A Place We Call Home

Sledding!

2012-01-23T20:30:00.001-06:00

We took the kids to Mamoo and Papoo’s house to go sledding after getting 9” of snow Friday night! It was the first year Brody really enjoyed himself and stayed out the whole time.

I’m lovin how Deric blends into the tree here… I guess camo really does work! :0)

Getting ready to go down…

Brody gives them a shove (and falls down)

The snow was so deep they had to paddle their way down the hill!

Brody veered off the track and was blocked by a pile of snow…

but it didn’t slow him down any, he just blew right through it!

This picture of Louie makes me LOL.

Louie chased the kids up and down the hills

Reygann wiping out

He was on the wrong side of the sled this time!

Everytime he goes out in the snow he gets covered with tons of tiny snowballs

Daddy took him for a sled ride… he bailed halfway down the hill, what a chicken.

Reygann got the award for the longest run… she slid down the hill, didn’t stop and went all the way into the cuvert! (Where the green arrow is) She actually had to climb out then pull the sled out too!

Daddy had the 4 wheeler out and hooked up the sled and pulled the kids around the yard. He had been whipping them around, but they fell off and got a face full of snow and wasn’t much of a fan! Maybe next year he can go faster with them…

Brody’s 5th Birthday Pictures

2012-01-07T20:29:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Reygann figured it out too!

2011-08-31T19:15:00.002-05:00

After Kylie took off Reygann gave it a shot. She was still leaning on me to hold her up and she just wasn't there. I went back inside to stir my pasta sauce and when I came back out she had figured it out!
(WARNING: REALLY highpitched squeaky voice coming, turn your speakers down!)

...for the most part anyways! ;0)

She finally did it!!

2011-08-31T18:30:00.001-05:00

After months of attempts at riding a bike with not much luck I sent Kylie out to the barn with the bike to try to ride it around. I was in the kitchen making pasta sauce and looked out the window and saw her riding it through the grass! It just clicked for her! It's been 3 days now and she spends every chance she gets out in the barn (yard and driveway) riding away!

A new twist on an old game?

2011-07-31T18:47:00.001-05:00

Veggie stacking!

Coolest Garage Sale Find Ever

2011-06-27T14:56:00.002-05:00

Kylie’s Seventh Lost Tooth

2011-06-16T19:40:00.000-05:00

March 26th 2011

We have ANOTHER loose tooth!

It was barely hanging on

I grabbed a last smile picture of her

Then she started to wiggle it

It kinda hurt a little…

But she kept at it

Then it popped right out!

Of course she had to check out the hole with her tongue

And that’s it. We are FINALLY up to date with the lost teeth, shew! :0)

I got flowers

2011-06-12T08:11:00.000-05:00

*giggle*

My favorite Easter Egg This Year

2011-05-21T09:37:00.000-05:00

*grin*

Silly Goober

2011-05-19T21:07:00.001-05:00

Brody wanted me to take his picture with his mask the other day (ok fine, it wasn’t the other day it was back in March anyways…) I was happy to oblige. He loves to wear his mask and roar at you then he lifts it up and tells you ‘it’s ok it’s only me’. Cutest thing ever, I love it when he does it. He has the cutest voice when he says it too.

Then we went into silly mode and had to take silly pictures.

He’s so fun (and funny).

Kylie’s Sixth Lost Tooth

2011-05-09T15:54:00.001-05:00

March 7th 2011

Kylie’s Fifth Lost Tooth

2011-04-24T11:49:00.000-05:00

December 30th 2010

We have another loose tooth can you tell which one? (Pardon the pj’s we weren’t feeling good today 12-29)

I love how it sticks out here

And it’s out of here! She really wanted to try and not lose it till Jan 1st, but it just wasn’t going to happen, she could barely eat it was so loose! I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure she pulled this one on her own. She has always asked me to pull them but this time she just came to me and showed it to me!

Kylie’s Fourth Lost Tooth

2011-04-22T15:28:00.000-05:00

September 25th 2010

We took Brody out for his birthday dinner (9-24), on our way home Kylie said she tasted something funny. I turned around and this is what I saw. Ha-haa! It had been wiggly for a while but apparently dinner was too much for it to handle.

