Blog Challenge

Kelly wants to know the following:

If you had to give up one of these things, which would it be:

1. Cell Phone
2. Hair products/curling iron
3. Toothpaste

Okay, I honestly debated these 3 options. I decided the rational, realistic thing would be to give up the cell phone. I wouldn't like it. I use mine ALL THE TIME. It makes me feel connected. Of these three items, the cell phone is the only one that I have ever actually lived without before, so I guess I could again. Like I said, I wouldn't like it though. I have horrible hair and it must be blown dry and curled or it is stringy and flat. Toothpaste, well, that is something you take on Survivor as your luxury item and I like my teeth.

Painting

We got to the house on Saturday, got supplies and started painting. I have not been good at taking the before photos. In fact I haven't been good at taking any photos--and I know you all have noticed. I don't have a photo of the front of the house yet. I'll get it soon though, I promise.

I did take a few of the painting going on and the cute decoration on my mantle. As my mother-in-law stated, we have been color repressed forever, and we are letting loose. Schaun wanted one wall in his basement to be red. I made the master bedroom a brown, the girls rooms are each going to be two colors. Bridget's room is pink and purple and Becca's is pink and yellow. They both got the same pink and it is a no kidding sort of pink.

I need to say a special thanks to my father-in-law for all his help on Saturday and to Kristin and Mark for their help painting on Sunday--THANKS!

EDITED TO ADD: This freaking blogger keeps eating my photos! Three times I have loaded a bunch of pics and it just keeps showing me these two. Sorry, I'll have to try later. I have packing to do.

FINALLY!

We are homeowners!

It's official! The papers are all signed.

I'll get pictures soon.

Spring Break

This year, over Spring Break, I am taking the girls to see Disney on Ice, Princess Wishes. They don't know and are going to be so excited. I'm excited that it is at the Sprint Center and I will get to see the place.

I bought the tickets a few weeks ago and forgot to tell Schaun. I saw a commercial last night and told him. I think he was very relieved to hear that he was excused from this princess event.

Tomorrow is the day!

Tomorrow is closing day! I'm so excited. It is hard to focus on anything else for any length of time. I went to Lowe's yesterday and picked out a bunch of paint swatches. That is what I'm doing first--painting. We are putting off the official move in day so that we can do stuff like this before the furniture gets there. The utilities are taken care of and today the sellers want to meet us at the house so they can tell us stuff about the house.

I'm not going to miss this house at all. The noise from the highway--ugh! Yesterday the garbage disposal stopped working and the day before that the bathroom sink went wonky. So glad I don't have to deal with the problems here any longer!

Anybody need any stuff?I have random amounts of fabric I don't want, baby toys and chairs, a diaper bag, a birdhouse collection, a bag of 18 months girls clothes, a coffee pot, an old printer and scanner, and that is what I can think of off the top of my head.

Fun World

We took the girls to Power Play (they call it Fun World) last night. I had never been there before. Schaun has taken the girls there in the past while I was at crops. We ate dinner at the buffet, which was decent. Then we went out to the arcade part. It was a mad house in there. I didn't take the big gun, just my little camera, but here are the few shots I got. The girls had a blast.

Different priorities

So last night Bridget asked when we were going to Disney World. I told her we just bought the new house and going to Disney is expensive, it wasn't going to be this year. Her response:

"Ohhhhhh- you guys wasted all the money!"

Not my lettuce!

As I'm sure I have said before, Becca loves lettuce. Sometimes if she asks for a snack, she will tell me she wants some lettuce. It is a bit odd, but it's better than candy. Tonight we were talking to the girls about pets. They were telling us about the things they want to own. I explained that nobody would get anything until we lighten our current load. But they just kept wishing. Bridget settled on a guinea pig. She asked Schaun what they eat and he told her special food, carrots, and lettuce. Becca looked startled and said "NOT MY LETTUCE!".

I had to tell her that if this little animal comes to live with us we will have different lettuce for it--not hers.

New Furniture

So exciting! We picked out all the big things we need for the house. We spent about five hours at Nebraska Furniture Mart today. I have only been there one other time and I had forgot how big that place is. It is a good thing that I had some idea what I wanted. Going there without a plan would be over-whelming. We choose a sofa that is a 2-piece sectional with a chaise attached (that is the second piece). I wanted a big over-sized chair and AUTOMAN (LOL, this cracks me up! I saw this spelling in a Craig's list ad and I'm still getting a good chuckle from it)--okay, chair and ottoman is what I had in mind. I really love the whole chaise thing, so I got another separate one. (It is the one in the picture here)

We agreed on a white bedroom set. That will look so pretty with the light blue walls I am going to paint. I hope that I have a good memory of the color of the wood in the kitchen. I think we picked out the perfect table. I had my heart set on a table with chairs and a bench on one side and they had it.

They had some cute kids beds. Becca really needs a bed. She just has a frame and mattress, no cute headboard. She decided she wants sort of a garden themed room and I hope we can hook her up with a picket fence headboard. But today we saw this bed she loved. It was a loft bed (not as tall as a bunk bed) with a SLIDE attached to it. Under the bed was just space but there was a curtain that pulled closed. It was a cute bed and very reasonable price, but it was bright red, blue, and yellow. Not very garden like. We'll see if she keeps talking about it.

Very exciting stuff!

Enough already

I'm done with Winter. In the past, I enjoyed wearing my coats and sweaters. I generally like to bundle up. But enough already! I am T-I-R-E-D of snow and cold. I am tired of shivering all the time! I have not scrapbooked anything in months because it is just too cold downstairs. The few warmer days we had I spent cleaning off a space in the mess and got nothing done. Now it is just getting packed.

