Toy Room/Entertainment Room Part I and a little bit of money talk

We are finally working on our upstairs toy room/entertainment room! We had these bookshelves built by a guy in Atlanta that makes cabinets for home builders.

There are two two foot wide bookshelves that are 16 inches deep and one three foot wide bookshelf that is 20 inches deep. They are all 84" in height.

This guy was a little excited about getting his new nail gun/air compressor combo today!

Bo used his new toy to move one of the shelves in the three foot bookshelf, so we can put our tv in it. I'm excited to put the first coat of primer on the set this week - at least that is the plan!

Check out my girls "taking a nap" together

Emma Catherine was very upset when I took Annabelle to her crib after we read stories.

Annabelle is starting to "talk" as much as Emma Catherine does - uh oh!

In other news, tonight we found out we OWE $3200 in taxes. Yep. My eyes bugged out like that too when I heard Bo say $3200. How in the world does that happen? We both adjusted our forms last year when Bo decided to go full time with GTRI; we listed him as head of household. So maybe we messed something up there? We will figure it out, but what a blow! All I could think about was how we were not going to reach our savings goal.

I was already feeling a little overwhelmed this afternoon thinking about work, Annabelle's vaccinations, etc... so that was kind of the icing on the cake for Miss Moody over here. I decided to snuggle Annabelle and watch an episode of Lie to Me.

I felt a little better after vegging, so Bo and I looked at the bank accounts and our Debt Snowball. I received my bonus from work last week and we were able to pay off one of the last two student loans we have!! Once we marked that off our Debt Snowball and did the math, we realized we have paid off about $70,000 since July 2009. Thank you sweet Jesus for putting things into perspective for me. We are truly blessed.

Our debt has consisted of both our student loans and my car loan that we bought in September of 2007. And since we started our Dave Ramsey plan in July 2009, we have paid off everything except one of Bo's law school loans. So our little tax set back means we didn't quite reach our savings goal for 2010, but we are doing a good job. So here we go... tightening up the belt and trying to keep up that gazelle intensity!

Guess who fell asleep doing laundry AGAIN?

Don't you even try to look innocent missy, I caught you this time!

Do you ever feel like your house needs this sign:

Okay, so maybe one that doesn't look so country, but you get the point!

So it dawned on me today (when I got a call from Annabelle's daycare teacher to be) that my maternity leave will be over in only three short weeks. Where did the time go? Oh yeah, sickness here, hospital trip there, check ups, birthday parties =), beautiful wedding, a blink of an eye! Oh what to do. To work? To ask to work part time? To stay home?

I do finally feel like I'm getting in the groove here at home. I have successfully completed my bible study lessons and worked out every day this week despite EC's general whiny attitude because she has had fever since Tuesday. Can't say I blame her. She is fever free today - woohoo! Just in time for the weekend! Annabelle had fun watching me kill myself during yesterday's workout. She even managed a few giggles before the fan caught her attention =)

EC knows her upper case letters and their sounds (although, she has known those for at least a year now) and we are now learning lower case letters. She knows colors, shapes, and can count to twenty, but she is still learning to identify some of the written numbers. I have a ton of my sister's old teaching materials, so I'm looking through them to see what she will need to know for kindergarten. Sometimes I really wish I had a teaching degree though. It sure would be handy right now! Check out Annabelle's new trick

No, not eating her hands. That is just what she would do all the time if she didn't have a pacifier =) She is now sitting up in her exercauser for a few minutes a day and LOVING it! Hard to believe she will be nine weeks tomorrow, slow down little lady!

Much of our day

This is how AB spent most of her weekend

Sensing a trend? My family sure does love loving on a baby! But guess how she wanted to spend much of our day today? Trust me, I love on her constantly during our days, but not always by holding her in my arms. Yeah, it has been a little painful for all involved. Being the second time around for this momma, I know she will be better off if I break her of this "lapitis" habit now.

Check out EC opening their gifts from Grandma's Disney cruise!

