Swingset - Update

Well, the one-hour project turned into 4 and we only have parts of the set in our backyard. From what I understand, the screws are stripped and put way too far into the wood, etc., etc., etc. But after 4 hours in the rain, the boys decided to call it a day and headed home. In the meantime, I finished the curtains for the kitchen and have been dealing with a sick little boy. He's been coughing and hacking and has a really runny nose, and now has a rash all over his back. We just got back from the Dr. and the poor little guy has Roseola. He and Dave are laying on the couch watching Baby Einstein (praise God for Baby Einstein) and my plan is to go lay down as well. It's been an exhausting day and I need to rest up for The Bachelorette tonight - I have a feeling that it's going to be the most dramatic rose ceremony ever and I want to make sure I'm well rested :)

No Small Undertaking

Last week I got a call from one of my co-workers asking if I'd be interested in having her daughter's (one of my students) little old swingset. She said it was kind of run down, but that we were more than welcome to come and take a look at it and if we wanted it we could have it! We packed up and headed over and this is what we saw...
It's AWESOME! We'll have to re-stain it, but that's not a big deal. So this morning Dave, my dad and Dave's brother Matthew are over there disassembling it and loading it up to bring back to our house and then reassemble. They're thinking that it's only going to take an hour or so to disassemble the entire thing and load it into the truck... I think they're crazy :) At least it's a little overcast and not already 92 degrees this morning. ha! I'll post again when it's put back together in our yard (it may be next year, but hey, we'll see). :)

Splash Zone

Luke loves to lay on his back in the bathtub (I have pictures of this that I'll post later), and he's figured out how to make really big splashes by lifting up and "dropping" his feet into the water. Virtually as soon as we put him into the tub, he flips onto his back and starts splashing. We've dubbed whichever direction his feet are pointed the "splash zone" as you're definitley going to get soaked if you're in the area.

(Please note my strategically placed modesty washcloth. ha!)

Lovesac, baby lovesac...

I'll go ahead and apologize for the cheesiest blog title ever, but I just couldn't resist :)

For a while now we've been looking for some "soft seating" for Luke's little play area and after looking at Pottery Barn anywhere chairs (and then seeing the prices and throwing up in my mouth a little bit) I decided to look into other alternatives. I immediately thought of the Lovesac and started scouring the Internet for a deal. Have ya'll seen how crazy expensive these things are?!?! Like $700+ expensive! If you know me, you know that there was no way in HECK I was going to pay $700 for anything (ha!) but I managed to find it for a really good deal on Craigslist. So last Friday night my mom accompanied me to Frisco (because she's always afraid anytime I buy anything on Craigslist that I'm going to get abducted) to meet this really sweet family and buy their lovesac. I had seen some pictures, but was a little astounded at how HUGE it was and continued to be astounded as we drove home on 121 without being able to see anything (it took up the entire back of my jeep... floor to ceiling). After having to call my dad over to help me get it in the house and then wedging it through our front door, we have a new best friend... Yes, it is mildly reminiscent of college-life, but is that really a bad thing?!?!? I'm sure that if you're a decorator you're probably a little bit disgusted right now, but really, we have a giant corral set up in our dining room, so we're a little beyond common decorating sense right now anyway :) Function over form is kind of the name of the game.

It's unbelievably comfy - Luke love it, Dave loves it, I love it, my parents love it - we're considering getting rid of all our other furniture and just having a bunch of these (ha!) We're hoping that this will be around for a long time, providing not only a comfy place to sit in Luke's play area, but extra seating for when we're all watching a movie, etc., etc. To give you a general idea of it's size...
You don't have to admit it out loud, but deep down I know you want to sit in it. So next time you're over, feel free to flop down and enjoy. :)

Snaggle Tooth

Luke's teeth have not come in as expected :)

First of all, he was over a year before he even started cutting his first tooth! He got his bottom middle two teeth first, and one has come in completely crooked.

We assumed that he'd get his middle top two next, but boy were we wrong. The snaggle tooth showed up on the scene and has been stealing the show ever since! The one on the other side started coming through and we were anticipating him looking like he lost his two front teeth, but now it looks like the middle two are going to give it a run for it's money. :) We're hoping that Luke is going to have all of his wierd tooth issues with his baby teeth and that his permanent teeth will come in perfectly straight beautifully spaced. A girl can dream, right???

