Dress Up

Since we are pretty much not doing anything fun at all today...we are reminiscing about a fun day last week when Jen, Eden and Jack came to play. These girls don't know how to contain their excitement together. I mean...remember this video of them? It is pretty cute.

First order of business upon arrival was to strip down naked and put on dress-up clothes. Just recently has Kinley been getting into playing dress up. I don't know why she hasn't really cared much about it until now...but, for a few days straight she has only wanted to wear her Princess Tiana dress.

How cute are these princess cheese faces!?

Oh...the mullet...when will she ever grow hair in the front!?

And then Eden has to rub it in with her long beautiful locks!

Who doesn't love a flower as a hat?

And look at this handsome big boy! Jack is already pulling himself up on everything. How much fun will he and Ty be too!?

They took some turns pushing each other around on the tricycle.

And, we found out today that they will be in the same preschool class this year! (I know..we still haven't started school yet...not until next week!) I don't know how Kinley will contain her excitement 3 days a week with Eden in her class. I hope our poor teacher is ready!

Happy Monday!

Dinner Date by Numbers

Last night I took Ben on a date just for him. I know that our lives are about to get very crazy and for the next couple months my attention will be very much devoted to Ty and Kinley and getting our lives and routines down. I know I will be tired and stressed and at the same time overwhelmed with emotion and joy. I could feel that stress as well as the added pressure of providing for a family of 4 creeping up on Ben. I wanted to take a night to just be about him. I am so thankful and proud of all he does for our family and for the husband and father that he is. I just wanted him to know it in a simple way.

So, I kind of created a dinner date by numbers / scavenger hunt night for him. We did not do a lot, basically just spent time together but, I also got him a few very simple, little things that he has mentioned he wanted. So, the numbered cards basically switched off between gift and activity for the night.

When he got home, I told him his parents were coming to babysit and not to worry about why. As we got in his car, he opened up card #1. Dinner at Pappadeaux! He had received a gift card from Franchesca for his graduation and we still hadn't used it! This was the perfect opportunity.

Card #2 he opened in the parking lot before dinner. He had been asking for a water bottle like one I had gotten myself for quite a while. Kinley picked out the color and I know he will use it everyday at work and working out.

Cards #3,4 & 5 were at dinner. Long story short...because we have a new couch, every time we leave the house our dog, Haley, has been pinned up in our bedroom and she has jumped on our bed and ripped holes in Ben's side of the sheets...so he has been sleeping on sheets with holes for a while. Also, he mentioned the night before that he really wanted a new mystery book to just zone out and relax. I know he likes Jonathan Kellerman and the Alex Delaware novels...so, I got one of those. Card #5 was about our next activity. Lucky Strike! It is new in Ft. Worth and we hadn't been yet. It is a really cool atmosphere and a great indoor activity! (We only bowled one game because Ben was a little afraid that if I strained myself trying to beat him I might go into labor....but, it was still so much fun)

Card #6 may seem weird...but, I bought him a new trash can. He literally has had a severe hatred for our trash can for the 5 1/2 years we have been married. It is so difficult to change the trash sac and it seems full when the sac is really only like half full...who knows...he just hates it. He has asked for birthdays and father's day and multiple occasions for a new trash can. So, I finally bought him a new one. He was very excited.

Card #7 was the last card of the night. This was so simple and fun and I just loved spending a spontaneous and fun night with Ben before baby Ty comes!

Ty's Baby Shower

This weekend I was super blessed to have a baby shower for Ty! I was more expecting a Sip & See for Baby #2 but, after some convincing, I am so glad that I was able to have a party before he was born, rather than after. Things really do change so much from one baby to the next, especially when they are a different sex. I was thrilled to have so many family and friends come and support baby Ty with all sorts of new baby gear and clothes. He is so loved already and I can't wait to pour that over on him after he gets here. My mom snapped some pics throughout the shower and I am so thankful she did!

Thank you so much to the amazing hostesses for all their incredible party planning! It was beautiful and the food was fab!

Aunt Jan said a very sweet prayer before we ate and mom snapped a pic of Kinley who kept her eyes closed the whole time.

Thanks to so many who came out to the party. I am overwhelmed with love and thankfulness for you all.

Joyner side

Howe Side

This party was my fav shower so far because we pretty much overloaded the house with kiddos as well. I think we counted 12 kids under 5 that came too. I had plenty of help opening presents and Kinley was a lucky girl and got to open a few herself!

After the shower we had an impromptu swim party. It was so fun to let the kids just play and hang out with great girlfriends!

I HAVE to give a shout out to the people who made homemade gifts for Ty. It is so special when someone spends so much time and effort on a gift for your child. I am just so thankful!

Leslie sewed and embroidered this cute blanket for Ty.

Mendy sewed this incredible blanket for Ty. Her perfectionism is impeccable. It looks so professional. I LOVE the colors she picked and it is the perfect blanket to lay out for us to play on or to cuddle up under together on the couch.

Lauryn personalized these cute onesies for Ty. Get it...a "tie" for Ty! And I just love the whale. They are adorable and I can't wait for him to wear them.

Kristen crocheted this incredible blanket for Ty. I really can't believe she made this. The colors are fabulous and it is the perfect size and SO, SO soft!

Thank you SO much to everyone who hosted and attended the shower. I know we did not get pics of everyone but, I am so grateful to everyone who came! Thanks for spending time to come celebrate with me and love on Ty before he is even born. We are so thankful and feel so blessed. I love you all!

Lately...we have a nail polish obsession

I feel like I so need to catch up on blogging lately. We have not been crafting very much now that most of our projects around the house are winding down. I have just a few more things to buy/finish but, that has slowed down a lot. I am very thankful for that because I am just getting tired and worn out a lot now! We are coming up on week 35 of pregnancy and in the dead summer heat and I just don't have energy to do much!

This weekend we went to the lake with just the immediate Harrison family. It was so fun to hang out just the 7 of us (soon to be 8) and relax at the lake. We did some boating on Saturday but, mainly it was a very relaxing weekend. Then we had July & August family birthdays on Sunday with all the Joyner clan and even Bart made it in town for the tail end of the day!! We made a short trip over to our house from Honey's to show off Kinley's big girl bed. She was SO, SO overly excited to show her room and baby Ty's room to Momma Gay and Aunt Jan. Then we had dinner with just the immediate Howe family (minus Olivia...sad) and celebrated my birthday a little more. It was just a fun, relaxing family-filled weekend. Of course, I have zero pictures from all of this. But, it was still so fun and worth documenting.

This morning while hanging around the house we were missing our Katie and Annabelle Grace Mondays. They used to come over every monday all day and hang out and now that Katie has started work at school (yay!) we miss that time! Kinley is back to just hanging with boring old me. She is great about entertaining herself though and one of her favorite things to do is to "paint" her fingernails.

Oftentimes we really do use real nail polish to paint fingers and toes. She rarely is without her favorite hot pink polish on her nails. But, she also just uses anything that is small to pretend paint her fingernails....a nail file....a paper clip....this morning was a bobby pin...a Qtip...really anything. That reminded me of some cute Annabelle Grace and Kinley pics that I have not posted yet from a fun monday with ABG and Katie where Kinley was pretending to polish ABG's toenails for her with chapstick. Chapstick is also a favorite of Kinley's....she calls it "lips" and she uses it all the time.

Kinley is using her "lips" to paint ABG's toenails. Do you think they will give each other pedicures later in life too?

She is even blowing on them to dry the nails.

Who knows what our new obsession will be next!? Happy Monday!