Pretty Toes and Edible Fish Tanks

This is how fun we are. Friday night and what are we doing? Well, my friend Krissie stopped by after she got off of work and we hung out. She painted my toes so that my feet would be pretty when I go to the hospital to have Cali! Now I don't know about you all, but to have a friend who is willing to touch your feet and paint your toe nails, when you can no longer reach them yourself............. that is a pretty great friend! No, I am not going to show you a picture of my feet. I have issues and am very self conscious of my feet. Plus, I am also posting about food here so I don't want to gross ya'll out!!! LOL!!!
The second part of our evening we spent in the kitchen. Marc's Aunt is throwing a birthday party for her son tomorrow. He is turning four on August 4th!!! His aunt was pregnant at the same time I was for Kyle and it was a lot of fun. Our boys were born just 11 days apart! Well, I am in charge of bringing a treat for the party tomorrow. It is a water themed party so I thought I would get real creative and make little fish tanks. Edible fish tanks. Now I have made similar things in the past but it was waaaaaay in the past so part of the method has slipped my mind. he he But it all turned out okay in the end!

First we boiled 24 cups of water........................


Then we had to empty 24 packages of blue jello into another pan............

Yepper! You read right- 24 packages! Lucky Krissie got this daunting task. Are your wrists hurting yet Sweetie???

That's a lot of jello powder!

Then we had to bring in some muscle. Those pans are heavy!

Stir Baby! Stir!!

We lined up all 70 cups......................

And made Marc keep stirring. He kept saying "Am I done yet?" No baby! Keep stirring! he he
Look at all of that pretty blue liquid.................

Next we filled all 70 cups with the pretty blue liquid. Oh my did it smell good! Once they were all full we placed them in the refrigerator to set...............

When the jello was about half set we put red gummy fish in each one to make it look like the fish were swimming around in water. It was hard to get a good shot but here is a close up........

Donning rubber gloves we had to place 6 fish in each cup......pushing them into place. I don't remember these things being so involved or time consuming the last time I did them but then again I don't think I have ever done 70 at one time!! After the fish were swimming happily in their new little tank we put them back in the refrigerator to finish setting up..........

Aren't they fun!?! Again- not a great picture but you get the idea. Tomorrow we will top them off with some Redi-Whip before serving and Voila! Cute little edible fish tanks. What four year old wouldn't enjoy eating one of these? I am hoping that after this much work that EVERY child AND adult will eat these!!! LOL!!!

Now I just have to figure out how to transport 70 little fish tanks 20 miles in this heat without ruining the carpet in my van!! Hopefully these little guys won't be belly up upon arrival!!!

Now doesn't that sound like a fun way to spend a Friday night? LOL!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

~Heather :)

Post Problems??

Is anyone else having problems trying to do your posts? I have been trying to post for the last two days........it keeps coming up "error" and then low and behold my last post showed up mysteriously today but with no breaks and no pictures!
Is anyone having these issues??
~Heather