In the meantime, Luke's lack of teeth is not slowing him down when it comes to eating and trying new foods. This week he's been introduced to pork chops, pimento cheese sandwiches (ewww! this was Dave's doing, not mine!), crescent rolls, twice baked potatoes and caramel caribou ice cream. He's loved it all (surprise, surprise) and somehow manages to chew like a champ!

YUM!

I know that this post is going to be random, but it's just a little teeny insight into one of the things that makes me VERY VERY happy... yummy food! And the last day I have been extremely happy as the photos on the left show :) Last night, awesome grilled burger and a Diet Coke (my 2nd of the day - eeek!) and then this morning cinnamon rolls and Starbucks - I'm sorry, but it doesn't get any better than that. Tonight I'm making poppyseed chicken so the good times should just keep on rollin'. ha!

On a side note, Luke and I ventured out to the beach club this afternoon and I really thought that I was going to die while I was packing him up and driving over there. It's close enough that my car never fully cools down and loading and unloading Luke, his stroller, beach toys, etc is exhausting! I have vowed to be a hermit for the rest of the week :) it's just not worth going out. I think he drank about half a gallon of chlorinated water and ate a good fist full of sand while we were there, but he had a great time. I didn't bring my camera so I don't have any photographic proof of his good time, but the sand in his swimsuit, my swimsuit, my car, my front hall and my bathroom can vouch for us :)

Where the heck is Padma?!?!?!

As mush as I say that I hate summer TV and that there's never anything on, I've managed to get sucked into some pretty "quality" shows this summer :) , so much so that I feel the need to share my opinions... ha! Please be prepared to be disgusted with the amount of time I've wasted watching shows that I won't remember anything about in about 6 weeks:

1) The Bachelorette - I think Jillian is absolutely adorable and I love everything that she is wearing, but am seriously disturbed by the whole "fantasy suite" preview... I guess I'll have to wait and see what it really is, since often they hype it up to seem like something that it isn't. AND, can anyone else NOT STAND Wes?!?!?! He's creeped me out from the beginning, and this week I found myself almost yelling at the TV! How can she not see that he's ooogy?!?! So glad that we'll be seeing more of Jake in the coming episodes - he's one of my favs.

2) Jon & Kate Plus 8 - UGH! If I hear Jon say one more time that he's doing "what's best for his kids" and that "his kids come first" I think I really might throw up. I think what's best for your kids is not having an affair and not leaving your family! Also, I can't believe that people are giving them such flack about "exploiting" their children. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a whole lot of people who would turn down the opportunities they have had when faced with the prospect of paying for clothing, food, cars, insurance, college, weddings, etc, for 8 kids. And then to have her brother and sister-in-law come on tv and say that they're concerned for the well-being of the kids?!?!?! UGH!

3) The Real Housewives of New Jersey - Love! Love! Love! I've watched all of the Real Housewives shows (guilty pleasure, I know) and have absolutely LOVED this season. Can't wait for Part 2 of the Reunion Special tomorrow night.

4) Tori and Dean Home Sweet Hollywood - Another guilty pleasure, but come on, they're so cute! I've especially enjoyed watching their son Liam throw tantrums in public - I guess it just makes them seem more relatable. :)

5) The Fashion Show - I'm not sure why I even watch this show, but I do... every time I episode I just complain about how much better Project Runway was. ha!

6) Top Chef Masters - Dave and I love to watch Top Chef together, and I'm not really sure why - I don't know what they're talking about half the time and the other half of the time I think that what they're making sounds gross. I guess that just speaks to my "immature palette". Right now they're doing this kind of "All Star" thing for charity and I'm liking it, but seriously, where the heck is Padma?!?!?! If you don't know what I'm talking about, Padma has always been the host and now they've brought in this tiny little girl, Kelly. I'm going through Padma withdrawals and considered not watching in protest, but I gave in and set my TiVo's season pass.

In closing, I'd like to thank my TiVo for making watching this much TV possible. Without it I wouldn't be able to skip through all the "previously ons" and "coming ups" on the Bachelorette and I wouldn't be able to watch 4 hours worth of TV in 2.

If you have any good recommendations for other shows I should TiVo (because obviously I don't have enough), let me know... as long as it's not America's Got Talent - I refuse to watch that :)

Hugs for Everyone (and everything)

Luke is going through a "huggy" phase and I am LOVING it! He's hugging everybody and everything! He'll come up to me and just lay his head on my shoulder. He's also giving hugs to his toys, books and chairs.

