Play Pretend

Avery loves to play pretend. She managed to coax us all into swim suits and pretend to swim on the bed. We had a fun time. ;-)

Don't Peek.

Of course now you have to. :) Well, the curtain is up! The shower curtain, of course. That means we have officially finished remodeling our downstairs/guest bathroom. OH MY! Can't wait for you to see!! (And it's the best in person, I guarantee.)

The "don't peek" is for Adri - you will be our first guest in this fabulous new bathroom and I hate to ruin the surprise by posting these pictures, but I'm just so darn excited.... (So for you, you must not scroll down!) And if you do, you must at least act completely dazzled when you see this fine workmanship in real life.

Now, for the rest of you... The "before" pictures must come first.

BEFORE:

(do you like our living room cabinet in there?)

DURING:

Pictured above: My intentions were to get a dark, earthy, rusty, woodsy orange and proceed with that theme. This is me grinning, thinking, "oh boy. I sure hope this color isn't for real because I might need my sunglasses.

After the color was set, I promptly gained a new vision: modern retro. Sweet. We went with white vanity and sink top, chrome fixtures, and white/black/gray accents. Check it out!!

DONE:

oh YES. that is a square sink - so awesome.

AND that is a curved shower curtain rod. It matches the curvature of the tub and let's be honest - it's just way cooler. It's also 4x the price, but the coolness was so worth it.

Walking? Potty Trained?

This might be a big month for us...

On Saturday, March 31, Aspen took her first few steps at bedtime when we were hanging out in Avery's room all together. She was standing at the bedside and began to walk towards - I don't know what - but we both caught a glimpse of it. A good three steps at least. Since then, with encouragement, she will keep trying and can do the same amount. I'm sure by the end of April, she will be walking much greater lengths! We're trying to get a video, hopefully one soon.

On Monday, April 2, Avery decided to wear underwear and kept them dry all day. The big thing is that she would go without me asking when she needed to. HUGE. Next day we went to Santa Fe and still wore underwear (I know, I must be crazy), but she made it all day again!! (Of course going potty twice at each store.) Today she decided to put on pull-ups without me knowing, went back to some old habits, then when we changed back to underwear she had an accident. We still put undies on again and she did alright the rest of the day. I wish I knew what exactly is going on in her little toddler mind concerning potty training. I'm not going to hold my breath, but I think she might be potty trained by the end of this month. That would be fantastic!

Hello 6 inches

So we've been having some really nice warm weather lately - might have even guessed it was spring - but we were greatly mistaken!

Day before yesterday, out of nowhere, we woke up to this beauty:

Our neighbors trees drooping over the fence. I love snow covered trees against white skies.

Feels like a wonderland dream... and that's our shed!

Nala being a spaz... haha!

By now the snow is mostly melted, and it's a good thing I postponed cleaning my floors, if you know what I mean. What a bizarre yet beautiful occasion! I guess they say to expect this kind of strange weather patterns, especially in spring. We're just so grateful we've been blessed with goo-gobs of moisture this winter!

mom...

Making conversation with Avery in the car after church:

"So, Avery, is baby asleep back there?"

"no."

5 minutes later

whisper: "mom.... mom...

whisper back: "um, yeah? what is it?" (I'm humored that she's whispering at me because I don't know why)

Avery whisper: "baby's asleep."

:)

Tiny shoes!

Aspen is such a petite little girl and I think it's adorable! Her shoes kill me! They are size 2! There's only one size under that. I used to see these tiny sneakers and sandals and think, "that's so ridiculous- why would you put an infant in shoes like that!" Well, we are now using them, but not because she is an infant, but because she will be WALKING here any day now! It just cracks me up! How cute.

These actually look bigger in the picture. You should see them on her tiny feet. It makes me smile!

Jumping back in

I'm wrapping up two weeks of sickness and beginning to feel like a normal human being again! The girls haven't been too bad, but I've had a bad cold and sinus infection to fight. Thanks to friends and my good husband taking care of me, we're getting back on track now.

I was able to attend a women's conference "Time Out For Women" this weekend with friends and it was great! Perhaps more on that later. It'll take me a while to get my gears going back up to speed, but it feels good to be "free"!

The girls sharing the step stool. Avery is so independent; she can unfold the stool, get herself a bowl and pour some cereal all by herself. It comes in handy when I'm sick and trying to sleep in! She's also getting handy with the remote.

Aspen LOVES to say uh-oh! She'll say it purposefully or just to hear herself talk, probably both! I love her little talk and am noticing new words coming out sporadically. Today it was "Puppy." However, she doesn't usually repeat them the next day.