No-Sew Tu-Tu

I finished my first, okay my second no-sew tu-tu. The first one I never actually finished. I had run out of tulle and since I bought more, I've been putting it off and have forgotten about it. Soon, I will finish it for Miss Amelia. The tu-tu above that Amelia is modeling is for our niece Brenna. Shana had asked me back in March if I could make one for Brenna. I've had the tulle since then, we're finally seeing them tomorrow, so I thought I better get the tu-tu done. It took me maybe a little over an hour.

How I did it...
-cut a long piece of ribbon (I never measured it, but you need enough to fit around the waist along with enough to tie the tutu into a bow on the back.)
-tulle cut into 18 inch strips

fold a piece of tulle in half over the ribbon and double knot it. Continue this until you have enough to go around the child. leave enough ribbon to tie a bow.

Finished product...

Gregg Family Camping Trip

Well, the Gregg Family made it's first camping trip!! Finally in the year 2008, everyone has a camper with the exception of Amber and Zane. We decided we should all try camping together for our annual August Gregg Family Get together. After searching high and low for a campground to meet in the middle, to no avail, we ended up at Rush Lake Tent and Trailer on Rush Lake. I called about 15 campgrounds, searched about 10 more online and could find absolutely NOTHING in between. Go figure, right? Ron and Terri normally camp at RLT&T, so they suggested it. It's a great campground. Affordable and nice and clean. If only it was a little closer to home, we'd venture there more often!! Oh well, it was still a great time had by all. I didn't get a lot of pictures this weekend, but here are a few to share.

I think we'll all try the camping thing again! Amelia and Paul had a BLAST!! We took the kids fishing, we picked up poles for them at Walmart on our way up north. Amelia picked out a Barbie pole and Pauly picked out a Cars one. Despite our best effort, Paul hates fishing! Amber was helping him, they caught a fish, she pulled it out of the water, he flipped. Started crying. Then she took it off the hook, dropped it on the floor of the pontoon and the poor little sunny was flopping around and Paul is shaking his head no and saying "I don't want to fishy! I don't want to fishy." Now if we mention fishing at home he says "I don't want to fishy." Yep, I think he's been traumatized by the flopping sunfish. Thanks Amber! :)

Rainbow after the rain Friday night

Relaxin' by Granny and Papa's camper waiting for everyone else to arrive!

Saturday Morning Fishing

Paul, Britta and Amelia on the boys' bed (Daddy and Pauly's)

Lookin' out the window!
Cruisin' with Papa Dave
Paul and CoCo
Uncle Ron helping Amelia fish
Mr. cool

Pauly and Great Papa drivin' the pontoon

Courtney fishing with Amelia's Barbie Pole

Amelia wanted Papa Matt to eat breakfast by her. Lucky for her, Papa decided to sit at her little table! :)

10 down, 29 to go.

Wow. So far, I think this whole pregnancy business if goin' by quick!! We found out June 29, 2008 that we were expecting baby #3. Wowza!! I can hardly believe I have 10 weeks under my belt already. Must be the fact that the other two kiddos are keeping me hoppin'!

A pregnancy is 40 weeks, I have 10 down, and will most likely have my c-section at or around week 39, so technically I only have 29 more weeks to go!

According to my babycenter.com weekly pregnancy update the baby is now the size of a kumquat. A little over an inch and a half long. And weighs less than a quarter of an ounce. Any bets on how big this baby will be?! Amelia was 8 lbs 7 oz and 20-1/2 inches. Pauly was 9 lbs. 1 oz and 20-1/2 inches long. Funny how they were both the same length. My guess is that this baby will weigh more than 9 lbs 1 oz. Post your guesses here (in the comments section) and we'll see who's closest when the baby is born. Maybe there will be a little prize involved.... you just never know!!

Amelia and Paul are growing like weeks. Amelia is starting preschool in September. She will go Friday mornings from 8:30-11. We're sending her to the Catholic School to the Little Lambs program. She will be attending Catholic School when she starts Kindergarten, so we thought it was perfect that they have preschool too, that way she'll be familiar with the school when she heads to kindergarten. She's already telling people that she's FIVE, when asked her age. Also is telling everyone "I'm going to school. Not Pauly, he goes to Kimmy's." Yep, she's mighty proud she has one up on her brother. However, she doesn't realize he's still quite a bit younger than her as well! Should be interesting dropping her off the first day. Kevin thinks I'm going to be a standing in a puddle of my own tears. He said "Maybe I better drop her off at preschool her first day, you're going to be a wreck." Yes, maybe I will be a wreck...but at least I have an excuse. I can blame it on those crazy pregnancy hormones!! I'm sure Paul will be lost that first day Kevin drops him off at daycare without Amelia, but once he realizes she'll be there for the afternoon, he should be a-okay. They don't like to go places without one another. Which I guess, is a good thing!!

