Happy Early Birthday Grant!

Grant had an early birthday party in San Antonio this weekend at Brad's parents. It was a Baylor Bears party...so of course the kids had to wear green and gold. Mary did a great job with the decorations. The kids all had a great time!

Sophia is quite the little mommy. She got Lucy to laugh and laugh!

Mary made this "celebration of life" poster. It's something they do at Grant's school for birthdays. Really cute and fun to look back at the pictures!

Football pinata...only minimal tears. And we were extra cautious with the bat!!

Getting directions for the treasure hunt. You can tell everyone was very serious about it!

"Hand off the football to Bruiser" game....

7 Years....

We made it 7 years....and then our "no stitches" run came to an abrupt end!!! I've been assured that one day we will want to look back at these pictures....otherwise I would not post them.

Jake learned a hard lesson....don't walk behind someone who is swinging a golf club. It's such a scary feeling when your child is walking towards you with lots of blood and you have no idea how bad the injury is or exactly what is wrong. Thank goodness for friends who can keep a level head.

Many stitches later, Jake is doing fine. I'm hoping it will not leave a scar. It's already looking SO much better. It's amazing how quickly kids can heal.

And in the meantime...I'm hoping it's another 7 years before we have to go through stitches again. Think we can make it????

Overheard at our house.....

Things you don't hear everyday:

1. Joshua at dinner "I too tired eat my bread." And then he puts it back on the plate and sits down...with a very sad look on his face.

2. I told the kids to "stick together like glue" as we were walking across the parking lot one day. Sophia answered "or we can stick together like penguins trying to keep warm." Yep...we could do that too!!

3. Sorting toys when it was clean up time....Joshua yelled "No you put that ball in that basket!!!! Too big.....cars go in there." Okay...maybe he's inherited my need for order!!!!

Laundry Room Re-Do

Our laundry room was a sad place. Never got fully painted, ugly dark cabinets and shutters. Weird outside door to the patio that never got used. It was just a place to do laundry and put stuff that you had no idea where else to put. So...Mike redid everything and turned it into a MUCH more use-able space. It's now 1/2 laundry room, 1/2 sewing area for me. Now...it is a very small space...but it's mine. Bright, cheery and functional!

He knocked out the broom closet and removed the outside door. Patched and finished everything up. He took down the ugly brown cabinets and repainted them. The whole room got a fresh yellow coat of paint. New built in desk area and shelves. New bi-fold door instead the old door. And, a little matching curtain to finish the room off!!!

There are still a few things to finish. The door and door trim needs to be painted. And the ceiling and floor boards needs to have caulk around the edges to finish them off. And...outside need some work. Still have to paint the outside of what used to be the door. And find a dumpster for all the old stuff that came out of the room. But...it's just about finished and I think it looks great!!!

Next house project will be MUCH bigger. We have plans to knock down the wall between the living room and family room!

Northwood Wranglers....

Jake is playing basketball right now on a team of 1st graders from his school. They're the Northwood Wranglers!!! It's a great group of boys...5 out of the 11 are in Cub Scouts together. At this age they really start to "get serious" about the rules. 2 boys on the other team got called for technical fouls yesterday!!It was fun to watch the game. I missed the first one last weekend. Jake doesn't get too involved, but he keeps up with the other boys, makes a few break away attempts at the basket and has a great time. So...that's all that matters!

Welcome to 2011...

We've started off 2011 with lots of cleaning out. Isn't that what you're supposed to do??? So far I've donated 12+ bags to GoodWill. And I'm sure there is more to come!

Jake's room was a disaster. He's the master at "cleaning up" by just throwing and shoving stuff to where it appears to be clean...but isn't. He pulled a game off the shelf last night and a ton of stuff came down with it. So, this morning I had enough and went to work.

3 bags for GoodWill...1 for the trash man!Looks much better!!! Wonder what he'll say when he gets home from school???

The other big transformation is still in progress. This is the laundry room "before". "After" pics will come in a couple weeks!!!! It's going to look WAY different all ready!!