Home Improvements

This week my Mom and my sister, Kim, flew in to Dallas for a visit. It was their first time seeing the new house. I was very excited to show it off to them and to offer them their own room. Now that's HUGE for me!! It was nice to have some incentive to get some more projects done around the house. My Mom loves to sew and I definitely had a few bare windows needing some help. With much ingenuity and creativity we were able to utilize that great floral fabric I picked out earlier to decorate the windows in the kitchen.



Then we dropped by Joann Fabric and found a 1/2 sale on the Home Decorating Fabrics! What a steal!! We made off with some great shiny brown fabric that works perfectly in the Family Room.

With Kim around we utilized her strong "marathon" running muscles and put her to work on helping me paint the girls room. I was shocked at how fast we were able to knock out the pink walls and then to add the pok-a-dots. Thanks to Grandma for watching the kids for us. A BIG help!!

On Saturday we took a quick trip over to Canton, TX to enjoy the "First Monday Flee Market". This place has SOO MUCH stuff to sort through you can barely get it done in 1 weekend. And the added "fair-like" food was a huge bonus. We found this 3 great little tins for cheap that we spray painted black for some added interested to the kitchen wall.

We also stumbled upon this great basket that sits on top of the fridge. I'm hoping to find a pile of dried baby's-breath or something of the sorts to add inside.

My absolute favorite thing is this simple red metal word. It really helped complete the fireplace.

And a quick ode to my favorite creation. The picture wall. It was inspired by my friend Erin and her fabulous ideas. Hopefully I'll be adding a few more and fill it up!

Totally Talented

To catch up on my blogging I wanted to share the many "new" talents that we have found in Ben. Now remember he is only 13 months old. I think these pictures just prove that he's a genius!

Ben refuses to eat without utensils! And he can even do it!

And a spoon, too!

He's mastered the art of ice chip eating!

Ben can read books too!

What 1 year old do you know has his own car to drive?

He can zoom down the stairs faster then I can walk it!

He can play duets with his mom!

Courtesy of Grandma, Ben can learn "so BIG" in just seconds!

I think Ben is so EXTRA SPECIAL we definitely got him

"Hand Picked With Care"!!

Emma's Quick Wit

This past week my mom and sister have graciously flown out to Dallas to help me with the new house. We have been very productive. We painted the girls room, hung curtains in the kitchen and family room and then took a day trip to Canton to scour the rows and rows of flee market finds. It's been great. Hopefully soon I'll get printshop working on this new hard-drive and get the pictures up.
Kim was able to spend lots of 1 on 1 time with the kids. Since she was able to leave hers at home. It was GREAT to have another pair of hands around (don't get me wrong my mom did her fair share of babysitting). But at one point Kim was practicing with Emma pronouncing words correctly. So they were going through the alphabet and when she got to "G" Kim said:

"G...mmm...g, g, g...GAS"
and Emma response with,
"Gas, my Daddy has Gas."

I love it!! He sure does!!

More to come

I'm sure a few of you dedicated friends have noticed my LACK of posts. Well, with great timing our laptop hard-drive crashed. It was even making some great grinding noises. Thankfully Larry was able to get it working ONE more time so I could load all of my BAZILLIONS of pictures onto snapfish. I'm sooo super happy I was able to save the most important things. Who cares about old lessons, resumes or talks given at church?? I can whip up one of those in no time...but pictures...those are priceless!! So hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to find some down time to catch everyone up on the countless unforgettable kid quotes, new house decor, and random thoughts from a semi-normal mom.

A Work In Progress

Some of you have mentioned wanting to see the improvements that we have been making to the house. We've painting all the ceilings a cream to tone down the "stark white sterile" feeling. The biggest nessecity was getting the front lawn mowed. It was a JUNGLE. And we definitly didn't want the HOA on our backs about it.

Hopefully the grass will turn green again in the summer.

And the much needed stair gate.

Our version of ART. Actually we just wanted to clean off our rollers and used the next wall as a "substitute".

The finished product. Sydney thinks it looks like chocolate candy! Now that is wishful thinking.

I really wanted to make the fireplace "POP". Add some more character. I think the dark brown did it!

This was supposed to be a dining room but we are using it as a living room. It's a great place for the piano. So we'll probably move this light into the eating area in the kitchen and find something more suitable for this room.

Next on our list is painting the kitchen RED and putting up my wall of frames on the "chocolate" wall. I can't wait for the results. More photos to come!