I grabbed a last smile shot before school really quick

and just like that her tooth was gone!

I love this, she stuck her finger in there to see what it felt like… ha-haa

Kylie’s Third Lost Tooth

2011-04-20T09:09:00.000-05:00

September 3rd 2010

Here we go again…

Another loose tooth, and it was barely hanging on!

The slippery little buggar slipped out of my fingers and landed on her tongue

Ta-da!!

Kylie’s Second Lost Tooth

2011-04-18T20:39:00.000-05:00

I realized that I posted about Kylie’s first lost tooth and that her second one was coming in but I never posted about her actually losing it or any of the other 5 she has now lost!! (And WOW, that was a huge sentence!) So be prepared for a lot of teeth posts coming up, I want to record them here so I don’t forget.

May 16th 2010 Kylie lost her second tooth.

One last picture with her tooth

Showing daddy

Daddy covering his ears cause he didn’t like the sound of the tooth cracking as it came out.

The tooth!!

…and bloody smile

It’s hard to see the hole since there is already a tooth in there. Yea for losing more teeth!

I heart Him

2011-04-16T11:56:00.000-05:00

BellaBoos

2011-04-14T16:48:00.000-05:00

I took the kids to BellaBoos over spring break. I left my camera at home so we could just have a good time, it was a good thing I did it was a ZOO there! The kids favorite room by far was the face painting room.

I know I must be crazy, but I so want to get some of those special crayons

Reygann’s New Tooth

2011-04-14T09:40:00.000-05:00

Now we just need to wait for the old one to move out…

Bet ya didn’t know

2011-04-12T22:00:00.001-05:00

…that this is what happens to the belly of a little furry dog when he plays in the snow

He-hee

More Blizzard Picts

2011-04-12T21:29:00.000-05:00

I found this post that I started and never finished. So here ya go… Buh-bye Winter!

Snow day!!

2011-02-02T14:04:00.000-06:00

These were taken first thing this morning. It is a lot of snow, but I am disappointed that we didn’t have more!

The table is on a raised patio… but you can’t tell anymore.

Deric working on plowing the driveway.

I’m super impressed with the neighbors snow piles. I know the kids are going to be in them soon!

I love these two pictures, Louie looks so hilarious!!

The 4wheeler got stuck in the snow and we couldn’t get it out. We finally had to pull it out with the truck! (It’s a good thing he plowed out the garage before getting stuck.)

Here’s some picts of Louie for all of you that wanted to see him

I love him trying to get through the snow drifts

…and then trying to jump over them

I wish he would have sunk all the way, that would have been funny… (he sunk a little but is light enough to not sink too far)

This last one isn’t in focus, but I love that I caught him with his tongue out and mid jump. Ha-haa!

Deric’s Boo boo

2011-01-31T10:06:00.001-06:00

In May we went back to the land to get more fire wood…

it started out like usual, Daddy giving the kids 4wheeler rides into the woods

and checking out which trees to cut…

Since Papaw was there to help the kids and I took off exploring the woods while we waited for them to cut enough for us to start bringing back. After being gone a while we came back and hung out where the guys were. Reygann found this toad and we all took turns playing with it. I was taking that picture when it happened. I heard the chain saws whining, a cracking noise, and Deric yelling for me. I was sitting on a stump leaning on the tree behind me and the kids were all around me, I remember jumping up pushing through them and yelling behind me to STAY where they were! When I got down there the chain saw was still running and it was right next to his foot, do you know how bad it could have been if it had cut him? We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, sure it would be a quick ride out of the woods, but we would have to unhook the truck from the trailer and pack the kids up and try to find a hospital. (There is one somewhere close by, but we don’t have a clue where) In the one second it took me to get to him I was preparing myself for the worst… and a LOT of blood! Thank the Lord he wasn’t cut!! We flipped the tree off of him and I picked up the chainsaw (it was still running) I didn’t even know how to turn it off! I’m so glad Papaw was there instead of it being just me. Deric stood up and knew something wasn’t right with his knee right away. We sat him on a log and we all kinda took a breather, man the adrenaline was pumping! The kids came down to see how daddy was and the girls were so worried they cried when they saw him.

