and give Papa his presents. Again, the girls couldn't wait to dig in to the cards and gifts. Daddy even got a present from Nana and Papa for Father's Day! What a great day to be able to spend time with Pops and Papa. We are so blessed to have great fathers that we enjoy being around, and Camden and Claire are both blessed to have two grandfathers who ADORE them!!

Pops, Camden and Claire


Claire, Camden and Jax dressing up as doctors and nurses


They wanted to dress up as cowgirls next


Papa's sporting his new sunglasses and showing off his picture frame that the girls made him.


Daddy with his new shirt and shorts

Saturday, June 20, 2009

55th Anniversary Party

Gigi and Granddad celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary today with a "party", as the girls called it. All Claire was talking about before going was getting some cake. So many people came to help celebrate such a milestone. It was such a nice reception, with lots of family and friends. And, there was TONS of food! It was all yummy!! Camden and Claire were a little overwhelmed by all the "strange" people, but it didn't take them long to make themselves at home. They had a good time running around playing with Jaxson and Madeline. What a nice way to honor 55 years of marriage! Congratulations Gigi and Grandad!! We love you!

Claire enjoying an M&M cookie


Claire and Jax


Camden just hanging out


Claire, Jax and Camden


Madeline running around, enjoying her freedom


Gigi and Camden


Gigi and Claire


Daddy and Madeline


Granddad and Camden


Gigi, Claire, Camden and Granddad

Father's Day early

This morning we let Jeremy open his Father's Day presents early. The girls were so excited to give him his gifts that he didn't even get a chance to open them himself. They tore into the gifts before he even saw the bag. Happy Father's Day, Jeremy! We all love you very much!! Camden, Claire and Carlyle have the best daddy in the world!!!

Jeremy got a new golf hat


Camden and Claire made him a picture frame for his office at work


Daddy and his girls


Camden trying on Daddy's hat


Claire's sporting Daddy's hat

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Nursery Nightmare

Let me preface this post by saying that it's going to be long. I do apologize for the length, however, I feel it is necessary to inform you of my frustrations with painting and my vow to NEVER paint stripes again. Now, on to the post:

After getting Jeremy to agree on me getting new bedding for Carlyle, I found some at a great price that was really cute! So, I ordered it and when it came in I started looking at it and thought that maybe painting the room in stripes would be good. Jeremy had helped his brother paint stripes in on of their rooms and immediately said, "NO". Of course, he wasn't serious (at least I didn't take it that way). I knew it was a lot of work, but his brother said he would come help measure and tape the walls for stripes. So, I took part of the bedding with me to Lowe's to get some paint samples. I started off with pink because from first glance you would think that the bedding had true pink in it. Well, every pink sample I put up to it clashed. So, I moved on to the more peachy pinks, which seemed to match more. I grabbed about ten samples and headed off to take Camden to church for choir. While I was there I asked several ladies their opinion on samples. They immediately said that the pink did not match and then we spent an hour debating over which peachy pink samples looked better. After all that, we finally decided on a lighter color for the base coat and a darker color for the stripes. I went the next day and got the paint and went to work. I got two coats of the lighter color done. That sat for a couple of weeks until my brother-in-law could come over and help measure and tape for stripes. This past Sunday he came over and spent about three hours getting it all ready to paint. That night I let Jeremy take care of the girls and I painted the stripes. It looked SO good. Monday I touched up and I thought I was done!! For some STUPID reason I painted the whole room and never thought to get the bedding out to see how it looked up next to the walls. This past Wednesday I was moving stuff out of the closet and got the bedding out. After taking it out of the bag I knew immediately that it did not match. I was so mad! It was definitely more of a pink that peach. I called Jeremy and told him. On the phone he seemed very calm and was very supportive of WHATEVER I wanted to do. I called my mom and had her stop by on her way home from work to get her opinion. Jeremy's parents were coming over for dinner so I knew I could get their opinion, too. Both moms said I needed to repaint. Exactly what I didn't want to hear. Jeremy told me to find some bedding to match the walls...easier said than done! What happened to his supportive attitude?? He did comply with my request to paint again. So, I went back to Lowe's that night and got a gallon of Kilz, two gallons of base coat and one gallon of paint for the darker stripes, along with LOTS MORE TAPE and a laser level. I didn't want to have to ask my brother-in-law to come back over (which I'm sure he was relieved about). I taped the baseboards that night and then on Thursday I painted one coat of Kilz, two coats of base coat. Then when the girls went to bed Jeremy helped me measure for the stripes. I taped each and every stripe, which took until about 12:30am. I was determined to finish that night (or should we say morning). I pulled out the paint and painted each stripe. After the first stripe, I pulled out the bedding to check how it looked. I did learn a thing or two from my first experience with painting. Anyway, I finished around 3am and was SO pleased with the results. Here's a preview of what Carlyle's nursery looks like...minus decor and bedding, of course. And for those of you who are wondering why my husband didn't help...he did offer. But, I am very anal about it being a certain way and politely declined his offer to help. So, don't put him in the doghouse just yet:)

Blackberry pickin'

This morning we headed out to Blueberry Hill Farms with Nana and Papa to pick some blackberries. The girls were all excited about it, especially Camden, who loves to eat blackberries off the vine. We went in and got our buckets. Unfortunately, there weren't a lot of blackberries to pick because a big crew of people came in yesterday and picked tons. But, we did find at least a bucket full and it was so fun to watch Camden and Claire start looking for big, black berries. After a while of picking, Claire started getting bored and I started getting a little warm. So, we headed off to find a picnic table to rest at. We went in the store and got a couple of blueberry muffins and some blueberry lemonade for a snack. Yummy!! The tops of the muffins had icing on them. Claire ate off the top and then she was done. Camden ate her muffin and really wanted to eat some blackberries, but was disappointed when we told her we had to pay for them first. Despite the heat, it was a fun morning. But, we were definitely glad to get in the car with the A/C.









Friday, June 12, 2009

My little fishies!

Today was the girls' last day of swim lessons. They started right off jumping in and swimming. They did SO GOOD! Mrs. Debbie would throw Claire in and she would swim to the ladder. Camden would jump in on her own. She started off jumping in width wise and swimming to the ladder. Then Mrs. Debbie made her jump in and swim the length of the pool. She did amazing! She is such a little mermaid. I thought she might get upset about it, but she didn't. No crying or whining today! I am so proud of both of my little fishies!!!

Camden jumping in and swimming the length of the pool



Yeah, she made it!

Mrs. Debbie threw Claire in and she swam to the ladder


Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Swim Lessons

Here are some pics of the girls on Day 3 of swim lessons. They are doing so much better. The first day they both were very apprehensive about getting in, but have realized that floaties will hold them up and that they CAN swim to the wall if they kick their legs. Camden is getting a little braver about swimming on her own. She does it in lessons because Mrs. Debbie makes her, but when we're at the pool and I try to get her to do it, she usually freaks out. But, today she was swimming so good!

Claire swimming to the ladder


She made it!


Camden pushed off the side of the pool and is swimming across


Getting some air


Yeah, Camden made it to the other side