When daddy's away..

..we have to find ways to entertain ourselves!

Me and the kiddos broke out the camera and started goofing off. Hope you enjoy our pictures!

Silly Sammie

I love this girl! He was telling her all about his truck

Kisses!! *Look at Mahlon's face*

So precious!

And of course, the camera couldn't come out without a concert from Sammie Alabama!

Grabbing the fans hands! =)

Isn't she beautiful!?

We had a blast, but we did miss Daddy!

Anheiser

Welp, folks, I did it...I completely caved!

I told Matt that he couldn't have another animal until Mahlon was at least 3 years old. Everytime we get a dog, we have it for a couple of months and then he decides to get rid of it. Or in Coot and Snickers case, they figure out how to jump the fence and never come back. (If we could have Snickers back, we would never have another dog!)

So, for the past 3 or 4 weeks he's been pestering the crap out of me. I was able to put my foot down to him, but the man played my kids on me. He had Sammie asking for a puppy and even taught Mahlon to say "puppy dog". So, I caved. ugh! I hate when I do that!!! I told him that he could have his choice of puppy, but I got to choose the color.

We ended up with a brindle Pitbull. He's 6 weeks old and a chunk! The whole drive home, I kept thinking, "my goodness, this dog has GOT to be older than 6 weeks!" Once we got home and I put him on the ground, you could clearly tell he wasn't any older. He's a little chunk. And I guess I have to admit...he's precious.

I think he's still unsure of where he is and is a little traumatized, but hopefully he'll come around!

Needless to say, my husband and my kids are overly excited with our new and FINAL family member.

Meet Anheiser....

Boys..

"Boys will be boys"

"He's all boy"

"He's a boy, he needs to be dirty"

Those are just a few of the things I know that Matt and I say to each other very often when referring to Mahlon. Why? Well, because he IS all boy!

Last night, we let the kids enjoy some popsicles on the back porch.

Mahlon has finally figured out how to hold it by the stick, but he hasn't figured out how to eat it all before it starts melting and running down his arms. As I was sitting on the swing with him, I noticed his foot...

By the way, I have NEVER had to cut this boys toenails...

and then I noticed his hand...

it's a little blurry, but look in the crease around his wrist.. yuck!

but, "he's all boy" and "he needs to be dirty"!

Say Cheese...

This is what happens EVERY time Mahlon sees a camera..or anything that resembles a camera for that matter..

Cheese!

Free Concert

Sunday afternoon, we were all entertained with a free concert. By whom, you ask? None other than Sammie and Mahlon!

They love to do this very often. Sammie just loves the attention and Mahlon's a goofball.

I'm not sure where Sammie learned the words to this song, or if in fact, it's a real song...but she kept saying "I'm like a gypsy". I know, I know, not something that she should really be singing, but hey, she's 4 and she doesn't know what she's singing about, she just knows she's singing!

Enjoy!

Here's where she started singing into the fan...ha

Operation Home Improvement Sneak Peak

I thought that instead of keeping all of you in suspense that I would give you a little sneak peak at what's happening and what's going to happen!!

First, here's our master bathroom..the one that I can almost mark off our list!! I realized when I went in there to take these pictures that there are a few other small things that need to be done. As in repairing the holes in the wall where my husband yanked a towel rod off, new cabinet pulls, and of course, dusting. I'm also thinking of adding a curtain on the window and possibly one of those fabric ones on the shower, but I'm still undecided on both of those. I found my mirror today!! We're hopefully going to get it tonight and it should be installed and the paint touched up by this weekend! So, here's a sneak at our ALMOST finished master bathroom...

Didn't those guys do a fabulous job on my floor!?!

Lighting installed by my wonderful husband!

Second up is the next closest room to being done. The boys room!! Soon to be known as Mahlon's room (more on that later). I ordered a bunk bed so there would be enough sleeping room, but still enough playing room. I think it all goes together fairly well. I've still got a few minor things to adjust and re-do. And of course, clean up the wood shavings and cracker crumbs so graciously put there by my husband and my monkey of a son!

