This past week., or, about 8 days...

Caroline loves my camera. In the 50 or so pictures I found of the TV or shoes or toys, I found this. It apparently looks mostly like a picture of pregnant knees (really should have cropped those out!) but I was painting the kitchen on Saturday. (By the way, all the painting inside is DONE!!!)

"Summer nights"...in April. (We take advantage while we can...) Steve loves to play in the backyard with the girls. Sunday evening after dinner called for a rousing game of baseball. Rounding the swing set is equal to rounding the bases. Apparently it doesn't matter which direction you go, as long as you get around.

It was getting dark and lighting this picture was tricky, but this is my team! I sat on the patio cheering them all on!

Wednesday night at Caroline's soccer team party. She was wearing a sun dress (but blue of course) and had a girlie flower in her hair and finally just took off her shoes (who could blame her - the grass felt amazing!) The kiddos played a scrimmage against their parents (Steve took this assignment while I again cheered from the side.) Well, this little girl keeps telling us how much she loves soccer but her games on Saturday had her touching the ball maybe once or twice in a short game and never doing anything of substance with it. Well, the other moms said I should send Caroline to soccer more often barefoot and in a dress because she DOMINATED the game! She was all over the field, stealing the ball, turning the ball around, scoring in both goals, smiling and laughing the whole time. She is going to be quite the little athlete!

Soccer Diva and her proud Daddy. Steve has had a HORRIBLY busy work week and that night, he drove about an hour to come to the soccer party because he wanted to be there for her, and then went back to work until after midnight. Our girls are very lucky to have such a devoted Daddy!

Caroline and Coach Judson - we really love him as a coach. Caroline adores him and HAD to have a picture of her holding her trophy (see her so proudly clutching her little trophy...) We are not sure if she will play for Judson's team in the fall - it will be a move up to U5 which requires midweek practices instead of just Saturday combined practice/games. They will most likely be practicing in Molly's neighborhood which is 15 minutes from us.
So, when Steve left the soccer party to go back to work, he helped me out by taking a bunch of stuff to the van for me...including my keys. (Getting locked out of my car seems to be a common theme these days.) Steve's phone was off so I couldn't call him. So, the assistant coach drove me and the girls to the hospital to pick up Hayden and Brynley to bring them back to my house (in their van) after they got to spend the evening getting to meet their new brother. Caroline has not been able to wipe the grin off her face when she is around baby Zac. He is such a sweet little baby and she is in love...let's see what happens when SHE gets her sister!

As always, the disclaimer is that disgusting lost tooth pictures are for Aunt Shelly. Lindsay lost her 4th tooth and pulled this one herself! I was in bed and said to have Daddy pull it. He wrinkled his nose at the idea. I then told Lindsay she should try to do it herself. And she did! The tooth fairy again traded the tooth for another pearl for her bracelet.

Saturday morning, Lindsay went to Ellie's "Fancy Nancy" birthday party. (Fancy Nancy is a fun series of story books where the title character prefers to dress fancy, eat fancy food, say fancy words, and is desperately trying to teach her family to be fancy too.) So, the girls got to dress up fancy! Lindsay loves to dress up - she was so cute!!!!

Another week down...we had a busy crazy week! But since when do any of us have a week where we sit around wondering what we are going to do? I have been feeling really sick all day today (in a generic icky sort of way, pregnant, tired, uncomfortable, all of it) so hopefully I can get a good night sleep (what's that?) and get back to getting ready for the baby to come in just a couple weeks! TTFN!!

So, at the paint store tonight, an old guy said to me...

"Wow! You really are BIG!" Right after the paint contractor waiting in line behind me said "Man, any day now, right?" I looked at both of them , actually glared back and forth, and, having assessed that the contractor looked like he had a decent sense of humor and the old guy cashier had an east coast accent and I had already heard him speak with an east coast attitude, I said to both of them, "Don't you EVER tell a pregnant woman she is BIG! And YOU, (to the old man from the east coast with the thick accent and attitude) are SHORT and OLD!" We all had a good laugh. But it felt good to say it! He had to bring a manager over to finish my return and he told the manager "She called me OLD!" And I said "He started it. HE said I was BIG!" It was a funny exchange for everyone.

