The bunk bed.

With a new occupant for the nursery on the way, we had to figure out a way to fit Elsa into Amelia's room. I absolutely love organizing spaces, and especially small spaces. Which is good since we will most likely be living in this house for the rest of our lives.

The best solution was a bunk bed. I didn't want to lose any floor space, and twin bunk beds were going to take up a lot of room. There is a little nook in the room that is perfect for a bed, but it's too small for a twin size. Enter Ben. He thought about building toddler bunk beds, but then came up with the idea to modify an IKEA twin size bunk bed. He cut it down to the size of an IKEA toddler bed, which is longer than a regular toddler bed, and a little wider (and should fit the girls for a long time). And it happens to fit perfectly in our nook.

Now, do not think this was an easy task. He had to cut, with perfection, over 40 boards and drill new holes to make the bed both shorter and narrower. He worked on it for 12 hours straight (and this was after doing a 9-mile run in the morning...I get tired just thinking about it). We're still not sure if building it from scratch would have been easier or faster, but we're really happy with the results. The bed is perfect. Perhaps we'll paint it someday. Probably not.

Amelia is SO excited to have a bunk bed. She said "I hope I can sleep in a bunk bed the rest of my life!!" We're headed off on a 10-day trip to Utah soon and she keeps telling me how much she will miss her bunk bed. The girls have already built countless forts with it. We haven't had Elsa start sleeping in there yet, but we'll get to that in the next few months.



I figured out a new arrangement of furniture and with the bunk beds in the nook, we actually have MORE floor space than before. With a little reorganizing, dejunking, and the addition of two underbed drawers, we have plenty of space for Elsa's things. It's amazing what a little rearranging will do. After moving the "reading corner" to a new location, the girls have been spending so much time reading books together. And rediscovering a lot of books.





Simply rearranging didn't quite satisfy my design bug, so I've decided to redecorate the nursery. We don't need to since it's a gender neutral green and yellow, but we're ready for something new...

The Diving Board? Are you sure?

We just finished up our second two-week session of swimming lessons. It has been so nice to be at the pool everyday and cool off in the water. Amelia picked up swimming so quickly and by the end of the first week, she was begging me to let her go off the diving board. Considering that she had never been in water where she couldn't touch (without assistance), I was a little reluctant. She was so excited to do it and I realized that she had no idea that it was something to even be afraid of and I didn't want my fears to stop her. So we started in the 5-foot deep area so I could see what would happen...I wasn't even sure if she could tread water. She had no problem and after about ten minutes of jumping in, she said "Mom, can I PLEASE go to the diving board now?" So off we went, Amelia with all the confidence in the world, and me still reluctant. After all, it was 11 feet deep! Could she make it over to the side after she jumped? But SHE DID IT!! Of course she did it. And she did it again and again and again. I'm so proud of her and amazed at how far she came in just a few short weeks.






(Amelia's jumping form also improved...she started by always landing a painful face-first. I think she was trying to land in a swimming-ready position. But she finally figured out that feet first was best.)











One of her first jumps:



By the last day, she was able to jump off and then swim all the way to the ladder. Earlier on, she had been swimming straight over to the side, and then going down to the ladder.









Elsa slowly grew tired of the pool as the days went on...she wanted to be independent in the water, but since she can't swim and the water came up to her chin (she had no interest in the baby pool), this was difficult. She was happy to spend all of her time playing on the stairs leading down into the water, seeing how far she could go before going under. And yelling at me if I came too close.

We took the girls to the Water Mine Waterpark this afternoon and they had an amazing time. It was fun to watch Amelia be so independent in the water and Elsa was so happy going down the slides over and over and over. We all enjoyed countless laps around the lazy river. I'm sad to see the pool days of summer coming to an end.

Sunday Evening Stroll

It seems like our Sunday evening outings have been lacking this summer. I'll just blame the heat.

We had a huge yummy dinner on Sunday and felt the need to get out for a walk afterward. It was already getting dark so we headed downtown and went to one of our favorite memorials, the FDR. We have been so used to the summer crowds that we were pleasantly surprised to have the place nearly to ourselves.


















