Luke: Does Mulan have a sword?
Me: Yes.
Luke: Does Mulan have a Daddy?
Me: Yes. Everyone has a Daddy.
Luke: Does Mulan have a Jesus?

Me: Yes. Everyone has a Jesus too.

If I don't write these things down, I know I'll forget.
Funny kid.

I shouldn't have...

With Matt being MIA pretty much all the time, I haven't cooked a whole lot lately. It's no fun to cook for one person and Luke will only eat a few different things, so I usually keep our dinners pretty simple these days (not to mention, I just haven't been in the mood to cook for the past 8 months). 

Today I gave in and made some of these delicious cookies.

Then I decided to make more, because these were just too easy and cute!

No worries. I am not keeping them all to myself (even if I'd like to!). I sent some with Matt to work and am having a party here tomorrow night to share the goods. And seriously, they are SO GOOD!

On a less sugary (but not necessarily healthy...see a trend?) note, I tried this new chicken and rice recipe for dinner the other night and it was super easy and yummy! Matt was actually home to enjoy a nice meal so I went all out on this one. We also had freshly picked corn on the cob, juicy cantaloupe, fresh raspberries and this yummy homemade cornbread served with it. It was gone in no time. 

Mmmm. Food.

Super Saturday

This weekend, we accomplished  a lot. It felt good. 

Friday we spent way toooo many hours trying to get our cell phones figured out. We ended up switching to Verizon and after hitting four different stores, we finally got what we were looking for. So just so you know, we can be reached by our cell phones (same numbers as before). I know it gets confusing on how to reach us sometimes!

Saturday was a beautiful day. It was cool, breezy and just wonderful. We only had time to go to one garage sale and I definitely came home happy. Some friends of ours were doing it. 

I was so excited, I had to post about them.

This big basket.

You can never have too many baskets like this.

$2

I LOVED this mirror when I saw it.
She was selling two others, but I had to limit myself.

This would go perfectly in a little girls room....but since that won't be happening anytime soon, it'll most likely go in our bedroom.

"Mirror mirror on the wall..."
$5

And last, but not least, a Radio Flyer bike.
Is this not the CUTEST bike you've ever seen?

My friend had her little boys pics taken on it and they were so cute. It has a broken chain, but we'll be fixing it. 

$1

After the sale we went to Home Depot to pick up, the never-ending needed supplies for homeowners. We bought a bunch more blinds, some paint, tools and other things for some projects around here.

When my parents were here, my dad fixed our window sills and now that they have finally dried (took two weeks) and since it wasn't a rainy Saturday, we got them primed and painted. They are finished and look lovely (pictures to come). While I worked on the windows, Luke played in the backyard with toys, the hose and our little pool. Meanwhile, Matt fixed our garage-probably the biggest home improvement so far.

We were expecting to hire someone and probably pay $500-1,000 to have it fixed. All it took was about 20 bucks, a few hours and a really cute handy man...with the assistance of a very pregnant wife (the neighbors didn't stop staring, as I stood on a stool, straining to hold the siding out above my head, with an electric saw in my face and saw dust flying all over my body. It was quite the sight).

But best of all, our van fits in it now! (pictures to come too). 

That night we cleaned up and decided to use a gift card and eat at the Outback (thanks Em & Doug!).

And if that wasn't enough, we had to stop and get ice cream on our way home....I know, real healthy. 

Sunday was just as crazy, only with meetings and church stuff going on. Whew!
As always our short weekends go by way too fast, but we only have two more weeks of this hard rotation left and we'll be seeing Matt a lot more often.

Lastly, the lovely (and I always feel silly when it comes to "pregnancy pictures") belly.

I think I am stretched to the max....but I know I will stretch even more in the coming weeks.

Yikes!

35 weeks!

Only 5 more weeks (or less, I haven't decided if I want to be induced early or not) till little______ (still need ideas) joins our family!

So far so good. Baby is healthy, mom is uncomfortable, and large and in charge....as it should be, right?

Summer Love

Today, with a few friends, we ventured out to our favorite farm, Monroe Orchards in Hiram, Ohio.

It's a bit of a drive (30-40 min), but totally worth it.

I think of all the delicious fruits and veggies these farms have to offer, the peaches are my absolute favorite.

They remind me of home. We had a peach tree in our backyard, my mom always canned peaches and I remember eating them constantly. Mmmmm. They are soft, so juicy and just perfect.

I guess the seasons for fruits are a little early this year. So we were lucky enough to pick some raspberries while we were there. They are also d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s.
And cute.

