October Fun

Our house is for sale.

During October we averaged a showing every other day.

Finding something fun, and relatively inexpensive, to do with three small children during these showings has been my number #2 job this month (cleaning the house for the showings is #1)...

Everyone's favorite "during a showing" activity has been to go to Ring Mountain...our favorite Gelato/Ice Cream place in town. 

I've found that they have pretty fantastic decaf/skim/vanilla latte's, too.

Can you even believe the eyes on these two?  Corey blessed our children with genes for the biggest, most beautiful eyes...and dramatic long lashes.

Soleil's eyes have almost completely changed from blue to green. 

She shares that trait with my mom.

Both of the big kids would tell you that the Birthday Cake ice cream is the best flavor at Ring Mountain.

Shore likes to mix his with Blue Gelato, Soleil prefers to add Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream.

Everyone leaves happy.

Getting this posted a little late (right before she turns 4 months old)

Sweet Little Siri is really trying hard to steady her head...and she smiles all the time now. 

She's especially enamored by her big brother and sister...and Bella.

Those big blue eyes pierce right through mine and zap me directly in the heart.  Every time.

Waking up to this every morning...

makes me want to stay in bed and stare...all day long.

And she smells as good as she looks.

Wanna peek into the nursery?

This nursery was a labor of love...and a test of my thriftiness.  

I love it.  

Everything has a story, nothing is new and many things were gifts. 

We started by scraping the ceiling and painting it and the walls "Simply White" by Benjamin Moore. 

The mirror above the changing table was purchased at an occasional sale years ago, it used to be in Soleil's bedroom...back when I was able to control how Soleil's bedroom was decorated...

I found the Ultrasuede rocker on craigslist...it's previous owner had rocked five babies in it...and her house was spotless.

The dresser/changing table was also found on craigslist...it had been a almond color and the woman selling it agreed to repaint it white for me.  She had lost a premature baby, and, knowing my history, prayed for my then unborn baby continually while she painted.

I found this sweet shelf with hooks at the Goodwill.  It was in rough shape, but my dad cleaned it up and painted it "Elephant Pink" (also Benjamin Moore) for me.  The piggy bank and antique planter were both gifts from my dearest friend, Hollie.  

The sweaters were both knit by my mom.

My dad also built the most wonderful bookshelf and painted it that same pink as the shelf.

At my shower, Hollie asked everyone to bring a book for the baby, so it is already completely stocked with thoughtful selections. 

The crib is the same one that we used with the big kids.  It was the first large purchase that Corey and I made while I was pregnant with Soleil...I love everything about it, especially all of it's memories.

I purchased the dust ruffle and sheet on Ebay and the darling mobile was a shower gift from my friend, Katie Liz.  Shore helped me assemble it.

The curtains also used to be in Soleil's room, they are the Simply Shabby Chic Target line, but I found them at the Salvation Army.

So there it is...Siri's little haven of soft pink thrifty loveliness.

Back to school they went

The big kids went back to school today.  They were so excited.  Soleil was up early contemplating shoe choices and Shore discovered that it's really best to eat breakfast and brush his teeth BEFORE putting on his school clothes.

Siri went along for the ride, enjoying some minutes more than others...

And the verdict afterwards?  It was a great day!  Shore thought that recess was too short and Soleil is already planning to read 2000 hours this school year.

Love.

Love at my house?...well, it looks something like this:

Summer 2012, the biggest news first.

We're down to the wire, just a few more days of watching TV till noon while eating leftover State Fair salt water taffy for breakfast and it's back to life with schedules.  It's been a crazy, whirlwind of a summer full of growth, change, and a dash or two of drama thrown in for excitement, I guess.

I'm a little sad to be saying goodbye to all my time with the kids but, who am I kidding, I'm a little excited about saying goodbye to all my time with the kids, too.

Our biggest news was that I went from this:

To having this little sweet bundle in my arms on July 2nd...

She arrived early, 6 weeks early, but was big (6 pounds 3ounces) and healthy and we were more than ready to welcome her into our family.

And while she was "Baby Alice" nearly the entire time she was growing inside me, in the end I knew she needed an S name like the others...so Corey chose Siri. 

Siri Alice, made us a family of 5.

And we truly could not be happier.  The older children have loved her since before they met her and since she's been here they've done nothing but shower her with kisses and hugs and a whole lot of cheek squeezing from Shore.

And just like that, the sweet intoxicating baby smell was back in our lives and we had room in our heart that we hadn't known about before...

And Sweet Siri became a part of our crew...forever.