Paul if VERY active and I'm sure he's giving me grey hair!! He scares me when we go to the park. He has to go down the biggest, tallest, most windy slide there is...ALL. BY. HIMSELF! Nope, he doesn't want help! That and he thinks he is invincible. And climbs up the slides the wrong way. What am I going to do with this child?! He is going to age me very quick!!

As a whole, we're doing well. Our house is still on the market, nothing yet. (even with St. Joseph planted snugly in our front flower bed) We're starting to get pretty bummed about it, but hopefully soon. We're praying hard that something will happen soon. Otherwise we just might be living in a cardboard box on the corner because we will no longer be able to afford our house once this baby comes!! Or maybe we can just park our camper somewhere in live in that?! How's that sound for cozy?! HA!! Anyway, please pray for us that something will happen with our house soon!

So there you have it my friends. Finally an update of sorts from us! :)

Have a great weekend!!

Belly Picture #1.

10 weeks. 08.06.08

I did Belly pictures every two weeks with Amelia and Paul and will continue to do it for this pregnancy as well. The earliest I've taken them is 10-12 weeks. At the end of my pregnancy, I make a little photobook with all the "belly pictures" and then put it in the kids' memory boxes. I highly recommend doing this for every pregnancy and it's a great keepsake! I swear this picture, looks like I did when I was 16 weeks with Amelia! I'll try and find that picture later (see below)!

I made this for size comparison of all three pregnancies!

exciting things

This picture pretty much speaks for it's self...

Needless to say, we're VERY excited! And so is Amelia. Not sure how much Paul understands yet, but Amelia gets that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy, but can't figure out why she can't just see it. There is a new baby at daycare and she just adores "baby Claire", so hopefully that carries over at home!

Saturday was the Kolacky Day's Car Show. Kevin participated in his first car show ever. The kids had a blast and as soon as they got up were asking daddy if he was ready to go to the car show! Two days later, Amelia is still talking about it! Here are a couple pictures of the kids from the day...

Camping Pictures

Here are some new pictures from out camping trip last weekend (7/11-7/13) to Sakatah Lake State Park. These are the only pictures I ended up taking the whole weekend...surprising, I know! Enjoy! I'll try and get a new blog up later this week!

what a nice weekend.

Our forth of July was very nice. I hope everyone else enjoyed theirs as well. Our day started out with stopping by to see Mary and drop something off. Then we had lunch at Ihop with Kevin Sr. and Mary. After that we ran a few errands and then headed to my dad and Mary Jo's in Stillwater. We had a nice afternoon there. The weather was perfect and we spent much of the afternoon out on the patio at The Lofts watching the boats on the St. Croix. This was Paul's favorite part of the day and he'd get ticked if we wouldn't let him see the boats. This kid LOVES boats! He's a bit obsessed, I must say! He rode on a huge paddle boat in May for my dad and Mary Jo's wedding and ever since then, this little guys loves boats! We had a wonderful meal at my dad and Mary Jo's. Beef kabobs, chicken kabobs, veggie kabobs and pork ribs. Along with a wonderful potato salad. Then we watched the fireworks from the patio of The Lofts and Amelia and Paul preferred them inside. Amelia said "I don't like them out there. I don't like them out there" As soon as they started Paul said "Inside! Inside! Inside!" So inside we went! Kev ended up sitting inside with the kids and I enjoyed them outside!

Carrying their lawn chairs to Papa and Mary Jo's!

Amelia sitting with Papa and Mary Jo before the fireworks started!

All the boats on the St. Croix...looked like a mini-city!




Yesterday (Sunday) we went to Como Park Zoo with Matt, Kelly and Logan. We got there right away when they opened at 10:00 am, and boy was it hot out there already! It wasn't too crowded, which was nice and the kids seemed to have a good time! We stayed there until about 12:30 and then headed out.

Waiting for the train!

Kelly, Logan, Amelia, Paul and Me riding the Como Town Train

happy birthday america!

Can you believe it's the forth of July already? Where is our summer going?! Seems like it's just flyin' right by and we have yet to do the many things we talked about doing for the summer. We've only had one chance to go camping so far this summer. We're hoping we can go out next weekend if we can find a place to go! Otherwise we'll have to wait until August to go camping again. Why does time go by so fast?

The kids seem to be enjoying summer. As long as they can play outside. They are golden! Here are some pictures from Monday, when they were playing in their sprinkler.






Have a very safe and Happy Forth of July!