Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Its Red Velvet Cake time!!

{2}

Hip hip hooray for a free babysitter on Valentine's Day! Justin and I are going out for a V-day dinner for the first time in years.

Our babysitter's name is Cubbies.

{3}

Parenthood does funny stuff to you.

Back in 2008, Justin and I vacationed for a week with my brother and his brood. While riding all together in the rented mini-van, my brother turned on Moose Tunes for his toddler boys' listening pleasure. I distinctly remember Justin and I giving each other funny looks as we listened to a grown man trying to sing like a moose. Later, back in the privacy of our own home, we confided to one another that we would probably go insane playing songs like that over and over for our children.

Fast forward almost five years and here I am, driving my kiddo to daycare while singing:

"There's a chocolate moose...on the loose...dancing all around in a red caboose..."

I do, however, refuse to make myself sound like a moose while singing.

A mom must have some boundaries.

{4}

Our 2012 tax return is the mail. Booyah!

And we are soooo looking forward to our two additional deductions for 2013.

{5}

There is nothing like cleaning a bathroom drain to convince you its time to go with a short hairstyle again.

I am seriously going to hack off a few inches before these babies arrive.

{6}

Kendry loves to talk. He gets it from his momma.

After talking for five minutes straight during breakfast the other day he finally paused, took a deep breath, and commanded: "Okay, Mom, its your turn to talk now."

Between the kiddo and myself I'm not sure how Justin ever gets a word in edgewise.

{7}

I got to spend a few hours scrapping with some girlfriends on Saturday. The race is on to get the highlights of Kendry's first few years into his book. I got two pages done, which was my goal.

{8}

Its funny how things come full circle.

Or maybe not so funny.

I was a nail biter all through my childhood. It was bad enough that my parents even started paying me a monthly stipend if I could show them long nails at the end of each month.

Guess who the nail biter is in our house these days?

It is driving me crazy!

A little shout out to my Mom and Dad: now I understand.

{9}

Here are our little boys at 20 weeks:

Baby A's photo was a little harder to snap because Baby B kept photo-bombing the shot. Baby B is going to be a handful - I can see that already.

Fortunately, his photo-bombing move of pushing his face back onto the screen left us with this cool shot of his facial features:

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

My boys (the ones not presently residing in my womb) getting to feel the babies kicking my belly for the first time on Sunday evening. The look on Kendry's face when he felt it was priceless.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Allergies are the pits!

2. Tomorrow is the first day of September!!! I know its not technically fall just yet, but its close enough for me. I start putting up my fall decor after Labor Day. Only one more week!

3. Another Brad Paisley song = another sappy, crying moment for me. Have you heard his new song yet?

4. And if you listened to the Brad Paisley song you heard the cute part about seeing his son dressed up in his football uniform. Kendry and I took a walk around our neighborhood this evening and saw a pee-wee football practice session. Seeing those skinny little legs and huge helmets is the cutest thing ever! Can you say "top heavy"? Justin and I can hardly wait to start Kendry in pee-wee.

5. I got crafty this last weekend and tackled two more scrapbook pages for Kendry's book. The first is a photo taken by Auntie Andrea (Andrea Lopez Photography) when he was just a month old. The little moon and star patch on the right says: Babies Are Heaven Sent.

The second is his official 1 year old photo.

6. For some reason I have trouble doing my scrapbook pages in chronological order. I still have yet to do my kiddo's first haircut (3 months), his first trip to AK (6 weeks), his first Christmas (7 months), and his first birthday. Wow! I need to schedule a major scrapbooking weekend.

7. Disney Movie Trivia: "Are you achin'? Yup, yup, yup. For some bacon? Yup, yup, yup. He's a big pig. Yup, yup. You can be a big pig too. Oy!"

8. Our home computer, a Dell laptop I purchased when I graduated college in 2003, is definitely on its last legs. A new computer is not really in the budget right now, but it just might have to be.

9. Confession: All my life I have never been able to hula hoop. I think I missed out on the hip-rolling gene.

10. This Week's Blessing: ignoring my horrendously messy house and enjoying an inexpensive, at-home date night with my hubby instead, courtesy of Redbox and Chex Muddy Buddies.

On a Roll!

