wordless wednesday

cribless

Monday we set out our crib with the trash!  Drop side cribs are no longer considered safe, so there was no point in keeping it.  It served us well through all three of our babies.  It's so nice to have more space in Lauren's room.  Now I need to paint her dresser to match her bed and make her pillow shams.  Always something to do!

Instead of throwing her sliding storage drawer out too, we decided to repurpose it in the boys' room.  It is now a Lego drawer that slides under their beds. 




It's working great and the kids love it!  Installing the wood floors forced us to reorganize our stuff, and I'm loving the lack of clutter and everything having a place!

Roller skating!

Saturday the boys went roller skating for the first time at Charlize's 6th birthday party!  They had a blast!

Ellen and I got in on the fun too!

Happy Birthday Charlize! 

The boys had so much fun they both want their birthday parties at Austin Sports Arena next year! 

Lauren's big girl bed

Look who has been sleeping in her big girl bed for the past two days! Nanny and Papa gave us Lauren's beautiful bed and she feels so big sleeping in it.  We are about to be without a crib for the first time in 6 1/2 years.  Woo hoo! 

while we were working...

the kids were having a blast!

They had fun spending the night with Gege and Granddaddy, swimming with their cousins, playing on the slip and slide, bouncing on the trampoline, going to the park, watching movies and staying up late.  The boys had a sleepover with Jake at Jenn and Kai's house while the girls stayed at Gege and Grandaddy's house with Lauren.  Aunt Jenny sent me these awesome pictures of the kiddos. 

Look at our tough little rocker guys!

I'm so glad the kids had a great time and I'm very grateful to have such wonderful family that enjoys our kids as much as we do.  Thank you Jennifer, Kai, Gege, Granddaddy, Emily and Abby for taking such great care of our kiddos!  We love you!



It's done... almost!

108
hours worked installing flooring

11
take out meals

5
nights without our children

42
tiles Eric had to smash and scrape up

36
Boxes of laminate wood in dark oak




9
 door frames that had to be sawed and banged out

3
closets that had to be floored

120
linear feet of baseboards I painted

1,000,000
feet of carpet tack line that had to be pryed up
(ok, not really, but it really felt like it)

6
rolls of underlayment I laid while Eric installed the flooring

4
power tools

800
square feet of new floors!

We love how it turned out!  Our house feels so fresh now. 

I can't wait to see what the boys think of their room!

 

We rearranged some decorations to update the living room.

  

We had to completely drain and clean the aquarium in order to install the floors.  In the process, we lost Hoover, our giant sucker fish.  Hopefully the kids won't be too upset and will enjoy getting new fish for the tank.

Although it was a lot of hard work and a big undertaking for us, we are so glad we did it.  I think I gained a couple pounds during the installation since the only breaks we took were to eat, so I really enjoyed mealtimes!  We wore ourselves out.  Eric installed some of the baseboards, but we ran out of time so some of them will have to wait.  Any advice on how to clean the floors?  I'm on the look out for a great dust mop now that the construction work is done.  We miss our kids like crazy and can't wait to see them!

the installation 64 hours in

I'm not sure if our kids will ever be able to come home!  At the moment, we would not recommend installing your own floors!  I'm sure it will be worth it in the end, but DANG, it's a long and tedious process.

We love the part we finished!  The first couple days of  the installation were actually fun.  I got to use power tools and told Eric how awesome I was about 50 times.  Today my euphoria wore off and I'm ready to be done.



After the floors and baseboards are done, look what I get to put back.  Grr! 

while the kids are away...

Thursday we packed up the kids and sent them off with Gege and their cousins for a 4 night trip to Arlington!  They were all very excited!  It's Lauren's first time to be away from us so long, but so far so good! 

Instead of relaxing and enjoying our kid free time, we are installing new flooring.  It's hard work, but we can't wait to see it all done!

Lauren's new pillow

I finished Lauren's pillow!  It's made out of the same fabrics as her quilt, but I added some fun new ones. 

I think she likes it! 

