A Girl in her Natural Habitat

Evicted

2012-03-15T12:54:00.000-05:00

Big things have been happening this week. It's spring break and Sloan has been sleeping in his big boy bed/bunk for the past 4 nights! (and naps too!!). WOOHOO! I was beginning to give up hope that he'd be out of the nursery until many months after Abby was here, but one night when we were gettting ready to put him to bed, he said, "I sleep in big boy bed?" Now, he's said this before, but we've been too exhausted to deal with the inevitable craziness and excitedness that comes with sleeping in the same room with big brother to let him do it. However, this night, I figured, eh, why not?? If he's actually asking, then we should probably take advantage of it. So, after an hour and a half of listening to him and Jackson chatter back and forth, they both fell asleep! Then, the next day, he successfully went down for a nap and stayed asleep in his bed!! Besides just being happy that he's out of the nursery, I'm actually really excited about my boys sharing a room. They are both really happy about it and excited and I really hope that this is the beginning of a strong bond between them. I hope they become playmates and friends now that they are going to be sharing a room. I don't know, but it makes me think of the future where they are grown and they talk about the old days when they did crazy/fun stuff in the room they shared together...

On a very related note, since Sloan is out of the nursery for good, I can FINALLY finish it. We raised the mattress on the crib and put in the girlie girl bedding! Her clothes are even in the drawers! For some reason, having a room ready and waiting for her arrival makes it seem all the more real---as if feeling her sit on my sciatic nerve, kick my ribs, give me heartburn, and make my sleep uncomfortable don't make it real enough. But, there's something about seeing this girl's room made up and waiting for her makes me all the more excited to meet her!

Bedding from Pottery Barn Kids

Pouf from CB2

Chair: Ikea

biggest brother checking out the new digs.

little big brother trying on the baby towel

Abby

2012-03-08T11:05:00.001-06:00

While pregnant with both of my boys, I had a dream about what they looked like and what color eyes they would have. For Jackson, I dreamed he had hazel/green eyes, and for Sloan, I dreamed he had blue eyes. Both were right.

So, with only five and a half weeks left until the girl's arrival, I have been waiting and waiting and wondering if God would give me another "sneak peek" dream. Last night I finally had one! I dreamed she had blue eyes and a darker brown hair than my boys have. She was so pretty, of course! (I mean, does anyone dream that their baby will be ugly?? Probably not). I can't wait to see if this dream is accurate like the others, but it was definitely a great dream to keep me motivated and to lift my spirits these last few and kind of difficult weeks left.

Chicken Education

2012-03-01T13:15:00.000-06:00

I am officially the Chicken Lady. Well, if having three chickens counts, then count me in. My husband has been talking about chickens for a loooooooong time. I said no. I knew (and kind of still don't know) nothing about chickens and how to take care of them. Mostly, I was just concerned that I would end up being the one to feed and water the chickens after everyone else in the family forgot about them. But, my husband gave me his word that it would not be the case. So, he started looking for a coop. My one requirement was that it was cute. We found a kit on craigslist and he put it together. I have to say, I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I admit that I also fretted about the complexity of taking care of chickens, but Jesse and I soon realized that chickens aren't that complicated. They don't need a ton of room to run around. You just feed and water, basically. They don't even need to come out of their coop. The actual square footage that a chicken needs is very small and since we only have 3, they have plenty of room.

We got 3 chickens from our friends who started this whole chicken nonsense. They have about 13 and got them when they were chicks. They ordered them online and UPS delivered them. Yes, UPS delivers live chickens....who knew??? Anyway, only one of the chickens is old enough to lay eggs right now, but the other two should start anyday. Jackson is SUPER excited about having chickens. He loves to come home from school and check to see if there are any eggs, and we have had one egg every day so far. He loves it! The first egg he found, he wanted to take it to naptime with him. You know how kids are, if they have a new toy or some favorite item, they want to sleep with it. Thankfully, it wasn't hard to convince him the egg needed to stay in the refrigerator. After I got him to put in the refrigerator though, he said he couldn't wait to see what would hatch out of the egg. Sigh. Then I had to explain the "chicken-birds and bees" to him. (which, I myself did not know the inner workings until recently). Did you know that chickens lay eggs all the time? Only when you get a rooster involved, do chickens lay fertilized eggs that will then turn into chicks. I didn't know this, though it may be obvious to some of you all out there. I grew up in the suburbs of North Dallas. The closest thing to "farming/or what have you" was having more than one dog. Anyway...I refuse to get a rooster. My neighbor tried to convince us to get one because "fertilized eggs taste really good." BLECH. VOMIT. NASTY! NO THANKYOU. I refuse to eat pre-hatched baby chicks. And what if you don't eat it in time? Will some deformed-refrigerated embryo chick be inside??? (shudder) I can't handle these thoughts. So no rooster.

Speaking of rooster, though, Jackson named the chickens. One is Rooster, also known as Mr. Logan. One is Sam I am (which is the one that is the most fearless and will eat grass out of Jackson's hand). The other one, which is the one that is laying eggs right now, is Crystal. Yep. Crystal. Where the kid got this name, I have no idea. It makes me laugh though, because Jackson has always been a very black and white kid (like his daddy). He doesn't get too involved in imaginative detail. He will tell you what something is and that's that. What's the name of his penguin? Pengy. What's the name of Sloan's puppy? Puppy. So, to come up with "Crystal" is hilarious to me and Jesse.

our coop. We painted it the same green as our house. yes, I am that ridiculous.

Sam I am, Crystal, and Rooster/Mr. Logan. Rooster is a scaredy chicken. She hardly comes out when we are around b/c our dog scared the chicken sh*t out of her.... (sorry, couldn't resist. But it's true)

Sam I am and Jackson are developing a special bond. She's the only one that isn't afraid of us and she comes out looking for grass from Jackson.

So, I'm in the egg business. I have chickens that I can see outside my window. I kinda have to admit that I like them. Way more than I thought. The only drawback so far after my 5 days of being a chicken lady is that I feel a little weird when I cook chicken for dinner. It's weird to cook chicken on the stove while I can see the three lady chicks outside my window. Hopefully they don't know what goes on in my kitchen...

Making progress

2012-02-15T14:34:00.000-06:00

The boys are coming along in acceptance and preparedness for the arrival of their baby sister Abby Claire. Now, instead of saying that the nursery (which is now infused with pink) is his, Sloan says that it is his AND Abby's room. It's close to getting his foot out the door...
And just this morning on our way to school, Jackson suggested that we buy Abby a Dora the Explorer book because she would like it and we can all read it to her. Awww. Makes my heart smile :)

Ears

2012-02-03T13:36:00.000-06:00

This is totally random, but in the morning, when the boys were watching cartoons, I like to look at their profiles and think about the way they look and the way they will look when they grow up. Every now and then, I really study their ears. There's something about our ears that amaze me and remind me how intricately we are created by God. The folds, the shape, the way they just stick out from our heads just so.

I don't know. This may seem weird, but ears give me pause in my day to day to remember who we are and who created us in His perfect image.

Being the best is difficult...emotionally

2012-01-31T11:15:00.000-06:00

I am in no way writing this post to brag about Jackson's athletic ability, but the honest truth is that he has an incredible athletic gift from God. I am amazed at how quickly he picks up sports and other physical skills. Jesse and I were both pretty good athletes back in the day (Jesse still more so being that I've had lulls in my physical activity with three pregnancies to slow me down), but Jackson blows us both out of the water.

I am so proud of him. He was amazing at soccer this year and we just started basketball this month. He is pretty stinkin good at basketball too. He wants to do baseball this year, but neither Jesse nor I are excited about sitting outside in the Texas summer watching 5 year olds "play" baseball, so I told him he has to be 7 before he can play. Anyway, the point of this post is not to brag, but to just share how surprised I am with my feelings in regards to his "gift". Everyone knows/empathizes with kids who aren't so great athletically, but are out there trying. I get it. I feel for those kids and cheer them on when they do great: score a goal/basket. But in my experiences so far with Jackson, I find myself feeling a mixture of emotions. I am proud for him, but I worry that other parents are going to be like "oh great, Jackson's on our team...that means less scoring/playing for my kid, etc." I wasn't prepared for feeling bad when people stop cheering for him after the third goal/basket during a game.

It's hard because he's only five. He needs encouragement just like the other kids. So far, though, he hasn't really realized or doesn't care that the crowd stops cheering for his baskets/ goals. So far, it's been enough that Jesse and I cheer and clap for him after each goal/basket. We decided that we will not hold him back or "bridle" him in these situations. We are, however, working on passing and team work that will make him a better player anyway as he progresses into more competitive sports down the line and make his teammates feel good too. Plus, we know that there will be times when he is not the most dominant player on his team and he will have to learn what that's like. I just never thought that having a child excel so much at something could be emotionally hard. It's complicated, but I hope we can encourage him and foster his ability in the way God intended.

Spit or Swallow

2012-01-27T12:56:00.000-06:00

First off: those of you with dirty minds can go elsewhere. This post is actually about chewing gum.

The other day at my doctor's appointment, I had to take the glucose test, which means I had to drink that orange stuff. I had gum in my mouth and the nurse said "don't forget about your gum", so I swallowed it. I told her so. She looked at me like I was insane. She said, "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT??". Like I just drank bleach or something. For reals. For a second, I thought she was going to yell at me and say that I ruined my glucose test and had to come back another day to take it. But no, apparently she just thought it was wrong and gross and felt the need to make me feel like I was in big time trouble- like I was about to get my folder signed and go sit in time out.

Now for the record, I don't always swallow my gum. Sometimes I spit it out, but there's not always a trashcan or suitable bush/outdoor area for me to spit my gum out. Or certain social circumstances dictate that it would be wrong to spit out my gum at that particular time--like when I was a practicing attorney and showed up in court with gum in my mouth. It's not like I could saunter on over to the judge's bench and say, "excuse me, your honor, petooey..." Sooooooo...in those instances I swallow my gum. I have swallowed gum since I can remember. I am still alive and unharmed. I'm no medical professional, but I'm pretty sure I don't have 31 years of gum stuck in my stomach.

Now, if you ask my husband, he would agree with the Gum Nazi Nurse. He thinks it is wrong and you will die, get sick, or not be able to use the bathroom anymore (okay, so he doesn't think those things, but you would think that maybe he does with the reaction he gives...). He's a spitter. He can't understand why I would swallow gum. Our differences usually complement eachother in our marriage, but here, it's caused a bit of a problem (teeny tiny) when our boys chew gum. If we are in the car and they don't want it anymore, I tell them to swallow it. If my husband is around, he says "NO! Don't swallow it! Spit it out the window!". I hope this confusion put on them is not going to permanently hurt them...like swallowing gum could...

So, do you spit or swallow?

Accessories for accessories

2012-01-26T13:22:00.000-06:00

I have been accumulating clothing and hair accessories and shoes, etc. for Abby Claire's arrival, which is just under 3 months away!! It is SO SO SO SO much fun shopping for girl clothes! She's not even here yet and I might need an intervention...

I've got a little collection of hair accessories started already. It is so different from boys: with boys, they don't have but a couple of hats, if that, so there's no worry about where to put their accessories. Boys don't come with extra accessories. Girls, apparently do. So, with the hair accessories stacking up already, I have been looking for a way to organize hair bands and clips in a cute way. I googled some ideas and came up with my own design, which is a combination of ideas I saw online. What did we do before we had the internet??? Anyway, I would love your opinion:

I bought an empty frame at Hobby Lobby, spray painted it bubble gum pink. Then, I drilled holes along the bottom for cup hooks. Next, I found pink and black grosgrain ribbon and staple gunned the ribbon in rows along the back. THe frame was the most expensive part. You could save even more $$ by salvaging a frame you already have or finding one at Goodwill, etc.

The ribbon holds hairclips and the cuphooks are perfect for hairbands (and maybe eventually necklaces??)

On a side note, Sloan still insists on sleeping in the "baby room". Too bad he's too young to care that it's becoming more pink by the day, or else that would probably be incentive enough for him to move out.

Simple but complicated

2012-01-24T13:11:00.000-06:00

I've decided that I am going to make homemade bread. So, I've tried. So far, homemade bread 2 points, me 1/2 point. I only give myself a half point because the last batch I made my husband declared them "not bad". Which, is an improvement from the loaves of cement I baked the first time around. I'm on recipe number three, which I got on Allrecipes.com. As I type, the dough is rising, so I'll have to give you the results next post. I never would have though bread would be one of the more difficult things to bake. I consider myself a good baker, but man! bread is kicking my buns (pun intended). I am finding out that it is more of an artform than just straight following the recipe. Bread: simple, yet complicated.

Something else that is not really simple yet complicated, but rather more bittersweet: Jackson (5) and his relationship with his daddy. Sweet because it seems that this is the year that daddy has become his hero- the man who can do anything, is bigger than anyone, and knows all about everything interesting. Just a tiny bit bitter because before now, I've been the superstar around here in his eyes. Mommy is the most important person around for those first few years (and thankfully, I have one more and one on the way who still think that). The sweet definitely outweighs the bitter (the bitter is really only miniscule). I am so thankful that I have a husband who is a wonderful daddy, man of God who leads my family and is the best.possible. role model for my children. Afterall, I do believe God intended for fathers to larger-than-life in their childen's eyes.

Bathroom redo

2012-01-17T11:58:00.000-06:00

Since we are about to welcome a baby girl into our family, I figured that the bathroom she would share with her older brothers should be gender neutral instead of truck/transportation themed. Not that she would care until later in life, but I'll admit that I watned to refresh their bathroom anyway. Plus, it's also the bathroom our guests use, so I made it a little more age-neutral too.

