Thursdays, painting advice... or not, the swings, and a pregnancy update

Happy Thursday!  Thursdays are one of my favorite days of the week.  Why?  Because I go to coffee time at my Aunt’s or Grandma’s and after that the kids and I can spend the day with my parents (or just one of them depending on who is busy).  My dad usually babysits for me while I run out and do whatever it is I need to do. For example, last week, I needed to get a car wash and vacuum out my van.  Isn’t that wonderful?  And, tomorrow Ben has a Manitoqua board meeting, so I’m just going to go ahead and stay with my folks for dinner.  It’s amazing.  Mom’s making ribs, and I never make ribs.

As I sit here to write, both my feet are asleep.  Weird.

So, what’s new in the Kappers’ house you ask?  WELL, I’ve started painting Grace’s future room.  I have successfully primed (THREE coats of primer) the woodwork and will soon be ready to paint it white.  Even with just the primer on it looks 100 times better.  As I’ve painted in this house I’ve noticed the previous owners’ painting strategies.  I’ll share them with you in case you’re looking for advice… (NOT!)….

1. Don’t tape the woodwork when you paint the wall.  It’s ok to get different colored paints on it.
2. It’s also ok and even good to get paint on the door/door frame.  It could be fun looking at your door in a few years and seeing all the different colors you’ve painted your room in the past.  Plus, maybe the people who move in after you will want to know what shades you’ve already picked.
3. Instead of taking the nails out of the walls, bang them back in the wall and paint over them even if they’re a little crooked.
4. Feel free to splatter paint all over the registers on the floor.  Just be sure to put the bed in front of the ones that are REALLY noticeable.
5. Do not remove any type of screw– painting over it is JUST fine and will ensure no one after you can take it off either.
6. If you have paint drips on the wall, just leave them.  They’ll dry and add some texture….

I know. Pretty bad.  But maybe I shouldn’t talk since I left the can of primer open all night and set my phone down in wet paint…
Moving on…. it’s still summer (although today feels like fall), and so we’ve been at the park all the time!  I’m not really that adventurous when it comes to parks.  I pretty much go to two.  One is right down the road– we go there most;  and the other is a few streets down.

Gracie LOVES the swings.  But really, who wouldn’t? They’re super fun.

And, she ALWAYS opens her mouth like that while she’s on it.  She’s the absolute sweetest.  Oh, also notice she’s in a sweatshirt…. that’s because today was cold. (WHAT?!)  I actually enjoyed it.  Having the windows open with the beautiful breeze– I can handle that.  I couldn’t handle it all summer though!

I’ve been letting Caleb and Grace bathe together the last couple of times.  I used to not do it because I was afraid Caleb would kill Grace– or at least try to.  I remembered why I usually opt to do separate baths when Caleb said “MOM, Can I dump this cup of water on Gracie’s head!?”

My response? “UM… no.”

Caleb is lacking in the “I’m going to make a wise choice” department.  Like today– while I was washing our dinner dishes, Ben had to rescue Grace because Caleb was completely laying on top of her… you know, all 38 pounds on his baby sister….   Really??  I know, he’s only 3…. but, I also KNOW he has more brains than he’s been demonstrating lately.

I’ve been trying not to lift the kiddos as much as I normally do since the ole backaroni is a bit weaker than normal.  SO, sometimes I ask Ben to take the kids down the stairs. HAHAHA =)  I know, Caleb can go by himself.  Sometimes I think he feels left out though.

And finally, a pregnancy update.  Little stinker #3 is kicking more and more all the time– it’s SOOOO fun!  She’s also causing my bladder to fill constantly.  It seems a bit early to me…. seriously, I’m up like 4 times a night already and I’m only 22.5 weeks along! (I always include half weeks…. it makes me feel good).  Other than a little back pain here and there, a few headaches every once in a while, and heading to the bathroom often, I’m feeling great!  It’s nice to be in this in-between stage where you feel good and your belly isn’t huge.  I’m thankful.  God is good.

-Melanie

A regular ole update

Thursday morning (today): My “alarm” went off around 5:40 am. It was Caleb crying his eyes out. Since this is quite unusual, I went in to see what was wrong. He was freezing and after a few minutes of trying to figure out the problem, I noticed he was wet. SO, I had to change him, wipe him down (not doing a bath that early, sorry!), change the sheets, remove the mattress pad, and tell him over and over again that it wasn’t time to get up yet. After he was back in bed, I tried to go back to sleep. It didn’t work…for either of us.

