Happy Easter!

I hope you've had a great day celebrating Jesus' resurrection! And if you don't celebrate that, then we should talk and I'll tell you why you should. ;)

I had zero pictures in yesterday's post, so here are plenty to make up for it.

This picture was a miracle. Aren't they cute?!?

Easter baskets! Each kid got a coloring book, kite, Skittles, and a cup.

The little cheaters were trying to watch where the eggs were hidden!

Cousins!

This sweet girl was so proud of her haul, but she kept giving eggs to Landon and Evelyn because they didn't have as many.

Now we're watching the Ranger game while we close out this beautiful day. Hopefully they'll get it together and pull out a win.

Happy Easter!

A Picture-less Catch Up Post

It's been awhile since I wrote a catch up post, so you might need to get comfortable!

Um, I don't even know where to start.

I guess we can start with the fact that I'm losing my mind. I have no idea how March flew by so quickly, but my calendar is telling me that April starts on Monday. Yikes!

I've been sewing up a storm. I'm really super thankful for good Etsy sales lately, but I'm also a little overwhelmed at the moment. I've had a few big orders hit all at once, and I'm doing a craft show in a couple weeks, so I'm trying to build up my inventory for that at the same time as filling orders that come in from my Etsy shop. It normally wouldn't be a huge deal to get it all finished, but

I am so, so, so tired.

I can't sleep lately. Between insomnia and cold/allergy symptoms, I am a zombie. 

I'm also trying to keep up with children's ministry responsibilities (VBS is coming up fast), and Matt and I are in charge of coordinating a marriage conference at our church next month, so that's not helping the stress level. But...

We got a new washing machine! Our old one was leaking every time we ran it because it was about a hundred years old. We were just dealing with it, and Matt was gonna get a new hose for it because it was an inexpensive fix, but then a fantastic deal basically fell in our laps and we couldn't pass it up. Our new (ahem, used) fancy schmancy washer even matches the fancy schmancy dryer that we were handed down from my super generous brother. Crazy, huh? Anyway, it'll come in handy when Harper is born this summer because I've decided we're going to 

cloth diaper this time around. I know. Everybody has an opinion. It's too much work. It's gross. I'm crazy. You can save your opinions because I honestly don't care what everybody thinks. It's gonna save us a crap load of money (pun totally intended) and the diapers are adorable. I guess it's better for the environment, too. Whatever. It's not that much more work, and cloth diapering has changed a LOT in recent years. So yay! We've already started collecting our stash so we don't get a huge hit all at once, and I'd be tempted to try them out on Landon if I wasn't getting all the girly colors. :)

Tomorrow's Easter (yay!), and my Facebook feed is bombarded with everyone's cute egg hunts and Easter pictures. We haven't done a dang Easter-y thing this year (besides talk to our kids about the meaning), so apparently I'm out of the loop. We did get some little Dollar Tree baskets (not even the Easter kind, haha) and a few goodies to put in them though. And I think we'll dye some eggs and send the kids on a little hunt tomorrow while we're at my parents' for lunch, but other than that, we're going low key. I'm totally okay with that. Oh, and Avery has a cute dress that matches Landon's little hat. 

The Rangers have their first regular season game tomorrow!! And we open against the Astros, our in-state nemesis and newest division rivals. Looks like we'll be crashing at my parents' to mooch off their ESPN.

Matt's parents are coming in town next weekend, so we're looking forward to that! Next weekend is also Opening Weekend at the Ballpark, and we have tickets to Saturday's game, so yay for that, too!

Avery and Landon are super fun these days. Well, with the exception of Avery's extreme mood swings and Landon's temper tantrums. They love playing outside together, and they crack each other up.

Matt's been busy being awesome. He did tons of laundry today (after I may have thrown a huge hint at him by sorting all of our baskets into piles in the living room, haha) and even kept the kitchen clean. He knew I needed to hole up in my sewing room, so he manned the fort so I could get some work done. He's super busy at work, too. I love his job during the summer. Spring, not so much.

And that's about all the writing I can do tonight. Sorry about the lack of pictures. Hopefully I'll take a few tomorrow and will have some to post next time. But I've just been informed that we have to be at church by 8 tomorrow morning. Yikes. Good night!

21 Weeks and a Name

Woah, looking rough today! It has been a doozy of a week.

