Redecorating 101

Goodbye laminate, hello Corian.

We are doing a few home renovations around here and started with the kitchen. I was able to convince John that when it comes time to sell our home it would show much better with new updated countertops and backsplash. After a few months of convincing and find the killer deal at Home Depot, I got my way. We, being the money savers we are, pulled out our old countertops ourselves. The men came on a Friday morning and were finished about 5 hrs later. The countertops are awesome and Hayden loves how soft they are.

John and I searched for a week or two trying to find tile for the backsplash. After buying and taking back over $50.00 worth of samples, we fell in love with a stone from the local carpet center here. We have 4x4 squares and 2x4 sheets. The 2x4 come as a sqft sheet which makes them really easy to put together. The stone came straight from Turkey..oohlala. John and I did the backsplash ourselves. It was a lot fun, he was the tile cutter and I was the goo person. We did the 2x4s on the bottom and the 4x4s ran as a border all round on the top. We did run the 4x4s straight through over the stove and fill in above it with 2x4s to the top of the hood. It only took us two afternoons to put up all the tile and grout it. I absolutely love it. I feel like I have a whole new kitchen!

Countertop Removal

TA DA!!!!!!


Oh, did I mention my sink? I have the integrated Corian sink. I absolutely LOVE it and my new faucet. I don't think my kitchen has ever stayed so clean. I totally recommend the integrated sink to anyone and everyone, it is so gorgeous.

K'nex is BEST

Hayden received a Double Ferris Wheel K'nex set for Christmas. He finally worked up the nerve to tackle this project. With no help from Mom or Dad,not because we didn't offer he wouldn't let us help, in 3 short evenings he skillfully completed this masterpiece. With full motor running, this thing will twirl at a pretty fast speed. We are so proud of our little engineer.

Happy Valentines Day

Let the party begin!

We made mini cupcakes in the shape of a heart for Hayden's class and Ethan made brownies with sprinkles for his. We made our very own buttercream icing with my bad boy Professional HD chrome Kitchenaid mixer courtesy of Santa Claus. He really is good to me. The icing was so good and the kids love helping me with the mixer. They were so proud of their treats for school and we also made goody bags to give to each student.

He was so proud of those brownies
Daddy reading a book to Ethan's class while we got things ready for his party
Not real sure how many are really paying attention
Big man enjoying his snacks. I did make it Hayden's party, but forgot to take pictures!

Happy Birthday to my girl LoLo!

My best friend Lorissa turned the big 40 on Feb 13th. We took her out for dinner at the very yummy restaurant The Bistro. We had a scrumptious meal and a delicious dessert (brownie strawberry torte) made by yours truly of course.

Me and the birthday girl
Kristine and Lorissa
Me and my girl Heidi

All the girls

Ooooh Stop!

Well I have decided to get back to my roots, literally. I have gone back to my natural color. No more blonde jokes for me. Okay, well this might be just a tad darker than my original, but it took a while to get all that blonde out. I am EXTREMELY happy with my color. I am still getting used to the whole bangs thing, if I can keep them swooped like this I think I can hang!

Anywho, John is on a trip, so he hasn't seen it yet. Oh, will he be shocked.

The boys keep saying, you look different mommy. They seem to like it though.

Eenie meenie miny mo, to which bed should I go!

Someone has a little more freedom. We decided to take the front rail off of Abigail's crib to get her ready for her big girl furniture she will be getting in a few months. The first few nights she got out quite a few times and we would cut her off at the pass and put her back in bed. I even locked her door a few times, thinking that would keep her in there, yeah right! She unlocked the door with no problems and tried to sneak around the corner. Just when we thought she was fast asleep in HER bed, we would find her in Hayden's bed. The happened about 3 times. They were so cute laying there we didn't have the heart to move her. Hayden was quite surprised to wake up with a snuggle bug next to him. She is doing much better now and rarely gets up. It is so cute to see her come out of her room and shut the door still half asleep after naps or in the morning. She is just getting too big. :(

They are so sweet when they are sleeping.

Mr. I can tie my own shoes now!!!

Yea!!! The day has finally come! Hayden can now tie his own shoes. After 10 minutes of intense training last night with dad, we are flying solo. He was so proud of himself and we were estatic.

Before school started we went shoe shopping and Hayden saw a pair of Orange Nikes at the BX that he just thought he couldn't live without. Dad happened to be with us during the excursion and the price tag on the shoes was 55.95. Now mama would have just bought them and walked out of the store, but daddy chimed in with "Well...." and I knew they were a no go for today. So I made Hayden a deal, when he learned how to tie his shoes we would buy him the 55.00 shoes,as he referred to them, as a reward. He was all for it and gungho about learning for about oh, 5 minutes. A month or so had passed and no progress had been made on the whole shoe tying ordeal. John and I were in the BX again looking for who knows what and what did my eyes happen to see. The 55.00 shoes on sale for 50% off. Oh my, could this be happening, am I really going to get a great deal? Of course not, they didn't have his size. John and I even walked ourselves back into the storeroom to look. They had only one pair left and the were a size 4, Hayden needed a size 1. Well I bought them anyway, his foot will only grow bigger you know.

Now here is the real kicker, I have been pining for a pair of Nike+ running shoes. For those of you who do not know what those are, they are shoes that have a sensor(purchased separately of course) that fit into a cut out space under the shoe sole that relays info through an Ipod nano(need one these too) to your headphones of current pace, distance, miles to go, etc. You can even download it on your computer. It is totally awesome. When I pulled his shoes out of his closet today, so we could surprise him when he got home, I opened the box and found a Nike+ brochure. I thought to myself no way, but oh yeah, yes way!!!!! Hayden's orange 55.00 shoes are NIKE+ RUNNING SHOES. I only wish I could wear them.

The bad boys, up close