Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Spring has sprung, the dogwoods are in bloom, the hubs' grass is already looking marvelous and almost every day I find myself saying:

"Self, putting in the back patio was worth every. single. penny."

 

All together now: "Three cheers for no swollen ankles!"

Yet.

{2}

Wave goodbye to my Mountaineer and roll out the soccer mom red carpet; we have officially converted to the mini van.

In all honesty, it doesn't feel nearly as dorky inside as it may appear outside - and I've got 16 drink holders to prove it.

{3}

Fancy a spring craft?

Kendry made a bird feeder out of a cardboard tube, peanut butter and bird seed.

Then he painted a little bird house to go with it.

The bird feeder was gone in less than 24 hours, courtesy of the squirrels.

{4}
Carport addition progress:

Adios, orange door and ugly astroturf stairs!

View from new side door:

View from kitchen:

Door to Kendry's new bedroom:

{5}

How cute are these hard workers?

{6}
If horizontal stripes are only flattering on the most slender of body types, answer me this: why do they make so many darn maternity clothes with horizontal stripes?

Most of my current wardrobe makes me look like an escaped convict.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. When you have a total of 8 shirts and pants to rotate - a number that continues to dwindle with each passing day - you take what you can get whatever fits over your belly.

Just tell me how to stop dropping food down the front of my already limited clean shirts.

{7}

God bless the kind woman at Costco Optical who called me 'so tiny' (twice!) when I went in to pick up Justin's contacts. I was smiling the rest of the day after that compliment, even though I feel anything but tiny right now.


Or maybe she was only nice to me because she thought I was a robber in my horizontal stripes.

{8}

Pondering what to do with this aged beauty now that she is no longer needed atop our basement steps:

Any and all suggestions are welcome!

{9}

Kendry's two new favorite lines:

"Ahhhh, this is the life!"

It sure is, kiddo.

and

"Well, I don't know about that."

For example:
ME:  "I thought you told me you wanted to take a fruit snack instead of a granola bar today."
KENDRY: "Well, I don't know about that..."

Once again, I have no idea where he comes up with this stuff.

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

An incredibly hard-working hubby.

Not only is my handsome fella' putting in a 40 hour work week, but he is currently working the addition to the house all by himself and still manages to keep up with our meals and dishes, all so I can get off my feet and keep these babies bakin'.

Did I mention he recently made homemade granola bars?

Then he surprised me with another coconut creme pie from Rosauers.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am one lucky gal!

{30 Weeks}

Well, well, well, the final stretch has arrived at last.

And boy am I feeling it!

Confession:

Fixing myself up and finding maternity clothes that still fit for the simple act of taking a quick photograph of the belly doesn't rate as a pregnancy thrill for me at this point, but I do it for posterity...literally.

And for you, of course.

Before you judge me for sounding like a grumpy prego, allow me to share this little tidbit of information with you: I had my 31 week appointment this morning and measured in at 40 weeks.

That's right, I said 40 weeks - as in the size I was when I delivered Kendry, my 10lb 5oz baby.

Let's take a quick look back at that, shall we?

{5/5/09}

These days you will find me a little tired and very uncomfortable, but still counting my blessings. The little boys in my belly are as active as ever and I can't wait to meet them; but first we need them to bake for at least another five weeks.

30 weeks:

And in case you are curious, the green crinkle shirt still fits. Sorta.

10 weeks:

20 weeks:

30 weeks:

I may be uncomfortable but I still have a sense of humor.

Progress on the Home Front

I know you've been itchin' to see the progress on our carport addition, so without further adieu...

Exterior

Next up on the outside is painting the new siding to match the house, without making it look like an obvious addition. We're still brainstorming the best way to accomplish that.

Interior

See my new washer/dryer hookup?  Woot woot!

As for the inside, Justin is working on the demo - pulling off the exterior siding, popping out the kitchen window, and stripping down the wall along the basement stairs, which will eventually be just a half wall so as to open up the whole space. The electrician will be coming shortly to do all the wiring before Justin proceeds with insulation and drywall.