Happy Valentines Day

I usually enjoy decorating the house for each holiday. Just to solidify the whole calendar and change of seasons for the kids. But with the move and all, there wasn't any sign of the upcoming holiday of Valentine's Day. Larry and I tried to talk to the kids about it all week and get them hyped up. So that morning I fed the kids pink cupcakes with red sprinkles and placed boxes of candy treats at each of their seats. Larry also picked up the girls one of their favorite movies, "Annie". The girls were totally stoked.
As for Larry and I, well, I found a great deal on a much needed new couch off craigslist and needed to pick it up that evening. What a great way to spend Valentines Day!?! Who doesn't love to eat dinner at a gas station Wendy's in some random city? Seriously, that's what we did, no joke. On the way home Larry informed me I was getting him an edger for the lawn. We are so sentimental and mushy! But props to Larry for bringing me home some red roses. He's a keeper!

This FAB couch has double recliners, messagers and the middle flips down with cup holders!

Now that is luxury.

Gorgeous!

Surprise!

Some of you may be shocked and some of you might not be surprised at all...Larry and I are having our 4th baby! Our theory is "If you have the space, fill it up!" The baby is due around the middle of October. Wish me luck! I'll need all the support I can get.

Family Reactions To The News:

Larry - laughed

Sydney - "Mom, did you get married last night?"

(I told her that you have to be married to have babies...oops)

Emma - "Emma, has a baby in her tummy just like Mommy?"

Ben - climbed on top of me and stepped on my stomach

Exploring the Backyard

We are just beginning to enjoy all the great amenities that come with living in a house. Yesterday the girls wanted to explore the backyard while Ben took a nap. I took the opportunity to document this first-time experience.

The colors turned out great! I really like the dark cedar fence combined with the dry grass. It almost seems like they are playing next to an old barn. Sydney and Emma were fascinated with the "flowers" that were growing all over the yard. (ok, they were really weeds, but we won't tell them) They decided to get a bowl and fill it up with this precious commodity.

Doesn't she look so precious?

What a beautiful flower? I think.

"I found MORE!"

"Ring a round the rosies..."

Sisterly Love!

What a spinner?

"I'm falling..."

My cuties!

"On your marks, get set, GO!"

Can't we just call maintenance?

Larry and I have officially been homeowners for 5 days. And a long 5 days it has been. Larry has been staying up into the wee hours of the morning painting walls, cleaning, moving boxes, changing locks and the list goes on. He's been a real trooper.
Me on the other hand. I have packed up the whole house, moved the whole kitchen myself, painted a ceiling or 2, wiped out every cupboard in the house and tried to keep the kids entertained. Least to say it hasn't been easy. Even with all this physical activity going on I have had a really rough time falling to sleep (something I rarely experience). I think the shock and huge responsibility of a home is leaving me unsettled. It's been over 11 years of living in apartments. I've enjoyed never having to fix my own toilet, pull a weed or cover a crack in the wall. BUT now that I think about it my list of things I WON'T miss about apartment living is much longer....So here it is, things my TOP 10 Reason Why I'm Happy To Be Leaving Apartments!
1. The extreme lack of parking. Especially late at night. And then try to carry 100lbs. of groceries 200 feet, up stairs and unlocking the front door without the cheap plastic bags breaking!
2. The loud music or banging from neighbors. Oh waiting, I can't forget the nasty smell of smoke or some awful concoction created in the kitchen. (especially downstairs ones)
3. The fear of taking a shower during the day knowing that someone (management) has a key to my home.
4. Ugly, grey/white flat walls.
5. Bugs, ants, cockroaches. And I know they aren't in my house because of my dirt. There ain't no dirt in "Gurvine" home.
6. The scene of a new U-haul in the parking lot every weekend.
7. Postings on my door from management of some burglary or home invasion by gun point.
8. 2 bedroom's....need I say more?
9. A kitchen that could be better described as a hallway.
10. Dragging my car to an over-priced "do it yourself" car wash.

**I would like to put a shout out to all my apt friends that have offered up boxes, watched the kids, brought over food, listened to my ups and downs, carried boxes and still showed joy for us without "hating". I couldn't have done it without you! You guys are genuinely the best!**

What Won't He Eat?

Ben has become a human vacuum. If you put it in front of him. He'll eat it! On the long road trip to S.A. we shared some of our beef jerky with the kids. They all seemed to like it. Even Ben!! You would think that it would be way too spicy for his little mouth. Well Larry stepped it up a notch on the way back home from S.A. he grabbed some snacks at the gas station. This time he gave Ben a "mild" slim jim (ew!). Crazy enough, but Ben LOVED it. He cried every time I tried to help him with it. Maybe Larry's "hispanic" genes are finally kicking in! I just hope Larry's around to change his next dirty diaper.