Five on Friday

 Happy Friday! After last week flew by, this week just seemed longer. But after a long night with a stuffy two year old, and checking on a baby fever, I made it up early enough to throw cinnamon rolls in the oven for the boys (and I'm on my second latte at this point). So the day is off to a good start! I'm linking up with the five on Friday ladies with five things from last week:

First, yesterday this baby had her 4 month check up! She weighed in at 14 lbs 11 oz and size up to be 25 inches. This makes her on the tall side which explains why all her cute rompers are a struggle to snap! She had multiple vaccinations and ended up with a fever last night of 101.7. It was a little worrisome but she wasn't miserable. In fact other than her being warm to the touch I only thought to take her temperature because she wasn't my usually smiley baby. We didn't actually treat it with medicine and this morning she's back to smiling and giggling.

2. Last Saturday we spent our day at the baseball field. My mother in law bought us a shade tent which has been so helpful with Katherine. Sunscreen isn't fully effective on her yet so this tent provides some protection as well. And honestly we all sat in it during the games. It is really fun to watch the boys play, but this weekend they both were hit by the ball. T played first base and a ball took a bad hop and busted his nose. It was awful. Luckily he was wearing sunglasses and while they broke, they provided some eye protection. He was determined to get back into the game and even the dugout duty dad had to call me into the dugout to help stop the bleeding because he had walked away from me to soon (it was so gross, even I had to clean the blood off of me). Later we found out the ball that hit him was hit off a banned bat. To say I was angry was an understatement. I discovered in our rules, if you talk to the umpire, it's a forfeit (let's be honest NO ONE follows that rule), but use a banned bat and there's no consequence. Emails were sent.
N was hit in the back by a wild pitch. It left a mark, but he was fine. He even had one of his best defensive games yet (he caught a pop fly in center field, threw it home for a double play). His games have gotten really exciting because the level of play has changed so much. He has the same coach he had for his first year of tball. It is so weird thinking of Coach Chris racing him around the bases in 2013 when he was just 5 and doing the same now when he's almost 10 (Coach Chris always wins). After the game, coach asked N if he knew he was going to make that catch, N said yes he knew it, and coach said "I knew it too." In 2013 we were using all our strategies to try and get N to stop skipping to bases. I can't believe how much he has grown up.

3. Mom was here last weekend (and may never watch a baseball game again in her life after being traumatized by seeing her grandsons hit). We took the girls to the zoo on Friday. KC loved it. She loved the elephants, the flamingos, and especially, the "Dorys." We found Dory multiple times at the aquarium and I think she would have stayed in front of the big tank until the zoo closed if she could have. 

4. It's no secret we are UNC fans, so we were pretty thrilled with the championship game (and the NFL draft last night was pretty exciting too). I ordered these shirts from HonorRoll Designs and they shipped yesterday!! The Rameses fairy may be dropping one off at a friend's house soon :)

5. This baby and that backyard make me happy! It's been raining for days here and everything is so green! I forgot how beautiful spring is at this house (although it was beautiful at the old house too). The previous owner (and only owner for 50 years!) planted so many beautiful bulbs, azaleas, camillas, gardenias, hydrangeas, and peonies! It's like a little present every time something starts blooming. I just want to add a few dogwoods - our neighbor has one that overhangs our yard and they are just one of my favorites!

Have a great weekend! We have a double header for N on Saturday and a game for T, here's hoping they are injury free!

Linking up with April, Christina, and Natasha.

House Anniversary!

One year ago today we moved into our new (old) house. The owner allowed us to move in before closing to save us some money and hassle with moving. We took a few pictures then and I wanted to compare it to it's current state. We have big plans (and little plans) for this forever home and are slowly (like slower than a snail) making it our own.

Dining Room

before:

currently:

 We still have a lot to do in there. I have a new fixture to put up. The side table is going, all the pictures in the corner need to be hung (but not in here). I also have the vision of some thick silk blue or neutral drapes in here.

Kitchen

before:

currently:

The kitchen cabinets were painted, we've replaced the dishwasher and faucet (and garbage disposal). This room needs a total overhaul (there's hardwoods under the laminate but we are keeping those safe until we remodel).

Boy's Room

before:

 currently:

 Originally the boys had another room, but we found it better to have them in a different part of the house because with the wood floors everything is louder and they kept waking KC. They love their space (it's bigger) and they have their own bathroom.

Boys' Bath

currently and before :)

 yea, this needs a total overhaul.

Girl's Room

currently:

I couldn't find the before for this room, but it was purple with purple trim. We moved the boys in here first, and then saw it worked better for the girls. We have a new ceiling fan to install and I have curtains to hang. Most of this room is done! Our neighbor made a KC sign to hang over KC's bed.

