Happy Birthday Jesus

Thank you Lord for the best gift of all.

I love the time we have had with family.
I loved seeing how much they appreciated their gifts we chose.
I wanted to take a few moments and remember about the best gift.

We are flying home tomorrow (Jeff & I). The boys are coming home and we will finally get to celebrate Christmas with our small family. Everything is ready and waiting for the excited sounds of the boys as they see their bulging stockings and the early morning wake up to open all their gifts. I wait all year for that moment.

I never updated but we did finish our projects...we strung popcorn and cranberries

I also made the silhouette ornaments and my "S" monogram wreath.

Since I believe Christmas is a frame of mind and not just a day, I am eagerly looking forward to getting home and having my family all around as we drown in wrapping paper and ribbon and watch their precious faces as they see what they are given. I can't wait to drink hot cocoa and apple cider and nibble on Christmas snacks. I'll see you all soon for new years!!

I just had to leave a picture of the view from the back deck of Jeff's house in Mass where we just had a wonderful Christmas with our family. We love you!

wrapped around his little finger

(Davis coming home from school, Jeff in the kitchen doing dishes)

D: Hey Jeff! What is this paper for? Can i have it?
(J looks over and notices it is leftover christmas wrap)
J: OK. What do you need it for? (with D you just never know)
D: It's a surprise!
(5 minutes later he comes back and asks Jeff to sit down)
D: Merry Christmas! (handing him a small "package")
(Jeff opens the package and discovers a quarter)
J: WOW! Are you sure you want me to have this? (Davis is very big on saving and a quarter is a big deal)
D: Yes, I saved it for you.....but there is something more in there too, just make sure you don't tear it.

This is the point when Jeff discovers the true gift. A handmade certificate that says:

World's Best Step-Dad

Could there be any better gift ever? And yes it is proudly displayed on the fridge!

Excessive energy painting

What is that you ask?

It is the result of all the excitement from holiday decorating still churning through me at 11:30 pm at night when there are no more twinkle lights to hang, garland to create or Bethlehem villages to arrange and something in me is begging to create something great.

OK...great is a relative term but my 8 year old thinks I created a masterpiece!

Do you remember a few posts back when I showed off my new painting for over the couch? It was my inspiration for this project. I have a table/lamp combo that needs a makeover in a big way.

So far all I have changed is the lampshade, but I think it has huge impact. I have been thinking about it for a long time but I couldn't decide if I should. I really liked the idea of painting the shade and because it is across the room from the painting I wanted to mimic it to create some cohesiveness. BUT I also worried if a painted lampshade would make my painting less artistic and more design. The painting was a very big release for me and when I started I had no idea how it would turn out, I felt like I was just releasing myself and I didn't want to lose that feeling I get every time I look at the painting. When my sister in love Kelli was visiting over Thanksgiving I mentioned my idea to her and she thought it was a good one so it is thanks to her that I took the plunge :)

Guess what? I painted the lampshade and i STILL get the feeling!!

These are the AFTER pictures:
you can see the painting in the background along with our Sam sleeping on the couch
The little strange things on the top are tiny Santas hanging from the top of my shade (thank you Davis)
I still need to decide what to do with the ugly white post, the ugly brass thingy ma bobbee and how I should treat the table/legs part. Any suggestions? PLEASE help me out. It is better with the shade but it still doesn't go with everything else.

Comments, Comments, Comments!!!!!!!!!

decorating heaven

(a dark picture of my garland that doesnt do it justice)
I love to spend time planning and preparing when I decorate and I especially love just jumping in and making a huge mess and coming out with something that is beautiful to me and makes my family feel at home. Christmas decorating gives me all that and more.
(this is a picture of the garland close up)
I have a tree in every room....not just every bedroom but EVERY room in the house. Some rooms like the bathrooms and kitchen have small ones, but the ones in each of our bedrooms are my favorite! The big one in our living room is our family tree. It has the collection of the boys ornaments that are added to each year and lovingly remembered as they are hung. It also has all the ornaments collected as we travel and a million memories from our families and our trips. That one is special and i'm usually crying before all the ornaments are hung. This year I am planning on stringing popcorn and cranberries (i'll let you know how it goes).

