End of September

Mornings with Mattie-

Mattie runs down the sidewalk following the bus as long as she can every morning then tells me with a frown "I miss my sister!"  But she's also definitely enjoying our one-on-one time and having free reign over all the toys and dress-up.  Also, she's gotten pretty smart and often says "Mom, let's cuddle on the couch and watch a movie"- an offer I can't resist these days.

Kindergarten Girl-
We're still struggling with lots of meltdowns but it's fun to see how much Jillian is learning and growing.  I've started occasionally picking her up from school because the bus takes SO long to get to our house.  One day Mattie fell asleep in the car so Jilly and I went through the McDonald's drive-thru to get a treat then still had time to play a game at home before Mattie woke up.  Jilly and I both loved the time together so, so much.  Jillian has started drawing pictures for me in the morning while she waits for me to wake up.  I love the one she drew of the baby and me- it seems appropriate that we're both crying

Mother of Five-

Some friends of ours went out of town for a couple days so we watched their kids.  It was quite a houseful but the kids were all so sweet and helpful.  The perler beads were a big hit with everyone, and I felt especially proud that I got all the kids up, fed, dressed, and to two different schools on time.

Baby Sprinkle-

My friend Janice threw a perfect Harry Potter themed Sprinkle for me.  We made these cute wands and ate yummy treats.  It was so fun to have a girls' night.

BYU vs. WVU

For a long time we've been looking forward to BYU coming out east to play WVU.  When I realized I'd be 37 weeks pregnant at the game I was a little worried but we couldn't miss a chance to see the Cougars.  The game was at Fedex Field, where the Redskins play, so it was only an hour away from us and it ended up being so much fun.  The weather was perfect, some wonderful friends agreed to watch the girls for us, and we had fun being with my family.  There were some bleacher seats lower than us but we were pretty much on the front row which meant I didn't have to stand up very often which I greatly appreciated.  And, we got to see a few touchdowns up close and personal.  Sadly, it was a loss for the Cougars but still a great day.

Primary Program

Our primary program was the day after the game so my parents and Ty spent the night (and Jenn who had been in New Jersey for a work trip and came down to spend the rest of the weekend with us.)  Katie, Neal, and Joe also came up for church.  The program went well, Jillian did a great job, and I was relieved to have it done since it was my last big responsibility before the baby.  The best part of that Sunday was that everyone came home from church a bit early but we had some responsibilities to stay for.  When we got home my mom had our entire lunch out and ready to go- it was the best way ever to come home from church.  We had a fun afternoon with everyone.

Possibly our last picture as a family of four?!

Jenn's Visit

We were lucky to have Jenn for an extra day after everyone else left.  On Monday we went to Miss Shirley's Cafe for brunch.  I'd heard a lot about it but hadn't made it there and it was excellent.  Then we took Jenn to the aquarium.  As we were leaving Mattie suddenly said she wanted a picture in the shark's teeth.  We've been to the aquarium many times in the past year and never ever stopped at the shark but this was our first time coming without Jillian and so finally Mattie could take a picture without Jilly being scared, haha!

Since Jenn left the rest of the week has been a blur.  I caught a nasty cold and it really wiped me out.  Mattie has watched WAY more tv than usual and we've been getting by on the bare minimum.  But I'm feeling much better and grateful that I was sick now rather than in a couple weeks when I have a newborn to take care of.  We're all excited to move on to October!!

tuesday ten

1. Kindergarten is honestly kind of rough.  Jilly does love it and has made new friends and is always excited to ride the bus and tell me about her day.  But, I just miss her so much and she's told me a few times "I wish I could stay home and be with you and Mattie all day."  Heartbreaker.  Also, she is SO exhausted and an emotional wreck.  She ends up in a puddle of tears all the time over the silliest things.  It's been exhausting but it has to get better sometime right?

2. Also, she's grown up so much in just a couple weeks.  Jillian loves to wear her shorts to school and almost always wants her hair in a ponytail.  And, she requested some real tennis shoes so we bought these for her.  I seriously don't recognize this girl anymore!

3.  Mattie still misses Jill but is getting used to our days without her.  She loves to dress up and play with all her "friends" and doesn't mind having all my attention at all (let's just hope she doesn't get too used to it!)

4. We went to Bryan's company party on Saturday and in Maryland a company party= crab feast!  There was lots of crab and other delicious food and so many fun activities for the girls.  It was so fun I almost didn't notice how hot and humid and miserable the day was.

5. The girls LOVED the bounce house at the party and ran through it over and over and over.  I wasn't sure Mattie could do it all by herself so Bryan went with her the first time and I was cracking up at how similar their slide poses were.