After a while I went back up the hill and took these picture of ‘the scene’

We got Deric loaded up on the 4wheeler and his dad drove him out of the woods

the kids went on the next trip

I loaded up the cart and packed up the guys tools while I waited for him to return

After he made it back he cleared some of the tree that was blocking the path, I waited there while he cut it just to be safe. :0)

He drove the last cartful back and I walked behind him

When I got back this is how I found him, water, pills, and ice from the cooler on his knee

He wanted me to get a picture of him and his dad with their deer heads while we were there (you know, before all this happened), and he still wanted me to so he stood next to the table I took a few, and I took this one of all the boys.

the side by side

still smiling

I drove the truck home! (He HATES it when I drive!) See the nice scratches?

We dropped Papaw and the kids off at home and they unloaded the the truck while I took him to the ER.

Not much happened while we were there, he got an x-ray (I think) and this super cool brace and crutches :0)

The next day we headed to the specialist to get daddy checked out better

Brody liked looking out the window and watching the ambulances go by

and I liked watching Deric try to get his shoes on! Don’t worry, I helped him! :0)

Brody also liked the rides

He tore his ACL and MCL and the verdict was surgery was needed. So a few weeks later we found ourselves waiting for them to call him back.

Before surgery, after happy juice

After surgery

…we can tell it is after by the ‘get the camera out of my face\I am SO not thrilled’ look below.

A few hours later we were in the car on our way home!

We got home and got him all settled in on the couch

After a quick nap a gave him a few new hunting DVD’s to help pass the time

The next day back to the Dr’s to get the dressing changed…

Deric wasn’t doing so well, you can tell by the bucket we had to bring with us from home!

The surgery site was a lot smaller then I thought it was going to be

…and if I knew all they were going to do was put bandaids on I probably would have just done it myself!

The kids were eager to check it out when we had the bandaids off later

They did their best to take care of daddy… Brody even gave him his blankie and doggy.

Tons of PT later he is almost good as new! We are going to have to get wood again in a few months and I am praying things go MUCH smoother next time!

Fall Fun

2011-01-24T19:48:00.000-06:00

Octoberfest

Bethel Trunk or Treat

Northwoods

Faith Trunk or Treat

Umm, yeah… SO behind. The pictures speak for themselves for the most part, ask if you want to know something. :0)

Pumpkin Carving

2010-11-19T22:00:00.000-06:00

This is the first time time we have ever carved pumpkins as a family. We’ve painted them before, but never carved, the kids were beyond thrilled! They asked for DAYS if they could carve them yet!

The girls loved the gooeyness

Brody wouldn’t even touch it!

I LOVED that Brody drew his own face to carve. He does not like coloring or drawing, so to see him go to town made my heart happy.

…but after it was swelled with pride, I had to erase his face. It was too close to the top to cut out.

I love that he is paying careful attention to drawing his second face

See his fingers? He’s measuring his legs so they will be the same length!

His finished (second) pumpkin, shoes and all!

Kylie’s face. I didn’t get any pictures of her drawing hers, I was all gooey from picking out all the pumpkin seeds.

Did get her cutting though… Love the face! Must have been hard to cut!

Daddy and Brody starting cutting on his. (Gotta add that I love the crack and the dunlop! Fits perfectly with his mechanic shirt!) Ha-haa!!)

Everyone was working so nicely on their pumpkins

I love that Reygann sticks her tongue out when she’s concentrating!

Cheesing with her cat pumpkin… (the black circles are fur, btw) :0)

Brody found all the pieces that were cut out of his pumpkin and put them back in like a puzzle. What a smart cookie!

Reygann working hard… again with the tongue.

This is the face I make. I suck my lips in my face, as Deric would say! I’m *always* doing it and he is *always* telling me to get them out of my face!

Our finished pumpkins! The kids had a blast and asked if they could do more, looks like we might have to get them each 2 next time! :0)

Happy 10th to us… again!!