It is now nearly eleven p.m. and I am still awake. I will no doubt be suffering the consequences of this tomorrow. But at least I've got two pages to show for my late night. Plus, crafting and sewing are my preferred methods of relaxation - and trust me, a relaxation session was entirely necessary tonight. I've got a bite mark on my arm to prove it.

Page 1: Coming home from the hospital w/ Kendry. We had purchased his take home outfit in a newborn size a few weeks prior, but his 10lb arrival made it clear he wouldn't be sporting any newborn clothes. So while we were still at the hospital my mother-in-law went and exchanged the outfit for the next size bigger. Page 2: Kendry's first bath. Despite his face in the lower picture he has loved his baths from Day 1.

Next few pages on my to-do list: 1st haircut, 6mth mark, AK trip, and Christmas 2009.

And to clarify my earlier comment, the bite came from my kiddo, and it wasn't really intentional. He was using me to pull himself up to his feet and, in the process, my arm got in the way of his mouth. Apparently biting is part of his concentration process for standing up. Boy, did it hurt. And things just kinda went downhill from there. By the time I got Kendry to bed I was feeling pretty emotionally drained, not to mention bruised. But, God gives us strength for a new day, and tomorrow I start a fresh day of parenting. On that note, I suppose I had better get to bed.

Ten on Tuesday

1. We got our Girl Scout cookies this weekend. Tagalongs, Samoas and Thin Mints, oh my! I let Kendry have his very first Thin Mint on Saturday but he barely ate any of it. Are we sure this kiddo belongs to me?

2. Our multi-talented son is starting to develop his dancing skills. Lets hope he doesn't plan on learning any moves from his parents. As you can see in the video, mine are a bit spastic and are sure to embarrass him for years to come. But for the time being he thinks they are cool enough to mimic.

3. We're planning to make Paula Deen's Baked French Toast Casserole w/ Maple Syrup for Easter brunch (along with 3-4 other accompanying menu items). Dee-lish!

4. It seems I am in trouble with my husband for purchasing a pastel argyle sweater vest for Kendry to wear on Easter Sunday. Its the argyle part he dislikes. Isn't it a rule that argyle can't be dorky until you are at least out of the toddler years? Naturally, I will be posting photos of this controversial outfit for you to weigh in.

5. Voila! Another scrapbook page completed:

6. It was beautiful here again this weekend. Kendry enjoys keeping us company outside as we start spring projects in the yard. He may only be crawling still, but he is certainly the little explorer.
7. I'm putting Kendry's Easter basket together tonight. I didn't buy him any candy - he is, after all, only 10 months old and, let's face it, all of it would be eaten by Mommy and Daddy anyway. Like we need that. But I did find him a few cute Easter goodies.

8. I was pretty bummed when our local Christian book and gift store closed in December, but I just found out that a new, revamped store supplying books, gifts and, wait for it... COFFEE (hooray!) has opened in a new location. I might need to check that out this weekend.

9. Veggie Tales Toddler Songs is such a fun CD. Kendry and I rock out to "This is the Day" and "If You're Happy and You Know It" in the car each morning, although I have yet to get him to clap along with me.

10. Kendry seems to pick up some new talent every time we spend a weekend with Justin's family. In February, after a few days with Miss Ava, it was finally figuring out how to crawl on all fours. Then, when I left Justin and Kendry in Quincy for the Big Climb, I returned to find my son doing this repeatedly:

Cute, but I would rather he had learned how to do his own laundry.

Artsy Fartsy

Kendry turns 1 in a little more than two months (eek!) and my attempts at keeping his baby scrapbook and photo album current are thus far beyond pathetic. I am hoping to have most of his first year monumental events captured in the scrapbook by his first birthday. This weekend I accomplished two pages; at this pace I just might reach my goal.

This is Kendry's first Halloween page. Kendry gave us the perfect scared pose in the bottom left photo. That is his cousin Ava in the monkey costume that he is clinging to for dear life. Kendry loves to grab Ava, poor girl.

This page is going in the beginning of his scrapbook. I call it my "waiting for Kendry" page. I found this layout idea online and fell in love with it. I had the perfect pregnancy picture for it too, thanks to Katie White. Would you look at the size of my belly?! Craziness!