The name game continues...

Ok so I know I still have like 4 months before this little girl is here, but I can not stand not having a name to refer to her as. SO... as of right now there are two names I have been considering and want to hear what you all have to say.

Gabriella Kay

or

Makenzie Kim

(also how would you choose to spell this one? McKenzie, Mackenzie, Makenzie?)

Pink Nail Polish

Remember this cute little outfit???It is one of my favorite summer outfits Maddie has.

In fact, it is the only outfit I have bought her this summer.
Now meet our "friend" pink nail polish.
Let's just say, we're not friends anymore!
We scrubbed and scrubbed- trying every solution imaginable. We even tried bug spray. We read on the Internet that it could take nail polish out of clothes but I think it has to be a specific type.

Even though I know it was kind of our own fault... I wasn't very pleased.
We didn't think there was any way she could open the 10 year old bottle we were sure was permanently closed.

Lesson learned.

In case you were wondering...

... I have been on vacation from life for these past few days, hence no new posts. And since I'm not quite ready to be back from vacation, all you get today are a few pictures. Oh and if you want to help me out, I have no idea what I want to name our new little girl and am looking for all the suggestions I can get. So I have decided I will give a fun prize to the person who helps me come up with the perfect name for baby girl number two!

This is the best way I have found to get Maddie to let us brush her teeth. She loves brushing her teeth but usually she shuts her mouth around the toothbrush and tries to suck off the toothpaste. I discovered if she is brushing our teeth that she is a lot better at keeping her mouth open too. Only downside... pregnancy gag reflex+toothbrush down throat= not much fun for me

Grandma is starting Maddie out young. She is already teaching her the joy of climbing trees.

Madison being Madison.

Remember PLEASE offer suggestions for names if you have any.

It's a . . .

Is it a boy, or is it a girl?!?

It’s here, the moment we have all been waiting for… today is the day we found out that
The little baby inside my stomach is either a boy or a girl.
Since it is firework season, we had to wait until 5 PM to find out what we are having.

All I can say is LONGEST day ever!

Going to the doctor’s office was so exhilarating; my stomach was full of butterflies.
It was so amazing to get to see our sweet little baby.
Really there is nothing more exciting then seeing the baby almost fully developed.
Little fingers and little toes help to reassure me the baby is healthy and strong.

Oh and if you would like to know what it is we are having, the answer is waiting to be discovered within this letter.

3 years passed... an eternity to come!

Today is Karl's and my 3 year anniversary. We've made it THREE whole years and we still love each other. Haha. Ok I only say it like that because my aunt Diane called me and wished me a Happy Anniversary today and was telling me that she just had her 40th wedding anniversary on Saturday. My first thought was "And you're calling to congratulate me??? 3 years is nothing compared to 40!" Anyway, it is still exciting to think that we have been married for 3 years. It actually seems like we have been married for a lot longer than that, it's hard to remember what life was like before we got married.

Yesterday in church we were talking about all the many things that can cause contention in a marriage such as personality differences, backgrounds, finances, stresses with work/school and so on. We discussed how for many, these issues can mean the end of a marriage- many think that these issues are more then they can handle and it is easy to end the marriage then solve their problems. All I could think the whole time was that even though there have been some very frustrating moments in our marriage I have never even once even considered ending our marriage. To me, that thought is very comforting.

Anyway, on a lighter note... the moment we have all been waiting for. As many of you know, Karl has been working very hard for the past 6 months to get back to his pre-marriage weight by our 3 year anniversary. To do this, he has been trying to watch what he eats while still eating what he enjoyes along with working out with his Wii Fit for an hour in the morning and then a half hour in the evenings.

Before: This picture is from our Ugly Sweater party at Christmas before Karl started his journey

And this is from his birthday in January,

Well as of today Karl has lost a total of 50 pounds! That means he has officially reached his goal ... and then some.

After: This is a picture of what Karl looks like today.

I am so proud of you Honey!!!

What a goal to achieve. And to show him just how proud of him I am... he got the new EA Active workout game for the Wii that he has been begging to get for the last month or so. I think he definitely deserves it.

And finally to end this post, here is a picture of the yummy dinner we ate tonight.

Stuffed Cheese and Spinach Manicotti. Thanks Jess for the recipe and the idea!

50 Cent Hat

I just got this hat from Old Navy for .50. It's a little big still but I thought it was kind of fun for only 50 cents.

Operation: De-clutter

Today has been a day FULL of hard work and organization.

I finally decided, after many months of wanting to...

to buy some organizing boxes so that I could store all of my crafty junk.

I am really pleased with the outcome.

Here is a picture of what my closet looked like when I started this morning.

And this is how about every one of my craft boxes looked. I had so many different boxes that it was hard to remember where everything I needed was located.

And these are all of my new- nicely organized craft boxes. And this is the finished product. A nicely organized-easy to find what you are looking for-closet.Thank you WalMart for providing the wonderful $3.50 boxes that have made my life easier.

Cinnamon Rolls

The other day my mom posted my Aunt Linda's Cinnamon Roll recipe on her blog (Click here). They looked really delicious and I had been craving them ever since so the other day Madison and I decided to make them. I let Maddie help me with EVERY step. It was a little bit messy but we had a lot of fun. They didn't taste quite like my Aunt Linda's usually do and the bottom of half of them got really burnt but they still were pretty good.

Kneading the dough

Rollin' it out
Buttering it up
Showing me how even her feet are covered in flour

Covered from head to toe

Before they were baked

Licking the frosting off the beaters

The finished product- we made the frosting blue just for fun

Cleaning the dishes- my favorite part for her to help with, I hate doing the dishes
Trying to fill her cup up with water... silly girl.

Thanks Maddie for being such a big helper

What we've been up to

Madison discovered she LOVES playing with our neighbors, Mike and Megan.

I discovered that Madison has a new tooth today, which means we discovered the reason behind the unexplained tantrums.Madison discovered she loves to eat lunch sitting on the front porch, or rather walking on the sidewalk.

She also discovered she can actually go down a slide by herself and doesn't need mom to go with her.We also discovered that the opportunity we have been praying for these last 6 months or so is almost 100 percent positively going to happen! We have been trying to find a place for us to live where we could have a little bit more space but not have to pay anymore in rent then we are right now. Impossible right? I told a lady I work with named Martha about my plan to find someone who needs help taking care of their house that would want us to move in. About 2 months ago a friend of Martha's came into our work while I was there and was telling Martha how she and her husband were getting ready to go on a mission and need to find someone to house sit while they are gone. Martha quickly remembered our conversation and told this friend that I was looking for something just like that. The friend said she did have one lady that had already inquired about house sitting but they were not sure what was going to happen. This morning I got a phone call from this lady telling me they want us to move in! The house has 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and lots of space to move around as well as lots of storage space. They have a nice yard with a swing set and a trampoline and think that our daughter would love it there. They will be charging us less in rent then we are paying now for our 2 bedroom apartment and in return we will have to take care of their house and yard- I can definitely handle that. They don't know for sure yet when they will be leaving but most likely it will be August or the first of September.

This really is an answer to our prayers for us because we know with Karl going back to school this fall to do his Master's that he won't be able to work as much as he is now and we will be adding another member to our family. So we are extremely grateful!

Another plus side- we will have plenty of space for visitors!!!!