2010-11-19T21:13:00.000-06:00

Somehow I missed the last day of pictures I had of our trip! Who knows how that happened, oops!

We picked up a flyer of local happenings when checking in and saw something we wanted to check out… I made note of the date/time and we hit it on our way home. Except the people were less then friendly when we got there. We poked around a little and then headed on our way. We bumped into a lady when we were back at our car and she told us we missed it… it was the day before!! :0( I read the date on the wrong one! But on the brightside we drove down this great little road. I would LOVE to have this be my driveway (as long as I didn’t have to take the garbage out it was really, REALLY long)!

Isn’t it so pretty?! *swoon*

That’s pretty much it. Our trip is over, so sad.

We had a good time though

We spotted a Krispy Kreme, YUMM! Such a bummer that the one by us closed (…but probably a good thing!)

No Krispy Kreme for us though… we were on a mission!

La-la-la!! Did you hear that? The heavens just opened and the angels are singing

Do you hear that? That is the sound of my hopes and dreams crashing!

Yeah, you guessed it! It was Sunday! :0( The only other time I have actually made it to Chick-fil-a was a Sunday also! Thankfully they finally built one near (well kinda near) me! It opened a few weeks ago so hopefully I’ll get to go soon!

After that failure we grabbed a dozen Krispy Kremes called it lunch and headed home.

Happy 10th to us!!

2010-11-06T14:51:00.000-05:00

Last month we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary! We had a trip planned, but with Deric getting injured and then getting laid off we weren’t able to do what we had planned. We ended up going away for the weekend and stayed at an inn at a state park.

Us leaving for our trip

We stopped at the jewelry store to pick out my present!

I loved seeing all the fall colors!

We picked a ‘historic’ room to stay in…

it was a little dated, but that’s ok.

Love the wrap job!

Our first day out we decided to go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, yumm! We punched it into the GPS and took off…

after driving for FOREVER it took us off the expressway and told us to go 31 more miles! We were on our way to an Antique mall (lucky me!) and it was totally the wrong direction! We decided to scrap the idea and figure out something else. :0(

We got back on the expressway and saw this sign almost right away! Ha-haa!

Doesn’t this look so lovely and inviting? Ahh, I bet it is… we never took the time to sit. Next time we’ll have to.

We did wake up early one morning and take a walk in the woods. (See how tired I still look?!)

We took another drive

Can you tell where we ended up?

At the bowling alley! Not where you would have guessed, huh? Actually it was the last stop of our day. (Did anyone notice the ball almost says his name?)

Yeah… the bowling didn’t go so well! Ha-haa! It was fun though. The best part was when I stepped over the line just a little and took a massive fall! It was SO funny! I kept picturing it in my head and laughing over and over!

We stopped at a pickle store in an outlet mall and taste tested some pickles and stuff, I bought some dip and loved that they painted pickles on the bags!

We made it back just before dark one day and I took a picture of people relaxing in the chairs… that way I could say it was us! But I guess I just gave that one away, huh?

Since we made it back while it was still a little light out we went out onto the deck to take a picture of us. Don’t let the picts fool you, it was actually pretty dusky out! We had a good, refreshing trip although way too short! Hopefully we won’t have to wait another 10 years to get away again!

Finished!

2010-10-25T20:58:00.000-05:00

I made this apron for my sister to auction off at their dinner and silent auction that benefits their adoption of my nephew(s)! It could be yours if you go! Message me if you are interested and I'll send you the invite (you have to RSVP this week!) You can follow along with their journey check out their blog!

Tulip Festival

2010-10-19T15:06:00.000-05:00

The kids and I were planning on joining my parents up in Holland MI for the Tulip Festival, since Deric was off work because of his injury he got to come with us! (Lucky him!)

We went to Windmill Island and I snapped a quick pict of all the oldest grandkids on the bridge.

We swung by the convention center and took picts of us as Dutch people, and checked out the stuff they had for sale.

…the kids tried on cute Dutch hats

And took a ride (or 12) on the carousel!

We took the tour of the windmill, it was pretty neat to see/hear all about it.