The bedroom trees were each planned according to the person who lives in that room and are the most fun :)

***Davis's is a candyland dream and we have collected candy ornaments from all over. He also has candy garland and lights and the most elaborate room because he takes all of my castoff decorations and finds a place for them.
***Michael's is new this year because he finally has his own room and is of course "Colt's blue". So far it just has white lights and balls but we are on the lookout for sports and colts ornaments and will probaby make some.
***Travis is my patriot and his room has an american flag and a texas flag hanging on the walls along with a complete red white and blue thing going on and so he has the Texas tree.
***Jeff & I used gold and blue to pick up the accents in our room and also put on the first ornament we ever bought together every year together. He holds the branch and I hang it. That is part of the rule, each person puts up and decorates their own tree.


We did all this yesterday and it felt so good i ended up with so much energy at 11 pm last night I took on a project that I have been undecided on. Thanks Kelli for the push! (more on that to come)

He's a natural

This is so cute I had to post it!!! This is my adorable nephew Drew playing Guitar Hero World Tour with his Daddy in our living room.....ignore the obvious mess from unpacking Christmas presents (yes we have already had 1 of our Christmas's with my family)
even more rockin.....

Not nice

I still love you red raiders :)

Go OSU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go Red Raiders!!!!!!!!

if you are thinking to yourself that you don't care about football or Texas Tech, go ahead and scroll down, I made another post today.
I just had to add this video I found on Steph's site. We have all been affected by the fever and love the feeling of pride we feel when we get to watch Tech have the kind of season they have had.

We were lucky enough to go to the Homecoming game....thanks Mom & Dad!!!!!!
We also know one of the players and it is thrilling to see Bryan #57 flying across the line and the power in his tackle.
In this video from ESPN, the fireman Brad Jones is a friend of mine and it is just surreal to see him on national television.

Raider!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.......so I can move on

I am making this post because I have been thinking Christmas thoughts and I am playing catch up :)

I have loved seeing all the other "fall" posts and cute halloween costumes on my friends blogs but have been negligent about posting mine.

This is me carving my pumpkin, I don't have a picture of it and it is long ago in the trash :(

I did get a picture of Jeff's pumpkin, it won 3rd place in the carving contest we went to :)

I actually had decided not to post any fall/halloween pictures but Davis has been asking me when I am going to put pictures of him in his costume so here they are...................beware they are a bit scary :)

He has already been a pirate previously so this year he wanted to be a skeleton pirate.

I told him I had never seen a skeleton with dimples :)

He did get sad because he scared the smallest children at the carnival so I'm not sure he will go scary again.

I heart Kimba!!!!!!

I won!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I still can't believe it :)

I am just browsing through my regular blogs that I must check daily and am kinda talking to myself about how Kimba has me adding ANOTHER item to my to-do list with her new silhoutte ornaments when I have just got my husband to thinking about making the monogram wreath that i forwarded him last week (also from her sight). Imagine my surprise when I continue reading and discover I have won a mother's necklace!!!!

Kimba is part of a group of popular bloggers that are featuring Mom crafters this holiday season. Click here to shop!! They are encouraging us to buy from these Mom's that help support their families by creating and selling their creations. There is a wide range of choices and amazing items to choose from and the idea is to buy from these Mom's instead of from commercial chains. Kimba has taken it a step further and is highlighting different Mom's on her blog and offering giveaways! I know!!!!!!! I have been inspired and even considering how I might make my own "shop" but as most things go, I will stew about it forever first.

Can I just take a minute to tell you how beautiful this necklace is that I WON.......I am in awe of this wonderful talented woman that Kimba featured so I am putting her link here for her Etsy shop called MoppetsClosets (even the name is sweet). Here is a picture of it :) Thank you Kimba and MoppetsClosets!!!!!!

sidenote: now I know why I had a TON of visitors from Kimba's site this weekend and I am so embarrased that I have been a lazy blogger lately :( I wish I was as talented as her but I am inspired and trying!

