Thursday, November 24, 2011

HAPPY THANKSGIVING


from our family to yours!  Hope your day is filled with good food, laughter, love and great memories!  


As a side note, but totally related to Thanksgiving, Byron and I made Turkey Cake Pops last night to take to my parents house this afternoon.  I would not have been able to do these without the help of my wonderful husband (who secretly, I think LOVES doing crafty things like this, but he would never admit it!)  Here's a look at the cake pops!  Can't wait to eat them this afternoon!  Yummy!

Gobble Gobble

Here are the best 8 we had, led by "Scarface"
Scarface had a little accident on his cheek, and his eyes were put on crooked,
so we decided to have a little fun with him and made his eyes red and named him Scarface.

What a rafter of Turkeys!  Yummy!

Enjoy your day!  Gobble Gobble!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Jack In The Box

I ran across this video recently and wanted to share.  A few months ago we as a family were sitting around, just playing with each other when Carter brought the Jack-in-the-box up to Byron's lap.  Enjoy the video....


Monday, November 14, 2011

The Last 10%

Have you ever done a project, usually home improvement, and by the time that you are "finished" with it, there is usually that last little 10% that never actually gets finished?  Maybe it is just Byron and I, and the fact that our home improvement projects aren't small little projects, but it seems like every project we do, we have that last 10% that we need to finish.

We have recently decided that we are tired of having the last 10% not done....we put in the new windows in 2007 - it's almost 2012 and we still have windows that need to have the drywall installed around them; that's just 1 example of our last 10% projects needing to be complete.

So - we have gone through every room in our house and done a "punch list" (that's a term from Byron's profession - I am quite proud of myself that I'm using it!) basically, what 10% needs to be finished in this room so we can call the project done.

Here are a few pictures from what we have done:

The powder room:
Ya'll remember it - carpet, the towel rack would fall off it you touched it, etc....take a look at the newly remodeled bathroom:

Although you can't tell from the picture, we put a brick red color up on the two walls and then a creamy light tan (beige) on the rest of the walls.  We also found hardwood that matched the hardwood we already have in the main room and put that in.  I LOVE the way it turned out, and for not that much money, we have a new room!


The Kitchen:
We didn't do much in the kitchen, but Byron and I agreed that decorating is apart of the last 10%.  We are great with paint colors, but when it comes to accessories, we are lacking.  So, here is the update on the kitchen!

We found the three lanterns for super cheap at Lamps Plus, and I used my Cricut (an early Christmas Present from my parents) to cut out the letters in vinyl and put on the wall.  It says "Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much"  I am thrilled with how it turned out.


Laundry Room:
This is the room that started us on the quest to finish the last 10%.  If you remember the mater bath remodel, we had some issues with the ceiling in the laundry room and 8 months after the completion of the bathroom, we still had the hole!  So, Byron fixed the hole, did the drywall around the window and we painted everything.     We even painted the pantry shelves (which forced me to go through all the food we had up there (most embarrassing expired food - an unopened thing of Quaker Oats that expired in 2005...which means we moved it here from the townhouse expired!!!)  I must tell you, after cleaning and organizing the shelves in the pantry - I find it easier to keep the rest of the house clean - so weird.  And then we got to decorate the laundry room!


Found these functioning safety pins at Ballard Designs!  So cute!
*As a side note - there are a few other tings that need to be done in the laundry room.  I have sewn the valance fabric, but need my wonderful handy hubby to actually build the valance and then hang it.  We also need to hang a towel ring.  I guess we are down to the last 1% of that 10% project!  But I didn't want to wait to post this any longer.

Replacing Light Fixtures:
When we moved into this house there were brass light fixtures in every room of this house - UGH - so ugly!  As we have gone through and redone the rooms we have changed out the light fixtures to where the only brass ones left were the dining room, the light going up the stairs and the main entry.  Ugly brass no more!   Beautiful new light fixtures now hang in my home....

Here is the light fixture on the way up the stairs - ugly old on the left, pretty new on the right!


 The light fixture exchange in the dining room


We didn't take a picture of the old light fixture while it was still hanging in in the entry way, but it is the super tall one toward the back upper right of this 1st picture - ugh, so ugly!  New pretty one hangs in its place!






Again - love the new light fixtures and how they update the house.  We have a ton of wood in our house and it can feel a little dated, so I think adding the new light fixtures to the house makes it a little less early 90's and ugly feeling!

Byron is convinced that I just like spending money and this is my way to spend money without him having to fight too much....I simply told him that all of the fixing and updating and decorating is a win-win for us...we get to enjoy our house decorated, and it will all help when we list our house for sale!  He can't argue with that!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Happy Birthday Haylee

5 years old....wow....I have a 5 year old child.  I have been a parent for 5 years.  I have watched my little baby grow from a 6 lb 6.6 oz 19.5 inch long little baby into a 35 lb 36 inch tall little girl.  She is an amazing person.  She is going to do good things in her life and I am, already, so proud of the person she is!  Her teachers tell us that she is a natural leader in the classroom and loves taking care of her friends.  She always wants everything to be fair with her friends (sorry little girl, that is a flaw you got from your mama, and I pray that you figure out how to deal with that flaw better than I have!)  She is such a gift to her dad and I and I can't imagine what our family would be like without her.

