Winter: An Overview

Yep, it's another "overview" post.  I know you are thrilled because it's kind of like watching our family live on fast forward!  I am determined to get caught up, so here's a run down of the beginning of 2011.

In January,

--We turned our living room into an office.  At first, I wasn't sure if this was going to be a good idea, but I. LOVE. IT!!  Because it's in the front of the house, it always stays clean (and what I mean by that is, when someone is coming over, I quickly put everything away!) and organized!  I love the furniture we picked out as well.  This started a snowball effect of change in our house, as you will see.

--Because the office stuff was now out of the upstairs guest bedroom, we moved the guest bed into Ethan's small room and purchased the boys bunk beds so they could share a room.  They absolutely love their new furniture and sharing a room (most days).  I am going to finish decorating their room soon and complete the sports theme

--Because we put the boys together and the office on the main level, it opened up an entire bedroom upstairs.  Of course, there was only one logical thing to do with it....give Jen a craft room!!  It is still in chaos because I haven't found the right furniture for it, but I love having my own space to put all of my junk stuff.  It is going to have a black, white, and red theme and I can't wait to decorate it and craft my heart out!

--I finished physical therapy for my shoulder!  Yahoo!!  Another milestone and I'm doing great!

--Braiden participated in his first pinewood derby race in Cub Scouts.  He didn't win, but we all had a lot of fun and I want to give a shout out to my dad for helping Braiden with his car.  Ryan was so busy getting ready for trial, so Grandpa stepped in and helped. 

--Lauren celebrated her 12th birthday!  She gets more beautiful everyday.  I know, I am going to need a lot of rope to tie her up when she turns sixteen and keep her tied up until she's thirty...

--Our new niece, Haisley Mae Gittins was born!!

--I visited the Gittins Gang in Milwaukee and had a great time

--We celebrated Cora's second birthday with a Princess party!

--I got new kitchen appliances and I love them!  Kitchen Aid.  Stainless Steel.  Convection ovens.  Enough said.

In February,

--We had a fun Super Bowl party with the extended family

--We celebrated Ethan's sixth birthday a few days early

--We made sucker lips and mustaches for Ethan's Valentine's Day class party

--Went on an amazing family vacation to Orlando with Grandpa Dennis, Grandma Janis, Uncle Jason, and Aunts Denise and Kaylee.  We had the time of our lives!

--We went to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, Wild Animal Kingdom, Kennedy Space Center, Universal Studios (including the new Harry Potter park), visited the Orlando Temple, and watched the Shuttle Discovery launch into space!!

Well, that's it for now.  Orlando trip and more overview posts coming, but getting the kids ready for school is taking up a lot of time. I'm trying to enjoy having them all here and then I'll ship them all off to school (and enjoy that too!) Love you all!!

Bathroom Re-Do

For my birthday, Mom Nancy came up from St. George and helped me paint my bathroom!!  It was fun to get out the ol' paint brush again.  I haven't painted since my shoulder surgery, so it felt good to improve my house.

The bathroom had been decorated in Americana and it was just time for a change.

I didn't get many pictures of us actually painting, but we had fun (in spite of the dog, Rocky escaping while we were working).  Lookin' good, Mom!

And here's the finished project!  I need to get a new light fixture and I'm going to frame around the mirror, but I think it's a pretty good start. 

Thanks so much for your help, Mom!!

It's finally here!

They say that your favorite season is usually the one in which your birthday falls in. This completely applies to me. I'm so excited for Spring. I love all of the seasons, but the one where I know that winter's grasp is finally weakening is the best. I love the snow until New Years, and then, enough already! Now is the time that I get so anxious to be outside and make my corner of the world beautiful. But this Spring, I've let my yard go quite a bit. My arm is still gimpy, so I just watch the weeds grow from my house. But I was determined to at least get my front yard in decent shape, and my back garden area ready for planting...that is all I can hope for this year. So, after a long day of primping my yard, I snapped some photos.

As you can see, we live next to a weed field...this makes weed control nearly impossible. Oh well, what can you do? Anyway, there are a few pheasants who live there. I've affectionately named this one Phil. He's not afraid of any of us. He just squawks sometimes and struts around. Ryan loves it when he comes out of the brush to visit us.

This is the beautiful flower pot my Sweetheart got me for Mother's Day. I love the colors!

This is a part of the garden...we don't have a traditional garden plot, we just plant our veggies in the back flower bed. We love tomatoes...Roma, Celebrity, Early Girl and Cherry. A couple of jalapenos, and red chili and green peppers round out this section. Not shown are pumpkins, zucchini, peas, carrots, squash and corn.

This is a small herb garden I planted. My oregano came back from last year, and I added basil and cilantro. I love using fresh herbs, but have a hard time keeping an herb garden alive. Am I the only one? I hope this one lasts!

Just a quick shot of the front flower bed. The picture doesn't do it justice. The middle Spirea bushes are a limey yellow and I love the way they contrast with the deep red bushes. I also love my Salvia and Day Lilies.

Last shot...my strawberries, lilacs and roses. My lilac bush is still small, but when it blossoms, it is heaven on earth. Our strawberries are out of control, but we like it that way. Can't wait for June when they are ripe! Happy Spring!