After I got the kids ready at a more reasonable hour, we headed out to a couple of garage sales, and I found a few good things! I haven’t really gone much this summer because it’s hard with the kids…. I know, people do it all the time…. I just dread bringing them along. …. Because then I struggle with whether to bring them with or leave them in the car.  I usually decide to leave them in the car, and then I have an “I’m a bad mom” complex while I’m at the garage sale and don’t enjoy it nearly as much.

As you may have seen on Facebook… I’m painting Grace’s future room (currently called the horrible room) and decided (thanks to all the comments) to paint it a light gray (still haven’t looked for a specific color), and I’m going to accent with purple decor (I KNOW, my parenthesis’ are EXCESSIVE!) I love purple. Anyway, I found these pictures today and was SOOOO excited! How cute are those!??!

I also found a TON of Pooh books.  They were marked at $1 each… which I didn’t see (thankfully because I would have never dared to ask for so much of a discount). I asked how much, and she said 50cents each (she must not have seen it either! HA!).  I asked if she’d do 4 for $1, and she said sure!  I prefer to pay 10cents a book, but lately a quarter is about the cheapest I find.  Plus these were hardcover and in SUPER condition.  AND, Caleb LOVES Pooh books. Plus my girls might too.  Catch that?  GIRLS.  That’s plural.  In case you didn’t hear, that’s what we found out we’re having.  And, it’s hard for me to believe I have “girls”

I bought HUNGRY HIPPOS too!! Remember that game?! I also found some clothes for Caleb at the sale.  It’s getting harder and harder to find clothes for my big boy, so I grab them when I see them!  I was hoping to run into some newborn winter clothes (because that would be SOOOOOO FUN to buy), but I didn’t see any today…. maybe because we only went to two garage sales. But, I’m on the lookout and hope to go Saturday. I haven’t mentioned it to Ben yet… it’s his birthday, so we’ll see how he feels when he reads this!! ;)

When we got home from garage saling, Ben called and said there were some bean bag boards in the garbage on the other side of the block from us.  SO, I took the kids on an “adventure” (that’s what I told Caleb).  We walked over to the boards, and I deemed them worthy.  I couldn’t carry the boards on my stroller or in my hands, so I took the kids home intending to drive over.  Caleb was running to catch up since I said he had to keep up….. and wiped out.  It resulted in two bloody knees and a bloody hand.  I had the privilege of carrying all 38 pounds (or so) of him for a while on the sidewalk while pushing the stroller.  My already sore back is thanking me as I sit here.  I put Grace down for her morning nap, locked the house, bandaged Caleb and put fragile Caleb in the van letting him choose his seat without a seatbelt, and picked up the bag game– for those of you concerned about Grace, we were gone for 5 minutes MAX. The game better be awesome…. because the pain I’m feeling in my body combined with the inconsolable 3 year old makes me think it MIGHT not have been worth it. ;)  I must be carrying a heavy baby because 21.5 weeks along is a BIT too soon to have back pain.  I have WAY too much to do in the next few weeks! For example, I need to clean my house today… but it’s not looking good.

Last night, like most Wednesdays, Ben played softball.  Since his game was at 6:30, we came along!  After the game, Ben took Caleb for a run around the bases.  Caleb was pretty excited about it.

And that’s my udpate for the day.  Next up will be a homemade something… and then I’ll probably post about Grace’s birthday party.  Although, it was pretty low key, so there’s not a lot to post.

Hope you all have a blessed day! I’m going to go read a Pooh book =)

-Melanie

5 things I intend to try...

OK, so, I intended to post a “how to” on something homemade… but I didn’t get around to trying anything. Sooo, instead I thought I’d alert you to some things I’m going to try over the next few weeks. I hope to post these on Tuesdays and let you know if they were successes or flops =) And, hopefully I have more successes than flops…. Although, sometimes flops can be highly entertaining. (more entertaining when it happens to other people though, amen?).

These are in no specific order because it will depend on what time I have/what’s on sale/and what I’m in the mood for. Fair enough?

1. Homemade Ketchup– my desire for this came when I noticed that ketchup has high fructose corn syrup in it. I’m trying to eliminate that from our diet… but I can’t give up ketchup. 

