Happy Birthday Elly!

I'm a bit behind and have missed a few posts, but I'll catch up on those later. Today it's all about Elly! My little Elliana has come so far in the last year! She is doing better than any of us could have even imagined! We love you Elly and thank GOD you are here with us!!!

howdy partner

found this cute woody shirt today for only $3 & we completed the look with a hat from the dollar store... i love it!!! timmy said "i look handsome....i'm woody!"

Jimmy & Addy

These two have such fun personalities and ways about them, and they are SO DIFFERENT! This week at school they are celebrating higher education. So for today, Wednesday they were supposed to dress up as what they wanted to be when they grow up... Here is our conversations from yesterday afternoon...

Mom, "Addy, tomorrow you can dress up at school. What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Addy, "A Princess!"
Mom, " It's fun to play dress up and be a pretend princess, but what about for real? what do you want to be? You could be a doctor, or a vet, or a teacher, or a police woman..."
Addy, " I'm GOING to be a Princess when I grow up!!!"
Mom, "No, not really...that is just for play. How about... (another list of professions...)"
Addy, "FINE!!! I'll be a ballerina when I grow up!"
Mom, "Well that is something you could do, and that sounds great, BUT I don't think your ballet clothes are appropriate for school. What would be your second choice?"
Addy (now in a whiny/cry voice), " I just don't know! I only want to be a princess and a ballerina..."
She leaves the room crying... great... one failed attempt...

Now to try Jimmy...
Mom, "Jimmy, tomorrow you can dress up at school, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
Jimmy, no actual words, but a deep look of concern on his face...so I continue
Mom, "You could be a doctor, or a police man, or a fire fighter, or a scientist... "
Jimmy, "I really just don't want to be any of those things."
Mom, "Ok, what do you want to be, and maybe we can make it happen."
Jimmy, no verbal response, but a stressed out look on the verge of tears.
Mom, "What about if you were your NASA t-shirt. You really like going there, and people who work at NASA are really good at math just like you."
Jimmy (tears have begun), "Can't I just be me??? I don't want to be all those other things, I really just want to be me when I grow up."
Mom (giving hugs), "Yes, of course you can be you!"
Another conversation ended in tears... great... two failed attempts.

What gets me, is though both conversations ended in tears... they were such different kinds of tears. Addy was the little miss attitude this is how it's gonna be tantrum tears. Jimmy was the soft hearted, deep, for real serious tears. It amazes me that children with the same surroundings and upbringing can be so different. Just goes to show we are all our own, very much individuals in all we do!

tired?

I love the way that babies can fall asleep anywhere when they are truly tired! This weekend we had Elly jumping nearby while we were doing some cleaning, packing, packing, etc... and she zonked! So cute!

Best Buds

These two love to play together all day!!! Timmy is so excited when Elly wakes up each morning. He greets her with hugs, and kisses, and made up silly songs. She smiles and giggles right back at him. This past week Timmy got strep (HOW??? He doesn't go anywhere!) and the doctor told him to stay away from Elly for 2 days while the medicine kicked in...He was devestated!!! He wanted so badly to be near her, it was cute and sad all in one. I love that these two have such a special bond! I wonder how long that will last ;o)

The House

*Disclaimer*

I really need HELP! Feel free to leave comments/recommendations on what works or doesn't. Constructive criticism is GOOD! I want to sell the house!

So with the new job, comes a move. Before the move comes the cleaning, preparing and listing of the house for sale. The number one thing we've read and been told is to remove all photos, and decorate neutral. To anyone who really knows me, you realize what a daunting task this is to me! I LOVE pictures, and 90% of the things hung on my walls are pictures of family and friends. SO the sad day has come to remove all these, well I'm getting there, I've removed about 3/4 so far. The problem is we don't want "bare" walls either. So I've been shopping, sales of course and picked out a few things here and there... so it is coming along. But I really do feel lost in the decorators world. Trying not to spend too much, I've also experimented with things on hand... here is an example... This very ugly retro wall hanging I got when my Mom was clearing out years ago with the intent to do something, well until last week I never got around to it. I always, liked the shape of it, but not the colors. So having heard/seen the wonders of spray paint I went to work, and for $2 I now have a neutral wall hanging. No it's not my favorite, but it works... I think anyway. Before and After shots...

We'd been needing/wanting to get a nice clock, and I found this one at Ross for $20... I think they fill the wall okay together...

For the half bath, I got sconces and a framed phrase/saying for all under $10, thanks to Factory-2-You. Love that store by the way. I've never used sconces before, but I think I like them.

