a coupla of painting photos! :)

Although we are so not finished!! We are so so happy and only have one area we are still working on. Paint chip photos are snagged off the Behr site... keep in mind that colors vary just a bit from computer to computer, so what you see may not be what it really looks like.

Here are a few pre painting photos...

Here is our white living room corner.

our boring ol' living room, about to become the warm, inviting, rich, Dry Sea Grass...

The entry way, hall, and stairs are Winter Garden, and the Bathroom in Castle Stone.

(as shown above)

kitchen, where I tore down the wall paper about a year and a half ago, and left us with messy scratched up dry wall.

And the corner of the previously messy kitchen walls. Here it is all patched up, textured, and primed, ready for my happy, light, airy, Havana Cream (shown below).

Now, here are some mid way photos...

J and D's room partially painted, UT Jazz blue and Castle Stone.

(shown below, in reality it is a bit brighter on the walls.)

The girls' room partially done, with Water Sprout & Pixie Dust.

(shown below-with a look alike pinkie/purple)

our bookshelf (please don't mind the messy shelf--that is what happens when the kids have chores to clean the living room, I only get in there and straighten out the books once a month or so) in the corner, with our new living room paint.

(Better photos to come.)

Now everything has not quite gone perfectly...Our living room and dining room share a wall, so we just decided to paint both rooms completely Dry Sea grass, while we LOVE it in the living room, the lighting is just different enough in the dining room that it looks a touch mustardy and a bit too dark, which we don't really love so much. hahaa! So I have been choosing new colors for 3 walls in the dining room. They painted the first coat of the cool, light Ice Folly (shown below), which I chose today, and I wasn't quite happy with it--just not blue enough. So tomorrow, instead of painting the second coat of Ice Folly, they are going to paint the second coat with Rhythmic Blue. They are very kind to deal with my painting diva attitude. And I hope that leaves me happy and LOVING it. :)

Our painters have been AWESOME!! and we have been so lucky to have them do the job they are doing. They even sprayed all our ceilings and painted all our doors and frames, and floor boards that needed painting. They painted all of those a color called Swiss Coffee, it is and off white with a little warm hue to it. It looks so fabulous and they have done a great job!

My sweet A was sick most of this week with a fever, ear infection, swollen tonsils, sore throat, and head aches. She has inherited ONE of Mike's awful tonsils (the other one appears to be normal), so when she starts getting sick her tonsils are almost always the first to feel it, poor thing. Although I must admit having her home for a few days this week has REALLY helped me. She is always really great with D, so she has been a big help keeping him out of the paint and downstairs. She's been on antibiotics now for about 24 hours and is doing quite a bit better...I snapped a few shots of her today... I just love this girl!!

Sheesh!! Sorry for the LONG post. It has just been a crazy week. I even have a fun and sweet story about D's nursery class this last week... but that will have to save for another day. :)

pictures and painting :)

So our normal week has quickly been turned upside down, but in a very good way. We have had an opportunity present itself to us for getting our interior upstairs rooms painted at a really good deal! We are thrilled! I have wanted to do it for about a year now, but have always just felt so overwhelmed by it. So for the last two days Mike and I have been looked at paint chips, buying up a ton of samples and getting swatches painted on our walls, in addition to getting our kitchen, which I tore the wallpaper down over a year ago, textured and prepared for paint. :) WAHOO!!! I am just a little overwhelmed, as it has happened so fast, but then again, sometimes it is just better to bite the bullet and get it done. :) I am excited for the new colors, but also nervous, as white is just safe...boring, but safe!

day 51 {20 feb 2010}

just another sunset this last week. Mike is obsessed with them and has "threatened" (Mike style) if I don't take more pictures of the sunsets. I think it is because he is at work normally when the sun goes down, so he doesn't see them as often as I do. LOL!

I saturated the colors a bit in photoshop and the ocean looks a little too violet here, it must have compressed weird, but in my photoshop it is a deep blue. :)

day 52 {21 feb 2010}

A discovered her scrapbook for her 1st year.

She had such a good time looking through it. She laughed right out loud when she was reading it.

I even teared up when she told me, "Mom, when I read the things in here, it is like you are talking to me; I can hear your voice in my head."