Here he is at the library hugging three different chairs:

Here's the sweet boy at home hugging the window and a pair of shoes:
So if you're in need of a hug, please stop by and Luke would be much obliged to give you one.

What Goes Around Comes Around

For years, my parents have told stories recalling my "strong-willed nature" as a child - including my love for running in the exact opposite direction that they were going (including an episode where I actually ran into a neighbor's house and hid underneath a bed... I was 3 and I thought it would be funny) and repeatedly telling them, "you're not the boss of me". When Luke was born my mom told me that "what goes around comes around" and that she anticipated Luke having a mind of his own and most definitley wanting to do things his way. And Lord, let me tell you, was she right! :) Luke has absolutely one of the sweetest, happiest, cuddliest little personalities ever, but when he has his mind set on something, he's going to do it.

My mom and I had to run an errand in Frisco on Saturday night and so we decided to head over to Stonebriar. After chowing down on some Chick-Fil-A, we let Luke loose and he was off! He's got the walking thing down pat and he had an absolute BLAST exlporing everything at the mall. He had to touch every trash can, hug every pole and walk the exact OPPOSITE way that I was walking. He is determined!

He's a total ham, and his other antics included taking the two halves of his cookie and placing them over his ears, then over his eyes, then on his head - he was loving that people were talking to him, smiling and laughing. Class clown, here we come.

Father's Day

This Father's Day, Luke and I had several surprises up our sleeves for Dave.

First, I took a bunch of pictures of Mr. Man in his "My Dad is my Hero" shirt wearing a new pair of shoes for Dave. Then I put together this collage for the front of his card: and on the inside there was a cute little poem about Daddy's leading their sons and I wrote something about how if he was going to be leading Luke, he needed some cute shoes to do it in (and the shoes we gave him were the shoes in the pictures).

Then, my Dad and I installed a flag pole bracket on Saturday night and when Dave first got up on Sunday morning Luke and I took him outside to see this:
He's always wanted an American flag for our house (and I'm really excited too, because some of my fondest memories from growing up were that my mom had all these cheesy flags for different holidays and seasons and Mark and I would get SOOOOOOOOOO excited to put them up... now I want to be the mom with the cheesy holiday flags. ha!)

Surprisingly I didn't take many pictures from the day - probably becuase there wasn't a whole lot going on. We ate pancakes before church (Luke rubbed a TON of syrup in his hair and ended up in the nursery smelling like a pancake), Grandpa and Gibi came over after church and we gave Grandpa his presents, Dave watched golf in the afternoon and then we grilled pork chops for dinner. Yum! I did manage though to snap this cute picture:

His snaggle tooth has really come in (ha!) and he's working on the other top teeth.

Tainted Past

On Friday, I bit the bullet and took Luke to the library. You might be asking yourself why I was so hesitant... well, it's because back in Junior High I checked out a bunch of books before a trip to Canada (probably a lot of and Lurlene McDaniel books... ha!). I'm not sure how, but some of those books never made it back to the library and others made it back VERY, VERY, VERY late, somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 late. So what did I do??? I didn't tell my parents, and the next time we went to the library I told my mom that I had forgotten my card and asked to borrow hers - then I proceeded to rack up about another $40 in fines. Ouch. When my mom unknowingly returned to the library to check out books (probably for a Bible Study she was leading or some other noble cause), the librarian proceeded to cut up her card and told her that she wasn't welcome back in the library until our "family's" fines were paid and after that she needed to think twice about bringing me. Ooops.

So anyway, 10 years, a new last name and 2 new addresses later, I figured that it might be safe to return to the McKinney Public Library. Thankfully my "record" wasn't even mentioned when I applied and received my card and Luke, Gibi and I headed to the children's section. I think that we have a better selection of board books at our house, but nonetheless, Luke enjoyed playing with the puzzles, running up and down the aisles and cautiously eyeing the older kids.

When we were done inside we headed out to look at the fountains and decided it would be cute to take Luke's picture with the statue sitting on the bench in front of the building - Luke proceeded to point out all the relevant body parts like eyes, ears, mouth and nose.
I'm not sure we'll be back to the library until he's old enough to not rip the pages out of non-board books, but at least I can sleep better at night knowing that my tainted library past is not going to impact my children :)

Good Morning

Good Morning, Everyone.

Love,

Luke (How could it not be a good morning when you get to see this sweet face?!?!)

