Our First September Visitor!

September is busy with visitors for us and first up was my sister Alexa! She came down to help with the kids last week and although her husband and boys thoroughly missed her, we loved having Aunt Alexa spend the week with us!!

She lives far away so we don't get to see her or her family too often but the girls warmed up to her very quickly and starting in on playing barbies, reading books and coloring. It was quite amusing to watch her play barbies when she's got two boys that are older than my girls and the mere fact that they are boys should explain why it was funny to watch her play with my girls!

Tuesday we walked to the park and then I had a doctor appointment so Alexa watched the girls-which was a life saver-any time I don't have to bring them along, things go much more smoothly! That night an old friend of my sister's, Jennine, drove up from Philly for dinner so we all had a great time catching up.

Wednesday we made a trip to the fabric store-always fun taking three kids to the "boring fabric store"! I've wanted a little something more in my family room as far as my windows go and I knew Alexa did not have her sewing machine so we were going to have to do some major "mistreating" of the windows. She helped me pick out the perfect fabric to go with my current valences and while I hung the hardware she "mistreated" the curtains! Of course the whole project could have taken 10 minutes but since I do not own a sewing machine she was forced to hot glue and use fabric tape for everything. I'm sure this was hard for her to do as her profession is mainly sewing!

Here's the hooks we used to hang them from.

And here's a sneak peek of the curtains.
The bottom matches my valences and this fabric used to be a bed skirt that my mom converted into valences and now the left overs are being used for the curtains- so this bed skirt has come in handy!

Once we put them up we both agreed they were adorable but a bit skimpy. You see, we bought all of this fabric that the store had but of course there wasn't much left. And then my mom (the interior decorator) got a peek at them from a picture and said "I'm sure I could find that same fabric at my Jo Ann's and I could add a little more to the panels"-this made me laugh because Alexa and I knew once mom saw them, being the interior decorator that she is, "mistreating" would not cut it for her! Just teasing you mom! She thought they looked great but agreed that they were lacking in the fullness department so once she gets a hold of them with her sewing machine, I'll show you the finished product.

Thursday was more shopping and then we took the kids to the pool which was so relaxing because we were really the only people there! The girls got to burn off some energy, Bennett slept and Alexa and I were able to chat. That night after the kids went to bed we sat by the fire pit and laughed about old times. It's funny because we are total opposites of each other but we get along really well. Of course it wasn't always like that when we were younger and in our teen years but we both got married young and had children relatively young so we're able to relate to each other in that aspect.

Alexa having fun playing with Bennett. She discovered he makes funny faces when you bounce his back!

The girls had so much fun with their Aunt!

I'm so thankful for my sister! She is the most patient and caring person and so easy to get along with. She's the person you go to when you're super stressed or scared or mad about something and has a way of calming you down and always has good advice. She was there for me every day on the phone throughout my pregnancy with Bennett which I know had to be emotionally draining for her at times. When we found out about Bennett she was sad for me and was hurting too but she remained strong and encouraging for me because that's what she needed to do. I can only hope and pray that Ainsley and Harper will have a good relationship like Lex and I do.

Thanks so much for coming Lex, we love you!!