party!

we've spent most of today getting ready for a birthday party.

of course, this means tasting your cupcakes to make sure they are good enough to serve your guests.  :)

i think ben is pretty excited - especially since we've only told him "who" is coming,

and not "where" we are going.

the party destination has been left a surprise.

it's one of his favorite places to visit.

we're praying for good weather!

happy today

i am REALLY missing my daily shower...
and it's not because we don't have enough friends offering to let us come over for wash, but really because it seems to be harder to find the time to load up and go get clean somewhere else.
but enough of my whining.
today has been full of many simple treasures...

a pair of $5 sunglasses and a $7 pink tote on clearance at walmart.

hope to use the tote for baby girl - maybe add a few embellishments. 

a healthy 30 week baby check up.

shopping with ben for birthday party favors and treats.

everyday he is becoming even more of his own person and i love sharing it with him!

cool weather (after another three day hot spell) so i can turn off the ac and open the house.

a bathroom that is plumbed and ready for the next step of hanging new wall board.

dinner in the crockpot.

loaded tomato plants after a HOT summer with little garden produce.

eating homemade cookies from my mom - sent frozen and ready to bake.

and a little guy who may not be potty trained, but has been pooping everyday!

this is a HUGE step for us.

hope you are finding some

happy moments in your day!

still under construction

we're still working on the bathroom.
it's now been over a week, and progress has felt really slow at times but things are moving along.
just not as fast as we would like.

jake has found plenty of other issues along the way that he's had to deal with, so by the time we finally get to the actually tiling - it might seem like the easiest part of the whole project.
i'm so glad he is a patient man (who is also good at doing the work himself!).

although the last week has been a bit of a struggle we were excited to have my brother and sister-in-law in the area for a visit over the weekend. 
we took time out from our home projects to visit and catch up with them.
this also included a baby shower for my sweet sister-in-law who is due in december.
it's really amazing that we are pregnant at the same time - just wish we were closer.
our little ones will probably be six months old before we see them in person again.

the rest of our week will be spent working on the bathroom, organizing the chaos in the rest of the house and getting ready for a birthday party.

diy - we had a plan...

but it changed.

jake took this entire week off.
we had BIG plans for accomplishing a lot of home projects, as well as some family time.
that was all changed on monday.

the main goal of jake's diy work was to clean and re-grout our shower/bath.
our home was built in 1962 and still has "beautiful" pink tile in the bathroom.
i have never been a fan of it, but decided for now we would just give the tile a little tlc, remove the carpet (also not a fan of carpet in a bathroom!), and do some good deep cleaning.
well, it's never that easy, is it?
of course not.

jake purchased his tools and supplies, and began to start removing the old grout...
and what was behind the inserted soap dish? a four letter word.
MOLD
our two or three day project is now on day four and we have a long way to go.
thankful, it was a fairly contained area and had not spread to the framing.
jake was able to remove all signs of mold, and moisture damage by removing the tile and wallboard.

we've researched, googled, planned, and shopped.
and now jake is putting in long days removing, demolishing and prepping the area.
we decided to tackle the shower/bath area for now and then over the next several months we'll complete the entire project.
in fact, we've already got most of our finishes, colors and products selected.

here's how it's all looking.
bet you wish you had that pink tile in your bathroom too!  ;)

ben is also visiting grandma and grandpa for a few days.
we felt it would be make for better working conditions, and still allow us to accomplish a few other projects if ben was out of the house.
our original plan for the week even included a few evenings fishing with him and making hot dogs over a fire... so we were pretty bummed when this all changed, but we don't have much of a choice.
when you have only one shower/bath in the house - making sure it is in working condition becomes top priority.
but i still miss him. 

so while jake has been working SUPER hard in the bathroom, i have been trying to clean, organize and sort
in order to get ben's room ready to share with baby sister.
thanks to my friend jaime, who let me borrow her carpet cleaner, i am excited to report that the kids' room is empty and the carpet is drying.
i love it!
it always makes me feel good when i REALLY clean.
hopefully it will dry by tomorrow evening and we can begin installing ben's new bed and the crib.
after that it's time to hang new window treatments, organize the closest to include some pink and purple and make the room extra special - for both little people.  :)

but right now, i'm exhausted (and a little dirty).
so i'm ready to get some sleep, and head to a friend's house in the morning for a shower.
good night.

friday morning

this morning we were busy...
playing at the park with friends,
going to the grocery store,
and visiting the library.
a nice way to wrap up the week.

along with consuming mass quantities of green olives,
my other guilty pleasure this pregnancy is ice water with LOTS of ice cubes.
not something someone with a history of dental work should probably be munching on.

 and yes, we still get ice by filling trays in this house.  :)

hope you have a cool holiday weekend.
we are looking forward to a sunday forecast with highs in the upper 70s!!!
maybe fall will arrive soon,
see you next week...

thursday morning

this morning i had my 28 week appointment - all is well with baby girl!
jake was able to stay at home with ben, which made it a little easier.
and since i wasn't busy keeping ben occupied during my appointment, i actually had time to discuss a few things with the doctor.
always puts my mind at ease to ask a few questions - even if this isn't my first pregnancy.
i did have to get the rh factor shot though - not a fun one! 
but i'm also a wimp with needles.  :)

speaking of needles...
i've also been making a little time for something i really love doing...
stitching by hand.

i don't usually follow any pattern and i don't know a lot of different stitches,
but i really enjoy the simplicity of fabric, thread and a needle.

oh, did you notice - i didn't mention cleaning today either???
maybe i'll start my "room a day" plan again next week...

wednesday morning

this morning was pretty relaxed. 
jake was home - not by choice, but with a relapsed back problem.
and after ben having a low fever and congestion yesterday, we stuck around the house too.

oh, and i totally flunked at my goal to clean a room each day!
today was bathroom day (yuck!) on my list, but it was much easier to put if off until tomorrow.
however, ben and i did manage to sort and take recycling and i did two loads of laundry -
so that has to count for something, right?

tonight i'm making a hot tea and heading to bed - think i might have the little bug that hit ben.
i can't think of anything that frustrates me more than not feeling well in the heat of the summer,
and when i have a calendar full of things to do. 

i think this usually happens when i get a little too intense about being productive and forget to be content.
there is much to be thankful for in everyday.
tonight i'll fall asleep counting my blessings...