Gotta love friends!!!

Last night my crazy book group friends had a birthday party for two of our girls. It was a lot of fun and we throughly enjoyed our deserts that everybody brought. Ok, maybe I enjoyed more than everyone else, but I was one happy camper!
Today we went to Cerece's baby shower. She has been Andy's business partner for several years, as well as a friend. Ironically enough, we are due on the exact same date! Two matching bellies.

Here are a few more

Photos today!

We took quite a few photos at the portrait place. It was rather overwhelming to decide which ones to get. The girls did a great job and looked cute. This is a little sampling.

Very proud!

Meagan has done a great job at adjusting to her new school. She really likes her teacher, who seems very nice. The school is large, almost as large as the middle school that I have worked for, but the kindergarteners are fairly isolated. Luckily, her class only has 18 people in it, which is smaller even than her preschool class, so that works well for her. Andy and I think it is funny that she comes home telling us all about her new friends, what they like, what they were wearing, etc, but does not remember their names!
We are going this weekend to go take some photos at Portrait Innovations because we have not gone in seemingly forever, and so that we can have my (last time of!!!) belly captured on film with my girlies. Looking forward to having some more formal pictures of my munchkins!

"Take a picture of me, mommy!"

The girls, well, actually, Natalie are into pictures right now. Natalie got this new outfit on Friday, during the first of my tax free shopping. I got a lot of really cute things at the outlet mall, and baby Grover aquired his "going home outfit" at Gymboree. Now if we could just name the child? It would make life easier. Grandma Lois came to town this weekend and had a great time playing with the girls. We even got to see Papa Joe for a little bit since he was in Austin for work.
Early bedtime tonight to get ready for the big First Day on Tuesday!

A wonderful princess party!

We got our house all pink and ready for our princess/back-to-school party. The kids ate a ton, played, and got all glammed up. It was a lot of fun for all of us. Tomorrow is Meagan's kindergarten orientation. I am sure she is ready; me not so much. I have really enjoyed the time with her at home with me. Natalie tends to be a little more vocal than Meagan, so when both girls are at home, the squeaky wheel tends to get the grease. But she has had a lot of fun being mommy's special girl for the past month.

I am really, really just over the Austin Heat Wave.

Really. I have just had it. Enough is enough. I believe that we are somewhere around day 60 of above 100 temps here in central Texas. Those of you in Illinios (the state I am currently claiming as my homestate since it is NOT over 100 there, at least to my knowledge) or Colorado (where my heart is) may say, "Oh don't worry! It is August. You must be almost done with those kind of temperatures." No. Nowhere close. It could easily be this hot for 6 weeks. I hate it. I would protest it down at the capital building on Congress if it would do any good. People seem to protest everything else down there, so I don't think people would look at me funny for protesting the heat wave.
Meagan's obsession with the Jonas Brothers continues. Andy and I tried to buy her a nightgown, as you can see in the photo, but the store only had size 10/12, and even though Meagan is above average in height, she is not 5 years above average. Therefore, the nightgown is touching her ankles, but she looooooooves it!
Andy and Bob did a crafty project this weekend. They made the valances/cornices in the picture above Meagan. They had a few little arguements with the staple gun, but after borrowing Chris's from next door, it proceeded a bit faster. I think everything is finally done in our bedroom! It is really nice looking.

Poor, poor Peanut

Natalie and Meagan love to "teach" the dogs dance. You can imagine how much fun that is for them. It usually involves the girls holding the dogs' paws and twirling them around the room. Today, the dogs were lucky enough to get dressed up for dance class. Peanut even got a hat.

83 more days

Your little angel is still little, between 2 and 2.5 pounds (0.9 to 1.1 kg) and 15 to 16 inches (38 to 40 cm) long. Your baby is actually a little "chubbier" than before. That's because the number of fat cells she has is increasing, filling out the skin from underneath. Eyebrows and eyelashes are also growing, and the hair on her head is getting longer. This is also an important time for your baby's brain development.

Yeah. I am little "chubbier" than before too....

All dressed up, but nowhere to go!

Meagan's special time

We are having a lot of fun together. Natalie is still in school since her school is year round, but Meagan doesn't start kinder until Aug. 25th. We have been spending lots of time with her friends and just hanging out. Today she got to help me go register at Babies R Us. At first she was less than thrilled, to say the least. After a little bit, though, she got really into it. I did not register when I was pregnant with Natalie simply because I did not need anything, but with a boy things are different, so I decided to do it. Meagan loved all of the little teething toys, bottles, clothes, etc. We also went to Central Market to play in one of the few fully shaded playgrounds in Austin. Being pregnant when it is 106 is not good. This is no dry heat, either. This is 106 degrees with a nice, high humidity. It was 108 the day that I gave birth to Natalie back in Sept of 2005, which was a record breaker. I am not due until a month later this time, so it had better NOT be that hot again.

Countdown is on...

27 weeks today, which means third trimester. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Belly is getting bigger, as evidenced by Meagan's terrific photography.

Little Rock Stars!

The girlies got haircuts today and they look soooo chic! Meagan got a big girl cut, complete with layers. Natalie got a good 3 inches trimmed off and it looks adorable.

Getting some work done

I walked into the temporary office today, and this is what I saw. First of all, there is an empty wine glass, which I assure you was Andy's. Natalie was happily clicking away on the internet like she had an idea of what she was doing. Too funny. In all seriousness, I am amazed at the complete comfort that tiny kids have with computers these days. We started using them at my elementary school in third grade, which was around the time that my dad bought our first one. Now, though, kids can easily navigate the web by the time the start first grade!