Entryway project

As soon as you walk through our front door this is the wall you see. It is huge, and boring. Until recently we weren't sure what to do with it. I wanted to somehow add some paint to bring down the height of the wall. 2 years ago when we moved in I hung the pictures. Since then we haven't touched it. Until this week!

Travis added a chair rail, and I added some green paint. Although we loved the look of the chair rail, neither of us were to happy with the look of the paint. So off to Home Depot we went.

From Behr color "Boston Fern"

to Behr color "Toffee Crunch"

From plain and boring... (ignore the plants, they are in need of a trim!)
to fabulous!! All for under $30!

We LOVE it and the look of the entire house is transformed! We continued the chair rail around the corner and throughout the dining room. I will post pictures of the dining room makeover later in the week!

What projects have you been working on?

Wordless Wednesday!

My baby nephew is here!!!

Ok, ok, so if there was an award for blog slacker of the month I would most definitely win! My blogging absense could easily be blamed on any one of ten things that have kept me away from the computer for more than 5 minutes at a time! The most likely of choices being the constant fighting that my kids have decided to make part of our morning routine. Geesh, they are 3 and 2...I can't imagine what the fighting will be like in years to come!

Onto some more IMPORTANT news!!!
My beautiful sister labored hard for hours on February 15th and at 9:21p delivered this sweet, perfect baby boy!

Ryder James

7lb 7oz 20" long

He is so sweet, snuggly, and makes the most wonderful newborn grunts and groans. We are so in love with him and feel so lucky to have a baby in the family again.

Both Amy and Nathan are doing great, and have adjusted so easily to being home and having a new life to care for!
Baby Ryder is happy and healthy and is proving to be a good baby, who rarely cries, and who is content throughout the day.

I'm so happy for my sister to be able to experience motherhood. No matter how much you think you know about it, it just is one of those things that you really don't "get" until you live it.
I am SO lucky to be called Auntie by this little boy. I know the relationship that Amy has with my kids; they think everything of Auntie Amy. I hope that Ryder and I will have a similar relationship, and I can do all the fun things that make being an Auntie amazing!

Congrats Nathan and Amy, and welcome baby Ryder!

We love you all SO much!

Monday Musings

I've never been so happy to see Monday roll around. Here's hoping that this week isn't as shitty as the last 3 have been! The weather is deceiving today. It is clear, and beautiful outside. As I am writing this the birds out back are chirping. If I didn't know better Id think Spring was in the air. But it's not...just open my front door and all hopes of warmer weather quickly disappear. It's a chilly 42* outside.

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I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and although of us are still on antibiotics, I'm thinking that we have got to be done with all of the sickness. Right? We can't possibly catch anything else. Landon has a lingering cough, which sounds worse than it is. My throat hasn't rid itself fully of the strep virus, but I am feeling a lot better. Brynne is doing better, with the exception of her runny nose. And Daddy, well daddy continues to live his life germ free. How he does it I just don't know. If I could bottle up his immune system and sell it, we'd be a rich family!

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On a lighter note, my sister's due date is exactly one week away! Baby Ryder should be making his debut anytime. Although family history will tell you that she'll carry my little nephew until she hits 41 weeks and then have to be induced. Either way we are just praying for a happy, healthy baby boy.

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I'm going back to work tonight after almost 3 weeks of not working. Between the kids being sick, and passing everything back and forth, to my strep throat I have not been able to work. I'm glad to be going back, and can't wait to get the heck out of this house! Valentines Day is next Sunday, and that Holiday marks the busiest day of the year for those who work in the food/restaurant industry. So I feel like I am going back right in time to make some good money. Men always tip well on Valentines Day...Ummm, well most men. Certain men don't tip well regardless of the circumstance! For those that do tip well, I figure it has something to do with the fact that they have a lady to impress! Or a man for that matter. Hey, I don't judge.

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I realize it has been 2 weeks since Brynne's well visit and I have yet to post her 2 year stats. I love to compare her stats to where Landon was, 18 months ago, when he was her age. Fun times.

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Happy Monday everyone!

Ch Ch Ch Change

It's hard to believe that in the span of one year we've gone from this:

to this:

These are the first smiles we've seen in a long time around here.

Thought I'd better document them!

FML

I haven't posted this week because every time I sit down to write it comes out reading like a long list of things I am bitching about. I'm not normally a negative person, and tend to prefer gossiping over bitching. This has been another hard week. Saturday I woke up with a slightly sore throat. By Monday it was full blown strep. Smack dab in the middle of my strep throat Landon decides to make matters worse by having a BAD ear infection, which was only discovered after a 3 hour screaming/crying session when he didn't want to take a nap. I had a crying session of my own on the way to the pediatricians office. He's taking amoxicilin now and seems to be feeling better today. I however feel worse, if that is even possible. It hurts SO bad to talk. I am a stay at home mom with two toddlers. My days are filled with lessons, lectures, talks, reasoning, and even yelling. The past few days have been the worst as a mom. I am left wondering why only a month ago my husband got to spend 3 days in bed uninterrupted, for a cold, while I am dealing with strep throat and he refuses to stay home with the kids so I can have one damn day of rest. I know that it has been said that moms never get a break. Never has that been more true for me. Here's hoping I can make it through today, because tomorrow will always be better right? Oh, and to make matters worse, tomorrow is my birthday. I can't even swallow jello without crying. There will be no birthday cake for this Mama. First Brynne spent her birthday sick and miserable and now I will do the same.

I promise the next time I blog it will have nothing to do with being sick. But this week people, that's all I've got.