Summer Vacation!

Ok, so visiting family, in my opinion, is not really a vacation but it is as close as I can get right now. Sarah, Avery and I got to go visit my parents in Nashville for a few weeks. My mom is the best with the kids. She keeps them busy and takes them with her when she goes places. We spent a few days out on the boat while we were there. We had a blast tubing and swimming. My brothers were even brave enough to do some "cliff jumping." I was content to just watch. All in all, it was a pleasant and restful trip. We even got to spend some time with Mammaw. I did miss Mark, though, and was grateful to get back home.

Making some changes

A few months ago when we found out we were pregnant, Mark and I started talking about how we were going to fit three carseats in a sedan (I've never seen anyone do it except my friend Brooke--amazing). So we decided we needed something newer and bigger. I was happy to start looking at minivans again because they have the size and the mileage is alright. Of course, I would prefer a Landcruiser or something cool but we couldn't afford the gas and its way out of our budget. We got started looking and found this--Mazda 5.


We call it our mini minivan. It has a comfortable third row seat and the gas mileage is great.

I also have been working on getting the playroom transformed into the girls' new bedroom. Their current bedroom--the smaller of the two rooms--will be the nursery. I got the idea to paint stripes on the wall with the pink paint I used in the bedroom and it turned out really nice. The pictures don't really do it justice because the colors are actually much more rosy than they look in the pictures.

What's different about #3?

It's finally time to announce that we are having another little one. Twenty weeks into the pregnancy has given me enough time to notice some differences between this one and the last two...
1. My body is definitely older and more out of shape. I seem to be growing at an astonishing rate already.
2. I could feel this baby moving both inside and outside my belly just around 18 weeks. I didn't feel the last ones till about 20 or 21 weeks.
3. The heartburn is constant. I am used to dealing with heartburn in the third trimester only.
4. Tired. Tired. Tired. I guess that is to be expected when there are two other children who require so much time and energy.
5. People have stopped giving me so much advice. I guess they figure I should be pretty knowledgeable now.
6. We finally have a home and we are settled (at least for the time being). I really look forward to decorating a nursery and getting new things for the baby.
7. I am not due until the end of October which is great because our summer birthdays are really starting to pile up.
8. For the first time, we have good health benefits with Mark's job.
9. Family! My mom will only be a short drive away. When the baby is born I know I will have plenty of help.
10. The most significant difference between this and the other two pregnancies is that we are having a BOY! This should be an exciting and interesting challenge for us.


He's definitely a boy!

It's been a while.

I haven't posted anything new lately. I wish I had a really good excuse but I don't. Frankly, I spend most of my days trying to figure out fun things for the girls to get out of the house and do. A lot of times we forgo braving the 90 degree weather to stay in and have fun in the playroom. Thankfully, the community pool opens full time this weekend and the girls think swimming is the bee's knees. Sarah is even brave enough to leave the shallow end and float around with only her arm swimmies on. I can lounge comfortably on the side of the pool without having to be within arms length the entire time. Stay tuned for more exciting news from the Rhodes's household.

The trials of painting

Let me begin by saying that I am terrible choosing paint colors. It's not that there are not colors out there that I think are beautiful, but I have a hard time picking colors that coordinate and flow well throughout the house. I spent two or three entire days painting my living room before Christmas. This past weekend and into the early part of this week, I spent more time painting. I repainted the entire living room because the color I chose for the entryway looked horrible against the colors in the living room. I finally decided on a color for the Kitchen after five or six tries. I painted the hallway upstairs the same color as the entryway and Mark and I painted one red accent wall in the media room. Needless to say, I am sick of painting. I have learned a valuable lesson from all of this though. I prefer color to white walls but I am not a bright color person. Mostly I just like to stick to neutrals.

This is a shot of the walls I painted before Christmas. After painting the entryway, they looked too grayish greenish for my liking.


I went with a Chocolate Brown (Eddie Bauer's Bittersweet)on the big wall and used the entryway color on the side walls. I left the upper part of the side walls beige.

The blah color in the kitchen from before Christmas

I really wanted to find a yellow for the kitchen that would flow well with the living room and match the cabinets and table. After trying out a variety of crazy yellows, I decided on Martha Stewart's Apple basket which I just love.
P.S. Aren't those roses on the table beautiful? They were Mark's gift to me for Mother's day.


So, finally, I am completely satisfied with all the colors I have chosen for downstairs. Now I can hangs some pictures and start decorating.

The Houston Zoo

We decided to get season passes to the zoo a few weeks ago. We'll see how that pans out with the Houston heat. We had a great time though and the weather was perfect. This was Sarah's first trip where she was old enough to know what was going on. She was very excited to see all the animals. The carousel and petting zoo were the highlights of our trip. Fighting the massive amounts of field trippers was the worst part of the trip.

Going Green!

So I have been thinking a lot about the environment and the economy. It is kind of hard not to with how crazy the world is becoming. I worry about my children and what kind of life they have to look forward to. I am no tree hugger and have failed miserably at recycling, but I am finding that there are ways being provided that make living green much easier. I have decided to switch over to reusable shopping bags.


I recently watched a slide show that showed how dangerous plastic bags were for the environment.I honestly had no idea how many foreign countries and US cities had banned the use of plastic bags! Well, it inspired me to try a little harder especially since I do plenty of grocery shopping and dispose of plenty of those little plastic bags. If any of you have any other suggestions on going green for me, I would love to hear them.