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 21 weeks
Size of baby: About 10.5 inches long, the length of a carrot

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 5 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Yes. Pants and shirts. Except the pants don't really fit, so boo to that. Also, I can probably get away with regular shirts, but I don't feel like stretching them out unnecessarily.

Gender: We're having a GIRL!

Movement: This girl is a mover! I feel her wiggling around all the time these days, although she's most active at night.

Sleep: Yes, please. I need it.
What I miss: Having properly fitting clothing to wear.

Cravings: Let's just say that I'm gonna have some serious work to do with my eating habits after this girl is born.  I'm not eating well at all.
Symptoms: I went too long between chiropractor appointments this time (3 weeks), and I was feeling it by Tuesday when I finally got to go in. It might've also had something to do with the fact that I moved all of Avery's bedroom furniture around by myself (Matt was working and I got the productivity bug) and totally overworked myself last weekend, but after my much needed adjustment, I'm feeling much better.

Best Moment this week: Starting to get Avery's room ready for baby girl, whose name can be found in the following picture!

Introducing Harper Kate! This was one of our runner up names for Avery, and I'm really glad we get to use it. :) My maiden name is Harp, and To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my very favorite books, so we thought it was a perfect fit. The middle name just went well with it and we liked it, so no significance there. (p.s. Thanks to Nicole at B. Photography for letting us be her gender reveal models!)

Happy 30th to Matt!

Matt celebrated his 30th on Tuesday! I feel like 30 is the magic adult number. Like you're still allowed to be semi-immature when you're in your twenties, but once you hit your third decade you have to be a grown up. I'm sure glad he has to grow up before I do!

So how does one celebrate such a huge milestone? By spending it with family and friends at a very cliche surprise party, of course!

Matt made throwing this party super easy. As in, he basically threw it himself.  I decided a few weeks ago to invite our people to dinner at Red Robin because 1) it's one of his favorite places, 2) they give you a free burger on your birthday, 3) kids eat for $1 on Tuesdays, 4) I figured he'd want to eat there on his birthday anyway, and 5) I didn't have to clean my house.

So the weekend before his birthday he announced that he had the best idea. We should go to Red Robin on his birthday because he'd get a free meal and the kids would eat for cheap. Sure, what a great idea! And could he invite Nick and Brittany since we hadn't seen them in forever? Of course, I'm sure they don't have other plans! 

I actually thought he knew about it and was just playing along, but he swears he had no idea. So there you have it. I didn't even have to do anything but invite everybody to show up 15 minutes before us and buy a cake to send with my mom. 

The party wasn't the only surprise; I snagged two tickets to Opening Weekend for Matt's birthday present. Rangers vs. Angels and only two more weeks to wait! That may also be a gift to myself, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MATT!!!

20 Weeks: Halfway There!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 20 weeks
Size of baby: About 6.5 inches long, the length of a banana

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 5 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Yes. Pants and shirts. Except the pants don't really fit, so boo to that. Also, I can probably get away with regular shirts, but I don't feel like stretching them out unnecessarily.

Gender: We're having a GIRL! Name to be announced soon :)

Movement: This girl is a mover! I feel her wiggling around all the time these days, although she's most active at night.

Sleep: I'm sleeping great right now once I can finally get to sleep. Seriously, insomnia can just go away. I took a Unisom last night which helped, but this is no bueno.
What I miss: Having properly fitting clothing to wear

Cravings: Nothing healthy, that's for sure! I love chips these days, so I'm trying to at least keep it to potato and tortilla chips so it's a little healthier. Or at least the fewest ingredients. Sigh, I'm gonna have some serious work to do with my eating habits after this girl is born. 
Symptoms: My stomach just keeps on getting bigger, so I'd say that's a pretty obvious symptom.

Best Moment this week: Buying things for our sweet girl! Haha, we don't need a lot for her because we have Avery's clothes (minus the entire box of 12 month clothes that went missing after I lent it out and I'm still a little bitter about) and any baby gear we could "need," but it was fun getting her some adorable Carter's outfits at their outlet last week. She should have some clothes that aren't hand-me-downs, right??

So yay for being halfway to meeting her! And yay that I actually don't hate being pregnant this time around!

Spring Break Recap

Guess who's behind on blogging again! Ding ding ding...it's ME! Oh well.

