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

Down on the Farm

Happy Friday!

My camera is on the fritz

and doesn't want to download

and it's driving me nuts

because I have such cute pictures

on there from Nolee's bday

Here's what it did give me

I love this first picture
This is Lilly's real smile
the one that brightens our lives on a daily basis
and those are the eyes
that twinkle with mischief
and show so much love when she tells us
she loves us to all the planets & back

This last one just makes me smile

she looks like such a little farmer :).

Family Photos by Carrie House

I don't know what it is about fall

but it is my most absolute favorite time of year

I get visions of pumpkins, apple cider, wagon rides

cornstalks and beautiful colors all dancing in my head

I want to take long walks

and explore nature

or just sit in a hayfield

& ponder the beauty around me

So when a wonderful friend of ours

offered to take some family photos for us

to help build her portfolio

it was like the stars aligned

and I'm pretty sure before Scott even

finished conveying the message to me

I was jumping up and down saying YES YES YES!!
I even had the perfect spot in mind
It's one of my most favoritest spots in the wide world
and if I ever win the lotto or something crazy like that
I'm building my dream house there

Carrie bought her awesome camera in January

and has been practicing on her adorable son ever since

(who is one of the cutest little guys I have ever seen)

I have only seen a fraction of the pictures

she took of us on that beautiful day

but I'm already completely amazed

Carrie has some talent with a capital T

And she was wonderfully patient with our girls

who had to be repeatedly coaxed

to even get a slip of a smile out of them

and wanted to take a snack break after every 5 minutes

The hardest part will be picking out which ones to print

because they are all my favorites!

There is a ridiculous amount of photos in this post...

sorry but I just couldn't help myself :).

All photo's taken by the talented Carrie House

This next one is my all time absolute favorite