Stuff for the girls room

2010-10-15T11:51:00.000-05:00

I found this adorable monogram for the girls room, but I just wasn’t digging the color. It was just a little too boring for me so I put it back. But I just loved the scrolley shape of the initial and soft lines on the frame, so I figured I could help it go from good to great!

I found myself some awesome scrapbook paper and knew it would be perfect to make it POP!

The one thing I didn’t think through was the fact that there was no way to open it! DOH!! It was obvious where the ‘box’ had been glued to the frame so I took a knife and popped them apart.

Then I just glued it back together when I was done.

…but I used a little too much prying on Reyganns and I broke the glass, oops! (Nothing a quick trip to the hardware store couldn’t fix.)

While I was there I picked up this frame with plans to make it over also.

I got another paper for this one and a pack of stickers

And came up with this.

I must not have taken a before picture of this one, but it was black and hot pink and said DIVA on it. So of course I covered it with scrapbook paper and stickers! I used little puffy things so they would stand off the sign, it really adds dimension to it.

…and here’s what they look like now! Pretty cute if I do say so! :0)

Reygann’s first day of school

2010-10-13T19:24:00.000-05:00

Happy first day of school Reygann!

Standing in her line

She put her bag down at the end of the line and went off to play. She came back when the bell rang and couldn’t find her bag, it wasn’t at the end of the line!! Of course more people got in line after her while she was playing, so after a little panic she found her stuff about halfway up the line. (I think someone had the first day of school jitters!)

I left her a quick note on her wipe board, although it didn’t last long! :0)

Sitting at her ‘desk’

And of course I took her picts by the sign too!

When we got home I asked her what she learned… this is what she did. Can you tell what it is? No? It’s WOW (get it?), glad I am paying so much for her to go here! :0)

Kylie’s first day of school

2010-10-11T19:05:00.000-05:00

Happy first day of school Kylie!

We got to school a little early and Kylie played while waiting to line up to go in. The bell rang and she got in line ready to start 2nd grade! She is in a new hallway this year, the 2nd graders are the youngest ones in that hall (I think 5th is the oldest).

She found her locker with no problems and went straight to her wipe board to leave herself a note!

Putting her stuff away and getting settled in.

She looks so big at her desk!

And of course we had to take a few first day of school picts at the schools sign. :0)

(At her locker the next day, I was there dropping off Reygann.)

School Open House 2010

2010-10-06T14:54:00.000-05:00

The girls were really excited to go to school and meet their teachers! I can’t belive Kylie is in 2nd grade this year! ACK! Kylie’s teacher seems really sweet, Kylie is going to love her!

Of course we had to take pictures at her desk and locker! :0)

This is Kylie’s other teacher. They asked the first grade teachers (at the end of last school year) to pick out their best performing kids for a special more challenging class. Kylie leaves her ‘homeroom’ and goes to this class for work in Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic (I think!). She is enjoying being ‘pushed’ instead of being bored.

We loved the teacher Kylie had for kindergarten, and we were thrilled when we got her again for Reygann! (Of course it helped that I said I didn’t care what days she went to school as long as she got her as the teacher!) :0) Reygann was super excited to have her, and remembers a lot of the stuff that she did with Kylie’s class so she feels like she has a grip on what’s coming. I know I say this every year, but I can’t believe Reygann is old enough to be in kindergarten! Although she does seem older then Kylie was when she went…

We had to take pictures of her at her ‘desk’ and locker too! (Except our locker one didn’t turn out). The first few days of school the kids wear these crowns so they can all learn each others names, then you get to take them home!

I think one of their favorite things about going to the open house is that we take them out for ice cream after! :0) Since daddy didn’t have a job this time, we cheated and went to McDonalds instead of Dairy Queen. You can’t beat 2 cones for $1! And it is really AMAZING ice cream!

Dresser Redo part 2

2010-09-21T21:33:00.000-05:00

It’s lookin’ pretty good isn’t it? I’m loving it and know it is going to look great in the girls room. After all the work I put into preparing the dresser I was ready to slap some paint on it and call it done!

But of course it is never that easy is it? I primed it, painted it, and painted it again. For the most part it looked great… except the ends. The darker color kept leaking through. So I painted it, and painted it again.

