PLAYROOM PICTURES!

My favorite post thus far!! Our good friend Jess Roberts paints murals, and MAN is she good! She came up with this amazing Mural for Olivia's new playroom! Olivia LOVES to pretend and even started make-believing with just the pencil sketched on the walls...needless to say, OLIVIA (AND I) ARE IN HEAVEN!! It turned out SO great, you've GOT TO see it in person! Olivia buys food from the market to cook in her kitchen, pretends to swing on the tire swing, feeds the butterfly, gets the mail, digs in her garden...it's SO perfect! Check out some more of Jessica's work here: http://jrobertsfineart.blogspot.com/ She also does amazing paintings and is currently working on one for Angel's baby room! She is so talented! If anyone is interested in investing in some art, it's so worth it to check her out...she could make your room amazing too!

THANK YOU JESS!

Angel's Baby Shower!

Angel and I are due within 3 weeks of eachother, both with BOYS! This past weekend was her baby shower and everyone came through, she got EveRyThInG she needed! Meagan and I even made our first ever Diaper cake and it turned out...well, awesome! There were over 30 people there, tons of great food and babies everywhere! Kassie even drove all the way from Roosevelt to be there! Angel has some really great friends! Now, let's have these babies!

Daddy Zoo Day

Paul, Johnny and Jake decided to take the kids to the ZOO the other day! They are such spectacular Dads!

St.Patricks Day parade and Cohen's robot {party}!

Olivia participated in the St. Patty's Day Parade at the Gateway! Her school had it's own float and some of the kids got to sit on chairs and float through the Gateway! Olivia thought she was pretty special to get all of that attention. Not only that, but she got to sit by her two BEST friends from school Dominik and Annika. She had a great time eating muffins, blowing bubbles and waving to the cheering crowd! We lucked out too, it didn't begin to rain until we rounded the corner at the very end of the parade! :) FUN!

After the parade we headed over to the Roberts home for COHEN'S #2 Birthday party! Jess decked the place out in Robot decor and even made awesome ROBOT costumes to take pictures in! Cohen got some serious loot including a new HOT ROD and some kick-a Blue Ray sunglasses! The party was fun and Livi even got to open Cohen's gifts after he refused to open any more! haha. Happy Birthday Cohen and sweet party Jess...we will have some fun memories from this awesome party!

CJ and Di threw a sweet hungry little caterpillar party for Vanessa who turned TWO the same day as Cohen! We're SO bummed that we couldn't be in HAWAII to celebrate with the Mansfield fam for Nessa's birthday too! But Nice work pulling off such a cool party DI!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NESSA!

MMM...Things I covet, for BaBy!

GRASS DRYING RACK

for baby accessories

How CUTE is this? I've always been into wheat grass, and eating it...so this is delicious to me!

BAMBOO COVERALLS
mmm...so soft AND has a butt-flap!

SOFT BLOCKS
Shape sorter, puzzle, building blocks



NURSING BRAS for me!

Just sayin'

ELLA'S KITCHEN

Organic Baby Food

HANDKNIT LONGIES

by Crankypants

COUNTING POSTER

from Robin Rosenthal

FINGER PUPPETS

by Muddy Cloud

MODERN BASSINET
by Sparkability

SOFTEST BLANKET IN THE WORLD
**BAMBOO BABY BLANKETS**
by Satsuma

HANDMADE BEARS
by Henry Road

I have been dying to add some pictures to this blog, but everytime I get home from work, I crash from exhaustion! However, I have a lot to document so it will happen soon...stayed tuned!

Here is two pics, just for fun.

Catchup!

I wish I could say this past month was filled with palm trees, sand, sun tans and pina-colada's but I would be lying. This is what really went down...

January started off rough with several Doctor appointments and an urgent care visit for my increasingly difficult to control asthma, Mohs surgery to remove a skin cancer on my right side, and a remodel project beginning for our kitchen-which caused a lot of sleepovers at my parents house to avoid the construction dust and fumes.

It's been a busy month for both Johnny and I. Johnny has been working so hard to get our kitchen done, and I've been working just as hard to avoid it. haha All of this construction hasn't been good for my breathing but we set a goal to get it done before our nameless baby boy arrives, so it must be done! Johnny has so far; painted our cabinets, installed a new kitchen sink and faucet, poured beautiful concrete counter-tops, primed and painted the entire upstairs--including our banister...not fun, successfully got my new HARDWOOD FLOORS in, and been on two business trips! How does he do it?! It's been a crazy time and I am thrilled to not have to eat out anymore or do dishes in the bathtub! I have my kitchen back~and it's looking amazing, so far! We (i can include myself, can't I?) have done so much work but it's overwhelming how much more there is still to do. We are ordering our FABULOUS back splash this week from Daltile [want a PREVIEW?] I CANT WAIT to get that up and see the transformation! Then we will start on a small bathroom remodel...I want a new sink cabinet, vanity and some new paint (that's all) oh, and lighting. After the bathroom he can finish the hardwood in that room, down the stairs and in the entryway, then base boards all around....and wha-la, we'll be "done" for now. I am so lucky I married a magician (handy-man), he's GoOd, and we've saved so much Money! I knew I married right.

