Enthusiasm

In season #4, this girl is starting to get what the game is all about. She needs to practice her ball control, but she's FAST and has an incredible amount of endurance. Of course, I think her best quality is her enthusiasm for the game. She is so fun to watch out there!

Especially when she scores a goal! Airborne celebrating + high fives...good times!

Maya & Mason are both yellow this year, so they'll be easy to keep track of. Maya's a Golden Cheetah and Mason is a Bumblebee. Maya wanted #6 (because she's 6 years old, of course!) but had to settle for #4. It made perfect sense to find that Mason was randomly assigned #6, of course. It looks like it's going to be a great soccer year!

Smocked

I've always wanted 2 girls to put in matching smocked dresses. These {big girls + baby} from Olive Juice would be gorgeous for beach pictures and such. We'll have to wait until next summer for that, though. And if I wait until next summer, this dress could also (gasp!) be Maya's baptism dress. That gives me a heart attack just thinking it, but 'tis the truth.

I just noticed that they only come up to size 6, so we're already too late! How sad...these are gorgeous. Anyone know of a smocked dress source with bigger sizes?

Shabby Shoes

I never realized that Shabby Apple had such a cute (if pricey for a cheapskate like me) selection of shoes. A couple favorites:

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Sweetness

Day 1 of Round 2 of soccer for Mason was waaay different than last year. There was no blankie. No tears. No clinging to Mommy's leg. Just that big, huge smile. I'm not sure he gets the concept of the game quite yet, but he was out there running with the rest of 'em, having the best time.

Being a Mom makes you act so silly. I thought I was going to burst into tears watching my little guy give high-fives and run through the "spirit tunnel" and put his hand in and yell "Goooo Bumble Bees". Just that joyous, sweetest little face. It's such fun to watch him get out there and have so much fun. I just love it. He's the sweetest kid in the world.

A Printable To Remember

Love love love the "Short Term Memory Loss Prevention Device" free printable from design.wash.rinse.repeat (via One Pretty Thing). Much needed in my world! And so super cute!

Vida: Take III

One of Mason's birthday presents was a fishy of his very own. He hasn't asked for one for a while, so we thought it would be a fun surprise. We all should have been able to guess what he named is blue Beta: Vida, of course. (Maya's first 2 fishies were named Vida. Fish #2, Bluebonnet, died a few days after Vida III arrived in our home and Maya decided it was time to take a break from fishies for a while.)

Shortlisted...

...to take up residence in the "new house" front room...

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Purchased On Sale...

...at the Four Hands Home quarterly warehouse clearance sale.

Excited!

Somebody's Got His Smile Back!

A few doses of meds later and this guy is seeming much more like his old self. And boy are we ever happy about it!

(cheering on big sis + bro @ soccer this morning)

(simon + grandma)

Mason was into the doctor yesterday for never-ending congestion + a weird rash, so he's on a 24-hour allergy treatment + ointment to treat impetigo. And today, I'm on my way to the doctor to see if they can help me out with the feeling like I'm going to die I've got going on. (Cough cough, sniff sniff, gasp gasp, ache ache, complain complain.) Chris has similar symptoms. Maybe tomorrow will be his day.

I surely miss the days of $20 copays. Six $120 a pop doctor visits + medications in the last 2 weeks is even less fun than usual while you're in the midst of moving and all of those associated costs. Oh well. I will be thrilled if someday we're all feeling well again. And birthing a baby in May means our deductible will be met soon. Which almost certainly means that no one will get sick for the rest of the year. Which is absolutely fine with me. Let's keep all those faces smiling!

Swimsuit Shopping In February

Chowing down sugar cookies + chocolate dipped strawberries shouldn't necessarily put you in the right frame of mind to swimsuit shop. And never mind that this is going to be a particularly chubby summer for me, birthing a baby at the end of May at all. But we live in Texas, so swimsuits must be bought and swimsuits must be worn. I love my suit from last year, but it never hurts to have a couple of good options. I was happy to see that Athleta offers swimsuits, and even happier to see that they're "Available In Tall Sizes", major bonus. I'm loving this top.