It looked pretty good so I put one more coat on it and called it done! I scraped off all the paint off the mirror (I decided to not even try to tape it off and to just be careful… being careful didn’t work so well!) But then I decided I didn’t like the finish, I wanted it to be a little more glossy! So I dug out another can of paint and put two coats on it to play it safe. And yes, I then had to scrape the mirror off again!

After letting her sit a few days to make sure she was really dry she came in! I spray painted the old hardware and used them again. The dresser was missing 1 knob when I got it, so I bought crystal ones from Hobby Lobby, and I LOVE them! I really wanted to ‘decorate’ her, but I wanted her to be the girls to do with what they wanted so I didn’t. On went their piggy banks, and lamp and we were good to go!

It was worth it though. Doesn’t she look pretty? *sigh* :0)

Campin’

2010-09-12T10:55:00.000-05:00

This spring we packed up the kids and went down to the land where daddy hunts to start getting wood for the winter. The kids had a blast running around in the woods and riding in the 4-wheeler cart.

It was very pretty, and so calm. Until the chainsaw started that is!

The kiddos had a great time climbing up this big hill. It might not look big, but it was BIG!

Did you see Deric in the first picture? I love that you get a feel for exactly how big the trees are. A lot of the trees were attacked by west elm disease (or something like that), so we were cutting down the dead ones to burn.

Where’s Waldo? (Or Deric and and 4 wheeler)

…How about the girls

…and Brody

I was very impressed at Brody’s climbage. He came up by himself, and went up the steep side with no help!

The girls found a few snails and we watched them for a while. As gross as they are, they are kinda cool!

Cutting down a tree

…there she goes!

The kids and I were sitting while daddy was dropping the tree, and I turned around and caught Reygann like this! Eww! (She might kill me one day for posting these, but she looks so cute how could I not?! She would be cuter without the finger… but beggars can’t be choosers!)

There was this really big old tree that must have been on the edge of a property line at one point because there is barbed wire coming right out of the middle of the tree!

After daddy cut up the trees we would load it up in the cart and bring it back to camp. The kids took turns riding with daddy, and I stayed back with the ones that didn’t go and get ready for the next load (or rest up before he got back!)

It may not look like much, but it was quite a bit of wood! We would have gotten more, but we had to leave room for the 4-wheeler!

Relaxing by the fire after a long day, ahhh!

And yummy dinner grilled over the fire!

All was great till I spotted this litte bugger on the ketchup at dinner.

A few minutes later Reygann said she felt like she got a bug bite, we thought that was a little odd since there weren’t any bugs around (it was only April 2nd). We checked and this is what we saw.

A tick! Ewww!

My poor baby! We didn’t have and tweezers or anything so we had to use daddy’s pocket and utility knife!

We were in the middle of nowhere, otherwise I think we would have gone to get something to help. We stopped often and gave her brakes from daddy picking at her.

Whenever we would stop I’d give her a marshmallow for being so brave!

We finally got it out, shew!

I love that Kylie was being so sweet to her sister trying to make her feel better here.

After finding hats for everyone to wear to walked up to the field to see if we could spot any deer.

I finally let everyone go back into the woods (as long as they promised to NOT take off their hats), and we cooked up some smores and enjoyed the fire.

I was impressed at the amount of stars we could see down there, and the kids were too. Except Reygann said it hurt too look up, so daddy picked her up so she could see them too.

Day 2

We woke up to a soggy new day. So we decided to pack up and go home since it was going to be too muddy to do much else.

The girls slept in the tent all by themselves! We were very impressed!

Waiting for breakfast

During hunting season Deric fixed the outhouse, you no longer had to watch your feet as you went! That was nice. And so is the view!

Loading up the trailer

Till next time…

Dresser Redo part 1

2010-09-07T09:36:00.000-05:00

The girls have been needing a bigger dresser for a while now, actually their dresser wasn’t even a dresser it was a desk! It had such tiny drawers and it was no longer cutting it. I started searching for a cute girly (cheap) dresser on Craigslist and at garage sales. I found this one and fell in LOVE with it, I wrote them about it and then I didn’t hear back and the listing was gone! I was SO bummed! I kept searching and a few weeks later it was back and I snatched it up!!