And that, my friends, is why I scrapbook!

day 53 {22 feb 2010}

I brought home a gajillion swatches that I liked (remember, I am a love color). Mike quickly vetoed MOST of the ones I brought home. He wanted to stay more traditional and warm. These are the paint chips Mike narrowed it down to, then I got to help him decide which ones we'd paint on the wall.

day 54 {23 feb 2010}

All the colors are a little richer than they appear here...

These are the swatches we had painted today on our wall, so we could watch how the light changed the way they looked throughout the day! Two of these colors will be chosen: one for the dining room/living room and then one the entry/stairs/hallway. All the ceilings will be white, and then we are going to add white crown molding to the ceiling and around the doorways, and then white baseboards in the living room. The kitchen is going to be painted a happy, light, creamy yellow, which I am so thrilled about. It will brighten up the room and I will LOVE it!

stay tuned for more pictures as the house gets worked on. They told me that the kitchen, dining room, living room, and hallway will be finished by Thursday afternoon, then they will probably start working on the kids rooms. SWEET! :)

photos: 14 feb - 18 feb

day 45 {14 feb 2010)

Mike asked for Valentine's Day homemade bread. The kids were thrilled.

D actually sat right in front of the oven as it was cooking saying, "dat mells gooood!"

IT smelled delicious as it baked.

day 46 {15 feb 2010)

The kids decided they wanted to have a dance party,

I went in to take some pics and found A sitting on her bed reading, not dancing.

day 47 {16 feb 2010)

D was helping me with the dishes (we had about 2 breakfast bowls in the sink that were dirty). I left him alone in there for just a minute, and when I came back he had moved all the clean kids' dishes from the cupboard into the sink. LOL!! He was so proud of himself "helpin wash dishes, mom." Oh well!

day 48 {17 feb 2010)

Made my daughter come out and pose for me. She was not all that thrilled at first...hee hee!

day 48 {17 feb 2010)

Here is my dd, A, giving me a bit of a dirty look! :)

day 48 {17 feb 2010)

she warmed up a little bit.

day 49 {18 feb 2010}

Playing with bokeh, which I am by no means a pro, but I was just too anxious to play to set up a good background. If you look carefully in the photo, you can see little hearts...they are normally circles of light in the out of focused part, but I learned how to play with a lens cover type thingy to make the circles turn to different shapes, I just played with hearts. Some day I will do something REALLY cool with this.

day 50 {19 feb 2010}

D examining his sisters' outdoor treasures. We have been loving the sun this week.

day 50 {19 feb 2010}

I love my zoom!! that I can sneak right in a get close ups when they are far away. :)

day 50 {19 feb 2010}

and they have no idea that I am snapping photos.

day 50 {19 feb 2010}

a quick shot of J while he was busy playing GI Joe/Star Wars with our neighbor.

We have had a surprise week of sunshine. It has been so so nice, I think it has tricked up all to thinking that spring is here. We need it. :) The kids have totally enjoyed the freedom they get outside. Although, it ties me up a bit more; our backyard is not safe enough for my little D to go outside without grown up supervision. We have loved it! Now if we could just keep the pink eye at bay and if my stupid sinuses would clear up for good!

Basketball

J and A are playing basketball this winter. They love it... here are some photos from the game last Saturday...

all day 44 {13 feb 2010)

A's first basketball game ever.

This was her pose about 75% of the game.

She did get the ball once or twice, and miraculously I got a picture of her passing.

J's mad basketball skills--shooting.

J's mad basketball skills--guarding.

J's mad basketball skills--dribbling.

S watching her brother and sister.

She is always so excited to get a little older, so she can participate.

D was itching to get out there to play a little basketball with the big kids.

D and S watching the game with their big sister, while A was getting a rest.

D decided it was OK to sit with his brother on the bench while he was out.

They both had tons of fun and Mike and I were pretty impressed with their first game. :) Thanks Ryan, for being their coach and helping them have fun and learn the game.

birthday and more

I have been in living in fear of what I might find out about my External Hard Drive, so I have still not even plugged that baby back in since the sad, sad day. I hope that I will be able to recover the information on it. At least some of it..like Mike's building's logo, my designing tools, and my edited photos. It makes me just a little sad to even think about it.

