It is done!!

Ella's room is officially finished. We ordered two plaques to hang on her wall and they came yesterday. I was amazed that I actually got Bob to put them up the very same day that they came! Anyway, they're up and I am really happy with how the room turned out.

I had an Uppercase Living party and ordered two expressions for her walls. The first one Bob and I designed. It's hard to tell in the picture, but her name "Ella" is in white behind the scripture, "For this child I have prayed..." 1 Samuel 1:27. This is a scripture that we both felt kind of captured how we feel about the arrival of our first (and only!) daughter.

Above her bed and above a painted shelf, there are two little plaques that we had custom made. They have little paper doll dresses and the fabrics coordinate with her room. I think they turned out adorable and very shabby chic!

In one corner of her room sits a pink upholstered rocking chair and ottoman. Above it is the adorable chandelier that my aunts bought for her. We found a really cute dollhouse bookcase at Target. It holds her size 1 shoes, (all shoes are adorable when they're that tiny!) a tea set that was a gift from a friend at church, a porcelain doll from her Aunt Kim and Uncle Shawn, and two baskets that hold hats and bibs. On the shelf above it sits a pretty pink picture frame and a tiara that Bob picked out for her. (No, she won't be doted on one bit!)

The final two pictures are of her wall that includes the other Uppercase Living expression. It's a growth chart for her. Unfortunately, having watched the boys, I know that this will be filled up very quickly. My mom bought a little hanging hook that says "Baby" in pink on it. We found an antique christening gown on eBay and it hangs from that on the wall next to the armoire. A little rocking horse that we painted for our friend's first baby adorns the corner. Her daughters have outgrown it. Who'd have guessed 7 years ago when we painted it that some day it would help decorate out daughter's room?!

Well, that's her room. Sorry if I rambled on and described everything a little too much. I am very excited about this room. It's a little sad as I know that this was our last nursery to decorate, but I also look forward to bringing her home to it. (Well, and frankly just getting her out of my body!)

Art Time!

We have a tradition that has always been done at our house for the new baby that we're welcoming. We have always decorated onesies for the new baby. Our friends, family, and now sons have always helped us to do this. The other night I broke out the onesies, gave the boys fabric markers, and stepped back to see what chaos might ensue. Surprisingly, it was a very calm night. Nobody stained the clothing that they were already wearing, nor were there any permanent marks left on furniture, wall, etc...

Caden was the most definitive in what he wanted his to look like. He knew that he wanted a rainbow with a pot of gold. Then on the back he wrote: To Ella, From Caden. It turned out really good. I was quite impressed considering that it is really hard to use those fabric markers on the thinner onesie fabric.

Preston like to incorporate a plethora of colors. He seems partial to linear art. There did come a time that he just had me too on edge with how nonchalant he was with the fabric markers, so Mommy decided that his masterpiece was done. He wasn't so sure, but after a few distractions, we were both happier.

Brennen is not what one would term the most creative Ross in the house. He always has Bob trace his hand prints, and that constitutes his art on EVERYTHING. So, when he turned to Bob and asked him to, "Make me a hand print," we were not surprised in the least. But, at least his onesie is all him.

Maddox immediately showed his wonderful lack of decision making skills. He started with an M at the top. Then decided that wasn't how he wanted to go. Then started to draw a rainbow like Caden and again decided that wasn't really what he wanted either. So, at the end, he pretty much had Bob draw him playing baseball. This way Ella will know that he plays baseball. He added in a little color himself too.

All in all, they turned out great. Now if we could just get her to come out and see them!

A Sneak Peek into Ella's Room

We have been hard at work on Ella's room as of late. First we had to move Preston in with his brothers. Surprisingly, this went SO much easier than I'd ever guess it would have. After this, we got started on making this a little girl's nursery. We painted the walls a color called, Pale Petal Pink. I know that some of you are thinking, "Ugh, pink?" But after you've done 4 boy nurseries and have had the color pink off limits, you find yourself longing for the slightest bit of pink! It's a good thing that we were definitely settled on the pink color, because it took 6 coats of paint to cover the blue. It was a lot of hard work. More work for my mom and Bob than me, but I did carry out a lot of management duties!