Basically, I just bought a new shower curtain, hung a new picture and removed the towel bar (which, I don't know why I had one put in in the first place) and replaced it with a coat rack. Reality decorating tip: while towel bars are nice, I have come to find out through practical application that towel bars are NOT our everyday friends, therefore, it's something I don't need in my life. What I'm saying is that when you have towels on the towel bar, they look nice when folded up perfectly and no one uses them. The problem is when they are used, they are wet and get hung back up on the bar and are (1) not folded nicely and (2) can't be folded nicely because they need to dry. So, my solution in all our bathrooms has been to use robe/coat hooks.

Shower curtain: Potterybarn. Shelves: Land of Nod

Frame: Potterybarn Kids clearance. Picture: vintage postcard from Chicago's world fair depicting the world's first ferris wheel (a special place for us), coat rack: Ikea

Frames: Ikea-they hold pics of my boys' names written in the sand on the beach of Lake Michigan and I have a spare one for Abby Claire. Towel: Potterybarn

Forging ahead

2012-01-10T12:37:00.000-06:00

I have decided I cannot wait any longer to start on Abby Clair's nursery. Sloan is just going to have to live with a little pink until he gets evicted. I'm sure he won't care.

I am starting to decorate with things that he cannot reach to destroy, starting with a little ceiling decoration. I made poms out of tissue paper, which were SO easy. I used the Martha Stewart tutorial. It was clear and to the point.

I used light pink tissue paper to make the poms and found some dark pink paper lanterns to go with them.

Below, you can see the bumper to the bedding that will be used once Sloan is evicted. Until then, it will stay safely in the plastic bag to protect it from the big brothers. I like it because it has greens, yellows, oranges, blues and pinks altogether. Lots and lots of color to spread around!

Nursery chair

2012-01-09T12:50:00.000-06:00

After going back and forth trying to convince myself (for months) that I needed the nursery glider from Pottery Barn Kids (PBK), I cheaped out. I bought the $200 JennyLund Ektorp chair from Ikea. In the end, I couldn't justify spending $1,000 on a chair for a nursery. Especially on my third kid, who will probably not even get nursed in the nursery glider half the time. Not with two older brothers roaming the house freely, and not if I can't get Sloan to move out of the nursery until summer time- a good two months after the girl will be born.

So, Abigail Claire, we will enjoy $800 in our pockets and sitting in a $200 chair. Your daddy is very happy that I cheaped out too...but I didn't tell him how much the PBK one was until after I decided to buy the Ikea one.

this boy loves football

2012-01-09T12:41:00.000-06:00

Football is coming in close to defeating basketball as our favorite sport around here.... stay tuned...

also, this is a test to see if I am allowed to still upload photos or have to pay before I can...

Imperfect

2011-12-22T12:17:00.001-06:00

When I became a mom, actually, the very first second I held my firstborn, I realized that I had a lot to learn and God would provide me with untold numbers of lessons during motherhood. Five and a half years in and almost three kiddos later, I am realizing that this is going to be a lifelong lesson-learning session.

In some moments more than others, the lesson is much more in my face and straightforward. Christmas time is one of those times for me. Before I had kids, our Christmas tree was perfectly decorated with beautiful, fragile ornaments and the presents piled up underneath weeks before Christmas morning. Now, even on my so-called "nice" tree, the two year old has taken down and replaced all the ornaments and garland within arms length. So, my tree is now sporting clusters of ornaments at about 3 feet high. Also, even if we didnt do the whole Santa bit, we would still have no presents under the tree until Christmas morning because little hands find it hard to leave bows, paper, etc untouched on pretty packages. All this would drive me crazy in my old pre-kid life. I've come along way, baby! Now, I shake my head, sometimes say a silent prayer for sanity, and pick up the trash or put back the Christmas decor.

This morning, we made cookies too. They are terrible looking, but as evidence of how far I've come, I actually like them more than any "perfect" cookies that I could have made alone. They are all globby, misshapen forms even though we used cookie cutters because the dough got too warm and the cookies cut too thick. But, I know that my kids made these, had fun, and, hopefully, will remember christmases when they were little as fun times. I am thankful that God keeps reminding me that there will cone a day, sooner than I know, that there will no longer be little helping hands in my kitchen to help make "imperfect" cookies and I will long for just one more time.

The dresser

2011-12-19T15:15:00.001-06:00

I finished painting the dresser for Sloan to go in the room that he will share with Jackson. I've been done with it for over a month, but haven't taken the time to take pictures of it. Finally, I just decided to take pictures with my phone. They could be better, but they'll do. That's how I roll these days: good enough. The room is ready and waiting for Sloan. I may have to forcefully evict him though from the nursery. We tried once already, but after about 5 times of getting out of his bed and me putting him back in, HE asked to go back to his "baby room" where he promptly fell asleep.

And because I am using the blogger app for my iPad, I can't figure out how to caption each photo, so I will give a little summary here and you can reference it below. Like I said, that's how I roll these days.

First, is the dresser painted, second is the dresser when I bought it. I used the original pulls because they matched Jackson's little dresser pulls and I liked them. Third, is Jackson's dresser that I was trying to pair Sloan's new dresser with to make it seem a little more cohesive. Fourth, is the old red chair that we inherited from the Maple house when we bought and renovated it. Next, are personalized paintings I painted for the boys to emphasize the race car theme of the room. Last, is the little booger who needs to be sleeping in the room and enjoying my hard decorating work...

Her name

2011-12-14T14:53:00.001-06:00

Drum roll please........

The girl's name will be Abigail Claire. We are excited for Abby Claire's arrival in April! Her daddy chose her first name and it's very fitting because it means "father's joy" and when he was praying way back 3 years ago, he heard that he should pray for his daughter, Abigail.

On a related note, below is a rocker that I like, but I am unsure whether I'd want a rocker or a glider like the one in my previous post. What do you think??

Nursery

2011-12-12T13:10:00.002-06:00

Of course, as soon as I found out that I was having a girl (well, before that, actually), I have been gathering ideas for her nursery. It's so much fun! I would love to get started decorating, but I have yet to evict soon to be big brother Sloan from the current nursery. I might give it a go at Christmas break, bur I'm scared that he and Jackson will go all kinds of crazy in the same room at night. Yikes.

Anyway, the decorative side of me would love ti buy all new furniture, but the practical side of me screams NO WAY! So, I'm sticking with the same black crib, dresser, and changing table. I'll be getting a new chair because our old glider broke. I'm deciding on a glider or normal chair. I really do love a glider when nursing at night...

Well, here are some pics of ideas and my vision so far of her nursery!

Buddy: Fail

2011-12-07T11:08:00.000-06:00

Buddy, is apparently too much responsibility for me and Jesse. We have almost forgotten to move him three different times (and we only just got him out two weeks ago), and today, or last night, we finally forgot to mov him. Jackson went downstairs this morning and saw Buddy in the same spot as yesterday and said, "hey! buddy is still in the little Christmas tree! WHAT?!". Oops.

So when Jackson went back upstairs to change his clothes, Jesse moved him to another location. He looked for Buddy again and saw that he moved. Jesse told him that Buddy must have fallen asleep last night and Jackson woke him up when he saw him the first time.

Yeah, I think the "magic" of Buddy will not last far into their childhood. Oh well.

Sloan's little birthday party

2011-12-06T09:54:00.001-06:00

Here are the pics a few days late from Sloan's little birthday dinner/party. It's taken me a while because this time of year is super busy for us! Jesse just had his birthday yesterday too, so I have been busy making his cake and buying his gift, etc in addition to all the other daily busy-ness of life.

I was surprised that Sloan got the hang of opening his presents so quickly! Jackson only got to help him with the first one. He got an airplane car carrier from his Grammy and Papa, a new train set from Mommy and Daddy and Jackson, and a Little People Batman stunt set from his favorite non-family members: Mr. Chase and Ms. Stacy and their girls.

Buddy

2011-12-03T08:37:00.000-06:00

Most of you have probably heard of Elf on the Shelf or have one. Ours is named Buddy. If you're on Pinterest, then you have also seen all the neat, fun things to do with the elf. I think a lot of these are super cute ideas- like setting him next to spilled sugar and making it look like he wrote his name in it or made a snow angel in it. Sadly, we can't do that at our house. My children have poor self restraint. The story goes, if you touch the elf, he can't fly back to the north pole to see Santa. I am positive that within one second of seeing Buddy within reaching distance, Buddy would be grabbed and taken and fought over and possibly unintentionally ripped apart. So, Buddy finds himself situated in high, safe, uncreative places and positions in ohr house. It works.

Disclaimer: we want our kids to focus on Jesus at Christmas and not Santa, so we make sure to explain that Santa and Buddy help us celebrate Jesus' birthday and remembering that Jesus is the best gift of all. It's still a work in progress.

Sloan turns 2!

2011-12-01T13:27:00.001-06:00

Today, my sweet second born son turns 2! In one sense I can't believe that he is already two, but in the other sense, it seems like he's always been a part of our family. He is the biggest little stinker I've ever known, but has a sweet, sensitive heart in reality. He gets in trouble mostly because he thinks he is big enough to do most things, when in reality, he is not. You know, like cut vegetables with a chef knife or buckle himself into his carseat or discipline the dog. He's a mess and he makes me smile everyday. He ends every question or sentence with "mama". It's like he's my little duckling.

So, I've spent the day making his cake and wrapping his presents and doing a little shopping for pajamas for him. Well, the shopping kind of got out of control and I ended up buying only 2 pairs of pjs for him and about 8 articles of clothing for our baby girl. Yep, I'm already getting sucked in, but man! is there a lot of stuff that is just ridiculously cute on the girls' side of the store!! anyways... we don't do big birthday parties for the first and second birthdays. We usually have dinner with another family and a few presents. I think it's worked out well for my kiddos. Jackson is excited, i guess. He said this morning that Sloan can't blow out his candles, so he (Jackson) has to do it for him. I told him he had to give Sloan a chance first.

Happy birthday to my little meatball. I love you and your blue eyes so stinkin' much!

IT'S A GIRL!!

2011-11-29T13:53:00.002-06:00

Holy Cow! It's a girl!!

I had my 20 week ultrasound today and everything is checking out well and it's a girl!! I still can't believe it. I had just assumed that it was going to be another boy (and I would have been just as excited for boy #3), but boy, is it a paradigm shift to know that we will have a little girl in the house next spring! It took quite a while to see what was between those little legs. She had them closed tightly and finally, after we got a peek, she kept hiding her little face, so it took even longer to see her little profile. I think she's cute, but Jesse just said that everyone thinks their own child is cute. duh.

Jesse had the typical Jesse reaction: a little smirk on his face. Later, he said he was excited and that he knew it was a girl.

I'm excited to go shopping on the other girly side of all the kids' clothing stores now. I have to admit, I feel a little lost. I browsed some of the clothes at Target and Old Navy and it's like a whole other world that I've admired from afar, but now it's about to consume me...

Now to come up with a name.... Jesse has his choice. He's had it since he thought Sloan was going to be a girl. We shall see what the negotiations bring forth...

here's a picture of her profile!

Christmas decor

2011-11-27T21:33:00.001-06:00

So, truth be told, I started decorating for Christmas a couple weeks ago. I know, I know, some of you think that it is awful to do Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving, but I personally don't see any harm in celebrating the birth of Jesus a little sooner so that it feels like Christmas longer.

I love Christmas and I love Christmas trees. W have three in our house this year. Our "normal" tree is in the living room and is decorated with the fancy ornaments and the special ones like the boys' handprints and first Christmas pictures. We have a small one on our entry table that has ornaments that represent each family member's interests and other special ornaments that didn't fit on the big tree. Fnally, the third tree is up in our basement. Yes, I said UP in our basement. We don't have basements in Texas and we miss ours in Michigan, but this room essentially serves the same functions as our old basement did: tv, video games, toys that are too big/complicated to be out in the everyday rooms, and it is where our guests sleep. This tree is reserved for decorating by my dad and Jackson. I didn't get a pic of it to post here, but let's just say that the bottom half of the tree is fully loaded down with ornaments and the top is a little bare. I still love it because Jackson and Sloan and my dad had a good time decorating it and hopefully it will serve to make good memories.

Oh, and on our entry table, I put out a new nativity set that can withstand my boys. The people are made out of some kind of flexible resin/putty. I just hope we don't lose them. We had a few tense moments last week when baby Jesus was MIA. I found him under the refrigerator. If you'll notice the nativity scene is set up in Jackson's apparent interpretation of the Christmas story. The angel always has to be up in the window and the other people are shuffled around the the building. In this re-enactment, baby Jesus is outside and behind the building. Not sure why...

housekeeper...

2011-11-23T12:25:00.000-06:00

So as I type this, I am having my very first housekeeper experience. I have never had a maid before, so this is all new to me and I was/am not sure what to expect. So far, these are the things that are running through my mind: she has been here for 2 hours and is still cleaning the upstairs, which, to me, is the least dirty part of the house. So, either she is extremely thorough in cleaning and I am not, or my house is a complete pig sty. I choose the former. I caught her dusting my blinds. Um, yeah, I have lived in this house a year and a half and never dusted blinds. I figured I'd dust them when large clumps started falling off. Good thing no one in my family has serious allergies...

Also, being the first time, I stayed home so that I could show her where everything was if she needed it. So, normally, if this contintues, should I stay here while she is cleaning or just find somewhere to go--which will be a problem if she takes two hours to clean the upstairs and another 2 to clean the downstairs... I mean, where would you go for four hours??? Especially on the days my two year old and 5 year old are not in school...?? I guess if she cleans this thoroughly every time she comes, I will only need her to come once a month, but I was really looking forward to having someone else mop my floors every other week...

On a totally unrelated topic, I can't believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow! We are having a small Thanksgiving for the first time in a long time. It will be just us and my parents coming down, so I didn't want to make a huge turkey, so we are having ham. I know, I know, my brother (who is not attending) has informed me that this is sacrilege. Well, it's because of him that I am waiting to cook my turkey for Christmas Eve dinner instead of Thanksgiving. I do like cooking and I love cooking a turkey, but I ain't doing it twice in the span of a month!! So, ham, sweet potato casserole, hash brown casserole, pumpkin pie, brownie bottom pie are on the menu for Thanksgiving at our house. How about you?? Do you ever have something other than turkey for T-day??

