Our tv has gone through quite a transformation since we've been married. We started out with something small I got at a garage sale and then moved up to a bigger tv that some friends gave us. This year Gabe decided to "invest" in a flat screen tv. He's been working really hard lately so of course I supported the idea. :) The only problem was that when we got the tv we weren't able to find a stand that would fit in our weird built in entertainment center. Our friend Mark was nice enough to offer his services to help Gabe make us one. He builds beautiful furniture, so we were very lucky! I told Gabe what I wanted, he designed it, Mark helped him build it, and then I painted (most of) it. Here's how the stand started out.
Here's a wonderful picture of me, right after I got off of bed rest lying on the garage floor painter primer on.
The shelf after it was painted black. Mark and Gabe painted the clear coat on after I finished the black.
And here's the final product with the new tv on top and the baskets I bought for it inside! I just took this tonight, the first time the plastic has been off of the tv since we got it. Gabe wanted to make sure Preston got used to it being down low before he took it off so we could avoid fingerprints. :)
Here's the whole built-in entertainment center now. (before the plastic was off of the tv.) What do you think?
Here's a wonderful picture of me, right after I got off of bed rest lying on the garage floor painter primer on.
The shelf after it was painted black. Mark and Gabe painted the clear coat on after I finished the black.
And here's the final product with the new tv on top and the baskets I bought for it inside! I just took this tonight, the first time the plastic has been off of the tv since we got it. Gabe wanted to make sure Preston got used to it being down low before he took it off so we could avoid fingerprints. :)Here's the whole built-in entertainment center now. (before the plastic was off of the tv.) What do you think?
Here's Gabe practicing during a break.
I wish I could hit the ball like that. ;)
I think Preston does too. A friend of ours let him play with his ball the entire time and he wouldn't let go. He just kept saying "No, mine volleyball! Preston do'd it!" It's probably not good that he's so possesive especially with a little one coming soon, at least the baby won't want to play with his toys for a little while, we'll have to work on it. :) Preston also kept running out onto the court because he was convinced he could play too, I guess he has no concept of how small he is.
After the volleyball games were over Gabe went out to do some serious yard work. His lead from work came with his chain saw and demolished one of the trees in our backyard. It went so fast, I was only able to snap this picture out of the window afterwards. His 15 year old son Kyle also came and helped Gabe move rock and week for about 6 hours. Preston was confused because he has an uncle named Kyle so he would say "Uncle Kyle, backyard too?" and look at me with a confused face. I tried my best to explain to him that there were two Kyle's and only one of them was his uncle. I think he might kind of get it... maybe.
Of course, what did I do while they were "slaving away" as Gabe would put it? Napped and cooked of course! At least Gabe was glad to have the fruit pizza I made by the time he was done out there. We did share with our helper too.
While I finished the fruit pizza Preston had fun coloring. He made basketballs, planes, trains, fishes, circles, and triangles. They all looked the same to me though. :)
On Monday we went with some friends on a hike. It ended up being 3.6 miles round trip. Once we got past the buzzing power lines it was all worth it.
Preston saw a lot of people with walking sticks along the trail so Gabe gave him one of his own. It only lasted a few minutes though, until Gabe decided he didn't want to get poked in the head anymore. I think his eyes are half closed in this picture. ;)
I decided the next time I go on a hike I'm going to try roughing it like this girl. Who needs hiking boots anyway? She was seriously going FAST too!
We spent time to look at the scenery
and a lot of it asking to get out because he wanted to walk like the bigger kids.
Just in time to save my picture. :)
All of the dad's had fun hanging out with their kids.
After a little while Bradley didn't want to ride in his backpack anymore
so his nice daddy let him walk/get carried the rest of the way up. He was a trooper too!
Finally we made it to the top... well the middle falls at least. You can kind of see the upper falls at the top of the picture. Gabe and I hiked up there before we had kids, we weren't going to try it this time. :)
and Mark and Amy's family. They decided to start eating right away, a great idea if you ask me!
Preston was obsessed with Tessa the entire day. He just wanted to be where she was the entire time. I thought this picture of them was cute (ignore me and my swollen body). 
I think he has his first crush. She's only 2 1/2 years older than him, that's okay right? I was just glad when he finally decided to eat his sandwich. It was the first time he ate an entire one by himself!
Overall we had a lot of fun and are glad we went! Preston fell asleep on the way down the mountain for about 20 minutes and did pretty good considering that was his only nap of the day. Afterwards we got yummy ice cream and shakes and then went home and relaxed the rest of the day. It was definately a good and productive weekend!
I feel REALLY wide too!
Now we're just waiting for the baby to arrive. At my appointment today my doctor told me that in the last week I went from being a 1 and 70% effaced to being almost a 3 and still 70% effaced. The doctor also stripped my membranes so we'll see if anything comes from it. My doctor also said that if I haven't gone into labor by next weekend (the fifth) he would be willing to break my water while he's on duty since my cervix is already "ripe." No matter what there's not much time left! Luckily we've got everything important done around the house and are just finishing little things while we wait. I was so excited I finally got to get a pedicure two days ago! Unfortunately it didn't put me in to labor, but at least my stubby toes look pretty now! Let me tell you, it's not easy to take a picture of your toenails with a big belly in the way. ;)
He just sat and stared at them for a while.
Then was attacked by the bubbles.
So he decided he would try to attack them instead... if he could reach them.
He's been doing this thing with his tongue lately when he gets excited.
He liked popping the bubbles in the grass. "pop, pop!"
He finally decided he would try it out himself.
But had a hard time figuring out how to do it.
When he did he was aimed right at his face. The pictures blurry but I thought his expression was funny.
Daddy decided to show him how to hold it the right way.
and soon became a pro!
I gave him his first haircut at the beginning of March and by the end of April it started getting pretty long again.
