Changes

So much has changed in our lives since i last wrote. Not really sure what happened, i thought for sure I'd write more then two posts before i fell off the face of the earth! Our biggest change is that we've welcomed a third baby into our lives! We decided last May that we wanted to try for one more and God blessed us VERY quickly with that baby. I took my first pregnancy test on June 15th, 2014 and it was positive!! I could not believe it! And it happened to be fathers day so it turned out to be THE best fathers day gift! The nine months that I was pregnant were packed full of parties, reveals, renovations, and FOOD. :) So i figured my first post would be about my announcement and Gender Reveal Party.

Waiting 12 weeks to announce our pregnancy was the hardest thing to do! Both of my girls were a surprise and didn't necessarily have the best timing so telling everyone about their pregnancies was actually something we wanted to wait as long as possible to do! haha So this being our first planned pregnancy we were over joyed and so excited to spill the beans! So we told our families in person but to put it out there on social media to our friends and "acquaintances" we posted this pic.

This is the first ultrasound we had done and the babe was a little peanut at this point. Then i put a heart on the due date and put in my positive pregnancy test and wrote on there baby Johnston. Everyone was in shock! Since our oldest was 9 at the time and our youngest 7 I'm pretty sure everyone thought we were done with babies. SURPRISE. :) So once we had this exciting part out of the way I couldn't wait to plan a gender reveal party. Although I'm a punk and had to find out in the ultrasound room, we had the party to reveal to our daughters and our closest friends and family. I just served little finger foods and had a chart going around for everyone to put in their guesses and name suggestions for either sex. Then came the big reveal! We had the woman at Fulton paper fill a giant sized balloon with the coordinating color confetti. I had my girls wear the color that they were hoping for and I wore both colors to try not to give it away. We popped the balloons over our heads and the confetti went everywhere!! I'm literally still picking some up in random places and the baby is 6 months old! Any who. Here it is....The big Reveal!!!

  

It was a bit hard to tell because some of the confetti was mixed with purple but...its a boy!!! We honestly didn't think it was possible for us to have a boy! The look on My husbands face when he found out was priceless. He actually turned white as a ghost and didn't say a word for like 5 minutes straight. Lovely lady #1 was ecstatic because she was rooting for a boy, lovely lady #2 not so much. She was actually pretty devastated for quite some time, until she actual met the prince and not shes head over heels in love. :)

And here I am just one week before he made his debut. Waiting very impatiently in his rocking chair. Details on my shower and his woodland themed nursery to come! This whole experience has just been too perfect. I am definitely one lucky Lady. 

"The Days Are Long, But The Years Are Short" Cherish every moment. :) 

A FROZEN Fashion Show

Have you guys seen the movie Frozen yet?! It was definitely an instant favorite of ours. The bond between the sisters was such a great example to set for girls all over the world. And Olaf the snowman was the cutest thing ever!! So on the way back from the movie theater, which I believe was back in November, lovely lady #2 said that Frozen was the theme she wanted for her birthday party. Now I'll be honest, I am known to be quite the procrastinator with just about everything! So I looked around Pinterest and found some ideas, I placed an order for a few decorations and then I put everything else off until a week before the party! EEK! Not a good thing. The last thing you want before  a big party is to be stressed. But it ended up being an awesome party and the kids had a blast!!!

So just a warning, you are about to get an overload of frozen fun! :)
Here' the birthday girl! Before her big fashion show makeover! All dressed up as Queen Elsa.

 

Speaking of procrastination. I asked Mj to make me a runway to put downstairs for the girls to have a fashion show at the party. One of my biggest financial splurges is on birthday parties. I just cant help myself, they only get to turn each age once. I'm all about the memories. So anyway, hubby did not agree with spending money on wood to make a runway, but once he got started he was so glad he did. This runway was made the night before the party. He made it with three long pieces of lumber nailed together and then stapled red table covering from Fulton on top. I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

 

I found dresses on sale at old navy and had $30 in super cash to blow so I bought each of the girls a dress that they could change into and bring home as a party favor. So I had to call on hubby yet again to build me some storage for the dresses! We kept it a natural wood look for the party but I plan on painting it and using it for the girls playroom. ( Also check back in the next couple of days and I will have posts on how made the pallet wall shown above and the white washed brick in the bottom photo!)

 

We had white balloons spread all throughout the party with black and white pictures of our lovely birthday girl throughout the year. Its amazing how quickly they grow!

I usually spend hours on the cakes for the girls parties but decided to keep it simple this year and make cupcakes with tiara rings on top.

I got the burlap bags, milk bottles, straws and other decorations from karaspartyideas.com She has THE cutest party supplies on the net, I'm sure of it! :) The burlap bags were filled with marshallows and m&m's. I made small cutouts that read "Do you want to build a snowman?" and tied them on with striped twine.

