Pregnant Pics

A few weeks ago we went to Lordsburg (where Rus' parents just moved), for a family reunion. All of Rus' siblings were there and we all had a terrific time. DeAnn (my sis-in-law) was the official photographer of the weekend - I remembered my camera...but forgot the SD card. When I'm able to snag some of her awesome pictures I'll be happy to share them...but in the mean time I wanted to show off some pictures that she took for me. I asked her to take some "belly shots" because I've never had a good pregnant picture and I wanted one, kind of "for the record - this is how I looked prego". So here's me at 32 weeks. I am not a good picture taker - beyond smiling for a camera I just feel ridiculous or self-conscious having a lot of pictures taken of myself. So DeAnn did great considering what she had to work with.
This first one is by far my favorite. What do you think?

Birthday Letters!

The time has come again for birthdays! Beau's was last week and Bekah's is tomorrow. Here are their birthday letters...Enjoy!

Den Remodeled

The den (family room) is the room that needed the most work after the kitchen. It was just super enclosed and dark and [is still] dirty. Turning the walls into half-walls and installing the beams and posts has made a huge transformation and I am so excited with how it has turned out! You can now sit in the den and look into the living room and the kitchen and even see into the hallway - which now doesn't seem quite so long and dark. Here is a semi-before picture (we had only torn off the sheet rock.)Afterwards with beams and posts installed. Isn't that a nice wood cap on top of the half wall?And some more pictures by Miss Bekah:Did I mention dirty? Here is some proof. This is the ceiling in the den. That white streak just above and to the right of the new texture is where Paul (the amazing drywall guy) wiped the roof with a wet rag. And those black lines are where dirt has collected along the beams of the ceiling. Guess you know what my next project is!

Dear Baby,

You are due to come in two months! Phew...it must be the heat, but two months is starting to sound like a long long time. Or it could be that two more months of painting and cleaning our new house just sounds exhausting - nothing to do with you, I'm sure.
I thought you should know some crazy/exciting things that are going on around you, but first I should explain that those random bumps you feel are from Bekah running up to me and kissing you/my belly. Learn this lesson early, girl: love can hurt sometimes. :)
Okay, first - your siblings are sorta crazy. Last week Jacob was walking into a building and all of the sudden he started rubbing his nose like crazy working up a lot-o-snot and then he just started screaming and crying and flinging snot on the ground. Explanation: A flying ant had bit him inside his nose so he says...he saw it in the snot. I showed an enormous amount of sympathy in between fits of laughter, fyi. (Never saw a bug bite though...)
Bekah put a small hole in the wall of our island. She was carrying a bar stool back to the kitchen. With her eyes closed. She is much stronger than I would have thought. She is currently planning her seventh birthday party - from the invitations to the food to the games and friends, etc. I let her use my scrapbooking program online while I napped the other day and she did an awesome job making her party invitations. It was seriously impressive - here's the finished product after I corrected her spelling and took "presents" out of the "with games, cake and more."Beau is a terror. I think the only way to keep you safe from his good guy/bad guy antics and all around tough lovin' is to build a perimeter fence around you and put a shock collar on him. A bunch of friends were over last week and whenever any of them cried it was usually followed by a, "Beau ___ me!" My favorite was when Jacob came downstairs crying and gasping, "Beau bit me!" I didn't believe him until I saw the wet marks of Beau's mouth on his clothes and the red spot on his skin. Location? Jacob's bum. Beau bit Jacob's bum. He was busy being a bad guy.
Beau has had one wonderful learning experience though...he is successfully POTTY TRAINING! Hooray! He tells me when he has to pee, pees when he says he will, and even stays dry during his naps. Pooping is a work in progress, but overall I am extremely happy. I officially have two months to be diaper free!
And now, last but not least Baby, you are doing some funky things to me - like my pregnant brain that forgets stuff, says stupid stuff, and is randomly irrational...and how I dream of recipes that I read about to the point that I can get up in the morning and make them without a recipe because my brain has gone over and over it...and how noon is pretty much synonymous with naptime and Rus has learned not to call me between one and three because I'll probably be asleep (Beau still naps and Bekah and Jacob are really good about having quiet time in their rooms or watching a movie)...
We can't wait to see you! Beau asks all the time, "Go get our baby?" and then I say no and he says, "need get bigger?" Yep...but not too big, okay?
love you already!

P.S. Here are some random pictures from cousins visiting and swimming lessons...yes, here is Jacob happy at swim lessons! He's having a blast!Here's me getting a tan and hanging out with BekahI love Bekah's face here. She has learned how to jump off the diving board and then swim to the side of the pool. Above or under water. Awesome.

Cabinets Installed!

Yay!! My sister Amy and her kids and my mom were in town last week and I put them to work. They came up to the house and we painted the night away so it would be ready for cabinets the next day. We had a lot of fun, inhaled too many fumes, and laughed at a lot of goofy things (like paint dripping from the ceiling onto Amy's tongue because she was singing while painting). Here are some painting pics - we had to prime all the walls because it was new sheetrock.
Luke

Amy

Joshua

My mom

And here is a view from the living room into the kitchen - walls painted green and cabinets mostly installed.

Cherry wood, slab doors...happiness. :)







Didn't this archway turn out beautiful?!

My pantry


My dad flew in just for the weekend and the first thing he did when he got to the house was take a hammer to the wall...This is a view standing in the hallway looking down into the living room. You can see that window in the living room because we [Scott] took down that wall last week. We were only able to remove the sheet rock - Scott will have to be here to actually remove the studs because it is a load bearing wall.

A view from the opposite direction.

From the living room looking up into the den where we are removing the wall. We are actually turning it into a half wall so you can see into that room but there is still a division of space. By the way isn't that a pretty beam?

And so the work goes on! I hope you enjoy the updates!

Staples

Beau is now officially the "most likely to be injured" kid in our family. He was sitting on my nephew Joshua's shoulders on the couch, launched himself backwards, and cut open the back of his head on the sheet-rocked windowsill. Amy stayed with the kids while my mom took me and Beau to the quick care. She dropped us off and drove away before I learned that they can't actually help with head wounds at the quick care. Of course she didn't have her phone, so I stood around for two minutes holding Beau's head before I decided to call my trusty friend Taffy. She drove me home so I could get my own car and drive Beau to the urgent care at the hospital. (By this time he was calm enough and he had a popsicle, so he could sit by himself.) I took him up there, had a very short wait (hallelujah!) and before too long Beau had his feet up on a chair and the nurse was feeding him juice and graham crackers. He did really good when another nurse cleaned his cut, but was mad later when the doctor realized that his inch-plus gash would need more that two staples...more like eight, and he had to get a shot of lidocaine in his head. They had me swaddle him in a blanket and then hold him laying face down (or to the side), on his tummy. He didn't cry...it was more of a hysterical yell, "let go of my head! let me up! stop touching me! I'm all done!" If I wasn't the one holding him down it would have been much funnier. It's really funny now. Then he was treated to a stuffed animal cat, a sticker, and later a happy meal because we missed lunch. He was in the best mood the rest of the day and has not once said a word about his head. (This happened last Friday.) All in all it has proved to be an ideal sort of injury...
Bekah says that she doesn't like to look at his head; it freaks her out. Ditto, sister.
And here is a drawing he did today. Genius. Me, Beau, and Daddy. I thought it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen; it's the first time he's ever drawn something.