Janely Gets Married!

Janel and Shawn - the newest married couple in the Power Squad! We went to their beautiful sealing and wedding reception on Friday. I know we have more pictures coming, but here are a few we got with our camera at the reception. Janel's smile, hair, and make up were GORGEOUS! Can I go back and re-do my wedding hair like Janel's please? We had a wonderful time and I have such fond memories of the Wagner home, it seemed only fitting that the reception was held there.

MeMa's Birthday Recap

We just had a gluten-free birthday party for MeMa - fun and delicious! The pictures tell the story best.

Baby Names: You Could Really Mess Up Your Kids

Well, made it to 34 weeks and still don't know the sex of the baby. If someone slips now, I will be very annoyed. And then to make myself feel better I will promptly go shopping to make up for these weeks of waiting.

Honestly, I know I am saving a ton of money by not knowing - I would be buying little things here and there that I really don't need just because there are so many cute things out. And then there are the things that weren't even around when Miles was born just two and a half years ago. Those muslin swaddle blankets from Aiden+Anais? I am definitely buying those. What a great idea for a baby during a Vegas summer? I always felt bad because they would get so sweaty all swaddled up.

Anyway, I digress. My main worry is with waiting to look into this little one's eyes to decide on a name. A baby's name seems to set it on a course for life - and man, there are some terrible names out there. I look at the website nameberry.com quite a bit and it shows a word chart of the most searched for names of the day. Be afraid teacher of future kindergarten class of 2017 - there are going to be a bunch of little girls named Renesme and Katniss running around. And those are at least names I have heard of. I think parents need to think more about their child and less about doing something "cool" with the baby's name. Would they want to explain their own name's spelling/pronunciation their whole life?

And when you have to have a list of favorites for both a boy and a girl, it can be daunting. We didn't know with Claire, but I had managed to narrow down the list to about 3 to 4 boy and girl names. With Miles, I just had to find out who was in there, so we knew we could focus on just the boy names. But now I have to not only find names I like from both genders, but they have to "go" with Claire and Miles.

What do I mean by "go?" Well, I like when family names sort of sound like they would all be from the same family. I couldn't pick a really girly name like Claire (which I think is feminine and adorable), and then choose a unisex name for another girl in the family. Or if I were doing all bible names and then chose a really modern name for the third baby, it wouldn't seem right. Maybe I am crazy - maybe you think Claire and Miles already don't go together. If that's the case, then I should stop worrying and just pick from Peeta, Cinna, or Gale for a boy and Clove, Rue or Primm for a girl (did I mention I haven't seen Hunger Games yet?). I am completely joking though - you will not see any of these names on my list... or any of my other names for that matter. I have to narrow them down more before sharing.

Projects

It's been busy around here - we have several projects going on at the same time and I am feeling a little crazy/stressed/pregnant. One of the projects, which I am not directly involved with, is rebuilding Matt's 1965 Chevy Nova. This car has been sitting in our garage for several years (and in his parent's garage before that) and now is the time. Get. It. Done.

My job is to try to keep the kids away from the garage while Matt and Papa work on the car a few days a week. Oh, the temptation of being out with the boys in the garage. It is too much for two little people to resist, and it is just easier to take them to the park or better yet, to Target and spend some money I don't have.

I have been told "we are close" - but I have learned to not ask for an estimated completion date because that leads to me being annoyed when it doesn't happen. So, for now, we are just trying to finish it up before baby comes. I hope to take more pictures along the way and show their progress. These pictures are after maybe 4 weeks of rebuilding the car, working tone to two days a week.


More on our other projects soon - new flooring, paint, windows, organizing kids' rooms, and moving Miles stuff to Claire's room a bit at a time. Bunk beds - arriving soon. I am tired just writing it all out.

Can't Wait!

Though I can wait until after opening weekend... my experience with an audience filled of tweens at The Lady in Black has left me leery of opening weekends. I thought this was so funny - though working out is the last thing on my mind these days, I think I totally had this thought at one point during the books - would I have survived the hunger games? Probably not.

32 Weeks!

To mark the day I turned 32 weeks pregnant, I got to hear the following comments from my children:

As I get out of the shower, Miles opens the bathroom door (dang, forgot to lock it!) and he starts laughing, hard. He points at me and says, "Mommy, funny body!! Funny body!" Everything is about his body lately - for example, he says poop comes out of his body, not his bum. I guess my big belly is funny to him these days.

Then later in the day, Claire says, "Mom, why is your bum so big?" I said to balance out my big belly so I don't fall over. I guess that wasn't a good enough answer because she said, "But WHY is it so big?"

Sheesh, children! I told Claire to not every tell anyone they have a big bum, ever. And in my mind I was thinking, and especially not to a hormonal, sensitive pregnant lady who really does have one...

Claire's Family Art

Claire has been drawing and painting our family a lot lately. She loves to paint especially, and thank goodness MeMa lets her paint every time she has the kids because I usually stick to crayons and colored pencils.

A Hiller family portrait


Claire painted this picture of me - note my huge belly, with a little baby inside. I also liked the blue arms :)

Claire said this is a picture of Matt in a crown - he's the king of our castle :)