Here is the room when it was Preston's.

It was such a fun, sweet little room for him. It looks TOTALLY different now though!

Here are some preliminary pictures of Ella's room:

There's still a lot to be done. I ordered an Uppercase Living expression to go on the big wall by her bed. We have a shelf to paint, chandelier to hang and other wall items to finish off the room. I bought an antique christening gown to hang up on a peg and have also gotten her very first porcelain doll to adorn the shelf. I will post more pictures once it's complete. I was just too excited to not share my daughter's room with everyone. (It's so much fun to say, "My Daughter!")

A Day out with Thomas

Summer's are an interesting time at our house now that the kids are getting into school. While I want it to be a time of rest and relaxation for all of us, I also don't want them to spend their entire summer sitting around our house. So, I try and plan at least one fun thing to do a week, just the kids and I. This gives me the chance to be the fun parent and also gets us all out and about having fun together. (Not just running errands with Mom!) So last Friday I booked us tickets for the "Day out with Thomas".

Anybody who has had preschool children knows Thomas and probably knows him well. Thomas is a blue locomotive from the Island of Sodor. He has many adventures, and on this particular day, we got to go on one with him. This first picture is of three of the boys sitting on the bus to ride the shuttle to the depot. You wouldn't think that would be terribly exciting. However, to my three boys who don't get to regularly ride a bus, this was huge!

Once we got to the little train depot, I was amazed at just how busy it was for a Friday morning. We had to immediately head and have our picture taken in front of Thomas.

Then we got to board the train. While it may not appear that Preston was ever having a good time, it was really quite the opposite. He babbled about every little thing he say. But you bring a camera out, and that kids puts on his saddest, most pathetically bored face. Go figure!

There was so much to there as well. They had a giant inflatable slide and moonwalk for the kids. The fire department was there and letting kids climb into the truck. They had a giant tent set up with nothing but various train tables for the kids to play on. The boys loved this part. They had a tattoo station, a bubble station, story time, and video time areas. It is definitely something that I would highly recommend for a fun thing to do with your kids!

Our first set of stitches!!

Well, it was bound to happen sometime. Frankly, with a household of four boys, I'm kind of surprised that I've been at this mom thing for over 7 years and haven't had it happen before now. Last night, we got to add head laceration to our list of injuries that have occurred in our home. Brennen was coming down the stairs and somehow tripped. Now anybody who knows Brennen would never be surprised that he's the one this happened to. Unfortunately, the poor boy got his grace from dear old Mom. :-)

I heard the repeated thuds and saw a toy fly into my bedroom. I immediately heard the crying and decided that between the repeated thuds and severity of the cry, it was probably a situation that deserved some response from me. I find Brennen sitting on the staircase about halfway down with blood pouring from a cut on his head. First off, let me just say that I despise head wounds. They make a ridiculously large mess for me! So I do what every good mom concerned with the cleanliness of her carpet, and make a cup out of my hand to catch the red mess going everywhere, while at the same time trying to usher him to either vinyl or ceramic tile flooring at once. I told him it was fine, that it was just a little cut, and miraculously, he buys this theory and stops crying. We get to the bathroom, apply a wet cloth and within a few minutes, the bleeding subsides. However, as I'm looking at it, my mom training tells me that this is not going to heal correctly without some suture assistance. So off we head to ExpressCare. Brennen did GREAT! I must admit that I was prepared for what was probably going to look like an exorcism, because Brennen does not usually do the best with pain or shots, both of which I knew he was going to experience. Apparently though, he does great with extreme pain, just not minor little aches and pains. (I guess the next time he's due for a shot, I'll ask them to shoot him first, that way the shot will go well!)