My lungs are doing much better since my doc put me on a steroid inhaler and I am no longer avoiding my dog or my husband. The skin cancer is hopefully gone and the wound is healing...but it ain't going to be pretty as it will slowly stretch with my growing belly. yuck. The skin guy basically told me to stay out of the sun for the rest of my life so that should make it easy to keep the record for the "whitest girl you've ever seen". The house is finally feeling somewhat home-e again and I will post pics as soon as I can find time to upload them!

Work is pretty lame, but I am trying to stay optimistic and just be thankful that I have a job. I dream of sun and sitting on the grass again. This summer should be fun and will bring a whole set of new challenges as I go from full-time employee to stay-at-home mom again, as we welcome baby #2 to our family!

The pregnancy has been going really well. With an astounding 25 pounds gained I am right on track to becoming the "whitest and biggest girl you've ever seen". HAHA No, not really. I do have one thing that has kept me going strong through the winter and that is my Tuesday, Thursday nights and Saturday mornings that Johnny has so graciously given me. On those days I go to CROSSFIT. It's a seriously intense workout that has kept me from turning into a walking twinkie. I have been able to keep some muscle tone this pregnancy and would like to think that some of those 25 lbs are muscle. Check it out for yourselves...UTECROSSFIT. Angel got me hooked on this crossfit gym. She too is pregnant, due 3 weeks before me, and chose this gym because one of the trainers (Bobby) was pregnant too. Bobby has taught us how to scale each work-out for a pregnant gal and how to get the best work-out without over-doing it. She has also taught us how to modify each exercise to accommodate a growing belly, and in my case--body. I have LOVED LOVED LOVED going to CROSSFIT and hope to continue going until I'm ready to push this baby out. It helps me feel healthy and somewhat agile. I believe that it will be a big factor in me getting back to pre-pregnancy shape! Anyone that wants to try it out should come with me! It's free your first couple sessions and it will get you in shape FAST!

I don't talk about Olivia enough, but no news is usually good news! She is doing really good and just gets cuter and funnier on a daily basis. I have a hard time not spoiling her to death because she has been so sweet lately. I miss her when I'm at work. Liv is getting more and more excited for her baby brother and she loves the idea of being a BIG SISTER. Everytime we shop for Liv she mentions how we NEED to buy something for her baby too. She is so gentle with my belly and kisses and hugs it. I told her the other day how the baby can hear her when she talks to him and she immediatley burst out with "TWINKLE Twinkle little star". She is going to be quite helpful which I am thinking is a GOOD thing! Some of Liv's little quirks these days are: constantly getting naked or changing clothes and shoes all day long, dressing up in costume, playing princess...make-up and polish included, pouring her own drinks, not letting me put ANYthing in her hair (because princesses have long, flowing hair mom), talking non-stop, making jokes and laughing at them, she loves anything frilly and doesn't like to wear pants...although she does make a killer gun noise that I'm sure she learned from her cousins! We love her more and more everyday!

Lastly, things on my to-do list that may be impossible:
1. Turn a very girly, princess-dom into a gender-neutral living space.
2. Find someone to give me an entire wardrobe of baby boy clothes, bedding included.
3. Choose a name for this poor child...

Little Princess Olivia

Today, Olivia is spending the day with Grandma!

To say the least Olivia L♥VES Grandma's house!

Look at all the fun they've had today...

I am at work and Johnny is busy painting the entire upstairs of our home, so lucky for Liv she gets a play date with Grandma Tena! I have gotten several e-mails of their fun day together...Playing "Princess Olivia" is one of Liv's FAVORITE things to do at Gma's house.
What a lucky girl to have such fun Grandparents!

Here it is!

Another year of Holiday Goodness!

Christmas came and went soo fast this year. We have a lot to celebrate this season and here is a little re-cap of our fun month!

