The New Room.

The walls were painted off white a couple of years ago so we decided to leave it neutral, in case we actually get the chance to move any time soon. So, I needed to go for cheery since it was so stark.

I thought about redoing my theme, but I may have to design a new room for baby too, so I decided to stick it out with this one. All of the artwork is mine and it would take a lot to redo all of that!

The girls love their new bedding, courtesy of Grammy and Grandpa, thank you so very much! They have a new brown area rug that didn't really make it into the pictures. We got a twin set for Riley and we're just folding the flat sheet and quilt in half for now until she graduates to a bigger bed. It works for now so why not?

So anyway, here's a little peek at the room. I wish I used a flash for these pictures, but oh well, you get the picture. I really hope the decal letters stay on the wall, it's looking kind of iffy with the bumpy plaster.

August attitudes...

This month has been really nice. The "morning sickness" that I had in the form of serious nausea and lack of appetite for 2 weeks came and went. Just when I was getting nervous that the whole pregnancy would be awful, I started getting better and I'm thinking this pregnancy COULD be more pleasant than the last two in that regard. :)

The girls have kind of hit a new level of playing together soooo nicely. They were practically model citizens for a couple weeks.

I was so impressed and relieved that they had matured, enjoyed playing together and were getting along without little spats practically all day.

I moved their bedrooms to an independent room that is no longer connected to ours. Talk about mile stones, for me and the girls. When I was rearranging, Cailen was so happy to hear it would be there new space she started singing "It's a special day..."

The first 3 nights in their new room have gone fairly well. Cailen has become such a big girl, constantly reminding me of how much she is growing "bigger and bigger." She will need 5T pants this year and she's not even 4!! Stop growing little girl! :(

*Currently Cailen and Ri are playing play doh together and Cailen is constantly updating me on the number of "candy balls" she has for the "candy ball festival." I love that girl's imagination! :)

Riley though wonderful, snuggly fun and adorable has been throwing kinks in the machine with some new quirks she's developing.

(Just when I THOUGHT I figured out how to deal with her 2 year old behaviors.)

The "I was going to get it!!" thing where she falls to pieces if I try to hand her something. And the "mommy went in another room, she delays following me, I see her half way to me on my way back and she falls to pieces because she wanted to come and get me-thing"....It's getting old. Hopefully with a little redirection, since backtracking only plays the "game" and doesn't make her happy anyway, we'll be back on track and nip those habits in the bud quickly.

But in all reality, she and Cailen are just awesome little girls.

The girls are excited about the baby and have decided they now want a boy. Kris is happy with their change of heart. My girl's personalities really go so well together at this point. I couldn't ask for better little friends. *Cailen knew Riley was nervous on the bouncy bounce so she held her hand the whole time until she felt comfortable going on her own-what a great big sister*

*update: Cailen is up to "one mill...millyon? candy balls!"* (she's quite excited, I'm not sure how she counted that high, I swear it didn't take me THAT long to type this!)

Today....Cailen pulls cheese out of the fridge, jelly jar falls on both her and Riley's toes. Cailen shows me her pinky toe I say "you hurt your baby?" Ri puts her foot up, points to her big toe and says "I hurt my mommy."

The other night Riley came in and asked daddy "where's my sister "Ri"?...where's my best friend Cayen?"

I love those two little girls and I can't wait to see what bringing another little personality into the mix adds to this family! :) I am so blessed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeJwwjfQM5w

This link is to a few month's old home video that I just love...It is the essence of my little nutty girls. :)

The Brew

I might have mentioned earlier that I have a pesky cabbage moth visiting my broccoli. Well, as many times as I have sprayed it with the hose or tried to swat it to smithereens with my flip flop- SHE LIVES!!!

So my friend gave me this recipe to ward off the evil cabbage moths and hopefully any larvae they may have already left behind there.

One onion and

6 cloves of garlic (all diced)

1 Tb chili powder

1 Tb baby shampoo (organic is best)

Soak over night in a quart of water, strain out the chunks the next day and sprinkle this anti-vampire-cabbage-moth brew over the broccoli (or any cabbage related plant) and hopefully the moth won't lay eggs and the larvae won't destroy all of the plants!

So I chopped the onions first, put them in the bucket, then proceeded to pound the garlic under a butcher knife on the same cutting board. The pounding of the garlic sent the onion juice flying up at me thus making me blind as if I had been pepper sprayed. Good times. This better be worth it!!! :)

I'll keep you posted as to how it works!

My garden

It all started in egg shells and some left over seedling pots.

The okra just could not manage to survive no matter what I did. I had a dozen (at different times) sprout, but only two got leaves...they all died. I had nice thyme and basil going but the heat wave killed my thyme, bugs killed my basil. I think just about everything else managed to have a survivor or two. The egg shell planting experience was very earth friendly and cost effective/nutritious as well. I found myself saving egg shells long after I needed them. Now I need to force myself to throw them away!!

Next year I will do it again, only I will start earlier indoors and I will plant in the ground much sooner than...oh....MID JULY!!! My original plan was to take my plants to my mom's yard but with her "graduation day broken arm", I knew that no one would be able to tend to the watering of the garden at her house on a daily basis. Struggling with what to do, EVENTUALLY I planted them here.

I'm glad I did for the most part, I just wish I had time/energy (with the heat of when I was forced to make this "plant now decision" and being pregnant) to dig up more square footage and plan properly where things should go.

