New Project...

After years of trying to get Justin to let me remodel the kitchen, he came home from a local home improvement store and suggested we remodel the kitchen. Of course I ran with it before he could change his mind.

We were on a tight budget since we don't have plans on staying in this house. This is the only room that had not been remodeled. We figured it could only improve the sell of our home. So why make the  stop at just the kitchen right? While we were deciding what changes we wanted to make, we decided to do a few changes to the dinning room as well. Both rooms got new paint and we also put down new flooring. The new paint really helped lighten up both room and the flooring made both rooms look so much bigger. I couldn't be happier.

Here are some pictures along the way. Of course I forgot to take a picture with the top cabinets still in but it gives you an idea of what it looked like.

          We ripped out all the top cabinets and the lovely teal counter tops. They were LOVELY!

                                         This picture shows the old paint color and flooring.

                          Justin was thrilled that I took his picture. He was labeling trim pieces.

             Here is a picture of the dining room when we started adding the padding for the new floor.

I will take some pictures of our final product and post them soon. It has been a great learning experience for both of us!

A Great Read!

It's about time I get my blog back on track! It's been a long time since I've posted and so much has happened.

Have you read this book?

If not, your missing out! You may have heard of the Pioneer Woman from all of her amazing food recipes. The lady knows how to cook.  I had no idea she was writing a book until it was suggested to me. I had a really hard time putting it down to get back to mommy reality.

Black Heels to Tractor Wheels is a true love story of how The Pioneer Woman ended up meeting the man of her dreams. She had been posting short stories on her blog http://thepioneerwoman.com/ about how they met. Readers were so in love with the stories they kept asking for more. She finally decided to sit down and write out her whole story.

SO... if your looking for a great summer read, pick up a copy. You won't be disappointed!

This Child...

This Child...

is FOOD ALLERGY FREE!!

I recently took Aubrey in to meet with our Allergist to be tested. Since our middle son has had food allergies, one being nuts, she has never had any. So in order to go to Preschool in the Fall, she had to be tested to make sure she didn't follow in her brothers footsteps. (allergies effect what class your child is in) After chatting up the Doctor, she sat patiently waiting to be tested. I was so nervous that she would cry because I know that all the pokes in her back would not be pleasant. To my surprise she sat on my lap and didn't even let out one tear. I could tell as they were getting closer to the end that it was getting more painful and the tears would be starting soon if we continued. For now we are not having her tested for outdoor/animal allergies because they are not as severe as Lukas's. PLUS I didn't want to put her through that if we could avoid it at this time. This ended up being  a huge relief to Justin and I. One less thing for me to stress about once she starts school.

A New Belly Button...

So today was the first time in months that I was able to get BLOGGER to work for me. My poor blog has been so neglected. Here is what has been going on with our family. Jaren is doing great in school, played basketball and is doing great in Awanas. Lukas is enjoying preschool and also enjoying Awanas. He really loves the Awana relay games. Miss Aubry has had the most changes! We did potty training, then she turned two and recently she had another surgery. This round they removed a hernia from her belly button. Her are a couple of pictures after we got her home from the hospital. She has been recovering really well and loves to show off her new bellybutton.

She was still pretty drugged up

I hope to get some more pictures to upload to show everyone what we have been up to. We are really enjoying this Wonderful Christmas season and hope your family is.

Snapping Beans...

This year my family froze Lot's of different veggies for us to eat this Winter. Lukas and Aubrey LOVED snapping the beans. It was fun having her join in with us this year and she continued to help until our bowl was empty. Lukas kept reminding us that his Papa grows really good green beans. We are so thankful that he shared his crop with us. We will be even more thankful when were eating them this Winter! She got a real kick out of snapping the beans. Snapping beans with Daddy

Look at these great carrot's! My kids love that they were so bright and colorful. We cut up several of these carrots to freeze for the Winter as well. Once they are put together in a bag, it looks like a bag of fruit cocktail =)

Pay It Forward...

