Russ, Shalae, & Kids: June 2015

June 1st, Abby started her two weeks of swimming lessons with Jessalyn. She was the crier of her group! It was nice to go to swimming lessons first thing every morning, because that meant dad could be there before going to work!

Abby loves her "panda boo"s

I had to snap a picture of Abby reading a book to her baby doll!

I don't know who the people are in this picture. It showed up on my facebook feed. The reason I took a screenshot of it... is because it's kind of scary how much it looks like Auburn and I!! (Auburn on the left and me on the right, in yellow.) The girl in the yellow is actually thinner than I am, and her hair is shorter than mine is right now - but the hair is styled exactly as I style mine when it is that length! I can't get over how much this looks like us.

I took Noah and Abby to dinner and shopping at the mall one night when Russ was out of town. Noah was too cool to ride on one of the carousel animals!

Abby chose the bunny like she always does!

Abby was cracking me up when she saw these mannequins. There was an adult woman, and adult man, and then the little girl as seen in this picture. She stopped and looked at the mannequins then said "mommy daddy abby". Then she started talking to the little girl mannequin!

Another funny thing that Abby did that night at the mall: when we were passing by the escalator, she said to me "mommy, crocodile up and down, ok?" I think that she thinks and escalator is called an alligator, and her smart little brain associated crocodiles with alligators.

Abby is growing up before my eyes (insert sad face). She put her baby doll in the bumbo and then got a brush and the spray bottle. She mimicks everything I do, because I always sit her in the bumbo to do her hair, and I almost always use the spray bottle too.

Cute girl after nursery (which she LOVES).

One of the perks of Abby's swim lessons: she was WORN OUT every day. She took some great naps on the days that she woke up early and went to her lessons.

Abby went through a week or two where all she wanted to wear on her feet were these boots! I thought this picture defined her life so well... she had her favorite book, her baby and bottle, her boots, and her binky.which she can't live without.

Late one night, I went in the kitchen to make a bottle for Abby, and this is what I found. Noah had laid out everything he needed to make his eggs for breakfast the next morning... including a spoon for the sour cream that he would use. He is always very prepared. He also lays his clothes out, down to his shoes and socks, each night for the next day. One time he actually laid out 5 days worth at one time.

By the end of the two weeks when Abby did swim lessons, she was doing much better. Still not loving it though!

She loved getting her licorice treat at the end of each day and then became so cool when talking about the lesson she had just cried through! haha

Noah did 2 sessions of Mesa High's 2-week basketball camp. So in total, he did 4 weeks. He got to go for a few hours each day with his best friends and had a great time. He is improving so much at basketball and it's now his favorite sport. He practices a lot in our driveway and doesn't miss an opportunity to go to the school or church and play when he can get in.

This is Wyatt, Noah's bff.

This cool cat loves her pockets!

Grandpa Price's house is always a great time!

Cousins Kailee, Sophie, Chad, Noah, Abby

Abby wanted to brush my hair one day and I was so happy to let her! I could get used to it! As she was "styling" my hair, she said "mommy, 2 ponytails?"

Auburn graduated from nursing school in June! She is amazing to have pulled that off, especially during the hardest trial of her life.

We celebrated at Tia Rosas with all the adults in our family. We had a great time together!

We've been able to have Ellie spend a few days with us this summer and it's fun to see the original "twins" back together again. On this day I had this thought come into my head that the ice cream truck was coming and I should buy them a treat. I don't know why I had that thought because I hadn't heard any music from the van. After about 10 minutes or so passed, I checked outside to see if there was an ice cream truck. Sure enough, there was one rolling down the road toward our house. It was really weird but I got Ellie and Noah a treat, and they were happy!

This girl LOVES technology. She knows just how to work "Abbyshone" (Abby's phone). Whenever she asks for "abbyshone" I say to her "it's not Abby's phone, who's phone is it?" And then she laughs and says "Mommy's old shone".

It's hard to see this picture, but I was working out right there in the family room and Abby found a place to sit and watch me. She was saying things like "good job, Mom!", "just one more Mommy!", and "yay mommy!" She's the best!

This is Russ eating the breakfast we prepared for him on Father's Day. Nice hair!

We took some cute pictures of him with the kids before church... he really is the best dad ever!

Technology addict!

This was so sweet... Abby was sitting on Russ's lap and watching our family movie from 2013. She was crying the way an adult would cry about something that touched them. She was not sad, just emotional. I took this picture as she was watching the part when she was born. So funny and so sweet!

It is so typical for Russ to fall asleep early, before getting ready for bed. Him and I are so opposite in that way. It was rare for Abby to be falling asleep with him because she's usually a night owl like her mama!

Donut date with Abby and mom... just because we needed a treat!

Our nightly routine usually goes something like this: The kids shower / bathe and get ready for bed. We have family prayer (usually pretty late). Noah goes downstairs to get in bed while Russ and I have our prayer together. Abby follows him down. Russ and I will pray and then get sidetracked, usually because it's the first time since he's been home from work - that we can talk without interruptions. Noah texts me from downstairs and tells me that Abby is bugging him. I go down to tuck Noah in and bring Abby up. Half the time, Noah is sleeping but Abby is on his ipod.

On this particular night, Abby was trying to take a blanket and a few of her panda bears down with her. It looks like she didn't make it without dropping her bears, and it would be like Abby to sit there and cry for someone to fix her problem, instead of just changing her plan on how to get herself and everything down the stairs. She has some OCD tendencies :) Anyway, I found her sound asleep on the stairs. It was so cute!

This is what occupied most of my time other than taking kids to their acitivites in June... I saw the table below on pinterest and I loved it!

I had this table, 15 years old that needed some sprucing up. Since I keep this table on the back porch, I figured I would be brave and try to paint it, like the one I pinned on Pinterest - because if I failed, at least it was only an outside table and chair set.

The first week that I worked on the project, I spent every day sanding down the table top. I would think that I had done a pretty good job and was ready for the next step. Then Russ would come home from work and tell me that it needed sanded down more. That seriously went on for one whole week.

This is what it looked like when I was finally done sanding! I didn't sand the legs of the table because I knew I was using chalk paint on the legs and that didn't require sanding.

Next, I stained the tabletop. This was the easiest step in the whole process.

After letting the stain dry for a day or two, I taped off the tabletop and painted stripes. This was the most fun part of the whole process for me!

My next step was to paint the table legs and all the chairs. I took advantage of our flooring not being done in the house, and was able to paint right there on the concrete with the A/C on - much nicer than painting outside in the heat!

I painted the table legs and the chairs with a brush. The table legs weren't too bad but it was NOT fun doing all those chairs! After brushing on the first two coats, I sprayed the third coat on the chairs.

I also did a spray lacquer on the table and chairs once they were all painted. Here is the finished project. Our back porch is looking really cute now :)

I was on a roll with painting and I knew that our floor was going to be getting done soon. So I decided to start a few other paint projects while I could do it on the concrete inside the house. Here is Abby's little table that used to be black. I forgot to take a before picture. I love the chalk paint and not needing to do anything to the table before painting it! I brushed the first 2 coats on this table and sprayed the final coat. I then applied a wax to it twice, in order to seal the paint.

I painted our big kitchen table too. I forgot to take a before picture of it, but it was black to be begin with also. Russ helped me to separate the table top from the pedestal bottom. I sprayed the paint for every coat on this big table. I was on a time crunch to get it done before vacation, which I wanted to make sure of because that meant it could sit without being used for one whole week after sealing it with wax!