I essentially planted what needed to be rescued first, second, third, etc...they were planted about a week after the heat wave and many of them were on their last leg. The 1st to look forlorn were the cukes, so I planted them 1st. Close together because I thought 1/2 would die...well they didn't! But now they are too close!!

It's great because it's the main thing I can already tell we will get lots of!!

HOPEFULLY!

Second, were the pumpkins (they were just getting too big for their little pots and the roots were dying) so the pumpkins moved in closely next door...BIG MISTAKE! Those puppies (the pumpkins) are taking over everything!!

The rainforest like canopy o' pumpkin.

This little guy is a wanderer...perhaps has a wish to be mowed over by the fire station grounds keepers....Everyday I have to redirect this prickly little branch BACK to my yard.

BUT, last night I found two of these ^ pumpkin babies!!! :D

3rd was the lonely watermelon plant that now lives under the pumpkin (left of center below)...

4th the cantaloupe which are doing better than I thought they would (at right in the above picture). The Broccoli has always grown quite nicely.

My only problem is that since I put them in the ground they have been visited daily by a white butterfly who I THOUGHT was a friend and was pollenating my garden!!...I just learned that these are cabbage moths and are likely going to/have laid eggs that will turn to Broccoli wrecking larvae. *grrrr!!* I bought garlic today to make a fairly organic mixture to rid them of these unwanted moths. The tomatoes were hanging in there but the leaves edges had started to become brown and many were getting limp. But they have all come back and look amazing.

They flowered last week and this week I have counted 17 at least pea sized green tomatoes on their way!

Some are cherry tomatoes others are regular size. I hope it's obvious which is which so I'm not forced to pick at the wrong time. This isn't rocket science...but....

This one is my JUMBO tomato. Haha.

The colored peppers (they will likely be purple!!) were slow going but I have 4 thriving plants out there. :)

Cailen and Riley enjoy watching our garden grow and seeing the fruits of all this labor on it's way. But of course, there's just nothing like finding flowers that you are allowed to pick!

I'm glad I was able to plant my garden here. It has been quite a learning experience and it definitely adds something to the feel of my mostly paved backyard. Between hanging my laundry this year and tending a garden from seeds I feel like a real mom/wife! ;) You gotta learn this efficiency stuff sometime! Anyway, thanks for stopping by... THAT is all there is to say for now. I'll let you know how my moth ridding concoction works out!

Jots of July

Ri getting ready for a Toy Story party. She chose to be Ham, the piggy bank.

Ri has become the resident singer in the house, often found singing the "oopsy boopsy spider come down the wall." She knows the real version, but prefers her own. She and Cailen have both learned "Jesus loves me" and it's just so sweet to hear them sing it together. Ri's version is "yes, Jesus YUV me." She melts me.

Yesterday Ri said clear as day: STUPENDOUS! (Thank you NickJr. for that big word!) ;)

Cailen was Jesse from Toy Story for the party.

Cailen, when at the public pool, after one day with her floating vest clinging to me, has become a fish who independent wants to wander away and explore the waters now that she has learned to purse her lips shut while swimming around. If she gets a face full of water she doesn't panic like she used to. I think next year she'll be ready for swim lessons. I'm so proud of her. If I'm too clingy to her she will confidently tell me "I can do it mom!" and she does. She was also able to test her ability in a lake without the floaty vest. She certainly noticed the difference of floatation ability, but that didn't keep her from trying on her own. I was so proud and amazed at her confidence.

Here she is enjoying the mud on the beach after her own little swimming practice in the lake.

The girls can play with each other all day long and turn anything big/small into a mommy/baby conversations played out in the highest pitched voices possible. Big and little marker suddenly become "mama" and "babes" talking to each other, big and little shoes.... whatever. Who needs doll toys anyway? Not these two! They are quite the best friends. The other day Kris was listening to the girls play and he heard Cailen suggest some blueberries to Riley "Castles are KNOWN to have blueberries" she told her....So mature sounding. So funny.

When we told the girls that we were going to have a baby, Cailen and Riley were both convinced that we were going to have and could ONLY have a girl. They wanted a sister. Names suggested were Sally, or cucumber, or lamp, or "Meeno" (Tomato)....Daddy begged and begged for a boy. Cailen's stern reply was always "No! I want a girl!" but a couple weeks later, Cailen has accepted Daddy's longing for a boy and has said that if we have a boy she will still love him. Riley though says "We can name him Sally." Either way, I told the girls that I can't make the baby a girl, but that God was into the details of making the baby. So thankful for that. Without God's Knitting Hands, I would not want to be on my own making another human being.

So, as baby number 3 is on the way. Week 10 brought major nausea and two actual sickness episodes. I have found that peppermint candies really help keep my stomach at bay. Ginger did nothing for me. Lots of wasted money that week on ginger and sea bands. :/ Nausea always reminds me that the process of nurturing a newly forming baby is no easy task and my body is constantly at work. It's simply amazing and I can't wait to meet this little person baking away in the "oven." I'm trying to be thankful for my nausea as much as is humanly possible, but if you find me complaining, please forgive me, I'm human!

My garden, that I started with seeds in egg shells is flourishing...I must take a picture. I have tended to that thing everyday since I started, I've learned so much, and now I'm just waiting for my harvest!! :)

I can't think of much else to say, though I know there have been so many things I've wanted to write down....Where did it all go??