Turkey time!

2011-11-21T15:30:00.001-06:00

It's almost thanksgiving and I am signed up to cohost Jackson's class thanksgiving party. I'm a tad nervous because it is my first time being a "room mom"- and I actually can't believe I'm old enough and have a child old enough for me to be a room mom! So, today, I am making preparations and I made these cute turkey cupcakes for the party. I'd like to say they are my own idea, but I borrowed the idea from a friend. They are super cute and super easy!!

School pictures

2011-11-10T17:43:00.001-06:00

Jackson's preschool picture. Isn't he SO cute?!

Dinner for all

2011-11-08T09:52:00.000-06:00

A lot of my posts latly start with something caused by my being pregnant, but it really is a good scape goat for many issues in my life right now. So, being pregnant, usually in the first trimester, I have horrible food aversions and some morning sickness so I never feel like cooking. My poor family is at the mercy of my husband's cooking, which isn't bad, if you like eggs and tater tots for dinner every day.

Now that I am into the second trimester, I have my appetite back and the will to cook again. Also, it helps that the weather is coolng down. I enjoy cooking so much more when it's not 109 degrees outide. So, last night I made two new things (for our family) for dinner. Every one of us ate BOTH things and didn't complain. I'd say that's a good meal! It wasn't anything fancy, just meatballs and "Cracker Barrels" hash brown casserole, but it's definitely going in the recipe book as a keeper. I know that at least 4 out of the 5 of y'all who read this blog ;) have children around the same age as mine, so it might be helpful.

Jelly meatballs:

-1 jar of grape jelly
-1 jar of barbecue sauce (the tangier, the better to balance the sweet jelly)
-package of frozen meatballs

Place all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low 4-5 hours.

Cracker Barrel hash brown casserole:
(this recipe seems super super indulgent because it's so creamy, but it gets the creaminess from low fat cream of chicken soup!)

Preheat oven to 350

-2 lbs frozen hash browns
-8 oz low fat sour cream
-1 stick butter, melted
-1 can reduced Fat cream of chicken soup
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1 to 2 cups shredded cheese

Spread frozen hash browns in greased 9x13 pan. Season with salt and pepper.
In a large bowl, combine sour cream through diced onion. Pour mixture on top of hash browns and spread evenly. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Furniture and food

2011-11-03T13:25:00.000-05:00

I've been known to be random when I'm not pregnant and it only gets worse when I am pregnant, so there. That's my explanation for this post.

First, furniture. Maybe this isn't totally random because I am currently in the middle of painting Sloan's dresser. Anyway, here's a random tip for painting furniture: use spray primer instead of the brush on kind. Super duper time saver, and, in my opinion, works better and is easier to paint on.

Second, food. I think they invented preshredded cheese sometime during the years I was in law school. Or maybe that's just when I really started buying groceries for myself (and husband). Anyway, since that time I first discovered it...now almost 10 years ago, ahem, I've always just grabbed the preshredded bag and thought nothing of it. With this third pregnancy though, texture is a big deal when I'm eating. I've been craving salads (don't give me credit for being healthy, i also crave chips and salsa like nobody's business), and I only like cheese in my salad when it's a salad from a restaurant. I finally realized that it tasted much better from them because they shred it themselves. Freshly shredded cheese. If there is such a thing. So, I've been buying the blocks of cheese and using it for everything that calls for cheese at my house. My kids even like it more and will just sneak up behind me and grab some out of the pile (yes, pile, what? when a recipe calls for cheese I take it seriously).

So, there you go. Two tips to improve your life insignificantly if not significantly: shred your own cheese and use spray primer.

Migraine?

2011-11-02T10:47:00.000-05:00

So yesterday evening was one to forget. Between the hours of 4 pm and 7:30 (when we put the boys to bed for an early bedtime) my children were apparently abducted and replaced by screaming, fighting, whiny,misbehaving banshees. Had to have been. So, once we got them to bed, the husband and I collapsed on th couch to watch some mind-numbing tv. We needed it. Somewhere towards the end of the show we were watching I started getting a terrible headache. Finally, after trying to tough it out, I asked Jesse to get me some Tylenol. I could barely even see straight when I took them. Two minutes later, I felt like I was going to throw up. I did. It was not pretty (but I guess I've never heard anyone use the adjective pretty when describing puking). I felt much better afterward.

So, the whole point of this post is that I wonder if this was a migraine, and if so, I hope I never get one again and I feel so so bad for those who get them on a regular basis. Yikes.

Sloan's dresser

2011-11-01T15:11:00.001-05:00

I finally found the perfect, old, not in great shape dresser to use for Sloan's clothes when he and Jackson finally share a room (which, may be a long time away...). I found this beauty at the Salvation Army. What love about using old dressers and painting them to make them new, is that I can find one that is solid wood, well built with dovetail joinery and a classic look. This dresser cost me $65 and has similar detail to Jackson's dresser (which cost me $35 at Goodwill in Traverse City....sigh, I miss that Goodwill. It always had nice stuff). Anyhoo, it's getting primed and painted burning umber, or red. After picture to come soon (hopefully).

A typical day

2011-11-01T13:39:00.001-05:00

This is a typical day with Sloan. Here, he is sitting in timeout, but it's self-enforced (he wouldn't tell me why he was in timeout) and he's eating a piece of bread while the dog patiently, pathetically waits for the inevitable crumbs to be dropped. Oh, and Sloan has staked claim to Jackson's cowboy boots.

I'm baaaaack!

2011-10-15T08:34:00.000-05:00

Ok, so if no one reads this, then I have only myself to blame because it's been forever since I last posted.

So, the last post I wrote was dramatically despairing. I'm much better now. I've readjusted my attitude and the morning sickness is gone, which helps tremendously. Since the last post, school has started (5 day a week pre-k for Jackson and MDO for Sloan). I was definitely sure that Jackson was ready for 5 day a week school, but I wasn't prepared for it as much as I thought. I miss having him home every other day and it seems that in addition to soccer starting up, we are always doing something everyday of the week. I guess this is how it will be until baby #3 is grown and out of the house...

Also, I've been busy rearranging, redecorating (sorta) Jackson's room in preparation for his sharing it with SLoan. We just got bunk beds and I've been in search for a dresser for Sloan. If I were not so stubborn and cheap, I would just go and buy a new one, but I have a hard time paying full price for a new piece of furniture. That being said, I did buy a brand new bunk bed for them, but it was on-sale. I cannot justify buying brand new items (with the exception of couches and beds/mattresses). So, I've been scouring Goodwill, Salvation army, consignment stores and thrift stores for the perfect ugly dresser to repaint and spruce up.

In addition to redoing the boys' room, I've been searching my house for things to redo/repaint. we've live in this house for a year and a half now, which, based on our track record, is an eternity. By this point in almost every other house, we have started remodeling or started building or moved into another house for me to redecorate/redo. I'm starting to feel like things are getting stagnant. Yes, I may have a problem. It could be a sickness. I've even been looking at new house plans! I have no idea why, but I think I may be addicted to houses/ house plans. Don't worry, I have no plans on moving, but a girl can dream, right?? I guess it's my passion...(weird).

I was at hobby lobby the other day and was buying Christmas ornaments 40% off for a second, little tree in our house that will have "fun" ornaments. I bought those glass ornaments for each person in our family according to their "passions". A fish for my husband who has taken up fishing in our lake almost every other day. A basketball for Jackson who LOVES the sport. A tractor for Sloan who is obsessed with them. And then, I got stuck on what is my passion. I don't play sports anymore. While I do love shoes, I wouldn't call them my passion...I realized that I am into houses. Which is not really a hobby as defined by the Christmas ornament makers association, it seems.

so there ya go. the last 2-3 months of our life. Pictures of the updated boys' room coming soon!

What am I going to do when the third one comes???

2011-08-31T11:32:00.000-05:00

So, this is really an addendum to the post below. I forgot to mention that I lost my cool this weekend. My husband went out of town chasing Hurricane Irene, which ended up not being much of anything. He was gone from Friday afternoon to Sunday night. which.was.an.eternity. Oh My Word. Taking care of two kids while puking and just feeling nauseous in general is not conducive to a healthy mental state. Soooo, I was not nice momma this past weekend, and Sunday night is the culmination of what I was feeling.

Sunday: husband calls and says he will be home around 8:00. I say, okay, kids took a late nap, so we will all be up waiting for you. I got the kids in the bath, scrubbed them down and we played in Jackson's room waiting for daddy. Kids play, start fighting over a car, wrestle, don't listen to me when I tell them to stop, so I lose it and yell (very loudly) to "STOP!!! FOr the love of all things, STOP!!!" Their response: they did stop! But they were frozen in place with looks of fear mixed with confusion mixed with 'did that just really happen?' on their faces. Hmm. I think they were like "OMG, she's finally lost it."

Immediately after, I regained my composure, apologized for yelling and gave them hugs, but told them they had to stop fighting. please. stop. fighting.

Yeah, we were all happy when daddy got home. I think they were like "thank the Lord, he's here! This woman is crazy!!!"

Morning sickness and other busy-ness

2011-08-31T11:17:00.000-05:00

Holy Cow. I have had some bad morning sickness with this pregnancy. It seems that each pregnancy has gotten worse. My first, I had no sickness at all. My second, I had a little and this one has been horrendous. A couple of days ago, I realized I kept puking right after taking my prenatal vitamin, so I stopped. TMI? maybe, but don't worry about my baby's fetal development without prenatal vitamins. I go to the doctor tomorrow and they will prescribe me some that won't leave me locked in my house begging for mercy...

In addition to the morning sickness, we are in full-blown fall activities mode. I realize now that this is just the beginning. It won't end until all of my kids are graduated from high school and out of the house. Jackson has started 5 day a week preschool-in the mornings only, but on Mondays and Wednesdays, we go home, eat lunch and then get right back in the car to go to Baylor for speech. Add on top of that, soccer practice and games two days a week and the only normal days are Fridays. Feel sorry for me yet?? If not, it's okay. I just wish I had more energy. Being pregnant with the third is really exhausting because you have two other kids to take care of. they don't quite want to stay home and lay around all day and take long naps..... sigh. I'll get them back when they are in high school!!!

Sorry no pics on this post. I've got some I want to post, but I only just found a few minutes of time to write this post, never mind upload photos.

Traverse City Part II

2011-08-17T12:37:00.000-05:00

You have to go cherry picking if you are in Traverse in the summer.

Sloan's first time cherry picking

another Traverse City tradition of ours is Moomers Ice Cream! The store is right next to their family farm, where they keep the cows that make their ice cream and milk! It's so good!

We all shared the Holy Cow-10 scoops of ice cream, 4 bananas, hot fudge, and an entire can of whipped cream!!

Good stuff.

We cheered Jackson on: "Chug it! Chug it! Chug it!"

We swam in Long Lake (the lake our house was on) every chance we got.

I even got to celebrate my birthday at the lake! What better way to spend a birthday than with my family in a beautiful place!

The little beach at our cottage.

The view from the house. Long lake is so calm in the morning.

Traverse City Michigan Part I

2011-08-15T15:14:00.000-05:00

Spending 4 days in Chicago was a blast! It's such a fun, big, bustling city with so much to do and see and eat!! The perfect antecdote for that kind of fun, is a week in Traverse City. An area with beautiful natural lakes (including Lake Michigan) and lots of farms and boutique shops and wineries!

We rented a cottage on Long Lake. It's the area where we used to live and was familiar to us and a great location. I would definitely go back to that lake every year! The lakes up there are sandy bottom, clear, clean lakes.

We had to do a drive-by of the old house. We call this the Fishers Run house. It looks the same as it did 3 years ago when we moved!

Gallaghers. The BEST farm and market! We used to go here all the time when we lived here before, so of course, we went about 3-4 times while we were there. Great fresh produce and you get to go pet the animals and walk around and pick some of their produce, if you want!

All over Traverse City, there are beautiful old barns.

Jackson particularly liked the bunnies. This one nibbled his finger too!

My brother and his girlfriend hanging out with pigs...

Jackson also enjoyed chasing the chickens around.

Sloan loved playing with the toy tractors.

but the real tractor was even better!

a view of Gallagher's fields.

One of the many wineries. THis one is on Old MIssion Peninsula-that is in the middle of Grand Traverse Bay, and separates it into East bay and West bay. This was a converted school house.

Inside the winery. My brother, Christina, me and Aunt Jodi.

Wineries aren't really kid friendly, so the boys played outside and found lots of interest things.

Grapes on the vine at the winery.

My little guy.

Chicago part II

2011-08-13T15:10:00.000-05:00

We visited the Museum of Science and Industry, and let me tell you, that is THE most amazing museum I have ever been to. It is beyond ginormous and has the most amazing things inside! I truly believe you would have to go every day for a week to see everything it had to offer.

A picture of a little boy walking into heaven...

We saw lots of tractors on our drive to Chicago, so to be able to sit in a real one was pretty cool.

They had a real German submarine from WW2. It was so cool.

This is my cautious child. he was not sure that the glass would hold him in from falling down below.

Every day they place eggs ready to hatch out in an incubator and you can watch them peck through their shells!

This little guy hatched the day before and he liked following Jackson around the glass.

Another wing of the museum held all sorts of transportation machinery. Trains.

All sorts of airplaines were hanging from the ceiling

Walking around downtown, we saw this Bentley/Lamborghini store. My husband picked out the green one here. I had to wipe the drool off his chin...

We made a visit to Sprinkles cupcakes! They were SO good. (and pricey, but hey, it's vacation)

Pizzeria Uno-the same as Pizzeria Due, just the first one they opened, thus, it's called Uno. We always eat at Due b/c it's got a bigger dining area. However, deep dish takes about 45 minutes to cook once ordered, so with 2 kids this time, we learned to call it in and eat it at our hotel (which was literally across the street). We gave Gino's East deep dish a try, since it's famous too, but to us, there was no contest: Pizzeria Due is BY FAR the better pizza. They invented it, so that's probably why.