That's all. Oh, except that they couldn't process my return (extra unopened primer from painting over the red family room) because it had been run on Steve's card, not mine!! Grrr..........Just one more "to do" NOT checked off my list!!

A baby's on the way...(but it's not ours...)

UPDATE: Here is a link to Molly's blog entry and their new baby boy Zac!! After an extremely long day (just a regular busy day but it all seems longer and harder when very pregnant) with all the kids that ultimately ended with my keys accidentally being locked in the car at a soccer team party, we finally got to go and see the sweet little guy last night at around 7:30pm.
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Molly (my little sister) has been admitted tonight and will be having her new little "tax deduction" sometime on April 15th! Check her blog for details....I decided to post here too because I don't know if our family/friends checks my blog or her blog more often so, here is a link to Molly's blog for updates! (More details about her being admitted are there.)

We are so excited!! Luckily, my painting is FINALLY done so when I get her kiddos tomorrow (Debbie is staying the night with them) I will not have a paint mess for the first time in about 5 weeks! THAT is a relief!!!

It's fun being a girl!!!

Cute toes...and a bit of pregnant feet! (sorry...at least I cropped out my non-existent ankles!)

We had such a fun girls day out yesterday! Both girls needed haircuts and several days earlier Lindsay has asked if she could get her hair cut shorter. Both girls have each been with me to get a pedicure (a very RARE treat for them) and had asked if they could sometime do it again. So, I decided to surprise them with a special day of food, fun, shopping, and girlie stuff!

Both girls went to school like any other day but I went to Lindsay's school and "stole" her out of the lunch line before she bought lunch, we went and got her school bag, and signed her out for the rest of the day. We then went and "snatched" Caroline from the snack table at preschool and we were on our way! I gave them a couple choices for lunch and we ended up going to Red Robin where we all had yummy strawberry lemonade. (I would attribute my 5 lb weight gain at my OB check up later that afternoon to the probably 4 glasses and the "to go" version I worked on all day! Good theory...) Anyway, we had so much fun together talking about school and wondering what other surprises were waiting for us!

We then went to San Tan Village to do a little shopping. Both girls wanted some of those crazy plastic shoes, Crocs or Sketchers, or whatever and I had resisted for a while. But a friend of ours from Soccer and Dance is the store manager at the new Sketcher's store and we were chatting at dance on Wednesday and she offered for me to bring the girls in and get the shoes they wanted for 50% off. So we went and she totally hooked them up - they got the Cali Gear zig zag Mary Janes and a couple free packs of "bits" to decorate them, a watch and a backpack! All promo stuff but the girls thought it was all so cool.

Getting a pedicure is a rare treat indeed. I had a pretty good coupon so I took the girls to Lollilocks for a hair cut and pedi package. Steve wonders why we need to go to the fun girlie place for haircuts ("Great Clips is only $12! How much is THAT place?") Well, a haircut is $15.99 and includes a fun girly hairstyle at the end complete with glitter hair spray, plus, the fun ambiance! That is worth a couple extra bucks! Anyway, they felt so pampered in the little hot pink chairs, picking their nail color, feet massaged, the works. (They had originally said they wanted to go get a pedicure with me but I took the smart route - I went on Tuesday to get my own pedicure and get my haircut...in peace by myself!)

Oh, adventures in haircuts! Lindsay had wanted to cut her hair to her shoulders and I was putting the breaks on Caroline growing her hair again so both were getting a fair amount cut off. Lindsay's hair cut went great - she was still and grinning from ear to ear the whole time. She pointed out that this was the first time she has ever had a haircut that wasn't just a trim. (well, except when one Paige Richardson cut all her hair off when they were 3!!) Caroline's cut is cute if done right. The poor girl doing Caroline's hair...she didn't know how to cut a stacked A-line bob and kept asking the other stylist and asking me "is this right?" Grrr...she ended up accidentally creating a giant hole (angled the wrong direction of an A-line bob - Can't figure that one out) behind Caroline's right ear and the other stylist had to come and fix it so consequently, her hair is WAY short in the back - but it will grow and she looks cute no matter what!

