Cutie Patootie

Harrison decided to sweep the driveway for Ryan's birthday. He's growing up so fast and is quite the teaser. His new game is to grab your finger at dinner so you get out of your chair then he sneaks behind you and steals the seat. He's also starting to learn more words every day. He pointed to Ryan's band-aid and said "boo boo".

Ride Ryan Ride

Even though Ryan's birthday is tomorrow, he decided to start his annual birthday tradition of riding miles equal to his age. He's such an over achiever clocking in 31.4 miles this year. We're all proud of you.

Chalking It UP

We did it! Check out our chalkboard wall. We're still needing to touch up around the edges but it's looking pretty awesome. Now we need to test it with chalk. I am thinking of hanging empty picture frames so we can customize our own pictures weekly :)

Project Vanity

We've torn out the vanity in the bathroom and thought about replacing it with a new one. I briefly looked at our local home improvement store but didn't see anything I was crazy about. So Ryan agreed I would refurbish our current one. It's a gross midnight blue. I'm priming it today and hunting for pulls. We bought white subway tile for the area above the bathtub and will add a thin strip of black towards the top.

Here's my questions for you, what color should the vanity be? White? Black? White and black? And we've been painting all the trim Calming Cream color, should the bead board be Calming Cream or a bright white?

491 Days

We've survived 491 days with Harrison before making a visit to the doctor's office (except wellness checkups) or Emergency Room. Our streak has now come to an end. Our tough guy suffered (well, I shouldn't say suffered b/c he only cried for 10 seconds) a second degree burn on his pointer finger. After two and a half hours in the ER, they recommended taking him tomorrow to the Burn Unit of the Children's Hospital. I'm still waiting to get an appointment with them. He's a total champ, no complains and was happy to share some grapes with daddy.

Adoption

My sister sent me an email about her dear friends, Joelle and Andy. They are looking to adopt a baby so if you know anyone who is looking to find wonderful parents search no more. Check out their website http://joelleandandy.com/Howdy.html. I know they will be fabulous parents someday soon :)

Vacation Day, Not Really

I took the day off to relax, eat bon-bons and lay around while people waited on me hand and foot. Okay, only in my head. I spent the entire day working on walls. Ryan stopped by during his lunch break and couldn't resist the urge to roll some color. It was a very successful day which included adding drywall mud to the bathroom (by the way, I HATE DRYWALL!!!), adding texture to patched holes, painting the master bedroom (which turned out fabulous), painting patched holes, sanding the mud over the fireplace, adding color to one wall in the back bathroom, ceiling paint to the office area and kitchen.

Shrooms

Aren't these crazy? What's completely amazing is they weren't there a few days ago! And they are about five feet tall!!! Really?

Chiming In

Ryan and I have been searching for wind chimes for about six years (yes, SIX years). We were hunting for a pleasant sound, clean design, medium size and one we could both agree on. About a month before we moved, we actually bit the bullet and purchased one. We were afraid someone would snatch it so we kept it in the box until we were through with rental properties. At home at last (well, not moved in yet).

Meet Bob

As always, Bob is hard at work. Bob is Harrison's grandfather who's first name is not Bob. A couple of months ago, Harrison started calling him "BOB" so that's his new name. It's good to know we have our own Bob the Builder.

Back Away From The Hand

Tonight after I finished a full week of work, I headed to the house (which is about 40 minutes away) to start on the next task. If you look closely, this is the color of the FORMER red room. Now it is a lovely Monroe Bisque. Mark these walls off the list. Ryan has a splendid eye for colors. Ok just kidding, he is completely color blind. Anyway, one step closer to moving in!

Decisions, Decisons

Who knew buying a house would require some many decisions. Next on my list is a new light for the front door. Here's a few options at local lighting store. I'm thinking the second one from the left, bottom row. I don't like when you can see the light bulb through the glass so this one will probably work.

Southern Fried Munchies

When I was pregnant, I had a craving one night for some fried pickles. Yes, FRIED PICKLES. Living on the west coast, these were very rare. My wonderful and supportive husband was able to find the only restaurant within a 100 mile radius that served these strange, bad-for-you appetizers. About every six months, I get the urge to indulge myself in them and now that we're back in the south I can throw a rock and find a restaurant that serves them. You must always dip them in Ranch dressing and you can order the pickles as chips or spears. I'm thinking I prefer the spears these days.

Seating For One

Browsing the toilet aisle tonight, we stumbled upon the "How to Choose Comfort" sign. We've never purchased a commode before and I was pretty shocked at all the options. Geezh. Here's an interesting fact- replacing 3.5 gallons per flush (GPF) toilets built before 1994 with models that use 1.6 GPF or less could save a family of four up to 16,000 gallons of water per year-enough to fill 4 tanker trucks!

Bathroom Update

How's the bathroom coming along? Great! Look we now are without a toilet and vanity but the floor is still good so I'm happy. We're unable to install a shower head in the bathtub b/c of the plumbing in the tub. So the only way to make that possible would be rip out the tub too. Looks like the shower behind the door is staying.