A day at the Field Museum of Natural History.

Of course, the Blackwells arrived early before it opened, so we played hide and seek in the lobby area.

More hide and seek.

The Field museum building itself is a beautiful building.

Sue. The world's biggest best preserved T Rex fossil. Named after the lady who found it in Utah.

Beautiful ceiling in the Field Museum.

Mini Golf another day at Navy Pier

The Ferris Wheel. This, is the kind of weather when we should have gone for a ride in it.

a Kiddie ride at Navy Pier. Fun times.

Chicago part I

2011-08-12T13:12:00.000-05:00

FINALLY! Pictures from our trip to Chicago and Northern Michigan! This will be a multi-part series due to the insane amount of pictures I took. So, here's the first of our time in Chicago!

Leaving Waco at 5 in the morning. Jackson jumped out of bed and ran out of his room saying "I have to go check the map!"

Sloan is a little slower at waking up than his brother.

Stopping in Arkansas for lunch. At 10:00. Because we ate breakfast at 4 am before we left.

Can you believe that we saw Thomas on the highway?! He was on his way to Chicago, and was probably sleeping, which explains why his face was covered up.

As soon as we got to Chicago we headed to Navy Pier.

Playing

An anchor on Navy Pier

Mr. Frowny Face made an appearance, but we weren't having any of that for our first day in Chicago...he cheered up quickly after this.

One of the times we came to Chicago before, Jackson was 1 year old and he rode this train. Now, it's a tradition every time we go to Chicago. We have to ride the generic Thomas train.

Waiting to get on the Ferris Wheel. Trivia: Did you know the very first Ferris Wheel was invented and used in Chicago for the Columbian Exhibition (i.e. World fair?)

On the Ferris wheel. The rainclouds passed over before we got on and then CAME BACK! The wind and rain and dark clouds made me a little more than nervous.

Riding the city bus like he's been doing it his whole life.

the mean streets of Chicago. :)

The world needs one more Blackwell.

2011-08-11T15:30:00.000-05:00

Because I am TERRIBLE at keeping things from people, and because you are kind enough to read my blog, I am sharing with you FIRST (after family, of course) that we will be welcoming a new bitty Blackwell in early April!!

I literally found out two days ago. The day after we got back from our trip up north. Funny thing: on the drive home, I made Jesse stop and pullover so I could go to the bathroom a lot more than I did on the way up. He complained, and I said, "hey, maybe I'm pregnant" to which he replied that it would be weird to have to go pee so early in a pregnancy, but it was the same way with my other two. Fast forward one day and HA! I told him so! What I like most about his reaction when I told him was the high-five he gave me. What a guy thing!

So, I'm about five weeks along. It's early, and I was going to wait and publish this news on the blog and Facebook after my first dr appointment, but I couldnt' wait. SO.....those of you who know me on FB, keep it on the DL for a few more weeks, please! (yes, I know it is ridiculous to ask this to be kept on the DL when I am posting it on the internet).

We are SO excited to welcome a new little life into our family! And all the wine I bought at the wineries in Michigan will have to wait 9 months to be drunk...

guilty

2011-08-10T20:25:00.000-05:00

OK, Ok, Ok. I know I've been promising to post pics of my trip up north, but man oh man, it takes a lot of work to get back into the groove of things and readjust after two weeks away! Not to mention, I also have all the daily stuff that needs to be done.

Anyway, the only thing standing between you and pics is my aunt's will. Strange. Actually, I'm making her will and I told her I'd have it done by Jackson's birthday party, which is next Saturday. Yikes! I'll be spending my last free day (the last day the boys are in school until regular school starts (which, by the way, is NEXT Thursday for Jackson...what?!--I never got any of the emails from the school, so this was a big surprise for me when we got back.)

So, I'm guilty of being a slacker and procrastinating on the pics. I'm a bad, bad blogger and need a timeout. there.

Beautiful and Amazing

2011-08-05T15:20:00.000-05:00

Today, our last day of vacation in Michigan, we went to the BIG lake. Lake Michigan--a part of the lake where Otter creek runs into Lake Michigan. We used to come here a lot when we lived here before, and just as I remembered, it is an amazing place! I took a bajillion pictures, so you will definitely see them soon when I get a chance to upload all 500+ photos onto my computer at home!

One of the many highlights of the day: Papa (my dad) caught a couple of little fish (they looked like sardines to me, but who knows) and they were "adopted" by Sloan and Jackson as pets. Sadly, this adoption did not end happily...the fish were man-handled, or rather, boy-handled and died, but that didn't keep them from being held in hand as pets...

Jackson's adventure up north has left him grasping for adjectives to describe his experience. This morning, when he got his little fish: "This fish is BEAUTIFUL papa!" and when he found a rock that he liked: "this rock is AMAZING!" sigh. It's been a good vacation. We have made lots of memories. I would love to make this a yearly trip, but we shall see. We definitely have to come back so Sloan can have more vivid memories of the place.

Hope you all get to have, or have had a chance to have a wonderful, memory making vacation such as this!

almost over

2011-08-04T08:00:00.002-05:00

Well, vacation is almost over. Only one more full day after today. We've been so busy having fun and relaxing!

I still can't figure out how to get pics from my ipad to Blogger, so any and all pics will have to wait until I get home and use the ol' desk top. Maybe I need to find an app for blogging. Any suggestions?

Being back up in Northern Michigan, I realize how many things I miss about this place and how many things I don't. FOr one, I miss this weather!!!! It's been perfect weather, with even a day of rain, which is more than welcome for this Texas girl! Most of you know, Texas has been SO dry and SO hot. I will not be missing this place, however, come January and February. I miss the water up here. Every.single.body.of.water.is.crystal.clear. I have taken lots of pictures, but pictures don't do it justice. It's breathtaking and awesome to swim in. You'd be hard pressed to find a lake that I'd love dunking my head underwater in in Texas. Not so, here.

Anyway, time to get back to vacay. I am meeting up with some mom friends that I had here. I am looking forward to seeing their kids another 3 years older!

So much to say, so little time

2011-07-25T17:33:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to blog about all sorts of things lately, but it has been an incredibly busy summer for us! I guess it's because Jackson is old enough to be in lots of camps and we have been busy with weddings and our vacation coming up SOON to Chicago and Michigan!

I've got lots of home improvement projects lined up, so I'll have those to blog about. I'm still trying to figure out if it's possible to upload pics from my iPad onto blogger....so far, no luck, but that doesn't mean it's not possible. I'm like in the 4th grade level of computer stuff...

I'll be blogging lots aboutnout trip up to chi-town and Traverse City...and probably have lots of fun and not so fun stories about the 18 hour drive with two young'uns and my hubs... Now that I thik about it, I may just have more gray hairs when we are through with the drive. But, it'll be worth it!!

On another note, one more thing that has been using up time I would otherwise spend blogging or doing something productive, is pinterest.com. Check it out! It's like facebook but about stuff you find on the internet basically. Yeah, just go check it out- I totally can't do it justice by explaining it here.

Summer slacker

2011-07-10T13:01:00.000-05:00

I've been neglecting this blog because it's been a busy summer so far! I think we have entered that phase in life with children where there is always something to do, someplace to be, some camp to go to. It's great but leaves little time for things like writing a blog update.

I do have plans to fancy up my mudroom/laundry room. Well, in truth, I am making up a reason to put more glass tile in my house. I am addicted to the stuff! Hopefully I will get to work on it this week...I am doing it all myself! Hope it doesn't turn out crooked!!

teeth whitening: the verdict

2011-06-30T12:20:00.000-05:00

After a VERY uncomforable 1.2 hours, my teeth are 2 shades whiter than they were, and after the next two weeks of using the take-home whitening trays, my smile just might blind you!

I can tell a difference. My teeth are whiter, but the process was SO uncomfortable and for a brief period, painful!! I guess I'm a weanie when it comes to mouth pain. I'd rather go through another c-section instead of professionally whitening my teeth. I guess there are different levels of whitening and this was the quickest, most intense way to do it.

Basically, they greased up my lips with a TON of vaseline and put on those cheek expanders. Then, then they painted on some waxy stuff to protect my gums from the bleach stuff. Then, they painted the bleach on and shined an extremely warm blue light on my teeth. They repeat this 4-5 times. I could only stand to do it 3 times. My teeth were becoming very sensitive. She said that a lot of people don't make it through the whole process. Also, they dont' let you move at all b/c you can easily break off the waxy protective coating--they don't even want you to text or read a book! You just have to watch TV (which, daytime TV is always boring). Yesterday afternoon and evening, my teeth were extremely sensitive, which was NO fun.

All in all, I'm glad I did it and had the experience, but I wouldn't do it again. I'll stick with whitening tooth paste and maybe the occassional Crest white strip after I'm done with these bleaching trays.

An early birthday present

2011-06-27T20:39:00.000-05:00

This Wednesday, I get an early birthday present from my husband: professional teeth whitening. And it didnt' even cross my mind until I started writing this blog entry that maybe this is his subtle way of telling me my teeth are getting janky and yellow with old age... nah. couldn't be.

Anyway, our dentist is having a special half off teeth whitening, so he signed me up. He said if all goes well then he'll do it too. Maybe I'm the guinea pig? I am looking forward to it, but not looking forward to the 1.5 hours it will take. I'm looking forward to seeing if there really is a difference and if it is worth the price. A few years ago, I used to use those Crest White Strips. I would say my teeth were presentably white. It's been a long time since, though, so they could probably use some freshening up. I'll try to remember to take a before and after picture of my smile to compare and show you. I like to keep it real. ;)

Try not to fall off the edge of your seat waiting for the results...

Cheap wine and big plans.

2011-06-23T13:53:00.000-05:00

Found and bought some wine that is less than $3.00 a bottle. I'm no wine connoisseur (sp?), so I'll probably like it because I just don't know any better. I'll let you know the results after this weekend's party that we are hosting.

Tomorrow, we are taking Jackson to Grammy and Papa's house for the weekend. The boy will be there two whole nights! He's never stayed more than one night anywhere away from home w/o me, but he is BEYOND excited! Grammy is going to take him to see the new Cars 2 movie on Saturday and that should just blow his mind. I'll miss him like crazy- especially on Saturday and Sunday morning when he's not here. He's been our little alarm clock--waking us before/at dawn for his entire life! Little brother will miss him, I'm sure, too.

Pics of this fun weekend to follow!

Sloan's first day

2011-06-21T13:42:00.000-05:00

Jackson and Sloan started summer MDO today, and it was Sloan's very first day of school EVER! I have to say, I was nervous for him, but it is much easier when it's the second child than the first. I was only sad because he just walked right on in and didn't even look back for me. But, I guess that means that he will like it (fingers crossed!) He has been wanting to go to school for a long time and wanted to stay whenever we dropped Jackson off this past spring.

So, here's my little guy on his first day!

so, first time with the backpack on, and he apparently likes to eat the straps.

Big brother Jackson! Sloan, still eating the strap. Hopefully they give him a snack at school...

Sloan going for a taste of the other strap. Pretty sure it tasted the same.

I am SO over...

2011-06-20T13:27:00.000-05:00

Here's what will probably become a somewhat regular installment, seeing as how I can always find things that bug me...

Today, I am SO over:
Women who wear skimpy, tight outfits to the gym to "work out" in.

I don't even go to a place like Gold's Gym anymore, where you kind of expect some of that. I go to the Family YMCA (or rather, the Y, as they have now legally changed their name, but anyhoo). I'm a serious worker outer. I sweat. a lot. I don't wear full makeup and I don't do my hair up all nice and cute. The LAST thing I want/need to see is some other lady setting herself up next to me with her teensy tinsy little tshirt that is basically see-through so you can see her bra (and mind you, it's not even a sports bra!) with little bitty tiny shorts that were probably bought/borrowed from a tweener. I don't look good to go to the gym. I'm not there to impress anyone else and it is BEYOND me as to why someone would dress like they are trying to pick up a date at a family place. I almost feel sorry for someone who feels the need to dress like that to get attention.

So, today, after running 2.5 miles in record time for me, I went and lifted weights for about 10 minutes until one such lady sat herself next to me. I couldn't stomach it, so I went and ran another mile. Just so I wouldn't have to be around that.

Here's to fully clothed, sweaty workouts!!

Rx: Ice cream!

2011-06-10T20:11:00.000-05:00

Cure for a hot day: Ice cream!!!

It's so hot. 100 degrees pretty much everyday, and if it's not 100, then its 98. We've done the pool. We've done the sprinklers and slip n'slide. We've done movies inside. We've done the children's museum. Thank goodness VBS is next week and after that, both boys will be in a summer mother's day out program! For their sakes and mine, we need it! But, today, we didn't do anything, really. We stayed home and had a pretty chill day. Jackson and I did make some homemade ice cream in a bag today. It was surprisingly good! I only wish it made more. But, maybe I'll just have to shell out some money for an icecream maker like I've been meaning to, but haven't yet. Anyway, Jackson had fun making his own ice cream. I thought he would really enjoy shaking the bag, but he handed that job over to me, which I ended up having to use oven mitts b/c it was so cold!

Here's the recipe: (SOOO easy and FUN!)

1 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla (I think we actually used about 1/2 to 3/4 tsp b/c I let Jackson pour it in and a little extra was added, but it was good)

2 cups ice
3/4 cup salt (rock salt or kosher)

1 gallon size and 1 quart size ziplock freezer bags

Place the ice and salt in the large bag. In the small bag, mix the other ingredients. Squeeze out air and seal. Place teh small bag inside the big bag. Seal; shake and knead the bag for ten minutes, until the cream thickens. Remove the small bag, rinse, then open and eat! (note: I like it a little more frozen, so we stuck it in the freezer for 5 more minutes).

hypocrite?