Valerie needs........

I saw this on someone else's blog and thought it was pretty funny.

Just Google your name and the word "needs" and see what the top 10 results are.

Here are mine...

1. Valerie needs to weed out those who seek only to ...
2. Valerie needs a very committed and supportive home.
3. Valerie needs to be deported.
4. Valerie needs a beauty makeover.
5. Valerie needs help periodically ...
6. Valerie needs numbers!!
7. Valerie needs attention
8. Valerie just needs to be played out a bit more with Danny
9. Valerie needs to beware of deceiving herself and allowing others to take advantage of her ...
10. Valerie needs more time to catch up...

This was really funny and even a little bit scary! Please do it.....I want to see what all of you "need"

****addition*****

after i posted this, i clicked on images to see what images came with "valerie needs" and I got this with the following title:

Valerie needs rotating..............i'm not kidding...........I HAD to add it :)

This window stuff can be addictive

I couldn't quit staring at Travis's window.

It was mocking me.......bare and naked taunting.

I didn't have months of thinking and inspiration but I DID have a sense of accomplishment from Michael's mistreatment and the desire to cover Travis's.

What I didn't have was any extra money for supplies (or old giftcards laying around).

What I did have was nester's words running through my head AND a top sheet that I have given up putting on Travis's bed because he refuses to use it and it was constantly wadded up at the bottom under his comforter.

The sheet was the right color and even though it wasn't being used i didn't want to cut it because I might need it someday! However, I didn't want anyone who saw his window to think I had just hung a sheet up there. My dilemna was:

• how to make it unrecognizable as a sheet and look just like navy cotton fabric
• how to hang it with no rods or boards using the only thing I had (furniture upholstery nails)

My solution was:

• Window Mistreatment 101

Here is my end product! And since it is so dark you really can't see the detail at all, but trust me it looks just like Nester's did!

He didn't need to cover the whole window since it is at the back of the house and not everyone driving by will be looking in as they were in Michael's. Plus he had already been using the sill as a place to keep his trophies.

YAY!!! Another window covered and for $0

My first window mistreatment

BEFORE

AFTER

I am so excited about this you guys! I thought about it for a couple of months but didn't have the nerve to just do it! I have been so inspired by all the posts you talented bloggers have put up about your mistreatments and have really been wanting to try it. I am the perfect candidate....we are in a rental and I don't want to spend money on curtains that only work for this house and honestly.....you can spend a small fortune just for one window after buying the actual panels AND the hardware. Add in the fact that my son Michael wanted something nascar and so I wouldnt have been able to settle for something found on sale.

I got this specific mistreatment idea from Kimba at A Soft Place to Land and you HAVE to read it first because she makes more sense than I do!

Michael also needed a shelf for all the nascar collectibles he has that really didn't have a place to live in his room. Here they are piled on a table in his room.

I went back to the Nester's sight and read back through all her posts on the subject......thanks Nester!!! You MUST go visit her blog even if you just read the window posts your life will be forever changed :)

I went to Lowe's because I had $11.42 on an un-finished giftcard. All I had to buy was the board, furniture tacks and 2 brackets.....I even HAD to buy 3 mum plants for my front bed to finish up the card!

One thing I do have in my linen closet is a TON of extra sheets.

With 3 boys and 4 twin beds we are never short on sheets. I used a black flat sheet that is all by it's lonesome (this is pretty common in my house) and I also used the 2 extra nascar pillow cases since the other 2 boys are no longer using them (the third is still on Michael's bed so it is a great tie-in) I didnt want to cut anything just in case I might need it as a sheet again (i'm glad to read on the other blogs that I am not the only one who thinks this way). I did open the pillow cases on the seam but I know if need be I could stitch them back up again in a jiffy.

It may be hard to see here but all I did was use the tack to hold up each corner. After that I tacked up the middle making a pleat first. I then kept going half and half while making pleats and just tacked it up as I went. This is the back panel.

This may not make sense to you since it really only makes sense in my head......but go read the this post on Kimba's site (with much nicer fabric) and then it should start to come clear for you.