Johnny and Ben made these really awesome edible mice out of caramel Hershey kisses, chocolate dipped maraschino cherries, nuts and oreos. It was funny watching Johnny create because he was soo into it and excited to show us the final masterpiece! Olivia, of course, LOVED them and they were really quite delicious! Dec.19th was Johnny's 30th birthday! Olivia was really excited to help me make Johnny's birthday cake. We made a white cake and she INSISTED on adding blue sprinkles to the mix--turning the cake blue--boys need blue cakes, obviously. She wanted pink frosting for herself and added the candles on her own! Check out that grin she was so proud of herself! We took it pretty easy this year for our birthdays and just hung with a small group of friends. Johnny and all his guys friends took a Saturday to go paint balling and do guy stuff. My birthday was Dec. 22nd and I am officially 28! Jess treated me to lunch and pedicures for a fun Saturday while the boys were doing their thing! THANKS JESS, it was soo much fun!

Christmas seemed to come really quickly this year, but it was the first year that I actually got my shopping done early! It was nice to be done and just "relax" as much as we could in our torn up house! We did our usual Christmas Eve party at the Millers and SANTA CAME! What a surprise! All of the kids LOVED their Jammie's and Floam that they got from the fat man! Olivia got spoiled this year. The only thing she really wanted Santa to bring was a "talking baby doll". Santa brought her the funniest little Munchkin Cheers doll. It is a cheerleader that sings about 6 diff cheers and it is HILARIOUS, seriously. It came with pom-poms for Liv which are a big hit! Santa also brought her a new play kitchen-which is nicer than mine, a cool backpack (that she didn't take off for an entire day), play make-up & polish, a play chainsaw ??, play food, some outfits.....so on and so forth. As for our gifts, Johnny bought me a gun safe and I got him a paper shredder! Serious. Is this what growing up means? Is this what it has come to? Well, anywho I'm glad Johnny and I think alike because I really wanted that paper shredder!

Olivia had a Christmas Program for her school and did an excellent job! Her class, the crocodiles, learned a little Peppermint stick song and sang it to the audience. It was supposed to be a surprise to all the parents but I knew what was up for about 2 weeks before the program because she would walk around singing "I took a lick of my peppermint stick and thought it tasted yummy. It used to hang on my Christmas tree, but now it's in my tummy!" over and over again! After their peppermint stick rendition they performed another song which included a lot of jumping around and dancing! It was adorable! I can't believe she already has school programs. She's growing up too fast.

We spent Christmas Evening with my family which was fun! The adults did an emergency preparedness exchange and we came home with some good stuff! We've been doing this type of gift giving for several years which has really helped johnny and I get prepared for a disaster! We have built up our food storage and emergency kits in case we ever need them! This year we got a big huge pack of AA batteries, two buckets with hermetically sealing lids, dried strawberries and brown sugar. I never thought I would say this but, it was awesome!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010! This was one of the funnest New Years Eve's I've had in a long time! My family decided to all stay at Saratoga in our condo on New Years Eve. We let all 10 of the Grand kids stay up until midnight to ring in the new year! At midnight we had them all get on their coats and we went outside to bang pots and pans. We paraded up and down the long driveway hoping to wake up whoever was lame enough to go to bed. The kids LOVED it and Olivia thought it was kinda weird. She was totally into banging her pan but kept saying "what are we doing?" It was funny.

New Years Day was laid back. Johnny and I were completely comfortable letting the child run free with her cousins while we slept in until 11! Nice! Luckily my sister made pancakes so our kid didn't starve or try to eat anything out of the garbage while we slept. Swimming at the Saratoga pool is always a fave in the winter. Olivia and her cousins thought that the snowballs were the coolest and Liv loved to watch them melt in the pool.
What a fun New Years... I hope we keep this tradition alive!

Johnny and I celebrated our #6 ANNIVERSARY on January 3rd! We dropped Liv off at my Moms and went to Dinner and a DOUBLE Feature. That's right, we saw TWO movies in a row, we are such rebels! Thanks Mom and Dad for watching our peanut! Johnny and I have come a long way in our relationship it seems, and I couldn't imagine not having him. He is the BEST Dad to Olivia, she just adores him! He is such a hard working person and a loving husband. He even still buys me flowers, I am so lucky! We love you Johnny so much!

Hope you're Holiday events were safe and happy too!

Jungle Jim's with Jet!

Johnny and I picked up Liv's little buddy, Jet, and hit up Jungle Jim's for an awesome good time!

They had a BLAST and especially loved all of the cotton candy we let them eat!

I accidentally cut off their heads on this one...but look at those GRINS!

They are so happy and cute!

Just For Di!

I'm sorry, but I have to.

I've heard enough horror stories, seen enough Oprah shows and thought about it just plain long enough...I am going private before somebody steals my pics, or our identities.  As much as I hate private blogs and logging into others...I'm not going to be the next vicitm either, so, hope you want to stay with me!

E-mail me if you want in!  Beccaleemiller@gmail.com

p.s. Christmas pics are coming SOON!