Girls' Bath

currently and before:

Slowly taking down the border in here. I have plans to paint it a light pink (the tile is yellow) and I'm thinking of wrapping the mirror in wood. This will get a total overhaul as well!

Just a few changes and a look down memory lane. Moving in we redid the floors (they were covered in carpet), painted EVERYTHING (ceiling, walls, trim, doors), and installed new carpet. Since then we've updated the dishwasher, faucet, disposal, and HVAC. We'd love to add another level to this house and bump out the front a few more feet but that will come much later!

Five on Friday

Happy Friday!! I hope you've had a good week. My mom is here today and we are heading to the zoo with the girls. I'd offered it up for a spring break activity and got "The zoo is boring" from the boys so I'm taking the girls while they are in school (and crying a little inside that the boys find the zoo boring). I'm linking up with the Five on Friday ladies today for Five bits of randomness.

1. T turned 7 a couple weeks ago! It's so hard to believe. He is such a sweet kid, unless he's hungry or tired (then get that boy a snickers because he could totally be in one of their commercials). We had a family celebration and are waiting for baseball season to end before his Game Truck party. 

2. T loves games. He is always up for playing a game - any game. One game he received for his birthday is the new hit in our house. It's called Ticket to Ride and it's super fun (but takes some concentration).

3. Next week we will have lived here a year! It seems like we've been here forever and like we just moved in. We've slowly been making changes to the house. A local mom's facebook group has been awesome for finding new lighting, decor, and even a new sofa. I was never a fan of the red Laz-y-boy couch and chair and a half we had. I like rolled arms, a skirt (I hear those are currently not "in"), and most definitely a washable slipcover. I bought an ikea ektorp used off the site and I looove the difference it makes. It's also so cheap the kids can destroy it and I don't care (new slipcovers are like $30). I've read so many blogs singing the Ektorp's praises that I hope we aren't disappointed. (Now I just need to get rid of the chair and a half)

Before

After

4. Sephora is having their insider sale. With my clothes still not fitting (ugh I hate that), I'm all about makeup and jewelry (and shoes). I'm loving this new foundation. It feels so good going on! 

5. N and I have started reading Harry Potter. I bought the illustrated first book (it went on sale on amazon for like $8 a year ago...hoping to score the second on the same way). N hasn't wanted to read Harry Potter at all and I ended up making a deal with him at some point (like extra xbox time if we could read the first two chapters) and after the first chapter he was hooked. We read a chapter at night and he always begs to read another. I'm so glad we have this to share. Chris just mentioned coming up with a good list of summer reading books. There are quite a few we haven't read we are interested in reading with him (Chronicles of Narnia is on the list). If you have any suggestions I'd love them!

Thoughts on Thursday

Happy Thursday! This week has flown by, but the week after spring break always seems to - something about getting back into the routine of school and activities after a week of free days makes time fly. I'm linking up with Annie Julie and Natalie today for Thoughts on Thursday! Lots of random thoughts today.

First, parenting is hard (I know, such a newsflash here). My oldest left for school pretty angry with me (don't write that I'm a dumb dumb in your agenda) and I'm left wondering where my sweet thoughtful boy went. He does still have a super thoughtful side, but man that attitude comes out a lot. I made sure he knew dumb dumb moms don't make lunches or do laundry (to which he told me he basically already does his laundry...um what?! Throwing the laundry in the washing machine once in a blue moon does not count). Someone please tell me how to handle this, I'd like easy answers please.

Second, after that, I'm very hopeful that I don't have to go through this attitude thing x4. My kids all have different personalities so maybe I'll miss it with one (or two). I'm sure the joke will be on me in a few years when the rest all give me more attitude. That said I still can't believe I have 4 kids. It feels kind of unreal. Like when something you always wanted happens and you never thought it was likely to happen and you just can't believe it. When Chris and I got married when didn't even know if we could have kids - we had some random genetic paperwork we didn't understand and luckily it had less of an implication than we were told. One of my favorite things is taking pictures of all of them together. My dad has a picture of him and his three siblings that is one of my favorite pictures of him. You see all their personalities shining through. I'm hopeful that in fifty years one of the pictures I capture of all of them will do the same.

In little girl news, KC had her first makeover. It was really sweet. An older girl asked if she could put makeup on her and I knew KC would be so excited. She has a few empty makeup containers of mine and likes to do makeup with me in the mornings.

And Katherine is now 4 months. 4 months!! I can't get enough of her. And neither can the other kids. Everytime I lay her down to get a photo another kid asks to be in the picture. It is just so so sweet. She is really interested in toys now and I just can't believe we are at that stage. In my mind she's still my squishy newborn. 

 I hope you have a great Thursday (or whatever day you happen to stop by)!