This is just 3 halves of the pillow cases (i have one leftover) I used no sewing at all in true mistreatment style. I bought a 1x6 board that was 6 ft long so the length was just perfect, no cutting.I used the upholstery tacks to put the fabric onto the board and hubby hung the new valance/topper/shelf over the window using the brackets. I used my hot glue gun to connect the 3 pieces of pillow case and make it look seamless. Now we have a back panel, a valance and a shelf! I know it is hard to tell from this picture but it looks really good!

I LOVE THEM! Michael loves them!!! Even Jeff thinks they are great (even though he made this face when he saw me tacking a sheet over the window)
















I also got a shot of Michael happily arranging his cars on his new one of a kind shelf :)

A lesson learned

I just read the funniest story on Liz's blog and it inspired me to come post my own!

You know Jeff and I have been married just over 2 years and there is a LOT of learning to do about each other still. It is pretty common for him to say "must be a southern thing" or "we don't do that up north". I think it is more indicative of us just growing up in different families.

Leading into my story......I grew up playing jokes on people and the people I knew all played jokes on each other. In my house we were always trying to come up with a good joke. We loved to jump out and scare each other, we hid things that would cause a scream. My Mom taught us early how many screams you could get dumping cold water on someone in a hot shower. She also could be found chasing David and I around the house spraying us with a water bottle until we could find a place to baracade ourselves in for protection and find something water filled to fight back with. I apparently passed this on to my boys because they are constantly practicing how to quietly sneak up on someone and love love love to jump out and cause a yell. I can't tell you how many times I have "found" snakes, spiders and mice all in unexpected places (they have some very realistic fakes out there now).

About a year ago, I was washing dishes and accidentally dropped Jeff's favorite paring knife. It fell in such a weird way that the stainless steel blade just broke in half.

He was in the shower so he was clueless about it and I thought to myself....this is too good, I could never plan on this happening but i HAVE to use it! I thought it sounded like fun!

I knew he wouldnt think it was a trick knife because he would recognize the knife right away.

When I was a kid I pulled the prank of sticking it between my fingers with ketchup to fake out my Mom (who pretended to be horrified at my injury).

NOW without thinking much about it, in about 30 seconds time I quickly grabbed the red food color and ran a few drops down my hand and mopped it all up with a towel. I was thinking of how to fool someone who would be expecting it and all the things they would look for. I held the knife pointed down tight against my skin so it would look like it had gone through, pushed the "blood" soaked towel around it and rushed into the bathroom.

I put on my best "im in a lot of pain and trying to stay calm because i'm the Mom" shaky voice and told Jeff "honey, i need you to keep the boys calm and somehow get me to the hospital because i've had a little accident".

He pulls the shower curtain back and while I expected some sort of an "OMG" yell before I said "just kidding!". I was NOT expecting to see the horror on his face as i think his heart might have temporarily stopped beating or to see this big man jumping out of a running shower and ignore the fact that he was naked and covered in suds to start issuing orders like a war time triage soldier.

I was so in shock that he didn't even doubt me for a second that I forgot to say i was kidding. The look on his face when I dropped the broken knife (and time temporarily froze with a mask of horror and shock on his face) was enough to have me running for cover!

The answer to your next question is "yes" I promised him to never ever ever ever play another practical joke on him ever ever ever again. I still feel guilty about it and wish I had taken more than 30 seconds to put it all in motion and take maybe just 10 more seconds to think about the possible heartattack I could have caused (the point he was quick to make)

This has been referrenced from time to time in the last year and always with a reminder from Jeff in his most serious voice that I will NEVER play another joke on him. Imagine MY shock when Travis comes in a couple of days ago to tell me something funny he has just done.

He is already laughing and wants me to sneak in the dining room with him to watch because he just got finished crawling under the dining table (where Jeff was sitting at his laptop) and untied his shoes and tied them to his chair leg.

I can't believe my "ARE YOU CRAZY" wasn't heard throughout the whole house as I tell Travis he better get back in there and sneak better than he ever has before to fix this before Jeff even finds out he thought about it!

