Painting Crew

I know, it's been a while, right? Well, earlier in the week I tried to upload a video of Matthew, but it just wouldn't go, so I gave up. It's not in this post, but hopefully I can get it up on another one. This post isn't really about him anyway. Ok, get over your disappointment. I still have some pics of him, so relax :)

This weekend we committed to painting two rooms in our house, the family room and the nursery (aka Matthew's room).

Josh began the weekend before with some primer to cover up the dark green walls. It's not necessarily an ugly green, but dark walls means the space can look small, and that color was not the vision I had in mind for our family room.

Then during the week he painted our accent wall orange. We figured with that done, we could tape it off and make the weekend job easier.

Josh's family and our 2 friends from church came over on Friday to paint. Josh had Friday off, and so did everyone else. Here you see Josh and Cathy working hard with the rollers. This golden yellow came out so pretty in the end. The camera doesn't do it justice. It look mustardy, but I promise, it's not.

My Dad-in-law working on the opposite wall. They have a paint machine that made the job go faster.

Here's Josh doing touch-up on some spots the next evening.

The finished product. Yes, I know, all the walls look orange, but only the accent wall is. The rest looks like the golden sun setting on the western horizon. Which is my family room theme, by the way, western. I was inspired to do these sunset colors because of a small vase I own. And get this, a friend from my church paints artwork, and she's working on 2 paintings for me for this room. I am so excited to see them when she finishes!!

Now I can begin collecting some western items for the room. The walls look really bare right now, but in a way I don't mind. I enjoy looking at the colors. The rooms looks much bigger and warmer and cheerier. It makes me happy just thinking about it. But back to western stuff, I bought a wagon wheel that I'd like to put on the wall. And then there's the paintings my friend will do. Plus I found a western clock on Amazon I'd like to order. And I liked a framed piece I saw at a store that had a quote and a horseshoe, so that's along the lines of my theme. I want to take my time decorating my walls, because I don't want to rush into buying something and end up hating it. I also don't want to go overboard with the western stuff. Some things I've seen border on tacky, and other stuff is too outdoorsy for the look I want. I just want a taste of the west, and I want the room to feel comfortable. Hopefully I can achieve that as I collect stuff for my walls.

Josh took apart Matthew's crib and moved it into the Nascar room so the nursery could get painted.

See the light green and pink on the walls? Plus there was a butterfly border around the top that we removed a couple weeks ago. Yeah, too girly for a boy, and totally not matching my Mickey nursery stuff.

Here's Dave (Cathy's husband) working hard...maybe :)

The final product. I picked a warm corduroy brown for these walls. I wanted a neutral on the wall for future kids that would live in this room, and the color matched really well with the wall hangings and valance. By the way, I keep saying I picked such and such color, but Josh was part of the decision-making too. He helped me decide what shade of brown for the nursery and just what orange would go perfect with the yellow in the family room.

Friday was gorgeous weather, so when the paint was drying, we spent lots of time outside, which Matthew loved. Lately he's been asking a lot if he can go outside. When did he become such an outdoor lover with an indoor mom? We had pizza and salad for lunch, but for dinner we grilled chicken, corn on the cob, my Mom-in-law made potato salad, and I made a fruit salad. Plus we had patriotic brownies and rice krispie treats. Mm, everything was so yummy! Especially after a hard day's work. Oh yeah, I didn't really work, did I? See, I planned to not paint, cause I didn't think close exposure to the fumes would be good for Jellybean. But I supervised, and my sis-in-laws and mom-in-law helped entertain Matthew. I even managed to get him to nap, despite the exciting day and lots of people in the house.

Cathy and my mother-in-law enjoying the outdoors.

Fun with frisbees. That's Bek on the left and Hannah on the right. Sorry Dad, I cut part of you off in this pic :)

Matthew loved the frisbees. See? Told you there'd be a picture of him. Actually, I guess I said there'd be more than one picture, but uh, I just have one. So here it is. A wonderful conclusion for my post :)

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Josh and I celebrated our 4th anniversary on Thursday. The day itself was kind of blah. Definitely not romantic. Josh obviously had to work and we quickly opened our cards to each other over a quick dinner because we had a viewing to attend. Plus on the way to the church, Matthew had diarrhea, and that was oh so much fun to clean up (ugh!) But Friday was a whole new day. It signaled the beginning of the weekend, and my cool husband brought home these roses called passion roses. They had these hues of pinks and oranges and yellows, kind of like a sunset. Anyway, as you can see below they were beautiful.


