Second post in one day-wow! haha

I have been working on decorating the kids bedrooms. We had a guest room set up and then a kids room. All of the toys were either in the kids bedroom-which Emma claimed as her own room and then the rest were downstairs in our family/playroom. Kolbe received a train set and a few other toys and Emma didnt want them in her girl room, so I decided to go ahead and turn the guest room into a little boy room. It has been great, they each have their own space, but end up playing together all of the time and now the family room isnt always a mess with toys, which makes me happy!

After we found out we were having a boy, I decided to make Emma feel special and surprise her by painting and decorating her room. The walls were just plain white and I have some pictures on the wall, but I decided to make it look extremely girly. I have always loved the idea of being a princess. I mean, even in college my friend Vickie and I would sometimes drive around listening to the disney princess soundtrack. God knew what he was doing when he gave us a girl first. :)

So now that I am basically finished with her room, I wanted to share some pictures!

I painted the room a light purple, because that is her favorite color. I love looking at pottery barn kids and always drool over some of their things and decided to make a canopy to hang over her bed. I bought a simple canopy at target and then decorated with flowers and ribbons. She loved it!

I took a few of the leftover flowers and glued them to a pink lampshade that was already in the room

I took the leftover ribbon and decorated the plain bulletin board that I had and now I think it looks much better! :)

I bought a few picture ledges at Ikea to use for storing books, and I painted two princess pictures to hang on the wall. ( the canvases were 5 for 20 bucks- 4 dollars for a piece of artwork is not bad!!) My mom brought the mirror back from my Grandmom's house and I thought it would be perfect in the room, for when she plays dress up.

I also took two curtains that i had and combined them with purple and pink ribbon- not perfect, but does the job!

I think she loves it!

It has been awhile, it is amazing how quickly the Christmas season goes by and then life just gets crazy again! We had a wonderful Christmas and great family time, I will post a few pictures in another post. Today I want to share a few pictures of our son who is growing in my womb. We are so excited to have another boy and have named him Joshua David.

Isn't he sweet? We decided to take Emma with us to the ultrasound. She was very excited to see the "magic wand" at work and reveal our baby on the screen. She was in awe of seeing this little baby that is growing inside of me. Her eyes were filled with wonder. You could tell that she understood. She knew her brother was growing and moving. She loved seeing the little hands and feet. It made her so excited for the baby to come.

Emma really wanted a baby sister. She would talk to Jesus and tell Him what she desired. We talked with her about how God has the best plan for our family and no matter what we will be so happy! When the nurse told us we were having a boy, Emma's face dropped and she turned and hid in Dan's shoulder. Of course I was just emotional all around and started crying out of joy and from seeing her reaction. But she was strong and didnt cry. She pretty quickly bounced back and was happy about having a brother. When we got home, Kolbe immediately ran to Emma first and hugged her. YOu could see in her face how much she loved Kolbe and now loved her new brother. It didnt matter anymore if he was a boy or girl, all that mattered was that we were a family. So needless to say, we are anxiously awaiting June!

Today is the feast of St. Nicholas. In our family there is another feast we quietly celebrate and that is the feast of St. Joe, my grandpa. :) My grandpa died December 6, 1998. He lived life to the fullest and was a very holy man. He loved his wife, seven children, their spouses and grandchildren very much. He went to Mass every day and always preached the Gospel with his actions. He was a successful business man, but he worked very hard and never let the success get to him. He always gave back. I think it is so special that God decided to take him home on the feast of St. Nicholas. He was our living St. Nicholas. Grandpa especially loved Christmas. I have memories of him walking around in his santa hat and making us laugh. He kind of had that hohoho laugh as well. He loved having the family together and I know he loved bringing us to Christmas Eve Mass. After mass we would go back to their house with some of our cousins and the girls would sleep in the dining room under the table and the boys would sleep on the floor in my grandparents room. My brother would actually sleep in between my grandparents in their bed! :) We were only with them every other Christmas, but when it was their year we loved the time spent with Grandpa, Grandmommie, and all of our cousins.

When Grandpa was on his deathbed in the hospital, he had Grandmommie and all of his children around him. The grandkids were in the nearby waiting room because of lack of space. They were praying the rosary and as he was taking his last breaths he said, "the gates are open" and then he was gone. But he was not gone for good. His spirit, like St. Nicholas, lives on, especially this time of year. One of the things I have of his is actually his santa hat. Today Dan was promoting a Christmas event at school and he wore Grandpa's hat. His spirit even lives on through my husband and they never were able to meet in this life. God is good.

St Nicholas, pray for us!
St Joe, pray for us!

I am in the 12th week of this pregnancy. So far I have been blessed with a mild case of morning sickness. If you were to ask my husband however he would kindly say that on the emotional side, things have not been so mild! He loves to share the story about the time I tripped over a toy while carrying a glass of milk and a piece of cake and it spilled and I dropped to the floor and cried....not one of my finer moments... Anyway, yesterday, morning sickness, stomach bug, whatever you want to call it, hit me. I felt awful and couldn't do anything all day. Thankfully Dan was home and was a huge help with the kids and he still mananged to do what he needed to prepare for Lifeteen. My biggest prayer for the day was that I could make it through Mass without passing out. Success. Thank You Lord.

