Elmo LIVE!

So a mom

of one of the gal's I work with

was nice enough to give us

Elmo LIVE tickets she had won online

So Saturday we packed

the girls up and headed

off to their 1st "concert"

They were SO excited

and Nolee kept asking when

"Melmo" was coming out

We had great seats

although the girls were too excited

to actually sit :)

We had a perfect view of the stage

I wish we could have gotten a video

of Nolee dancing - too cute

Thanks Wanda - they LOVED it!!!



Photo Blocks

So for Scott's birthday this year

I tried to think of something

that was creative & fun

I remembered him saying that

he didn't have any updated pictures

of our family on his desk

And since we had just

did our awesome sessions

with Carrie House

my wheels immediately started turning

So I looked at what we had

around the house

and came up with the idea

for some photo blocks

I cut my 4 x4 into blocks

using Scott's table saw

and I may have scared years off of both our lives

When cutting my last block my 4x4 was down to about 7 inches long

and I may have been being a scaredy pants

and not holding onto it tightly enough

only because my fingers were fricking close to the actual blade!

Well I still have all my fingers

but a portion of the 4x4 flew off the table saw

and hit the wall with some pretty good force

which I'm extremely thankful it hit the wall

and not me

This brought Scott running out to the garage

I think he was expecting blood

He offered to do the last cut for me

which I gladly accepted

So after my near death experience

I gathered my blocks & the rest of my supplies

I painted all the blocks white

and then attempted the mod podge transfer

I have been seeing all over pinterest

I printed my photos off on a laser printer

brushed a layer of mod podge on my block

and placed the photo on there

ink side down

After they had dried I sprayed them lightly with water

and gently (gently is key here) started to rub the paper off

with my fingers

I found that if I let them dry for just a couple of hours

this worked best

if I let them go for longer

it was harder to get the paper off

Here is what the pictures looked like

This is a good example where I wasn't so gentle

but I liked the worn look so it was okay

I then added another layer of mod podge

on top to protect the pictures

and it made it shiny :)

I also added some letters to the blocks

so they spell out a few different letters

and I figured Scott's students would get a kick

out of playing with them

I roughed up the edges & added

some paint to give them a antiquey look

...and then of course forgot to take more pictures :)

I really like how these turned out

and how simple (and cheap!) this was

I'm already thinking of more

mod podge transfer ideas to try out :)



Gymnastics

So we signed Lilly up for gymnastics

this semester

She is learning how to do somersaults

jump on the trampoline

and walk on the balance beam

The balance beam has been a love/hate relationship so far

some days she loves it

and some days she hates it so much she cries if she has to do it

So being the loving father he is

Scott took her and practiced the "beam" after school

he put the weight bench up on two large boxes

and had her practice walking across

& jumping down

I got to see the proof on his phone camera

The next time at gymnastics she rocked that beam

she may still have needed to hold her coaches hand

but there were no tears, only smiles

and she was so proud of herself

If she gets nothing else out of this experience

I hope she realizes what a great father she has

who will always be there for her

to help her conquer her fears

Here's some pics from parent night

This one so wanted to join in on the fun

and had a great time playing & jumping

on the mats 



The Little Things

This morning we woke up

to sounds of giggles on the baby monitor

in Lilly's room

and yes I realize she is 4 years old

& right down the hall

but ever since she had her seizures

the monitor has stayed in her room

...she will probably be a teenager

before we remove it :).

So Scott went to check it out

and found Nolee

in Lilly's room

in Lilly's bed

sitting on Lilly

When Scott asked her what she was doing

she said

"Jus looking"

& started giggling again

And that is how I found them all

this morning at 6:15 am

in Lilly's room

in the dark

all three laughing

and my first thought was

that I have the most wonderfully blessed life ever :).



Roadkill Rescue

If you have not checked out

the blog Roadkill Rescue



you should head over there right now!

It is so amazing to see

how creative people can be

and how thinking outside of the box

can result in some really amazing pieces
and how some of these pieces
litterally started as "trash"
on the side of the road!

I am lucky enough to be featured
on this awesome website today
for my fireplace transformation
insert my happy dance here...
and be extremely happy you can't see
what a goofball I look like :)



Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday

 to my one and only

to the one who stays calm

as I get all stressed

the one who is laid back

and thankfully able to go along

with the crazy ideas I have

or reel me back in if needed

the one who has the magic touch

and can put both our girls to sleep

by rubbing their backs

the one who still loves to be a kid

and can get right into our girl's make believe worlds

or create his own that involves

monsters & safe havens & lots of fun

the one who can always make me laugh

who I can really talk to

& never get to spend enough time with

Happy Birthday

to the one I cannot live without

Love ya Babe!



Plug In Air Fresheners

I don't believe I have ever shared our

run in with air fresheners on this blog

and why I will never, ever, ever

have one in my house again

I'm not sure what made me think of this

since it happened over a year ago

but since I did

I thought I would share

Note this really did happen to us

it's not something that happened to a friend

of a cousin who heard it from their uncle

who is twice removed (whatever that means)

This all occured on 8/5/10

I just wanted to share with everyone our eye opening story about plug in air fresheners…I’m sure some of you are already aware of this, but I was not.

