Mr. Independent

Meet my little Mr. Independent. Yes, that's right - Rex can now do everything all by himself (or so he thinks). He is as stubborn as his parents (yikes!) and is figuring out how to everything on his own.

He likes to clean out his own ears.
He even tries to clean out his own little nose.

He can drive himself around (thanks grandma).

He can plan his own meals. (Fruit snacks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that is.)

His daddy has taught him how to rinse his own hair in the bathtub.

He hates is when we actually have to turn the water off.

Now....if only I could teach him how to change his own diaper.

Cheri's Big Give

Every year Oprah does a show called "Oprah's Big Give." She rounds up her favorite items and everyone in the audience gets one of each item. Well, I'm not quite that loaded, but I've compiled a fun list of things I would buy everyone if had her finances. Here's what I think every woman needs:

1) Caramel Pecan Silk Supreme Pie. This is heaven in one bite. If you live out west you can get it a Village Inn and if you live in the midwest you can get it at Baker's Square. This pie rocks my world.

2) an ipod and stereo. Sometimes I forget how much happier music makes me. I turn on the tunes and life is great. Even Rex requests that I turn on the music. He loves it, too.

3) a pink girly bike. When I ride mine I feel like a kid again.

4) a dyson. You've seen the ads. You've wondered about them. I'm here to tell you they are all that and more. You will vacuum your house with it and be disguisted. This vacuum really sucks! (in a good way, of course)

5) a nikon camera. I'm in love with my D40. Photography is my new obsession. I love being able to capture the little moments I love.

6) My sister introduced me to these this year. There are two things I absolutely hate doing around the house - cleaning the shower and the crock pot. Well, no more! These sweet little baggies leave no mess behind. Oh yeah!

7) No, that is not me or anyone I know in the next picture. I believe everyone should own a sleeper - baby and adult alike. I have one. I avoid answering the door when I wear it, but it's the most comfortable, warm piece of clothing in existence. Get one!

8) My mom introduced me to Pledge Multi-surface this year. It has a nice scent and you don't have to switch between a million types of cleaners. Good stuff.

9) Michael Jackson, the Collection. Yes, he's a weirdo, but he's also a musical genius. I love jamming to his music. Now...if I could only do the moon walk.

10) a storage ottoman. There are toys everywhere and someone is coming over in two mintues...ahhhhh! This sweet thing hides the mess and gives you a place to put your feet up.

Family Photos

I have been teaching piano lessons to these two girls and their neighbor/friend for a few years now. They are practically family and they let me snap some photos for their Christmas card.

Here's the whole family. You can see where the girls get their beautiful red hair from.

This is Bryn. She dances, blogs, and loves anything purple.

While Mason doesn't study piano, he does has some serious art skills.

Syd can read any book in less than a day and remembers EVERYTHING.

Here are their wonderful parents.

Thanks, Wynders for coming over and for being so fun and for rescuing me when I get locked out :) You guys are great!

Let It Snow!

Well, after over a month of Rex looking out the window and chanting, "snow? snow?" we finally got some snow the other day. Cass snapped some cute pics while I dragged the boys around on a sled, but first, here's the spectator section.

The boys loved it.
Everytime we stopped Rex would say, "more? more?"

Here's a little cousin love for you.

Rex has been dying to go out again, but it takes like 20 minutes just to get him suited up in all his snow gear.

Sorry for the posting delay. We've had some internet problems, but I think we're good to go now.

The New Yard

Well, unpacking is definitely a work in progress. I thought it would go faster, but I also thought my morning sickness would be gone by now. Anyhow, here's a preview of our new yard. This is why we bought the house. Jeff has always wanted a cool yard and this yard is a little boy's dream. So, here is a tour courtesy of little Rex.

Rex loves this rocking chair on the porch. He sits and rocks for quite a while. I ask him if he's ready to get down and he just shakes his head and says, "uh-uh!"

