Kitchen Conundrum

A play kitchen is tops on my list for the playroom. These are my top 3 contenders. I'm learning towards option 1 because it's cute AND reasonable priced. (Unlike the PB kitchen, which I LOVE, but it's hard to justify spending $700 on a toy kitchen, at least for me.) I feel like I want to see MORE kitchens before I make a decision...anyone have a recommendation?

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Grown Up Face

I find myself staring at Maya's "growing up" face a lot. It's changing! The chubby cheeks are nearly gone. The big teeth up front are fully in and are constantly shifting, making space for more. It's so weird for me to see my girl getting so grown up. She's getting the eye-roll down. Of course, when she does that scrunched-up grimace, I still see little girl Maya. And I'm thankful that for the most part, she's happy to be more little girl than big girl. She'll be totally big girl waaay too soon!

Matching Tie Guy

There is an excellent chance that I'll be tormenting my boys (and feeding my matchy-match guilty pleasure) by making them wear matching ties this spring. Pick one of their cute patterns and the sizes you need from baby up through adult and you're all set! Some of the patterns even come in matching hair ties for girls. Love it!

Fending For Himself

This kid, like the rest of mine, has caught on quickly that if you need a snack, it's better to help yourself than ask permission. In fact, Simon has a radar on the pantry. If it's even left cracked, he knows it, and pretty darn quick he'll be in there trying to break and enter into snack packages. He's been known to chew open a granola bar, if need be. Good to know that if anything happens to me, this guy can take care of himself.

If I had more energy for the task, I'd go back and look for the pics of both Maya & Mason at about this same age. Maya in a pile of Cheerios. Mason and his favorite cheese crackers, dumped all over the carpet. 1 1/2 is a fun age!

Crate & Barrel Wish List

Since Crate & Barrel sent me a 10 percent off "Welcome to the Neighborhood" coupon, I've been looking a little more closely at my C&B wish list. Particularly the red shelf.

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{Prints}

Self Portrait

I love it when this guy gets hold of the camera and leaves me with some self portraits. His face is my fave.

Spring Soccer

These 2 have played some great soccer this year! Maya is really starting to "get" how you play the game, and that girl is FAST! I think we have a sprinter on our hands.

Mason has had so much fun this year. Most of the time he has his head in the clouds, but loves running around out there. He's been known to run up and down the field waving at us like a maniac and/or blowing kisses. And a recent highlight was scoring a goal for his team (almost by accident) and then running down to the other end of the field and scoring one in that goal, too. "I scored TWO goals!" It was so funny.

{These are printscreens from their picture proofs.}

2 more games and we move on. Maya is going to do tennis this spring and then swim team this summer. Mason is thinking he might enjoy gymnastics. I just love it that they like to be active! I always hated sports and I don't want to pass that on to these guys!

Graduating From Pink

You'd think with a baby girl coming soon, I'd be really feeling the pink. But somehow, not so much. I've bought bunches of fun, yellowish and greenish things for the little lady to wear:

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And I finally found blue + red crib bedding for her at the Pottery Barn outlet (bargain!):

And for the queen of pink, I've been eyeballing this set at Pottery Barn Teen. In fact, if they had this set in king-size, I would have bought it for myself already.

I'm not ready for Miss Maya to graduate from pink yet, though. She loves her pink + orange room and 90 percent of her wardrobe is pink. I figure that even though she looks like a 3rd grader, it's okay if she dresses like a Kindergartner...she's still my baby girl! (For a couple of months...then they'll be a NEW baby girl in the house!)

Yellow

My yellow sweater gets worn A LOT. So much so that it's becoming infamous. And very pill-y. I keep contemplating splurging/investing in one of these lovelies. Perhaps.

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MIA

Boy howdy. It's seriously been almost a month since I posted last. Nothing like a little unscheduled blogging break. Anyway! I have a link-list a mile long of things I want to file away in this here online-filing box o' mine (and share with you, of course), so there theoretically should be lots & lots of posts coming. We shall see.

In the mean time, we've been...

