9.29.2008

Pit Stop


We had to make a restroom stop on our way down to Oregon early Saturday morning. This little place was so peaceful, quiet, and beautiful!

Jaeden had been complaining about being bored - his famous word anytime we're not doing something he likes. So Keith made him run around the little park with him.

Of course, any time Mom can, she hauls out the camera. Smile, Jordan!

Hi, Miss Boo!

Signs of autumn abound - especially the falling leaves.

9.25.2008

Evolution of a Room

The "nook" to the right of this picture has gone from (since we moved in Feb 07) this awful, outdated linoleum/painted wallpaper/a million screws in the wall room...


to this crisp, clean slate that has evolved into...

a cheery apple green wannabe office/pantry/eating nook. You can see we were at a loss as to how to use this room. With a tiny cottage that lacks upstairs storage space (a person can get tired of traipsing down to the basement every time they forget one little ingredient), we definitely could use a large pantry. But I hated wasting the cheeriness of it on a pantry and we just hadn't gotten around to building the shelves.

I briefly (6 months or so) used it for an office. I liked that personal space except the window is too high to see out of when sitting at a desk, so I felt closed in a bit.

Then we debated building benches and a narrow table in the nook for our family dining area. It would be nice to get the table and chairs out of the little kitchen, but we can be glad for drop-leaf tables. This space has now evolved into...

a pink princess pad. If you have an aversion to PINK you really might want to divert your eyes now and skip the rest of this post.



Jaeden and Brooklyn were sharing a room up until now. It's time they had their own space.

We let Brooklyn choose the colors. She chose pink and brown. My momma always told me if I painted anything pink, go light 'cause pink is always really pink. She was right! It was a light pink, but maybe not light enough. However, it's fitting in this small space. We can deal with it! And tones of brown will really help to ground all that pink. I'm working on the brown trim in the middle today. It's taking several coats to get it really good. The lights over the windows are tiaras. Very cute! Can you believe we paid more for them than the bedding??? Yay for Target! Their back-to-school/college dorm line was on clearance and the PERFECT colors of pink and brown. We only paid $13 for her comforter, $13 for the sheets. The window hardware was also on clearance. So it was a really inexpensive room redo.

Keith built her bed and the little desk on the side that will be perfect for homework. I still need to paint them. What more does a child need? Boo is messy anyway, so it'll be great to only have to clean this tiny space when the time comes. In fact, I'm glad I took these pics 'cause it's already a bit of a mess!

We had the little pink wicker baskets on hand and have put her clothes in them. Socks/undies in one, shirts in another, etc. Still need to find a sheer curtain to put under the valance.

These frames were made to match the other stuff we found at Target and were on clearance as well for only $1.49 for a package of 2. We picked up some chipboard letters and stickers at Michaels that matched, and I already had the scrapbook paper so we created some very inexpensive artwork for her room. They'll be hung up on the wall above her bed. We had a couple of extra frames, so we put some pictures of her favorite cousins in AZ in one that is now hanging by her bed. Gotta straighten out the papers in the frame - I let Boo help - and wipe off the fingerprints before hanging.

So, did we cure your pink cravings for the day?

Don't forget to check out this post and leave a comment to be entered into the "Giveaway" drawing on October 1st!

Thanks for all the comments that have been left! We won't require you to leave one every time now, we just wanted to see who really does stop by from time to time. It's reassuring to know Mom hasn't made all of the 1,000 hits on our blog! (wink, wink Mom)

We've been staying rather busy lately. Keith is helping his boss remodel for a new restaurant he's opening up (yeah, I know - I thought the boss owned a nursery...but he's also a chef). They were behind schedule so Keith got involved and started cracking the whip with the contractors and helped speed things up a bit. But on the flip side, it's involved a lot of late nights. I'll be glad when they're finally open for business. Maybe we'll have him to ourselves again.

