Busy Busy Busy

The front room of our house has been a catch all since we moved in. It's set up strange and I just didn't know what to do with it. The room is really long and nothing really fit. Here is a picture from last Thanksgiving when we had ALL the family over. That's why there are so many chairs. :) Anyway, I'm standing in the dining room looking into the front room. It's basically all one room with some pillars in between.

First I started painting. It took me a little longer than normal because Shane wasn't home to watch the girls while I painted. I just painted during naps and at bedtime. I was so happy to finally have a plan for the room!  I painted the room the same color as the entry way. I want to have some fun stuff on the walls so I thought this would be a good background color. After I finished painting my mom came over and helped me move out all the junk that was in there and move in all the toys that have been scattered all over the house. We set up the playroom and it turned out awesome. All of the little colored baskets have sorted toys. I am soo happy with it! It's not totally finished. I want to set up a dress up corner with a mirror, add a chalk/magnet board, and I found this really cool picture of a tree to put on the wall. Hopefully we'll move out the filing cabinet and put in a tv so they can watch movies. Someplace for me to sit would be nice too. My backside doesn't fit on those little stools very well. :)

  Taken from the dining room

Taken from the entry way

The insperation for this huge makeover started a couple weeks ago when my mom and I decided to go shopping and I bought all these curtains. Let's just say I got inspired! I bought curtains for my dining room.

Curtains for the entry way so that when the play room is messy I can just close them and no one will know the difference.

And then curtains to separate the play room from the dining room.

I'll add more pictures when it's complete.  Another thing that we, (my mom, dad, aunt and I) have been working on is a hutch. My Aunt Deni gave it to me and it started out looking like this.

We took the crown molding off the top, changed out the handles and then painted it black. And it looked like this.

Then we had a mirror and glass shelves made and it ended up like this.

 My house looks so beautiful now. My mom really should be a designer or at least a professional stager. She is so awesome at that! My house just feels complete now. There are still lots of things I can do to it but just things to make it better. Not things to finish it. :) And I have to add...if it weren't for all the help it would never have been finished! My mom and I had so many ideas that we threw at my dad and he just figured them all out. He's awesome! :)

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1.02.28

Shall We Say Accident Prone??

The picture is pretty blurry but it shows her fat lip. Poor Heidi. I have a feeling that we are going to need some really good medical insurance for this kid while she is growing up!! Last month she had a black eye and this month she has a fat lip. 

So today...Heidi was standing at the top of the steps in my parents garage. The wind blew and the door slammed shut knocking her down the steps. She is such a tough girl! She cried of course and then she saw something that caught her attention and she was fine. Her face is pretty swollen. Actually it kind of looks like a Botox gone bad. :) She has a massive blister inside her lip and it looks like it really hurts. Hopefully her cheek doesn't turn black and blue!

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1.02.28

Shane's Amazing Guys Weekend

This weekend Shane has a a four day weekend so he rented a car and drove a couple hours to my cousin Julie's house near Phoenix. Shane's friend Steve drove out from Camarillo to meet him there and they are golfing all weekend with Julie's husband Ricky. They are having such a good time! They are eating good food, staying up drinking and playing lots and lots of golf. I think right now they are watching football together. Shane is in heaven!! :) Julie sent me some pictures from today that I had to post on here. Thanks Julie!!

 

Steve, Shane and Ricky golfing. Julie was there too but I'm guessing she is taking the picture. :)

Japanese Steakhouse for dinner. Shane said something about Kobe beef. I think I heard him drooling over the phone. :)

Sushi as an appetizer. Another one of Shane's favorite things. :) It's like Christmas in October!!

Colby's Welcome Home Party

Tonight we went to Colby's welcome home party. He got home from Afghanistan a couple weeks ago but tonight was the official party for all the family to thank him for his service to our country. It turned out really nice. I took all the pictures. I have to say...when you are taking pictures it's so hard not to take pictures of your own kids! Especially when they look so adorable!

 

 The cake was so cool looking! Yummy too. :)

 Mom and Dad

 Heidi was trying to jump to reacy that blue star. It was the cutest thing ever. :)

 Natalie is looking so grown up now. It's so sad. :(

 Heidi looked so cute tonight in one of her new birthday outfits and pigtails!