The crib will be removed once Mahlon grasps the concept of staying in his bed and not roaming in the middle of the night. We'll try to tackle that this weekend.

Those comforters are reversible (brown on the other side), but I thought I'd do a little contrast for now. I also didn't realize how much fun bunk beds were to make! NOT!

Next is what I plan to do with Sammie's room. I've got big plans for her room! Right now, she has hot pink walls (which we are going to make work!) with white writing on them. We're going to touch that up and just have plain walls...with the exception of one...

This is the wallpaper I'm applying to one wall. You know, the accent wall. =)

Told you they were hot pink!

Yes, we left her bed unmade and left her ice water cup in the window seal this morning..oh well, she's 4!

She's getting all new sheets (lime green)! I got them in the mail today, but didn't have enough time to get them on her bed. She's keeping her pink comforter from Aunt Haley and the colorful pillows that Mrs Kimmie gave her. The wall to the right in this picture is the wall that I'm applying the wallpaper to!

Here's to having fun with prepasted wallpaper! =)

Here's the preview of Mason's new room (remember as of right now the boys share a room). That's right! We're turning this 3 bedroom home into a 4 bedroom!

I think this is going to be a weekend long project with help from a few friends I hope!

I can't believe that I'm actually going to post these pictures of my poor, pitiful den, but you wouldn't have the full effect of the "after" if you didn't get to see the true "before". Don't judge me people! I have 3 kids and a husband to keep up with!

The bed is not going to stay in the middle of the room, we are going to place it against that brick wall you see to the right with the couch on it. That's the backside of the fire place and it's the perfect length for the headboard.

The couch and the loveseat are going to the side of the road, so if you know anyone wanting just some old rinky dink (that's right I said rinky dink) couches, send them by the house!

The shelf that you see all that CRAP piled up on will be cleaned off and all of the crap will be replaced with brown fabric baskets for clothing instead of a clunky dresser. The cooler and toys will be removed and the curtains replaced. I'm excited for the plans for this room!

Since it is a boy moving in to this room, we're going to leave all of the dead animals..sorry, Steph! (my sister-in-law calls it the sanctuary of the dead...yes, a little sick I know, but my husbands a proud hunter and fisherman..better that they're out here than in my kitchen..the living room is already full!)

This room reminds me of one of those "can you find it?" games from when I was in school.

And finally, the one thing that I am the most excited about!!! My new siding and roof. They haven't started yet, but we signed the papers and wrote the first check last night! Shane is hoping to get started Monday!! Here are a couple of "before" pictures...these are after Matt cut all of our remaining bushes down. We decided on a burnished slate color for the roof and a mocha color for the siding..I'm so excited to see the outcome!

Stay tuned for the final reveal!! Coming up soon!!

Good Dentist Trip...finally!

Sammie had a dentist appointment yesterday and we were both very anxious about it as we haven't had very good experiences in the past. With our last couple of visits (between 2 dentists), she would barely let them count her teeth, much less clean them. And you know how they show you what the tools feel like on your finger...yeah, you could forget that!!

The Lord answered my prayers yesterday! We went to see Dr. Salmon (he replaced Dr. Mims) and Sammie was very quiet and scared in the waiting room, but as soon as the door opened and they called her name, her whole attitude changed!! There at the door was one of her favorite people from Children's church!!! AMEN!!!! Mrs. Jennifer helps out with Children's church and Sammie just absolutely loves her.

At first, Sammie wanted to lay in my lap, which was very difficult for both Jennifer and I, but we made it work. She was afraid of the sharp tool that scrapes the plaque off of your teeth, but Mrs. Jennifer showed mommy and Sammie how it felt and she was ok with it. About half way through, Sammie sits up, looks at me and says, "Mommy, I need for you to get up, I can handle this"...so, I did...and she did.

