Thursday

I got Henry some shades at the mall yesterday and he's been wearing them happily ever since.  I may have gotten them for my own enjoyment as well...I can't stop laughing when he has them on.

About a month or so ago I got Henry a little Toy Story notebook and pencils and encouraged him to draw a picture of Woody and Buzz. He's always liked to color for a little bit, but never tried drawing actually things or people before. Once he actually tried, he has colored for probably 2-3 hours per day. I'm barely exaggerating here, folks. He loves to color and draw. And I've totally gotten over the "my children are not going to use coloring books...it limits their imaginations" theory. It may be true. Or may not be true. But regardless, he loves his coloring books.

I like his use of color in this one:

So here is the quilt I found at a garage sale last week for 4 DOLLARS. Seriously, I can't believe someone got rid of this. I would have paid, like, $20 bucks for this. That's like a normal person saying they would have paid $125 bucks for this. But 4 DOLLARS. Oh yeah.

It's going to be for Harper's "Big Girl Room" and is in perfect condition.

Here's a close-up of the "yo-yo's".

So I'm thinking I'll leave the walls blue and do something crazy like paint the trim a coral color. Or paint coral mural stuff on the walls. Or somethin'. Fun!

My next favorite garage sale purchase was something for our kitchen:

I got all the 4 big ones for a total of $24 and the little one at a separate sale for $1. So 5 for $25. That felt like a lot of money for me to spend at a garage sale, but considering a new apothecary glass jar is about the price I paid for all 5 of them, it was a fairly good deal. I'm going to use them for my flour/sugar/oatmeal/etc. Fun, eh?

And here's the latest with our kitchen:

Our stove is waiting for some electrical work so we can plug her in. We needed a slide in stove to work with the island and for some reason gas slide-in stoves are a bit ridiculously priced, so went to electric. A little sad, but it will still get the job done!

Those are the pretty floors. 

I'm staining the cupboards of the island for the 1st step, and then I'm going to paint them a sweet vintage green (think Martha Stewart) and distress them like crazy. I don't want everything to look nice and new since this house is far from nice and new. We had been looking for an old piece of cupboard or something cool to use as the island, but had no such luck...this will (hopefully) be the next best thing. The rest of the cupboards are going to be "swan white" and then we got some stainless steal shelving for the walls also. But, you know, it will probably be August before we get it all done.

And that is all. Hope you all have a great Thursday!!

Life Lately

So much going on lately and so much to get done.

I feel a tad bit flustered.

Just like the rest of you moms out there, I'm sure!

Our kitchen. Yeah, haven't been able to do much with it while we wait for our counter tops. Why do they take 4 weeks to get?!

My brother and his wife welcomed a super sweet little boy into the world early Saturday morning. 

His name is David Aaron and he is seriously ca-ute. He has been diagnosed with Downs Syndrome, so please pray for their family as they adjust to his needs. God placed him into a very loving family with 3 older siblings who are going to love him like crazy. He'll be in the hospital for a couple more days, but he is doing great.

I can't wait to meet him!!!

Another friend had a baby boy on Monday and another friend is going to have a baby boy any day. Boys, boys, boys!!

I have found some great deals at garage sales so far. I'll post some photos. Someday.

Next Saturday is the last day of the Farrell's 10 week program. It went way fast. And I signed up to do it for a whole year after that. Huge commitment, but I'm excited. Even though I almost passed out today. The instructors have no mercy. None at all. (in a good way)

So that's life lately.

Hope your week has been wonderful!!

Mother's Day

What a lovely weekend!

RJ and I got a major date night on Friday to some of our favorite places. Kwong Tung for appetizers, Smokey Row for a friend's graduation open house, and then to Gusto Pizza to use a coupon. So yummy. Our kids even spent the night away that night so we didn't have to rush to get home. Just what I needed after such a long couple of weeks of sickness! Saturday I woke up bright and early for Farrell's and then headed to a garage sale where I scored 5 beautifully vintage dresses for $2 a piece. I'm a little obsessed with cute vintage dresses and my collection might be getting a little our of control. Just depends on who you ask.

My parents came down on Saturday afternoon and I went with them to a wedding of a family friend of ours. It was a beautiful wedding and so fun! 

Sunday I woke up to a few little presents for Mother's Day, church, Panera, and then to Lowe's to pick out flowers...along with every other mother in town. Man, that place was busy!

Thanks to my lovely mom for helping me. I've got no clue when it comes to flowers other than I think they're pretty. 

The kiddos can't pass by them without smelling them.

After naps we went down to the sculpture garden to take some pictures and play.

I have a "flat stanley" from my nephew Sam and had to take some pictures of him for a school project. We got some pretty fun ones!

And that's all for now. Hope you all have a great week!!

Flu 2011

Oh, for REAL.

My children just got over the worst flu bug ever. 

Henry started Monday night LAST week and wasn't completely normal until Sunday.

Harper started her journey early Saturday morning and seems to be completely normal finally today.

Lots of pukes. Lots of the other stuff. Lots of laying around because of weakness. Lots of crying and whining. (I certainly don't blame them for that!) Lots of boring days waiting for everyone to be better. Lots of happiness that it's OVER!

Thankfully RJ and I managed to stay healthy. I'm not surprised RJ didn't get sick. His immune system is like a rock...I think he's called in sick once since I've known him??

I'm super surprised that I didn't get it.  Maybe it's because my hands are raw from washing them so much? Regardless, I am thankful us adults were healthy to take care of the sickly ones.

So I'm going a little nut-so, and am in major need of some adult interaction.

(Can't wait for a girls night at Smokey Row!! Woo-Hoo!!)

We were still able to make some progress in the house. Floors installed thanks to the help of RJ's dad. Base cupboards purchased but yet to be primed/painted/and put where they need to be. We *sold* our old stove and fridge on Craigslist!! Man, when that site works I love it, but it can also be so annoying.

On Saturday, a friend from church re-did our majorly-in-need-of-repair front steps, which we then stained. I'm in the process of spray painting our front screen door black too. Super lovin' it! 

So this is probably a bit silly that I feel a need to say this, but we refinanced a bit of our house so we could make some improvements. We've lived here for 5 1/2 yrs and got an amazing deal on this place thanks to a short sale so were able to take out some (not all) of our equity. It also lowered our interest rate! We don't suddenly have a lot of money. Trust me.  Ok. There. Just wanted to make that clear. :)

So, hopefully I'll get some photos up soon. 

And hopefully you aren't overly tired of house posts. 

I'll do more fun ones. Promise!

Have a great Thursday!