monday again

this kid puts up with a lot.  it doesn't even phase him.

still figuring out what color to paint our house.  cast your vote... brown or gray.  click this link for a million pictures of samples painted all over my house. https://photos.app.goo.gl/M0VPf8qycgzLsq8O2

my kids are always ruining things and messing up my stuff.  Andrew decided to get in on that action by puking on my laptop while I stepped away for a minute to change Elizabeth's diaper.  punk.

speaking of Elizabeth's diaper changes... I'm comforted to know that if I ever decide to not potty train her, it'll be just fine because, by then, she'll probably be skilled enough to change her own diapers.

these kids... sure are crazy.

but for real... let me know which paint color you prefer.

sunday

church was really great today.

I'd love for this to get it's own post but I know I'll never get around to it.  so, it can get a screenshot instead. this is such a special picture to me.  it's been just over six months since my panic attack and I I had to take this selfie with Andrew and this blue chair.  although this is the best I could get because I was working with a very narrow mirror in the awkwardly shaped mother's lounge. 

such an awesome RS lesson.  Alexis is such a good teacher... I could listen to her for days.

honey and body both wore their gray suits to church. also, Brady was originally terrified to do the scripture (7th article of faith) in primary, but honey was conducting in sacrament meeting today and so we hyped it up that Brady could wear a gray suit like dad and talk at the microphone like dad.  amazingly, it worked and no one was more surprised than I was that Brady totally nailed it.  he was a little bundle of perfection.

what a ham.

up next week in nursery: lesson 15... on modesty.

studying the paint samples.  that little box has a gray on top and brown on bottom.

anonymous vs. warm stone

black fox vs. urbane bronze

I told her to put her hands down...

so she put them down and then immediately up.

just take this all in.

I should be embarrassed how much my honey and I text each other from within our own home.  sadly, I can't be because it just seems totally normal to me now.

her pouty face is THE BEST. so we'll just end on that happy note. ; )

honey hiked a 14er

honey hiked a 14er with a few friends from the ward so I was on my own with the kids for the day. sadly for honey, it was cloudy and he didn't get much of a view.

I helped Abigail draw the right size and shape heart.  she was a very dissatisfied customer and it took a lot of trying on my part.  she eventually gave in, not because she was satisfied, but because she had to admit to herself that I was just incapable of drawing a heart that would meet her standards.

the finished product.  it was for her to place under someone's pillow as a good gesture... we talked about this the night before when I was trying to be a good parent and teach her how to have a conscience.  anyway, she ended up putting it in Andrew's stroller with him when he was hanging out outside with us.

 lesson learned... always use the brakes on the stroller lest you be taken off guard seeing your two year old about to push your newborn down your driveway.

sooo glad I looked up in time.  the kid is six weeks old and honestly, it's a miracle he's lasted this long.

just two brothers... hanging out in a garage.

eating lunch.

so sad that he's outgrowing all of the pj's he's been wearing for the last several weeks.  I'm gonna miss these.

my painting buddy. luckily the visor is so huge that he didn't mind the sprinkling rain.

the inside colors are the same and the outside colors are the same. I was not thinking when I painted them and now it semi kills me that the same color isn't on the left both times.  the horror.

friday

so in love with this kid.

my house's current paint job.  the HOA sent us a letter in June that we needed to repaint.  hopefully they don't fine us even though I'm sure there's no way we'll meet their deadline.  I mean, I couldn't even think about it when I was pregnant and now my baby is six weeks old and I'm just getting around to considering paint colors.

megan at sherwin Williams was immensely helpful in figuring out paint colors.

I ended up being there forever and the kids occupied themselves with lots of games.  like hide and seek.  elizabeth loved it.

can you find Abigail in this picture?

color matching fail... the two girls doing the sample paints for me tried so many times that I lost count on how many attempts they made.  eventually they declared it "an impossible color" and refunded me the price of one of the sample paints.  we met honey at Texas Roadhouse (the kids wanted to go and I said yes) and it was such a pain.  our kids were so wild after being cooped up in sherwin Williams forever and honey and I were just so over it because of my experience in sherwin Williams with four kids and his experience waiting forever at roadhouse for us (I kept telling him 10 more minutes while the girls kept trying to match the paint color) and honestly, it was like hour 8 of a 16 hour road trip.  honey and I held it together but we were almost laughing at how stupidly unenjoyable dinner was.

I left at 6:45 to race back to sherwin Williams.  why? well I'll tell you.  because at dinner, I was explaining the whole color matching fiasco to honey and told him I'd have to get that color at Home Depot because it was Behr and sherwin Williams, for whatever reason, couldn't get a close match.  but then honey said "well, the painters we're using are going to be using sherwin Williams paint so that's going to be a problem if you can't get a match for the Behr color." well that would have been nice to know two hours ago!  so yes, Andrew and I raced into sherwin Williams minutes before closing and megan was gone (ugh!) but the other girl was still there and she helped me pick out anonymous and had it mixed up.  when I got home, I googled anonymous and urbane bronze (since that was one of my color combo options and turns out, that's what young house love used for their current house.  I felt pretty validated.

and everyone was soooo anxious to get to bed and end the day.  ; )

cousin star and cousin Sara came to visit!

I started the day with my 6 week appointment.  I forgot to schedule with Christopher to watch the kids but luckily we just barely made it work.  sadly, that meant that I didn't have any time to just stick around and catch up with shirelle.  I'm gonna miss her.  I told her I was going to try to get pregnant again within the next 18 months so we can be back to seeing each other all the time.  she said she'll still be there.  not sure where she lives but I wish we could be bff's and hang out all the time.  she's so much fun and we just get along so well.  

I was sitting at the kitchen table later, just eating oatmeal with elizabeth, when out of the blue I got a text message from cousin star that she was in Denver and wanted to get together.  she didn't have a car but coordinated things with cousin Sara.  so Sara and her kids picked up star and then drove down to Parker to visit me!  

once star told me the plan, it was a mad dash to feed Andrew and then get the house all picked up.

woohoo!  I couldn't even believe my eyes!

I love taking pictures of these girls when they're together because they're the same age... even though you can't really tell.  Abigail is older by four days.

star refuses to give me the original of this photo.  ; (  I'm still working on it.

I was driving to Kelsey's baby shower at brio at the mall and the sky was just amazing. pictures couldn't capture it but I sure tried.

I have Abigail and Brady pick up at least ten times times a day.  it doesn't matter if she's going into her room to get a pair of socks or to put a book away.  her clean room will inevitably turn into this within 30 seconds I swear.