2. Homemade Mayo- I never even thought about this until the other day when someone suggested a salad dressing for me to try. When I looked up the recipe it said something about HOMEMADE mayo. I was intrigued, and now I have to try it.

3. Homemade Bugspray- I’ve been seeing this on facebook and thought I should also give it a go. PLUS, I just read an article about how some people are more prone to mosquito bites and pregnant women were one thing that attracted them!! Unfortunately I already get attacked by mosquitos just being my normal sweet self (that’s how I comfort myself when I’m the only one getting bit), but now that I’m pregnant, I guess it will be even worse. 

4. Homemade laundry detergent– I’ll just post the recipe I always use because I’ve really enjoyed doing this. I may try a new recipe just for fun to compare. We’ll see.

5. Homemade shampoo– I know, this one is the CRAZIEST. I know I sound like a weirdo even suggesting it, but I think it’d be fun to try and see if it worked. I’m not sure there’s anything to lose, so I’m going for it. 

Anything you think I should try? I’m pretty open to suggestions as long as they aren’t suuuuper time consuming, expensive, dangerous, or too hard ;)

Now I have to figure out which to try first!! It’s perfect for me to post this because now I have some accountability and can’t keep putting it off. So thanks for you help. ha!

-Melanie

Dress like a cow day!!

It is Dress like a Cow day today at Chick-fil-a.  It’s seriously a day I look forward to all year.  Why?  Because it’s SO fun to dress up (and dress the kids up), and getting free food is thrilling.  The bad news is that it’s nearly impossible to have both kids looking at the camera smiling… I can’t even imagine trying that next year with THREE.  Maybe we’ll get lucky ;)

We decided to go for breakfast this year.  While we were on vacation in GA we tried Chick-fil-a breakfast for the first time.  It was DELICIOUS.  I didn’t think I’d like chicken for breakfast (although you CAN get non chicken items), but I loved having chicken for breakfast.  And, Gracie dominated her chicken biscuits, so she must have liked it too.

Me and my calves! We didn’t do a headband for Grace this year, but next year for sure. =)

And these three came along too!  Unfortunately, they left their ears at home.  Chick-fil-a didn’t care though, so that’s the good news.  If you are dressed from head to hoof (ish, they’re really not that picky since my family got meals even though their heads were not dressed) you get a free meal.  If you just wear the headband or hat or whatever, you get a free sandwich.  We had a little confusion with the kids this morning because they don’t offer a kid’s breakfast meal…. but we were able to get a drink for Caleb after talking it through….  They didn’t give our kids sides though, and I thought that was weird since a kid’s meal not only comes with sides but icecream too!  Whatever, we had a plenty of food. I think they didn’t discuss kids coming for breakfast, so they weren’t prepared for that.

Our “herd” Doesn’t Grace look fantastic? Call me lazy, I didn’t even bother taking her sippy cup from her =)

We’ve been trying to encourage Caleb to eat a bit faster…. since it takes him FOREVER to finish anything (ok, except ice-cream or cake or cookies or any other sweet treat). So, I told him if he ate fast enough he could play at the playplace for a bit.  And, guess what? He did! ha!  WHY am I not surprised?

Overall, it was a fabulous morning!  I would totally do Dress like a Cow day for breakfast again. Why?

1. Food was delicious

2. We had NO line

3. Caleb was the only child at the play place. (not that I don’t like other kids, it’s just that sometimes there can be a million, and then it gets a bit crazy)

4. Finding a place for all of us to sit was a BREEZE!

The good news for you?  I’ve posted this early enough that you could still get a cow costume together and make it in time for either lunch or dinner!

-Melanie

Vacation!

We were on vacation last week. It was really great. We went to Georgia to visit our friends the Gleasons and then to a wedding for a friend in South Carolina. I have no pictures from the wedding (I stink), so I’ll focus on the Georgia part. You may have heard me mention my friend Lisa and her family in previous blogposts. I think they’re pretty great.   The only problem with them is that they live so honking far away.  The trip should be about 12 hours.  Buuuuuut, it was more like 15 . I think.  I’m not really sure since we broke it down into two days, and then it felt like we drove for two whole days…. and I’ve become kind of a baby about long trips.  I think it’s because I had to drive ALL the time it felt like when I went to school 9 hours away…  I’m just sick of it forever.  ANYWAY, kids make the trip longer.  That’s just the truth.  I bought Caleb some sweet toys from the dollar store for our trip.  I think it was brilliant.  I would do it again for sure.  Here he is playing with those sticky hand things.  I thought maybe it would be a terrible idea if he started hitting Grace in the face or something, but I think he only came close to her a couple of times.  He loved it.

