Home Improvement

Over the past 2 months, we have done some major painting at our house. John's uncle is a great painter (and gives a great family discount) and super fast. He painted our living room, the hallways, the master bedroom and bath. I don't really have pictures of these rooms, but they have a fresh coat of paint on them and we love it.
Since we moved into our house 4 years ago, I have wanted to have our cabinets painted. I decided to do the girls bathroom around Christmas time and loved the result. It was hard work and very hard to do with 2 little ones running around. We decided to see how much it would cost to have someone else paint the kitchen cabinets and I would finish the other rooms. When the painter came back with our quote, he gave us the numbers for how much it would be to just go ahead and do everything. It was practically nothing for the other rooms. The kitchen was the bulk of the price, so we decided to let him do it all! I am so glad we did!! I love the result and love how much lighter the rooms are because of the white paint. Hooray!

The Laundry Room

Before and After











The Master Bath

Before and After










The Kitchen (my favorite change of all!)

Before and After

Good, Cheap Fun

John and I bought some patio furniture about 9 years ago that we loved. It was wood and it was inexpensive, but looked nice. It has been very weathered and splintery for a few years now and it made it hard to eat outside. We finally decided to buy some new furniture with some of our tax refund. The chairs that we bought came in a HUGE box. As soon as we unloaded the chairs and put the girls to bed last night, John made the box into a fort with a door and windows. I am not exaggerating the fact that Em and B have played in it for at least 3 hours today. They love it. I checked on Em after I put B down for her nap and found her in there with a few animals having tea.

Our other cheap and fun idea that the girls did this week was paint outside with water. I had seen it on a friend's blog and decided to give it a try. I figured it would be something different that would entertain them for 10-15 minutes. Again, NOT exaggerating. Emma painted with water outside for an hour straight. B was entertained for about 15 minutes (a long time for a 2 1/2 year old), then played around and came back to it for another 10 minutes. Emma could not get over the fact that I was letting her use a paintbrush on our house, the fence, Belle's dog house, the Cozy Coupe, etc......So fill up some cups of water and grab some brushes for your kids! Big fun was had by all.

Easter

Celebration #1

Emma and Brooklyn go to school at a local church and every year they put on a Community wide Easter Egg Hunt on the Saturday before Easter. It is always a ton of fun. It was beautiful on Saturday and the perfect day for an egg hunt and picnic.
They divided the kids in age groups for the hunt and B was one of the older ones in her division. She was getting all the eggs and I ended up removing her from the competition so that the other small children could get a few eggs themselves. We went and joined John and Emma for the rest of the time.








Celebration #2

We knew the weather was going to be yucky on Easter and that we would be rushed to do a big family lunch before naps, so we celebrated with the Hannon's on Saturday night. Sam's brothers family also came over and we had a great time. We ate a YUMMY dinner and then the older Hannon kids hid eggs for the younger ones in their front yard. We spent a lot of time outside hunting eggs and taking pictures. It was a fun night.
















Celebration #3

We woke up Easter morning to a monsoon. Not my favorite weather for Easter, but Jesus was alive and we celebrated despite the weather. I woke up early to make Monkey Bread for breakfast. Unfortunately, my efforts got a little to crisp in the oven and it was not as yummy as usual. We woke the girls up and let them see their Easter baskets. Candy, sunglasses and nightgowns were in both of their baskets. Emma also got a little clock for beside her bed. We don't do the Easter bunny around here. Just have never wanted to bring a bunny into the day. We ventured to church in the monsoon weather and made it in somewhat dry. We put Brooklyn in her class, but took Emma with us to the Family Worship Service. It was fun having Em in there with us although she was not as excited. She didn't know the songs like she does in her class, so it was not as fun for her.
We went to eat a Mexican lunch as a family and then went home to nap and watch golf. A good way to spend a rainy Easter Sunday. B woke up with a fever, so we laid low the rest of the day.

Fun City

Brooklyn has been doing really well going potty. She has had very few accidents going #1, but is still struggling with why she would need to go #2 on the potty. Emma did the same thing, so I know it will come.

Brooklyn finished her potty chart a few weeks ago and her end prize was a trip to Fun City. We had not found a good time to go, but with John having off today and the weather outside being crummy, we decided to go today. For those of you who don't live here, it is much like Chuck E Cheese, but with more physical activity. They have a huge maze with tunnels and slides, plus a ball pit.

The girls had a great time. Brooklyn loved everything and smiled the entire time. The video of her laughing is priceless. I love that laugh!

They did win some tickets and one of the prizes they chose was a "Best Friends" necklace. It was a hard concept for Emma to grasp on why she only got half the heart. She finally figured it out and kept telling B how they were best friends. This all goes right in plan with my brain washing. A more mature Mom told me a while back that the more you tell your kids that they will be best friends, the more they will believe it and live it out. I think it is working. Plus, I really do think that E and B love each other and would rather play together than with anyone else. I have seen their love for one another more in the past month than ever before and it makes my heart very, very glad. It is also an answer to a prayer that I have prayed since Brooklyn was born. I will pray it always forthem.

Brooklyn- 2 1/2 Years Old

Brooklyn turns 2 1/2 today. I did a blog at 29 months that really summed up who she is at this age, so I will keep this short.
I think these 2 pictures describe the personality of most 2 year olds to a tee. I know it describes B. These pictures were taken within minutes of each other and you can see how her demeanor goes from crazy, wild child to angel face in a short amount of time.

Jesus Loves Me

I shot this video last Tuesday when Molly was over at our house playing.

How cute are they? And don't you love the outfits they put on themselves!

Sleeping Beauties

We went to Little Rock last weekend while we had some work done on our house. (before and after pictures coming soon)

Brooklyn has always slept in the pack n' play next to the bed that Emma sleeps in. I knew this would come to an end soon and on the last night we were there she begged to sleep in the big bed with Emma. My main concern was:
1. Them even going to sleep on the account of having to much fun in the bed together
2. Brooklyn falling out of the bed. She sleeps in a twin here, but has a body pillow at the edge keeping her in. At my parents house, the bed is pretty high. We ended up scooting the pack n' play over + a blanket rolled up at the edge. That way, if she fell, she would go into the pack n' play.

Once they finally went to sleep, they did great. I snuck a picture before I went to bed. How sweet is this!!!

Is it really time?

Today is a big day in our house. I am taking Emma to register for kindergarten! Seriously? Can she really be old enough for this? I get knots in my stomach every time I think about her being at school 5 days a week, 7 hours a day with a bunch of people I don't know. The real world.

There will be many blogs to come over the next 5 months about all of this. For now, I'm trying my hardest to not be anxious and trust that God will take care of her and protect her. I am also diligently praying for the teacher that God has for her next year and that they will be perfectly matched. I'm holding on to the word from God that we have received in that this is the school she should go to for now. It does not mean it has to be forever.