Squeaky McGoo

A mom of one of my students has a little boy that's about a year older than Luke, and ever since Luke was first born she's blessed me with lots of John's cute clothes and shoes that he's outgrown. Yesterday, I happened to remember her giving me these little tennis shoes that squeak when you walk and saying that they were supposed to encourage kids to walk instead of crawl. I popped them on Luke's feet and he immediatley took off! He's been doing a mix of walking and crawling, but after yesterday afternoon it's been walking all the way. Please excuse the fact that Luke has no pants on (ha!) he had just gotten up from a nap (and seriously, can you really take a good nap with pants on??? I don't think so!). So anyway, here's a video of my little Squeaky McGoo running around making LOTS of noise:

Beach Baby

Over the past couple of weeks we've been trying out all the different pools and our favorite by far is the Stonebridge Beach Club. It's great becuase Luke loves to explore and he can go in and out of the water on his own as much as he likes. There has been a little bit of sand-consumption :) and some occasional drama when it's time to leave, but overall it's been our favorite place to hang out. Here are a few pictures from our very first visit...

Walking and Waving

This video is of Luke showing off two of his new skills - walking and waving. He's been working on both of these for a few weeks now and I am confident to say tha the's got them both down pat. See for yourself:

Finally!!!

Today we met up with our Bible study girls and all their many kiddos at a pool in Plano for a fun afternoon. It's always great catching up and getting to see how big everyone's kids have gotten since the last time we saw them.

It never seems to matter how much food I bring for Luke - someone else's food always tastes better! :) ha! I know that Jeni told me not to worry about Luke "sharing" Jackson's food, but I think that Jackson's face in the picture below says otherwise: Luke and Kensington:

Off to get in some trouble (actually he was probably either trying to touch the birds or grab a ball):

Pretty much my view of him the entire time:

So I stole this picture off of Shaeffer's blog because I didn't have my camera at the time - I'm not really sure what to say about it :) He was playing and then he was laying on the concrete. ha! The lifeguard kind of gave him a weird look and when I would ask him if he was taking a nap he'd give me this silly little smile... I guess this was some kind of game : ) He cracks me up!!!

After we left the pool we headed to my very favorite yarn shop in Plano (The Woolie Ewe) because I'm getting started on my scarves early this year as last year I ran out - and this was Luke passed out in the car about a minute and a half after leaving. WARNING! If you do not like gratuitous use of the word "poop", please don't read the following:

Thanks to all of my mom friends for listening to my tales of Luke's poop plight today and offering up all of your helpful advice (and watching him strain, do pushups and make his horrible poop face in the pool). I successfully used a suppository when we got home with almost immediate results, and then 2 more results later in the afternoon :) Then tonight he started having more "results" in the bathtub and so Dave picked him up (so he wasn't sitting in poop water) and he proceeded to pee all over Dave :) I know it's gross - but I'm keeping this blog kind of like a journal and this was just one of those moments that was too funny to not write down and remember. :)

Goodbye Forever, Safari Tan

Before I reveal the pictures of my newly painted family room, I think that I owe my bible study girls pictures of Luke's nursery from a few weeks ago :) I've finally hung the pictures and am liking how his room has come together in this house... I still think it was cuter in our old house (he had a valance up and some cute shelves, you can check it out here, as long as you ignore the picture of my HUGE belly at the beginning of the post. ha!)

The pictures are a little out of order, but hopefully you'll be able to get the idea. Here's his armoire, glider and changing table:

This is the view from the doorway...

The crib - please note that we had to remove his bumper MONTHS ago (he was burying his face in it at night and I was freaking out) and his crib is already in the lowest possible position due to his love of jumping in his bed :)

My mom made all the bedding (love it!) and so here's an idea of the fabrics (since the bumper and valence are gone)

I have absolutely loved this changing table thingie... I picked it up at Bombay Kids in Frisco when they were going out of business and it works perfectly on top of his dresser. The rubbed finish on it even matches!

His closet - one of my favorite little organizational tips that I got from my mom is to check out thrift stores and consignment shops for cheap furniture that you can put in your closets to help make the most of the space. I picked the white changing table in his closet up one day for $8.00 and it has been the best! At the time I had my VW beetle and couldn't fit it in the back, and this couple who spoke no Englisher could tell I was super frustrated in the parking lot and so they loaded it in their suburban and followed me to my house (Dave was kind of mad when I told him... he thought it was mildly dangerous... but I wasn't about to leave without the changing table! ha!)

This is standing in his room looking out. The door on the right leads into our office which has french doors into our bedroom.

