TADA!!

HELLOOO!! Even though the basement is not fully finished, I want to show you all the updates we have completed.

You all remember the before picture??...


TA DA!!!!!

I LOVE IT! The couch looks so good with the new floors. The walls are still VERY bare, we have lots of work to still do. But, I am THRILLED with the results so far.


This view is a little crazy..

Here is the view from the hallway. We could not remove that beam, its a support beam. One day we will do something with it, maybe a column or something. But, for now, it will just be a beam in the middle of our basement that supports our house. :)

We have a door on our Laundrey Room finally!!

We still have a lot of work and touch ups to do. But, for now I can enjoy what we have done.

LOVE IT!!!

Weekend Fun...or not so Fun!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good weekend. I had a BUSY weekend.

Before I show you some of the pictures of my basement, I want to tell you all how much I LOVE MY Grandpa Ewell! He is an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G man. He has always been a father figure to me and I LOVE and adore him. He has the most tender heart and is such an old fashioned gent. I have always had a special place in my heart for him. I care dearly for him and he is not doing well this year. Your prayers for his fast recovery and his well being will be greatly appreciated.


We love you grandpa!!

Ok! My weekend WAS productive! In case you didn't know this about me, I love to quilt. Wait.. I LOVE TO QUILT! But, it seems I don't LOVE to finish. I have attended various block of the month classes for the last 4 years and have only completed..hmmm...0 quilts. I am VERY close to finishing 1 but, I cannot take credit until its done! I usually start off great and then get so tied up in the rest of my life, I cannot get loose enough to finish the projects I have started. With the busy and unorganized life I have created for myself ,my chaos of a home and NOT having my sewing space (currently we are sleeping in my unfinished sewing room) I tend to put my quilting on the back burner.

I know.. I know..I do it to myself. Is this familiar for anyone else? Or am I alone?....Hello?...**crickets** O-K!

Well, this weekend my dear friends Kim and Diana will be very proud of me, I finished my block of the month block!!!!

Here is just a sample of the quilt. Last months, this month and next months. Its Farm Fresh from Buggy Barn.

Another project we tackled was the flooring in the basement. It is not finished. We ran out of glue and short one box of wood. But, It is ALMOST done. The family room is done and MOST of the hallway(just a few boards to go).

We still have to do my craft room and bedroom and stairs and....hahaha... The stairs will be later down the road but, for now we will work on the rooms. I thought I took another picture to show the latest results but, I guess I didn't. Oh well! We still have blue tape ALL over the floor until the glue dries. I will just have to save the grand finale for when they are all clean and pretty!

Here is a sample :

I hope the grand finale comes sooner than later because, until then....THIS is the chaos of a home I was talking about and I will be sewing in my front room/storage unit.. hahaha.

What do you think?

Fancy schmancy huh!?!

LOVE

Well, the weekend is here and I'm so stinking excited!! Our wood floors are going to be installed in the basement this weekend and I am so excited to see the finished product. Have I ever told you how talented my husband is??

On another note, I have been thinking lately about some of the things I LOVE and wanted to share:

Pandora
Yoga Pants
My Family
Starbucks
Running-extra love to my legs for letting me run!
Sunny skies..where are they???!!!
Fingernail polish

These are some of the fine things in life that make me smile!

Happy Weekend Everyone

I DO

Today is my 10 yr Anniversary of Marriage. As I sit and reflect on what today means, it almost feels surreal. I feel I have accomplished something HUGE! Some may say It's just another year of marriage but, for me its a feeling of undefeatedness(hope thats a word). Its also kind of, a feeling of age. Its so crazy for me to say ..." I have been married for 10 years", I feel as though I am still ALMOST as young as when we were married.

Looking back , I remember thinking...I wonder if this marriage will last, I hope it does but, I don't think it will. WELL...

Look at us now!!!!

I don't know why I thought this. Maybe it was fear or low self esteem?? Its very disturbing to think I thought that, as a Newly Wed.

Either way, I am so blessed and happy to know, that it WAS just my brain thinking.. AGAIN and I don't know what I'm talking about:).

We have been through a lot and I love him more than I could have ever imagined. My love for him grows stronger and deeper every year. I am amazed at what a WONDERFUL husband he is to me.

I am a L-U-C-K-Y girl and I know! he was picked, JUST for ME!!

Christmas....a little late.

I didn't take any pictures of Christmas. I am not too happy with myself for that. I did record Christmas morning and it will be lots of fun to watch it in a few years, when I forget how small and adorable the girls are now. I love watching our old recorded memories. It makes me sad, realizing how fast the time has past. I miss them being babies. But, I am glad I recorded them, so I can always see the memories and remember how joyful they were.

