Foto Friday

Then & Now

And She Sleeps...

What in the WEATHER is going on?!?!

Okay - last Friday we had a snow day.

Two days ago on Sunday - I actually fell asleep outside because it was SOOO gorgeous out...and then woke up sweating!!!

And today ANOTHER SNOW DAY!??!

Might Need to Turn up the Heat

Updated: Mason's Room and Guest Room

sooooo....here's the thing, decorating my house stresses me; thus, I don't decorate at all! When we lived in French Oaks - Tim's parents helped me out some.  I used to say my decorating style was "sparse", "less is more", "I don't like clutter".  Then we move into our new home (yes, that was two+ years ago) and I still have areas with NOTHING on my walls.  If you don't believe me, next time you are over check out the playroom or master bedroom.   I don't like spending money on decorations or furniture only to realize that I don't like it.  I'm horrible at visualizing a plan for how to organize a room.  For example, I would say, "I don't like throw pillows on couches, you only have to move them every time you sit."  "If I have decorations, there are more things that I have to keep clean and tidy".   Then to make it all worse, almost everyone else I know LOOOOOVES to decorate, and shop, and rearrange furniture...so suddenly I feel inadequate because I'm completely lost when it comes to accessorizing.  In fact, I love the furniture store "rooms to go"....I'm the person that wants to buy the whole room...complete matching set with all trinkets included.  

My sister, on the other hand, loves it!!!  It's what she does all the time...just for fun...   And she's good at it.  She moved to Texas only 8 months ago and within the first two months she had her house more put together and decorated than I did.  Every time I would walk into her place there was a new piece on the wall or a new light fixture and it all looked amazing.  

For the past six months I've worked with an interior decorator helping me with my main level, and I've been very happy with the process (more importantly the end product).  I will show updated pictures of the living room and kitchen soon.  Erin is interested in doing this too - helping others who are stuck with decorating.  And sooooo, lucky me, Erin volunteered to "update" Mason's room and our guest bedroom.   Let's get to the best part, the pictures!!!

Mason's room BEFORE

Mason's room AFTER!!

HOLY DISAPPEARING SILLY  SMALL WINDOWS!!!!!!!!  Betcha didn't even notice them missing?!?!  Cool train canvases she found on craigs list.  File cabinet/night stand-etsy.  M on wall-old town spring.  She made the gray "sleep" pillow.  The hardware for the drapes are pipes from home depot.  OH...and you can't see it, but under Mason's bed is a large wooden box that is covered with lego baseplates and under the baseplates is space for lego storage. The room is now painted SW "worldly gray" with a white ceiling (before everything...including the ceiling was the same color).  

SERIOUSLY amazing Erin Michelle (and I have to mention Kevin who came over and helped assemble and paint everything).  Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!

And because doing one room wasn't enough...check out the guest room. Before I had the bed in the exact same place as the previous owner did and I loved how she had the house put together so I copied her, except that I didn't have anything else in the room.  If you look at the pictures below and rotate the bed 90 degrees counterclockwise, that's how the bed has been for 2+ years (I forgot to get a picture of it before we rearranged it).

The guest room BEFORE

The guest room AFTER!!!

I'm in looooove!!! Debating sleeping in this room versus my "clutter free" master bedroom... I can't believe that our guests have been tortured for so many years with not a single accessory or lamp or nightstand or ANYTHING besides a bed and dresser.  

Needless to say, if you are wanting help with decorating/styling a room....please reach out to Erin. 

Thank you again Hawk's for all your hard work, I'm so impressed and very thankful.

Annual Car Show

What a perfect way to spend a snow day!!   

Yesterday, after the icy morning melted away, we ventured out to the car show.  

These two kiddos had a blast.  Olivia loooove the jaguar car...why?  Because of it's emblem;)  

Foto Friday: Snow Day Edition

The night before we were under a winter weather advisory.

This morning, we woke up to Houston being almost completely SHUT DOWN.  All schools closed.  Now, we heard the highways were icy...and Texans, although they all have SUVs and trucks, have no clue what to do on ice.  