We really looked forward to Saturday. Josh's sisters and one of their friends came over to babysit Matthew so he and I could go on a date. Boy, when was the last time we went on a date? It's been a while. I know I know, you need to set aside consistent time to go on dates to strengthen your marriage, yadda yadda. I know all that, but in reality, it's hard to make that time, am I right? For one, you're just so tired sometimes, and the effort to plan a date and arrange a babysitter and find time to actually follow through with your plans can be tricky. On top of that, going out means your activities are most likely going to cost money (there's no such thing as a free lunch, as the saying goes). I'm not trying to sound like a stick in the mud, but really folks, this is real life. Anyway...

Real life for us on Saturday was a fun date. We went to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch, where we both got the salad bar and a chicken pasta dish. Josh ordered a pomegranate lemonade that sounded like it would be good, but it was really strong. Not the greatest, but you live and learn, right? After we were thoroughly full, we headed to the movie theatre, which again, hadn't done in forever. I think that last thing we saw together was either the newest Indiana Jones movie or Transformers, whichever came out most recently. We saw the new Star Trek, and folks, it was really really good. If you're a Star Trek fan (and why would you see it if you weren't), then you would like this. We had our doubts, seeing as it's a completely different cast playing these iconic characters, but they more than pulled it off. Josh's favorite was McCoy. The guy did so amazing, down to the facial expressions and tone of voice and classic phrases ("I'm a doctor, not a physicist!"). For me, it was a toss up between McCoy and Kirk. I thought Chris Pine (who played Kirk) did so well at capturing a young James T. Kirk. He also delivered voice tones and actions that were reminiscent of the original Kirk. Hm, I sound like a movie critic or something. But yeah, it was very well done, and I would go see a sequal when and if there is one.


Which brings us to Sunday, Father's Day. When Matthew woke up, Josh brought him into our room to hang out on the bed (we often do that on the weekends). Josh opened his cards and I gave him a gift, a framed pic of him and Matthew for his office. Then we all got ready and headed to Bob Evans for breakfast, the best place for breakfast, in our opinion. Matthew ate like 2 bites of his pancakes, but despite that setback, he was well-behaved and played with a spoon, a straw, the crayons, and the papers and kid's menu to color on. I actually got a picture of both of them smiling. I tell ya, it's so hard to get Josh to smile for pictures. It's like pulling teeth ;).



We were late for Sunday School, which we knew would happen, but we were ok with that. A yummy breakfast for Father's Day was just what the Daddy in our family needed. A men's quartet from Trinity Baptist College was at church, so we enjoyed some music before the preaching. And since our pastor was away because of a death in the family, we were privileged to hear our youth pastor speak. I know the teens get to hear him all the time, but we adults don't. And he's a good preacher, so the morning service was very nice.

Evening service was cancelled because of the holiday. For dinner I managed to prepare pulled pork. Josh says I'm turning into a southerner :). I was nervous because I'd never made it before, and it seemed like a daunting task. But the recipe seemed simple, and that gave me confidence. Praise the Lord for crockpots! I think the slow cooker had more to do with it tasting good than the cook did. After our food settled, we joined up with some friends from church at Coldstone and took advantage of the Free-ice-cream-for-Dads-on-Father's-Day coupons. Josh got blueberry ice cream (his current fav) and I got mint. You were expecting me to get chocolate, weren't you? Well, the last time I was at Coldstone I got mint ice cream with graham cracker crust mixed in, and it was so delicious I just had to get it again. Don't worry, there will be other days for chocolate. I have not abandoned it forever :)

We had a great weekend. Plenty to do, but not overwhelmingly so. Couple time, and time as a family. Good food and church fellowship. What more could you ask for?