2011-06-09T13:15:00.000-05:00

My random thoughts for today:

We live on a private road with a private lake. The entrance to our road has 2 or 3 signs that say "private property, no trespassing, etc". I get frustrated when random people drive through just to looky-loo. Mostly because one of the perks to living on a private road is that I can have my kids play outside w/o worrying about strangers. We only have 11 other neighbors on our street. Also, these people usually drive way too fast for my liking, especially with my kids and neighbor kids in the area. Well, the other day, somone drove through that did not belong and I complained. My husband then said, "what's the difference between them driving through here and the time that you climbed through an unlocked bathroom window to look at a house for sale?" Ouch. But, I have to say there is a difference when the house is for sale. I mean, I was just looking at an empty, new house. It was for sale and technically, it did have an open house sign in the front...it just wasn't open that day apparently. Anyway, maybe I am a hypocrite. I can live with it in this case.

Getting old

2011-06-06T13:47:00.000-05:00

Top Ten Signs that I am getting old:

1. I think the summers in TX are too hot. Anything above 87 is too hot. I remember in college that I loved the summer and the hotter the better because I would spend all day at the pool/river/lake.

2. I stay up past 11:00 and it takes me two days to recover.

3. When I tell people I was born in 1980, they used to say "wow!, you were born in the 80s! You're so young!" Now, they just say "oh, okay".

4. Baggers at the grocery store call me Ma'am.

5. I get carded maybe 1 out of ten times when I buy a bottle of wine (and NEVER when I am at a restaurant).

6. I spend a total of 10 minutes looking in the mirror the entire day- and that's at the first of the morning and includes time spent brushing teeth and washing face.

7. Every time I look, I find a new gray hair.

8. The lady at the makeup counter tries to sell me anti-wrinkle cream when I just want to refill my eyeshadow.

9. I drive under the speed limit (unintentionally)

10. I'd rather go to bed early than stay up and watch a good movie.

18 Months

2011-06-01T12:49:00.000-05:00

Today, my little Sloan is 18 months old!! I cannot believe this past year and a half has flown by! It seems that it went even quicker than Jackson's first 18 months of life. In the big scheme of life, 18 months is barely a drop in the bucket, but even though he's only celebrating 18 months of life today, it is hard to imagine our family existing without this little guy.

He brings laughter and joy to not only my heart and his daddy's heart, but also to his big brother's heart! He is so independent, but cautious at the same time. Where Jackson jumps in head first into an experience, Sloan pauses, assesses the situation, then if all seems well, he will join in the experience. I love watching his little personality...even the part that likes to push my buttons (and it's amazing how quickly he learned which buttons to push!!).

Sloan Jacob, I love you and love being your mommy and helping raise you into the man of God you will become!

TMI?? I had to crop this picture b/c he pulled off his swim diaper and Grammy let him run "free and wild"

Outdoor curtains

2011-05-24T12:13:00.000-05:00

This little project started because we love having dinner outside on our screen porch, but just as it's time for dinner, it is also time for the sun to shine right into our faces when we sit at the table! So, I devised (brilliantly, in my mind) this little set up:

Yes, it's a bedsheet. And yes, it served its purpose. But, can you believe that it was so ghetto that my husband actually TOLD me to get outdoor curtains?!? So I did. Because I knew he was right. We couldn't leave a ghetto bedsheet thumbtacked to the wall for eternity. I ordered outdoor curtains and rods from Pottery Barn. The instructions said it was a two person job, but they have never met this girl who is impatient (dumb?) enough to do any kind of project on her own. It actually was easier than installing curtains inside the house. Love the rods and love the curtains, and the feeling they give- they make the porch seem even more like a "room" in my house!

ahhh, much better. And of course, my husband likes them too...after I called his attention to them when he walked right past them without noticing them.

Galveston in pictures

2011-05-23T20:20:00.000-05:00

Here are pictures from our trip to the beach in Galveston. As I said before, my boys had a blast! Also, I'm not really a beach person, but I get a kick out of how much fun they had while we were there! I think you will be able to tell from the looks on their faces.

The water was actually pretty rough. No way I'd let my kids go out there on their own. Thankfully Uncle Garrett was there to keep up with Sloan while I snapped pics!

sandcastle building

Pure Joy on Sloan's face!

The beach

2011-05-21T18:43:00.000-05:00

So we are currently down in the Galveston area visiting my brother in law and his fiancee and we decided to make it a trip to the beach as well, since Jackson has been asking, literally, since last October to go the beach. (he would ask once a week atleast). So, we went this morning and it was fun. for the kids. Everytime I go to the beach, and it's not often, I realize that I really don't like the beach.

I like the beach in the hypothetical, anticipatory sense. Sand, surf, waves, sun all sound like so much fun. And maybe as a kid, it is fun. As an adult? Well, I just don't like getting dirty. There's always sand everywhere when you go to the beach. Even when you wash off, there's still sand on your feet so it inevitably makes its way into the car and onto everything that is in the car. Towels are sandy and wet. Then, there's the saltwater. It makes your skin and hair feel sticky and gross. Your sunglasses get coated in a film of salt and saltwater.

All this doesn't mean we wont' ever go to the beach again, but it does make me realize that going to the beach is definitely a labor of love for our kids. They had a blast and the only reason we got them to leave willingly was because they were hugely hungry from frolicking in the sand and surf. Which brings me to the next part of the day, which has been my favorite so far. We went and ate at a local place called the Mosquito Cafe. It was awesome! I love it when I find good places to eat. It's a brunchy fresh food kind of place where everything on the menu looked good and everything coming out of the kitchen looked good. I'm already planning on going back when we come down for the wedding in a couple months. Next to the the Mosquito Cafe was a bakery called Patty Cakes, which we found out, was owned by the same people as the Mosquito Cafe--so it HAD to be good, right? It was! We ended up getting an entire chocolate cake! Jackson got a special treat: a petit four!

Pictures to come soon.

The ottoman, part deux

2011-05-12T12:23:00.000-05:00

Okay, so remember the ottoman that I made? I thought it was pretty snazzy and was pretty proud of myself for fabricating the entire thing. Well, now I know that I cannot compete with furniture manufacturing companies...why?? My button tufting is apparently not up to par with professionals as evidenced by the fact that my boys pulled off every.single.button. Then, I replaced every.single.button. and even used superglue! But, my boys have been blessed (?) with freakishly strong hands/fingers and they pried off every.single.superglued.button.again. Sheesh! So, I decided to completely recover the darn thing and be rid of the buttons. So I did on the morning that I hosted the babyshower (yes, I am a freak and didn't think about what the consequences may be if the thing didn't turn out quite the way I'd hoped and had a half covered ottoman for all the people at the shower to look at, but it did, thankfully!).

The fabric is a little out there, but there's something about it that I really liked and it has all my favorite colors in it. My husband gave me the "hmm...so you recovered this? what was wrong with it before?" statement which means that he definitely would not have picked out this fabric (but then, when would he EVER pick out a fabric??) and in his opinion, it is way too crazy. Oh well. I like it. For now. Until my kids have a go at it.

the newly recovered ottoman, in all its untufted glory.

A baby shower: take 2

2011-05-09T11:48:00.000-05:00

I had the privilege of hosting a dear dear friend's baby shower at my house with the help of 5 other ladies! This will be my friend's first baby, so it was a big deal and I am so glad it went well. We based the decor around the bedding from Serena and Lily, which was blue, orange and white--this was perfect because orange is my favorite color so my house pretty much matched the theme! Thanks to the help of the other hostesses, all I did was make the cake and send out invites and get flowers! The rest came together because of them!

The mommy to be!

One of the other hostesses made these pompoms-aren't they so cute!!

We set up a candy bar so guests could take a bag of candy as a favor when they left: it was a big hit!

The cake. made to match the bedding.

The super cute diaper cake and blue hydrangeas in an orange bucket, of course

The spread of deliciousness!

One of the lovely co-hosts made not only the pompoms and the diaper cake, but this yarn wreath as well! It's got all the stats on it ready to fill out so this can be hung on the hospital door!

Now that the shower is over, I can't wait to meet little Reid!

Happy mother's day

2011-05-08T16:28:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's day to all you wonderful moms out there and to my own mom! I really never had any clue as to how HARD of a job it is to be a mommy and how much trust God puts in us to raise his little children!! It gives me pause to think about how awesome of a responsibility it is to raise my boys to become men of God!

Today, we went to church (which was a tear-jerker service, as always on Mother's day) and my guys took me to lunch at Chuys! This was definitely an act of love by my husband: taking our boys out past naptime to a crowded restaurant!

I also got the most wonderful mother's day gift:

Peanut butter blankets

2011-05-04T19:44:00.000-05:00

This post is gross. Just a warning.

This morning was perfectly lovely weather, so we decided to head to the zoo as soon as they opened to try and beat all the field trips that go this time of year. We were successful and we even met some new friends there. Jackson and this little girl played along well together and he even said "Oh no! I forgot to tell her about my birthday party at the bowling alley!" (His birthday is in August, mind you). Anyway, I got her mommy's contact info so we can play with this sweet girl again someday.

After the zoo, we came home and ate lunch and the boys were starving after all that walking- even Sloan because he has decided that he is too big to ride in a stroller, but we still have to have one with us so he can push it around the zoo. sigh. This boy is I.n.d.e.p.e.n.d.e.n.t.

After lunch, I took Mr. Independent upstairs to his room for naptime. I changed his diaper and remember thinking: "hmm. maybe I should put his shorts back on him. Nah, he never does anything naughty in his bed, so he'll be fine with just his shirt and diaper on."

Fast forward 3 hours and I hear him happily playing in his bed after his nap. I figured I'd just leave him in it until he got upset since he was happy and laughing. Well, he never got upset, so 15 minutes later, I go and immediately smell something "not right". I open the blinds to get a better look and see his naked lil hiney and an open diaper in his bed and "peanut butter (if you know what I mean)" smeared ALL. OVER. HIS. BED, ANIMALS, BLANKETS, CRIB, HAND, PACIFIER. It's one of those moments that receives a similar reaction to finding throwup all over your child's room: Frozen still, thinking: there's no way I can possibly clean this up w/o a firehose... First, I thought I could clean Mr. Independent-Peanut-Butter-pants up with a wipe! ha! Not so much. So, he got his bath at 3:30 today. And, I should add, Jackson had a running commentary during all this that pretty much went "ew! gross! dat's nasty! Sloanie- you stinky! yuck!" (I have to say, I agreed with him).

In the end, I got it all cleaned up, and I am thankful for my fancy new frontloader washer that has a SANITARY cycle. Definitely used that one today. And, thankful for my husband who took us out to dinner so I didn't have to make it tonight! Of course, I HAD to text him a pic of the mess so he could suffer almost as much as me.

Thoughts on a maid (housekeeper or whatever the PC term is these days)

2011-05-03T11:44:00.000-05:00

Since I became a mommy, I've debated with myself and my husband about getting some help with cleaning around the house. I haven't gotten a maid yet, but that's only because I'm too stubborn and my husband was too cheap to pay for one. Well, now I'm not so stubborn (after adding yet another messy toddler into the mix) and my husband is not so cheap anymore (or rather, he is still cheap, but he values my sanity of mind more than the cost of a maid).

I always used the reasoning that since I am a stay-at-home mom, then part of that job description including cleaning house. I don't mind dusting, vacuuming, etc, but I loathe mopping the floors. Unfortunately, that's the dirtiest part of my house and the quickest to get dirty too. I also thought that our money could be better spent on something else besides having someone clean up after us. What, I don't know. I also kind of feel ashamed that I have someone cleaning up after my family. We should all be able to clean up after ourselves, right? I dunno. It makes me feel a bit like a failure if I hire a maid. Don't get me wrong, I don't think others who have maids are failures- I think we all do what is right for our families and I have plenty of friends with maids who say that their family life is better because they have that much less stress about things to do around the house.

So now, anyway, in the stage of life we are in, I'm thisclose to hiring a maid. What do you think? Do you have one? Do you love it? Wish you would not have gotten one because now you can't give her up??

What.a.long.day.

2011-04-26T19:17:00.000-05:00

I don't care what political way you lean, but something has to be done to change our healthcare system. Let me tell you my story of my day today and maybe you will agree.

Sloan had to have a relatively minor surgery today. First, the hospital didn't even schedule the time of the actual surgery until two days before. Then, I had to call in and get the time. Then, the day before, the anesthesiologist's office called to go over pre-op stuff with me. She asked what our reporting time was for the surgery. I told her 8:30 am. She said, "ooh, I think they moved it earlier, so you might need to call back later this afternoon between 4:30 and 6 pm." Okaaaaayyyy, so what then, I asked, do they expect me to do with all the plans I had made with childcare for Jackson while we were in a town 30 minutes away for surgery for Sloan???? Reschedule and scramble with people? I was about to lose it, but decided to fight that battle when I actually called the scheduling people. Long story short, they moved our time to 9 am. Not too bad, so no fight needed.

Today was the surgery day, so we drop Jackson off at his wonderful teacher's house so she could take him to school with her. We get to the hospital and get to the desk promptly at 9 am. We are always on time. We check in and in about 5 minutes, we are taken upstairs to the pre-op room and asked to change Sloan out of his clothes into a little hospital gown (which was SO cute, by the way, pic below). Then, we wait. and wait. and wait. After about 45 minutes, (now 9:45) a nurse comes in and says, "oh, the surgery before is going longer, so we probably wont get to you until 10:45". WHAT??! My child has not eaten or had anything to drink since the night before because of anesthesia, etc. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??? But what were we going to do? Complain to the hospital? Threaten to take him to the hospital down the street/next town over? That wouldn't do any good b/c our insurance only covers for certain providers. It is maddening!!!

