Wordless Wednesday

Menu Plan

SNOW DAY!!

Or at least a few hours!

We had snow about 2 weeks ago here and it was fabulous! We weren't too sure it was coming until just before lunchtime. I had already taken Andy to school and was running some errands before getting that possible call to pick him up early. But, all was fine and school went on. So, Alex and I met up with Jason for lunch. That is when it started coming down! It was crazy. HUGE flakes! So much fun! Alex thought it was the coolest thing ever. And, we couldn't wait to get Andy from school so we could go play in it. When I went to go get him at pick-up time, the kids in his class saw my jacket and their sweet little faces lit up!! "Andrew's mommy has snow on her jacket!!"Of course, on my way home, I had to get a pic of church in the snow! It was just too pretty!!

 Gotta love your home away from home : )

And speaking of home...the snow was starting to stick the further north we drove! I actually stopped on the road to take a pic of the woods. It was beautiful! How could I not?

 After being home for about 45 minutes my tire tracks were already gone! So pretty!! 

 

 Even the bushes (which I need to trim up when I'm not freezing to death...) looked pretty!

The boys were yelling from the kitchen to stop taking pictures and get our snow stuff on. LOL They were SO excited!

 Hill behind our house :) See, even the busted up tree is pretty...ok, not so much.

 Alex (left) wasn't too sure what to do with this stuff. This was his first time in the snow (2nd, if you count him being in my tummy LOL). Andrew, on the other hand, ran out in a split second and was giggling the whole time. Too funny! (Here are pics from 2011s snow fun - day 1, day 2 and another time - I thought we had snow last year, but I guess not!)

I showed Andy how to make a snow man and he took care of the rest of it. He loved making his own snowman. 

 

 He did a pretty good job, too!

 

 Alex quickly got used to the snow...and started a snowball fight! Can you believe it?! He is NOT helping Andy put snow in the truck. He just threw a chunk at him LOL!!!

 Watch out, Alex! Looks like you are gonna get it!

 Here they are cracking up at each other. Alex got one in the face and Andy told him, "Alex, it is snow! It doesn't hurt!" Then, he threw snow at himself - which made Alex laugh. Gotta love brothers! 

 Here they go again. After this one, they decided to get me...eek!

We had a pretty fabulous afternoon in the snow. But, now, it is time to say, "Goodbye!" 

Alex waves to the snowman before the melting begins...

 

 And, here comes the sun!!

The snow may have melted quite a bit, but this was the late afternoon. The temp dropped again making the roads very unsafe. Jason went in later the next morning. And, which by the looks of the pic below...others should have taken notes in science class... What does melted snow (ahem..water) turn into when it freezes???? Ice. Not fun. Very dangerous. 

Really, guys? Really? 

Yes, those are all the accidents...and that was just in the morning. 

Apparently, overnight, some truck jack-knifed causing one of the interstates to shut down for an insane amount of time...like 10 hours. Seriously. I swear that is what they said. I could be wrong. But, wow! If I were still working, you better believe I would be going in when the roads are safer. My family is much more important than that. Just sayin' 

So, anyone here get snow? And, yankees....I can hear you laughing... Three inches isn't a lot, but it was more than enough for me! 

 

Andy's New Room

I posted about our home goals a few weeks back, and it's time for an update! This month we have been working on Andy's room. Remember, they are separated now. That chaos had to end. Haha! It has been great. People are actually sleeping in the morning! It is so nice!! And, now that they each have their own room, we have been working on Andy's train themed room. So far, the painting is the only thing that is done. But, wow! What a difference that made!

 We used "Poolside" by Sherwin-William Duration in a semi-gloss. The yellow one is the accent color I plan on using on the frames and some other items in the room.

 

 Getting the color up. I love it!! Andrew was so happy!

 Looking in from the hall. I love this room...

So here is the section of goals for Andy's room:

Andrew's Room (hello WHITE SALE! it makes the most sense to start here):
1.   Patch holes in walls and sand
2.   Paint (picked out - just gotta pick up)
3.   Get bed frame and full mattress set to change toddler bed to - gasp! the final stage
4.   Dry clean down comforter and get the rest of the bedding (it's picked out - just have to order)
5.   Dressers- they aren't working out so they are trading with each other...silly boys
6.   Switch out knobs on dresser for these (found them at Hobby Lobby)
7.   Spray paint frames
8.   Put up pictures and other train trinkets
9.   Get printouts of those awesome train pics I took a few month ago
10. Make these super cute toy storage bags (looks like mail bags on a train, I think)
11. Get fan installed (another one that we have picked out but need to be purchased)
12. Celebrate with a train ride! Seriously :)


Not a big difference on the list. The items in bold red are things that we are going to wait on for a bit. I wanted to go ahead and do it. Jason says no. He doesn't want his little guy growing up too quickly. It's cute. But, I'm not sure how much longer Andy is going to be able to sleep in the toddler bed... 

 

 The new wall against his current bedding - perfect!

I am having issues printing out the train pictures. Instagram makes it kind of difficult to print things out bigger than a 5x5 (I want 12x12s). Not cool. But, I have the originals so I will just use those and re-crop/edit to the resolution I want. So, that is a work in progress right now. I did pick up a few things at the antique store, though.