Next it was time for Mrs. Jennifer to brush and shine those puppies! It all started out ok and Sammie was excited that it smelled like bubble gum, but she quickly found out that it didn't taste as good nor did it have the same texture and that was it. She was done! We got plaque off of all the teeth, but only got 3 or 4 brushed and shined. Oh well, that's the farthest we've gotten so far!

You can't really tell here, but she IS smiling!

Dr. Salmon came in to visit once Mrs. Jennifer was done and he counted Sammie's teeth and checked them all. Annnd, confirmed that she does in fact need surgery. He told me that if I wanted him to, he would be willing to attempt everything in office with a 5mg Valium, but that she may have an opposite reaction to it and he doesn't want to ruin the good relationship that they had kickstarted. And it was a good one, Sammie loved him!

Instead of giving me a list of doctors to visit and pick from, he gave me a specific dentist that he uses regularly for these types of situations and said that he had just sent someone her age with the same problems to him last month and he did a spectacular job.

He said that she has so many problems going on that it would be safer, cheaper, and the best route just to put her under and get it all done at once. Matt and I talked it over last night and I'm going to try to find out how much this would cost FIRST and then go visit with the doctor and go from there. I would hate to not go ahead and get it fixed and have to deal with something worse down the road, but I also would hate to put my 4 year old child through something like this. Prayers please!!

OH! and she has a loose tooth!! Her right front tooth is a little wiggly!!

This one is just for fun...

Operation Home Improvement

We are finally under way! We have so many projects on our "to-do" and "to re-do" lists, but we are slowly but surely marking them off!!

I started really crossing things off a couple of months ago when I re-painted and put up a new light fixture in the hall bath, but over the weekend I got even more done! I took on our bedroom bath! As you may remember, my husband, my neighbor, and a friend of ours put in a new floor and I'm in love! In order for the floor to lay just right, we had to take the door off and we decided that we like it much better without the door. Upon painting, I knew that I wanted it to match the bedroom, so it would "enlarge the room" so to say. Half of the wall is tile and I painted that part brown (to match the rustic wood paneling in the bedroom) and the other half of the wall is a moss green...this with our light wood floor looks amazing! Sammie and I made a trip to Wal-Mart last night in search of a new mirror..no luck there..but we did come across this beautiful light fixture. It's a tuscan bronze wall mount...one of those with the three hanging lights.. oh, how I love it! Once I find my mirror, I can cross that ROOM off my list completely!!!

In our bedroom, I've been wanting to decorate. Right now, there's really no "style" in there, just things put places. Yesterday on my lunch break, I took a trip to Burke's (in search of a mirror for the bathroom..ha) and found two green candles and two brown funky tea light holders. I got all four of them for $10! I alternated them on the shelves of our dresser and talked Matt into throwing everything away that he didn't need or use everyday. It already looks so much better!! Only a few more things to do in there and I'll be happy.

I'm trying to get my energy up to paint the laundry room. I don't want to do anything drastic because it IS the laundry room, but I'm tired of looking at white walls and place where my husband "yanked" a cabinet off of one wall just to place it on the other side of the room...so that he could fit a freezer in there.. men! I'm planning on painting it a khaki color with a little bit of brown, red, and light blue accent...hopefully it'll be as pretty as I'm imagining!

Annnnnd...drum roll please...we got our quote on the roofing and siding last night!!! We are very pleased with the price and the amount of time he is expecting to take!! Wooooohoooo!! I know that it's kind of ridiculous how excited I am, but hey..it's going to look like a whole new house! I promise to post before, in the process, and after pictures!!!

So, in preparation for them to begin work, Matt decided to cut down ALL of the trees, bushes, shrubs, etc. that were left around the house. He did this while Sammie and I were gone to Wal-Mart and I fully expected him to still be working on the same side of the house when I got back 45 minutes later, but noooo..he was done!! My kids are strange in the way that they love to help take the twigs to the road....here's proof....

This isn't illegal, is it?

Sorry they're blurry..I took them with my phone!

Here's to finishing most (if not all) of our projects THIS year!!