Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Redecorating

Well, we started the redecorating/painting process in May, and now nearly 5 months later I have finished the projects we started, and for the most part everything is like I want it. I know you have seen the bathroom, but we also painted each childs room, moved Baby J from our room to his own room, moved Princess to a different room, painted the living room, painted the entry, dining room and kitchen, and I made window dressings for our entry, dining room, living room and kitchen. So here are the finished results for those areas.


Before

After

And I breathe a sigh of relief...until next spring when I tackle the office.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Day in the Life of a Jedi


Warrior and Z-man play so well together, and this is the dialogue that we hear from the other side of the galaxy.


W: DarthMal

Z: Yeah.

W: You're the bad guy.

Z: Yeah, I know.

W: That means I have to kill you.

Z: Not right now. I'm busy.


W: DarthMal.

Z: Yeah.

W: Are you cleaning up?

Z: Yeah.


Very shortly thereafter both warriors enter the living room where the Imperial modes of transportation are a True Value metal pick-up truck and a farm tractor.


It's tough being a Jedi on a budget.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Look Who's One!

Here is my Big Boy...Baby J!!!
We all know it is coming. Every parent knows that their babies will grow up, and with both excitement and trepidation we look forward to that happening. Excitement, because God has given us such a wonderful gift, a huge responsibility, and a glorious opportunity. We get the privelage of training one of God's creations to love and serve Him. We also get the privelage of loving that little person and seeing how God uses them to grow us. Trepidation, because we know that our time with them is short, and they become so much a part of our lives that we almost hate to see them grow.
One year ago, the Lord blessed Rock and I with the birth of our fourth child, and oh how much we love him. We can't imagine what our lives would be like without him. Thank you Lord for the blessing of our Baby Boy.
We celebrated Baby J's birthday in Oklahoma with my parents. And what a Birthday celebration it was...my Brother, the Bohemian, who Baby J is named after, and my Sister-in-Law, Busy Bee, and their two boys, Mr. Golden Curls and Lil' Spitfire, were there as well. Baby J got a double whammy of grandparents when Rock's Mother, Nan, came down for the celebration.

Here is a picture of Baby J's Birthday cake. We had us a zoo theme.

He was excited about the cake and candle, until...
We took him out of his chair to remove his outfit in an attempt to save his clothes and then put him back into his chair. Then he wasn't so happy.
Daddy soothed the savage beast by giving him a tast of the icing
He gave it a try himself and then...
I think he liked it, don't you?
Presents? Well, he got lots of neat stuff, but wasn't really sure what to do about unwrapping them. I would show him how to unwrap by tearing a little here and there, but he was perfectly happy to play with the little piece of paper he tore off. He did, however, know how to unload the gift bags.
Here he is with his Grandma Bear. My Mom always takes the kids to Build a Bear for their first birthday. She lets them choose the one they want, and that is the one they get. Baby J really likes his Grandma Bear.

All in all, I'd say it was a really good day.
Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

ARG!!!

All right, all right...I am really in stop and go mode. I am going to have to actually open up my laptop in order to post pictures, but right now I am in the midst of trying to get my home back together, conduct school, and basically just survive. I'm off to a scrapbooking day all day on Saturday. From that I am hoping to gain some sanity, and hopefully post something on Sunday. Now, someone tell me...What day is today?

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Where to begin...

Okay, I have been completely repremanded by everyone I know in real life and on-line for not posting for the past month and a half. So much has happened, and I honestly haven't stopped to even think about a blog post. So...let's see where do I start catching everyone up...

We finished 95% of the painting that needed to be done indoors. That means that every room in the house has been repainted with the exception of the office and my bathroom. Both of those rooms will just have to wait until next spring. I finished making the window dressings for the main areas of the house this past weekend, and am now trying to decide what needs to be done to the big wall behind my kitchen table. We have bought a few decorating things and hung them up, and basically finally put our mark on the house we have now owned for nearly 2 years (September 8). I promise I'll post pictures later, but I'm riding in a car right now.

We have started school, and finished half of our 4th week this week, and will complete the rest of it next week when we get home.

Professor is in the 3rd grade, and that is completely blowing my mind. He is really into Legos and has also learned how to do stop action photography where he makes his own little movies using Lego's and Transformers. He has gotten so long and lanky. It makes me sad that he is growing up, but at the same time it is really exciting to see what the Lord is doing in his life.

Princess is in 1st grade, and is starting to become quite a reader. She hasn't realized that she can read yet, but it won't be long before I won't be able to stop her. She is becoming quite the little mother and a terrific helper to her mother. I have alot of help with folding laundry, cooking dinner (she made the spaghetti sauce one night), dusting the house, and even cleaning the bathrooms.

Warrior is really coming into his own. He plays with Z-man (the little boy we watch during the week) during the week, but loves to play with his big brother and sister. He has become my right hand man in the kitchen, wanting to see what is going on, and doing little odds and ends for me. He has even graduated to making breakfast for us (toast) on a few occasions. I'm thinking that any little boy who likes to watch the bread bake may have some culinary skills that just need to be unearthed.

Baby J is growing like a weed, and will be 1 year old tomorrow. I can't believe that one year has already passed. He is crawling everywhere, pulling up to everything, and beginning to eat us out of house and home. This kid likes his meat. Sure he only has six teeth, but that hasn't stopped him from yelling at his Daddy to put more meat on his tray. As far as he is concerned, baby food is kid stuff.

In August we helped my brother, Bohemian, and my sister-in-law, Busy Bee, move into their new home in Hot Springs. It was a long hot process, but something we were happy to do because they had lived apart for 6 months while both trying to find a house and trying to sell their old house. Well they are back together as a full family and, according the Busy Bee, things are much better now.

Right now Rock and I and our little brood are headed for Oklahoma again for two different celebrations. The first is for Baby J, who will turn 1 tomorrow. We are going to have a really fun family party where he will be ooed and aahed over, and will blow out a candle and have some more cake (come on people he's my 4th did you really expect me to wait to give the kid some cake?) and open some presents that people will promptly take away from him so that he can open another present that will be taken away, etc. Let's face it...this party is for us, but we are going to enjoy it none the less. The second celebration is for my Daddy's 25th Anniversary celebration at Bethel Baptist Church. It isn't often that a pastor sticks around for 25 years, and it is even more unusuall for an Associate Pastor to do so, but my Dad has been a stable source for Bethel through so many of the good and bad times. He's just that kind of man.

Yes, we are busy, but as Rock gears up for Tax Season and the kids and I get into the groove of school things may calm down enough for me to make more regular posts...but I make no promises.