For the dining room table I made the flower arrangement with flowers on clearance at Michaels, rocks from dollar tree, and an existing vase, and ribbon...total cost was around $7. Ignore all the junk on the table :).We did a rearrangement of the living room furniture to make it look more "open" and added these two framed items also from Factory 2 You. This isn't the best picture, but gives you the general idea. One frame is Faith, and the other is Love. This is all so much a work in progress! There is so much to do before we can even list the house. We need to replace all the carpets, we are hoping to get quotes on that this weekend. We need to paint almost all the upstairs because it has the original house paint from '03 that is really scuffed up. We need to fix baseboards, and trim, and we really need to deep clean. We need to box up as much as possible to make it look "open" as they say, and not cluttered... Speaking of look what I found at Michaels in the clearance bin, designer packing tape. Marked down to 50 cents a roll. Now we can pack in style :o)

So throughout the day I find myself bouncing between tasks, whatever is the most conducive to the current moment and needs of the kiddos. So I've packed some, I've decorated some, I've cleaned some, and I've done a lot of the everyday dishes, laundry, cooking, scouts, dance class, doctor appointments, and just life stuff... Eventually it will all come together, I'm sure of it. Although, sooner than later would be better. I miss seeing Dave everyday, and the kids are having a hard time too.

So now a direct question for anyone and everyone...where to put these 2 lamps. I originally bought them thinking I would spray paint them brown and use them in the bedroom on either side of the bed... they were only $7.50 at Kirklands!Which could still work...Snapshot of the room, they would be on either side on our little tables.But after putting them together and seeing the colors... It has me thinking, maybe they should be other places just as they are... For example the family room just got a new rug that these green and white shades appear in. And the couch needs to be balanced on the wall. Maybe I should get an accent table, or two and put them on one or both sides of the couch. Anna's Linens had accent tables for $10... so it's a possiblity. Here is the wall in question, and the new rug with it's colors.

Lastly I realized the green is very close to the green walls in the living room. But would that be too much green? I don't know. There is also a couch that could use accent tables and lamps to balance things out. The existing brown lamp could be moved elsewhere in the house.
And with that I am signing off. I will be regretting this late night in the morning!!!

Big Day!

Two things big today...

1. Dave started his new job, and thinks it's great. Now to just get this house ready to sell and then things will really be great.

2. Elly turned 11 months today! It's so crazy to think of all that has happened in the past year. Here she is at her photo shoot today...

Circus

Last weekend, we took the kids to the Circus. It was a fun outing! We tried to take pictures, but they didn't come out so well with the low light in the coliseum. Timmy says his favorite part was watching the motorcycles drive on the tightrope, with girls hanging on bottom. Addy, well she cried off and on throughout saying she was so bored and wanted to go home...grr she was being a punk that day. Jimmy really enjoyed the whole thing, although the whole day before he was being a downer saying he didn't want to go. Elly amazingly fell asleep for part of it, it was so loud I don't know how she managed that. Dave, and I really just enjoyed being out of the house together!

random pictures

Elly fell asleep mid-bite on her teething biscut.
Elly looking cute in her robe after a bath.

Elly have so much fun jumping in the johnny jumper.

3 of the kids attacking/wrestling/who knows? with Dave.

Timmy with a pink bumbo helment.

Sea World

End of August we spent a day at Sea World enjoying all the water features the park had to offer. It was a super fun day!!!

First Day of School

August 23rd was the first day of school! I can't believe we have a 2nd grader and a Kindergartner this year! They were both so excited to start and have been loving school so far. The house has been so much quieter with just the little two at home. It has been nice to have one on one time with Timmy, I haven't really ever had that. We've been working on letter and number recognition. Some days he's into, others he just wants to play though. Oh well!

The Magic Time Machine

While the kids were in Dallas...we got to go on a fun double date +1 (Elly). Laura & Doug came down to pick up our old washer & dryer. Laura had been telling Doug about The Magic Time Machine, so we went. We had Indiana Jones for a waiter, Dora the explorer told us a hilarious joke, and saw many other characters. Dave got sang to for a late bday, and best of all Dave was pulled in by the staff to "perform" a happy bday song and dance to another group in our section...my little buttercup...it was loads of laughs!!!

Another Trip, Houston this time

August was the month of travels! After Dallas, and after Bryan, but still before school started we took one last road trip for the summer. We had a lot of fun just hanging out with Mom, Dad, Laura, & Doug. We played, we did a bunch of swimming, saw some family friends, and just had a really good time. Oh and sometime in early August Elly's oxygen changed from all the time to just at night... so she was finally cord free during the day, allowing her to go swimming for the first time! She really liked the water!