I have only one skill...

and I have recently realized what a great skill it is. What is it do you ask? I can french braid hair. Yep that's right, that's my only skill. And unfortunately I'm not even that good at it. I did both girls hair today and I didn't take a picture of the back because it's really hard to finish off a french braid. I realized that this is the one skill I have because I certainly don't have any skills when it comes to house remodeling. There are three so called bedrooms upstairs in our house. I say so called because one of the bedrooms is more like an office. There's no door and no closet. It's going to be the baby's room, so it needs some work. I had no idea that putting on a door involved so much demo and such a big mess.... see not one of my skills!

Look at those pretty girls!

Did you know all this was needed to install a door? To be fair to Roger, he is also moving the light switch. It's around the corner there on the right and he thinks it needs to be where those exposed 2x4s are. Kevin and Kelly came up over Memorial Day weekend and were incredibly good sports about just being put to work! The picture looks awful because of all the dust, yikes.

It's a.....

BOY!!! We just returned from our ultrasound and the tech had no problem seeing that we are having a boy! We are all very excited. The previa is gone as well, which means I can return to normal activity, it also means I have no more excuses for all my laziness...

What have we been doing?

Do the days all run together for anyone else? I have been terrible at taking pictures lately, but honestly it doesn't really feel like there has been anything picture worthy. I decided to change that today and just take some pictures of the randomness that goes on in our lives from day to day. Is anyone else a HUGE sucker for the dollar spot at Target? Anyone, anyone? just me... ok. Well anyway Avery got three little bottles of nail polish and finally decided to use some today. She did such a great job applying it. It was so fun watching her try to figure out how to put nail polish on her right hand fingernails using her left hand. It's hard for me and I have way more experience. She did such a good job. The only place she ended up with nail polish that didn't belong was her lips... yep, lips. Here's the finished project. Man will someone please clean up this room?

The girls always enjoy playing school. They've been pretty into it this last week. I guess I shouldn't complain because they will do that instead of watching TV, but look at that mess. That little table doesn't even belong in there. Ashby moves it every time they want to play. She usually hurts herself in the process which requires tons of whining for band aids, but I should just be glad they are playing so well together, right?

As for Roger and I, it's playoff season. This means lots of staying up way too late to watch games. Roger has become quite the Utah Jazz fan in the last couple of years. They played the Lakers in their last series and what a pain because it meant incredibly late games. We were up until well after 1 am a couple of times last week watching, it was killing me. They were eliminated over the weekend, which was too bad, but means more sleep for us. One of the most fantastic things about living in Pittsburgh is the Penguins. As a lifelong hockey fan living in Utah, it's astounding to be some place where people actually care about hockey. The Pens are huge here and I love it. We have joyfully jumped on the bandwagon and will be lifelong fans. They are playing for the Stanley Cup against Detroit beginning on Saturday. It's going to be such a fun series. We used to follow the Colorado Avalanche when we lived in Utah. They played Detroit in many a playoff series, so we are quite familiar with those crazy Red Wings. It's going to be fun to see how Chris Osgood, a blast from the past, plays against a very young Penguins team.

See, wasn't that random?

I can't wait

We get to go in for our 20 week ultrasound on Friday. Our very, very nice friend Kathrin offered to watch the girls for us so Roger and I can go together. I'm so excited to see the baby and hopefully find out what we are having and that the previa has moved. The baby has been moving like crazy, I love it. I'm feeling quite good and never thought I would say this, but can't wait to get some exercise. We did some weeding in our yard on Saturday and my legs are sore from picking up weeds and putting them in the yard bags, pathetic. I can't wait until Friday!

A little help

I hope everyone had a lovely mother's day. My day was very good and very relaxing, thanks to Roger. He also had to speak in church yesterday and did a wonderful job. I am so lucky to have him always by my side. The girls were also very excited about mother's day. The couldn't wait for me to open my presents and they did a mostly good job of keeping the secret! Avery kept telling me Happy smother's day, it was so great and made me so happy to be her mother.


As all of you know, I'm a terrible writer. When it comes time to write things for other people, I break out in a cold sweat, so I need some help. We are having a visiting teaching conference next week. Part of what we are doing is making a little something to take to the women you visit teach. We are making pens with a silk flower on top. Kind of cheesy, I know, but I think they are cute and most importantly, they are easy. I would like to include a little poem or a few short lines that the women could attach to the pen. Any ideas? I've got nothing and I've been thinking about it for a while.

Pretty cute, eh?

Homework Time

I have been trying to institute a set time everyday for homework time. No, no one has homework yet, but they will and I don't want the girls to do like I did. I would always wait to do my homework until right before bedtime. I didn't sleep much in high school. Mostly we do crafts, because that's what the girls are into right now. This is one of my favorite websites for crafts. I'm sure there are other better sites, but right now I like that one because the crafts are easy and I usually have everything on hand to make them. It's been really fun and a good time to spend together. So what are my chances that they will have better study habits than I did?

Sometimes all we do is stamp. The girls love it and I don't mind because all my stamps are very kid-friendly (ie not very nice!)

I thought Avery's face was funnier than anything else. She did stamp on this piece of paper, I promise.

This day we killed two birds with one stone, homework time and snack time. This is Ashby's ants on a log. It's a banana with peanut butter, nuts and chocolate on top.

Avery couldn't take her eyes off her ants on a log. I didn't have chocolate chips, so we used peanut butter cups. It was almost too much for her to wait while I took a picture.