Glamour girls

I know folks probably think...I insist on dressing the girls up & taking their pics, but honestly, they do that.  Yesterday, they came up to me & wanted to wear necklaces & have their pics taken.  P.S.  Now editing on a big ol' iMac thanks to my hubs!  Super excited, but still trying to calibrate things.  Can't believe the difference for editing, it's like night & day!  I see so many more flaws than I did on my PC, hopefully, this will improve my skillz.  Cute little girlies, it's the funny little things about them that I love most!  We are trying to soak up as much of our summer as possible, so blogging may be a bit spotty over the next month or so.  We are spending almost every afternoon in the pool and getting ready for our big trip in Sept.  Thankful for all the fun times we've had this summer.

New beds & sleeping arrangments

For the last couple of weeks, we've been waiting for the girls' princess beds to come in.  We started the process of getting the big room upstairs ready for both girls about a month ago when Ella began jumping out of her crib.  As soon as we knew Ella was a girl, I began planning a girly room for 2 sisters.  This room has seen many transformations, when we first moved into our house, this was our room.  It had berber carpet & yellow floral wallpaper...very dated.  After removing the carpet & wallpaper this soon became Jessie's room once Ella was born, & now it is both girls "princess" room.  I still have some touches to finish up, but had to post what the beds looked like in this room.  This room is great for 2 little sisters in that it has 2 full-sized closets (not pictured) & plenty of room for both of their dressers & 2 twin beds.  Michael refinished the floors himself & I stripped the wallpaper & actually painted this room when I was 34 weeks pregnant with Ella....so needless to say, we've put a lot of ourselves into this room.  The former nursery is now a guest room, which will be great for the grandparents :)  Although, to me it was bittersweet to pack away all the cribs in our house, I know the girls are ready for this transition & they are so excited for their new beds/room.  Last night they both slept in the room together for a full 8 hrs. & probably would have slept longer, but Jessie fell out of bed...headed to Target to get another set of rails today.  Thanks to Michael for spoiling the girls & getting them such nice beds.  I know they will have great memories of this room!

For those wondering, these beds are Young America Isabella line.  They are more beautiful that these pictures show.  The girls look so small in the beds, but I'm sure they'll soon grown into them :)

See that painted over window above Ella's bed, I plan to repaint that & add one of those quotes about sisters...it's painted over due to an addition on the house

The headboard & footboard have this pretty detail

Anniversary dinner

On Saturday, our actual anniversary, Michael took me to Legume in downtown Pittsburgh for our special dinner.  It was a lovely evening to just enjoy some time together.  the food was amazing, all local & fresh ingredients.  The staff was even nice enough to give us some complimentary champagne & take our "famous" dessert picture for us.  We've been taking a picture with our dessert for the last 10 years.  It's a tradition & fun to look back on all the wonderful times (ok, well desserts) we've shared together.  For starters, we shared a blue fish pate, goat cheese crostini, then I had corn soup, which was delish.  For our main, I had tilefish & Michael had goat prepared like a tenderloin with a lovely rhubarb chutney.  Both were fabulous.  For the all important dessert, I had pound cake with fresh peaches & salted caramel sauce & Michael had fresh berry pavlova.  Legume was voted one the top 25 restaurants in Pittsburgh & we can definitely see why.  Everything perfect.  Thanks to Michael for making the weekend so special for me, it was a wonderful way to celebrate 10 years & I'm excited to see where the next 10 take us :)

The dessert photo...it's a tradition :)

10th Anniversary

Today Michael and I are celebrating 10 years of marriage.  I am thankful for a husband who always makes me feel special.  He is a wonderful man & I couldn't ask for more.  I could reminisce about all the ups & downs we've had, but he & I know these things & that's what matters most.  Happy 10 years to my love, I look forward to many more together!   For those wondering, tonight we will be going to dinner at a nice restaurant & then headed to Paris to continue our celebration in September.  Am I a lucky lady or what??  Through the years together, we've had a lot of people look to our marriage as an example of a happy one.  The secret to our success is God's blessing on each of us & on our marriage.  Without God's grace & blessing on us, we would lack the foundation to build a life together.

Preschool pictures

2 weeks from now, Jessie will start 3 year old preschool at Eden Christian Academy.  I am excited & sad all at the same time.  I know she will do great & that the school she will be attending has a wonderful reputation, but she's growing up.  There's no denying that our almost 3 1/2 year old is becoming a big girl.  She has her own opinions about things & she's a very bright little girl (I know I'm bragging, but we think so) & I know it's time for her to start school.  I could hardly believe when I received our first (of many) school lists for this year.

1 large backpack

1 box of broad tip classic colors markers

1 large box of tissues

2 rolls of paper towels

2 packages of baby wipes

2 containers of Clorox wipes

1 large package of paper napkins

1 package of Ziploc sandwich bags

1 package of Ziploc gallon bags

1 package of Dixie cups

For some reason a school supplies list made it more real to me.  As for Jessica herself, she's so excited to start preschool & tells everyone, including folks at the dry cleaner & at Target that she's starting preschool!  She will be attending with one of her little playmates that we know through church & she's happy to have a little friend to begin this adventure with.  

Although, we do not live in the South anymore, I knew I wanted her to have a cute smocked dress for her 1st day...ok, well, for pictures also.  If we still lived down South, this is how I would dress her & I thought why not here...maybe she'll start a new fashion trend :)  Jessica, years from now when you look back on these pictures of you before you started 3 year preschool, know that we were/are so proud of you!  We love you baby girl & pray God's favor on you as you take your 1st step in your education.  

She's practicing raising her hand

This is her "cross" face...that's what she tells me anyway

She gave up on me & starting eating the apple

She's totally over these, but I wanted a full-length shot

Rosie & other notes

Jessica has taken to calling Ella, "Rosie".  Rosie is the name of Caillou's little sister.  To those parents reading, I'm sure you can all relate when you hear that I am no fan of Caillou.  His voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard.  You know the day is off to a bad start when Caillou is on the TV before 8am.  It's not that Caillou is an inherently evil cartoon, he's a little 4 year old boy who has adventures....but, that voice!!  Well, anyway, I'm sorry to those Caillou fans out there, but he's not my fav.  Ella even calls herself Rosie, sometimes out in public.  Jessica sometimes introduces herself as Caillou & Ella as Rosie...funny, right??  I always get looks like, wow those kids are a little strange.  Some other notable things that they are doing/saying right now:  Ella is doing well on the potty & even has made several trips outside of the house in big girl panties with no accidents.  She finally legitimately knows her colors...*cue angels singing*...I thought it would never happen & even briefly thought she might have some color blindness (although I do realize this is highly unlikely in a girl), but it finally happened.  Both girls have taken to telling me that they are busy & that I shouldn't bother them...sassy little things!  Sometimes in the afternoon when I ask them to come in from playing Jessie usually says, "Don't bother me, I'm too busy!"  Ella will usually then chime in to say "We busy". Jessica can now buckle herself into her car seat...awesome!!   Ella thinks spiders are all named "Charlotte" as in Charlotte's Web.  She thinks they all tickle her.  Jessie was explaining to her the other day that good spiders are named Charlotte and bad spiders are named "Mean".  Those are some of the recent things that I thought I should include for memories sake.

PS...thanks to Nuna for the cute dress for Ella...doesn't she look great in that color?

This is her "say cheese" face

Despite all of the fights, they do actually love each other