She LOVED the princess swim suit. She wouldn't take it off the rest of the day. I had to warn her at lunch that after bath tonight she would not be able to put it back on because I needed to wash it tomorrow. I'm not sure if she gave Bo a hard time about it or not. I hope we can take the girls on a Disney cruise some day when they are old enough to appreciate it! Thanks for thinking of them Grandma!!

It's all play, right?

Staying home is all about playing all day, right? Ha! Hate to break it to you, but it really is some of the most challenging and yet rewarding "work" a mom could ever do.

I mean yes I love being around these little ones all day ALL the time,

but there have been a few all nighters that I wish I could sleep off the next day. No can do! Perhaps Annabelle will decide she wants to sleep more than 3-5 hours at a time - more of the 3 than the 5 these days. She isn't up long, just enough to wake me =) Her crib is still in our room. She has been coughing again lately. I talked to another mom who's little girl had RSV at a very young age. She said her daughter slept on her chest for the following few months. So I think I'm doing pretty well since AB is still in her crib. So for now, I'll pull the energy from some where and just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

PS I promise EC does wear pants every now and then =)

"If he isn't coming after you, you need to ask yourself why"

So you have probably heard that quote before. I honestly don't know who deserves the credit for it. I have heard it all my life growing up in the church, but I heard it again last night at bible study. It still stands true and means so much more than it used to.

I joined a women's only bible study this January. It has been the definition of amazing, real, and exactly what I needed right now. A girl I grew up with in Hazlehurst, Candy Jo, lives up here now and joined this bible study about one year ago. Shortly after she met with the group she experienced a tragedy that many of us will never understand. She lost her husband of four years in a four wheeler accident. She said this group of ladies (who she had only know 4 weeks at the time) stepped up and were really there for her. After just a month into the study, I feel so blessed to be around such wonderful women. Women who are truly after God's heart.

The study we are doing is Jesus the One and Only by Beth Moore. We are on week three (my fav so far) and I'm still getting chill bumps every time I sit down to do a lesson. We are doing the work book during the week and dvds to go with it when we meet once a week. I have bought a Beth Moore bible study that you just read through and it isn't the same. I highly recommend the work book and dvd format. All I can say is if you don't have a personal relationship with Christ or you do, but you need to feel a little closer to him right now - then this is the study for you! So grab a few of your gal pals or even your significant other and commit to taking this study all the way through, but just get ready to be shaken a bit. You may find out more about yourself than you want to! This study has addressed all areas of my life and we are only on week three; relationships, child rearing, work, etc. And if you don't already know, Beth Moore is an incredible writer.

I hope, just like Beth, that one day, when I'm gone people will say "She was just about God." You are fabulous Beth!!

Colored Bubbles

You have not lived if you have not experienced colored bubbles.

You really don't know what you are missing if you have not experienced colored bubbles.

You know that you want some colored bubbles now!

You are absolutely convinced that colored bubbles are in your child's future.

And yet you do not understand messy until you yourself have experienced colored bubbles.

So glad that came off her mouth okay! Still waiting to see the results with the shirt... The colored bubbles (from Grandma) have disappeared until the summer months when a bathing suit and swimming pool will accompany them during play time =) Hopefully EC will not notice they are missing!

Fun Fun Fun and finishing Daddy's Vday gift

Today was FUN!

Scince experiment: Turn our bath water purple

Thanks Grandma for the color tablets!

Next, exercise in your big girl panties:

I wonder if she will remember the days she insisted on running around without pants. The days she calls her shirt a dress, knowing it is really a shirt. Maybe I will make her some dresses soon that cover her panties but don't run the risk of getting dunked in the potty - yuck!

Did you know babies grow too quickly?

I love how they angle of the swing make her cheeks look super chubby =)

Tummy time is a killer

Look at these legs!

Make baby footprints to finally finish Daddy's Vday gift - a little late.

Note, keep warm wet wash cloth very close by. Have extra help if possible for better results!

One unsuspecting baby - check!

New art for Daddy's office!

Finish off the day with a dinner date with a couple of fantastic ladies to which toddlers are not invited. Don't worry about the toddlers, they were having a dinner date with daddy at Chick fil a's house =)

Well, I started working out again today and my bum is KILLING me, so off to bed! Toodle loo!