And since I'm officially a total Mom, I favor the swim short or skirt. I just do. No shame. They have some cute options:

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I wish I could check them out in person - does Athleta have "real" stores, I wonder? I suppose I will have to suck it up and order online. Worth it when swimsuit shopping anyway. The horror of trying on a swimsuit for the first time is best done in one's own home, where no one will hear you screaming and crying...

4 Year Old Boy

This guy had a birthday! And somehow, I didn't get very many pics of the occasion, but we partied it up good and plenty! There were magic lollipops growing on the front lawn, more Disney Cars Toons paraphernalia than should be legally allowed, pizza for lunch + dinner and a big ol' party at Goin' Bananas. As excited as he was for his party, it did cause a bit of deer in the headlights type situation for him. Later he told me "Sometimes when there's parties, I'm overwhelmed." So we laid low for the rest of the day, played with lots o' presents and went out for pizza that night. My big boy is 4! So hard to believe.

Will The Real Simon Please Stand Up?

This guy is so hard to figure. He's up, he's down, he's all around. Smiling one minute, face down on the floor the next, screaming his head off. Chris tells me I've blocked out this age...that they've all been hard at this age. Maybe.

He's been sick for a week now, though. I took him in last week...nothing. Then he ran a fever on and off for a week, was getting teeth in, not sleeping well, hardly eating anything. Took him in today for his 15 month "well" (or not so well, as the case may be) check and discovered he has double ear infections. Poor baby! Got him going on his drugs, so hoping he'll be chipper again soon.

Stats say that he's up to the 80th percentile for height (tallest he's been so far), but down in the 20th percentile for weight. Could be because he's had no appetite for a week. Gotta fatten this kid up. Other interesting tidbits:

• He should have more words than he does (which is almost none).
  
• He should be done with the bottle (He's my only kid that has been willing to take one, and I love those snuggles at bottle time! Bummer.)

Soooo, how do you teach a baby words? At this age, Maya was having full sentence conversations with us. Mason, I don't remember quite so specifically; not the chatterbox Maya was, but I think he was talking more than Simon is. Simon says Mama, Dada and Bye correctly and often. He has been thought to say Maya from time to time. But no blankie, no baba, no drink, no "all done", no ball, no doggie...stuff like that. Got to work on him.

As for the bottle, ugh. I think he'll do fine without it, but I will be sad. I enjoy our snuggly bottle time. He can drink thru straw and sippy cups, but I don't think he'll just plunk down and drink 6 ounces from a sippy. I guess we'll see...

All American Party Girl

Kindergarten is pretty much Maya's dream come true, considering how much those guys party! She had 2 parties in the last 2 weeks. First up: 100th Day of School! (Reason # 1 million why I love Maya's teacher: when I asked her what the deal was with the 100th day of school, where that came from, she replied that someone made it up when the realized they could make a load of money off of it.)

Remember the head lice incident? Maya has been required to have braids or ponytails every day since then. She complains about it, but I don't care. First of all, I think she looks cute. And anything, large or small, I can do to keep lice out of my house, is worth the trouble.
So anyway, 100th day of school. They put together a 100 piece puzzle (Actually not 100 pieces, more like 97. Who knew!?), made a 100-item snack (They were all a little disappointed that 100 is not as much as they thought it would be), put 100 stickers on a crown (and then took a picture with the 100 glasses on) and took a 100 step walk (Maya took hers with her sweet little BFF). Fun times.

Next up? Valentine's Day! Delivering Valentines was the highlight, of course, but they also made necklaces and/or bracelets (genius move: the teacher cut striped straws into 1" pieces to use as beads, along with other plastic beads), made a Valentine snack, graphed the colors of a pack of conversation hearts, and made "love bug crowns".

Maya's enthusiasm is my favorite. That girl just enjoys everything. Which is fun.