Matt had spring break last week, and we stayed BUSY! I have a love/hate relationship with spring break actually. I love it because, hello, we get Matt home for a whole week, but then I hate that it's just such a tease for summer. The weather's warming up, we get to eat outside on the patio, and all schedules basically go out the window. Sigh, only two and a half more months until we get that for more than a week.

MONDAY
I hardly even remember last Monday. I'm pretty sure we went grocery shopping though since that's our typical grocery day. Shopping is always way more fun with Matt there to entertain kids and throw extra food in the basket. We always bring home the best food when he goes with us. :) I think I did some sewing that afternoon, too. What an exciting day!

TUESDAY
This was the fun day because we had our big sonogram! We found out we're having a girl, and to celebrate, we went out for lunch at Chuy's (best Tex Mex ever; you will never convince me otherwise). Since we were already in Arlington, we decided to hit a few stores and stop by Starbucks before heading home. And Matt realized that he should never tell me to get him whatever I'm getting. Let's just say his sweet tooth isn't nearly as intense as mine.

We had a fun little photo shoot that evening with a girl from my Mops group, and we had delicious salads on the patio when we got home. The weather was gorgeous!

WEDNESDAY
I had to work at church for a little while in the morning, so Matt and the kids set up a tent in the backyard and ate breakfast outside. I came home to pick up the kids for a Mops play date, and Matt was a gem and scrubbed the kitchen floor. On his hands and knees. Seriously, he is a keeper.

We tried having nap time in the tent, but it was pretty warm in there, so that was a fail. So I started sorting out all of Landon's outgrown clothes to sell/donate while they napped inside. We even got a surprise invitation to go taste test some snow cones down the road where a family we know is about to open a snow cone stand! Yes, please! We got to try my favorite, wedding cake with cream, and they were SO good.

Carlos, Kendra, and Cami came over for some red beans and rice for dinner, and we got to eat outside again. The weather really decided to cooperate with our plans this week. :)

THURSDAY
I worked at church again in the morning, but this time Matt brought the kids to play on the playground while they waited for me.

We met my mom for lunch at Chick-fil-a and then she treated us to Marble Slab afterward. Might as well live it up on vacation, right?? We ran some errands afterward, and I can't even remember what we did that night. I probably sewed.

FRIDAY
We had a fun Friday! We went to Fort Worth to meet my dad for lunch (he works downtown) at a food truck park that Matt's been dying to try. It was so cool! The park is right on the Trinity Trail, so it would be a nice stop off if you're out biking the trail one day. And it's right across from the Ft. Worth Zoo, so it would make for a great lunch break while you're visiting! Anyway, we scored some delicious fish and chips from the Gastro Bomber truck, and the kids tried out grilled PB&J at First Bites. We took our own sides and drinks, so it really wasn't too outrageous for us to eat lunch out there. The atmosphere is just really cool. I recommend checking it out!

After lunch we stopped at the new outlets in Grand Prairie. They were okay. We got some really great deals at the Carter's outlet, but every other store was pretty much a bust. Since we'd already passed up nap time, we stopped at Target on our way home (Avery was desperately needing some new shoes and we had no luck anywhere else). The kids were exhausted (i.e. super cranky), so they ate an early dinner and went to bed really early.

I had a moms' night out craft night at church, so I got a LOT of sewing done. It's always more fun to sew with good company! When I got home around 12:45 in the morning, my brother was waiting in our cul-de-sac to take Matt out for a police ride-along for the rest of the night morning.

SATURDAY
We were super exhausted after our late night (I didn't go to bed until 2am and Matt didn't get home until 6:30am), but we trucked along anyway. The kids went to my parents' around lunch time because we had tickets to see In the Heights at a local community theater (Matt had some students in it). We grabbed some appetizers for lunch at Cheddar's and made it to the show just in time. I had never seen the show, but I loved it! It's kind of a Latin/hip hop version of Rent, minus the drugs and Aids.

That night we had Matt's early birthday dinner at my parents' house with my family (minus Nick, Brittany, and Allison).

SUNDAY
We were back to a typical Sunday, with a lunch meeting after church, Matt's worship team rehearsal after that, and then Awana after some short kid naps.

So yay for spring break, but hurry up summer!!

19 Weeks and It's a...

 

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 19 weeks
Size of baby: About 6 inches long, the size of an apple, and according to today's ultrasound, about 11 oz.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 5 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Yes. Pants and shirts. Except the pants don't really fit, so boo to that. Also, I can still definitely get away with regular shirts, but I don't feel like stretching them out unnecessarily.

