Happy kids are so much fun :)

Auntie JJ is here!

My sister Erika aka Auntie JJ came in from AZ on Tuesday night! James was so excited to see her. We have some fun things in store while she is here. First and foremost, My Dad!! My dad has not seen James since he was 9 months old! He is coming back from Belize for a couple weeks and then moving to CO. We are going to be heading up to our family cabin in MI in next week. Jeez, there is a lot of state abbreviations in this post. Anyways, lots of fun in store! Stay tuned!

my oldest friend :)

My friend Lucy came up this past weekend. It was so much fun catching up with her and hanging out. She is 3 days younger than me. When my mom was getting out of the hospital with me her mom was going in. We have been friends ever since, but don't get to see each other very often so this was a really nice treat!

Some pics for your pleasure

Last weekend Caleb, James, and I went swimmin at the river. It is so refreshing. These are a few pics from then.

James' vocab has just exploded the last couple weeks. It is so fun to hear what's on his mind. The other morning we were all eating breakfast which included bacon. He looked at me with a little smirk and said, " mommy bacon doggy poop." Isn't that nice LOL! Another time he was playing cars with Caleb. He looked up at him kind of with any angry face and said, "Trucks people too." Silly kid :)

It's a...

GIRL!!!!

We found out today...the voters were right!! Eveyone voted girl for James too, so I just thought it was going to be another boy! We are surprised! This is the first girl in both sides of the family. How exciting!

*** EDITED TO SAY***

Roxanne made a good point. Let's start working on names gang. If I pick your name idea you win a prize :)

The votes are in!

Thanks to everyone for voting!! Now, let's see if you are right or wrong :) We will find out today! My apt is at 10:40, I have another apt at 11:00 so not too long! I will write when I get a chance!

squeeky clean

gotta love me the sound of some dirty money

Yesterday we went over to my grandma's house for the annual money count. (My grandparents save up all their change and misc bills and we get together and count, sort, and divide it up amongst the cousins) We had lots of fun! James loved all of the money! For James' first money count click here and for last year click here.

We went to Divanni's for lunch. YUM!

James had lots and lots of fun with my cousins playing with his cars.

playing some video games with my aunt Teresa

A very sad story about this pizza. When we were leaving my grandma's house, I was walking out with my aunt and talking to her. My grandma gave me a big box of left over pizza which I set on the front of my car to get James in his car seat. I talked to my aunt some more, got into my car and drove away. Forgetting the pizza was on the front of my car! boo hoo! I blame this on my pregnancy brain :)

Sorting some coins!

James loved playing with the money and counting it. We practiced the day before with a bunch of pennys to get him ready LOL!

How the gang normally looks during this serious time.

James, a happy little boy with a wad of bills :)

Homemade chalk paint

I came across this recipe and idea from a blog I read. Thanks Carol!

It is for paintable chalk...really very fun, James loved it.
It is so simple and easy, you probably already have the ingredients.
2 tbl cornstarch
2 tbl water
4 drops food coloring
This is to make one color. James and I tried doing just half of the ingredients and I recommend the whole thing. We ran out pretty quick.

It was so simple James did most of the work :)

Garage Sale Crowds

It is a lot of freaking work to have a garage sale. My girlfriend Tiffany, her mom Patty, and I had the experience of throwing a heck of a garage sale. It was actually intended for last week only, but we were feeling frisky, or had nothing better to do, so we decided to do it this weekend too.

It is kind of fun to watch people, and see the different kinds of people that bargain hunt. I am one of these people, but when I am garage saling (I don't think saling, saleing is a word) I don't really look at the other people at the sales.

Hello prego ladies! I think the majority of our "customers" were pregnant, and even if they weren't Patty asked when they were due...oops :) These pregnant people get of the couch, put the jalapenos and sour patch kids down, and search for some damn good deals on clothes. Maybe that is me.

You then get the hard core garage salers. These are the type of people that will come into a sale with their fanny packs on and comfortable Reebok's squeaking telling you your prices are too high. They like to pick out every little item that forgot to get marked and ask how much. One particular lady came, asked a bunch of prices then came back the next day and asked again probably hoping to get different answers.

You get the random middle aged men that show up by themselves, killing time or looking for fishing equipment.

Kid garage salers are funny, they come with their little purses and wallets picking out the junkiest of junk and paying for it themselves. A 10 year old or so girl buying an old stained lamp? I remember being at this age and older and going to garage sales. Finding candles and cool fun stuff for my room to only be disappointed when I got home and at the age of 15 my mom would make me put any candles or incense on a large metal cookie sheets.

The barterers. Original price: $5.00
Saler: I'll give you $1.00 for this.
Seller: I am pretty firm on the price, it is an antique.
Saler: $4.00?
Seller: How about $4.50?
Saler: Ok, I'll take it.

I could go on and on about this garage sale. I will stop and save you the time :)

A random picture of one of the tables...see anything you like make an offer :) Please notice the red man picture frame. I saw this on the table and thought it looked oddly familiar. Oh yes, my friend Tiffany is selling it. I only gave it to her as a birthday present 10+ years ago. THAT'S ALL! LOL!

Tiffany made a killing off of her girls clothes. This is what was left after 4 days of doing the garage sale. Let's just say she had quite a bit of clothing. Some of the behind the scenes work: Sorting 4 totes, 12 garbage bags, and a few boxes full of girls clothing into outfits, size and then pricing it.

Need an ice cube tray?

Wordless Wednesday: How he came to the dinner table

For more wordless wednesday participants click here and here

Almost 19 weeks!!!

Wow, this is going fast! I will be 19 weeks on Friday. This picture looks exactly like the last one I posted. I am ready to look pregnant so I don't feel so disgusting and fat.
In two weeks from yesterday, the 17th, we will (hopefully, if babe cooperates) be finding out if the lil peanut is a boy or girl!! Lots of people think it is a girl, but I am thinking a boy. Caleb's family doesn't make girls :) I am going to put a poll on the sidebar so make your guesses!

Jumping into my second trimester, I was so excited to start feeling better and have more energy. Thus far, that hasn't been the case. I am still tired all the time and actually have been nauseated again! What the heck? In the last week my sciatic nerve has been driving me crazy too. What the heck? With James I was deathly ill for the whole first trimester. I swear it was like the 1st day of the 2nd I was miraculously better and had tons of energy. It's funny how you think after having the first pregnancy the second would just be the same. It is amazing how different they can be.

My food cravings have been funny this time around. As I am typing this my mouth is all chopped up from eating a small box of sour patch kids. It's like I crave extreme flavors. Sour...lemons, limes, sour candies. Then on the other end of the spectrum spicy, spicy, spicy...jalapenos and crushed red pepper on everything. It's a good thing I haven't started getting heartburn yet :) With James I craved salty things like green olives and yellow mustard. I also ate at subway at least once a week.

Please remember to take your guess at the poll!

Sick little boy audio

The picture was taken last night, James had a fever and I let him sleep in our bed. I went up to check on him and found him stripped of all jammies and diaper. Poor little punkin! I took the picture in almost complete darkness, so my camera wouldn't focus.