 

 How fun! I love that the old license plates

 

Both boys love Andy's new blue room :)

Andy's 1st Day of School {New Preschool!}

Did that throw you off a bit? It's January, you don't usually see first day of school pictures this time of year, but since we had a school change, here we go.

Andy LOVES it!! He is so excited about going to school and seeing his friends and his teacher. He brings home a cute project every day. I go in to drop him off and pick him up (the last school it wasn't allowed) so I get to talk with his teacher and see how things are going. This is the best decision ever! AND!!! It's a Catholic school, so he knows almost all of the prayer before our meals. We have been working on it at home too, but the extra help (and seeing kids his age learning it, too) has been great. He also knows some of a song we sing at Mass, too!! LOVE IT!! Such a great place. We are so happy to be here!! Now, on to the pictures!

 My little guy is super excited!! We met his teacher a few days before and he just LOVES her!!

This is Andy's first project he brought home. He stuck the tissue paper pieces where the glue dots were placed. He said he made the "3" have some blue because he is 3 and that's his color. Cutie pants!

I have been taking pictures of every project he had brought home and plan on making him a little photo book of all his stuff. I know the grandparents want to see these pictures, so having a little project book with us when we visit might be fun. :) 

I want to keep all of his things, but not have it take over the fridge. Any ideas? What do you do with your kid's school stuff?

Menu Plan

Ringing in the New Year

 

 Check it out! Jason and I celebrated the beginning of 2013 with the our Champagne Flutes from our Wedding Day! I cleaned up the kitchen a while back and had brought these out for something. Ha! I guess it was for this! They are just so pretty!

 Our favorite!!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful January and sticking to their resolution of procrastination. LOL We apparently are! ;)

Happy 2013!

Over the River and Through the Woods

...to Grandma's house we go!

 Morning stretch before getting in the car 

     

 Gotta wear shades ;)

 My brother, James, got the boys a Space Shuttle! They went on a great adventure across many galaxies and landed on a few different planets that they found themselves. 

 Grandma and Granddaddy got them a super cool farm set. This is now a part of the "train town" that they build everyday on the Island of Mommy's Living Room. We'll come up with a better name someday... Good times! They love it! Thanks, Grandma and Granddaddy (and those "cool big kids" aka the other 4 brothers that Andy and Alex played with a lot). 

Weird story. The power went out on just my parents street that night. Craaazzy. Luckily, we had the chiminea from our time in New Mexico, so we camped out in the backyard (until we were frozen lol) after the little ones went to bed. 

But we did snap a pic of all of us before that happened! 

Left to right:

James, Vicki (James' girlfriend), Sean, Brendan, Alex, me, Jason with Andy, William, my mom, Christopher, and my Dad. 

Yes, this is ALWAYS a full house!! 

(ps - thanks mom for letting me take this picture from your facebook...and a few others!)

 The boys LOVED my mom's Nativity scene! It was my grandmothers :)

 Playing with some cows while chatting with mom - where's Andy?

Oh, that's right... Off being a big boy with BIG BOY LEGOS! What?! William, my youngest brother, builds all sorts of scenes and make stop-motion movies with all of it. They are pretty good, too! I'll have to share one one of these days. Anyway, he and Sean let Andy come up and play Legos and he LOVED IT!

Gotta share a pic of the littlest one in the house! This is Bijoux :)

Alex watching The Polar Express with Grandma - so cute! 

 And, yes! GAMES. GAMES. GAMES! We played Settlers of Catan about 3 times, maybe 4... 

And we played Risk. Only, We all teamed up again Jason...and STILL lost! Ok, actually, we didn't finish the game. I went to bed around 1am-ish. And then I heard the next morning that Dad came in and kicked everyone out (we were really loud LOL) around 2am-ish. HA! Good times! Anyway, we were going to finish the next day, but the board looked pointless since Jason was dominating everyone. Man, he's good. Or we just don't know how to play. Maybe it's like the time I attempted to play Halo with Christopher, James, and Brendan. Um, they just handed me the controller then murdered my guy. A few pointers would have been nice LOL

Andy AKA Pumpkin Pie King.

 Mom got this picture of all of us playing. I think this was her fav picture. All of her kids playing a game again. :)

 Andy playing the piano with Grandma - and Alex giving it a try, too. 

 Mom and I went to the antique shop on Saturday. William went with us! We had lunch at a super cute coffee shop and I got to finally get a picture with Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory!!!! 

Just a cardboard cutout. BAZINGA! Best. Show. Ever.

 Watching The Polar Express...again. 500 times in one season in enough, isn't it? It is a great little movie, though.

 Brendan came down to watch it with the little guy while we got some things in the car...and wait a second!

Alex fell ASLEEP! Brendan is a pretty cool guy. He doesn't do that anymore...or, so we thought.

 Time to head home from a fabulous trip in sunny Florida 

 Back in Alabama in less than an hour. Now, only 3.5 more to go...yawn...

 Back home and ready for dinner at one of favorite places! Alex loves the peanuts. He thinks cracking them open is the funniest thing in the world.

 It was a great trip and a super fun way to end the year. 

One more left of 2012 :)