This past weekend we had a party for her at our house.  We have always asked what she wants the theme to be for her party, and this year it was Unicorns.  I am not one to let my kids down, and I will try (within reason) to get them what they want so they feel special and feel like Mom and Dad know them and listen to them.  Thankfully, my friend Amy had a Unicorn cake pan!  Woo Hoo - Mom and Dad are the coolest once again!  Byron did a great job on the cake (as he always does!) and we had a lot of family and friends at our house to help celebrate the birth of our daughter!

Enjoy the pictures of the event!






We had 12 kids under 5 at our house!  It was CRAZY!
I think Byron and I pride ourselves on making awesome cakes for our kids parties, and we try to have the "themes"match...does it matter to the kids; at the time, probably not, but the pictures years down the road make it all worth it!   As I said earlier, my friend Amy had a unicorn cake pan.  This cake pan is AWESOME!  When you bake the cake, it has a raised part for the horse...we decided that we were going to try to make the cake out of chocolate and lay it on top of the cake....Who knew how uneven and wavy cakes bake when you are trying to put something flat on top!  Byron as always came through and with a little help from my hairdryer, we were able to get the chocolate horse to lay flat on the cake.  He did great at decorating (as usual) and we have another successful cake!  Here's a look at Haylee's cake this year!  

Cake with the chocolate horse still in pan 

The finished product!  It looks GREAT!

Happy Birthday Haylee Elizabeth....you are quite the little person and I can't wait to watch you grow....your Daddy and I love you so very much!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Halloween Festivites

Although it is past Halloween, how could I not post about all the fun that we had this year?! This is kind of a lengthy post, but figured it would be best to put in one, instead of 6 different posts!

Haylee is a PRO when it comes to all of the fun activities surrounding Halloween, and Carter is finally old enough to get it.  We had such a great time this year!

~ Trunk or Treating ~
Trunk or Treating is something that is put on by the City of Thornton where we live.  Trunk or Treating is where people pay to enter their car into a trunk decorating contest.   They decorate the trunk of their cars how they want and then pass out candy to the kids.  It is a safe way for parents to bring their kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes and trick or treat.  I have never been, and it was only a dollar per person, so I thought it would be fun to take the kids and get them a test run on trick or treating.  My mom was nice enough to go with us... because I had never been, I didn't really know what to expect.  THANK GOODNESS my children were in a good mood, because when we got there - (about 15 minutes before the "trunk or treating" was to begin) the line was ridiculous!  I ran ahead of my mom and the kids to get a spot in line, and by the time they had made it to me, there were at least 100 or more people behind me!

Mom and kids finally catching up to me 

This is the line right after they made it to where I was!

My good witch and little monkey!
We waited in line for about 45 minutes; laughing with other parents, looking at all of the adorable costumes, chatting it up. By the time we made it in, the kids were ready to go!  Talk about sensory overload for Carter!  He never held his bucket and just stared at everyone!  He only got a little cautious a few times, but other than that, he did fine.  Haylee was amazing, and took her brother by the hand and led him around telling him to say "trick or treat".  

One of the few people Carter wouldn't go up to!
Can we say OVERSTIMULATED?!
ELMO!  



~ Pumpkin Patch ~ 
I love the pumpkin patch that we go to.  It is so close to home and there is a TON of stuff for the kids to do there once they pick out their pumpkins....

I did not force this hand holding - they did it all on their own!  :)

Look at little brother trying to help sissy carry the pumpkin!


Two cute kids if I do say so myself!



Ahh, the corn box!
Corn Angels - don't say you've never made them!  :)



~ Carving Pumpkins ~ 
Its so much fun to watch my kids explore new things.  Although pumpkin carving isn't new to either child, they still tend to freak out by the "goo" in the pumpkin!  They did a really good job picking out their pumpkins and we kept the carving simple this year - we asked the kids what they wanted and daddy drew and then cut them out!











~ Party Time ~
Our Friends, the Sorice family had a Halloween party, and we had such a good time!  It is so nice that my kids get along so well with Brynn and Hayden.  There were 11 kids there and our goal was to get 1 picture of all the kids in their costumes - some cooperated, some didn't!  Enjoy the pictures from the party...


Not a bad shot considering the chaos going on behind the camera lens!
Haylee and Brynn


~ Trick or Treating ~
Such a good time was had!  We went out with the Sorice's and Auntie Erin came along with us too!  Auntie Erin dressed up and looked great as Tom Cruise in Risky Business - yep, you know the scene!  Some shots from the night....






For us to always tell people that not much is new, and we haven't really done much - we are super busy people!  WOW!  All of this in the span of a week or two!  Whew! Hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween as much as we did!