Ten on Thursday

Better late than never, right?  ;)

1.  Lauren has Kindergarten preview tonight!  What?  Seriously?!?  I am just bewildered as to how she is big enough to be in school!  We decided to opt for the public school in our neighborhood instead to taking her to a charter school.  I figure with a new baby something in walking distance will have great benefits.  It is only a two year old school, so there just isn't enough information out there - but it was an excelling school in its first year, so that is something at least.  A new phase of our lives begins soon!  I am sure I will have some pictures of this event for you soon.

2.  Ooh, actually have some prospects for photo shoots this month, so be watching the business blog!  I will have new stuff going up really soon!  Seriously, it will be nice to freshen that page up a bit! (My hubby says I say "seriously" too much.  Seriously?!?  I like it, it has many uses.  Let me see how many times I can say it in this post...)

3.  I want to paint the nursery yellow.  Happy yellow!  Also, we have a full can of leftover paint in the girls' pink color that I am thinking of having re-tinted to a burgundy shade.  That means I could to a wall or a bathroom in my favorite color!  Do we think we will ever be able to sell this house once I am done exploding my love for color everywhere?  Seriously.

4.  Springtime is here and with it comes the beginning of my longings to go to the beach.  That typically lasts from March to October for me.  Seriously, I love everything about the beach and am DYING to do an early morning photo shoot of the girls at one!  I have some really specific ideas for standouts in the office playroom.  Now, how can I finagle a trip to the  shore where we are close enough to wake up and do a photo shoot?   Hmmm...

5.  Dinners around here have had a lot of Pioneer Woman recipes involved in them lately.  Really, everything I have tried has been good - and some are awesome!  What I love best about her cooking and walk-through recipes... I feel freedom to change things here and there.  She doesn't etch things in stone, and I love to feel like I am being creative with my cooking.  The woman is a true miracle worker, I actually loved her Caesar salad dressing (SERIOUSLY!) - and that, my friends, is unheard of!

6.  Potty training Paige is not going so well.  She has no problem with accidents and just keeps playing without even telling me!  She loves her panties and cries if I put a diaper on her - but she also throws a fit when I make her try to go, and I have cleaned up way too much urine and BM's lately.  Annoying!!!  I think I need to read up on it or something, because though I feel like I am doing the same thing as I did with Lauren, clearly it is not enough.   Ugh.

7.  Maternity clothes are no fun.  Seriously, I have never felt so dowdy and blah as I do these days!  After wearing things through two pregnancies they are stretched out, faded, and over-worn.  But, who wants to buy new stuff when you know you plan on getting rid of all of it in five or six months?!?  These clothes also make me laugh because I feel huge until I put some stretched out piece on and realize how much bigger I will get before the end!

8.  Pregnancy is going really good though - the dreaded heartburn has started in full force this week, but it is a lot later and a lot less than with my other two babies!  And I still feel pretty comfortable and energized.  I think I am nearly over this cold - just a lingering cough now, so I should be back to my loud, talkative, crazy-picture-taking, self really soon!

9.  Confession time: I have been struggling with trusting God with our finances lately.  And now I am even more thankful for my Thursday morning bible study!!!  I was feeling truly frustrated and bitter that after budgeting hard for a month to get money together to pay off some debt, we had crazy car repair bills last weekend that took that money and more.  Instead, I truly should have been thankful that we had the money to pay for the car repairs and that we didn't have to go into debt to get them done!  In the "Lies Women Believe" book, we are currently talking about the if/then lie, which I fall into SO easily.  If XYZ happened, then I would be happy/content/etc.  But the truth is, if I can't be happy and content right where I am at, no new situation will bring me contentment.  I need to learn to be content with God, and if I never get another good thing in this world, I still have much more than I deserve.  Call that my "a-ha" moment of the day.

10.  Speaking of feeling blessed and content and wanting to wash away the selfishness... MckMama is just returning from a Compassion International trip to Kenya.  Reading her daily updates broke my heart.  Truly.  I cried, a lot.  It would have been so easy to just skip all her entries until she came back with the attitude of, "Oh, they are just trying to get sponsors and money."  But, I am so glad I didn't.  My spoiled-brat-woe-is-me-attitude needs a swift kick out the door, because how clearly blessed we are to have been born here and not there!  God is still working on me with this - and I am sure it will take Him working on me every day... but I so don't want to take this life I have for granted!

Seriously!!!  =)