Some More Before and After Pics

Since we bought our cute little house, we've been making changes and updates as we have time. Since my last home remodel post, we've done some more updating. Here is the latest.

Our Basement before

and after

Our Bathroom before

and after

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year for Thanksgiving, we traveled up to New York to spend the holiday with Marshall's uncle and his family. We had a lovely time eating yummy food, playing fun games, and hanging out with great company!I really enjoy this holiday for two reasons: eating food and reflecting on what I am grateful for. This year I'm especially grateful for my family and the new addition on the way. I love being home my kids as they are growing up, and I am so grateful to Marshall for all the help he gives and for the amazing dad that he is.

Funny Isaac Quote

Yesterday, when we were getting ready for church, I said, "Isaac, as soon as you're done with your yogurt, we need to do your hair."

He replied, "That's a good idea, because I don't want to look like a wookie when I go to church."

Baby #3 is a...

BOY!

Me at 25 weeks.

I had my 20-week ultrasound at the beginning of October, and everything looks great! The only bad thing is we're having difficulty coming up with a name (well, I have my favorite [Bradley] and Marshall has his favorite [Dashiell - yea, don't ask], and they are obviously not the same).
So, we're open to suggestions - anyone have some great baby boy names?

Out with the old...

in with the new...car!!!
Due to various engine issues with our old Camry, we decided to replace our vehicle. Initially, we were looking at a used car with about 30,000 miles on it. In order to fit our growing family, we narrowed it down to three cars: a 2007 Camry (which would become Marshall's car when he got a job, and then I would get the van of my dreams), a 2007 Rav4 (with the extra third row), or a Mazda5 (which holds 6). The Camry seemed like it would be too small to fit three in the back comfortably - not to mention all of the quarreling between children sitting within arms-length of each other. We couldn't even find a Rav4 with the third row to test drive. So, that left us with the Mazda5. We found a few used ones in the area that were rental vehicles in their previous life. Once we test drove one around, we decided that would be the car for us! Although it doesn't really fit my personal style preference for cars, it's so functional and practical that it made more sense than anything else. So, just before we were about to purchase a used one, I decided to look up prices for a brand new one - just out of curiosity, as I would never really consider buying a brand new car off the lot. However, because of dealer promotions the Mazda5 new wasn't much more than used, and it made more sense to buy the car new. So that's what we did!!!

So far I'm loving it!

Isaac's Four!

I know this sounds cliche, but how did this happen. My little baby is turning into a real boy. Here are a few things he's doing:

-He can write his letters (don't ask me how he learned, because I didn't teach him).
-He can read most words that have three letters.
-He can dress (and undress, unfortunately) himself, and he actually changes about three times a day. His favorite thing to wear are his pajamas.
-He still loves to play with Legos and will spend hours at a time building space ships or swapping out various parts to the mini figures.-He plays pretend with Meili. Their favorite is either "Go Diego, Go" or "Star Wars." {Meili will often call Isaac "Diego" or "Luke Skywalker," and Marshall is "Baby Jaguar" or "Chewbacca." Of course, she is "Dora" or "Princess Leia" (well, it sounds more like "pwince-e-weya"). I'm usually "Alicia" or "Mom-Mothma."}
-He will, finally, stay near me at the store, because he is now afraid of becoming lost.

For his fourth birthday, we had a little "Diego" party for him. Isaac and his friends went on a rescue adventure to save a baby iguana who was lost inside a dark cave (i.e., Meili in a dragon costume in the office). In order to get to the 'cave,' they had to pin the legs on an iguana, 'swim' away from a hawk, feed other iguanas berries and leaves (ball toss), and answer trivia questions about iguanas. It was tons of fun! My favorite was seeing Meili crawl out of the 'cave' with a huge grin on her face as all the kids were saying, "Come out baby iguana, we'll save you!"

First Appointment...Looks Good!

I had my first prenatal visit today and everything is great! I had an ultrasound, and we saw the heartbeat. We asked Isaac what he thought it was and he smiled as he realized. Then he said, "It's a baby!"

Discovering Paint

I always have grand intentions of doing lots of fun crafty activities with the kids, but somehow each day goes by without much success...until Thursday! I picked up some kids paint at Target, pulled out the large paper and away we went. I had to keep reminding myself that paint + toddlers = BIG MESS!! And that I could clean it up when we were all done. To say the least, the kids had a blast.

Isaac Soccer Star

In order for me to have any chance to influence which sport Isaac likes the most, I signed him up for a soccer class! Tuesday was his first day. I would say that he's a natural, but unfortunately he just likes to run around the field kicking over the cones. I guess he's only three - what should I expect?

Meili is Two!!

My sweet baby girl is two!

Luckily for me, she's still as tiny and light as a baby.

We celebrated with pizza at the park and cupcakes at home - with a few presents.

Vance Summer Vacation!