(post note: he didn't manage to undo his joke without being found out but because he WAS undoing it he got off light with just a lecture about how he would have felt when Jeff tried to get up and fell and cracked his head open and we had to call 911)

You are right Liz.......not everyone likes it.....who woulda thought?

WE LOVE YOU HONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did it!

I have had this canvas and paint for 3 months leaning against the wall. I knew what I wanted to do but was so nervous about doing it...........I finally did though!

Don't be too critical....i'm still learning :)

These are the accent colors in my living room....it felt really good to paint this, I think I'm addicted...

A redo project

This is what my first canvas painting project looked like.

It looked MUCH better in the old house because the walls in the bedroom were chocolate brown.

Since we moved and are living in a temporary rental I have to live with white walls and the paintings just don't work anymore. I really liked the way the paintings looked with the bedding that was my inspiration so I didn't want to lose that look.

What do you think of my redo?

I have to admit I have become obsessed with painting and have a million ideas. Maybe in the next few days I will show you my living room/largest project attempt once I determine it is complete. :)

An aha! moment

This is my oldest Travis at his 1st birthday party. It seems like I was JUST planning it. I know all parents warn you not to blink.......but SERIOUSLY you guys it really was just yesterday.
This is Travis now. He is 13. He is 5'7" (yes 7" taller than Mom) and has had his first girlfriend and first heartbreak. How is this possible?

"Travis......I am so proud of the man you have become". Those were the words that slipped out of my mouth without thinking at 6:34 pm tonight. WHAT? He isn't a man......he is 13, still my baby.

Since it did get a funny look from him I explained that I said it instinctly and that I realized he wasn't a man yet but that I could see so easily the man he has the potential to be.

Today we were driving along on the way to church and I am just listening to him in amazement talk so profoundly about his faith and his desire for all the people around him to have the same relationship that he has with God. It slipped out at that point.......my aha moment. It had been building for a while, but sometimes because we are with our children so much their changes slip by us and I just had a moment of clarity and pride!

Earlier this week I was talking to my Mom on the phone and Travis walks by and just says casually........"hey Mom, can you get Nonny to see if Papa can give me some testaments?" I pass the question along and when I ask Travis what he needs them for he tells me that he was just thinking and thought it might be a good idea to leave some in fellow football players lockers in the gym and pass some out to friends at school. His idea was to put the information inside as an invitation to his youth group on Wednesday nights. (My Dad is a gideon so that is the reason for the request btw). I brought them home yesterday and we spent the evening filling out the inscription page with an invite.

As we were on our way tonight he is texting back and forth making sure no one needed a ride and offering my services (I would never complain about that assumption). I just wanted to take a moment and record THIS moment so I don't forget it. You know what I am remembering so much of tonight? Those moments yesterday and last week when he was 2 and singing Jesus Loves Me or 5 and praying for someone he just saw on the side of the street.....I was so proud of my sweet little boy who knew Jesus and went to him so easily. Can I just tell those of you that arent at this place yet how your heart will swell when you realize that those seeds planted have sprouted and bloomed past heartache and the pain of grief and the heartbreak of divorce and have blossomed into a teenager who thirsts for a relationship with God and wants the people around him to have what he has. WOW. I don't feel worthy to be his Mom and I thank God that I have been so blessed.

This boy

I wanted to say something about this boy I knew but I just couldnt and didn't know what to say. My brother did a great job.

A new look!

When I decided to blog I didn't spend very much time designing my blog but as I look around I am so jealous of others that I decided to spruce up my page a bit!

once again.....

It might possibly be that we can't take a family vacation without a missed flight.

I can't decide if it is better when you know you will miss the flight because you are 2 hours from the airport and your flight leaves in 1 and 1/2....you know you aren't going to make it and even though you have called and found out you will be put on standby......you just can't get that knot out of your stomach because there are 5 of you and you are about to miss your flight and you can't help thinking this is a really bad way to start your vacation. As you drive along that dark rainy highway and wonder if the plane you see in the sky is the one you are supposed to be on...........that was us last summer.

