Who does he look like?

Ummm. Let me guess?

Blowing up balloons

Thanks to Pinterest - we always have something new to try.

The other day, we got to blow up balloons using vinegar and baking soda. The kiddos thought it was an awesome periment (experiment in their words).

Here is the link to the fun. no helium balloons
And some pictures.

Sage is 2 months

Hard to believe but our littlest is 2 months old already. He is growing up fast too. Well I still didn't get his stickers printed but we used a chalkboard decal for this one. It will work I guess. Not much time for crafting these days. Just barely enough to chat with my hubs about the house, make decisions, try try to workout (as 2 months have gone by and I have no excuse for the extras), let alone craft! Oh I miss it though. I guess it will make my craft room even more fun once the house is done, right.

Alright enough rambling --- on to the new things for this little fellow.

Sleep: Usually a good chunk for the first half of the night from 4 to 7 hours. Awesome for this mama. Plus he likes to sleep in unless someone decides to pay him a visit a little earlier. Ells tends to be the queen of the wake up call for just about everyone.

Eating: Pretty much nurses every 3 hours or more. He loves to cluster feed before bed and seems to be packing on the pounds. We won't know specifics till we go to the doctor next week.

He loves tummy time - since he has been able to hold his head up from birth - not really something he ever hated.

He typically jogs a few miles in the bouncy seat throughout the day. Every time he is in that thing, he just pumps his arms and legs and bounces away.


He saw his hand for the first time the other night. Pretty cool stuff.

He chats with just about anyone who holds him out face to face. Definitely a family favorite.

And my favorite thing is his smile. He's been smiling for awhile but lately he just loves to smile as he is nursing. He looks up and his eyes just twinkle. Melts my heart.

Sporting his new Central Hat - Go Dutch! Thanks to Aunt Em & Uncle Ross

Celebrating Daddy's bday

A night at the park in honor of Daddy's birthday. What a better way to spend the day then ordering Troadhouse to go when there are a million people waiting to get in. Getting the kids some McD's and heading to park to enjoy it! Plus a slice of cookie cake for dessert. 

Lunch time with Papa

My dad has the luxury of working in town and comes home each day for lunch. My kiddos love it!  Sage is usually in the bouncy seat while we are making lunch so he loves to chat with Papa. Of course, that hour goes way too quickly but he seems to be able to cram in lunch, playing, and loving on all three of the littles that are living with him currently.

Momma in the making

Ellsyn got quite the bundle for Christmas this year from Grandma and Grandpa. My mom scored this great little graco set of baby accessories when Ells was an infant and held on to them to give them to her this past year for Christmas. A perfect gift for a new big sister. She is always taking care of all her babies and stuffed animals. She has everything. A swing, high chair, pack n play, diaper bag, bouncy seat, blanket. She has everything to accommodate her little babies. 

The other day I over heard her rocking and singing Jesus Loves Me to her baby in the corner of the family room. I tried to video but the pictures were all I could get. I guess she remembers me singing and rocking her when she was a little one or at least sees it now with Sage.

Driving Around

Lately we've been spending quite a bit of time in the car driving around trying to figure out the perfect combination of house colors. In fact, last Saturday we were in Des Moines and the surrounding area from about 10 till 6pm. We started out by heading to check out the progress at our house - garage floor poured..check. Then we drove around checking out house colors - I think we are getting closer. All because we have to know what color windows we want as they have to order those soon. This is the one we are thinking it will look similar to...

Of course, some definite variations. Like not trimming out the garage. Darker stone. Darker accent tone. Darker trim color. But you get the idea.

Well. we were not even all the way to Adel when Shadd said "hey mom, look at my feet." We looked back and he was shoeless. Yep. And he remained that way the rest of the day. Check out the after...

After a long day of driving around, eating McDonalds in the car (b/c we couldn't go in), finishing touches on D's office (a project my mom and I took on while he was gone last week - forgot to take pics - will next time I'm in), touring a home our friend is finishing, and getting a car detailed at Mr. Car Clean - our kiddos were exhausted and so were we. We are trying to get used to running all your errands at once mentality again as we are 35 minutes away now. It is an adjustment especially with little  kiddos. 

The garage sale

After moving our stuff, we decided we have way too much of it. So why not have a garage sale right? Exactly. Earn some instant cash (garage sale money - you know to spend at other garage sales) and then donate the rest for the tax right off (the hubs perk). Well we drug our feet as it just seemed like to much work. But then we got motivated Thursday night to open up the garage on Friday morning. It took a bit but with all clothes $1 we priced and set up in about 3 hours. Not bad uh?  Well, we have never done the city wide before but we will again. We didn't sell anything big but we sold a lot of junk. I guess it goes to show you one man's junk is another man's treasure. Works for me! Of course, I did have the cutest helpers in the world. Maybe next year they can run a cookie/lemonade stand. We always made a killing at our stand when we were little. 

My helpers did find a few things they just couldn't part with. A couple videos, a puzzle (that we did while people shopped), etc. They've also went out to the garage after the sale and gathered up a few things.

I guess there is always  next year.

Vroom

In preparation for our big garage sale last weekend, we had to clean out the garage. Which means motorcycle rides for the kiddos. I think daddy about died. He isn't much of a dare devil and even though they just went around the block, it still makes him a little nervous.  

Of course, Shaddy was gonna go first but once Papa started the engine... He bailed. Not Ells though. She jumped right on. And of course, Shaddy followed. Wouldn't want to be out done by little sis.

Even momma got to ride. One of my true joys! 

Ells jumped right on.

Biker girl to the core

Sage enjoying the view from Frama's arms

Shadd loving the ride

Sager

His expressions grow more funny and cute each day! Gotta love me some Sage!

House update...hole dug, walls poured

A little house update... a little late as blogging hasn't been number one on my priority list these days. The hole has been dug, the walls poured as shown below. The forms are off now and I believe they are pouring the basement floor today. I have some more pics just need to upload them so they will be coming. Of course, we couldn't round up the best shovels but there are a couple of pics of us breaking ground! Yeah! I hope you don't mind our craziness. 

Ms. Independent

So the other day...Dad and Shadd went off to watch Uncle J play golf so sis got to stay behind and hang out with grandpa for part of the day and then just rule the fort with the rest of us for the remainder. Her and Papa spent time playing outside, a little candyland and of course, Tangled. A girls dream I tell you. And she loves her papa. I snagged some pics of her playing by herself and helping papa later. 

We didn't think she would enjoy being by herself but I think she loved not having to share the floor with brother. And I would have never guessed she would climb into the trampoline and jump all by herself. Definitely an independent little one! 

Check out those bouncing curls! 

M is for mountain

Trying to get back into the swing of things we had school this week and M was our letter. So why not build a mountain, right. And eat m&ms of course! 

They are digging!

So they are digging the foundation of our new house today. We went Friday night to see it all staked out and drove by a couple times yesterday before my niece's birthday party. But will we get out there today for some photos I don't know as that would mean I'd have to load up my 3 and lug them 20 minutes north and back while my hubs basks in the sun at the tournament club all afternoon. So it probably won't happen but as soon as I have progress pics I will upload them.

In the meantime here are the pics of the floor plan and the exterior.

1st floor


Basement


Of course, the exterior picture is just an image that we like and they will tweak to make it look really similar. Super excited to see the final product!