Right before Meili turned two and would thus be an extra plane ticket, we took a little trip to Florida and Biloxi to visit my grandparents and then to Texas to visit my mom. Although we arrived after the big, bad oil spill, the oil had not reached the beaches. While in Florida, we enjoyed almost a week of beautiful weather, white beaches, and delicious, mouth-watering seafood. We then headed to Biloxi for a few days to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We also went to New Orlean's really cool aquarium. Then Marshall flew back to Philly while I headed on to Texas to see my mom for a week.

We took a little trip to the Pensacola Air Force Base to see all of the airplanes at the aviation museum. Isaac was in heaven flying all of the fighter planes.

Fun in the sun!


Pensacola Beach skyline. My grandparent's condo is in the high-rise on the far right.

Meili finding seashells

A little turtle in my grandparent's back yard. Isaac with my Aunt Kim.

Isaac and my mom.

Our First Camping Trip Together!

I'm ashamed to admit it, but until now, Marshall and I have never been camping together. It's not for lack of effort - I've been nagging him to take our family for over three years (maybe that's why we never went). Some friends from our ward invited us to go on a one-night camp out about 1-hour away. So, I packed us all up - including our new tent I got for my birthday and we headed out. Aside from our air mattresses losing ALL of its air and Meili and Isaac tossing and turning all night keeping us awake, it wasn't too bad.

We made hobo dinners for dinner. Unfortunately, my dinner stayed on the fire a little too long.

We roasted marshmallows.

We went hiking down to the river.

The next morning we went on a hike to the "Ringing Rocks." These rocks have metallic deposits, and when hit with a hammer, they make the sound of a bell.

I hope we'll go camping again someday!

Grandma and Grandpa Come to Visit!

Marshall's parents came for a little visit and we had tons of fun! Although the rain got in the way a little bit - we really enjoyed their visit. This is what we did!

We went to Longwood Gardens!

We played dress-up! Actually, Meili and Isaac loved getting into Grandma and Grandpa's suitcase and finding lots of fun things to play with. Meili found this, put it on her head and exclaimed, "Hat!!"

We went to the Arboretum by our house!

We celebrated Easter!

My Amazing Husband!

I wanted to take a minute to brag about how amazing and wonderful my husband is! Gift giving has never been one of his love languages, but it is probably my biggest love language. Each year as my birthday approaches, Marshall stresses over what he's going to give me. So much so that he ends up not getting me anything. This year, however, was quite different. When I woke up on March 24th, I had no idea that it would be the best birthday I have ever had. It all began with an amazing breakfast of German pancakes, my favorite cereal - Kix, and yummy orange juice - which we never buy. After I got ready, we headed out the door.

Our first destination was Longwood Gardens - where I got my first gift - a year pass to go whenever I wanted! Marshall had never been before, so we enjoyed the beautiful morning walking around the grounds and enjoying the gardens.

After that, we headed home for some delicious hoagies. I thought at this point that my birthday was complete, but there was more. After lunch, we headed to the Philadelphia Zoo, where Marshall gave me my second gift - a family pass to the zoo!

We strolled around the Zoo for a couple hours and then Marshall had another surprise for me - a shopping spree to Ann Taylor Loft. He watched the kids while I shopped to my heart's content! I ended up with a really cute sweater and a pair of capris. And it keeps going... On the way home, we stopped by this pizza place called Double Decker - home of the most amazing Inside-Out pizza - picture a calzone deep-fried. It is by far my favorite treat! There we picked up dinner and headed home. After eating and getting the kids to bed, Marshall made me a cake from scratch. But it wasn't your traditional cake - it was a block of my favorite kind of ice cream with my favorite cookies stuck all around it.

After cake, he brought out the presents (more? WOW!). In addition to the Longwood Gardens pass, a zoo pass, and clothes; I got a tent, a camping stove, a promise to go camping, and a gift certificate to get a pedicure!! Boy did I feel spoiled. To top it all off, Marshall rented "New Moon" (which I hadn't seen yet) and watched it with me. See what I mean...he's pretty amazing!!!

The Philadelphia Flower Show

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to have Grandma Leslie visit for a few days. While she was here, we went to the amazing Philadelphia Flower Show. I have never seen such beautiful and incredible flower arrangements and displays in my life. We were there for about four hours, but could have easily spent two days enjoying the festivities. There were exhibits, booths, shops, presentations, classes, and food. It was so cool. The theme for this year was Passport to the World and the major exhibits included Brazil, India, Africa, and Asia. Here are some pictures from our fun adventure.

Everything in the exhibits were constructed using flowers, twigs, seeds, etc. Aside from the feathers and legs, this peacock is made entirely from flowers.

One of the exhibits was a bamboo forest that you could walk through with a flashlight - this was Isaac's favorite exhibit.

This was a display inside a metal container (the kind used to transport goods from seaport to seaport).

This is outside another container. This one was covered in graffiti and orchids. The colors were amazing.

This giraffe is from the Africa exhibit. It is made of stick and orange orchids (suspended with copper wire).

This is one of my favorites. All kinds of flowers each in a vase suspended at different levels.

This is also from the Africa exhibit. These are statues decorated with various dried flowers and grasses.

Here's a Meili pose.

This is Philly's Chinatown - located right next to the Convention Center.