Home Again Home Again Jigity Jig

We've said goodbye to this....

and are back home in Fayetteville!

We had a great, relaxing time but are happy to be home with Geoff and starting the last minute preperations for the family addition, (eviction date is Aug 12 if he doesn't come before then) so much to do, so little time!

http://picasaweb.google.com/laurabchilds/July4th#

PA Sightings

We're having a blast in PA, what I thought was going to be a cool down has just turned into an escape since we traded the 90 degree NC weather for, well, 90 degree PA weather but atleast we're missing out on all this 3 digit stuff thats been hitting the east coast.

Highlights from the weekend:

1) Daddy coming to the airport and having the weekend with him

2) Grant yelling FIREWORKS everytime he saw one go off.... 45 times in a row

3) Having a brown bear do a little dance by our car and then running across the street in front of us

4) Having Diane to commiserate with (she's due 2 weeks before me), seeing Marina Sophie and John was pretty cool too

5) Getting to meet Natalie and hang out with Nadia and Patrick, YAY for Army friends!

MIA @ LongPond

This is where we'll be for the next 2 weeks... Geoff comes for the long weekend tomorrow and we're excited to be doing a whole lot of NOTHING (well, you know besides skipping rocks, floating on our backs, searching for frogs, taking walks, and hopefully learning to swim!)

Lets Go To The Movies

As part of Grant's birthday extravaganza weekend we headed to the movie theater for Grant's first big sceen experience: on tap, what else, Toy Story 3! Grant was pretty excited, the only unfortunate thing was that the movie showing that worked with our schedule happened to be the 3D version so we had to keep making sure Grant was wearing his glasses because he would sit and watch for about 5 minutes then get antsy and want to take them off. The popcorn was gone before the opening credits and Grant proclamed it the "biggest TV I've ever seen"!

The Birthday Boy

I can hardly believe it but Grant turned 3 this weekend!

We had a great weekend surrounded by friends a family, Grant was very spoiled with love and lots of gifts and we are so thankful for it!

Grant has been into everything "Buzz and Woody" for a while now so with the new Toy Story movie just released I knew that would have to be our "mini-theme". Super lucky for us, most of the promotion stuff for Toy Story 3 is just a big 3 so with a little google image searching I was able to make our own decorations for next to nothing. Plus Rory found the PERFECT plate at the Disney Store so we were good to go!

(Geoff and I are both a little amazed that they would print these for us as they are blatant copyright infringements so if you happen to work for the legal department of pixar, please avert your eyes)

....more pictures coming soon....

Birthday Balloon Wreath

When I saw this posted on How Does She AND the Nap Time Crafts blog I knew it was something that I wanted to try, and with Grant's 3rd birthday coming this weekend I knew now was the time.

So off to Hobby Lobby it was to get a straw wreath, greenery pins and a lot of balloons. I knew I didn't want to cover the back of the wreath but since you'd see it through the storm door looking out I decided to spray paint it. Next, on to finger marring, urg, I mean, pinning in all those freakin' balloons!

How Does She used the big 12 inch balloons and you can see that its a bit floppy. Nap Time Crafts used the smaller balloons but they are much harder to find. I used a combination only because I started with the smaller and 2 things happened 1) my fingers were KILLING me and I thought any way to speed up the process would be good 2) I saw quickly that I was running out of the smaller balloons so I used some larger ones so they would last. I had to spread the work out over 3 different sessions a couple of days apart just because my fingers hurt so bad but I think it was worth it....

I AM IN LOVE WITH THE FINAL PRODUCT!

Geoff said it best when he said "you're going to use that over and over again, right?!?" heck yea! I love Grant to pieces but that project would have NOT been worth it for just one weekend, plus with as cute as it is I am glad we don't have long to wait before Geoff's special day.

Lindsay & Lila!

We had an extra special treat today! I woke up and got a wonderful text this morning that said "what are you up to this afternoon?" talk about an amazing surprise, Lindsay and Lila drove from Durham to spend the afternoon with Grant and I because both Brian and Geoff were going to be gone for the rest of the day.

Thanks to a sudden afternoon downpour we didn't do much other than sit in the living room and talk, but it was grown up talk (YAY) and oh-so-refreshing! Plus it was fun watching Grant deal with a baby -he was very good and wanted to share everything with her- and on our way to dinner we even got a sneak peek at what the backseat of the highlander will look like in a few short months!

What a refreshing and blessed day!

and To All a Goodnight!

...if you haven't had your "awwww" moment of the day today, this will certainly send you to bed on a good note!

Organic or Not?!?

Have you ever heard of the Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15? If not, you will probably be as delighted as I was a few weeks ago when I discovered this guide that exists to help make wise shopping decisions when I'm standing in the produce aisle trying to decide between the organic apple in one hand and the conventional apple in the other.

The Dirty Dozen
(Shown to contain the most pesticide residues; strive to buy organic)
1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell peppers
8. Spinach
9. Kale
10. Cherries
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes

The Clean 15
(Shown to be contaminated with far less pesticide residue; buying conventional is fine)
1. Onions
2. Avocados
3. Sweet corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mangos
6. Sweet potatoes
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potato
15. Honeydew Melon

Maybe I'm a dork but I was so excited by this little find, the cheat sheet from the link above is now tucked in my wallet for when I need a supermarket peek. If you want to read all of the findings behind these lists check out this and this!

Cover the Walls in Fabric?

I finally got around to finishing one of my favorite crafts for the house and I had to share. Back in Oklahoma when Hobby Lobby was having one of their 90% off all clearance deals I found a HUGE chunky open back frame -think 3x5 feet- that I knew I just had to have. I had no idea what I was going to do with it (Geoff was wondering the same thing when I called and told him about my great deal.... a $430 frame for $43!) Well after trying it empty above the mantle, and hanging it with other frames inside it, I finally decided that it needed to be filled.

I went to Hobby Lobby and found a georgeous damask fabric that was the same shade of blue as our living room walls and bought a couple yards. I also got a piece of foam board and using a razor blade, cut it down to fit right inside of the picture frame. Using some spray adhesive I sprayed the front of the foam board and smoothed the fabric over it, then using a hot glue gun secured the edges that were hanging over the edges on the back.

Though the back isn't all that neat and tidy, the front is a huge piece of elegant art that makes a big statement for a little price. In order to keep the fabric covered foam board from slipping out of the frame I nailed in little nails on each side of the frame, on the back side, to serve as the picture stops that you would normal get with a finihsed frame. I LOVE the final result!

When Big Becomes Huge

It's official, we're in the third trimester! almost 29 weeks in and things are looking good.

At the next appointment we'll actually pick our c-section date (if he wants to come earlier we'll try the normal way but as to not have a repeat of Grant's entrance to the world we're scheduling an "emergency exit" day in week 39) crazy how fast its all going.

Well I am not one for a bunch of belly shots but after seeing these teenytiny bumps recently I felt like I have to show what happens when a 5 foot 1 body suddenly "remembers" what its suppose to do when growing a baby boy (i.e. inflate ALL OVER to the size I was went we went to the hospital to have Grant...) all that and I STILL have 2 1/2 months to get bigger...

and yes, I think we're going to have some interesting reactions as Grant learns to share the spotlight!

Bartlet Glen: Master Bedroom