Clothes and Shade!!

I mentioned a few posts back about how I needed to get into the 6-9 month box and see what summery clothes we had for Natalie. Joanna was wearing 6-9 month clothes at around 9-12 months old so it was winter. We have blanket sleepers, jeans, jackets, etc. in that size so I was a little worried. I shouldn't have been! Take a look at the treasure of warm-weather clothes I found: I think they're are about 3 or so things that Joanna actually wore in this pile. She probably wore them last spring... you know when she was ONE plus! I ran across her "1st Birthday Princess" shirt in this box, too. Most of these clothes came from a couple of wonderful friends/family who handed down their daughter's things to Natalie. We are so blessed! Even though she can still wear pretty much all of her 3-6 month clothes, I've started dipping into the pile -- there is such cute stuff here!

Speaking of summery things, we broke down yesterday and got the windows on the van tinted. Oh, blissful shade! It is so wonderful now. Before, the girls kept getting the sun in their eyes and we were still sweaty after cranking the A/C. We got a pretty dark tint on the back and a lighter tint on the front windows. It's so pleasant in there now -- I LOVE it! It was definitely worth the investment.

1-4

I've been thinking that it would be fun to start posting random information about me (and probably Matt, too) that many people we know may not know about us. For me, it may be things I used to do but just don't anymore or pre-kid things.

So here's the first one I thought of: I can french-braid my own hair.
I haven't done it in forever for a couple of reasons: 1. It hasn't been long enough most of the last few years. 2. Braiding takes longer than not braiding and I'm busy. :) I wore my hair like this a lot in high school, (I was weird) especially on football games days when it needed to go under my hat. Which brings me to Fact About Jessica #2:
I was in the marching band in high school. In fact, I was honored as being the best new female marcher my freshman year. Honestly, marching is kind of like math as a sport. It's about counting and spatial reasoning. I dropped a ton of weight marching, but it's not particularly athletic, just hard and hot. I actually enjoyed marching season, even though I don't like being outside and I don't like football games. Go figure. I think I was actually better at marching than I was at playing my instrument. Which brings me to FAJ (Fact About Jessica) #3:
I play the flute... badly. Or I play it now badly. I wasn't too awful back in the day. I actually was accepted into the music program in college as a flute major. Then I decided I wanted major in elem. education instead of music education. So for like a few minutes in college I was actually a music major. (You can call that FAJ #4).

Isn't this child precious?! I just had to post this picture even though it doesn't have anything to do with this post. :)

SWIMMING!!!

We all got to go swimming at Aunt Mindy's house this morning! Well, everyone except me since I'm not really much for swimming and I don't have a suit that is "suitable" for leaving the house.

Isn't this the cutest little girl you ever did see?Trying out the new ring for size.
All decked in her floatie gear -- a ring and wings!

So happy -- this girls LOVES to be in the water.

Doesn't she look like a trained seal or something here?

Natalie got in on the action, too. This was her first suncreen all over experience.

Floating sisters!

Mostly Natalie and I hung out under the umbrella. We're weenies.

Oh, she thought this towel was delicious!

This one makes me smile.

She gets her whole face involved in the gnawing of her fingers.

Diva, anyone?

Awwww...

She traded the floaties for the life vest thing.

SHE'S FLOATING!! Matt's just blocking the sun (and, of course ready to grab her if needed).

Without any help she got herself into this position:

She'll be a swimmer soon!
Swimming is pretty exhausting work.

Time to explore the yard a little bit!Ah, cooling off with a sip of water inside. Joanna loves to drink bottled water, which I never buy. So bottled water at Aunt Mindy's house is a special treat! Come to think of it, Aunt Mindy is the one who introduced Joanna to bottle water oh so many months ago. It was a toy, first.

It's a good thing we're girls...

...'cause the heat makes us turn pink!

Joanna has a complexion more like Matt's, I think. They're a little darker and don't seem to blush or flush so much. Natalie and I are fairer and we sure do pink up in the heat.

Aren't these girls so cute?! We're not spending much time outside these days, but we went out yesterday morning to hang the laundry. Oh, it was sweltering.