Packing is a slow process. I'm really purging stuff. I am a pack rat at heart and it is hard for me to let go of things. Some people understand this, others don't and think it is crazy to be attached to sweater or some other random item. So as I go thru my things, I have to question whether or not I want to actually pack it, take it to the new house and find a place for it. Most of the time I answer no. So now I am having to get rid of all the stuff I'm letting go of. Too bad it just doesn't disappear when I no longer want it.

Packing and counting down. That is really all I think about these days. Two weeks from today is when we close on the house!

A royal good time

Bridget was invited to a birthday party that was yesterday. It was for Maya, a little girl she spends a lot of time with at school. Maya had a true princess party. Each girl got to choose and wear a princess dress. They all got their nails painted and a little sparkly make-up. They played games and had a tea party with real tea cups. Bridget LOVED this. All the girls were so cute, it was really a lot of fun!

Off to a GREAT start!

February that is. The offer we put in on the house we want was accepted! Closing is scheduled for February 22. Schaun said last night that this was not a fun process. True, but the the end result is so great.

What I'm Looking Forward to in February

This is a blog challenge by my friend Kelly. I always look forward to February for a couple reasons.

First, Bridget's birthday is this month and we have always had a big party for her. I don't really plan on it being a big party, but by the time all the family is invited, it turns out to be a lot of people. She is turning six this year. First grade next Fall. It is exciting and frightening at the same time. My time for sheltering her is over. I kept her at the Montessori school for Kindergarten because I love their program and also because I just didn't want to sent her off to elementary yet.

Second, I just hate January. It is cold, this year even worse than others. We are coming off the Christmas high and have to wait another whole year for that again. Eck! Just a boring, cold month! February brings us closer to Spring!

This year we have something really exciting and new to look forward to. We are moving! The time has come and I am ready! We don't have it final where we are going, but we are going. There are a couple driving factors for this move. One, we are financially able to, YEAH! Two, we live in the boundaries of an elementary school that I will not send Bridget to. So we either move, or I am going to have to find a "valid district reason" for transferring her. I'm so excited about this. I am tired of living here and wasting our money on this house. The noise from the highway is just horrible. We went from living in an ultra quiet little city (not that I liked it there, but it was quiet) to having a major highway practically in our back yard. It was not well thought out and we have regretted it daily since. Monday we are going to make some serious, grown-up decisions!

Next week I am going to start major purging of our stuff--okay, mostly my stuff, but it's out of here. Craig's list is will become a good friend. I'm going to start packing, so I'm on the look out for good boxes.

Sawyer's Birthday Party

Sunday, we went out in the FREEZING cold to Sawyer's first birthday party. He seemed to enjoy it as much any any one year old enjoys their party. He got to smash cake in his face and open presents with some help from all the other kids. Kristin had a kid buffet set up with goldfish crackers. gummy bears. chocolate teddy grahams, twizzlers, crackers, and cheese. So with all that and the cake and ice cream, the kids were all sugared up and it was crazy!

Run, Run, Run, Run, DROP

This describes Becca's day. She never stops. When she just cannot go any longer she drops.

A bunch of silly girls

A few weeks ago Norma brought Clara, and Chloe over to play. I tell you what--4 girls are LOUD! They all seemed to have fun though. They ran, played, ate pizza, watched some High School Musical, and were just silly. I got to hang out and chat with Norma. I really enjoyed the evening and hope we can get together again soon.

Happy Birthday Sawyer

Today my nephew Sawyer turns one! I know he has a big day planned with presents, lunch, and cake! He is having a party next weekend, but I hope today is great (even though he won't remember, lol).


I went to a short crop last night. It was with the employees at The Scrapbook Page. I really need much longer blocks of time to get anything done. I did get some class work done and some cards for a swap (that was due last week, yikes!). I have a class to teach tonight. The first one of the year. We are making Valentine's Day cards-- I love all the red, pink, and hearts. I don't have another class until the end of the month, so maybe I can work on some stuff for me.

Happenings

Since I am getting harassing emails about not updating, I guess I better get on it. I don't have any photos to share. This week started "normal" life again. Schaun is back to work, Bridget and Becca are back to school. I spend a lot of time driving up and down Quivira getting them there.

Becca was bouncing off the walls excited to see Caden on return to preschool. She only goes on Mon, Wed, and Fri, and only for a few hours. The rest of the time she spends asking when we are going to pick up Bridget. Awwwwwww, she misses her sister.

Bridget has some new friends at school and she was happy about that. She always gives me updates about who is there and who is not. They have a lot of Asian and Indian families and they travel back to their homelands often. When they go it is a long trip, like a month or so. It seems many of them have not returned from Christmas break yet.

I have received information from both schools that next month is when summer and fall registration begins. I'm feeling a little stressed about the unknown of next year for Bridget. I know that I want Becca to spend the next two years at the Montessori school, so that is easy. I know that I do not want Bridget to attend the elementary school where we live. I am hoping we can move, but if that doesn't happen fast enough, I don't know what to do.

I have been spending a lot of time organizing and purging my scrap area. I have too much paper (along with other old supplies). Bridget wants to scrapbook with me now, so I'm going to share a lot of this with her. First, I have to make room for it all. I have to force myself to do this.

Not much else to report. Both girls are going to be in the dance recital this year. I have not seen the costumes yet, but they measured the girls last night. I do know that they will both be doing tap routines. Kelsie--are you sure you don't want to do a Senior dance with your nieces? I'm sure it would be the talk of the show. LOL!

Just Because

A New Kitchen

Santa brought the girls a Grand Walk in Kitchen. They love this thing. They pretend cook, play restaurant, and Bridget uses the bar as a desk. I was against this giant thing at first, but now I'm glad that Schaun insisted on it.