Here are some photos...

day 42 {11 feb 2010)

S cleaning up her fort from the family room.

day 42 {11 feb 2010)

S helped D get his shirt on--look closely--the top buttons are misaligned. :)

day 43 {12 feb 2010)

D "helping" me cut the strawberries for breakfast.

It kept him occupied for about 45 minutes.

day 43 {12 feb 2010)

S and D "helping" with Daddy's cake.

day 43 {12 feb 2010)

D enjoying a beater.

day 43 {12 feb 2010)

Mike's birthday cake...

I love that he is covering D's mouth so prevent early candle blow out. :)

day 43 {12 feb 2010)

Mike, post birthday party fun with a few friends of ours.

Thanks, Ralph and Rach, for the fun (and noisy) birthday treats!

We had a few friends over to celebrate Mike's birthday, just for cake and ice-cream. I didn't tell Mike... so I guess I planned for it to be a bit of a surprise. I also DID NOT mention it to the kids until they came home from school that day (and only because they needed to help clean up). Well, once Mike got home from work I was busy finishing up the makings of a delicious Thanksgiving/birthday dinner, and the kids managed to keep it a secret for, oh, all of about 15 minutes. Then the cat was out of the bag and Mike knew some people were coming over. Oh well. Mike also said that a clean house was sort of a dead give away too. (Nice, Babe!) :) The turkey dinner was yummy. Then we gave Mike his presents...thanks to Josh, I was actually able to surprise Mike with a good and fun present (a psp and some games). Mike loved his mints from his mom. As we were all eating the cake and enjoying the homemade frosting, Mike fondly reminisced about his mom's homemade birthday cakes and the THICK layer of frosting between the two cake layers. mmm!!

A little late in getting out some photos and stories...

I have successfully recorded the month of January with photos. In the process of getting all these photos taken and edited, I have been debating on what I want to do with them all. So I settled on making a 2 page templates for each month that I can easily plop in the pictures. I made these little templates for my shoppe at ScrapArtist. Then, after the end of the year, I will get the pages printed and bound in a book. I am super excited about how they turned out. I can't wait to see the whole book put together. What a great treasure it will be of our year. It is already fun to glance at these January pages and remember what we've done and the things we've accomplished.

Now onto this week's photos...

day 35 {04 feb 2010)

D in his favorite spot on the counter.

He sits there while I cook, and really prefers so sit here while talking on the phone.

He is talking to his Aunt Dawn in this picture.

day 36 {05 feb 2010)

a day of painting for S and D.

day 37 {06 feb 2010)

A quick change on plans left me taking BOTH boys out to run errands instead of just one. I told Mike that I was have a Mommy/sons date, and he exclaimed in a high pitched, squeally, girl voice, "Great, the girls will do makeovers!" The girls bought in very quickly. :) When we returned their Daddy had painted their finger and toe nails.

day 38 {07 feb 2010)

The mess on our dining room table after the Super Bowl.

That was nothing compared to the mess in the basement. :)

day 39 {08 feb 2010)

The four lights of my life. love them so so much.

I want to try and get a photo of all of them together at least once a month this year. I think it will be fun to watch them change. :) I remember my sister, Dawn, doing this for a while, and I loved looking at those pictures.

day 40 {09 feb 2010)

The tricycle has a place in our living room during the winter months.

Soon, when it stops raining and the sun comes out more permanently, (well, as permanently as it gets here,) it will find it's way to our deck.

I love this little trike, I got it for $5.00 at a garage sale last summer.

day 41 {10 feb 2010)

The object of some very unhappy feeling for me.

I still can't access my files on this stupid external hard drive.

And I have a lot of files on there. BLEH!

Good and Bad news with regard to the hard drive...

The bad news is that I have been saving nearly everything since December onto the aforementioned external hard drive so as not to bog down the computers; the good news is that I have duplicates of all my original (un-edited) photos on a different source.

Kids: just some bits and pieces...

