Hold the Phone

Well, not so much hold the phone, but these are from my phone.  Photos of lately.... I wanted to share.

winter

We had to put Bonnie on a little diet. This is her before photo

We love the nice days between the cold snowy days

he has not fallen asleep outside of his bed or the car in FOREVER.  It reminded me of this....

I always think his features have changed drastically since he was a baby bit in these two photos he looks like the same exact kid eh?  

Book Break

Things have been pretty random lately.  Not really a great topic to blog about.  I'll do it anyways though because I want to check in...

 We spent a nice Valentines Day at home last night.  

 I made a nice dinner that cost less than 5 bucks...... then we ate chocolates and played candy-land. 

 Bonnie caught and ate a rabbit today.  It was pretty traumatic   Nathan started crying and asked,"What about his family?"  It made me cry.  Poor rabbit.  Poor kiddo.  I didn't enjoy the situation either, I phoned David crying begging him to come home and take care of it.  Thankfully he did! 

The vanity in the powder room has been transformed!  We really love it.  The trim is slowly but surely transforming also.  

I decided to give up Facebook for Lent this year, so you wont find updates from me.  I will be updating here on our blog though, so check in from time to time.  

The Big 5

 Nate had a fun birthday this year.  No party but still lots of excitement.  

 He took cupcakes to school on the 7th which with the time difference is actually his birthday.....You know when moms call their kids at the time of day they were born.  Well Nate was born at 105 Feb 8th.  But with the time difference he turned 5 at 905 on the 7th.  Confusing and weird eh??

 He had plenty of gifts to open from aunts and uncles and grandparents.  We went bowling then came home for cake and ice cream.

 The cake was yummy.

 The gifts were awesome.

It was a fun celebration for our little guy turning 5!

Where he was born

 In the land where Nate was born..... with its fish markets

 bullet trains

 dragons

and festivals.... its already Nate's birthday.....  

Our little guy has turned 5!  How?!

Powder Room Update

Our house has a little bathroom downstairs.  I believe you would call it a powder room.  When we bought the house it had wallpaper.  My mom thankfully attacked all of the downstairs wallpaper for me the day after we got the keys.  

Powder room before

Powder room NOW.

Before

After

 Besides saying so long to the wallpaper, we painted, hung up little curtains, and replaced the mirror, faucet, and light fixture.  I also hung up some shelves, and removed the towel bar and opted for a towel ring instead.

 David is becoming super quick at replacing light fixtures.  He did three last week.

Still we want to paint the vanity white along with the trim.  

Eventually all of the 1992 brass and builders grade oak will be painted or replaced in this house.  It's going to take us years though.  We get real satisfaction with these cosmetic projects.    

I also found a thing to hold my umbrellas. By 'thing' I mean an accent table I bought at Target and flipped upside down.  I'm nearly never a rule breaker, but in this case I thought I would cross over to the dark side.  

 I collected these pretty umbrellas in Japan.  They have been stuffed in storage units/garages/closets for the past 4 years.  Finally they are out! Perhaps one day Ill do a umbrella photo shoot so you can see how cute they are.  You would love that right?    

Here is a pic of the dogs.  I thought you might miss them.  

over and out.-T

Loft Bed

You may or may-not know that last summer I scored a loft bed while David was TDY.  Its was a craigslist score... and I went into the hills to pick it up.  ALONE.  I was scared of being Craigslist murdered or raped.... and worried about fitting it in my minivan.  It was a tight fit but I wasn't murdered so it was a great find!  I unloaded it from my van alone, and let me tell you it ain't light.  

It sat in our garage.  Then we moved and it sat in our new garage.  

It needed a good primer.  

In October Dave painted it white. 

It has been white since October, but finally two days ago I bought the paint for the drawers.  I was not looking forward to buying quarts of 4 or 5 different paint colors.  Every time I was at the paint counter I would be thinking, I think one of those paint samples would do the job.  So I finally went for it, and they sure did!  

  He loves the loft bed, and the 'secret spot' under the bed.  He has book shelves under there, and a stash of toys.  

His room has become a really cool little boys room! 

I'm really happy with the way this bed turned out!  

Downstairs Progress

It has been months since I shared any home updates.  We have been taking it pretty slowly.  Mostly for our budget's sake, but otherwise just so Dave doesn't get burnt out. We ended up painting almost the entire downstairs a tan color called 'Spice Vinegar'  Its an Olympic color but I had it mixed up in Lowe's Valspar 2000.  It was recommended by the friendly paint guy and we love it.  Its about 20 bucks a can and seriously covers with one coat..... and its really flexible with touch ups.  Although I highly recommend it the other paint guy at Lowe's always bites my head off when I ask him to color match something because I want the Valspar 2000... like he seriously gets mad eyes and yells at me that its not the same brand.  None of the other paint workers care.  They match it for me happily.  The first couple of times the mean guy almost made me cry, but now I know he's just the guy with a paint stick up his ass.  I recently had a quart of 'Distant Thunder' mixed up in the correct brand and he didn't say a single word to me at all.... he's just a grump.  I didn't miss the conversation.  

That's Bonnie's mo-hawk at the bottom of the photo... not a carpet stain. 

 This is looking at the dining/family room from the utility room doorway.  Obviously the 'family room' is actually a sewing room.  The birds live in the sewing room.  They chatter and chirp making me very happy.  Unless its the squawking stuff, then I wish they lived somewhere else. 

that is my distant thunder wall... bold eh?

 Still standing in the doorway looking to the right.  My sewing table.  

 This is looking back from the kitchen.  See straight back is the laundry room door... to the left there is the opening to the garage/powder room/ entryway.  Kids and puppies LOVE that this house goes in a circle.  Seriously.  We watched our friend's kids recently and they literally were counting their laps around the house.  

 Still looking from the kitchen to the left... The white door is the garage door. 

 Standing next to the garage door looking right.... Hi Bonnie

 Still standing near the garage door looking to the left 

 Standing in the sewing room looking towards the dining room and kitchen... I have a BIG issue with the three diff light fixture thing.  I think about it daily....And I make David discuss it with me weekly.  

 Standing in front of the sliding door.... You can see to the right there is the front door and the basement door.

 the kitchen 

 Looking in the kitchen from the dining room threshold 

 From the same threshold.

 Looking towards the living room

 That is the pantry door 

 From the living room into the kitchen.

 Pantry photos make me happy

 We also painted the stairway.  Its a lighter color called 'Almond Paste'  I find it pleasant.  I've been working on framing photos for the stairway.  I had a dozen photos printed of places we have been.  I can only swing a few per allowance.  I love how it is looking so far though!

 This is looking straight down the stairs.

 This is looking just to the right into the living room.

 Opposite to the travel photos I have started framing family photos.  

 This is the basement access... Bonnie lives in there.

Its a nice little closet... but we have it loose in there so its not a pain to empty it to get in the basement.  

So there is a little update for you.   Pretty soon we are going to be tackling the oak in this house.  We want to paint all of the trim... replace the doors with white doors.... paint the kitchen cabinets white.  We are sure it will be exhausting.