We'll miss you, Great Oma!

We are sad to say that Violet's Great-Oma (Jon's Grandma) passed away earlier this week at the age of 93. I'm so glad that she was able to see Violet twice - once when she was about 6 months old and again this past fall when she was almost 2. We'll miss you!!
It seems impossible to me, but I'm already 39 weeks pregnant! I'm due in a WEEK! AHHH!! Actually I feel pretty ready for this baby, and most definitely ready to be not pregnant! :). I have said it before, but whoever brings me an ice cold Corona with lime to the hospital gets to hold the baby first! Ha ha ha. I'm not kidding.

Here are me and Violet. She is sitting on "the bump"
I have been trying to take advantage of these last few days of being pregnant by eating snacks like this: (butter pecan ice cream with carmel, chocolate and whipped cream). Hm. I might have to make another one right now!
We haven't done bathtime pictures in a while! Violet STILL takes a bath in her baby bathtub. She doesn't know any different and it saves water. We got her Ariel and Flounder bath toys a while back and she LOVES to have them "fwim" in the tub with her. She's also getting pretty good at soaping herself up, and doesn't hate having her hair washed as much as she once did. Yay for that! Jon's job is to entertain Violet when he gets home from work so I can finish up making dinner. Her favorite thing to do with her daddy is go play in his trucks! Here she is in the Suburban. Now that she's found his stash of cereal bars in both trucks, she likes to play in them even more! :)
HOUSE NEWS

** It's FINISHED!! ** We are now the proud owners of a beautiful custom made entertainment center and a rearranged living room! YAY!! Plus I had SO much fun unpacking my books that have been away for more than a year. I MISSED them! Here is the finished product:
And for comparison, here is the "before" picture of how we had the living room set up. I'm so glad it was temporary!

Same view, different layout

AND here are some kitchen pictures

We took out the old scary microwave and installed this shiney new one. Except that it's... a little low. I can't really use the back burners, which has been okay so far as one of them is broken anyway, but we are hoping to get a new stove soon too and then we'll have to figure out what to do! We love this house, but so far our "easy" projects end up turning into something MUCH more complicated! Eventually we'll probably have to take out part of the cabinet above the microwave to move it up.
Here's hoping the next post is about a NEW BABY!!! And just as advanced warning, we are actually going to be switching blogs when this new baby arrives. I'll post a link when we know what it will be called! :)

Friends! And more Friends!

We had a busy week visiting with LOTS of friends! It started off with having our playgroup over at our house to splash in the pool and eat watermelon like a proper summertime gathering. Here are Piper and Violet who each brought their watermelon over to the blanket to read together while they ate. So cute!We also got to meet up with her friend Isaac from Las Vegas for a trip to the zoo. They were SO CUTE together and held hands like this for quite a while through the monkey exhibit!And this weekend we had her friend Hannah over to play (and her awesome parents!). They both plopped themselves on the bed and read different versions of "Ariel" together. Awww!We also have a new video. I've been dying to get some of my favorite "Violet-isms" on video, she has been talking up a storm and I just LOVE how she says certain things. I got a few here!


My favorites are that she says "Uh-oh, Spagettios" as "Uh-oh, Sesh-ohs". She also USED to say ketchup really wrong, but today apparently decided to start saying it right. Darn!

This weekend we took Violet to the park by our house. She LOVES to swing! I love this picture too - as if Jon is saying "Kid flying so high on the swing you can't even see her. My work here is done."

Daddy's got some big shoes to fill! It was his shoes today, yesterday she was sliding around with two of her little plastic pans from her play kitchen on her feet.This weekend also brought a LOT of rain to Denver. It's so weird, I swear last year it only rained about 5 days all summer and NO thunderstorms. About 10 minutes before this hit I said to Jon "I miss thunderstorms!" and BOOM! Here it came! It was POURING for a very long time and very loud thunder (or as Violet says, "Flounder"). You can see how much rain was coming down our street by looking at the front tires of the Orange Truck. My car was parked in front of it and the water was up to my bumper! It has since rained every day for a few minutes. Our grass is LOVING it!
And last but not least, I wanted to show a picture of the house that Jon has been working on for the last year. It's a remodel of a 4-unit house in Boulder. They had been working on it for 5+ years before he started :) It is really cool and modern, and it looks like they could be done in the next few months.

How to Sleep in a Big Girl Bed - by Violet

Last weekend we took the plunge and moved Violet out of her crib and into her big girl bed. She LOVES her bed! She has really done great with the move and doesn't seem to miss her crib at all. I think she is most impressed that she has her own covers :)

However it did take her a few days to figure out exactly how one sleeps in a regular bed. The first day we found her like this:
Yes, her little leg is CROSSED. How cute is that?

The next day her head is in the right direction, but she's kind of on the wrong end:

Ah, sweet success! She usually spends a few minutes reading to herself before falling asleep, so there are always lots and lots of books on her bed.Closeup! Yes, she has her hands and arms inside the shelves of her bed. Hang on Violet!
And now for some before/after pictures of her room.

BEFORE

AFTER

Here was what her headboard looked like before we painted it. The dresser was the same colors.
Here is Violet skateboarding with her daddy.
And playing in the front yardViolet dressed herself. Shirt - check. Hat - check. Sandals - check. No need for pants.Tonight we had watermelon after dinner. I brought this tub over to give her a few pieces and insisted on having the whole thing in front of her. Silly!
AND we finally finally have something that looks like a babies room! It makes me feel SO much better and SO much more ready (only 3 more weeks!). As you can see from the before pics, it needed a lot of work!

BEFORE

AFTER

I even made two cute little onesies for a Going Home from the Hospital outfits. Which one are we gonna use??

Mountain Trip!!

Violet and I headed up to Breckenridge a few weekends ago with a few of our playgroup friends. It was so fun to get away and spend some time up in the Rockies! Here she is at the park.
And with her friends Bryce and Piper (excuse her disheveled hair - they play hard!)
In front of the huge snow piles yet to melt (which is why they call it "Mud Season" up there!)
We spent one morning in town...
Ah, our idea to teach our children how to push EACHOTHER in the stroller finally worked! Too bad it only lasted about 10 seconds!
2 swings. 3 kids. Solution? Two per swing! Here is Violet & Piper all cozy swingin' away!
Jumpin' on the couch!There is nothin' like hanging out in a nice warm hot tub when there is still snow on the ground! Violet and Piper were shivering so much but would NOT get out! It was really cute!My friend Sarah brought all the fixin's for Make-Your-Own-Sushi. Here was my first attempt at rolling it. Not too pretty, but they tasted great!
The view from the porch.Back at home, Violet has really taken to reading by herself. If she's quiet for too long and I go looking for her, she's usually plopped on the floor somewhere reading her books. A girl after my own heart!
We also took a little trip to Golden (only about 15 minutes away) to meet some new friends (hey Mindi and Rex!). We stopped by the water on the way home. So pretty!

And in "house news" the entertainment center is IN THE HOUSE!! In fact Jon is painting it even as I type. He told me tonight that he plans on having the tv installed by Saturday night. Let's hope!
My cord that connects the camera to the computer is busted so I have a TON more pictures to post... we officially moved Violet to her "big girl bed" and now *gasp* sort of have a nursery for the new baby ready. I have some pretty funny pictures of the "progession of Violet as she learns how to sleep in a regular bed" that I can't wait to post!