This year we were prepared. We had a flight coming home that left at 6 am from Baltimore. We needed to be at the airport an hour and a half early and we also had to return our rental car. We knew we needed to be there at 4 am. We were prepared!

We planned to drive in the night before and stay in a hotel AT the airport.

We planned to get a solid night sleep.

What actually happened was that we had so much fun the day before we just couldn't get to the hotel early! Of course if we are driving through Philadelphia we HAD to take time and run up the steps at the Musuem of Art and pump our fists in the air like Rocky! And oh yeah.....we HAD to find out who made the first philly cheese steak and go try one! (even if we did have to drive around until we could find an internet signal to research this information and THEN drive around a 2 mile circle for an hour until we located the place)

We finally made it to the hotel and in bed at midnight. I knew that 3 1/2 hours sleep wouldnt be much so I made sure we were prepared. I pulled one change of clothes out for each of us and the dirty clothes bag and left the car packed. I set the hotel alarm clock AND my cell phone alarm for 3 am thinking I would be up first and be prepared and ready to hustle 3 boys and a husband out of bed and into the car by 3:30ish.....we would NOT miss another flight. I kept waking up with that feeling "its been 3 hours"......it was 1:30.....then it was 1:56.......then it was 2:15........I called the front desk and requested an emergency wake up call for 3:30 thinking that I would just cancel it when I got up at 3. I went back to sleep knowing all would be OK.

I woke up.....I felt really rested! I laid there for a minute trying to remember where I was......I looked over and saw the hotel curtains and my heart started pounding as I realized.....I felt REALLY rested. I dreaded looking over to see the red lights on the clock tell me it was 5:30!

Yes

5:30

Our flight would be leaving in 30 minutes

They had just started boarding "our" flight

I had 4 sleeping family members, 8 pieces of luggage and a rental car and my flight left in 30 minutes!

We had done it again! I took the laptop and snuck into the bathroom.......there was no need to panic anyone else until I had a new plan to reassure them with. The website tells me there is a flight at 8:45. I make a quick call and find out they can put us on standby but they can't offer me confirmed standby and the flight is "pretty full". I shut it all down, wake up the family and loaded us up within 15 minutes.

We got to the airline counter and they told us they would check our bags on the 8:45 flight and if we didn't make it they would be waiting for us in Dallas when we eventually got in. THEN she tells me that since we are on standby we might not all make the same flight but they would make sure the 2 children got to fly with adults.......WAIT........2 children? I have 3! That is when she tells me that since Travis is 13, he is considered an adult and if they can't put 3 of us on a flight and only have room for 2 on each.......he might have to fly alone. Can I tell you that he handled this news much better than Mom? The thought of my BABY flying 2000 miles alone on a 3 hour flight was enough to give me heart failure.

We go through security when I am "randomly" selected for a more thorough check and because I have children with me they must also be checked. It doesnt matter that we have missed one flight and are racing to catch another......it REALLY doesnt. We have 5 carry-ons between the 4 of us and they must EACH be gone through systematically and the boys look at me with big round eyes as this stranger pats down their Mom the way they have only seen in the movies with criminals. As we hurry off to the gate I ask the boys to pray with me......I tell them just to pray that God makes the rest of our journey smooth.

You might have noticed I said 4 of us..........that's right. The airport security had an issue with Jeff's ID. They tell him that he will be detained and that he needs to go through "evaluation" that could take 20 or so minutes. They let him know this will be an FBI check. He settles in to wait........then comes the questioning......they know everything about him! They ask him about the make and model of our car to "test" him that he is who he says he is. When he says that it is parked at a hotel in Dallas they nod knowingly and say "yes we know". About that time the supervisor comes in to approve him getting on the flight. This man realizes they looked at the ID incorrectly and stopped him for no reason. He apologizes. Unfortunately since the process has been initiated and he was already detained, they must finish the check.

Can anyone guess the color of his face when he finally met us at the gate?

