Our Princess Room

We redecorated the girls room this week after finding used bunk beds for only $80! We did not plan to get big beds until winter, but with this deal - we HAD to! So... here are the pics of the girls room. The is the before! Look how little Alex looks. This was Nov/Dec 2007 when we moved into our house. The polka dots were cute but a PITA to cover!
These are the girls new beds. Not pine as I would have liked, but $80 not $500! I made the girls tie blankets out of pink princess fleece on one side and hot pink on the other.
(2 1/4 yards makes a twin) Who can resist a soft feelce blanket?! The toy box was Christmas gift, but matches great! I made sheer pink curtains that are a pale pink shimmer. They are bearly visable.

This is the view when you walk in the room. Taylor's dresser is also pine and will go next to the doll house. The doll house was a Birthday gift last year made by my in-laws.

This is the wall when you walk into their room.

I had to put the night stand back in the room, as much as I hoped not to. Alex has to have access to the CD player or she will climb the dresser to get it. They have many song CD's and books on CD that Alex plays for them.

I painted this when we first moved her, 21 months ago. I have marked Alex's height as she has grown.

I know this doesn't match, but they aren't the same either! Here is Taylor's name. I have marked her height at the bottom of the wall since she was 13 months.

This is the view of Alex's dresser and doll house. I have porcelean dolls she got for gifts sitting out. Above her dresser is the "Baby's First Year" frame with pics from 1-12 months.

Also the shelf above that with 3 photos are ultrasound pics that were from her baby shower.

This is the same view, but shows Taylor's ultrasound pics, matted in green (7, 12, 19 & 37 weeks) Also next to that is Taylor's "Baby's First Year" pics in the frame.

This is a close up of thier beds. Under are 6 drawers that go all the way to the wall.

Ramblings...

Well, today has been a busy day. We completed our passport of parks sponsered by the Bismark Parks & Rec Dept. We visited 7 of the 8 parks listed and had to answer a trivia question about them. It was really fun to go to new parks around the city. Today we went to 2 that are around the zoo. We went to one, then toured the zoo for a few hours (we have a membership and go about once a week), then went to another park and had a picnic. We turned in the books and the girls each got a shirt, gatorade and a few small toys. Taylor bearly can wear a 2T and the smallest shirts they had were a Youth Small! Oh well, who cares if she wears it in 2-4 years! Last night I went to MNO with Moms Club. This was really good for me to get out. Not only to get away from the snotty nosed, teething baby - but to talk to other Moms. I realized that working out makes me a better Mom. That 20-45 minutes I take of ME time makes me better. So, this morning I found myself awake at 7 am with a quiet house. So, I snuck downstairs to do the eliptical. Along with walking at the zoo and eating good today, I feel so much better! There is more though - I am taking the girls swimming with my MIL later today. We should all sleep well tonight!

Here are a few random pics of me that Alex took. I was shocked when I saw them!

This is me posing with Taylor.... I guess it is nothing too special since I am sitting.
This is the one that got me the most.
I think I look so skinny in this picture!
I know it is not cool to toot your own horn, but I am impressed!
This makes me want to continue to eat right and work out!

Not as great as the last pic, but this shows a front on visual.
Typical Mom ponytail!

This Month's Goals

So, I woke at 6 am to workout. I did 20 minutes on the eliptical, that was all I had in me. I have a cold and feel like crap. So, working out and working out before the girlies wake is one of my goals - at least 5 days per week. Drink lots of water - this has been lacking, so I need to make it a priority. Also, to eat healthy and take my prenatal vitamins daily. I have been slacking on this the past few months.

Yesterday we went to Wade's company picnic. That was fun, the girls had a good time. I was shocked that Taylor did not fall asleep on the way home. They had bounce houses and Taylor LOVED them - but it was hard to find one (even the "baby" one) that bigger kids were not in. It seemed hotter in there than outside, so we pushed lots of water and snow cones.

We also drove around to look for a camping site on Beulah Bay - so I could set up camp before Wade gets off Sunday.... but no luck. We will look closer to home tonight. Baby is up!