• Moving. Loving the new house! LOVE! (Miss the old house, too, though.) Still trying to get organized. Need to buy lots o' shelves to house all our stuff. Pictures, eventually...
  
• Online shopping for said shelves, etc. Seriously, please point me in the direction of any and all awesome and affordable shelves, armoires and rugs. I'm at a loss...
  
• Took a little spring break trip to San Antonio. Visited the zoo, stayed at a fun hotel with a GREAT pool/mini-water park, stopped at a children's museum and of course, the outlet mall.
• Stuff stuff stuff. Busy busy busy.
  

Remember these cute people? Here are a couple of shots from the zoo. I managed to stay out of the photos, being 7 months pregnant and all. That's right, 2 months to go. In fact, the doc & I were discussing induction dates just today. Yikes, yikes.

Back soon with much to share!

World Market Wish List

Such pretty things!

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Paula Deen's Cookbook For The Lunch Box Set

We've been having a lot of fun with this cookbook since checking it out at the library - Maya has absolutely loved it! It has such cute illustrations and fun categories (Bake Sale, Pool Paty, Sleepover, Family Picnic) - it's definitely on the to-buy list.

Vintage Suitcase Table

Step by step how-to for this super cool suitcase table here. I SO want to do this! Wouldn't that be a fun dress-up trunk?

Creamsicle Cupcakes

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of the cupcake. More the eating than the making, though, but this recipe caught my eye: creamsicle cupcakes! Yes please! I might give it a whirl. Or maybe s'more cupcakes. Or peanut butter & chocolate cupcakes. Come to Mama.

That Ol' Soft Shoe

I went browsing on the Robeez website for a new pair for Simon for spring. I think these are the obvious choice...

Playrooms

I'm not much of a decorator, but I pretty much have in mind what I want to do with all of the living areas of the new house. The playroom, though, will be a long-term project and is a little lower on the priority list. Chris and I agree on one thing, though - we want it to be awesome, and a place that the kids can do some good playing. Dress-up area. Play kitchen. Trains. Blocks. Art "studio". Etc. No TV or video games upstairs, just play stuff.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be obsessing over playroom ideas (send me links if you seen cool ones!) in the near future, starting with this fun idea...big cut-out play areas. These are too cool. Probably not the route we'll go, but super fun nonetheless. See more pics here!

Tonight's Supposed To Be Good, Lost-ees!

Can't wait!

Snow Day!

True story: a snowstorm like this (you know, 2 inches) comes to central Texas about once every 5 years. In fact, this is the most accumulation we've seen since we've lived here...and only one other time has there been anything close to it. Unfortunately, we were a sick bunch on the snow day (Maya & Chris = Strep; Simon = Ear Infection; Me = Bronchitis). The only one of the bunch well enough to go out and experience it was Mason. He's all bundled up in Maya's boots (since he will only wear and thus only owns Crocs...and I promise, this is the first time it's been an issue, yay Texas!) and my hat & scarf. He lasted all of about 10 minutes (takes more after his Mom than his Dad).

This girl would have loved to come out. How sad is this?

So we made her a snowman and she kept it in the freezer for a few days.

Snow, it's been real. See you again in 5 years.

Tiny Toes

The kids loved meeting their baby cousin, Mckensie Leigh, this week. She's a wee little thing...just over 5 pounds! Definitely tiny and sweet. And we're excited to have a cousin in town! She & our baby girl will be just the same age, so fun!

Moving Week!

This is the big week! Closing on the old house on Wednesday and the new house on Friday. We'll be moving Friday & Saturday (and not declining anyone offering help and/or cupcakes) and will spend our first official night in our new home on Saturday. Crazy! I'm excited and tired just thinking about it. And a little nostalgic, of course. We've been here 5 years, the longest we've been anywhere. Moved in when Maya was about Simon's age, and now we head out having nearly doubled in family size. What great memories we'll always have of this house. A new house is an adjustment. Of course, when you have fabulous places to play and space for everything and everybody, it makes it a bit easier to make that transition! We're so grateful for how it's all worked out.

Anyway, wish me luck. And wish my kids luck that the above statement will be true for them! :)