blush and bashful

 we have trim and windows!

(did we have windows in my last post about this?)

 view from the room into our dining/living rooms- look at all the space!!

(and the front end of bryan's new mini countryman- don't get him started, he LOVES it)

the last three pictures are there to demonstrate my inability to keep the house clean choose a wall color.  as i mentioned before, i was inspired by a color board on 100 layer cake, and also by nicole for having almost every wall in her chicago bungalow pink without it looking like a cotton candy machine.  so we ventured to lowe's, home depot, and our local benjamin moore store, zeke's.  i could write a whole post about how ridiculously overpriced their paint is, but i won't.  i'm sure it's good paint.  after buying four (4!) different shades of pink, and after bryan telling me "i think it's starting to grow on me...", it was time to move on from my vision.  i said good-bye to shelby and her weddin' colors, bluhsh and baysh-ful, and we went with martha stewart's tahini.  it's the top yellow and it reminds me of butter.  always a good thing.  i was happy to discover that the same colors that i had wanted to put with the pink are going to look just as good with the yellow.  i'm pretty sure this is what the color scheme will be:

and just in case there isn't enough, i may throw a little fuchsia in there...  who knows?

tin and lee-yum

which is what these guys are calling each other these days.  we're working on the F, and the closest we've gotten so far is "fffffttttrin."  (and it's smart to not stand too close to liam's mouth when he's attempting the sound).  eh, we'll get there.

i'm a little peeved at myself for not keeping better track of their goings-on and development on here, but c'est la vie.  there isn't enough time in the day.  plus, i can't keep up with them!  it seems that after they turned 2, the vocab switch turned on and it hasn't slowed down.  as per usual, liam leads and finn follows when it comes to pronunciation.  and with liam, the talking doesn't really stop.  ever.  every day, i continue to be amazed at everything that they're saying, phrases they're repeating, and words we've said that we don't even realize they've heard!  playing in the basement the other day, liam just randomly said "7, 8, 9, 10."  bryan and i just looked at each other like- what?  

they still love music, going to kindermusik, and especially when dad plays the piano.  they even have requests for him: old macdonald, twinkle twinkle, and yo-yuh boat.  oh, you don't know that one?  it goes gently down the stream.  and although we've only watched sound of music once on the way to omaha, they're pretty good at do-a-deer.  it's pretty awesome how it has such an impact on them, even this early.

they're more and more curious every day, and i have to keep reminding myself it's just curiousity.  nothing personal, there's just too much to see.  probably something that moms o' multiples are more familiar with, having to chase two babes that are usually really going in opposite directions.  they are also getting better at listening, thank goodness.  and with that has come the understanding of what time out is.  this has been huge- and i will say we've only had to use it with liam.  i didn't even think we would be parents who did time out (how naive), but they had to do it at the gym and at school (shrinking down in my seat), and it works.  definitely works.

the picky eating is probably our biggest issue right now, but as i try to do with everything, i just let it go and accept that sometimes, they don't eat anything for a meal.  they survive!  a couple of nights ago, we had some naan and needed a quick dinner- we did the sauce, the boys did the cheese, bryan did the salad, and they actually ate it.  i know, i know, pizza is supposed to be on the safe list of foods all kids eat.  oo, try again... not mine, but we're getting there.  i'm hoping, with our new room getting close to being finished (that's my next post), it'll give us the opportunity to be in the kitchen more, and maybe this will encourage them to eat more!!

they are sweet, sweet, sweet, and i'm sorry i don't have more pictures.  see first paragraph re: no time.

florida!

eight adults, six kids, one house, four days.  weeeeee!!!  our group from nursing/med school has stayed good friends, and one of us ended up in florida.  beautiful house, beautiful weather, and all things considered, it went amazingly well.  it was obviously crazy, but i think the pool saved us.  the boys would have spent all day every day in it, jumping from the edge into our arms.  by the second day, they were both going under, not being ok with the jump if they didn't!  we went to an easter egg hunt on saturday, but that was our only major thing.  not planning a bunch of activities (and not having to because of the pool) was definitely the way to go.  didn't get a chance to get that many pictures because we were too busy chasing, but a good time was had by all!

 fun at the fountains!

 hadley, aubrey, finn, liam, and noah

 and eli!

super excited for the easter egg hunt.

we have a floor!

