Keepin' Busy

I'm guilty. Over the past week my blogging has been thrown to the wayside. All for the sake of greater good, of course. We have stayed quite busy since returning from vacation, and not necessarily the kind of busy that would be so interesting to share about- just busy. I feel like there is still so much to be done, but the things that have been accomplished over the past couple weeks, have really been huge!!! 1st time occupier has been of course, the potty training, which is going wonderfully still, except for in the poop dept.- she still hasn't mastered that- does anyone know if that is normal?

We are also getting ready to enter our insane birthday season in our family. Four of soon to be five (wow, that's still crazy to me!) of us have back to back birthdays. I LOVE birthdays, so when this time approaches my mind goes into high gear. Which may make it surprising that we actually have yet to have any big birthday parties for the kids. I think this is pretty much unheard of, but we have just never spent the money on large shenanigans, especially knowing they won't remember them at this age. So we normally just have a small family gathering and a really nice little time. This year will be no different, but we have stepped it up a notch for Hannah Grace's big initiation into the world of big girls.... 3 years, I just can't believe it- she's really not my baby anymore!!! But a couple weeks ago, we splurged and bought tickets for us and Ryan's family to go see Dora Live!! It is coming to town just a couple weeks before her birthday and we just couldn't pass up on it!! So we can't wait to take Hannah Grace and Bennett to meet Dora in person- I must admit they are little fanatics =)

Bennett's birthday is also fast approaching and with the arrival of our newest one coming at the same time, I have been finally really getting down to business with getting things ready. I have been going through baby clothes and cleaning out and rearranging closets, dressers, etc. Sadie will take Bennett's room now and we are moving Bennett into a whole new room. So that has been my project this past week- and you know I LOVE those =) I can't stop until I'm done, but then when I'm done I'm always so sad when there's nothing else to do or nothing else to look for- I know my hubby doesn't share the sentiment =). If you remember we did this- Hannah Grace's "big girl" room for her 2nd birthday last year(with some horse accents of course), and this year it is working out well to do the same for Bennett. Needless to say, I have made more trips to Target than I can count over the past couple weeks, and we are getting his mattress tonight. I still have to order a couple key items for his room, but it is almost done, and I can't wait to show the final reveal! Until then I will give you a hint of where we are going. We threw out several ideas for decorating his room and when Ryan's mom gave us this lamp that Ryan had in HIS room when he was a little boy, we decided this was our starting piece that we would run with- it's authentic vintage (hint, hint, wink, wink).

In the midst of all the work, we have still made time for play. This weekend we went to Blake's birthday party which the kids were so excited all week about, and we got to hang out with Ross and Lori and Bailey at their house. We also enjoyed being outside in some of the amazing cooler weather we have had!! Here are some random pics from the week.

Here's what Hannah Grace would look like if I let her dress herself. She has a flair for fashion, don't' you think?!?

Nothing like a beautiful morning cruise in your PJ's.

Smart kid loves to read- here he is showing me the "blue choo choo".

I don't think you can get any more cuteness and personality stuffed into a 26 pound package than this boy right here!

So there is my attempt at excuses for falling behind in the blogging world. Really though, it feels so good to have gotten so much accomplished. I was looking at everything with the mind set of having a couple months still, but then I came to grips with my ability to procrastinate for weeks at a time with such ease. There is still plenty on the list to do, but we surely are getting ready for all the excitement to come over the couple months!! All the more blog posting to be done...