When it's a little cold out, Rex is willing to wear a hat. I take advantage of that whenever I can because I love hats on him.
This is the view when you walk out the back door. It's terraced and at the top (by that fence) is a little firepit.

There are these cool, rustic steps up to the firepit. There's a lot of natural landscape, with big boulders and scrub oaks filling in the hills.

Here's Rex sitting on one of the log benches up at the firepit.

There's a little playground in the bottom corner of the yard. It needs a coat of something, but we'll work on that in the spring. Rex thinks it's really cool to swing on the big boy swing.

Well, that's the tour for now.

Coming Soon...

So I've been a lame blogger this week, but I've had a big excuse. We moved! We've been unpacking boxes, arranging and rearranging furniture, and we just got our internet running. Anyhow, we'll have some pictures and more exciting things to post soon, so bear with us. I at least changed my background and banner to keep things a little more exciting. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

A Real Pregnant Moment...

Well, let's just say the clumsiness, the forgetfulness, and the awkwardness has definitely set in already. I was really busy on Thursday and I ran home to teach a few piano lessons. When I got home I found a piece of popcorn that Rex had dropped on the floor, but it was now covered with ants. (Sidenote: I have serious issues with ants, but that's a whole different story for another day.) I did what any Magill girl would do....I sprayed them with Windex. Then I grabbed all that I could in a paper towel and RAN to the outside garbage can. I had to lean out the side door in our garage to reach the can and all I was thinking about was ants possibly crawling all over my hands. I leaned too far forward and BAM! The door closed on me. I was locked out and my piano students were minutes away from arriving. So, the bottle of Windex and I waited on my porch until my students arrived. I explained to them what happened and begged them to take me to my sister's house to get a key. Luckily, they are great understanding people. They even offered me chocolate truffles during the rescue mission. (Thanks, Wynders! You guys rock.)

What I learned:
1) Windex DOES kill ants.
2) If I ever have a minivan I'm going to keep chocolate truffles in it.
3) Hide-a-keys wouldn't be a bad investment.

perfect.

Hanging With Mr. Cooper....

I have been wanting to get some shots of my newest little nephew lately and finally I got a chance. First, though, is a group shot of all three boys. I think this might be my very favorite picture ever.

May I present 'lil Mr. Cooper!

He is so good-natured. He has the sweetest smile and these eyes that just sparkle.

Is that a kissable face or what? Seeing the boys play kind of makes me hope the next one is a boy, too. Then again, a stroll through the kid clothing section does really make me want a girl.

Something's Going On Here....

Lately I haven't been myself. Here are some of my symptoms:

1) I have to eat often. I keep cereal on my nightstand for emergency purposes.
2) While I don't feel I've been irritable, my husband might disagree.
3) I've started tracking my life in weeks (currently at 12).
4) I am super tired all the time.
If you still don't get it, see the picture below. Rex and Jeff had fun playing at my first appointment a few weeks ago. Rex the cowboy knows stir-ups when he sees them :) Luckily I didn't have to use them for that appointment.

I'm due at the end of May, though if this baby's anything like Rex, he or she probably won't make an appearance until June. If this pregnancy is like the last, then I've got a couple more weeks of feeling like I'm going to hurl all the time and then things will be better.

Lost Boys

Cass and the boys came over for a little bit today. Cam taught Rex one of his favorite tricks at our house. They were pretty funny together.

Packing Up

I snapped a few pics of my little man today.

He was busting out some pretty smooth moves. He was really excited to play on daddy's skateboard.
It was a beautiful, cool, autumn day. We're trying to take advantage of those before they're all gone.

We have less than two weeks left till the big move! Rex helped me with the packing yesterday. Shortly after, I couldn't find my phone. It was gone all day and finally this morning I heard a muffled ring. Apparantly Rex had slipped it into the bottom of the box we had packed up. Whoops! I was pretty relieved to find it.

I wanted to get one last picture of him by our street number.