We checked out bead board and I'm not sure what height it should be . . . they have some pre-cut pieces that are 32" or we can purchase the birch pieces in larger sheets and cut it to 48". And the toilet situation, Ryan would like to find one with two types of flush flows (for #1 and #2 :) but we haven't had much luck.

Note the lack of insulation, yep go ahead and add that to the list too.

Welcome Little One

Welcome, welcome. This itty bit is only two days old and so precious! I had the privilege of holding her in my arms for quite awhile. Her mama is an amazing woman and very talented in numerous areas. Check out the bedding, Kerrie and her mom sewed all the pieces. Green is my favorite color and I'm very found of birdies.

I'm Still Sanding!

Phase two of the thick stucco walls has begun; THE SANDING. First we tried a medium grade sandpaper with our hands. Then I almost cried thinking about how long it would take us and what in the world are we doing?! Next try, courser sandpaper which proved a little faster. Still so much . . . let's try the electric sander. Better but super loud and heavy vibration. Hmm, purchased a new sander that hooks on to the shop vac. Ah ha, now we're rolling. Uh no, what's up with all the dust everywhere?! Shop vac is shooting it. Oh bother, buy a new filter for the shop vac and clean up the mess later!

Sweeties?

Harrison is giving me his "sweet boy" smile, while Lucy is pretty annoyed that her nap has been interrupted. Sorry Lucy, we can't help but loving you.

Ohhh, SAND.

La, la, la, the sand feels good. This was Mr. H's first experience with a sand box. He was a little hesitant at first but after 5 minutes he couldn't stop rubbing his hands in it.

Morning Routine

Every morning Harrison and I have our bathroom routine. Wash face, comb hair, brush teeth. He's decided to add an extra step . . . unrolling the entire roll of toilet paper.

El Carnivore

The other day I received an email from Gerber informing parents about toddler eating habits. They said not to worry if your toddler doesn't eat much, they have a small stomach. Our toddler has the appetite of a teenage boy. He's constantly munching and lucky for us he loves fruit. I think we'll start a savings account so we'll have enough money to purchase food when he actually is a teenager.

Priming - Check

We finished the priming in the guest room/playroom this weekend. It already looks so much better and I can't wait to see it once we paint the walls and trim. We're also removing the window unit and redoing the wiring. My sister typed up our "To Do" list which unfortunately is two pages but we'll get there . . . someday.

Eat Your Peas

It appears Harrison is munching down on chips, salsa and guacamole. Well . . . the green container is actually sweet peas and it's mighty tasty with chips.

Boeuf Bourguignon anyone?

It's date night! We grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the theater to watch Julie and Julia. I thought the movie was simply delicious and it satisfied my appetite for a night out with my hubby. After the show, I had to snap a photo of the sign. As a designer, I really appreciate a hand written sign :)

Inked Up

Ta da . . . the star of Dan's Daily Disasters! As you can tell, he's made a recent trip to the tattoo parlor and you're not to mess with DAN.

Bedroom Makeover

Here's a "during renovations" photo of the front bedroom. The walls were a dark eggplant color and we're switching to a relaxing Woodlawn Blue. Our goal is to be moved in by the end of this month . . . I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Creative Seating

Mr. H is quite the climber and I need to constantly spot him. I grabbed my camera just in time to catch him resting upon his toy.

Vroom, Vroom

Every time Harrison sees a car, truck, boat, etc. he says "Vroom, Vroom". He was pretty excited (although his face doesn't show it here) to ride in a Vroom Vroom at Home Depot today.

Operation - Back Bedroom

Originally I thought we could prime this wall and paint it Monroe Bisque. However, the texture is heavy with sand and since we're doing everything else let's add one more step. Ryan and Becky are reaching their limit after hours of sanding.

A special thanks to all of our friends and family for their support and help during this time especially Bob, Mimi, Auntie M, Uncle Ciege, and Aunt B.

Bathroom Makeover

Do I need to say anything? Okay, okay, here's the plan for the bathroom. We're going to add a shower head, new drywall, white subway tile around the bathtub, beadboard halfway up the wall, paint the top half Gilford Green, and remove the shower behind the door so we can expand the bedroom closet. Still deciding whether or not to replace the toilet and what to do with the ceiling. Any suggestions?

You Say It's Your Birthday

Happy First Birthday Miss Hadley! This little sweet heart was so careful with her birthday cake.
The ladybug appetizers are so cleaver.

Let The Good Times Roll

It's official today, we are now first time home buyers! The guys couldn't resist their manly duties of tearing down the bathroom walls. What have we gotten into?

My sister and I discovered the best tools are your hands. After attempting to cover the thick stucco walls with drywall mud by using a trowel, we were getting nowhere. So we put on latex gloves and started smearing. The first phase of the cover is now completed in the living and dining rooms.