Liberty of London

I'm unreasonably excited to check out Liberty of London's collection at Target next month. I want pretty much every product in every preview and sneak peek I've seen. And there's quite the extensive line, all in the most fabulous prints: watering can, planter pots, stationery, bicycles (note to Chris: I want one!), dresses & jackets for big (i.e. me) and little girls (Maybe baby too...? Oooh, I hope!), purses & totes, bedding, pillows, neckties, swimsuits, rain boots...the works, for real. I may decorate my entire house with it. Watch the video here. Take the Facebook Patternatlity quiz here. And check out a few of the amazing prints below. Get excited!

HTG81

I'm going to need to check out Forever 21's kids line, HTG81 Kids, and see what I think. I'm loving what I see online...

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Bookmarked...

As ever, the blog o' sphere is full of great ideas I'm dying to copy at some point in the future. Have a look...

King Kong Birthday Party

"Have A Ball" Valentines (lots of ways to use these!)

Candy Cake (a dream come true for my Mason)

To Quilt: Meadow Blocks Kit

I'm thinking that when I eventually get around to trying my hand at quilting for the first time, a block kit will be the way to go. I'm in love with this kit...gorgeous!

Floorplan

For posterity, you know, in case I ever get around to catching up on my bloggin' books, here's the floorplan for our new house. Love it!

In Da House

I'm guilty of getting my Facebooking & blogging confused, so I'm never exactly sure what I've said where. So in case I haven't said it here yet...we got the house! (Did I even talk about the house here? We found it before it went on the market? We fell in love with it? We were going to die if we didn't get it? I spent 3 sleepless nights between seeing it and having our offer accepted?) We're so excited about this house - it actually has everything we were hoping for! Less than 3 weeks from now, we'll be moving in. So here's a sneak peek...

Curb appeal? check! We love that it's set back a little ways from the road (for the 'burbs, you know), room for 4 cars in the driveway. Which will be awesome when the kids are old enough to drive, and yes, we fully intend to stay that long!

I have a thing for red brick + black shutters. I also dig that it has a little bit of limestone on it (better shown in the first pic). Also, the front porch is tiled. Can't wait to get a porch swing or some rockers!

Chris' selling point: the yard. We LOVE the huge deck, it is fabulous.

And the trees! And it's just a great sized yard for the 'burbs, way more than we expected. There are some cactus(es) (I can't bring myself to say "cacti".) that will have to go. And there's a sweet playscape that's staying, yay! And we'll probably throw some more grass down in the area with the trees. Less mud is always a plus for me. Love the shade, we need it in Texas! And love that the trees are climb-able and can accommodate our collection (does 2 constitute a collection?) of cool tire swings.

My selling point(s): everything else. Particularly the HUGE playroom. This room is going to be awesome for the kids. SO much room to play. There is also a separate landing (not pictured) that we'll put a desk for homework and kids' computer time. I also love that the bedrooms are all somewhat separate from one another. The big bedroom will be Mason's (and eventually Simon's). The bedroom with the Jack + Jill bath will be Maya's, of course. (Doesn't the oldest girl always get the bathroom access?) And the other room will be Simon's for now. Eventually, the boys will share and baby girl will take over that room. Not sure on the timeline quite yet.

2nd fave: the kitchen. It's a GREAT size. Has a great sized pantry. Decent sized island. Plenty of counter and cabinet space. The bonus is that the color scheme (cabinet, granite & tile colors) are all what I would have picked had I been doing the picking. The only thing I might not have picked is black appliances rather than stainless, but I'm totally fine with it. Also, there's a breakfast bar just on the other side of the sink, perfect for cereal before school, and the eat-in kitchen starts just to the left of the shot. Love the layout.

Also love that the kitchen overlooks this great family room. This will be our TV room, our hanging out room, our toasting our buns by the fire room, since it's a flip-switch gas fireplace, woo hoo! I've got some rug shopping to do, since the main rooms of the downstairs are all tile. And some mopping in my future, ugh. (Anyone have an amazing mop they love and would recommend?) The laundry room & garage are just behind the picture, and there's some more flex space not in the shot as well. They have a desk & computer in it currently...we may do the same, or maybe just use it to put a game cabinet or something.

