Bathroom Remodel

If you're on Facebook, you've already seen these pictures. We just finished getting new ceramic tile in our bathroom and we love it already! We got the tile from J.B. Short Carpet One (a local business) and we're so happy with the finished product. Brianna fell in love with the tile guy which is just too funny. He finished the work yesterday and today she was saying, "Where's Mr. Jeff?"

So these are the "before" pictures. We actually loved the tile in the bathroom (which came with the house) but it had stress cracks which were just getting worse. And we didn't even have any arguments about which tile to pick! This was the most stress-free home repair ever. Actually, it was our first major home repair, so that's not saying much. Anyway, as I was saying... "before":

Finished product!

Now it looks so good we are talking about repainting and getting new blinds so the rest of the bathroom looks that good... which means we are going to have to remodel the whole house to keep up now! :)

Honestly, we are extremely glad with how it turned out. It was so easy for us to make decisions on this, it was a small job so only took three days, there were no glitches, it went so smoothly, and we love the look! So I'm super happy with this project. And best of all for a cheapo frugal gal like myself? We're able to pay for it in cash, so we didn't take on any debt by doing this project! Now that's what I consider a win-win-win-win!

Fall Festival 2011

Saturday was our Fall Festival at church. A little more low-key this year than other years, but we still enjoyed it. Hunter was a pumpkin (hand-me-down costume from Bri). We took Brianna costume shopping on Thursday to let her pick out what she wanted to be. The first thing she picked out? A garden gnome. Although I consider myself to be a pretty liberal, easygoing mom, I gently urged her to find something a bit more feminine. Her next pick was a male police officer uniform. I could tell we weren't going to get anywhere fast. But then. She saw it. In the back. Behind some other costumes.

Snow White!!

She loves Snow White the book and knew immediately who she was when she saw this costume. She was so excited so we grabbed the last one off the shelf (just happened to be in her size, thank goodness!) and took it home.

Hunter the pumpkin:

Snow White:

Oma got Hunter some new kicks and we were going to test them out tonight. Unfortunately they were too bulky for him but we'll try again soon!

Brianna's first time in a bouncy house (and Hunter's but I didn't get pictures of him):

Bri's first time getting her face/body painted!

Bri playing with the most precious baby ever, Heaven!

We had a great time!!

Her Personality

This video shows Brianna's personality right at the end of it. We sing a song from Kindermusik, but after just a few animals, she says, "No. Stop. Yay! We did it!" So funny.

Singing at the Table

This was a couple of months ago so I don't remember exactly what we were doing here. In the beginning of this video I was telling Bri that the bib wouldn't fit her but she was determined to put it on. She says, "Mommy look... I'll clean it." Then: "No spill", while shaking her head and drinking at the same time. She then launches into several songs. This always makes me smile.

Normal Day

A normal day at our house consists of throwing things. I tried to translate throughout the video just in case you don't understand Bri-speak. :)

Traffic Lights

Snack for preschool tomorrow:

Graham cracker + vanilla frosting + M&Ms = traffic light

Easy peasy!

Walk Along, Rover

One of the songs from Bri's Kindermusik curriculum last year, called "Walk Along, Rover" (includes "Roll over, Rover!"

Can You Eat Acorns?

Well, these you can!

This is our week to do snacks at preschool. Because we had family in town, I actually just sent Stephen to the store late on Sunday for a last-minute pickup of string cheese, juice, applesauce and fruit snacks. But tomorrow's snack will have a little "umph"! I'm doing just simple stuff again (Go-Gurt and either pretzels or zucchini cookies) but we're also having acorns!



So easy I thought you might want to follow these easy instructions and do it yourself!

All you need is:

• Hershey's chocolate kisses
• Mini Nilla wafers
• Thin pretzel sticks
• Chocolate icing

Put a tiny bit of icing on the wafer. Stick the flat side of the kiss to the underside of the wafer. Put a little dab of icing on the top of the wafer and break a tiny piece of pretzel off. Put the pretzel in the icing. They will need to set for an hour or so.

I love this idea and it only took me 10-15 minutes to make about 30! (The worst part is unwrapping the kisses!) Anyone else have cute snack ideas to share?

Waiting? Watching? For What?

You never know what you'll find in the nooks and crannies of your house when you have kids, am I right?

I lifted the blinds in our bathroom today so I could wash the windows:



Look who was standing there!


What's he doing? Waiting for Christmas? Santa looks very forlorn to me. Not sure why he's staring out our bathroom window but after I finished cleaning I left him to his thoughts.

Look Out

Alright, look out, because not only have I not been blogging updates, that means I haven't been putting up pictures and videos of my cutie patootie family. So within the next couple of weeks there may be an overload here. I apologize in advance.

This slide was a great investment last year, both kids still love it!

Baby sits up by herself, kind of freaky.

Our VBS this year was NYC themed. We had a cab that "crashed" through one of our walls. This picture may be too dark to tell but it looked really cool!

This must be what I look like when I feed Hunter.

Before Daddy left for deployment:

Hunter loves sweet potato fries! And with good reason!

Bri was outside with Stephen. Hunter spotted her and wanted to communicate via tapping on the windows.

Loving on one of his birthday toys!

I started bathing them together a couple of months ago. They love it and it's less work for me!

I promise you, he eats at the table as well.

Teaching Hunter to follow in Bri's footsteps and help around the house:

Seriously. We do feed him.

Bored or Creative?

This is what happens when we are bored and I won't allow the family to turn on the television:





Stephen comes up with some great ideas! :)