Rest.

From the pictures in this post you would think the title should be busy, but that is the opposite of what our hearts are feeling right now. Taylor has had about a month off from school, I have gotten most of my energy back, and we have been able to rest in a much more "normal" routine. I have been working at waking up around 6 so that I can shower, have a quiet-time, and maybe check email before the kids are up. What a difference starting the day that way has made! Taylor and I have really tried to be intentional about getting his clothes ready, lunch packed and spending about 15 minutes picking up the house before bed, which really starts the next day off great for us. I have re-started using my "motivated-mom" planner. Though I rarely get through the check-list of items for the day, it definitely gets me moving in the right direction. It has been so nice to not have Taylor going to classes, working on homework, and meeting for group projects. We will start back in 3 weeks, but we are relishing in each day free! We have also gotten some long awaited projects checked off our lists!

Taylor helped me screw the holes for these hooks and I made a jewelry organizer out of the wine-rack we took out of our buffet. No need for a wine rack when we can stretch a bottle of wine out for 6 months in the fridge:) I made an earring hanger from a frame I already had and some lace that was handmade by either my great or great-great grandmother. I didn't realize the lace would be almost the same shade as the wall!

Taylor put shelves in the basement for more storage! I needed a place to organize the many kids crafts, games and etc. we have. I am still in the process of organizing everything in our crazy basement! Losing two bedrooms to kids bedrooms add up to quite a lot of baby, clothing, office and crafting crap stuffed downstairs!

After several months sitting in the garage the chairs are almost finished! I started spray-painting them not knowing we were pregnant, then got sick and the chairs were put on the back-burner. I really like how they came out. I Scotch-Guarded the fabric twice. Levi walked on it 3 times, in dirty shoes, during the process.

Kids play fort. Taylor made the fort and I strategically draped a sheet over it. We have an extra tent rain-fly that I am planning on fitting to the tent so it isn't quite so girly!

We made this bread this morning. It came out so good! We slathered it up with butter. It would have been great with frosting too! It took a while, but I would totally do it again for a special treat!

A lot of our inspiration came from Pinterest. I tried to link back to the idea somewhere in the post for each one!

We made homemade lemonade this week. We used the Martha Stewart recipe. All it is is lemon juice, sugar and water. Katie loved helping squeeze the lemons. Quite a lot of work for a very small amount of lemonade! It checked off another thing on our summer list though!

Levi literally bit a chunk out of the lemon Katie game him. I got several awesome pucker faces! He wouldn't stop and kept going back for more!

Little ham.

We then used the leftover lemonade to make cantaloupe popsicles the next day. We used this recipe. The lemonade didn't have quite enough sugar. This is probably a good thing considering the past 2 pregnancies I have gained 20 pounds in month 5! Here's hoping this pregnancy bucks that trend!

Katie first fish!

We took Katie fishing and she caught 3 rainbow trout. We were as excited about it, if not more, than she was. When my Mom asked her if we kept any to eat Katie got a shocked look on her face and said, "we don't eat fish!" We decided to save that conversation for another day!

Levi had a great time too. He was an expert at falling in the lake, tangling the lines, eating cheese covered in dirt, and throwing things in the lake.

It was so nice that the lake was close-by. We went for a few hours and when it started to rain we headed home! We will definitely go again. And we checked off fishing and picnic off our summer-list.

The Fair

We went to the county fair last week with some friends. It was dollar day so I only paid $2 for the 3 of us to get in since Levi was free! We will definitely go next year again! Petting the goats. Levi loved it. Katie wanted to know if the goats would eat her.

It was the opposite in the corn pit. Levi hated that it was on his feet. He eventually warmed up to it, but only after I picked all the corn off.

Katie and Megan had a really great time! These are the only two big girls in life-group so they are destined to be bff's:)

After much coaxing she pet the donkey.

Baby cow! The kids were either scared of the animals or walking under their legs!

Camping

We went camping with some friends this past weekend and had such a great time. It was so beautiful and a nice break to be away from the house. We only went for one night, but I was ready to sleep in our own beds after that. The kids were up until about 10 and slept most of the night with only one potty break and a few whimpers from Levi. Mommy on the other hand didn't fall asleep until about 3 am. I don't know why I can't sleep when camping! I made sure I had no caffeine all day! The kids were then up and raring to go at 5:30. We managed to hold them off by letting them crawl all over the tent, and us, until almost 7. Here is Levi with his shoes ready to go outside. Levi and Aaron eating doughnuts in the morning.

Levi helping Daddy take down the tent. Check out the dirty face. Both kids were total dirtballs the minute we got out of the car.

Playing in the river. I tied a lanyard to Katie's life-vest and would send her downstream and then tow her back in. She had a great time as long as she didn't go too deep.

Katie using her Tinkerbell fishing pole. The girl can cast! She can make it about halfway out into the water. We have only used a plastic fish as weight so no real catches yet.

I was trying to hide behind Katie a little but not this much:)

Katie insists her life-vest be pulled so tightly she has a constant wedgie. Better too tight than too loose. Hopefully we will get to go camping at least one more time before the cool weather hits.He fell asleep halfway through his granola bar.

She made it about 5 minutes longer.

MIni-Golfing

We took both kids mini-golfing the other night. We had no idea how they would do and planned on leaving if things got too crazy. We had a blast! Even though we were behind a group of teenagers that could not have been slower (we literally had 5 groups waiting on them.) the kids were patient, had great attitudes and loved golfing. We will definitely go again! I think it would have been easier if the kids had clubs that were more their size. Levi would put the ball on the marker and swing furiously until he hit the ball. He would eventually put the ball up next to the hole and re-start swinging until it went in. Katie was not as dedicated. She loved exploring and love the holes with tunnels. She would repeatedly put the ball under the windmill and run around to see where it would come out. Suprisingly no one got hit with a club the whole time!

Closest thing to a belly shot I have taken the whole pregnancy. Let me clarify. Closest thing to a belly shot that I will show on the blog without wincing at the awesome butt to belly ratio going on right now.

Don't break my concentration Mom!

Levi scoping out the hole. "Where did the ball go?"

Katie riding the zebra, "like in Racing Stripes!" If you haven't seen this cinema miracle you are truly missing out.

Levi walked under the zebra and kept walking but his club got left behind. He was very confused.Levi did not like the 18th hole! We had to throw his ball down for him.

K - A - T - I - E

My 3 year old just wrote her name by herself. A little out of order and a backward E, but not too shabby. Considering her formal letter training has consisted of playing with alphabet magnets and playing games on starfall.com I was pretty impressed that she could do that on her own. Way to go Katie-Kate! Levi wanted to get in on the picture taking action.

I was shocked he let her hug him without screaming his head off.

Only 6 days until the ultra-sound! I can't wait! Taylor is convinced it is a boy. I am convinced it is a girl. This baby is a jumping-bean. Neither of the other two have come close to moving this much. I am also still sick! Usually I am done by 20 weeks, which I will be on Sunday. Not this time. It has gotten a lot less, but mornings and nights I still feel pretty barfy. Even so, we have made it half way!

K - A - T - I - E