Selvage Sister's getaway 2011

Last weekend was our second annual trip to Emilie's Quilt Haus in Stonewall.  We started off our trip by eating in Lakeway at the delicious Texas Star drive through.  Then we shopped for fabric at The Cotton Cupboard in Lakeway and Valli & Kim in Dripping Springs.  It was so fun!  I love shopping for fabric and the stores did not disappoint!

I love Emilie's Quilt House.  It's so nice to have your own design wall and giant work space!

We sewed up a storm, ate, drank and ate some more.



Erica and I had fun trying on some old fashion hats and gloves that were decoration in the house.  We may have been born in the wrong era.

Saturday afternoon we headed to Fredricksburg to hit up two fabric stores and grab some dinner.  Since we have such an old lady hobby, we gave ourselves some nicknames for the trip.  I'm LiLi, Carrey is Coco, Melissa is Mimi, Mindy is Minky and Erica is LaLa.  Not only are we quilters, but dorks too!  : )

We had dinner at Auslanders after our giddy excitement from visiting our favorite fabric store. 

Before we headed back to Stonewall to slave away at our sewing machines, we scouted out a fudge shop.  Chocolate dipped pickles, bacon and jalapenos?  No thanks!

The fudge on the other hand, was divine!  We almost polished off this whole box of fudge before we went home.

I finished Austin's quilt top!  I cut most of the fabrics last year and started sewing them in Wimberley back in March.  I'm so happy to have it finished and can't wait to get it all quilted up for him.  It's a very fun and colorful quilt, just like Austin.

The other ladies made fun of me because I didn't stop to take breaks and was determined to get a lot of work done.  I went with a mission, and it felt so good to accomplish it!  Since I rarely get time to work on my sewing projects, I really enjoyed crossing some projects off my list.  I ended up finishing Austin's quilt, most of the I Spy quilt, a sleeping bag for Spot and started a pillow for Lauren's bed. 



I love how the I Spy quilt turned out!  All I need to do now is add a border and make up the backing.  The kids love looking at it and playing the I Spy game.

It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so glad I have friends who love fabric and sewing as much as I do!  I'm very grateful to have such a sweet husband who encourages me to enjoy my time away while he has fun with the kids!

Thanks?

The boys are back!  After 4 days in Louisiana, we are so happy to have them back home. 



Along with their suitcases, the boys also brought home some "new" toys.  Lots and lots of new toys. 

The toys were Trent and Trevor's from years ago, but they are still in great shape.  We got a giant container full of Bionicles, bucket of Legos, dozens of Star Wars figurines, bag of army men, tons of books and 2 LeapPads.  Now I'm off to find a place for all our new toys and hopefully get rid of some old ones!

4th of July weekend

We spent this weekend celebrating the 4th of July with Felisha and Jared in their new pool.  It was so nice to relax and spend time with great friends.

Lauren took great naps while we played in the pool and then enjoyed lots of pool time herself.  It was so fun!

Happy 4th of July! 

our week

Last weekend my sister and Tatum came in town from Louisiana.  It was so nice to spend time together.  We played games, went shopping, played on the water slide and ate a lot.

Lauren loved the bedtime stories Tatum read her.

Trevor came over later during the weekend to spend some time with us while Sherry and Tatum headed back to Louisiana.  Thursday morning I loaded up my boys and my parents took them and Trevor to my sister's house for a visit.  It was an 8 hour drive for them with no TV. Gasp!  They did great and spent their time playing with Trevor and searching for things out the windows.  My mom gave them a penny for every 18 wheeler they saw.  They survived and are having a great time playing with their cousins.  Eric and I are missing them and can't wait to see them Monday.

This little girl was very sad when they left, so I just had to treat her to ice cream.  She still asks for the boys every day, but is enjoying her special time with her mommy and daddy.

 I've been trying to get some sewing done on my eye spy quilt.  I have so many other quilts and projects to make, but I want to get this easy one finished before the kids are too old to enjoy it!

Today Lauren and I went over to visit Sammy and her family.  It was so nice to hang out and talk while the kids played.  Lauren and Jacob are a year apart in age and are so cute together!