(please note the bottom left picture...evidence of us "protecting our pipes")

This is a HUGE difference from the East Coast snow storm that happened this past week....

The Runaway

Oh Jerry, you are so quirky.  

If we don't let you in fast enough from the backyard...you escape and wait patiently by the....front door.  

Texas "Sock" Gloves

Because I'm not going to buy, store, find, and keep 2 sets of mittens for the rare days when they are desired.

"Mommy, do you know where my Belle glubs are?"

FLASHBACK

Oh those gummy gums. 

She is 13 months in this picture (Jan 2010).  

It would be 2 more weeks until we see a pearly white tooth breaking through.

The Boyz

Outdoor Kitchen

This has been a BIG project that we've been saving our pennies for...

before

after

The area needs to be landscaped and we still want to buy a table for us to eat outside on, but it's a fully functioning kitchen (complete we fridge, pellet smoker/grill with storage drawer, ice maker, sink, and trash can.  

And here is our chef with this first smoking masterpiece!

Birthday Smores

Today we celebrated Chris' birthday with a couple of other families.  Somehow in the mix of all our fun, I forgot to get a picture of the birthday girl.

Happy Birthday Chris!!!  We loved celebrating with you.

Foto Friday

this stinks

UNCLE GRADY!!!!

Uncle Grady stopped by for a quick visit!!  

Looking forward to seeing the whole family soon :)

And sometimes I forget that she is just 5

Two Turtles

The Playroom

The Murphs

These are our friends The Murphy's.  They live in our neighborhood....

But only for one more week :(

They are moving closer to downtown.  So, we know we will still see each other, but right now we can walk back and forth between our houses and everything is very easy.  

Looking forward to new adventures in a new home.

Frozen!

Today, five kids and myself went to see Frozen.  Mason and I were the only ones who had not seen it...

It's excellent!!!!!  In fact, I've already pre-ordered the DVD ;)

Afterwards the kids all enjoyed our Texas Winter playing outside.  

Foto Friday

TGIF!!

Hot Chocolate

It's COOOOOLD outside!

on the way home from boot camp....brrrrr

While I'm Working...

...he's resting.

seesaw

Four Cousins

Foto Friday

relaxing

2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

So I like resolutions/bucket list/goals - why not?!?!

Although, I definitely didn't remember what I wrote last year and had to come back to the blog to look.  Needless to say, I've got some repeats ;)

But let's go back and review my 2013 resolutions:

***Read.  Read fiction, non-fiction, children's books, self-help, textbooks, etc. (The Torn Birds, Grey Trilogy, finished Dragon Series, gone girl, the paris wife)

***Sort through my pictures 

***Tim and Andrea 10 year trip (pretty confident this is happening...whoop whoop)

***Complete one race

***Will (this was one from last year!)

***Spend time with kids individually (need to work on this more)
UPDATE: (i wasn't going to post these..but oh well, here they are)
***Decorate First Floor!  see here, and here, and I need to post pics from my living room, half bath, and kitchen.
***Bite my tongue less (yes, there is a time and place to hold back words, but I also feel that sometimes saying something would be better for everyone)
***Use the phone less, workout more, eat healthier, etc....

And now for my 2014 Resolutions....

*attend (my first) theater production

*learn how to cook five new dinners that are family favorites and can be added to our rotation of yummy meals

*Be Mindful of "First World Problems" and yet also remember it's okay to feel!

*RUN at least 6 times a month (last year I did three) (continue boot camp 2x/week)

*Continue to READ -- got a kindle for Christmas :)

*travel (Veeeegas Baby!!!, all-inclusive trip with Murphy's, Columbus, OH for VT-OSU game, somewhere with snow with kiddos, and hopefully other fuuuuun places)

*Still would like to sort through my pictures (debating about creating "year books" that have one pic per day)

*Last year I wrote that I wanted to complete one race....technically the Tough Mudder is not a race...  This year I want to do ONE running race.

*Continue with decorating my house... (dining room, foyer, master bedroom, mason's room, kids bath, guest room)

*add labels to my blog posts