D-

*talks a ton,

*huge vocabulary,

*prefers to wear PJs all the time, and that is only because I won't let him be clothless ALL the time

*asks too many questions,

*will keep asking until you respond,

*is obsessed with body noises (toots and burps, what boy isn't), and will loudly, and proudly, announce if he makes one of the previously mentioned bodily noises, even if we are in church, and even if the sacrament is being passed,

*loves to play with the girls' pet shops,

*loves Star Wars like his brother, will walk around crouched over and limping a little like an old man, making funny noises, Mike and I couldn't figure out what he was doing until one day he told us he wanted to be Yoda, and then assumed the old man stance; then we got it. :)

*highlight of his day is picking the kids up from school,

*loves to tease (ie. when I wrap him up in Mike's towel after a bath, he finds his dad and says, "I hab you towel," in a very teasing tone; we have even had to call Mike at work so D could tease him),

*whenever he sees my itouch he wants to play a game,

*loves to talk on the phone as long as you are willing to sing songs, bark like a dog, or make just plain ridiculous noises,

*and just recently has discovered the joy of ichat,

*is better behaved now in preschool when we go to help out in S's class (he no longer takes toys away from the boy with down syndrome or hits people on the head when he doesn't get his way),

*loves to rough house and is completely capable of bringing down all his siblings with a little momentum,

*will willing give me kisses all over my face if I claim that my eyes, nose, cheeks, forehead, noggin, chin, and/or lips are owee,

*still loves to snuggle (at least for a minute or two)

*is 100% spoiled and loved on by everyone around.

S-

*getting sassier every day,

*full of spunk and trouble :),

*still needs a nap but refuses to take one, resulting in frequent melt downs in the evening hours,

*loves washing the dishes and cleaning the bathroom,

*hates most pants but especially jeans, she prefers to wear skirts almost everyday,

*likes her hip hop class better than tap/jazz/ballet class,

*can pull off a fake cry like no other and loves to use it to get her older siblings in trouble,

*loves building forts with blankets and chairs,

*doesn't like wearing her shrugs over her dresses with tank top sleeves (a rule at out house), and has been caught recently taking them off in the privacy of her own primary class where mom wouldn't see her, but unfortunately for her, her mom is now IN primary and can catch such acts of mutiny,

*happy to play by her self and be in her own little play world,

*very well behaved and helpful in preschool,

*needs her mom to crack down on teaching her the ABC sounds so she can start reading,

*loves being silly

*still makes up her own songs and sings them in public

A-

*super helpful with her baby brother,

*loves her ballet class,

*tender, sensitive, and emotional,

*will help with nearly anything I ask, and loves praise,

*has ears that hear just about anything and a memory that can get me in trouble (and also REALLY helps me),

*super helpful in school, dare I say the teacher's pet,

*loves to find J at recess to play with him,

*finally is understanding that to match clothes doesn't mean that the whole outfit has to be pink, or 100% blue, etc,

*can't wait until she is old enough to babysit,

*trying to read the Book of Mormon on her own,

*mature beyond her years,

*anxiously awaiting her baptism and turning 8 so she can go to activity days,

*loves to sew, draw, paint, color, and do any sort of crafty thing,

*recently discovered her love of basketball, which is surprising, since she doesn't like to sweat,

*LOVES to read!

J-

*can't get that boy to sit still at home, yet he is VERY well behaved in school,

*loves to play sports,

*will practically ONLY read to earn video game time,

*loves playing video games, but can't quite deal with the frustration that comes with playing,

*doesn't think it is fair that I have been working on decorating the girls' room and not his,

*loves all things sports (especially the Yankees, Cowboys, and BYU, hmm, sound like anyone else?)

*will drive me crazy with his non stop teasing of his sisters,

*loves to talk trash to Mike's nurses who like the Broncos,

*will rarely wear pants, even in the middle of the winter, he prefers shorts, and I don't fight him on it,

*is very good at math,

*is very proud of the 8 arrow points that just barely got sewn on his cub uniform even though he earned them 6+ months ago,

*really listens and learns at church, he regularly shares what he learns with us and he has a great memory of stories and teachings,

*super sensitive, and very hard on himself when he does something wrong,

*regularly wants his dad to take him fishing on a Saturday morning,

*really sensitive to others' feelings, he will feel bad and stand up for a kid at school that is picked on, and he is the first to recognize when Mom has had enough and needs a break, and changes his behavior to help out.

Those are the kidlets, just thought I'd write a little about who they are becoming. I sure love them to pieces!