a tweak to mays resolution

resolution for may: drive in.
ha.
WHAT was i thinking?

SIDENOTE: HOW is it the end of May ALREADY? SERIOUSLY! it FLEW by.

lets just go over some facts:
the movies dont start until at least 9.
thats typically my bedtime these days.

watching two movies in car.
ha. i cant stay in one position comfortably for more than a half hour.

bathroom breaks.
these days i need a lot of those.
and having to get out of the car countless times to walk in the dark to a bathroom.
ummmm  no.

so i wised up. (is that a word, wised?meh oh well)
and tweaked mays resolution.

turns out we went to the thorpe drive in.
it was very comfortable & spacious & wasnt in the dark.
and the movies, well they started whenever we wanted.
typically after we all had enough of the american pickers or hardcore pawn marathons.
we were able to watch harry potter 2 & 3 (dad wants to watch em all) and the blind side.

so i guess we didnt technically go to a drive in.
but we DID have to drive in to the driveway at the thorpe drive in.
does that count? i think so.
and i get my way cuz im preggers right?

ha, if that were true id have nabisco sending me a new pack of birthday cake oreos to my door step every week. (dont even get me started that i cant find them anymore....ugh)

prokart birthday

on sunday we met up with my side of the family to celebrate my sisters 20th birthday. mom decided we should all do something a little different so (thanks to groupon) prokart races it was. the track was both indoors and outdoors and boy did these things go fast! thankfully dad kept baby and i company. i dont even know if i woulda attempted it if i werent pregnant. oh well.



the hubs on the indoor part of the track



one of my favorite pictures...mom and dad

kyle on the outdoor track

kenzie

mom and kyle

i wont even begin to tell the story of how mom got stuck and the workers had to use a crowbar to get it out of the track. or how many times kyle lapped everyone. (hes had extra practice though...apparently he did a lot of this when living in cali)

and the birthday girl!

Landscape

 So, if you've been wondering what I've been spending 60 hours on in the last 2 or so weeks, here's proof I wasn't just drinking beer and playing video games.  So I got a grant from my Watershed District to do 2 rain gardens, 3 native pollinator (bees & butterflies) plantings, and to build 2 bee boxes.  So, without further adieu, here's the before & afters:

South Shade Rain Garden

Northeast Pollinator Planting

North Sun Rain Garden

Northwest Pollinator Planting

 I know, I know, nothing spectacular when looking at the photos, but I'll be posting pics throughout the summer when different plants are blooming.

Oh, and I also put in 3 rain barrels.  If you want to learn more about rain barrels, click here.

random ramblings...

random baby ramblings.

baby names. here is just a sampling of the names suggested by friends and family.

Ryker Lee

Oceanna

Boomer Ray

Juniper

Prunella
Ivan
Dot

in other news. check out this cute little onesie my mom and i couldnt pass up.

diaper loading...please wait...

some of you might have seen this on facebook but seriously. i want to know how long this version of the birthday cake flavored oreo has been out. im surprised i have never seen it before. verdict: good. however, not quite as good as the regular birthday cake flavored oreos. which by the way i cant seem to find lately...ugh. sad day.

also, is it odd that i enjoy watching baby shows on tv? and am not freaked out by it? (at least not yet) if anything i just think, "man i would never do that" ie home birth in a tub. let alone have it televised. but to each their own right? right. its just not for me. definitely not for me.

check out the latest pic of our little baby dot at 28 weeks, 5 days:

i was going to tell you that so far so good in respect to strangers coming up to me and asking about the baby or touching my stomach. however not the case. two random people have touched my stomach, both patients. one a somewhat creepy old guy and the other a cute old lady. but whatever. but asking about the baby, yah a random pharmacist at target decided he wanted to know all about the baby. um ok. but no. heres to hoping thats the end of it. but i have a feeling it wont be.

and since we dont have too many pictures of the three of us...heres the start of our collection. please excuse the fact that im sure ill be wearing one of about 6 outfits. dont say i never warned you.

landscaping

earlier this year the hubs applied for a grant to do some landscaping/install some rain gardens. and we found out a few weeks ago that he was approved. he was PUMPED. so he started immediately. and he is focused. very very very focused. which is a good thing (or so i keep telling myself) he enjoys doing landscaping, being outdoors and is having fun with this. (something i have to keep telling myself too)

now when i say focused i mean FOCUSED. he works during the day. comes home, quick eats supper and changes and then is busy outside until 8:30 or 9. but wait kelsey, we have had some rainy days recently you are thinking...yes well not even that stops this guy.  heres a (blurry-sorry) picture of him saturday, after the rain (ie everything is mud) taking a quick meal break. dont even get me started on washing all these clothes either.