Again standing in his bedroom and looking straight down the hall into the family room: Now onto my giant summer project - painting! Our family room, dining room, main hallway and laundry room were all painted a lovely shade of "desert tan" which in itself doesn't sound too bad, but all I could see when I looked at it was pink (check it out here). So 5 gallons of Behr Bronze Green later and we have this!

I think that it's way more "me"

I took this picture because 1) it shows the color really well and 2) it shows how insanely textured our walls are! One of the things I loved about the house was the plastered walls, but what I didn't anticipate was what a pain it was going to be to paint... I had to go in and do a lot of brushwork and it really sucked in the paint.

I couldn't stop with the family room, so I continued the color down the main hall (don't worry - that mirror will eventually be hung)

and into the laundry room as well (which I posted about yesterday). Thank goodness I can check that monster of a task off my to-do-list. Now, onto the kitchen, eating area, guest bath, master bedroom and office! ha!

Monday = FUNday

Since Dave works in the "service industry" his weekends are typically Sunday and Monday and during the summer we really enjoy getting to spend Mondays as a family (without all the typical Sunday activity). Today I had to get a bunch of stuff at Wal-Mart and Luke and Dave came along - we stopped and got ice cream at McDonalds first and here's a picture of Luke saying his blessing (he puts his hands together to say it anytime he's in a highchair! So cute!) There was a little girl a few tables over and Luke spent the entire time ignoring the ice cream and staring at her:

Here's a few pictures of Luke playing with his puppy ball in the car on the way home. He has been rear-facing until this past Saturday and it's a whole new world for both of us :)

When we got home we were playing before he was going to go down for a nap and he accidentally sat in his drum - he looks pitiful, but I think he was more scared than hurt :) ha!

I got busy finishing up the laundry room. I painted it the same color as our living room and hall (I just realized I haven't posted pics of that project yet, maybe tomorrow) and am LOVING it so far!

Then I went through Luke's closet and dresser and pulled out two boxes full of clothes that he's already outgrown. I'm about to show ya'll something that I'm kind of embarrassed about... do ya'll keep your kids clothes in case you have another one of the same gender??? I've just been boxing Luke's stuff up and putting it out in the garage... ...and here's what we have from my maternity clothes up until now...

Is this abnormal??? Weird??? Something I should be concerned about??? (the boxes and boxes and boxes of clothing and toys - not the messy garage)

Anyway, when Luke went down for his nap and Dave was "resting" (aka watching TV with his eyes closed) I got my glue gun out and started gettin' crafty :) (Cadence was resting as well - in an obviously well-selected sunny spot in the kitchen).

I told ya'll about The Shabby Nest the other day, and ever since I found her site and saw her post about creating a moss ball I got super excited. So I took the seemingly random three items below:

And turned them into this:

The urn thingie I picked up at a thrift store for $1.90, the ball belonged to Luke and the moss is from WalMart for $1.88. Not too bad for under $5! I also made some smaller versions (out of golf balls), but will wait to show those to ya'll until I find the perfect container.

Next, I printed out these cute vintage bird prints (my computer has been saying it's out of ink for the last 6 weeks, but miraculously it managed to print for me today! YAY!) and replaced my floral prints (that I got out of a calendar at Hobby Lobby). I think it's a little more subtle and I really like them. I'm starting to paint the kitchen and I think they'll look really good after the walls are gold

During my craft-a-palooza I was inspired to digitally scrapbook a little sign for my basket in my laundry room (I'm not really sure what came over me)

After dinner Gibi headed over and gave Luke a haircut while he sat in his wagon... classy, I know :) He has to get his haircut at least once a month or else it gets absolutely out of control. It's super thick and starts looking scraggly really easily - lucky for us Gibi is awesome at cutting his hair!

We were so anxious to get the hair cutting started that I didn't even wipe his face after dinner... ooops!

Almost done:

After the haircut it was straight to the tub, where Luke got to practice his newest trick - laying on his back all by himself... ... and then flipping over to his tummy

Can someone please tell me when my baby got big enough to wear Buzz Lightyear pajamas and brush his teeth before bed?!?!?! (please excuse the fact that by 7:00 I was already in my pajamas... and that they were covered in crushed up cookies)

Anyone????

After bath and teeth brushing, it was time for some books and a bottle before bed.

Since Luke has been in bed I've done some laundry, made and ate beef enchiladas, watered my plants and watched the Bachelorette! It was a super busy, but really fun day! :)