Thursday night after being home for about an hour I started to feel spacey and my head felt fuzzy (yes I know even more than usual J).  The girls were starting to get a cold so I figured that I must be coming down with the same thing.  Anyway I didn’t think about it again until our dog Charlie woke us up in the middle of the night hacking.  Scott got up with him and took him out and he ended up puking.  After Scott took the dog out he noticed that there was a haze in the living room and he said he now felt spacey and fuzzy too.  I was feeling worse and my arms felt heavy (a very odd feeling).  Well our first thought was carbon monoxide so we called 911.  We got the girls up and all piled into the ambulance that showed up to wait while the firemen checked the house (the girls thought this was great and were completely fascinated by all the gadgets in the ambulance).  Well after about an hour and half of searching the house and coming up with no carbon monoxide readings one of the fireman noticed one of our plug in air fresheners was turning black.  It was that kind that has a little fan on it to blow the nice fragrant air throughout the entire house.  Well it was blowing smoke throughout the entire house.  Another of our plug ins (we had 5) was so hot the fireman couldn’t take it out of the plug without his gloves on.  Mind you we had just changed all the refills on our air fresheners too – so it’s not like they were empty and burning up.  They fireman said that Charlie probably got sick because he was home all day and was exposed to the smoke inhalation for a longer period of time (really glad we got a dog now!!).  The fireman also informed us that plug in air fresheners are some of the worst fire hazards you can have in your house and in his personal opinion they should be illegal.  So needless to say we have thrown away all 5 now.  Anyway I just wanted to share in case anyone has these in their house as we have learned the hard way how dangerous they can be!

So please please please pass this on

to all your family & friends

it's scary to think that we may

have never woke because of something

that is supposed to make our house more inviting

The other big gift :).

Do you know how hard it is

to think of gifts for the second girl?

She gets all the hand me downs

so we are good on clothes

And oh my gosh if you've ever seen our house

(and the 4 toyboxes full of toys)

you know that she's not in need of more toys

So when my parent's asked what she would like

I immediately thought about that big yellow bus

that sits in my dad's driveway 9 months out of the year

Nolee (and Lilly) are both fascinated by it

and call it Papa's bus

Everytime we see a bus on the road

they ask if it is Papa's bus

(it's cute really)

Anyway she took her first bus ride

and loved it

never wanted to sit down or still

but loved it none the less

2nd Photo Session with Carrie House

We had our second photo session

with the amazingly talented Carrie House

this past weekend

We did 2 locations this time

and added some new props

The girls were less than cooperative

(even after we bribed them with snacks)

but I LOVE how the pictures turned out

Now I just have to figure out which

pictures to order & how I'm going to frame them

I have some crafty ideas in mind...

we'll have to see how they pan out

I LOVE this next one

I think these goofy natural pictures just seem to capture the real us

because all 4 of us are natually goofy :)



The BIG gift

When we moved into our house

our wonderful neighbors

asked if we wanted their old playset

as their kids were getting older

The only stipulation was that

the neighbor kids could play on it

whenever they wanted to

not a bad deal if you ask me

So we moved it

(with their help)

and stained it to match our deck

added a couple swings

and left it at that

Our girls love it

and can spend hours out there

the only problem was that

Nolee is actually able to climb up to the second level now

which is taller than I am

and would do it whether you were helping her or not

(which tended to freak me out...I keep picturing broken limbs)

So we decided as her birthday gift

we (with the help of family) would add a lower level

that was more friendly for 2 year olds

and of course still appealing to a 4 year old

The unstained wood is the addition

plus the yellow slide

the very bottom portion can now be storage

for their toys..or a secret hideout

(if you aren't afraid of spiders)

We wanted to do something different than a ladder

so we went with this plank/rope combo

and yes it reminds me of a dog plank...but the girls love it

and I have no fear of Nolee falling

We added a steering wheel

which was the only dang accessory left at the store

since this was the end of the summer

but the girls love it

and drive their fort all around the town :)

We also added a table/bench

which they love for their pretend meals

...it also is a great hiding spot (and is a safe neutral zone)

for when the big monster is out & about

(monster = Scott hunched over like the hunchback of Notre Dame

moaning and walking with a very distinct limp...it's freaking hilarious)

Oh...and by we (throughout this entire post) I mean Scott

I was in charge of the ideas on this one

and he was in charge of putting it all together

When we told her this was her birthday present

her face lit up so bright

and then they played & pretended for hours

We plan on staining next summer

to match the rest of the set

and who knows...maybe we'll add on again in a few years :)



Nolee's 2!

Well she is officially 2

We had chili & cupcakes

and both turned out great

We had Nana's & Papa's

Aunts & Uncles

Great Grandpa's & Grandma's

and cousins all over to celebrate

She had a blast
and all the kids played so well together

I still can't believe my baby is 2
and is beginning to resemble a toddler
more than a baby
and loves to do everything herself

She requested the fork by the way

and the milk

She wouldn't touch the cake until she had them

Goofy girl

These Dora books were the 1st present she opened
she is a bit obsessed with Dora books right now
Just books mind you, not her Dora doll, or the Dora legos
we have, just the books


And this is where she put them (under her bum)
while she opened the rest of the gifts
so no one else could play with them...
but she did share everything else she got