 

I ordered all of the girls their own reusable frozen themed cup and cut out these tiaras from craft foam paper (I believe the original source for this idea is sistersuitcaseblog.com) Soo stinking cute! I then stuck a light blue and white rock candy in each cup to resemble "ice".

We had our main room set up with an area for face paint, nails, and hair. So all the girls could get glammed up for their fashion show.

 Here is the best friend a girl could have! Pregnant with baby #3 and she came to the party to do hair for 9 girls! Thanks so much Ash!! You truly are amazing and my girls are so lucky to have you in their lives!

 

Another good friend from work, who is one of the most artistically talented people ive ever known, came to do face paint for all the girls.  

 And the nails done by "yours truly" with help from yet another work friend! I feel so lucky to have so many helpful people in my life!

 

 

Here is the lovely birthday girl with her fancy new Elsa inspired hairdo and one of her birthday guests with her face paint!

 

Once they were all purdied up we set off to the cat walk for the fashion show!! Each girl was interviewed by the hubby ( did I mention how awesome he is?!) and the birthday girl, then made their way down the run way for a few poses and photo op's.

 

 

At this point the party had already been going on for about three hours! The kids were having a blast but it was time to wind it down a bit. So we headed back upstairs for a quick game of pin the nose on olaf. Seriously how cute! (this was drawn by my amazingly talented friend aka the face painter! )

 

 

Then we finished up of course with cake and ice cream! :) It was definitely a party that she will remember forever! And I couldn't have pulled it off without the help of so many amazing friends!! Hope you all enjoyed the pics!  

 

 

 

 

"Friendship is not about who you've known the longest. It's about who walked into your life, said "I'm here for you" and proved it"

Author unknown

 



New Year New Me!

Hi!! I'm Kerri. And this is my story. The picture above is of me and my youngest Lovely Lady #2 also known as SJ. My love story started when I was just 16 years old. That's when I met my one and only. At 18 we got the biggest surprise of our lives when I found out I was pregnant!! I didn't realize how many emotions I was capable of feeling at one time until I saw the results of that pregnancy test! I was scared but excited happy but sad angry but at peace. But in the end I felt one emotion and that pure joy knowing that I was going to be a mom. So lovely lady #1 (aka CJ) was born in May of 2005 and about a week or two after her first birthday we got news of baby #2! They are 21 months apart and although they fight as sisters sometimes do, they are the best of friends, and I am so proud to by their mom.
After Lovey lady #1 was born I put her in a full time home daycare and went back to work as a preschool teacher for about a year. But I missed her like crazy every single day I was gone and just didn't feel happy with life. So I made the decision to quit my job and stay home to raise my baby. I've been a stay at home mom now for the past eight years and although times have been tight because of it I wouldn't change it for the world.  I feel that making the financial sacrifices now will be worth it in the long run. I do work 10-15 hours a week at our local YMCA and the best part about it is that my girls can come with me anytime I need them to! One of the many benefits of working in a childcare setting. I love not having to stress over finding childcare during summer time, in service days, holidays, and snow days (which we have had wayyy to many of this year on the East Coast). We haven't been to Disney World and we don't drive nice cars but we have food on the table every night a roof over our heads and I have an amazing relationship with my children that I don't believe would be the same if I went to work full time. That being said....I see nothing wrong with the mommas that do work full time. I give kudos to you all for being able to work a full time job and still come home cook dinner clean house and have family time. You all ROCK! :) Being a stay at home mom/house wife is just what feels right for my family right now.


So now to introduce my family! :)

 

My Unbelievable hubby Mj who makes it all possible. My Hubby is an irrigation specialist at a golf course. Basically he's an outdoor plumber. Installing and fixing in ground sprinklers. One of the benefits of his expertise is that we have the greenest grass on the block! ;)

 

 

 

My Sweet Lovely Lady #1 Cj. I tell you this without being the least bit bias, my girl Cj has the biggest heart in the entire world! She is constantly thinking of others and putting them before herself. I couldn't be more proud every day of her accomplishments in school and her outlook on life. She will be nine years old in May and I cant wait to see what this ninth year will bring for her

 

 

 

And My Spunky lovely lady #2 Sj. This girl....She is definitely unique. Her generosity needs a bit of improvement but shes working on it every day. And not a day goes by that she doesn't put a smile on someones face. When I introduced her as spunky I wasn't kidding. you may just see her on tv one day. :) Sj just turned seven ( check out my next blog post for details on her FROZEN party)

 

 

 

 

Well, that just about sums it up! I'm so excited to start this blog and share our many adventures as we continue to grow together in this thing called LIFE. Thanks again for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

FAMILY

 

"We May Not Have It All Together,

But Together We Have It All. "