Gender: Drum roll please...we're having a GIRL!

Movement: This girl is a mover! I feel her wiggling around all the time these days. Matt was even able to feel her two nights ago, which seems crazy early, but I promise I'm not making it up!

Sleep: I'm sleeping great right now (yay for Spring Break and the time change that makes my kids sleep later!)
What I miss: Having properly fitting clothing to wear

Cravings: Nothing healthy, that's for sure. I got my Chuy's fix in today as a celebratory lunch, so that was pretty awesome!
Symptoms: My stomach just keeps on getting bigger, so I'd say that's a pretty obvious symptom.

Best Moment this week: I think it's a tie between finding out that baby #3 is a little girl and Matt being able to feel her moving.

I'm really excited to add another girl to the crew. Really excited. In fact, I had talked myself into really wanting this baby to be a girl because 1) we already had a name, 2) Avery has a bigger closet to share and will be a better roommate right now, and 3) we have lots of girl clothes and I wanted to continue to share them with my sweet niece Evelyn instead of debating on whether to sell them. But then after the ultrasound I was actually a little sad that it wasn't a boy. I love little boys! They're fun and loud and adventurous and sweet and just easy. So I'm weird apparently and can't make up my mind. But it's a girl and we're very, very happy about that. Isn't her little profile the cutest??

And now to answer the next question that I know everyone will start asking: What's her name? Well it's an awesome one, I'll tell you that much! Haha, we did a gender reveal photo shoot this evening for a photographer in my MOPS group who's expanding her portfolio, so I was going to use those pictures to announce the gender, but I don't think we'll have them for a couple weeks and I didn't want to wait that long. So. We'll use them to announce the name. The really great name. :) And if you hate said name, you're not allowed to say anything about it to my face. The end.

Mellow Mushroom and Funky Finds!

It's Spring Break, y'all!

To celebrate, we had a fun family day on Saturday.

We started out helping out at our church's giveaway (like a free garage sale) in the morning.

From there we headed out to Ft. Worth to try out a food truck park Matt's been wanting to check out. It was pretty windy and gloomy though, so when we realized we were right by a Mellow Mushroom, we quickly changed our plans.

We LOVE Mellow Mushroom, but we'd only been there once! It's a super cool and delicious pizza chain that uses really good ingredients, many of them organic. If you ever get a chance to go, you have to get the Red Skin Potato Pie. It sounds weird, but just trust me on this one. It has sliced roasted red potatoes, smoked bacon, caramelized onions, cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, is garnished with chives then drizzled with sour cream and spicy ranch dressing. We got the garlic butter and Parmesan pretzels as an appetizer, and those were amazing also. Good thing we're not on a gluten free diet! I'm hungry again just thinking about it.

I think Matt gets tired of me taking pictures of him at restaurants. Landon ignores me completely.

After our tummies were more than full, we drove over to Funky Finds, a semi-annual indie arts and crafts show. It was so cool!

One of my favorite booths was Texas Night Light, where I picked up two packs of hand-poured coconut lime verbena wax for my Scentsy warmer (I'm sure my Scentsy representative friends are cringing right now-- sorry!).

I also loved Courtney Gaston's art booth. If I were still teaching high school English, I would've snagged at least one of her book page canvases.

I absolutely adored the Capricious booth. This chick and her husband repurpose old windows into gorgeous organizers. They were super nice and even let me snag a picture of their cool pennant banner. I think they're just getting started, so check out their Etsy or Facebook page and show them a little love!

And of course my friend Rachel from 38Stitches had a gorgeous booth! If you haven't already heard my opinion about this (because I tell everyone I know, haha), she makes the absolute best baby bibs. They're my favorites! They're the perfect size, have awesome prints, and are amazingly washable and durable. Love them!

I may have to try to get my Etsy shop into the next Funky Finds show because I think my stuff is more than comparable in quality and cuteness than some of the booths there. And I know that my key fobs are better than the ones I saw, haha. I'm doing a small show in Flower Mound next month, so I'll use that for some practice. :)

In completely unrelated news, we have our big sonogram tomorrow! The vast majority of my friends are swearing I'm having a girl, we only have a girl name, and it would be so much easier logistically for us to have another girl, so I'm about positive we're having a boy.