I was planning on painting it white so the finish didn’t bother me… but what I couldn’t see was that the veneer was bubbling and cracking off! It’s hard to tell, but if you look 2 pictures down you can see it better. The good thing is that it was so dry I could pretty much just pop the veneer right off! You can see that I already started before I took my before picture! Oops!

The one drawer was warped shut and was full of stuff when we finally for it open!

This is as far as I could get by just popping the veneer off, and oh man there is a lot to go still!

It was time to pull out the big guns… aka the heat gun. Let me tell you, the heat gun isn’t a really fun tool when it is a BILLION degrees outside! Ugh!

But it did the job, the veneer peeled off so nicely.

I felt a little guilty scraping off the detail off this drawer… but a girl has to do what a girl has to do!

After what seemed like forever I was finished! (The pile in the picture is from part of the dresser, I had already thrown most of it out)

Time to sand.. I see the light at the end of the tunnel! Woo-hoo!

I actually like the way it looks here. I was tempted to keep it like this, but I knew it wouldn’t fit in the girls room like this so on to painting… but another time.

I cleaned everything up and was ready to go in then I saw this. I forgot to strip and sand the mirror! UGH, I hate when that happens!!

…to be continued

Wilson Christmas

2010-09-04T15:57:00.000-05:00

New Years Day the Wilsons came over for our Christmas, and to watch the Buckeye’s play. I didn’t take too many pictures, shocker I know! I was too busy getting things ready since I was hosting. I am really bummed I didn’t get a picture of our family. We all wore white/black and us girls also had on hot pink. We were pretty cute! We also all had Buckeye colors on later, and we didn’t get a picture of that either! Gurrr!

We got Papaw magnetic Patirot Guard signs for when he takes the truck on the missions, and we got Mamaw a digital picture frame and I filled it with pictures of the family. I totally could have given her a family picture, but Nooo I had to forget to take one! :0(

Oops, my bad!

2010-09-02T12:43:00.000-05:00

I came across a pair of the girls stretchy gloves and decided to wash them so they would be clean for winter…

See anything wrong with them? (Other than the unraveling!)

This is the size the glove should be! Oops! It is pretty stinkin’ tiny, you should see it next to a full size one!

Anyone want me to help with their laundry?

*crickets chirping*

Yeah, didn’t think so!

Workin’ Trucks

2010-08-31T08:30:00.000-05:00

Back in April the county ripped up our road and repaved it. It was Brody’s dream come true! :0) He loved sitting outside watching them work up and down the road, I love that it kept him entertained while his sisters were at school!

I mean, come on! How adorable is this? A little boy, construction cones, and his own trucks… Totally adorable! (He even ate lunch out there so he wouldn’t miss anything!)

One of the days Kylie wasn’t feeling so well, so I picked her up from school early… so she got to eat lunch outside with the trucks too. But I don’t think she was faking just so she could! ;0)

Easter Morning

2010-08-29T20:16:00.001-05:00

Umm, yeah. I’m not even going to say anything, except this... Wow, Reyganns hair was really short! Woah! :0)

Brody got some cool stuff in his basket this year… build a bear clothes and shoes, Cars stuff, and of course candy!

The girls got tutu skirts, barbie boxes with jewlery in them and candy too!

(Love Kylie covering Brody’s eyes here so he won’t peek!)

But the best one didn’t fit in their baskets! They have been wanting fishing poles for a LONG time! Yippie, now we just need to remember to bring them with us when we go to Papoo’s house!

Happy (really, REALLY) belated birthday Reygann!

2010-08-05T22:04:00.000-05:00

Happy 5th Birthday Rooter-Schmooter!! Your birthday fell on a day you weren’t at school, so we had the WHOLE day to celebrate! …and the whole day to wait till daddy gets home to open your presents!

After opening presents we went out for your birthday dinner. You chose Red Robin, yumm!