6. We came home from the party with some extra crab so it wasn't hard to convince Katie and Neal to come eat and watch the BYU vs. Utah game with us.  The game was a disappointment, but the excellent company made up for it.

7. Mattie's nursery teachers are the sweetest couple and she adores them (which is kind of a big deal because Mattie can be pretty picky.)  We are so, so sad that they are moving back to the Philippines this week- we'll miss Brother Lim and Sister Lim so much!

8. It finally cooled off Sunday and I felt like a new person as we went on a walk at the Oregon Ridge Nature Trail.  Never have I looked forward to fall as much as I have this year.

9. Baltimore County is so funny, we have days off of school ALL the time (and you won't hear me complaining at all!)  Monday was a Muslim holiday and Jilly chose to go to the mall for lunch, the play place, and a visit to the Disney store.  We loved having her home for a day!

10. Bryan can always convince the girls to watch biking videos with him if it involves cuddling and staying up past bedtime.  

Seven on Sunday

1. The girls went to an awesome birthday party last Saturday.  Jasmine came and the favorite topic of conversation among all the little girls ever since has been what princess will come to their party.  Here's hoping for a little bit of memory loss.

2. It is very rare for both girls to fall asleep on the couch so it was quite a treat when we all took a nap together last Sunday.  The girls will miss being able to use their baby sister as a pillow!

3. Kindergarten has been quite the adjustment.  Mattie misses Jillian more than I thought she would; she'll often ask me in the middle of the day "Can we go pick up my sister now?"  Jilly always seems happy and excited to go to school; she loves riding on the bus and she's made a new friend named Delaney.  But she's also SO exhausted and emotional, we've had many meltdowns this week.  I hate that she's gone for so long (9-4 every day!) but I must admit, it's pretty easy breezy to just have Mattie around during the day.

4. On Wednesday Bryan called me at 4:30 and asked if I thought I could find a babysitter for that night because he had free Orioles tickets from work.  Miraculously, I did- there was a girl in our ward who hadn't left for college yet and was available.  It was hard to leave Jilly on a school night during the first week of school but so fun to go to the game with Bryan.  The seats were really great and it was a fun and rare mid-week date.

5. We finally went camping this summer!  Our ward campout was Friday night and we had a wonderful time.  The girls ran around with their friends and got super dirty, we roasted hot dogs and made s'mores, and after the girls crashed in the tent Bryan and I stayed up late playing games with friends (and got in trouble for being too rowdy!)  Camping while pregnant wasn't too terrible, Bryan took care of everything.  He bought a new air mattress for me and I was cracking up at my bed (queen size air mattress) next to his little camping pad.  I hardly slept at all but it was worth it; Mattie said "this was the best day ever to go camping!"

6. Bryan made crepes tonight and they were really, really delicious.  New Sunday night tradition perhaps?

7. We heard that this huge sunflower field is in bloom so we headed over this afternoon.  It was magnificent and made me feel that maybe fall is on its way here.

"the purple room"

When we first started talking to the girls about sharing a room last spring Mattie said she wanted a purple room.  Jilly was game, and we thought giving her a purple room would help ease any concern Mattie had over losing her own bedroom to the baby.  

I started looking but had the hardest time finding anything purple that I really liked.  Finally I found this fabric (we actually found it the day we also found out we were having a third girl, it felt like a good omen) and it was a color combination I could work with.  I asked my mother-in-law to make pillowcases with the fabric (because I'm lazy) and she did a wonderful job.  I really searched for purple quilts but couldn't find anything.  These reversible pink comforters were $20 each from Amazon and they're nothing amazing but will be just fine.  We were so lucky that my parents were getting a new queen bed in one bedroom and wanted to get rid of their bunk bed.  My mom and sisters drove it down one day and after I gave it a couple coats of white paint Bryan put it together.  All four of us have had painful collisions between our heads and the bunk but other than that it's been a huge success.

We got this dresser on Craigslist last year and it had been in Mattie's room waiting for some love.  I painted it white with purple ombre drawers and found some really cute "crystal" drawer pulls on Amazon.  I think it looks SO much better and it fits all the girls' clothes (except our vast collection of dresses in the closet) so I'm happy with it.

^ This picture was taken before we set up the bunk bed, now the bunk bed would be the reflection in the mirror!

This is the third house we've set up our trusty old rain gutter bookshelves and I still love them.  

And the other side of the room...complete with an undressing Snow White.  The plan was/is to paint the room a light purple.  But, this paint still looks pretty good and I don't mind the color and we just plain ran out of steam so it's going to stay green for a while.  Every once in a while one of the girls will ask when it will be purple and I just say "sometime soon."  So the "purple room" has turned out to be much more of a pink room, but the girls love the new stuff and love sharing a room so they haven't complained at all about the color, thank goodness!

tje