Alpacas

While I was in college, my parents bought the farm.

The land was origionally my Great Grandfather's Grandparents land.

My parents moved a house out there and took care of my Great Grandparents until they passed.

Probably about the time Alex was born, or the spring before, my parents invested in Alpacas.

You can read more about Alpacas on my parents website,

http://www.paradisealpacas.com/

So, these are more vacation pics, but only of the alpacas or the girls and the alpacs.

Here are the girls playing in the pool.

I think that the Alpacas were jealous because it was really hot.

Here is Taylor feeding.

I love how the Alpaca stepped in the way to block Alex out of the shot.

Here is my Mom the farmer. :o)
I never thought farmers wore flip flops or matched them to their shirts!
It was hot and she was having helpers feed the herd.



This is Taylor posing at the door of the Alpacas.



One of the babies, I think her name is Zeeva.
I may be wrong, it may have spelled it wrong too.

Here is Taylor sniffing noses with one of the Alpacas.

Here are the girls at the fence of the Alpaca's. They really had a good time feeding the Alpacas with Nana.

Here is a shot of the girls at feeding time.

Another random Alpaca picture.


My parents make great quality items out of the Alpacas fleece, this is the main part of the business. They make sweaters, socks, coasters, scarfs, etc. Visit their farm store on their website to see their great work!

http://www.paradisealpacas.com/StoreHome.asp

I have 4-5 alpaca scarves now, so chances are if you see me wearing a scarf, it's alpaca!

I'm a blob

It has been a rough two days.

Today is night 4 of 4 for my husband, any Mom will understand what I am taking about. The dread of the last day of work, the expectant relief of help over the horizon.

I ate an entire chocolate pound cake last night and today. I was craving chocolate last night, so I made this luscious Tastefully Simple Chocolate Pound Cake that was calling me from the cupboard. The husband had some this morning when he got home, but I think that is it. Oink, I know.

I popped the top on a bottle of wine last night and had a glass. Bummed due to *that time of the month*, I drank a glass.

Today, the kids were absolutely driving me crazy (we went grocery shopping then oraginzing). I guess I have gotten climatized to North Dakota. Here it is August. My friends in Texas and Kansas are seeing how low the A/C can go and how little clothes it is legal to go out of the house in. Well, we live in North Dakota. Not that it has been warm this summer AT ALL.... However, I brought a heaping box of winter clothes for Taylor (aka baby redhead) upstairs. I have them all put away, taking out summer clothes she has worn to make room for them. Sadly, she is such a peanut that I will be pulling these same clothes out when spring hits because most of the 2T's in her closet and drawer still do not fit. It is almost sad to look at these clothes I am putting in Taylor's closet and realize that a lot of them Alex wore when we moved here (she was 23 months). Some, I know Alex got for Christmas when she was 14 months - and they still do not fit little sister at 19 months. :o) I love my peanut!

So.... before dinner, I started drinking more. I had another 2 glasses of wine before and with dinner. Do you think my cheesy vegetable soup (from healthy cooking magazine) counteracts my eating sins? Or does my can of Coke Zero wipe out the wine?

Today is the start of cycle 4, trying for baby #3, round 2. This is the reason for the eating, drinking and depression. I want to be knocked up already.

Vacation and Weight

Well, we went to Oregon on vacation. I ate my way through it... so not too suprising that I gained 4-5 lbs. I didn't work out for the 13 days we were gone, the week before or the week after... so, really not too bad. The previous two days I walked 4-5 miles with the girls - today I just got off the eliptical while Taylor napped. I ate snacks at a Moms Club activity, so I am eating carrots and frozen blueberries while I update my blog.

Here are a few pictures from our trip in random order....

This is a picture of me and baby redhead. This was taken by my 6 year old niece. This was at a Children's museum.

This is a picture of us at my cousin's wedding.

Here are all the kids -
backrow R-L ~ Matthew (4), Andrew (7) & Alexandra (3)
Front row R-L ~ Peter (9) holding Spencer (1), Lillian (3) and Jeannette (6) holding Taylor (1).