This Is Real

My walls are beige. Well, they aren't really beige- they are actually cream. Hazelnut Cream to be exact. The color of coffee creamer whipped to wall covering perfection. There is a dust bunny at the corner of the fireplace and a dark spot on the carpet by the sofa. How did that get there? Will it come clean or is it a stain? Hmm, wonder what I could use on that. I will have to google "removing stains from carpet" and see what they suggest. I should have made my curtains about an inch longer. Maybe I will just have Marc move the rod down an inch. Does it matter though or could I live with it? I have a lot of stuff piled on my counter top in the kitchen. Looks cluttered.............I can't stand clutter. My bedroom is shrinking. I have too much furniture in there but it is all necessary for the time being. That room didn't turn out at all as I had envisioned it. The bedding is nice though. Yeah, I really like my bedding. I still need some euro pillow forms for my shams though. I'll have to add that to my list of things to get. I should have finished that room because it is going to bug me now. Don't really have time though, let alone energy.........................In my attempts to "rest" and "behave myself" lately I have had a lot of time on my hands. A lot of time to look around at my "four walls" and find all of the imperfections and see results of not being able to keep up with my usually anal-retentive cleaning acts. I've had a lot of time to think. Although it is encouraged for people to think and expand their minds and knowledge....... right now the act of thought is not working in my favor. I have busied myself for the last several months decorating my apartment, working on painting projects, sewing projects, organizing everything I can slap a label on and even things I can't. All of those projects have been done, and some had to be put on the back burner for fear of pushing myself into early labor. Now- I think. This is why I need projects. Marc and the kids put baby stuff together the other night. They assembled the bassinet, the bouncy chair, the baby gym, the car seat, etc. As I sat on the couch with my feet up, looking around at all of the newly assembled items making my living room now feel claustrophobic, I realized.................THIS is real. This is really happening- and soon. I suddenly felt extremely overwhelmed. A large lump grew in my throat, my entire body felt numb and I was on the verge of tears for the rest of the evening. I am going to have three children. We are soon going to be a family of five! Three..............five................those numbers suddenly sounded very big. Not even just big but enormous! Unrealistically huge! What am I going to do? How am I going to raise three children? I only have two arms and two hands! Up until now I have had an arm for each of my children and a hand to hold a hand a piece. I can't grow a third arm! Maybe I can have one surgically attached. Maybe I should call around to plastic surgeons and see if any specialize in third arms. Yes, I know.........I am crazy. I worry too much (or so I have been told) but these fears are justified! Right? Three kids is a lot of responsibility. I know in my heart that I will have enough love for three kids............. my love expanded from one to two after my second child was born so I know it will expand again with three. But it's the other stuff I worry about. Will I have enough patience with three? Will I have enough time to give them each individual attention? Will I have enough strength and energy to devote myself to three kids all day everyday? Is our apartment going to be big enough? Because it already feels ten times smaller and Cali isn't even here yet! Is the noise going to get so loud that we upset our neighbors? Would they tell us if it did or would they keep it to themselves and secretly hate us? How is Kyle going to react when we have to move him to the back seat of the van to make room for Cali's car seat? How am I going to reach him when he is clear back in that seat? Should we move him now or wait until we bring Cali home? And Bella..........she has jealousy issues now when Daddy holds her little cousin...........how is she going to do with the new baby? Are her feelings going to be hurt? Will she comprehend when we tell her we still love her as much as before? Will Kyle and Bella take to Cali and be as close to her as the two of them are now or will she be excluded from their little club?Is Cali going to be healthy, will she have 10 fingers and 10 toes? Will she be a demanding baby and make the kids resent her? Am I going to get enough sleep to keep up with my children?Again, this is why I need projects. Pre-Baby jitters, perhaps? Raging hormones more than likely? Or is it the fact that I have done this twice before? I know what is coming. I know that when you add a child to your family the work and responsibility doesn't increase by one...........it increases much more than that. But the joys and the laughter also increase. The blessings mount, the memories created are bigger, the pride grows stronger. The other night the kids had a ball getting ready for Cali. Kyle wanted to be involved in every minuet detail. Bella is still unaware of exactly what is about to take place though. But she was happy to pitch in and help. [Photo]And "test" all of the new products out to make sure they are safe for her new baby sister...[Photo]She actually thought everything was for her I think![Photo]And after referring to the directions more times than I have ever seen my husband refer to directions (he usually doesn't use them at all!)............[Photo] They were all very proud of the finished products. And I was very proud of the three of them! It melted my heart to see them all work together on projects for Cali. That baby girl is very loved already and we haven't even officially met her yet. I just pray that they continue to be excited once she gets here. I know that each of us are going to have our days and moments but we will all get through it- together. I'm not trying to sound ungrateful or like I do not want another child because I do. I am very grateful and thankful to be welcoming another child into the world. My children ARE my life, they are the center of my universe. I just worry about what kind of mother I will be with three kids. I wonder if there is going to be enough of "me" to go around. I want to give my children the best and let them know how much they are loved and appreciated.Maybe I do worry too much. There is a line in a Tom Petty song that I have been thinking of lately "Most things I worry about never happen anyway" and I think that is so true most of the time. I worry and worry about things that never come to be. And then I realize how silly it was for me to waste my time worrying............. especially when I need to spend time trying to google carpet stain removal and decluttering my counter!!~Heather :)

I'm Still Here!