I love how chubby and pinky white she is! I don't think I was EVER able to describle Joanna as chubby. :)
Back inside this morning for some playroom time. She's actually watching Sesame Street here. I start 'em young!
I LOVE this little skort outfit. It's Lisa's, but I'm pretty sure she said her long skinny girls couldn't wear it. It's actually a 6-9 month outfit, but except for being a little loose around the waist, fits perfectly. It's about time for me to start digging through that bin. I've pulled out the children's place PJs, but that's it, so far. We may need to get a few summer things in 6-9 month size. I think that's what Joanna was wearing in the winter. :) Fortunately, all the clothes I like to put Natalie in right now still fit great!

Another cute Vandenberge outfit!

Love the expression on Natalie -- not the best shot of Joanna!

Cutie pie girls!

Compare the last pic to this one:

Natalie got there by rolling. She's on the move for sure! I think she'll be scootching or crawling before I know it. She really lifts herself up and wants to get close to things. See the little giraffe toy beside her? She had that in no time after I took this picture.
Joanna said, "She unner there!"

We had a couple of errands to run this morning. One was to the church. We decided to use the double-wide to get our copies made. Turns out this doesn't fit well through the door to the office. Oh, well. We'll use the long long trailer next time.

And I had to take a picture of the back of this outfit -- so cute!

Joanna was SO good in the stroller while we were in the office (no whining, kicking, etc.) that I let her have a piece of chocolate from Miss Barbara's candy dish. Joanna always asks to see "Bawbra." She loves to play with her pens and draw and of course eat a piece of candy! My girls love all the staff up at the church (and I think the staff love them, too!). Lucky us!

It's 80 degrees. In. The. House. Poor sad little A/C that almost could.

The play room: Phase 1

Panning around the room clockwise from the door.

The cubbies had to come in here. Joanna gets so neurotic about her toys when Natalie goes to bed. She cries as she grabs as many as she can before I shut the door. So for her sanity and mine, the toys had to come out of the girls' room!

I've started moving my work stuff into the room since these pics were taken. Now where the babies are is my big bookcase from the dining room. In the closet is her little playhouse. The small bookcase you'll see soon is there now, too.
Under the window is a little cabinet we had around and the little cubbies for little toys. There's a dresser (perfect height for standing and working) where the little bookcase is now.
For now, the kitchen is here, too. It'll get moved once I build my big table. My plan is for it to go from the window to the open door. It'll be as deep as from the wall to the edge of the window.

10 points to anyone who can tell me what that critter is in the middle!

This is last time for awhile that the bookcase will look like this. Joanna loves taking books off the shelves in large quantities.

A close-up of the little cabinet. I've put dress-up kinds of things inside.

Joanna's favorite thing to do is empty it and crawl inside.
Close-up of the cubbies all organized:

Some wire rack cubbies for extra storage in the closet wing.

I'm going to put a file cabinet in this closet wing... once I find one.

So far we just love the room! I've moved in a rocking chair so I don't always need to sit on the floor, and Natalie's exersaucer is usually in there, too. I'm hoping to get a little TV hooked up (we need Sesame Street, you know!) and I may bring my computer in there and work off the dresser for now. It's really coming together! I'm getting to clear out drawers and shelves and organize things as I move them into the room. I like the idea of eventually having all my craft and office supplies in one room instead of sprinkled throughout the house. I've also actually filled up one medium sized box of books to sell. That's unheard of for me! I still have more books than bookcases, though -- the eternal struggles we bookworms face. :)

Food and Fun!

We got to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Saturday -- yum! Joanna didn't have any trouble eating almost the whole roll.Natalie is getting ready! I think she's definitely more ready for food than Joanna as at this age. We haven't started yet, but it won't be long!
Cinnamon roll!

A sneak peak at the playroom:

I'll post next about the playroom!

Look at this precious girl!!

And they're gone. :(

Joanna pulled these boots out the other day and insisted on wearing them. She kept them on almost the whole day!

We may have to get some boots in the next size up, too. She's addicted to them.