Guess what happened next? The gate attendant calls us up and tells us that she is very sorry........she can't seat us all together. WHAT? We are on the same flight? We will be home together? Sitting together is the least of my concerns as I give her a big hug and she laughs at the tears in my eyes. We have 2 seats together and 3 seperate. We decide one of us will sit with Davis since he is youngest and he picks Jeff......big shock! We get on the plane and I walk Michael back to his seat in the rear of the plane.....he is a little nervous but since he has a window seat I remind him just to look out the window and pretend he is all alone. I settle into my seat when the flight attendant taps the guy next to me on the shoulder and tells him about this WONderful seat in the rear of the plane with a window and lots of room and wouldnt he like to trade?......I then see Michael standing at his elbow and am overjoyed when the man says of course he would trade and Michael buckles in next to Mom. Our flight lands early..........our luggage all arrives..........we get a ride to the hotel and don't have to pay for the week we parked there as arranged.......we have an easy drive home and my parents have dinner waiting.

Don't tell me God doesnt answer prayers.........even if it does take his children a while to remember to ask him.

Next year? I'm also researching the flights after each of ours...........just in case.

Lost Blog 2.........4 down, 15 to go!!!

I have been behind on my blogging and so I’m using my vacation to play catch up.

I got some more of my to-do list done!
One of them was my super secret sewing project. The 2nd anniversary is the cotton one. I used the ribbon from our wedding to make a pillow (cotton) for Jeff. Here are pictures of the front and the back. Our wedding colors were brown and turquoise so this is the fabric I used for the back. The front has the first picture of our new family.

Two items I checked off the list are our bedroom. We got everything unpacked AND decorated. YAY!!! Here are some pictures of the stuff finally hanging on the wall……AND all my other things unpacked and in the places they belong. It feels good :)


Lastly, I got the computer area organized. YAY!!!!

Lost blog 1

I have been behind on my blogging and so I’m using my vacation to play catch up.

A couple of weeks ago we had some family come to visit and I didn’t get to post the pictures.

My cousin Kirstie and I are really close and I love getting to spend time with her NOW. I say that because I didn’t always feel that way. I was the first child born in my generation (on my Dad’s side). All the others after me were boys……I was the only girl and I loved it! I will admit to being a little spoiled….for 20 years. That’s how old I was when my Dad’s youngest brother had a daughter. How dare he! Didn’t he know that I was the granddaughter! We didn’t need another one. Yes…..I was 20……but I am ashamed to admit that I did have a few of those thoughts. It didn’t take me long to change my mind. I realized we had that special relationship in common……and yes she is spoiled also.

She hadn’t been to visit in years so this was a really special weekend. We had a TON of fun shopping and playing Mario Party on the WII. We also played Putt-Putt and I schooled everyone on the go-kart track J Here are some of the pictures of us getting ready to race.

We made it!!!

We are in New England for our vacation :)

We are spending the week with Jeff’s Mom here in Western Mass where Jeff grew up.

We got a good deal on tickets into Baltimore and THOUGHT we would get tickets later for a flight from there to Hartford, CT where we usually fly into. Due to the rising gas costs lately tickets are through the roof and when you need to buy 5 of them it really adds up! We decided that the cost of the one tank of gas needed to drive from Baltimore was better than the cost of 5 airline tickets.

SO…...we drove up yesterday from Baltimore and I loved the drive (except the part when the highway turned into a parking lot and we sat on I-95 for 2 hours) The boys couldn’t believe all the states we drove through! We only drove 350 miles…..at home we would drive that just to get to Dallas and would drive even farther to go to Houston or Corpus and never leave the state. Yesterday we drove through Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachussets…..7 states in less hours than that! I LOVED the view from the window…..all the trees and green. The best part for me of course was New York. We didn’t stop but even driving through was nice for me since I got to soak up just a little bit of my favorite place. We are going to spend some time there on our way home so I am looking forward to that :)

Here are a few pictures of the beginning of our vacation…….the journey to Mass.

This is at the hotel, just before the shuttle took us to the airport.

If you are wondering why they aren't waking up for the excitement...it WAS 4:30 am.

Davis was SO excited to get his luggage all by himself..look at my big guy!!

I'll keep you updated as we enjoy our week :)

I hope you are having as much fun as we will be :)