Ultimately, the surgery started at 12:00. THREE HOURS later than they told us it would. I tell you what: if we had been 3 hours late to the appointment, they would have scratched us from the books and told us to come back and start all over again and maybe even have had the gall to charge us for the time spent preparing for surgery!! Who's going to pay us for our wasted time??? My husband could have gone and done a couple hours work if he had known when we would actually be starting! ARGH!

All in all, the surgery went well and he is a healthy little boy. I am just even MORE thankful that we have very healthy children who do not require constant interaction with the healthcare system beyond regular checkups. Sheesh.

Now, how cute is this little guy?? cutest patient there today, by far!

They used this fun wagon to take him back to the O.R. We also used it to make a few laps around the 2nd floor of the hospital while we waited for hours on end.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T18:47:00.000-05:00

When I was little, my favorite holiday was Christmas, for obvious reasons. Now that I am grown, I think my favorite holiday is Easter. As a Christian, Easter is what it's about. There would be no basis for our faith if Easter did not exist. Christ died. Christ rose again. In Him we have eternal life. THIS is the miracle that we must place our entire faith in if we believe in Jesus. I love Easter! I pray that the meaning of Easter is celebrated in your soul this way too!

Mr. Stinkface says Happy Easter. Don't eat rotten eggs.

The Boys.

Puerto Rico in pictures

2011-04-21T13:56:00.000-05:00

As you can see below, Puerto Rico is a beautiful place!

The View from our hotel room-right on the beach!

Our room

From inside the old Fort looking out at Old San Juan

View from the fort. Part of Old San Juan.

The fort

Old San Juan

Sunset from our balcony

Walking the beach our last day there.

We found so much sea life when the tide was out. This and some more conch, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and some other creatures we would have known the names to if we had been marine biologists...

My husband was the sea explorer. I stayed safely on the beach. I'm not a fan of sea creatures.

our resort

More resort

Resort again

Every morning at 10 am they feed the iguanas. THey come out like cats at that time and wait to be fed. Again, my explorer husband.

apparently they don't like mushrooms.

They like lettuce!

a pretty, huge, birdcage at the resort that had a parrot inside. I'm not a bird fan either, but I like fake birds and bird cages.

No place like home

2011-04-19T21:08:00.000-05:00

My hubby and I got back from a vacation in Puerto Rico yesterday, and I am SOOO glad to be home! I've always loved traveling and going places, but lately, I am just content to be home. Maybe this is because I have children and they didn't go with me? Or maybe because now that I travel as a responsible adult, I find it a pain in the butt to be gone from my routine for days on end. I like my routine. I like my everyday, even though I complain about it sometimes. It was easier to be away from "home" for days or weeks on end before I had kids and before I had a husband. I remember going to China and Korea and then Europe a couple years after for weeks at a time, and not having this same sense of relief at the end of the trip that I was "home again". Nowadays, there really is no place like home. Maybe that's why I obsess over decorating, furniture arrangments, floorplans, etc. I really want my home to be comfortable and perfect for me and my family. And, I think it pretty much is. I am more than content. I am happiest in my home.

That being said, Puerto Rico was beautiful and I will post pics in a later post.

Ironic?

2011-04-12T18:59:00.000-05:00

It only took me a whole day to realize how ironic it was to post about my sugarless endeavor right after my carrot cake recipe. But, in my defense (if there really is one), it is a whole wheat carrot cake. Right??

Day 2 of sugar fast and still going strong. I even took my boys to Baskin Robbins for icecream this afternoon and had not a lick! That's not saying I didn't scan their menu and look for something, anything that didn't have sugar in it. Bottled water was the only thing they had without sugar, I decided after a long debate about whether "no sugar added ice cream" counted. Sigh, it counts as a sweet so it was off limits. Woohoo! Willpower of iron here! For now!

Sugar-holics anonymous

2011-04-11T19:36:00.000-05:00

As I announced on my FB page, I am giving up sweets for the foreseeable future. As I struggle to lose the very last bit of pregnancy weight, I realized that eating sweets and other junk just was not helping and I value my health and weight more than the tantalizing deliciousness of treats. It's gonna be hard, folks. I have a sweet tooth and and even bigger chocolate tooth. I just read an article that explained when your body digests sugar, it's focused on the sugar for energy and doesn't use your fat stores, so your fat stores just sit there unused. I'm doing all this exercising for nothing then! I don't want sugar to get all the benefit of my workout!!

So why go cold turkey?? Because while I am moderate in most things I do, I'm not one of those people who can do sweets in moderation. Buy a bag of M&Ms at the store: I have to eat the whole bag in 2 days. I don't even know if chocolate is still good beyond a week because I don't think it has ever stayed in my house that long. So, I have to be strict and not allow ANY sweets and sugared things into my diet or else I cave. When I fall off the "no sweet" wagon, I wait until there's a cliff nearby to make the fall hard. I'm just sayin..

So, today was my first no sweet day. It was an ok day. The hard part will come in a few weeks when it's 3:00 in the afternoon and my kids are whiny and driving me crazy and I'm exhausted. THAT's when temptation will sneak in. I will be vigilant. I will fight on. Sugar, you will not win this battle!

After an indefinite amount of time has past, I can see allowing myself to gorge on Saturdays. I used to do this in college and a couple years afterwards, but got away from it. It's time to clean it up! Woohoo! (here's to an enthusiastic post...bear with me in the coming weeks when I lament this decision...)

Whole wheat carrot cake-YUM

2011-04-08T19:41:00.000-05:00

I make this cake atleast once a month because it is my husband's favorite. It calls for half of the flour to be whole wheat, so it really is a whole wheat cake. It also cuts calories by using applesauce. I do not add nuts or raisins--not a fan of either in my cake. I actually did a FB status update about it and have had requests for the recipe, so by popular demand, here it is:

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
-1/2 cup canola oil
-1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
-1 1/2 cups sugar
-1 cup unbleached white flour
-1 cup whole wheat flour
-2 tsp baking soda
-2 tsp ground cinnamon
-1/4 tsp salt
-4 large eggs
-1 tsp pure vanilla extract
-3 cups grated carrots
-cream cheese frosting (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350.
Spray two round cake pans with nonstick spray (or 9x13)
Using an electric mixer, gently cream butter with canola oil. Add the applesauce and the sugar, beating until well combined.
In a medium bowl combine both flours with the baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the eggs, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract. Add the carrots and beat on medium speed until well incorporated, about two minutes. (Fold in 1 cup nuts or raisins if desired.)
Pour batter into pans, bake for about 35-40 minutes or until done when tested with a toothpick.
Remove from oven and let cool before icing.

Cream cheese frosting:
-2 8-ounce packes cream cheese, softened
-1 cup powdered sugar
-1/4 cup milk
-1 TB vanilla extract

Blend softened cream cheese with remaining ingredients. Makes 2 cups frosting.

ENJOY!

A public service announcement

2011-04-06T13:49:00.000-05:00

Since becoming a mother, I've had many discussions about the Terrible Twos. Now that my oldest is 4, I feel like I have something to contribute to this discussion. This topic is front and center in my mind today after talking with a lady at the mall who was amazed that her 3 year old twin grandsons behaved so badly that she actually had to spank them.

This PSA is for those of you with children under the age of 3. This is to dispel the myth of the "terrible twos" that everyone likes to warn you about. Are you ready for the truth??? The Terrible Twos Do Not Exist. Atleast in my experience and in many of my other mommy-friends experience. I feel the need to inform other mothers that age 2 is when your child's personality is really starting to shine brightly. Age 3 is when they want to use that personality to take over the world...

Really, though, something called a 3 year old monster takes hold of your child at age 3 and turns that sweet, loving, obedient, babbling baby into a loving, loud, disobedient-to-the-point-of-exhaustion toddler. When Jackson was three (a long, long year ago), I had no less love for him, but there were many moments when I thought I might pull my hair out and that something must be wrong with my child. Maybe he ate lead paint? Maybe there was something in the well water in our house in Michigan? Maybe his brain was injured in one of his many falls off of the playground/bed/table/couch/stairs? Nope, he was just 3. I thought that he was forever going to have behavior issues. Would I have to drag him literally kicking and screaming out of IKEA (or any random store) everytime we went there--and everytime, the people in the parking lot would think that I was abducting him against his will???

Then, he turned 4. And just like that, the 3 year old monster inside him left. And now I have a loving, still loud, but mostly obedient and kind-hearted four year old boy.

(Disclaimer: you may be one of the few "freaks" whose child will not ever hit this phase. Consider yourself incredibly blessed!)

3 Year old Jackson (yes, those are the roots still attached to the flower he picked out of the yard for mommy)

4 Year old Jackson. My sweet, firstborn son.

Fancy French cupcakes

2011-04-04T20:51:00.000-05:00

I had big afternoon plans of going to the library with Jackson when Sloan got up for a nap, but Sloan slept late and Jackson didn't, so we had to stay home. So, we made cupcakes! I had the cake mix, but didn't have any icing other than white or vanilla, which I do not like on my chocolate cupcakes. I've made icing before, but I knew I did not have enough powdered sugar to make any today. Soooooo, I decided that I would try to make ganache.
Now, usually, French foods terrify me because they always sound so complex, but I actually found a simple recipe that only used two ingredients: heavy cream and bittersweet chocolate chips. Good thing I had those in my pantry and refrigerator!! It's hard to mess up something with only two ingredients, so I figured I'd give it a try. It was SO easy!
I'd say they turned out really well, and I think this is my new favorite cupcake/cake topping!

Here's the recipe and pictures:

1/2 cup heavy cream (or just plain whipping cream worked)
8 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

-cook cream and chocolate chips in a double boiler until smooth and warm, stirring occassionally
-dip tops of cupcakes into ganache
-voila! (sorry, couldn't help but add a little more French)

heating the cream and chocolate in a double boiler

beautiful, shiny cupcakes

I can almost see my reflection in them!

Don't worry, I won't keep them all in my house because I definitely do not need the calories. We are going to take some to Jackson's teachers tomorrow and let them have all the calories. (after we have a few, of course).

Stinnett Mill update part 2

2011-04-04T14:11:00.000-05:00

So, things are moving along quite nicely at the mill. Here's an update in pictures!

The staircase has been removed from the middle of the kitchen and in its place is a ginormous island that will house a cooktop and hood above. The cabinet will get hardware. THe backsplash is a grey glass subway tile with a copper mosaic accent. All the woodwork throughout has been painted white to brighten up the space!

Accent tiles on the floor along the back of the kitchen island.

the new staircase along the wall in what will be the dining/living area.

The downstairs bath. They kept the clawfoot tub, since it is the only tub in the house, but added a new vanity with a hammered metal sink. I love hammered metal!!

View from dining/staircase into living room. part of the wall that divided the living and dining was removed to brighten up the space and make it more open.

this was the loft area upstairs where the old staircase was. It has been covered over with new pine planks and this room will one day become an extension of the master bedroom.

A picture of the original grain elevator--it still works!! This will make moving furniture in a breeze!

This was a huge bedroom, that has been split into two smaller bedrooms.

Another view of the stairs. They are not complete yet

The concrete floors were stained red, and now they have been stained a dark espresso color, and etched with a wood plank pattern. They look amazing!

I can't wait until they move in and I can take pictures of the place furnished! It really is a great piece of property that is unique in every way!

What's going on??

2011-04-02T13:00:00.000-05:00

So lots of people, it seems, have been asking me what's been going on lately. In my head, my answer is, lots of stuff, but not much. We are busy with the everyday things and sometimes it's not that exciting or news worthy. So, here are the non-major developments in the Blackwell world, in order from most un-exciting, to not that exciting to you, but maybe to me...

I rearranged my living room for some excitement. But only because I really want two new couches, but my husband said I was crazy because we just bought this sectional a couple of years ago, so this is the next best thing, right? Just move the furniture so it feels new?? Right?? Anyone?? He just does not understand that design and style keep moving forward, so shouldn't our furniture???? haha.

On a serious note, it does make the room seem larger because the couch is not in the very middle of the room. Not sure if I like it, but will keep it for the time being

The other day, Jackson had to sit in the time out corner, and because Sloan does all things Jackson, he had to take his own turn in the timeout corner. Hmmmm... maybe this will mean he will happily obey when he actually has to go to timeout???? (one can hope)

This one truly is exciting: Jackson sharing his frozen yogurt with Sloan. I always make a huge deal out of sharing because I know it is not really in our nature to share, so I do all I can to encourage it!

turbo what??

2011-03-30T12:30:00.000-05:00

Today I finally took a turbokick class taught by my friend, Nicki, and got my butt turbokicked. And I could just leave it at that and it would sum up my whole experience, but since this is a blog, I feel I should elaborate.

First off, I am in OK shape. I've been in better and I've been in worse (hello? post-pregnancy anyone??). I've always been consistent in getting my cardio via treadmill or bike or elliptical and then get my pump on with some free weights. I like this routine because I can jam out to my ipod and get lost in my own world and not pay any attention to anyone. I like that. I usually don't like classes because I get distracted by what the other people in the class are doing. But....we all need to change things up once in a while, so after urging from Nicki, I decided to try out her class. I can now see why turbokick is the highest calorie burning workout. It's like kickboxing/tae-bo but with zumba-esque choreography kinda-sorta. (Great description, I know- clear as mud?). This makes the class go by super fast, but it is not something that comes easily to me. I would say that I am athletically talented in sports, but that gifting does not extend to choreographed moves-of-my-body/booty. So, for the first 10 minutes I was a couple steps behind everyone else, but still moving. Towards the end, I could say that I was "following along" although not as gracefully as some others. All in all, I think I'll go back. I can feel the calories burned, and at this point, that is all that matters.

Here's to trying new things!

Bluebonnets: Fail

2011-03-28T20:07:00.000-05:00

Spring has sprung in Central Texas, and that means bluebonnets are popping up everywhere! For those of you who are not familiar with all things Texas, the bluebonnet is the state flower and the road maintenance and ground crews across the state stop mowing the grasses along the highways and roads and parks so that we can all enjoy the bluebonnets. Also, it is a Texas tradition to take pictures in the bluebonnets of your kids, pets, etc. Today, we tried. I took eleventy billion pictures and this is what we got...