 I love this shot of Kingston and his Nana :)

 Susan and Colby

 How perfect is this face?? She actually looked at the camera and smiled!

 Sabrina and Susan

 Sabrina and Colby

 I like this one too :)

 Me and Sabrina

 Toni and Rose Marie

The Momma's...Rose Marie and Susan

Too Cute!!

Heading out to Bible Study. I can't get over how cute she looks today!!

My Sweet Girls

 I am really loving this stage for Heidi. She is so adorable! Right now she is saying so many more words and her voice is so sweet and soft. She loves to sing. Every night before she goes to bed we sing Jesus Loves Me together. Some of my favorite phrases are, Where aaaare you? and I love you soooo much.  She has the biggest smile. I guess it's more of a grin. It really lights up her whole face. You have to smile when she does...you can't help it. She only has two gears when she is moving...standing or running. When I pick her up from the Y or Sunday school, as soon as she sees me she yells, "Mommy!" and comes running as fast as her little legs will take her. She gives the best hugs and the cutes kisses. She loves to kiss me goodbye and then pretend to go somewhere. There are so many cute things about her I can't even think of them all! Although I can thing of one thing that she does that drives me crazy. She now answers everything with No!! But then she started saying No thank you, No thank you. And that totally makes me smile. You know how hard it is to be in the middle of disciplining your kid when all you want to do is laugh??

 

 I was cleaning my room and changing sheets yesterday and Heidi comes running in my room like this. They she looks at herself in the mirror and laughs hysterically! Such a funny kid!

And then there is Natalie. She is way past the cuddly toddler phase. Although she never really liked to cuddle. The only time I get to cuddle with Natalie is after she takes a nap...if she takes a nap. She likes to watch a show and sit on my lap until she is totally awake. Then she takes off never to return again.  She makes up her own songs and loves to pretend. She has an excelent memory...don't try to get anything past her! She is really smart. She tries to talk me into doing what she wants to do. If I say it's time for bed she says, How about a show first then bed? How about is how she starts most of her sentences. She is always trying to reason with me. She has been having a hard time since Shane has been gone. She just started throwing temper tantrums. Full on throw yourself on the floor, kick your legs and scream bloody murder. It's very nice. Last night she came into my room at 2:30 in the morning wanting to sleep with me. I told her she had to sleep in her own bed and got a full on tantrum in the middle of the night. Not a nice way to wake up! She is really good though otherwise. She is a great big sister. She loves to help Heidi and to "teach" her. She can't wait to go to school and go on a school bus. Hopefully she will stay excited for the next 2 years till she starts kindergarten. :)

 

 Cuddle time after actually taking a nap :)

I bought her a pair of pink cowboy boots from Target. She LOVES them!! She couldn't wait to show Bumpa her new "kicks" :)

Natalie's Last Soccer Game

 Soccer season is over. I'm really happy that we signed Natalie up this year. She learned things and had a lot of fun. There is such a huge difference from when she started to this last game. We happened to play a really good team this last game so it wasn't as nice as last week. Last week we played a team that was on the same level as our team. It was so much fun to watch. They all had a chance to play and kick the ball. This week we played a team that was mostly 4 year old boys. They were running circles around our little team! Literally! One kid was amazing and he would kick the ball way back to our goal and then run to get it and bring it back. He would pass it to the smaller kids on his team to give them a chance and still our kids barely touched the soccer ball. :) They had fun though and when the game was over we had some snacks. Cookies, chips and drinks. They were very happy about that! Then the coach passed out medals. I think they were happier with the snacks. :) But I got pictures and that is all that really matters. Natalie will have great memories to look back on when she gets older. :) 

 This is the kid that was running circles around everyone else

 This is what my little girl was doing today. She wasn't in the mood to play...probably cause she wasn't getting anywhere near the ball.

 The last few minutes they let everyone from both teams get on the field.

 I think this part is so cute! I love when they give high fives to the other team.

 All done! She just wanted cookies. :)

 Happy Girl

 The team relaxing after the season of soccer is over. Heidi made herself at home with the team. :)

 Aww...how cute is this?

 

 She shared her medal with Heidi.

 I love this shot!