LOVE

It has been years since Matt and I have been home for Valentine's Day. That's not a sad thing, we've spent them all in Aspen while someone else watched our kids. But this year we didn't go to Aspen (soooo sad), so I decided to make the best of it and have a LOVE dinner with the kids. I set the table and cooked while Kate and Parker were still at school and Maggie and Will had naps. Parker rolled his eyes at me about all the heart shaped food, placemats etc. He told me I was a little extreme. The girls loved it and I think Parker secretly did too. Will was just glad that there was chocolate on the table. We had Lasagna, Death Bread, Red Grapes and Salad. And heart shaped brownies for dessert.

As we sat and ate we each took a turn saying something that we love about each person at the table. A few things that were mentioned...Mom is loved because she takes care of everyone and cooks. Dad is loved because he plays business (wrestling with the kids). Kate is loved because she is so nice. Parker is loved because he is always teaching us things we didn't know. Maggie is loved because she draws us all such great pictures. Will is loved because he makes us laugh. It was interesting to hear what each child had to say about each other. Kate and Parker were very thoughtful about what they said. It was really great to remind each other that there are specific things we like about one another. As a parent I rarely, if ever hear my kids tell one another something nice about the other, so this was a good change. I felt really grateful to spend the night with them.

If the Aspen trip is forever over, this will be a new family tradition.

Christmas Outfits

I really like it when Christmas falls on a Sunday.

Who Was I Kidding...Oh Myself

Yes, I was kidding myself. You see I look at lots and lots of home decor blogs, pinterest, before and afters, DIY craft blogs, etc. and I theoretically think it would be fun to do that, but really I don't have time. So I'm scratching the "house made pretty" blog idea from my to do list, so I can actually accomplish some of my more pressing to do items. I guess that's one way to accomplish something, right?

In the last four weeks we have been SUPER busy. We were very busy before that too (well at least Matt was). Obviously we celebrated Christmas. It was great. The kids loved it. We stayed in Vegas and celebrated with Matt's family. I have a picture or a hundred somewhere that I will hopefully post a little bit later.

The day after Christmas we started the big move...oh my was that an undertaking. With Christmas shopping, the kids being out of school and having a really helpful two year old I wasn't as packed or prepared as I should have been. Plus I think I might be a somewhat organized hoarder. We started the move on Monday and we got the last things out of our house on Wednesday. Matt did lots of little fix up projects on the old house on Thursday and it was painted on Friday. The really great people who are renting from us moved in on Saturday. It was a whirlwind to say the least.

The new house is great. There were still quite a few things to finish up in it in the first few weeks that we lived here (the first week we had one working sink in the whole house and it was in the master bathroom). As of today all of the sinks in the house are now working. We have blinds up, (almost everywhere). The house functions. Not everything is unpacked (1/2 of the three car garage is still in boxes) and we need to purchase quite a bit of new furniture. But we are getting comfortable here.

My favorite part is the kitchen. Everything has a place, it's so great and I am so happy with how it is turning out. There are some paint touch ups that need to happen and new barstools to be bought, I haven't decided on the backsplash, but overall it is more than I hoped it would be. Here are a few before and afters....

So Excited

We are getting a new house!

It will be big enough to not feel cramped, but not too big. The backyard is large (and full of dirt and weeds right now).

It's going to be awesome...it's not so awesome right now. But it is getting better every day.

Matt is working his tail off making it everything I want it to be.

I've been picking paint colors (10 sampled so far, haven't decided yet), kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, floors, doors, trims etc. It's been really fun. Well, not the paint, that has been annoying. I can't seem to get it right. I want a bluish grey greenish color for the entire house. I have picked the trim color...it matches our cabinets, that was easy.

I'm planning on starting a separate blog about it (housemadepretty.blogspot.com)...but haven't done that yet because....

I am addicted to Pinterest....LOVE it. I've gotten tons of ideas on things to do to our house (which means more projects for Matt :0) I love having an incredible carpenter husband.

This month is going to be BUSY!

True Love

she is positive she is his favorite

Halloween Parade

Batterman had their annual Halloween parade again this year. Parker's costume was a hit with parents, teachers and kids. Papa came and walked the parade with the kids and then helped in Parker's class at his party.

Going to the parade at the elementary school every year reminds me of the parades we had at Howard Wood. I remember how great I thought they were, marching around to the Monster Mash. The principal yelling over the microphone, the disorganized rambunctious kids, the parents taking pictures, the crackly music playing, it's still the same. I think the costumes were better when I was a kid, there weren't a lot of duplicates. There was one class yesterday that had at least 5 Grim Reapers. And there were some moms who were dressed as slutty bees, nurses, witches, etc. And walked around in the parade...what? Although that does add to the entertainment level. ;)

Halloween 2011

Every year I try to come up with something for the kids to be that kind of coordinates, and every year they shoot me down. It happened again this year. Will was a dinosaur, Maggie was an angel, Parker was a LEGO man, and Kate was a bee. The one good thing about this....EVERYONE was pleased with their own costume. So losing the coordination battle was worth it. Matt and Parker worked on making his costume for weeks. And I made Maggie and Kate's costumes. Will was the only child we bought a pre-made costume for. I just couldn't get enough creative juices flowing for one more.

We had friends and family over for dinner and went trick-or-treating as a big clan. It was lots of fun.