And this is the "formal" room. My first preference would have been a formal living and dining, but if we're being realistic, it would have been mostly a waste of space. I think we'll use this as a formal living area rather than dining, though. Right in this vacinity are the office/5th bedroom, (which we'll be using for baby girl for a while), a spare bath (with a shower, which is kind of cool, since that extra room will probably double as guest space at some point) and the master, which is a great size.

Soooo...bottom line, we are very, very happy. Everything has fallen into place so perfectly (we close on our current house on the 3rd and the new house on the 5th, and our buyer will lease back to us for a few days), it is such a blessing! And as sad as I was about not getting the original house that started this whole process, just as everyone promised, I can now say that I'm so, so happy and grateful that things worked out the way they did. As I always say, "The Lord's been good to me!". (That's from some song from some musical and that's the only line I know, but I sing it often...)

Now, who is going to come help me decorate this place?! You know I have NO knack for that type of thing!

Sweet Baby

Such a sweet baby shower for a baby #4! Digging the red + aqua color scheme. And the treats! Check it out here.

Yes Mam!

This morning Mason brought me a present, wrapped in white printer paper and taped up with half a roll (or more) of tape. So cute. Then I noticed he'd written my name on it: "Mam". I knew Maya hadn't spelled it for him...after all, she knows how to spell "Mom" correctly. So I asked him who spelled Mom for him and he told me that he sounded it out. This, my boy who just within the last couple of weeks has (sort of) gotten the hang of writing his name. The guy who's so darn close to identifying all his letters (but not there yet) and has maybe half of his letter sounds down pat. Of course, my Mama pride swelled right up and I'm certain that I'll never throw that blessed piece of paper away, ever. I just love that kid!

And that is saying a lot, considering the state of him lately. Mason, my boy who has never been prone to fits or fussing, never had "terrible" anythings, has had quite a week. Lots of drama. Lots of tears. Lots of crankiness. My only explanation is that he's sick, (he's been stuffed up for 2 weeks now, I kept hoping it was just allergies) so off to the doctor he'll go tomorrow.

Along with him will be Mr. Cranky Pants himself, Simon Cottam. He was actually in to the doctor last week for a bad cough and general crankiness, but nada, nothing. "Give him some Benedryl before bed." "Thank you, here is your $150.00." But a day or so later he started running a fever (99-100ish, not too alarming). And I kept thinking teething. Surely it's teething. But several cranky and feverish days later, I'll take that boy to the doctor again tomorrow, too. And that is always a fun time. He screams the moment we walk thru the door and doesn't stop until we leave. Fun, fun times. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

While I'm complaining, I'm just sort of exhausted in general. My allergies are rockin' and rollin' the past few days and I'm a pretty miserable, tissues stuffed up my nose type of gal at the moment. Ugh.

Thank goodness for a lovely husband (who homemade me a batch of chocolate dipped strawberries for Valentine's Day) and daughter (who can sense when Mom's about to lose her cool and does anything and everything she can to avert a crisis) who keep me sane.

Chris will be traveling most of this week, though, so here's hoping that the doctor has a miraculous (and instantaneous) cure for these crabby boys of mine so that we can restore the smiles and sweetness I'm used to! If all else fails, I do have a supply of gigantic heart-shaped sugar cookies and some lovely strawberries to get me through. Thank goodness.

Here Comes Trouble

I've decided that putting Simon in his "Here Comes Trouble" t-shirt is just creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. That boy has been such a rascal lately! Scrubbing the toilet with my toothbrush. Figuring out how to open the dishwasher and then chewing on a knife. Trying to eat batteries. Trying to eat chapstick. And, you know, general mischief.

This is not his trouble tee, this is is his "Noisy" tee. Also spot on. Simon, Simon, Simon. Good thing he's so cute.