Since we had so much time in the car, we started writing down some things that Caleb would say that would make us laugh our heads off.  So here are a few of our favorites…

“I have lots of ideas.  Good ideas.” — he’s super humble

“I’m not crazy! I’m just weird!” — We think he’s both.

I think we started ignoring Caleb after a while because listening to him nonstop for so many hours was draining and so was helping him pick up whatever he dropped every 2 seconds.  He finally resorted to… “Anyone?!?!  Can anyone pick up my banklet?!”  HAHAHHA! I’m STILL laughing about that one. (That’s how he says blanket by the way)

We stopped at Jimmy John’s for dinner on the way home, and Caleb was trying to let out 10 hours worth of energy in the restaurant.  We tried to extend some grace, but had to tell him to cool it a few times.  We knew it was time to go when he said….. “Watch this dad!” and then purposely drooled all over Grace’s highchair (she wasn’t in it at the time)…..

There were plenty more, but I’ll stop there because I have other things to write about!

Swimming.  Caleb went swimming.  Now, the pictures may look like he loooved it….

the truth? He loved/hated it.  It was a bit of a weird reaction.  He loved the baby pool (first picture).  However, the big pool was terrifying for him.  We encouraged him to go in the last day we were there, and we kept him in for a long time (holding him of course).  He would have fun and then remember that he was in the big pool (or something) and start crying.  Or, he would be fine and then some innocent child would come splashing by and he would get one drop of water on his face and start screaming like he’d just been stabbed.  Overall? I’d say we made some HUGE steps.  Now at home he actually puts his body in our little pools in the backyard.  He also throws play bowling pins in our pools and names them the names of the Gleason children (there are 10 names to choose from but he has 4 favorites– I won’t say which ;) ). He has them doing flips off the “diving board”– so CLEARLY he was impressed by their swimming abilities.  That’s good news.  Gracie Bean LOVED swimming.  I know she’s too young to really be afraid of water, but she loved sticking her face in it.  I don’t think Caleb has EVER liked getting his face wet (even in the tub).  She and Ben went for a swim in the big pool, and he put her under.  Apparently she loved it.  I wouldn’t know since I was over in the baby pool with Caleb….. or maybe that was when I was trying to control the fit he was throwing in the bathroom….

We went to the pool almost every day we were there, and while the Gleason kids had their swim team practice, we would walk and play at the park.

Somebody even got a little daring– although you can tell he’s uncomfortable from his face, can’t you?  This picture was taken right before or after he called me over saying… “MOM, I don’t want to be up here”

Charlotte is pretty cool STANDING on the tire swing and all.

We also had a family morning and went to the Augusta river walk.  It was lovely! We stopped at a park there too, and Grace especially had fun climbing up the slide.  It looks like she has a bald spot here.  Hmmm… she’s in bed, so I can’t double check, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t really have one.

Gracie turned ONE while we were gone!  We sang her a nice happy birthday (on the second try because the first try everyone came in on a different key and it was horrendous) and gave her some cake…. which she loved.

Laken (#2 Gleason) took some REALLY cute pictures of Grace while we sang to her, but this is really the only picture I have of her birthday.  My sister and HOPEFULLY brother are coming out next week, so I plan to have a party for her then.

And finally, BIG NEWS! My little Grace WALKED!  I can’t say she’s actually walking– since her main mode of transporation is still crawling, but she’s walking more confidently all the time.  She can go pretty far by herself, and it’s SOOOOOOO fun.  I wasn’t really ready for it since Caleb didn’t walk till he was 14 months, but I’ll take it!  This way she can be a proficient walker by the time Baby K comes along (that will be ESSENTIAL).  Oh and no one panic, I didn’t see her first steps.  What was I doing?  Oh, you know, I was in the other room washing dishes….  If I remember correctly, I TOTALLY called it since I’ve missed every one of her firsts.  I guess it’s ok since I’m having another baby– otherwise I’d be freaking out.

This is getting long, I better get going! Hope you all enjoy the holiday tomorrow!

-Melanie