Me: Jackson, go get your brother so we can take pictures

Well, technically he got him...

The only way to keep Sloan in one place is to apply your own body weight...

Jackson thoroughly enjoyed it...ha.

Jackson and Sloan: we're outta here, mom!

Another try at the two of them together...

One of Sloan taken on the run

This pretty much sums up the whole time we were there...one kid close by, but not facing me, and the other far away not smiling.

Again, Jackson is totally enjoying himself...

a dirty look??

Finally! A chance to play on the playground!

AND......pretty much the only decent one. sigh. We'll try again next week....

We'll go back for another try in a week or so when the flowers have really bloomed a lot more and thickened up. Also, I made a mental note NOT to go immediately after naps. Hopefully next time I only need to take eleventy million photos...

Texas Culture

2011-03-21T13:05:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday, I went with my mom and my aunt Jodi on a mini road trip down to San Marcos and Gruene, TX. San Marcos has a bajillion outlet stores and my favorite, Pottery Barn/West Elm/Williams Sonoma outlet too! I used to shop there for clothes all the time when I went to college down there in the hill country.
While we were already that far south, we decided to take the extra 20 minutes and drive down to the New Braunfels area to a historical town called Gruene, pronounced "Green"--it's German. Gruene, is also a place I spent many fun college nights in at Gruene Hall, Texas' oldest dance hall. I enjoyed many Pat Green concerts there! I actually had an apartment in New Braunfels my last year of college, so I like to claim this area as one of my home towns!
This town is pure Texas culture. It was a real working town back in the day, but the dust bowl and depression turned it into a ghost town. In the 1970s, group of investors bought the town and revitalized it and turned it into what it is today. There are shops and restaurants and through the town runs the Guadalupe River, where you can throw on your swimsuit and go toobing down the river while enjoying a nice cold one!
One of my alltime favorite restaurants sits in the middle of Gruene and overlooks the Guadalupe: The Gristmill. This was an old Gristmill that is now a restaurant and features Texas fare such as chicken fried steak "as big as yo head", along with burgers and other delicious items. This is where we ate lunch. It has been expanded onto time and time again, so that the majority of the seating is outdoors under lush shade tree, but it's been very thoughtfully done, so that the rustic, original nature of the mill has been preserved throughout.
Every third weekend of the month is market days in Gruene, where vendors sell artwork, foodstuffs, and everything in between.
Gruene is the place to go if you are looking to experience true Texas Culture!

The chair I bought at the Pottery Barn/West Elm outlet for a steal of a deal!

One of the rooms at the Gristmill. Sigh, I love this place!

My mom and me at the Gristmill.

Sloan

2011-03-17T13:08:00.000-05:00

I don't have many house beautifying projects going on right now, and I'm not feeling very inspired by anything, so here's a little update about my little one. Sloan is 15 months old and every bit the toddler. These are bittersweet moments in our house because he's growing up so fast and learning new things everyday, but he's fast becoming a boy and no longer my baby.

What I love about Sloan is that he is a momma's boy. He prefers me always over anyone else and clings to me when I try to hand him over to his daddy. Sometimes it can be a pain, but I secretly love it. He is also a mess-on-wheels. He is into anything and everything. I daily pick up pots and pans, tupperware, trash, toilet paper, kleenex, pretzels, milk, etc.

He is a little scared of the vaccuum, so I either have to hold him and his bear in one arm while vaccuuming, or set him on my bed.

He's such a big helper: Here he is trying to whistle like me for our dog, Brodie, to come back.

His new favorite foods: hotdogs and beans. Thus, his new nickname is Frank'n'Beans... And yes, he insists on using a fork now, so atleast Frank'n'Beans is refined!

Making the most

2011-03-11T12:39:00.000-06:00

I told myself the other day, "Self, you only get one shot at today, so make it good." I was inspired to be the best mommy and the best wife, etc. Then, life happened. It's not that I've been the worst mommy or the worst wife, but I got tired. Sleep would definitely help me make the most out of my one shot at today.

So, while I may have inspired myself with that little quote, I also discouraged myself because there are little things that make me frustrated or things that just have to be done (like laundry) that makes it hard to have a gangbusters day.

Living life to the fullest everyday is a bit daunting...especially when you have responsibilities: work, laundry, cooking, cleaning, driving to the store, or whatever it is that needs to be taken care of today. These little things don't seem to fit into the idea of living life to the fullest and making the most of today. Laudry just does not fall remotely into the category of "perfect day". But, why does making the most of a day have to mean perfect? I think what I should be aiming for instead, is to make the most of the task at hand. Do the laundry to the best of my ability (which wouldn't seem like much, but I despise doing laundry). Organize the toys to the best of my ability. Play with my children more instead of finding something else around the house that needs to be done. Go get frozen yogurt after naptime to reward Jackson for helping me sort through toys to keep and toys to give away. Etc, etc.

I just need to remember that making the most of today can be something as simple as looking for cool rocks with my boys.

A baby shower

2011-03-06T18:42:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I hosted (with the help of a couple of ladies) a baby shower for my dear friend who is having her third baby (second girl). This mama is not only a good friend of mine, but our sons are sweet friends too who love playing together. I can't wait to meet her new little girl in just a few more weeks! It was fun to decorate with pink and girly things like flowers since I don't have any girls myself. The theme was Gerbera daisies in red, pink, and yellow (with a touch of orange and blue too). I took a couple pictures, but my friend, Molly Winn, who is a photographer graciously took my camera and snapped most of these photos. It just goes to show, you can have a decent camera, but you still have to have some skillz to get great shots.

The mama to be of 3.

I made the cake using my no-fail chocolate cake recipe. I've never met anyone who doesn't love it.

One of the ladies who helped me throw the shower, made the cutest diaper cake, which sadly, I did not get a picture of, but you can see it here in the background next to the tulips and the canvas painting. I hate that I didn't get a picture of it!

Jelly Bellys in coordinating colors, of course! and a picture frame with an "A" for Anna, the new baby's name!

Drum roll please....the Picnic table!

2011-03-01T13:07:00.001-06:00

Hallelujah! The picnic table is done!! I like to do things quickly and immediately. This picnic table would not let me do either of those things. I bought the darn thing on Craigslist back in June or July and finally finished it a week ago. WOOHOO! It took so long because I had to sand off the top layer of polyurethane and bad wood so that I could stain the top of the table and benches. Normally, I would just paint over the entire thing, but the table is made out of a Brazilian hard wood, so it was too beautiful NOT to refinish it.

Enjoy the fruits of my labor:

BEFORE:

I didn't mind the original green legs, but they totally clashed with the green color of my house, so they had to be painted as well.

The table had been left outside in an uncovered area, so the wood was weathered.

If you'll notice the baby monitor and the sandpaper on the table. One reason this darn thing took so long was because I could only work on it when Sloan was asleep!

AFTER:

My dog is trying to take some of the credit for the table...he did keep me company some days, I'll give him that.

I painted the legs Cottage Black, which is not a true black, but more of a charcoal. It goes well with my patio furniture that is a black metal finish.

Gotta love Craisglist

2011-02-27T19:27:00.000-06:00

I love to peruse the furniture listings on Craigslist, hoping to find something that I can refinish or paint and use in my house. I often come across hilarious posts and things that people are selling that make me scratch my head and think, hmmm, maybe they should just trash it or drop it off at Goodwill.

Here's a post that I saw this evening:

I have an L-shaped porch couch for sale. Both ends of the couch recline. Please email if interested. I am taking $50 or OBO. It has been outside for 2 years.

There was a picture attached, and surprisingly, the couch looked to be in pretty good shape for being outside for two years!!!

I wonder what OBO he would take...maybe just having someone come pick it up for free for him??? Maybe he's thinking there is that one person out there who is looking for a couch with that "Outside" smell...

and then there were 3

2011-02-24T20:43:00.000-06:00

3 Sunburst mirrors, that is. Sunburst mirrors are evidently a trend right now, but I love them and I wouldn't want to let anyone down by not whole heartedly embracing something that I love with almost over doing it. SO....I now have created and put up 3 sunburst mirrors. I previously posted the dark brown one that I did, but I had an extra mirror that was a tad bit larger and I was craving something gold (random, I know), so I made another one and spray painted it gold. It's now my favorite and replaced the brown one in my living room. The brown one is now in my upstairs hallway and it gets enjoyed every time someone goes up the stairs. Don't worry, it's not feeling left out at all. So, have I overdone it with hanging three of these babies in my house? Nah, there's rarely a time when I say you have too much of a good thing.

I love that the gold spray paint makes it look like the rays are metal instead of the wooden dowels that they really are!

Another Stinnett Mill update

2011-02-22T11:13:00.003-06:00

I got a chance to visit Stinnett Mill this weekend and take some pictures of the remodeling process. If you remember, Stinnett Mill is owned by my husband's business partner and they are remodeling it before they move in.

kitchen before

Kitchen during renovation. The stair case that was right in the middle of the kitchen is gone and in it's place will be a huge island with bar seating.

Living room. All the stone and woodwork is original to the mill.

the woodwork has all been painted white to help brighten the space, which is short on windows. The extra wood surrounding the doors has been removed, also to brighten up the room. Sorry for the quality, the lights were not on and I had to use my flash.

The wall of wood paneling divided the dining from the living room.

Wood paneling gone to open up the dining room to the living room.

Stinnett Mill outside.

Pool Planning

2011-02-19T19:26:00.000-06:00

Like I said before, I'm a neurotic, obsessive planner. Soooo...it's only fitting that I start planning for the day we get a pool in our backyard. It's probably going to happen in 7-10 years. Just before my remodel of the kitchen and bath (but that's a whole other set of plans....). Anyhoo, our backyard is a little wooded with a lake. The lake is not super close to the house, so there's plenty of room for a pool and space to play. What I haven't decided on yet, in this infancy stage of planning that I am in, is whether to go sleek, modern and geometric shaped, or have an organic, natural shaped pool that would looke more like a natural body of water. Either way I go, I would like to have it sprayed a dark blue on the bottom, so that it looks like a lagoon. Here are some pictures that inspire me. As I said before, I am in the infancy stages of planning and these designs cover a wide range.

I like the infinity edge on this pool, which would work in my sloped backyard, so that there would be the view of the pool and then the lake, which would be pretty cool.

This also has the infinity edge, but is very crisp and clean. Very appealing to me, but it might not look right with my craftsman style house and wooded lot.

I love this for the organic shape and the dark blue that makes it look like a lagoon.

Maybe this is the best of both worlds. It is rectangular with a dark blue bottom but placed in a heavily vegetated lot.

Online shopping

2011-02-17T21:03:00.000-06:00

My husband has come to dread the UPS and FedEx delivery trucks. If they drive past our house, he breathes a sigh of relief because he knows I haven't bought anything online. If they stop, he looks at me and sometimes asks questions like, "what did we "need" this time??" and sometimes says nothing but shakes his head. What he doesn't realize, though, is that I save lots more money by buying online than in a physical store. There are many more online sales and deals than there are in the actual stores of the things that I was already going to buy in the first place. So, for the most part, his fears are unfounded...for the most part...

There are few moments, however, and they are few, but there are moments that I get carried away. I like to "window shop" online and add items to my online cart that 90% of the time never get bought. It's amazing what things I find online that I didn't know I couldn't live without. Take for example, Crate and Barrel. I was just window shopping online this evening and obsessing and drooling over some couches they have that I really really want. After ~~wiping up my drool~~ getting over it, I headed over to the kitchen gadget section and clicked around there. And there it was. A butter warmer for $7.95. Genius! I didn't realize that I needed a butter warmer all this time to complete my transformation into a combination of Julia Child and Giada DeLaurentis!! And it's under $10!!! Score!! Then, about 30 seconds later, my logical self seized control once again and I realized I already have a butter warmer. It's called a microwave.

Now, a 6 pack of smoothie straws for under $4.00??? That's a whole other story.... :)

Why I LOVE Waco, TX!

2011-02-16T12:22:00.000-06:00

My husband and I first moved to Waco back in 2001 so that I could attend Baylor Law school. He found a job and I found myself with my nose in books for the next three years. The first day we moved into our little duplex we started counting down the days until I graduated so we could move out of Waco and onward and upward to somewhere bigger and better. Well, I graduated 3 years later, but we stayed in Waco another year and a half after that. I had a good job right out of law school at the firm I had clerked for and my husband was a rockstar at his job that he'd taken initially just to pay the bills. So we stayed. Then, he got a promotion to Austin, TX, which is one of the coolest places to live, so we moved! We were there for a year and then we moved to Traverse City, Michigan, again, for his job. Two years later, when my husband was looking to start his own business, we narrowed down the places to live to two: Austin or Waco. I could not believe that Waco was in our top two!! I was actually considering voluntarily moving back to Waco! And we actually did! But, as you can see from the list below, Waco is a pretty unique, and great place to live! I don't regret moving back for one second!

5 great things about Waco:

1. It's a big, small town. It's not small enough that everyone knows everyone, but it's not too big that you get lost in the community here. It's hard to not run into someone you know most days.

2. Cheap cost of living. Waco has comparatively low housing costs and unique areas in older parts of town that make the reality of owning big, nice, older homes a real possibility for the everyday person...not just the wealthy.

3. Geography. I'm admittedly bad at geography. I once thought the Grand Canyon was in Texas... anyhoo... But, I do know that Waco is smack dab in the middle of Dallas and Austin. Take your pick and go north or south on I-35 and in an hour and a half, you have great shopping and eating!

4. It takes 20 minutes maximum to get anywhere in the Waco area. I grew up in Dallas, where it takes 20 minutes minimum to get anywhere.