 

and we're really excited about it! 

cotton candy insulation / where the can lights will go 

and a door.

moving right along...  we're going out of town right in time for the drywall to be put in this weekend.  yippee!

progress!

here today...

gone tomorrow!!

the major wall is down (which makes all the sounds that are being made SO MUCH LOUDER).  the vent guy is here doing his thing.  bryan's working three nights in a row, of course, because doesn't it always work out like that.  and the boys are getting pretty attached to the two main guys that are doing most of the work, scott and noah.

we're continuing our discussion on what color we're going to paint the walls in there, and have decided we're going to re-paint our kitchen while we're at it.  so two new colors!!  i saw this post on 100 layer cake yesterday and got a wild hair to paint one of the rooms a dusty pink, or 1950's pink, as it's labeled there.  i started thinking i'd like it in the kitchen, and was vetoed pretty quickly by bryan.  which i expected, but not because he's a macho beefhead who refuses to let anything feminine into his house (thank god); in his words, "i just don't really like pink."  fair enough.  so then i suggested it maybe in the new room, which i think we'll be calling our sunroom, and he hasn't shot it down quite yet.  i like the idea of something subtle, but obviously still enough color to not think it's just white.  so still a bit down the road, but exciting to think about.  also thinking about a couple or few of these prints, since it's kind of going to be geared towards being a playroom.  i love the jazzman, but it's sold out. :( then don't list it!!

lots of goings-on, and i can't wait!

our favorite place

to kill some time in st. louis before bed and while daddy went to get some cupcakes, i put the guys in the tub. they're always happy there, and since i didn't have to mop up the mess afterwards, i let them go at it! man, i sound like a horrible mom when i say that, like i don't let them have fun baths when they're at home. but you know what i mean, if i let them have their way, there would be no water left in the tub by the end of the bath! ok, i'm a bad mom. i think they get along the best when they're here; they don't usually fight as long as they both have the same toy/cup/whatever, and one is always making the other laugh (see pictures). it's a great way to end the day- i'm usually so ready for them to be in bed that when i hear them laughing so hard, i can't not be in a good mood. love how much they love each other.

on a different note: that cupcake place was the bomb. i'm pretty sure i've never had a better cupcake. good news: walking distance from our hotel. bad news: we are now on diets as a result. boo.

the lou!

we started with the idea of los angeles or new york, looked at plane tickets, thought about all of the logistics of traveling that far with the babes, and settled on chicago.  we then looked at the weather and found freezing and snow. boo.  so! st. louis it was.  which was perfect, because we didn't have to deal with planes, and the drive was just right.  well, just right would have been 20 minutes, but lee's summit wasn't an option.  went on friday, came home sunday, and visited a few places in between.  the weather still wasn't great (30s-40s and snowing/raining), but we couldn't stay in the hotel room the whole time.  although the boys would have been fine just riding the elevator up and down the entire weekend.  we went to the children's museum (the magic house) on saturday morning- this place was amazing.  most places that say appropriate for kids all ages don't really mean for 2 year-olds.  but they had a whole section that was perfect.  they had a blast.  that afternoon, we went to the city museum and their aquarium.  another great place for the littles.  sunday morning brought freezing temps, but sunshine, so we went to the zoo (awesome!) and did all of their indoor animals.  birds, reptiles, and the monkeys.  we can't wait to go back to see the rest!  trader joe's was the highlight for me, and then home we came.  a fun little spring break adventure!

there were just too many pictures to post one-by-one, so i did it this way.  if you click on the collage, it will get bigger.