(Eerie night time shot...Amelia performed some dances for us by the water.)




(Elsa was really scared of the fountains which was unusual for her. Possibly because it was so dark and they were quite loud.)

Random Happenings

Amelia works on drawings for a book she made...more on that later.


We inherited a huge box of fresh peaches and have been enjoying every bite. Click here for the recipe for this delicious peach pie.






Amelia and Elsa are such good friends and love spending time together playing and reading books and coloring. Whenever Elsa wants me to read her an endless stack of books, Amelia steps in and gives me a break. Amelia is always trying to make sure that Elsa is happy and will always ask her if she needs anything. It makes me sad that they will soon be separated all day when Amelia starts school. (And yes, Amelia probably needs a hair cut.)

Ben took this video of Amelia reading to Elsa before bedtime:

Peach Pie

We inherited a huge box of delicious fresh peaches. The first order of business was making this deliciously amazing peach pie. Even after making a pie and devouring a dozen peaches, we're still left with a lot. Peach freezer jam and peach cobbler are up next.

Before being thrown into the oven:

Peach Pie with Almond-Pecan Streusel

Pastry crust for 1 (9-inch) single-crust pie
5 cups peeled, sliced peaches (5 or 6 large peaches)
1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons cornstarch
Dash of ground nutmeg
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup finley chopped pecans

1/2 cup finely chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 425.

Line a 9-inch pie plate with the pie crust.

In a large bowl, combine sliced peaches, sugar, cornstarch and nutmeg.

Allow to stand 15 minutes.

Lightly brush uncooked pie shell with a thin layer of egg white to moisture-proof the pie crust.

Stir lemon juice and almond extract into peach mixture; spoon mixture into pie shell.

Mix brown sugar with flour.

Cut in butter until crumbly.

Stir in nuts.

Sprinkle mixture over peaches

Bake for 15 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 400 and bake 35 minutes more.

To prevent overbrowning of rim of crust, cover edges with strips of foil. Makes 8 servings.

Dutch Wonderland Day 2

Rides, rides, and more rides. And cotton candy and lemonade. And a diving show. And story time with a princess. And more rides. And ice cream. And a long ride home.






Elsa looking a little pale and not so sure...but after she was safely off the ride, she was jumping like a frog and yelling "up, down, up down!"




(Amelia and Elsa are in the bottom.)




Amelia LOVED the swings.




Elsa kicking back on the whip-it ride.


Notice the empty seat in front of Amelia...Ben was all set to do this ride with Elsa, but quickly realized he would mostly likely get sick, especially considering that half-way through the ride it starts going backwards, so he bailed. Pregnancy and spinning rides don't really mix so we all sat this one out except Amelia.

Dutch Wonderland Day 1

The main event on our trip to Lancaster was checking out Dutch Wonderland, an amusement park geared for smaller children. We all had a great time there. They allow you to go to the park three hours before closing for free when you when buy a ticket for the next day. So we spent the evening there and did the water area and hit a few rides. The kids were so excited that we got to go back the next day. We were glad we were able to break it up into two visits because we were exhausted by mid-afternoon the next day.

Amelia was just tall enough to be able to go on every ride there. She LOVED going on the roller coasters. Ben took her on the big one and they sat in the front and she screamed (mostly with joy) the whole way. Elsa was able to go on most of the rides as well. She was a little less expressive in her emotions. Sometimes we weren't sure if she was actually enjoying a ride, but she always said "again!" after it was over.



The kids loved playing in the water area. They had 2 great water slides that we all had fun going down. There was one that was in total darkness that the kids loved. I went down a few times and then stopped to take pictures. The minute the kids got off the tube with Ben, they were running up the stairs again. It was perfect to go the night before because there were no crowds.

















Twenty seconds of Amelia screaming her way down the water slide:










(Amelia and Ben on the smaller roller coaster...I was sad to miss out on the coaster action...we'll have to hit up another amusement park post-pregnancy.)