After a full afternoon of food, shopping, and girlie fun, we had a little time to kill before my OB appointment so we went to the new hospital where we will have our baby and took a tour of the labor/delivery woman's health wing. They thought it was pretty cool to see where we would be spending a few days with our new baby. I was impressed too - wireless internet, flat screen TV's, room service instead of crummy cafeteria food of the day, etc.

We had such a great day - I think we created a lot of fun memories and will remember our last "Girls Day Out" before our new baby joins us.

Check out the kiddos in action!

We have spent the past several weeks attending soccer games for Caroline every Saturday morning. The last game until fall season is this weekend. She loves her uniform (it is blue of course) and her pink ball! Her team is darling - most of them cannot keep track of a ball, including Caroline, but she has fun and shows us that she has strong muscles because she can run so fast! We will be having our team party next Tuesday evening and in the fall, she will be moving up to the U-5 level which kicks it up a notch from this little intro season she has had. She is also loving her gymnastics class - her favorite thing is swinging on the rings and jumping on the trampoline and tumbling track!
This past Saturday, Lindsay was in her first gymnastics "event." It was an exhibition available to all classes level 3 and below. Level 4 is when they begin actual competition, if they wish, so this is a great opportunity to practice marching as a team in "Olympic Rotation" between the 4 events of floor, vault, uneven bars, and beam and practice being judged on their events. She seems to be a natural and really loves it all. I have tried to take pictures inside the gym and they turn out so terrible - the lighting is awful - but here is a picture when we got home with her medal she earned as a participant. Medals mean a lot to these little ones - Lindsay told me she now has 5 from various activities. Time to build the trophy case I guess. Lindsay plans to play soccer again in the fall.

There is nothing quite like...Strawberry Freezer Jam!

Edited to add some basic instructions for those who asked!!

If anyone wants the instructions - go buy a box of Sure Jell Pectin (less sugar pink box, that is what I use) at the grocery store - the instructions are contained therein! You can buy it in bulk but I never have because I don't think I make enough to warrant it.

4 c crushed berries
1 pkg sure-jell pectin
3 c sugar
1 c water

Follow the instructions, this will yield about 6-7 cups of jam.

I was able to get a good deal on a couple flats of strawberries through a produce co-op I often order from for daily use fruits and veggies, Bountiful Baskets. Anyway, it has been a while since I stocked up on our supply of freezer jam so I went for it. I dabble here and there in maintaining my good old fashioned home keeping skills up to date, (see previous post Homemade Applesauce. ) Freezer jam is actually pretty easy and yields a fair amount of jam. It is not at all cost effective compared to buying off the shelf or Costco or whatever, but nothing beats the taste! That alone is worth it. I did about 14 lbs and ended up with about 26 pints or so. OK, I say it is easy, but a lot harder when (see side bar ticker) you are 35 weeks pregnant! I could not figure out a comfortable way to work at the sink to wash, remove stems, and chunk up the fruit without my big ol' baby belly in the way! I called to Steve to come and help me figure out a more ergonomic way to accomplish the task. I ended up almost sitting side-saddle on a bar stool with the berry packs stacked 4 high and the bowl for cut up fruit stacked on top of another Tupperware bin! It worked and I finally made it through. it was worth it - my kids and especially my husband love it. We have been without for a while and pretty much anything else pales in comparison. I got thru most of the berries on Monday night (until I ran out of Sure-Jell) and finished up tonight. I ended up mixing some blueberries into a couple batches! Yum-o!

A $10 Miracle - The Ped Egg

This thing is amazing. The picture looks gross (the dumping out of the skin shavings...eewwww!) but it works! I will save you all the gory details about how well it worked on my horrid feet but let me tell you, whatever your dry and cracked heel needs are, this little thing is worth every penny. I got mine for $9.99 at Walgreen's. It not only works, but it works well AND quickly!!!