I'm still here! Cali has not made her arrival yet! We had a very busy weekend getting lots of stuff done and having a good time.
Thursday evening we had a little birthday party for Kyle. When Marc and I asked Kyle a couple of weeks ago what kind of party he wanted for his birthday he told us "I want my family, a birthday cake and a green and blue balloon." Our hearts just about melted! SO we gave him the party he wanted! On Thursday, July 24th my baby boy turned 4 years old! I can not believe it and sat there watching him the whole night wondering where the time had gone. It really does seem like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital- excited to be new parents but scared to death at how we were going to do it on our own! He was so small and intimidating!! We quickly found our groove though and have enjoyed every day with him over the last four years. Our children are such blessings to us!
Here is Kyle blowing out the candles on his cake............

Very happy and excited to see that he not only got his green and blue balloon...but a Diego balloon as well! He was squealing when he saw Diego!!

Bella enjoying her piece of cake....................

Kyle really enjoyed his little party..............

And thought his cake was "Muy delicioso!" As Diego would say!

And he was very excited with his present as well..............

I think Daddy likes it just as much! You just can't go wrong with Thomas the Tank Engine.......

Friday evening my Aunt came up to spend the weekend with us and help us get all the final preparations in order for Cali's arrival. Marc had to work all weekend so it was so wonderful to have her around for company and help! She is a great shopping buddy! We went to Wal-Mart Friday evening and bought everything left on the list................ and man it was some list! We filled three carts! Ouch!! But it was a lot of fun and when we were done I was feeling the best sense of calm for getting everything done.....................

We literally shopped til we dropped. The kids were pooped!

On Saturday Marc and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary! July 26th, 2003..........the day my life changed forever...........for the better. I became Mrs. Marc and have never had a day of sadness since. Marc is my best friend, my soul mate, my everything! As I sat across the table from him Saturday night at this beautiful 4 star restaurant I was overwhelmed with love for him................. I think it is stronger today than the day we exchanged our vows. I can not imagine life without him and I am so glad God blessed me with such a perfect man to call my own.

Marc did laugh at me when I started to take pictures of the food............but seriously it was beautiful!

And my gorgeous husband...............can you tell he just loves to have his picture taken?? He didn't put up much of a fight though- he had his New York Strip Steak in front of him so he could care less what else was going on in the world at that moment!!! The restaurant even brought me a "Mamatini" It looks like a martini but it is a mixture of fruit juices and healthy stuff for mommy's to be! I thought that was so cute!

And our server even offered to take our picture for us! I was so excited. Big belly and all.

It was a wonderful evening. We had a lovely, delicious dinner and then we drove around for a while just talking. It was good quality time with my husband on such a special occasion. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABY! I LOVE YOU MORE!!

Sunday was back to reality................. lol!!! My aunt and I did more shopping, bought some shirts for me for nursing, some more diapers, etc. Then we had an early dinner and came back home. We did laundry and put clothes away and straightened up the apartment. We laid the kids down and then worked on putting the bassinet together. Seriously- these companies need to be more specific with directions! Or have better pictures!! LOL!!! But we got it together after a couple of hours and decided we would leave the other put-together-items for the expert- Marc!!!

So, everything is now done. The washing machine is quiet, the clothes have been put away, hospital bag has been packed, and it is quiet. I will be taking it easy this week, playing with the kids and spending some quality time with my little family before it becomes a little bigger!

Hope you all had a great weekend and I hope to be around to see all of you soon!!

~Heather :)