I was hopeful that I would wake up this morning and the yucky feeling would be gone, but I was not so lucky. After Dan left for work I called my mom and was hopeful she could race to my aid, but unfortunately she cannot come until later this afternoon (which I am very much looking forward to.) So what to do when you feel so sick and have two very busy toddlers. Well, cartoons are wonderful, but after an hour the kids begin to get stir crazy. At this point I decided it was time to atleast go get dressed for the day, thinking it would help, and suddenly there is a knock at the door- its time for our yearly termite inspection- perfect. Once the terminix guy left, the kids asked to color. I thought I could handle coloring- which turned into painting- which turned into kolbe painting his entire arm and face- which then brought us to bathtime- the perfect thing to keep them entertained and in one place! We will probably do bathtime again later today.

After baths we listened to Pandora's disney music channel and danced and sang for awhile. We then had a healthy lunch consisting of sprite,saltine crackers and spoons of peanut butter. Kolbe is now passed out on the couch and Emma is quietly playing with the nativity set.

So what I thought was going to be an awful day is actually turning out to be ok, minus how I feel, but I will get over it soon enough. Nana will be here soon and Aunt Jenn is bringing dinner. And I am carrying a beautiful little blessing from God. Life is good!

P.s. still no pictures- but we got our tree on saturday so hopefully I will have a fun blogpost soon!

My plan for today:

-wake up early before the kids get up around 7
-read the Scripture for my moms group
-make breakfast and shower
-get kids dressed and leave for mom/ play group at 9
-leave play group at 11 and head home
-eat lunch
-nap/quiet time
-maybe some housework if I get adventurous, go do some Christmas shopping
-Lifeteen Mass at 5:45
-dinner after with youth group
-get home and put kids to bed
-relax on couch and wait for dan to get home
-eat milk and cookies with hubby
-bedtime


What really went down today:

-All four (or 5) of us slept until 8am! Extra blessing- but then had to scramble to get out of the house for play group.
-Had a nice time with friends
-kolbe fell asleep on the way home, made lunch for emma and me
-rest time was over by 12:30 :(
-decided to go buy ribbon and mesh to make a Christmas wreath and maybe some garland
-kids played while I tried out my little project
-Dan calls around 3:30 and asks me to help with dinner for lifeteen
- he gets home and I head to the grocery store to get ingredients for a huge pot of spaghetti
-Cooked the huge pot of spaghetti, meanwhile kids start to fight and fall apart.
-decided to stay home because of the state of the kids and my mind
-stuffed my face with the spaghetti while Kolbe brushed my hair with his spoon
-bathtime and shower time!
-a few cartoons
-put kids to bed
-finish my garland and then blog about today while watching youve got mail on tv.
-still waiting for my cookies and milk- I mean for Dan to get home! :)

there you have it- a typical day in my world! I am so grateful to be able to stay at home with our children. I also love being apart of Dan's ministry and doing what I can to help. But life can be crazy and I have to be honest and say that I am also thankful for my quiet time at night and for movies with tom hanks and meg ryan in them.

Sorry no pictures for this post yet. i will work on that...maybe! Good night!

Emma has her ballet class today. She loves to dance. She participated in a little dance camp this summer and loved it so much we decided to sign her up for a weekly one hour class. She just looks so precious in her little leotard and ballet shoes. I love Tuesday evenings because Emma loves to show us the steps she learned that day. She will gracefully skip about the house and her little brother will do his best to follow her. Two weeks ago the parents were invited to watch her class. Dan was able to leave work a little early and so the four of us drove to the studio. Emma was so excited to show us her class. When we got there she realized that all of the other parents were there too and they were all lined up in the front of the room with their cameras. Emma froze. She went and sat on her dot and hid her face behind her knees. All of the girls stood up to do the warm up and Emma sat there hiding. Dan and I didn't know whether we should laugh or cry. She was so cute but we hurt for her. Especially me. I shave been there. I was that little girl too. We pulled her to the side and watched and talked with her. Dan did his best to encourage her but after 30 minutes of encouraging we decided it was time to leave. We went and got some ice cream and did our best to keep building her up. After ice cream, we were driving home and Emma said, "When we get home, daddy you be daddy, mommy you be the ballet teacher, and Kolbe you be the busy brother and we will have dance class." The next day I was telling my dad the story and he shared with me that when I was Emma's age they were so concerned about my shyness that they went to a psychologist to ask questions and make sure I was ok...I think I turned out pretty good...I know Emma will too. :) Today is her first class since that experience. I am crossing my fingers that she will go and have fun!

And we're back! After much encouragement and inspiration from friends I have finally joined the blogging world again! Since my last post in April, we have moved to a new home and we have found out we are expecting johnson baby number 3, due June 17! Dan is still the campus minister at the high school and the youth minister at our parish. Our days are spent with toddlers and teenagers, so there is never a dull moment! haha

P.S. Confession #1: I quit blogging for a little while because i felt like every time I went to write or add pictures I would have some technical difficulty and then I would get frustrated and then a baby would wake up from a nap and then I was done...so I am trying again. In fact it took me 15 minutes just to add this picture because it kept saying it was a "bad image" and wouldn't upload...why would any picture of my family be considered a bad image?!?! ;)