Projects

 While I decided to close up shop for most of the summer due to soaring temperatures in my garage, I have managed to finish a few other projects.

 I wanted to totally redo Ethan's room which is now Aria's room.  However, I am just too practical.  And seeing as this will probably go back to being his room in a couple of years I didn't want to change too much.  But here are a few things I could do.  I grabbed a few little trinkets from Audrey's room that she didn't have room for and created this "A" from pintrest and this tutorial .  I actually created my own cardboard box letter using a font I liked and I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. 

And THIS photo was my main inspiration for these globes.  I am pretty happy with how they turned out.  Check out my craft blog for the tutorial on each one. 

I was of course not happy with my oober drab laundry room.  I didn't want to put much money into it, but I wanted a few things cuter and a little more functional.  So it isn't designer, but I got most of the look I wanted and the functionality I was looking for.  Check out my craft blog for details.  

Update

Aria at 3 weeks.  She is now 5 weeks but these were some cute ones I managed to grab real quick.

We had a family Wii night.  It actually was pretty fun little hour with the kids.  Even Ethan got the hang of bowling and boxing!

Anyone else turn their babies into little caterpillars?  I love it.  

I love the idea of summer, but not so much in Vegas.  We don't play outside (unless in the pool) we don't have picnics like all the magazines seem to think we should be doing.  We stay inside and try to come up with ideas that DO NOT involve the tv, and we stay up late (much to my dismay).  This is the result.  

I wanted to get a picture to prove to her one day that she actually liked cleaning!

Aria two weeks old and a few more

Just a few more caught in the moment of wakefulness.  She is still sleeping pretty well.  Although this week she is struggling with gas and all that goes along with a new digestive system.  Hopefully she settles into this soon because she is quite a grunt-er at night. 

Here is one of the kids using the office chair as some kind of ride.  Isn't it funny when you have no idea what they are doing and you ask, and they have it all completely figured out!

A couple trying to catch her little dimples!

Audrey and Ethan both LOVE to hold Aria.  Audrey does really well except she thinks Aria is ready to play and be big already.  She doesn't like following the "do not bounce your sister" rule.

Aria is quite the cuddler.  She always has her hands right up at her little face.  So cute.  

Summer Fun

So I knew that with a new baby right in the middle of summer meant that we would really be hunkering down and digging in for the summer to hibernate from the heat.  I have to talk the kids into going outside to even play in the pool most days.  And then it sometimes only lasts for a half hour or so.  I am really lucky in that my kids are at a perfect age and they play REALLY well together.  They pretend that they are kitty cats, they build legos, they play stuffed animals and they play with their plastic animals most of all.  The best investment ever for my kids has been hitting all the thrift stores for plastic animals and dinosaurs.  They love them.  However, I told myself that I was going to try to do something fun with my kids each and every day.  Something we can do that is maybe a little more special than a normal day and something that I can do with them to make sure they are getting mommy time.  We have gone to the library for lego party, and once for craft time.  We have had a swimming party and a date at the water park. 

Then one day I decided that my kids needed super hero capes.  Charles likes cartoons and so they have been exposed a little to batman, spiderman, and the other day I watched the old superman movie.  Since this they have been pretending that their blankets and towels are capes.  Then they walk up to each other and say, "Superman, I missed you" and give each other hugs.  I can't for the life of me figure out why this is associated with superman, but they do it almost every time.  So I let my kids pick fabric from my way too big of a selection and looked up a design from some tutorial online and off we went.  We finished them in a day even with a nursing newborn.  Each one took less than an hour probably.  It was very nice of them to pick fabrics that didn't need to be hemmed!