But picking them surrounded by bees, not so cute.

Luke was such a good helper and picked a lot of ripe raspberries for me. Every now and then he'd give some to my friends baby, she (the baby) loved it. After we drove to a nearby park to have a picnic and play on the playground, before we headed back home.

I wish this picture was in focus. Isn't he cute?

Happy August.

Where is my Lukey?

Today we got Luke a big boy bed. He was SO excited.
We're hoping he'll stay in it, all night long and quit showing up in our room 5x a night. 

Before, his crib mattress was just on the floor, but then he started getting little bumps that we think might have been some kind of bug bites (gross, I know), so we wanted him up off the floor. Plus we will be needing the crib mattress soon! 

So tonight we did our bedtime routine and we have one of those childproof handles on the inside of his door and if he comes out once we shut his door and he's locked in. We sound like great parents huh?

To my surprise he didn't make a peep. I peeked under his door (not easy for a 34 week pregnant mom). I thought for sure he was pulling out every drawer and ripping whatever he could to shreds. But he was in his bed like a good little boy.

A while later I opened his door to check on him. I was excited to see him snoozing away in his big bed.

At first glance I thought he was snuggled up next to the rail.

Closer look. He wasn't there and I hadn't seen him anywhere when I walked in the room. And his door had been tightly (I mean, it gets stuck I can hardly get it open) closed.

No Luke.

Obviously, I knew he hadn't gone far. And there he was, snug as a bug, on his favorite sleeping place, the carpet, with his baby blanket. This whole falling asleep on the floor might be a hard habit to break. I thought it was so cute that he had even tucked himself in with his blanket. He never sleeps with it on.

I know what you're thinking..."Man, that kid has the most boring, ugly room." Well...it's true, for now. Our main floor is basically decorated and presentable (still needs some curtains and a few things), but our 2nd floor has one picture hung up in the bathroom-that's it, so far. 

Getting this place just how I want it will take a while. But here are some of my ideas for his room.

Remember that hideous mustard yellow desk we had? Well, Matt sanded it and repainted it and I love how it turned out. I want to add some cute porcelain (maybe with numbers on them?) knobs. And we got two old, dirty, semi-painted chairs for free too and Matt sanded them and I stained them. I love how they turned out. The only problem with the desk is we don't think we want to keep it in Luke's room. We are thinking of building one of those cubical shelf things, with the baskets? So we might sell it (even though I love it!) just because we don't have a spot for it. We would if we had painted it a different color...maybe we will?

I'm slowly working on the baby's room. I hope it turns out how I've imagined! So far I've made a super cute crib skirt and I'm working on the curtains. I just need to make a blanket to match and hang some decor. I'll post pics as soon as I get it finished.

Funny Little Luke

I had to share this funny story (with Matt's consent).

Today was a good, but wild day in church, as we had to wrestle, bribe and keep Luke entertained to sit through sacrament meeting. He noticed four kids sitting behind us were all coloring pictures and I think he was a little jealous. He was trying to climb over the bench to join in the fun. Soon enough, my friend kindly handed Luke a picture and two crayons, so he wasn't left out. He was so excited and the first thing he said, loudly and repeatedly was
"Hey, that's my daddy!! That's my daddy!" 

I was laughing hysterically, but quietly.

And then I quickly scribbled on some blue hair. 

At first I thought, "I've got to put this on my blog," because it was just too funny. Then I thought Matt might not think it was that funny. But then after church Matt was showing a few people and everyone in the halls that saw and overheard our conversation thought it was pretty funny too, so Matt said I could put it on here.

Luke says funny things that keep us laughing. Today at church he saw a lot of kids bearing their testimonies and he kept saying, in between giggles,
"I've got to go up there mom!"

And with Matt being gone a lot lately, he says, "I miss daddy," and "I know you miss daddy mommy." He also thinks we have separate rooms. There's mom's room and then dad's room, because Matt sleeps in our guest room during the day.

Here are just a few funny things he says:

"I can't believe it!"

"Don't even think about it."

"Oh my gosh." (I don't love hearing this one, but it's better than "oh my heck," which is what he used to say).

"But dad/mom said that!" Usually talking about watching a movie in the car, when one of us says no."
At bedtime: "But I'm scared of bugs and frogs and monsters" (thanks to monsters inc. for the monsters part, I don't know where he got the frogs).

At TJ Max, we were at the check out to buy a toy:

Luke: Can't open it, we have to buy it first.

Mom: Do you have any money?
Luke: Yes.
Mom: Oh really, where is it?

Luke: In your pocket.