Kendry is taking his job on the work crew very seriously.

Ten on Tuesday

{1}
Happy Passion Week!

I'm loving parenthood even more lately as we've been teaching Kendry what Easter is truly about.



{2}

Progress on the carport at the end of Day 1:

I was astounded when I returned home to see this.

Jody likey.


 

{3}

A little Where's Waldo activity for you:

Did you spot the stealthy three year old in the above photo?


 

{4}

Forget my pie cravings; I spotted my first Girl Scout Cookie sale booth last weekend.

Bring on the Samoas!


 

{5}

Here's an updated belly pic for my my peeps:

Pardon the puffy eyes, if you please. You'll be seeing a lot of those over the next year.

Or two.



{6}

Its official:
my wedding ring no longer fits.


 

{7}

Despite his adamant protests about wearing it on his 3rd birthday last year (and subsequent emotional meltdown on my part), Kendry now likes the "3" shirt I made him and wears it fairly often.



{3rd Birthday}


Just this morning Kendry asked me if I was making him a "4" shirt for his upcoming birthday. Truth be told, I hadn't actually planned to make one this year for fear of my labor of love being rejected again; but how can I deny a specific request for my handiwork?

Just another ride through the joys and heartaches of parenting.


 

{8}

The hubs may be opposed to matchy-matchy twin clothing, but I still went ahead and ordered two of these cuties:



Conversation when the hats arrived:

HUBS: "Did you really buy two of the same hat for them?"

ME: "Okay, so they match. But they are sooo cute. And really, its just a hat; its not like its an entire matching ensemble."

HUBS: "Thats how it all starts...with just a hat."


Dang.
That man may be on to my methods.

{9}

It must really be spring - the hubs mowed the front yard this weekend.

Ahhhh, the sweet smell of cut grass.


 

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

Attentive neighbors.

While we were out on Saturday evening our sprinkler line detached from the main water line and water was apparently spewing out at the end of our driveway. Fortunately we have wonderful neighbors who spotted the geyser and took immediate action. They attempted to stop it themselves but ended up having to call the PUD to get the water turned off. When we got home around 8pm we contacted the PUD and were able to get the water back on within the hour (whew!). The sprinkler fellas came by today and fixed the damage.

Busting at the Seams

If you opened this post expecting to see a picture of me and my belly busting out of yet another pair of maternity jeans, the joke is on you. This post has nothing to do with the pregnancy.

Okay, thats not entirely true; it does pertain to the pregnancy in a roundabout way.

Ha ha!  

Round?  Pregnancy?

I crack myself up.

This week marks the start of a project years in the making.

Fifty points to you if you can guess what these babies are for?

I am seriously swooning over those big windows (of which there are 3). Hello, daylight!

Have you figured it out yet?

No?

I'll give you another hint:

What would YOU do with all this wasted space?

And by wasted space I mean a carport that isn't big enough to hold either of our cars,

...an odd-placed door with no steps (see left side of the picture),

...and a spacious basement only accessed by first going outside.

That's right, we're finally enclosing our carport.

Cue the awkward pregnant woman dance!

I may be carrying an extra 30 lbs on my frame, but I can still do a mean running man.

I'll be the first to admit that tackling an addition to our house (professionals will be doing a good portion of the work) less than three months before my due date is a bit overwhelming, and I am a little sad to say goodbye to my orange door, but we've come to the conclusion that it simply needed to be done. In anticipation for the twins' arrival we are transitioning Kendry from his current bedroom (a/k/a the nursery) into the back bedroom (a/k/a bedroom with a door into the carport); but Kendry needs to be able to leave his room without having to walk though the nursery.

We're excited that our basement will finally be connected to the main areas of the house. In addition, we'll be moving the washer and dryer out to this new space so they are no longer crowding the back door.

(2011 photo, but you get the idea of what I mean by crowded)

So there you have it - our next adventure as fixer-upper owners!

Adios, carport.

Hello, expanding living space!