We'll know tomorrow!

Landon: 21 Months

Landon is HILARIOUS. He is seriously the biggest ham (yes, he takes after his father, which is only fair since Avery is basically me as a 3 year old).

Except right now he has a stomach bug for the THIRD time this school year, which is not hilarious at all. I used to brag that my kids never get sick, so maybe this is payback. Maybe I should clarify that statement by saying that my kids never get sick except when the awful vomit/diarrhea viruses go around. Ew ew ew.

But this post isn't supposed to be about throw up. It's about Landon, who is 21 months old! You read that right, only three months away from being 2, and oh my goodness how does it go by so quickly?!?

 
Our big boy is still at the top of the charts as far as size is concerned. He weighs 29 lbs (75%), is in the 90% for height, and has a huge head that measures (95%+).

He's starting to wear 2T clothes, although some 18 month shirts still fit him (thank you Carters for making clothes that my kids can wear forever!). He's in a 6/7 shoe, but he hates wearing them, so they come off every chance he gets. And he still wears a size 4 diaper for his skinny little booty.

Landon LOVES to talk. He's really surprised us with his verbal abilities, mostly because we expected him to be basically mute when everybody warned us not to compare him with Avery since 1) he's a boy, and 2) he's a second-born. He completely keeps up with her though, and while he's not using as many sentences as she did at this age, he talks just as frequently and regularly uses an incredible amount of words.

One of my favorite things about the way he talks is that he doesn't pronounce Ks. So we read "boots," he sleeps with his "blatie," he drinks from a "cut," and he always wants to eat "tate." He also switches around P sounds, so pizza becomes "teepa" and so on. But one sentence he always says perfectly now is "I love you, ________," so he basically has us all wrapped around his fingers.

Landon still loves to climb on everything, and he runs super fast now. I think he'll be a natural athlete, which will be a good way for him to burn off some of his crazy energy!

His favorite person is Avery, and it's been fun watching them interact and play together more lately. It doesn't hurt that he still doesn't mind when she bosses him around. I'm sure those days are limited. :)

Notice the sleep position: thumb in mouth, fingers on belly button. Oh, and Avery doesn't suck her thumb even though it totally looks like she is here.

Landon is just really sweet and fun and has an overall laid back personality. He's started to hit the tantrum stage, but those are still pretty rare. We love this kid so much!

18 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 18 weeks
Size of baby: About 5.5 inches long, the length of a bell pepper

Total Weight Gain/Loss: At my last appointment I was up two pounds. We don't own a scale, but I'm fairly certain that I will have gained at least five more by the time my next appointment rolls around. Needless to say, my appetite is back in a big way.

Maternity Clothes: Yes. Pants and shirts. Except the pants don't really fit, so boo to that. Also, I can still definitely get away with regular shirts, but I don't feel like stretching them out unnecessarily.

Gender: We find out TUESDAY!

Movement: Feeling lots of flutters these days.

Sleep: When I finally get to sleep I'm fine, but then my kids think it's okay to wake me up before 8. Somebody come teach them that I am not a morning person. :)
What I miss: Having properly fitting clothing to wear

Cravings: Basically anything that could possibly be unhealthy for me to eat. Today's choice? Chicken Express. Seriously?!?
Symptoms: My stomach just keeps on getting bigger, so I'd say that's a pretty obvious symptom.

Best Moment this week: It was a pretty uneventful week, but I'm REALLY looking forward to our ultrasound on Tuesday. I'll be back next week with the reveal!

Wedding Mini Road Trip

I've been completely slacking in the blog department, so here's a glimpse of our most recent Saturday. We took a little family road trip to east Texas last weekend to witness my friend Beth's sweet wedding. It was a gorgeous day (even though it was COLD), and I'm glad we made the 1.5 hour trek!

The bride's cake was beautiful and delicious!

Isn't Beth gorgeous?? I'm so excited that she found Matt. I love their story. :)

Sassy Pants took some flower girl notes during the ceremony to get ready for Aunt Carrie's and Aunt Allison's weddings!

And Landon enjoyed the M&Ms. A lot.

I'm sad this picture is so blurry, but it's the best one I got of Landon dancing with all the girls!

Such a sweet moment between Beth and her little girl (Avery's friend Hailey). Big brother Ian was running around somewhere else I guess. :)