My Little Pebbles

Carpet Art

I would have to say it turned out pretty well...

I had painted my toes and instead of carrying the polish all the way back to my bathroom, I decided to be lazy and put them on the fireplace. I had the thought that it would be bad if I dropped them, but thought that wouldn't happen because I would be the only one touching them. I had 3 polishes, 2 clear (base coat and top coat) and 1 hot pink. I went to put them away later that evening, and low and behold DROPPED ONE! Which one did I drop? Of course the one that would do the most damage!!!! Tried to remove it, but only made it look worse. So above is the result because that looks better than some orangey-pink mess. I do have to say it's somewhat growing on me...

Ballerina

Disclaimer: Some pictures on the blog are from my camera, meaning that they are not very good. Be happy that you get to see some! I just don't lug around or pull out my big camera all the time. Remember, it could be worse. The other option would probably be no pictures at all :)

VBS

Ellie went to Vacation Bible School for the first time this summer! The Summit was having VBS at night, so we decided to go to another church for VBS during the day. She had a tough time dropping off the first day (she had never been to this church before and knew no one in her class), but after that she was very excited to go each and every day. It was weird for me not knowing what all was entailing her day and what she was learning, so I definitely had to check it out a few times (by attending the large group time) and ask a bunch of questions to Ellie (and eventually the teachers since Ellie only confused me). She had lots of fun, and Ainsley and I had some fun time as well. The week sure did fly by and keep us busy, but it was completely worth it.

Here is a picture I got of Ainsley one day when we got to spend some time, just the two of us. Look how big she is getting! What a cutie :)

New Beds!

We have put the girls in the same room... in BUNK BEDS! Ainsley has now officially moved up to a twin bed, and she's doing FABULOUS.

Ellie is on the top

Ainsley is on the bottom

The ladder is not attached, mostly because we don't want Ainsley going up and down, but it also keeps Ellie from going up and down which creates a lot less frustration for everyone.

The girls love sharing a room, and do so pretty well. They both go to sleep fairly quickly, depending on the night and if people are over, however they do like to talk to each other before going to sleep. They wake each other up when one wakes up before the other after nap or in the mornings, but they mostly get enough sleep (usually 1.5 hours at nap and 12 hours at night). I have some really good sleepers!

We all are loving having them together! It gives Zach an "office" during the day so he doesn't sweat like a pig in the garage, and in the winter he won't freeze like an ice cube! This also makes us one step closer to being ready to bring home our baby brother! The crib is all his, whenever his time comes to be welcomed into our home :)

Zach's Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! We are so, so, SO thankful to have such a wonderful, handsome, intelligent, faithful MAN in our lives. I continually feel that I never show Zach how much I appreciate, respect, and love him enough... EVER. He is such a great father and caring husband, I knew I needed to give him something to show that.

I kept it a surprise, well mostly. I was struggling in deciding exactly what to do. The options included: zip lining, tickets to Circus de Soleil, or something better. I figured out what this something better was by looking at the bucket list we created about a year ago. As I was looking into this something better, he walked in and caught me. I thought it probably was given away, but I still played it off.

I told Zach that we would be eating breakfast out for his birthday and then dropping Ellie off at VBS before he went to work. I had asked him a few days before what his morning schedule looked like, which he then told me was mostly clear. Well I found out the morning of his birthday that he decided to fill it up. BAD! I had scheduled his surprise for the morning of his birthday, so I flipped out a little bit on him. Awful birthday start, but he forgave me quickly and rescheduled his calls (secretly thinking he might be getting what he caught me looking at). After breakfast and on our way to his surprise, he asked what he was doing. I told him to guess in which he responded with sky-diving (not his surprise). I completely led him to believe he was right, and he immediately started freaking out. Zach has never wanted to go sky-diving until a few weeks ago which he made a comment he wanted to. So I played off that until he started to sweat, I then felt bad and told him his surprise... A FLYING LESSON! He was completely stoked and we headed to the airport.

The plane:

The pilot:

Zach has taken a huge interest in flying since he travels a TON. He used to have a tiny fear of it when he first started traveling for business, but once he overcame it, he became VERY interested. He would watch videos, research, and have discussions with pilots about his new found interest. He has expressed multiple times how he would love to be a pilot, hence why it was an item on his bucket list.

Here are some shots from his flight:

downtown Raleigh:

RBC Center:
Landing:

Zach loved it. He now can say he has flown a plane, although he's not quite sure how he like handling a big machine thousands of feet off the ground. I think I scored a few brownie points here, but I am so glad Zach enjoyed his gift and felt loved and special.

We ended this special day, upon his request, with a cookie cake (complete with the only candle we had that I could find):
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!

Ainsley's Favorite Questions

I have mentioned how Ainsley loves to ask where everyone is. I had my camera out and ready to capture her asking one day. Here is the result. Pay attention to what she calls Ellie, and also Zach's long hair!

Script:
Me: What did you say?
Ainsley: Where's Daddy?
M: Where's Daddy?
A: Yea.
M: He's back in the bedroom.
A: Oh. Where's mommy?
M: Where's mommy? Where's mommy?
A: Right here, there.
M: I'm right here.
A: Where's Ellie?
M: Where's what?
A: Where's Ellie?
M: She's sleeping.
A: Where mommy?
M: Right here.
A: Where's Annie?
M: Where's who?
A: Me.
M: Where's Annie?
A: Yea.
M: Right there, right there!
A: Where's Ellie?
M: Ellie's sleeping.
A: Oh.
and then the rest...

July 4th Celebration!

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE celebrating Independence Day. We tend to take advantage of what this day actually means, so I'll take a moment to really appreciate a few things about being an American. What a huge blessing it is to live in America where we are free to talk about our faith, free to worship and attend church, free to pray, have many kids, have many opportunities such as schools and jobs, and the list goes on...

We had quite a busy weekend celebrating the fourth of July! We had a cookout with the neighbors, where we stayed up really late to get in some fireworks.

Saturday, we went to a celebration in Fuquay-Varina. There were kid rides, bouncy things, music, and awesome fireworks. Ellie and Ainsley both rode the elephants and both LOVED it! Another late night, but we had a lot of fun with our friends, the Dortch's!Not sure how Ainsley ends up getting a picture with Katie and not mommy, maybe mostly because mommy is the one behind the camera all the time! On Monday (July 4th), we tried to go see the Durham bulls baseball game with our small group from church but it was storming, so we decided to go to dinner instead. The game ended up being cancelled, so it worked out well except so many restaurants were closed and we were driving around Durham in about 4 different cars trying to find an open restaurant we ALL wanted to eat at. We ended up at Cheesecake factory at about 8:00pm with a 30 minute wait. Another late night... although I did get one picture with the girls AND me!! It's terrible, but at least it exists!


It sure was a busy weekend, but we had lots of fun. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Back Porch Improvement

We have made our little back porch a more comfortable spot! We bought new furniture, a few plants, and I made a few pillows.


Doesn't it look cozy?? It is MUCH better than the before and much more enjoyable!