I've been volunteering to run the Student Store at the elementary school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The kids are so funny! What they come up with sometimes... I'm having fun with it. I stayed later and helped the ladies in the office this morning filling in health forms for all the kindergarten and new students. In a couple of weeks, I'll help them do the health screenings. It's been a very fun diversion! The office girls tell me I need to go turn in an application so I can get paid for the stuff I'm doing and they want me to be able to sub when they're gone. We'll see...

Jordan is looking forward to the Homecoming game tomorrow night. He'll be going with a friend of ours who is an Alumnus and went to school there probably over 30 years ago. Jordan seems to still be enjoying his guitar lessons.

Keith and I and the littler munchkins will head up north tomorrow afternoon to see our brother and sis-in-law who are stopping in on their way to who-knows-what state. They're long-haul truckers for those of you who don't already know that little tidbit. So they traverse the US within just a matter of a day or two.

Then after that and the game, we'll come back to pick up Jordan and head out to the Oregon coast for a quick weekend trip to see these awesome people! Can't wait!!! BBQ's on the beach, sandcastle building, kite flying, hiking and whatever else we can come up with....

Happy weekend to everybody!

9.15.2008

A Giveaway

Giveaway is officially closed now - Oct. 1 @ 9:00 PM. Thank you so much for all your comments! It's been fun to see who reads us. Results to be posted shortly...
We are reaching out to family and friends here... We know there are a few of you who actually do read our blog. But other than a few faithful out there, nobody EVER leaves a comment. We adore comments even if it's only once in a while, just to let us know people actually stop by. I mean, isn't that the purpose of blogging??? Okay, I'm just as guilty here of not always leaving comments on other's blogs, but I try to make a point of doing it once in a while.

(Fall 2007)



So to encourage comments, we are hosting a little FALL GIVEAWAY. For anyone who leaves a comment (we have to know you - whether friend/family), we will enter your name into a drawing to be made October 1st. So any comments left between today and October 1st will be entered into the drawing to receive a lovely gift basket of fall stuff - no strings attached. We all know we love FREE goodies and I promise they'll be good ones!


(Fall 2007)


This is a bit in celebration of doing our 50th post. Wow, time flies, doesn't it?!? And don't be shy, please. We can probably count on two hands the number of comments we've had so far. You can do an anonymous one if you don't have a blog yourself, just remember to leave your first name so we know who stopped by. I'm pretty sure it's not hard to do. If you have any questions, email us and we'll try to help you. So comment away!!!



Hugs,

Salmon Bake


On Saturday, we went to an annual Salmon Bake in beautiful Gig Harbor. This is only the second or third time we've gone, although we're invited every year. Dave, the man that puts it on (in white sweatshirt), owns a commercial fishing boat and catches the salmon. He and his father used to work with my father-in-law at the shipyard. The way he seasons and grills it - it's so yummy! A big plus - no bones to pick out! Even Jordan (who has an intense dislike of anything seafood) and Brooklyn (who feels the same about fish anything) both enjoy it. That's saying a lot!

It's a potluck, so there's a ton of other yummy food as well. We took lemon tarts, broccoli salad, and baked potato salad. Excellent food and lots of great company!

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!

Daddy's Girl


She drives her dad crazy sometimes with always wanting to sit on his lap. It's automatic - if he sits down, she's there. He has to remind himself that she'll grow up all too soon and won't want to sit on his lap anymore and to take advantage of it while it lasts.



9.02.2008

It's Here!

First Day of School 2008
First Day of School 2007
See any changes? Jordan of course is soooo hard to get a smile out of, Brooklyn is definitely in a happier mood this morning than this time last year, and Jaeden - well, Jaeden is always smiling (unless he's whining of course). Growth changes? I definitely think the two younger ones are taller this year and I definitely see Jordan's maturity. Isn't he handsome?
Jordan - Sophomore
Jaeden - 3rd Grade
Brooklyn - 2nd Grade
It's a cloudy, foggy morning so the lighting is awful in the picture. Sorry! Would've helped if I'd taken their picture outside, but it was too cold. Brrrrrr....
Hope you're all settling back into your fall routines!
(Yikes!! I just realized how blurry last year's photo is - it was so hard to get them to stand still for two seconds)