What to do on a rainy Friday? Make my pantry look better of course!

It has been 2 years (why haven't you visited??)!

We have been in Michigan for over 2 years now, it has gone by so fast!  We are enjoying our time here and no we don't know for how much longer we will be here.  ;0)  We have to stay here long enough to settle whatever will happen with baby E, and given the Michigan system that could be awhile.  We just take things one day at a time around here!
Now on to, why haven't you (yes, you!) visited?  We have a large house with plenty of room, so we would love more visitors!  So far we have only had our families visit and a few friends (thank you!).  We have a guest bedroom with a queen sized bed, plus a play room that fits our blow up queen sized mattress.  We have a huge master bedroom, so Delaney can always stay in there and that frees up another bed (full size).  So who is ready to book a weekend or week with us!
Still need convincing?  We have a huge indoor outlet mall just down the street:  http://greatlakescrossingoutlets-px.rtrk.com/?cpgn=reachlocal_GreatLakesCrossingOutlets
We have an Ikea within a 45 minute drive!  We have lakes, casinos, parks, sporting events, concerts, etc.  And of course you get to see our faces for a few days!

Olympic Spirit!

We are counting down the hours till the opening ceremony! D is excited to watch gymnastics and swimming over the next two weeks.
We spent the afternoon making some Olympic inspired crafts!

Summer Lovin' or maybe not....

I really try very hard to not complain too much about the joys and obstacles of motherhood, but feel I have to just rant a little.  Since the end of the school year it has been an up and down battle in our household with D, mostly later in the day around bedtime.  It is frustrating and tiresome and I am ready for it to end.  We have been a little too lazy with the bedtime routine and I think that has killed us.  She gets overtired and then it is all downhill from there.  We have never struggled with this time of day, I think because I have always been very scheduled with bedtime, catch them before they are tired and get them in bed!  She has always been a great sleeper, so even putting her to bed at 7, she is still never up till around 7 the next morning.  The tantrums seem to happen mostly on N's night to put her to bed and I am not sure why.  I don't want to blame him, but I think he doesn't come off overly enthusiastic about the bedtime routine and she feeds off of that.  We chatted last night and agreed that we needed to push up bedtime and both stick to it.

I also think she misses the school schedule, so I created an hourly schedule for her this morning that we will start tomorrow.  She was excited to get it off the printer and read it.  Hopefully this will help with boredom and also with bedtime.

If anyone else has suggestions please post them!

Back to Summer Lovin' (hopefully!)

Am I the only one that makes a bigger mess when cleaning?!?

I think I like to torture myself!

Pinterest--bathroom organization

I found a pin on pinterest that put a second shower rod on the back wall of the shower to hang up bath toys, shampoo, etc. Since having a baby in the house again we needed something to keep the shampoo and soap out of her reach and store the tub toys.
I got the rod and used some cheap plastic Easter baskets until I find something else, preferable long and narrow. Any suggestions?
Next up is painting this bathroom, but we are limited in color choices since there are colored tiles (green and Maroon) in the shower. D does not want it painted green again.... Any thoughts?

Toys and shampoo thrown on the floor so E doesn't get all of them.

Shower curtain rod and baskets.

A Little Summer Catch Up

It is so hard to believe it is already the middle of July, but thankfully we still have lots of summer left to enjoy!
It has been so hot and humid here in Michigan, this is pretty typical so I won't complain.  :)  We have enjoyed lots of pool time at our local gym.  The girls both really enjoy the water, so it is a fun time for all.  We would like to spend more time at the park, but the heat has kept us from this.
We had a fantastic trip to Chicago and Wisconsin.  I wish we had more time in Chicago!  We can't wait to go back.  D really loved the American Girl store, we set up an appointment for her to get Lanie's hair done and ears pierced.  We also set up a personal shopper (this is free and I highly recommend!) for her, this made decision making so much easier and check out was a breeze.  E was tired and cranky the whole time we were at the store, so that part wasn't much fun for N and I.  Our stay in Wisconsin was fun, but probably not something we would do again.  We enjoyed the water park-indoor and out-but really didn't feel like there was enough there to warrant another visit in the future.
D is visiting my parents in New York this week.  She is having a great time visiting old friends, eating out, and getting spoiled rotten.  We are looking forward to her return on Monday.  In the meantime E and I are staying busy around the house.
We are all hoping to go to NY in a couple of weeks, so mark your calendars!

We got lucky and were able to meet up with our NY friends that were in Chicago too!  Thank you Facebook for making us realize we would both be there that day!

D enjoying the diving board at our gym pool!

N coming down the slide at the waterpark.

D with her old doll and new doll!  Our personal shopper is in the background.