There was a surprise waiting for us when we got there…

Red was there!! You were a little leery at first… but Brody ran right up to him and gave him such a hug that he knocked Red over! After he broke the ice, you and Kylie gave him hugs too and thought it was pretty cool that he brought us to our table.

Brody traumatized himself and was scared of Red the rest of the night!

You were such a sweetie and shared your ice cream with daddy

…and daddy shared his lemon with you! Actually you really wanted his lemon and he let you have it, you love it. You are like your mama that way. :0)

Brody was so scared he was going to see Red when we left he hung his head and booked it to the door!

We had your birthday party on Saturday, a lot of our friends were able to make it out.

Brody’s New Rain Coat

2010-08-02T17:25:00.000-05:00

I got the kids raincoats and boots this spring. Brody was in LOVE with his new duds and wore the ALL THE TIME, sometimes without pants and with his boots on the wrong feet. But that’s ok. He got such joy out of his gear, and he slept in it most nights (and naps) and yes he slept with the boots on!

Hungry Hungry Hippo

2010-07-30T09:12:00.000-05:00

Someone was hungry this morning (and by this morning I mean a long time ago when I took these pictures) and made himself breakfast.

He was SO HUNGRY he needed to use the BIG spoon! Ha-haa. What a goober!

Happy St Patty’s Day!

2010-07-27T20:45:00.000-05:00

Back in March I caught the sewing bug again, I decided to test it out on a quick and easy project…

I knew I didn’t have anything green for the kids for St Patty’s day, so Reygann and I took a trip around JoAnn Fabrics and we decided on this white and green sparkly shamrock print. Making dresses for the girls was nothing, but I couldn’t leave Brody out. So I did my best making him a tie.

As always we threw a surprise party for mom. It was her day off so she was home so we set things up with dad… except she went outside to bring him a glass of water right as we pulled up! DOH!!

I hoped to get a good picture of the my kids and all the grandkids… but you know how that goes!

It was a Beautiful March day and we all ate outside. I made green lemonade and green cupcakes.

I’m pretty sure Mom isn’t going to be surprised next year! :0)

AWANA Celebration

2010-07-24T21:27:00.001-05:00

AWANA ended back in May, as always they had a great celebration to show off what our children had learned. They sang songs they had learned and some of the older kids recited passages.

This is Reygann’s last year as a Cubbie. She seems too young to be a Spark, but she is actually a few months older than Kylie was when she became a Spark. She’s really excited to be with Kylie, and Kylie is ready to show her the ropes.

Kylie is starting her 3rd (and last) year as a Spark! I can’t believe she has been in for so long, she is going to be a teen before I know it!

…and pretending to ignore me while she is sitting there, SUCH a teen thing to do! :0)

We LOVED Reygann’s Cubbie teachers!

Miss Annie is actually the daughter of the piano teacher I had when I was younger! I thought it was pretty fitting that her mom taught me, and now she is teaching my child.

Miss Michelle wasn’t only our Cubbie teacher for both years she was also one of her Sunday school teachers! She really Loves Miss Michelle and still stops by the class she teaches in to say hi to her even though she is no longer in there.

Congrats girls!!

St Nicholas Day 2009

2010-07-12T08:01:00.000-05:00

I *Heart* these kids! :0)

The older kids had a great time giving Columweil rides in his walker…. and he enjoyed them too

Brody was so sweet Loving on Hudson

Trying to get a good picture of all the grandkids is not an easy task!!

We weren’t sure who was going to open their present first, I don’t exactly remembered how it went down, but Brody got to open his first because he was the only person not asking to open it first (that or he was the only one that obeyed when we told them to sit down and wait) either way he was really proud. Mamoo asked who that person was and he raised his hand and said ‘Me’!!

As the tradition goes they all got matching pj’s and robes! This year we had to sew our own since we couldn’t find any pj’s (that didn’t cost an arm and a leg) for 7 kids ranging from 6 years old to 6 months old!

Loving the faces Brodes!

While we had a snack the shoes got filled!

The kids were so excited to see what was in their shoes!

Monkey George

and Princess coloring books

And neckerchiefs from Gramma Murphy

And we finished out the evening with Cake to celebrate Harrisons birthday!