here are some before/in progress pictures of his hard work:





our backyard




in between the house and the garage




rain garden #1 plus extra rock & top soil stuff and some much on the right




our side yard




view from the driveway





view from our front yard onto the area where some bushes/plants will be




rain garden #2, front of the house

 so there you have it. what the hubs has been doing lately. if you are coming to visit, please excuse the mess both outside and inside. with the hubs busy outside that leaves me to handle the inside. not as easy as one would think. between growing a baby and working i havent had much ambition to do much else. oh well. it will all get done. eventually.

27 weeks

last week baby was 27 weeks. the last week of the second trimester. wow, time flew by! if you cant read the white board facts, baby was 14.5 inches, about 2 pounds and is now showing brain activity.

we havent been up to much besides working and attempting to get some housework done. more on that tomorrow! im still feeling good. minus a few nerves about my glucose test this friday. so keep your fingers crossed for a pass on this test!

tiny bathroom remodel

i dont think im quite in the nesting phase everyone talks about buuuuuut we did make a minor adjustment to our upstairs bathroom. one that cost about $20. but actually we have leftovers so really less than that. (also dont you just loooove the country heart border?)

so heres the before. see way back there...the window. yah. covered in some old blue fabric. i had completely forgotten how much light is let in when you open those curtains. im even surprised at how light & bright this picture is. anyways...with the number of times ive been needing to use this space these past 6 months...it woulda been a hassle to open & close those every time...

so after 6 months i became a genius! (a genius who actually spelled genius wrong the first time she typed it...) lets frost the windows. (frost...anyone else think of how to lose a guy in 10 days or was it just me? but anyways...) easy peasy. so i secretly went to buy everyone on one of my days off and politely asked the hubs if he would do me a favor that night. here it is half way done. mind you this wasnt a sunny day & it was evening...but still...

we do have both sides frosted. someone just forgot to take an after pictures. whoops. but you get the idea. not a big change. or an expensive one. but its a nice change of pace. since it will be awhile until we save up enough moolah to really remodel this blue eye sore.

our wii-kend, part 2

our weekend wasnt all about dressers and soft shell tacos. we also got a chance to participate in some sporting events. crazy i know, my family in sporting events. or should i just say me in sporting events?!?! we each tried our turn at some bowling, tennis, golf and baseball. on the wii of course. lets not get too carried away, i mean im playing for two these days...

kyle & the hubs were the best at bowling. but kyle told us he used to play this back in cali so hes had a bit of practice. and everyone had their own bowling style. let me just show you...

i think the hubs was by far the best. he literally just stood there and flicked his wrist up. no lunging (like my mom) or even a step or two. and then came tennis. which was surprisingly more difficult than you think. unless you are serving. typically this is what would happen, player one serves and player two cant hit it back. but on the off chance it did get hit back, the server would also have a difficult time returning the ball a second time. 

and then there was baseball. ill be honest, this was also really difficult. at least batting was. pitching, easy enough. but batting. i think one time though my mom ended up getting a grand slam. i think.

and what wii-kend wouldnt be complete without watching ernest goes to camp, moonshiners and some wheelchair wheelies?!?

our weekend, part 1

this past weekend the hubs & i took a little trip back to my hometown to hang out with my parents and siblings. we were able to spend a lot of time together.

the hubs and my sister even tackled a project together. she got a dresser from craigslist and is in the process of painting it. not sure how the hubs got wrangled into painting...since hes hardly done any painting here but oh well. gotta love their painting clothes too! i think by the time we left on sunday there were 4 coats of red paint with a few more needed.

note to self: painting red is a lot of work.

we also managed to squeeze a new cooking attempt into the mix. you see my mom has a recipe box. filled (like most people im sure) with a bunch of recipes that never get used. for the past i dunno how long whenever im looking for a recipe i always come across one entitled "duanes soft taco shells" after asking him the last time he made them (before i was born!) i figured why not try it out? and who better to try it out than the hubs!? :) 

these soft taco shells werent actually half bad. it was definitely a different taste, almost a cross between a soft shell and a crepe, but at least we tried right? right. who knows, maybe we will have to try a different recipe from the box every time we go visit???