3 Month Belly

I think I look bigger in this picture than I am in real life. There are some days that I turn sideways and look, and I'm like, Man, I don't look pregnant at all! And there are other days where I look like I'm halfway there and I can't fit into regular clothes. Regardless of how I look, I've got 3 months down and 6 more to go. Morning sickness is virtually nonexistent now (whoo-hoo!), and so my appetite is back to normal. I seem to crave not-so-healthy things, but don't worry. I don't usually fulfill those urges. Mostly cause those things aren't in the house anyway, and it's a waste of gas and money to drive to the store to pick up only one or two things that I would consume in 3 minutes. See? I can talk myself out of eating junk food...sometimes ;)

Most of the time I need to eat every few hours. Basically, when Matthew gets a snack, so does Mommy :) Of course sometimes I eat when he doesn't, cause I feel like I'm gonna faint or throw up if I don't devour the closest cracker or granola bar. My back's beginning to be sore too. I remember it hurting during my first pregnancy, but not this soon. It's probably cause I have Matthew to pick up and carry around and such. He's heavy, so I'm sure the extra stress on my muscles is why I'm in pain now.





Speaking of Matthew, he's doing well. He's not walking yet. In fact, he has no desire to try to walk on his own. Once we encourage him to do it, he catches on fast, and he'll have none of it. He better be walking by the time this new baby comes, cause I am not hauling around a toddler and a newborn jellybean 24/7. By the way, we call this new baby Jellybean. Mainly because in the ultrasound, he/she looked like the shape of a jellybean, so that's that. We called Matthew Fishy, do you remember? But that wasn't cause he looked like a fish. I just thought that was a cute name.

Matthew was sick this weekend. Thursday night he woke up with a fever and was up a few more times that night. Friday brought the runny nose and congestion. And to top it off, he has a cough that bugs him. Maybe even a sore throat, cause when he coughs, he acts like it hurts or it's uncomfortable. Poor little guy! You know how sometimes your kid gets a cold, but they don't act like they feel bad? Well, that wasn't the case this time. He was miserable, and you could tell. His naps were short (40 and 20 minutes), and he ate practically nothing. He had no opposition to drinking, so we kept the fluids coming. We cut back on the milk, since it worsened his congestion, and we upped the water and juice. He was so pitiful. He would sit with us on the couch and cuddle for a long time and watch TV. He started to feel better on Sunday. Saturday night was a good sign, because he slept all night and there was no fever. So now he's on the mend. Still has the physical cold symptoms (runny nose and cough), but his appetite is returning, which is usually a good sign. Josh was great while Matthew was sick. He volunteered to get up with him Friday night so I could get some sleep. I'd been with him all day, and it was a much-appreciated break. And then I took care of Matthew in the morning while Josh slept in. It's times like these that make me so grateful for the man I married. We are a good team, and I love working side by side with him.

Hey, our anniversary is in 2 days. I have to get a little sentimental, don't I? :)

Promised Videos

Who need toys? Just give the kid a cardboard box and he'll be happy...



Playing peekaboo with Mommy...



Wrestling with Daddy? Something like that...



Saying his new favorite word "cracker"...

Catching up on Pictures

Enjoying the Outdoors

He doesn't sit in his little chair too long, but it's still so cute to see him in it!

I guess he's not afraid of the grass today :)

The new mower works great.

Other Pictures

Exhausted on Daddy's birthday.

Relaxing on the couch...probably watching cartoons or something.

See? Told ya, all fours now.

Cute close up.

I found him like this today while he was playing. Somehow he got in there, but I don't know how it happened.

Spaghetti Fiasco

I think he's trying to shove it through his face.

Ok, now we found the opening.

Let me touch the camera. My hands are clean, honest!

Do I have something on my face?

Strawberry Festival

We went to a Strawberry Festival this weekend (yes, another one). This one was much bigger, and we went with a couple of our friends, Brian and Janelle. Matthew liked having extra hands to hold him and extra faces to entertain him. We got homemade strawberry shortcake and the festival's famous strawberry donuts--yum! There was a tent set up with a table and crayons so kids could color, and they also had a mat down with some oversized foam blocks for kids to play with. This was probably Matthew's favorite part. Mainly because he was out of his stroller and got to crawl around.

Daddy, get that one for me.

Now we're talkin'.

Whoa, this is huge!

This is the best fun ever! (I love how he sits like that, with his legs tucked back. Makes him so toddler-ish and less baby-ish)

Ok, my tons of pictures are over for now. But stay tuned, because videos are in the near future :)