I got this wonderful package in the mail from Maria at http://bubblegumandducttape.blogspot.com/ A while back she had a Pay It Forward on her blog that I joined in on. SO NOW it's my turn to Pay It Forward to you. I'm looking for 3 people who would like to join in. When you join in, I will have 3 months to make a homemade gift that I will send out to you. Once you have received it, than it will be your turn to Pay It Forward on your blog. I can't tell you how exciting it is to get a package in the mail that is FOR YOU and not someone else in your home. I love the cards she made and have already put some of them to good use! Isn't the case she put them in super cute. I love that she made it out of an old book. What fun. So if your interested in joining in, leave a comment saying you want to join in on the fun. Look what the cards came in I love how she used a old book and the scrapbook paper to decorate it.
Here are all kinds of sayings that can be put into the cards. Love this idea These cards are so fun! Thanks Maria

Prayer Update For Annie

Hey everyone, I just wanted to write up a post with a update on Annie. The 11 year old girl who I've been praying for and have asked you to pray as well. If you don't know who she is, go here http://mommystimeout-samantha.blogspot.com/2010/08/reaching-out-for-prayers.html

As of today her mom told everyone that they are planning on getting to bring her home tomorrow. They removed her dialysis catheter yesterday and she is slowing starting to keep down food. Annie will be having another transfusion in the morning. Her kidneys are slowly starting to come around but still have a long ways to go. I'm not sure if her liver is doing better or not. Because of her battle with e-coli she has now developed High Blood Pressure and they fear this maybe long term. Annie is starting to walk around and build her strength back up. I know her family can't wait to be reunited under one roof again. As of now, I'm asking that you continue to pray for Annie and her family. She still has such a long ways to go and could use as many prayers as possible. All things are possible with the power of prayer!

Recovering....

Well I survived my 10 year class reunion barely or at least the planning of the reunion. Our class had a 3 day event and by day 3 I was more than wore out I'M EXHAUSTED!!! What's sad is a good portion of my friends I haven't seen since our Grad Party. Seeing everyone felt amazing and like it hadn't really been 10 years at all. Friday night we had a cocktail night, the thing is it wasn't just a night. More like I got home a few minutes before 4am Our class closed the place down and then went to a local restaurant for breakfast. I've determined I'm WAY WAY to old to stay out that late.These are friends I've had since grade school. (Hamilton Creekers!) we are missing 3 that had already left early.

Teah Brandon and Matt some of my Best Friends! My friend Vanja Newsome and Malusky
My old gang and our old hangout spot. Yep that's a snuggie =)

Night #2 we had a great dinner at a local Golf Course and brought along a guest. Afterwards we had friends come back to our house for a after party. I did make it to bed a little after 3 this night. Thank goodness because I was up again for round 3 by 7am.

We opened up some time capsules

We also handed out these books made at our Grad Party. They are so funDay #3 was a family BBQ at a local Park. At the same park was the class of 85, 90 and .... 1950 how cool is that. We had a wonderful time and I look forward to seeing everyone again. I have to give a BIG thanks to the HUBS. Thank you Justin for all your help behind the scenes. Your the best!

The After Pictures...

I've been trying to get this post up for a while now. I just couldn't get blogger to download all my pictures. So I decided to just make two posts. Here are some pictures of the final product. We kept the paint color the same because we had leftover paint and we are trying to sale our house and I don't want to spend extra money. We increased the size of the vanity and I love our new flooring. All of the work was done by the two of us. I can now say that I can help lay linoleum flooring. =) Excuse the little head. She was in most of the pictures =)

I love having a bigger vanity too!

Here it is. I'm so glad it's done!!

This has been one BUSY Family...

So this family has been so busy with little repairs or some BIG repairs around our house. We have been getting ready to put our house up for sale. We wanted to redo our bathroom before we listed the house. This project was much bigger than we thought it would be. Here are a few pictures before we started demo This is during the process. We had a huge mess! The flooring was removed and the Hubs had to dig out several layers.

I wanted all of us to write our names on the walls before we started to cover them back up. Each of us wrote our name and Justin added Aubrey's name.

Here's Jaren. If someone ever has to redo the bathroom they will find our names hidden in the walls. =)

Don't you love the bubble gum pink walls. Can you see the outline of the old sink? The smell of this room was so funny. It smelt so old and musty. It's amazing what sheet rock covers up.

Getting ready for tape and texture

Well Blogger won't let me download any more pictures on this post. (I've tried several times) So I'm going to make another quick post with the final pictures.

More Mail...

Our National Postcard Swap is going great! Here are some of the new ones we have gotten in the mail. Did you know that Connecticut is the home to the very first Hamburger? (1895) It's also the home to the first Polaroid camera (1934), helicopter (1939) and color television (1948) Also the first lollipop making machine opened for business in (1908)

The Popsicle began in Oakland in (1905) and the Frisbee was invented there.

Home of the largest Sand Dune in America. Colorado also has 52 mountains over 14,000 feet.