He received 6 stitches all together. One on the inside and five one the outside. What a trooper though! Here's a picture of my little wounded man and his battle scars from the encounter with the staircase!

In case you're wondering, from previous bloody encounters, I have found a fabulous way to get blood out of carpet. (I'll tell you now that there is not a carpet cleaning solution that works!) Make a mixture of half hydrogen peroxide and half water. (We just have a bottle of this concoction kept in a squirt bottle ready to go!) Take a little salt and pour it onto the blood spots. Then spray with mixture. Dab and rub until blood is gone. You may need to go over it twice to comepletely remove it, but I haven't had a blood stain left in the carpet yet.

A Date with my Son

Back in January, Caden brought home a flier from the YMCA for a Mother/Son Date Night. It included dinner at CiCi's and then a hockey game. I was completely blown away when he said that he really wanted us to do this. He repeatedly mentioned it until I looked and saw that we already had something planned that night. So I told him that some night we would go out just the two of us and do something. Well, he NEVER forgot and asked about it about once a week. We do not have the most flexible of schedules around here, so when tonight was an free Friday night, we went with it.

Caden is growing up SO FAST. That became painfully evident tonight. He will turn 7 tomorrow. When I think back to those first few days of his life, I am amazed we (meaning he and I!) made it through. He is definitely my child that I learn and practice on, and so far doesn't seem too worse for the wear!

Okay, I've gotten side-tracked. We started our evening with dinner at Olive Garden. Caden picked it because he said that he knew I loved it. (I love my husband dearly, but if given the choice of where we'll eat, I can't even say he judges it off of what I love!) Caden can be one who is pretty quiet if he doesn't really have too much to say, so I was kind of wondering how conversation was going to go at dinner. Boy was I wrong. We talked about his day, my day, his birthday tomorrow, upcoming birthday party, siblings, school work etc... You name it, we talked about it. He made sure to pull my chair out, open doors for me, and offer me a smoothie at the mall. (Now his father did not make sure he had money! I blame that on Daddy though!) After dinner we went shopping. He helped me find and try on clothes at Motherhood. Told me throughout the process that everything I tried on made me look pretty. What more could I ask for right there?! We then went to some children's stores where he helped me find clothes for himself, his brothers, and Ella. He even insisted that she had to have the bib that matched the new dress we were buying her at Gymboree, because, "Babies spit up and we don't want ours to look bad."

I am amazed at how grown up he's become. I know that as his mother I'm biased. But frankly I think that God has prepared a young girl to come into his life some day that is going to owe me big time!!

Preparing for Ella!

It's now been a little over a months since we found out that Ella was - well, Ella! In that time, I must say that I have done a little shopping around for stuff to help us get ready for her. Some clothes have been bought, but probably not near as many as everybody would have thought!

The very first thing though we purchased for her was done 6 years ago. When Discovery Furniture was moving from what is now the Hobby Lobby building, they auctioned off all of the furniture on the floor. Being sure that at some point and time we would have a girl, we bought this crib at a fabulous price:

So the next thing we knew that we needed was something for storage for her room. We went back to Discovery Furniture and luckily they still sell this line of furniture. So we went ahead and purchased this armoire for her room.:

Here is what it looks like on the inside. (I love the mirror inside!):

On Craigslist I found an awesome pink upholstered chair and ottoman for her room. It's going to look great! (Sorry, no picture of it yet, because I haven't taken one of it yet!)

Our latest purchase was crib bedding. I found a set on Target. It's the simple, yet elegant look that I was looking for. Plus, it didn't break the bank. Here's some pictures of it:

The bumper up close:

The crib sheet:

And the crib skirt:

I am really excited as to how Ella's room is coming along. In the future I really would like to still buy the matching dresser for her room, but that may have to wait for a while! I'll eventually post pictures once the room is all together. I just couldn't wait to share all of the purchases we've made!