Mariah's Room

We have been working on finishing the girls bedrooms downstairs. With the baby coming we needed more room. Justin has been working so hard to get all three bedrooms done downstairs. They will all have their own room. Riley has her own room now, but Mariah and Emily have been sharing. Mariah's room was the first one done. She wants everything blue in it. Blue paint, blue bed, blue curtains, blue garbage can, and her newest addition a blue body pillow. Her room turned out really cute. It is kind of hard to see from the pictures how spacious it is especially for one person. My favorite feature about the room is the built-in shelves in the walls. Justin put recessed lighting in them so she can use them to display some of her things. And they are on a dimmer that is right by her bed, so she can control the level of light without having to get up. It comes in really handy at nighttime. This picture is not the greatest. The sun was shining through the window, but I wanted to get a picture of the window and shelves. Thank you, Justin for all your hard work. I am constantly impressed with all the things you know how to do and you do a great job. Everything looks great. I don't always tell you how much I appreciate everything you do for us. I love you!

Baby Shower

Last Saturday my friends had a baby shower for me. It was at Layla's house. I was overwhelmed with how many people came. We received so many cute things for Devin. I normally do not have my picture taken very much while I am pregnant, but we did get a few pictures. Being 5 weeks away from delivery I certainly do not feel like I am looking my best. So I can't believe I am posting these. I am doing it for you, Jamie, since you made a request for a picture of my tummy. Allison, aren't you glad you were sitting next to me so you could be in all the pictues? This is a nice picture of a cheesy smile and my eyes shut, but it is the only picture that my stomach is not covered. Thank you to everyone who came to the shower. And thank you Layla, Allison, Gina, Kim, and Pam for all your work and yummy treats.

"Blankets are ok but they can slip and slide, plus your hands are trapped inside."

And so it began at our house back in December. I have two words --- THE SNUGGIE! Emily is an informerical junkie. If something is advertised on TV no matter what it is-- she wants it. We have joked about this within our family for months. She has requested Bend-a-roos, Kid Bop CDs, and yes, even Debbie Meyer Green Bags. But The Snuggie has been her number one request since before Christmas. Her birthday is only a couple of weeks after Christmas and the only thing she wanted for her birthday was a Snuggie. For those of you who have not seen this product on TV it is a fleece blanket with sleeves. We laughed about until it became the only thing she requested and it would make or break her whole birthday. Of course, I'm a softie and we ordered a Snuggie for her birthday. Justin got on the website and tried to place an order, but they were experiencing an error and our order did not go through. At this point Justin called the customer service to place the order, hoping to talk to someone and make sure it would be delivered before her actual birthday. It was all a recorded message with no one to talk to. After he had placed the order we were informed that it would take 6 weeks for delivery. At that rate it would not make it for her birthday. But it was already ordered. In fact, we had 2 Snuggies on the way because they were offering a buy one, get one for just the shipping charges. Weeks went by and we never even had the payment go through our bank account. At this point I was thinking that we would not be receiving anything at all. Two days before Emily's birthday I went in to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and they had Snuggies there so I bought one. It made her whole birthday. Here is a picture of her opening it up. So a couple of weeks after her birthday we see a charge go through on our bank account for Snuggie but it is double what it should be. Apparently both orders went through and they shipped 4 Snuggies to our house. At this point I found a customer service number and wanted to see how much we could get refunded if we sent them back minus the shipping and handling. I was told we could get back $38 and have to pay shipping to send them back or they would credit our account $20 and we could keep them. So we are now the proud owners of, count them, 5 Snuggies. One for the whole family. That sure is one tricky company. If any of you are thinking of ordering a Snuggie....shop at your own risk!

A Pretty Good Excuse

On Wednesday night I was getting the girls ready for bed. I kept calling Mariah to come out of Riley's room and go to her bedroom. They both kept saying that she couldn't. I wasn't really paying attention to what was going on except that I wasn't seeing them obey. After I had called them 3 or 4 times it finally clicked in my mind that maybe I better go see what was going on. Somehow, Riley's braces got caught on the sleeve of Mariah's pajamas. They were stuck! Luckily, they thought it was hilarious and no one was upset by the situation. I took one look and started laughing. Then I got the camera out. It was a couple minutes before I even got them separated. Needless to say they didn't get in trouble for not listening the first time.

Thank you, family and friends!

This will probably never happen again to do two postings in one day, but I had a lot to say today. My birthday was on Friday. I just wanted to thank all of you who remembered me. I got many cards, calls, and presents from so many of you. Thank you, Justin and girls, for making my day so special. They got up and made me pancake puffs for breakfast and the girls got ready all by themselves. Justin ask me what I wanted to do for the day. I had one request. I wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We had eaten at the one in Honolulu when we were there and I loved it. But we had not tried the one here yet. So we went. It was a Friday night and we got there at 4:30 and still had a 20 minute wait. The food was delicious and we got 3 different slices of cheesecake to try. It was by perfect dinner. (Jamie, do they have The Cheesecake Factory close to where you live? If not we need to go next time you come.) We also went and saw a movie with the kids. It was a great day. Thank you everyone.

Family dinner

Every month Justin's family has a family dinner. We all take turns hosting. It was our turn for February. We had a good time. Thanks to everyone for coming and bringing all the yummy food. Thank you, Justin, for taking charge of dinner and fixing a delicious dutch oven dinner. I know it was a lot of work for you, but so easy for me especially since you even did all the clean up. Here are some pictures of our evening.

Make New Friends, But Keep The Old

I am about a week behind on all this, but I guess better late than never. My friend Sheree was here last week. She was here visiting from Connecticut. We planned a get togther for those of us who are still here. Our numbers were few this time, but we had a very good visit. It was myself, Heather and Gil, Dave and Robyn, and of course, Sheree. By the time you add all of our kids it is quite a crowd. It is amazing to me that we average all getting together every couple of years, but when we do how much we still enjoy being together. I couldn't have ask for better friends to help me through the wonderful and terrible years of high school. Jamie, Nicole, Kristin, Heather these pictures are for you. Some of our cute kids and Gil Dave, Sheree, and Gil (Sorry about the eating picture, Sheree, it was the only one I had, but you look great!) I have the best friends!