Christmas was SUPER fun. We were a little insane this year. We decided to replace the WII that was stolen when our house was robbed last year. Santa got the girls their own TVs and DVD players. We were so excited to watch them unwrap their presents. Alexia has wanted a TV for YEARS! Mark was SO stinking excited to watch them when they woke. He had an idea to sleep on Lacey's floor in her room (which is down the hall from where the Christmas Tree was), since she was sleeping in Alexia's bed with her. They had no clue we were on Lacey's floor spying on them at 3:30 in the morning when they woke to snoop and see what Santa brought. It was AWESOME!!

To hear their little oohs and aahh's was precious. It was Marks BEST idea EVER!! OK OK, he has had other good ideas. They finally climbed back into Alexia's bed about 4:30 to go back to bed. We told them the night before that they could not wake us until 7:00 a.m.

Then I had a great idea!!!

Me: lets bust in on them and get them out of bed!!
Mark: What? Why?
Me: I don't know? I can't sleep now. Did you know that when I was little, my parents let us open presents at like...3:30 in the morning??
Mark: really!!
Me: ya!
Mark: Well, we cant let them out do us...

..and off we went!

lets just say...that wasn't the BEST idea I ever had.

Whew! We were tired and all went back to bed. Except Lacey, she was too exited! She played with ALL of her new toys. (She stayed up from then, until 1:00 am the next morning at a sleepover with her aunt playing the WII)

Let's just say, I am surprised their wasn't ANY melt downs. What a champ!

After we opened presents, we went to my Mom and Dads for Breakfast. We had a schmorgesborg of food. Pancakes, eggs, potatoes, breakfast burritos, bagels, juice etc... whew!

After we ate, stuffed like mini Santa's we opened our gifts and then headed to Grandmas. We got to see my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins there. Even though Grammies is crowded and not so comfortable, I love to see her happy. And this party makes her Happy. :)

After, we went home and napped and played. Later that evening my family came over for a nice Ham dinner. It was perfect!

Hope you all had a Great Christmas!

THANKSGIVING EVE

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am so excited!! I love this time of year, traditions are excercised and new ones are made. I love the family/friends togetherness that Holidays bring.
I am so excited to wake up in the morning, put the turkey in the oven and then sit down to the paper(ok! Black Friday Ads) and a nice cup of coffee with my husband while we enjoy our children.

There is definitely something cozy about having a Turkey in the oven...

Alexia and Lacey helped me make Banana and Zucchini bread the other night while we listened to Christmas music. They loved it! I think I will keep Holiday Baking together as a tradition. I could see their smiles on their face and in their eyes. They are great Lil Bakers! We made a few extra muffins with the zucchini dough and.. mm mm it was good!

I am so thankful for my Family and Friends, my home, my husband, my job and the everyday miracles in my life.

What are some of the traditions you do?

Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

CABIN PICS

Hello all,

I am soo excited to show you the Beautiful Handy work of my husband! This summer Mark has been so busy. He remodeled the owner of my company's cabin. We went up to the Cabin this last weekend to finish up a small task and I just HAD to take pictures of the finished product to show. Please excuse the terrible pictures, I took them with my phone.

In the picture below he installed the lighting and the wood ceilings.


This picture is SUPER terrible but, he installed the wood on 4 sets of stairs and they turned out GORGEOUS!! I am begging him to install wood on the stairs in my house while he does the basement floors but, we will see when we get there. :)

Look how nice this turned out! This is a picture of the Kitchen and Dining. He installed the lighting, wood ceilings, casing around the windows and wood flooring. What a pretty picture.

This is a picture of the top floor/game room. Look at those beautiful peaked ceilings. He installed the wood on the ceilings and casing on the windows through out the whole cabin.

Here is a picture of the custom stairs he made out of scratch to fit in the small space to access the loft. Sooo purdy. OMG he is so talented.

I am so proud of my husband, his talents and his willingness to use them to provide for our family. We are all so lucky to have him and I just love him dearly.

Also, I told you I would show the costumes I made...well I took the Halloween pictures with my camera and not my phone. It is difficult to post them from my camera from work so I haven't posted them yet. However, I stole one with my phone 2 days ago when Alexia was playing dress up. Here is the poodle skirt I made for her. I just love the way it turned out! I made Lacey a tootoo (she was a dead fairy) but, those pics are on my camera also.

I also wanted to show you my purse I made. I LOVE IT!! I got the fabric and the pattern at the Shop Hop in October and had to make it quickly. I love the fabric, it is so fun!

Oooh, I also had a Scentsy party that cute little Kylee hosted for me. It was tons of fun and I am super giddy about this warmer so, I thought I would share.

P.S. it is out with all of my fall stuff...hahaha.

We have been working on the house also. I will get some pictures up soon. I am sooo excited to have a room again!!! I cant wait. But, until then...that's what we have been up to.