and then some...

Another couple of exciting weeks have passed us by but they have been full ones.   We went to Aaron's Grandpa's funeral first off which was really incredible.  We got to listen to friends and family talk about how he was basically the most wonderful man ever.  Hard working, talented, kind, and so many more wonderful things.  It was also nice to be able to get together with almost all of Aaron's family and be together. On a side note we had to leave of course after a bit because Julian refused to be even mildly contained in the chapel (during funeral) and we ended up out in the foyer with all the other babies:)  However, Julian who is always on the go found some friends...  The men from the funeral home came in with lunch and sat down to eat and chat in a small room during the funeral. I looked in there and Julian was sitting on a chair with them in a circle like he was just one of the guys and they had given him some fries, so he just hang out in there for like 20 minutes or so eating fries and kicking it with his buddies. He is so funny! Besides always trying to make friends and find some goodies Julian has been really into trying to ride everything. It started when I looked down and saw that he has picked up my little camel from Egypt by the reins.  Then he sat down on it and tried to make it move. Poor little camel...He also tries to ride his tunnel, his boat, and whatever else he can get underneath him;)  It is so funny to watch...

 

Later that week we went to my family reunion which was so fun.  My mom has a lot of fun relatives (many of which are getting later on in their years) and they are just the funnest people ever.  It always makes me look forward to being like older folks partying it up all the rest of my days... After that we went to the Cheese Party were we all dressed up to the nines.  We ate wonderful food and hung out while being entertained by our talented friends. Here is a couple of pics of Julian showing off his talent (while everyone else was sharing their talent) of wandering in front of people and staring at the big spotlight.

  

And last night we got to hang out with my best friend for like life and her super cute family that were visiting from California.  I am always amazed at how it seems like no time has passed at all each time we get together.  So fun!

Apart from our fun outings we did a little TLC at home.  Our Island is slowly coming along.  We just have to add the little piece of wood around the bottom, finish the front and paint. This is where we are right now:

 

We also picked up this night stand for a couple of dollars at a yard sale nearby and painted it Turquoise. Turns out that spray painting something evenly is harder than it looks and I will need to probably do this over, someday...

Before

After

 I also discovered the board and batten method for decorating walls from the Thrifty Decor Chick blog here.  We had a ton of this kind of mdf wood lying around because we took it out of bedrooms to replace it with new base molding.  So I thought I would try it out in the extra room upstairs because if I didn't like it it wouldn't be too serious but here is how it turned out:

 

I just had enough for one wall but I really like how it turned out.  The best part was that it was free!  I really want to to do this in the dining room now but that will take a lot longer because we will actually have to buy the materials this time.

Also, I like to get some fun stuff off of pinterest but honestly I have had a lot of pinterest fails. A lot! But this week I tried some new recipes and they were all great successes.  My favorite was this homemade kit kat bar.  It was so good and Aaron LOVED it! 

 

A last thoughtful note is that we found out this last week that we are having a little girl.  Yay! So I was sure we were having a boy but I guess that guy is coming later.  I feel so lucky though like we are going to have this complete little family now.  It is so exciting!  

Also, I was reading through some handouts that were given out at a church financing activity about how to get out of debt. So we couldn't make it and I was thinking okay this will be the same ol' stuff but all the handouts were about an attitude of feeling like we are entitled to everything that we want, instead of focusing on what we can really afford.  So after reading like five articles on that it really dawned on me that I did feel that way.  Not entitled necessarily but I was focused on all the stuff that I wanted instead of planning and working for the things that I actually can afford and do have.  That probably sounds so random but the main thing is that it has helped me to switch my focus onto appreciating what I do have and realizing that all the stuff that I want (that I think everyone else has) doesn't really matter. It just gave me so much peace and now I feel like instead of having this constant craziness of home fixing and problems, that we have a nice home and plenty of space for our new little baby.