5. College town, baby. Waco is home to Baylor University, the largest Baptist university in the world. Baylor is ever growing and expanding and bringing highly skilled, intellectual students and professionals to Waco. NCAA sports at Baylor are among some of the best in the nation. The Lady Bears basketball team is #1 in the country and the football team is just starting to take the Big XII by storm! The tennis teams are consistent winners and are bringing in lots of student athletes from Eastern Europe.

Not much

2011-02-15T10:55:00.000-06:00

Not much is going on here today. Hopefully since the weather is nice, I'll finally finish my picnic table and then will be able to post before and afters of that. I'm pretty excited, especially since it's taken me since last JULY to get this thing done. Other than that, I've got nothing left to paint, so I've decided to dye my hair. Still keeping it dark dark brown. I've just gotten tired of plucking out all the gray hairs...which makes me thankful to have been blessed with LOTS of thick hair, but I think I have about 20 gray hairs now and I've just got to accept the fact that they need to be dyed. I hate getting my hair colored-I don't like taking the time, but it's better than going gray.

Now that you have this information, I know your day is complete! ha! Enjoy the weather where you are! I know I am!

Dumb and stubborn

2011-02-10T19:59:00.000-06:00

I made my very own ottoman for the very first time on Super Bowl Sunday (and finished it on Monday). A friend who was over was impressed that I made it myself and said it was impressive. I realized then, that my DIY projects are not really impressive. I'm just dumb enough to try to make pretty much anything myself and stubborn enough to eventually figure it out after many many redos. Sometimes, I get lucky and get it right the first time, like my sunburst mirror. Then, there are projects like the ottoman. I get an idea and go with it and get thisclose to the finish line and then BAM- failure. In the case of the ottoman, the legs were not attached correctly so it was a little wobbly...and by a little wobbly, I mean it did not withstand the legs, arms, bodies, etc of two boys, a husband, and guests later that night. So, that is why it took me into the next Monday to (ahem) re-engineer the darn thing. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Having to redo it made it much much better looking in the end anyway. I changed the style of leg on it and actually stained the legs before attaching them. Also, after living with the thing for the past 5 days, I've learned that I must superglue the upholstery buttons on in addition to attaching them with thread to prevent little hands from pulling them off! Sorry for the quality of the pics. I took them at night because I couldn't wait to post them!

The legs part deux.

button tufts with the added protection of superglue...which should make them last about a whole month longer before being ripped off by my boys.

Racecars are in the blood

2011-02-09T11:35:00.000-06:00

If you know my family (or, rather, my husband's family), then you know that motor sports of any kind are in the blood. My husband has his very own race car and grew up racing dirt bikes and motorcycles (which, I have already made clear our children will not be racing dirt bikes or motorcycles until they are grown, which then they better not tell me about it). Anyway, my 4 year old is obsessed with racecars, much like any other boy his age, but it's not just an obsession...it's in his blood. It's race car this, race car that. Mommy drive faster! Mommy dont' let that car beat us! Mommy! I said faster! Daddy, can I have a race car? Can I have a red one with black tires? No, I mean an orange one with black tires? Daddy, can you smoke the tires?.... With this as the music of my daily life, it was not a stretch to make racecars a part of his bedroom decor. In about a year, my baby, who is one, will be sharing a room with Jackson, the 4 year old. We will keep the racecar theme, so I have been making and collecting race-car themed items. Here are two paintings I made to hang over their beds when they do share a room. Right now, they are just hanging on the wall side by side in Jackson's room. Despite one being Sloan's (the baby) he wanted them both in there.

Jackson's favorite color is red, so obviously, his car is red. Sloan is too young to have a favorite color, so I've designated blue as his color because he has the bluest eyes I'ver ever seen! (which is saying something for being 1/4 Korean!)

Snow day!

2011-02-04T10:49:00.000-06:00

Well, it finally snowed in Texas! It should be all melted tomorrow, but that is just enough time to enjoy the snow and get it out of our systems! Enjoy some pictures of our first romp of the day in the snow.

We'll be repeating these scenes a little later today!!!

Boys' Bathroom

2011-02-03T11:21:00.000-06:00

Well, it's cold here, and by the looks of all the people on facebook and surfing the blogosphere, it's cold everywhere else too! I would love to be outside finishing up my picnic table project, but with a temperature of 18 degrees, no thank you! So, let's take a random tour of my boys' bathroom. It's not disgusting yet...they are little boys and are not yet teenagers...

I guess if this bathroom had a theme it would be transportation. I'm not really a "themey" person, but I figured, the kids are only little once. It's not that long until they won't want cute little pictures of vehicles on their shower curtain, so I indulged. The floor is a tile that is made to look like planks of wood. I love this tile! I love the color green, so we added two rows of glass mosaic to the shower surround. Usually, I wouldnt' commit to such a strong color, but I like green and can work with this for a long time to come. But, because I can't leave well enough alone, I may be painting the walls a new color...just not sure what that is yet.

I ordered these shelves from Land of Nod. They are so cute and a great place for storage and displaying items. The bathroom is small, so these will come in handy in the future.

Making an old armchair new again

2011-02-01T19:12:00.000-06:00

Like I said in my previous post, I've been a painting Fool! One of my ~~victims~~ projects was an old armchair that is the only remaining piece of the dining room set my parents gave us when we bought our first house. It was really old and had been in storage a while, so I said goodbye to it a couple years ago at a garage sale, but kept this chair because it was the only one with arms and we used it for my son's little highchair (see before pictures).

Before

Just keepin it real: the stains from being used as a highchair.

AFTER:

I bought the fabric from Pottery Barn, which I do not recommend using unless you just really like the fabric, like I did with this one. It took f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to get here, but I really like it because it has my turquoise and orange in it with beige, brown and greens and even yellows. This fabric is a great jumping off point to bring in other colors.

Future chair model?

A painting fool

2011-01-31T17:41:00.000-06:00

I've been a painting fool this weekend. I don't know what has come over me, but I think it might be a combination of the desire to be productive and a desire for new furniture. Well, I was productive, but I didn't want to spend any money on new furniture, so I painted what I had. I started, er, continued with sanding and sanding and sanding and sanding (I loathe sanding) and painting my picnic table that I got off Cragslist last summer. I'm still not done because I only have a few hours during the daylight where I can be outside working on such a messy project without kiddos around. SOOOOOO... I painted a chair and some side tables. Here are the sidetables.

These tables have been great because first and foremost, they were free! The owners of the Maple house left them for us (along with a BUNCH of other furniture, trash, antiques, etc) and I've used them ever since we remodeled that house. They have nice, heavy marble tops and are made really well. They were looking a bit beat up and in my quest for new furniture, these fell prey. I am pleased with how they turned out. I painted them a creamy white- and it's amazing how much the tables alone brighten up the room.

Did it myself: Sunburst mirror

2011-01-26T13:52:00.000-06:00

So, I've been obsessed with a sunburst mirror for a while now, and have looked through pretty much the entire internet trying to find one that didn't cost and arm and a leg. Didn't have any luck. BUT....I did run across a few blogs that had DIY instructions for making your own. So I did! The hardest part was finding just the right circle mirror to start it off. For the "rays" I used wooden dowels from WalMart. Then, I spray painted the whole thing chocolate brown for maximum impact against my beige wall. Check mine out below!

The last wedding.

2011-01-25T17:47:00.000-06:00

I went to a dear friend's wedding this past weekend and it was a little bittersweet. The wedding was beautiful, but he is the last one from our close-knit highschool group to get married. Until now, I've relied upon a consistent string of weddings to reunite with these wonderful, old friends. Now, we will have to make up an excuse to get the whole gang back together! The wedding was in Dallas, my hometown, so we left the boys with my parents for the night and got a hotel room! I think this is only the 3rd time we've ever done something like this! It was great fun and nice to know our boys were having a blast with Grammy and Papa. We stayed at Le Meridian in Dallas near the Galleria. It was a beautiful hotel, although the mandatory $20 valet parking left a sour taste in my husband's mouth...oh well!
Enjoy some pics of our lovely suite. I got some great ideas to put away for a rainy day!

I love the bedside light fixtures. This gives me an idea I want to try for my own bedroom.

Funky stools

Graphic wallpaper on the couch wall. I think it was an abstract of a map of a city.

The wallpaper in the bathroom was the same pattern as the drapes. This inspires me to do a stencil on a wall somewhere in my house that mimics this wallpaper.

I've been reduced to an adjective.

2011-01-21T13:25:00.000-06:00

The other day I was at the Y (note, it's no longer the YMCA, but who calls it the YMCA anymore...), and saw a couple of boys that belonged to a friend from church. I hadn't seen them in a while and I said Hi and asked if they remembered who I was. I thought that if they did, they might say, yeah, you're from church, or you're Miss Jenny. Nope. They said, "yeah, you're Jackson's mom." Right then, it hit me, I am no longer ME. I am Jackson/Sloan's mom.

I'm okay with this, but it just kind of hit me all of a sudden that there is a whole portion of the world (those under the age of 12) that will only know me as "so-and-so's mom". I'm not Jennifer Blackwell, Attorney, or Jenny Song from high school/college, or Jenny, a friend. I don't even get a name; I get a descriptive label. I'll take it as a compliment that I'm fulfilling my calling as a mommy.

Street corner sofa for sale: $6,500.

2011-01-19T15:18:00.000-06:00

No, that's not a typo. This sofa is for sale for six thousand five hundred dollars. Four figures for this couch from Anthropologie:

I'm all for the phrase "to each their own" but if this sofa is your style, then I know a dumpster where you can get one for free. Better yet, just go down to your local Goodwill and if they don't have anything this tattered, then I can loan you my two boys. All they need is a pair of scissors and ten minutes and you too, can have a tattered, ridiculous sofa.

I would be embarrased to sell this on Craigslist for fifty dollars! Nevermind over six thousand!!

Are you kidding me?? I'm sure it's made with the highest quality wood framing and stuffing, it is from Anthropologie afterall, but seriously, for reals?

Slow cooker Spinach lasagna!

2011-01-19T12:22:00.001-06:00

If you're a busy mom like me, or just plain busy, then you probably LOVE slow cooker recipes! Slow cooker lasagna is nothing new, but I'm not a fan of cooking meat before adding it to the slow cooker only to cook some more. So, I came up with a VERY simple spinach lasagna. This recipe is perfect for using whole wheat lasagna noodles because they cook for a long time so they are tender. Enjoy and remember: my measurements are not always exact when I make up a recipe on the fly, so feel free to adjust as you see fit.

Ingredients:
- 1 box whole wheat lasagna noodles
- 1 large container low fat ricotta cheese (sorry, but I don't remember the size- maybe 1 qt?)
- 10 oz frozen spinach, thawed with water squeezed out.
- 2-3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- extra large can/jar prepared pasta sauce (I buy the cans of sauce on the bottom row at the store= they're like 89 cents and are really big)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup water

Directions:
1. Spray slow cooker with cooking spray
2. In a large bowl mix together ricotta cheese and spinach, adding salt and pepper to taste.
3. Layer 3-4 lasagna noodles on bottom of slow cooker, breaking noodles to fit.
4. Pour 1/3 of marinara sauce over noodles
5. Spread 1/3 of ricotta/spinach mixture over noodles
6. Sprinkle 1/3 of mozzarella over ricotta/spinach mix.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 two more times, and top with a layer of lasagna noodles and extra 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella.
8. Pour 1 cup of water into slow cooker
9. Cook on low 3-4 hours.

More of Fishers Run

2011-01-17T14:14:00.000-06:00

In my previous post about the Fishers Run House, I didn't put any of the inside...I've searched and searched my harddrive for pictures that I took while we lived there, but I guess I didn't take any, or didn't save them. However, the people who bought the house from us had it on the market recently with pictures, so I am going to post some of those. It is their decor, but the walls, floors, basic house is the same as when we lived there. The real estate website I got these off of had tiny images that were all I could use, so sorry that some are so small, but you get the idea.

Dining room. My furniture is not as traditional as their's is, but aren't the hickory floors beautiful??? I wished I could have picked them up and taken them back to Texas with me.

Living room. The river rock fireplace was the first thing that made me love this house.

View of living room from upstairs balcony/walkway.

Kitchen, obviously.

Master bedroom. Those little windows on the wall threw me for a loop when we first moved in, but I ended up liking them a lot. They brought in a lot of needed light in the dark, gray winter months.

To bunk or not to bunk?

2011-01-12T19:50:00.000-06:00

Potterybarn Kids Camp bunkbed

I've fully accepted the fact that I'm a little neurotic when it comes to planning ahead. My husband has accepted it, but still shakes his head in disbelief every time I tell him those far off plans.

Lately, I've been on a kick to plan out my boys' room when they share...sometime between a year or two years from now. What? don't judge. But...I've hit a snag. Jackson l.o.v.e.s. bunkbeds. Really, what young child doesn't?? But this boy's momma does not love them. I don't hate them, but I just love the idea/look of two similarily dressed twin beds in a room with coordinating pillows, sheets, and blankets. Bunkbeds just don't do it for me. Plus, what am I supposed to do with them when the boys are teenagers and too old to have bunkbeds?? More importantly, what about the more immediate future when these boys will launch themselves off the top bunk onto lord-only-knows-what?? And they will.

Sadly, I don't think this boy is going to get bunkbeds. Hopefully he'll be happy with the racecar motif I'm planning. He already has a racecar theme, but I'm going gangbusters when they share a room!

Any opinions on it??

For reals, yo?

2011-01-12T14:10:00.000-06:00

Saw this picture on a blog about organizing your pantry.

For reals??? Who's pantry looks like this? My most organized friends do not have pantries that look like this. It's just not possible or you have sold your soul to the devil if your pantry (1) looks like this and (2) stays like this. Just the stacked and neatly ordered canned goods makes me roll my eyes...Not even gonna mention that this person emptied their "vanilla whey protein" powder into a glass canister and labeled it.

I'm just a realist.