Suprising Elliott!

My nephew, Elliott has been a thumb sucker since he was conceived. He sucked his thumb in the womb, while he was in the carseat, and when he slept. To say he loved his thumb is an understatement. The past four years my sis & BIL have asked us several times how to get him to stop. Kevin said that thumb habits are hard to break. Well, Elliott went to our pediatric dentist and she recommended a "THUMB GUARD". Rachel looked it up online. I showed it to Kevin and he said it would never work. Well, we are all proud to say that it worked. 22 days of Elliott wearing the thumbguard he no longer even craves his thumb. It was a miracle! Before E started the "thumb guard" I told him to pick some place he wanted to go when he no longer sucked his thumb. Immediately he said "Incredible.Pizza". As soon as the thumbguard was off Elliott was begging Aunt Howie to take him to I.P. Well, it was about a week before schedules would permit but this past week we surprised Elliott with a balloon and toy and "kidnapped" him to take him to I.P. HE WAS EXCITED! We are so proud that Elliott no longer sucks his thumb. He is all grown up now!

*Zoom in on the first pic to see Elliott answer the door. He was so excited. You would have thought that we were with Ed McMahon with a $1,000,000 check.























Zachary praying for dinner. I could not help myself. He had the longest prayer. I had to snap a pic.




The game of the night was the "cannon' game that shot cannons at clown faces. I am not sure who loved it more...Kevin or the boys?



















These green glasses were the hit of the prizes. Each of them earned 272 tickets so they got these glasses, green squishy things, and a sticky arm. When we dropped E off at his house, Rachel and Matt were in their pjs ready for bed. They had to try on the glasses too.

Fun in the tub!

Zachary has turned into quite the shower guy. However once and a while he wants to play in the tub. On the nights that I am exhausted from the daily events we pop Z into the tub and let him play forever. Seriously he's in there so long he is a raisin. I saw have seen several blogging friends use these and I thought Z would love them. I was right. Z loves them. Kevin and I have decided to use them as a reward for being a good listener, good kid at preschool, etc. If he has not been good then he does not get them. Boy, does it make an impact. He is devastated if he does not "earn" the color drops. It bothers him so much that when he prays before bed he says, "God please help me be good tomorrow so that I can get a green bath." HA! To be honest, since we got these his daily listening skills and behavior has improved. He will be really good for 3-4 days and then forget. He will go a night without them and next day he is good. It works for us. Plus, it is fun to see what color combo he will select. You can find them at Wal....Mart or Tar...get.
All you do is drop a tablet or two (if you want orange, green or purple). It does not stain your tub, towels, or the kiddos skin. Of course Z's favorite color to choose is John Deere Green.

Bedroom Renovations Part II

Welcome Back! So yesterday I shared our before photos of our bedroom renovations. Here are the after photos....I am so glad we did a touch of color on the walls. My sister teases me because it is still neutral. But this was really a step out of the box for Kevin & I. We are BORING!

I also wish I took before photos of our bathroom because I changed it up a little bit in there too.

We found this bedding set at Dillards back in December but I refused to pay what they were asking for it. After finding it I was on a mission. I wanted that set! I searched for it online and found it on several sites. I basically stalked the online stores for free shipping and coupons. Then low & behold I found it at at local bed/kitchen store. I got on e.bay and purchased a coupon for 20% off my ENTIRE purchase for only $1.47. Kevin thought it was silly that I was paying someone for a coupon they received free and he insisted that it was a scam. But it worked. I got 20% off my entire purchase which saved me tons! Another ways I reduced costs on my renovation was I made my own valances. I used the bedskirt for my curtains. You can't use a bedskirt on my bed so I cut it up and made my own. I am not a professional seamstress by anymeans but this was EASY! I need to go back and steam the curtains but I was eager to get them up.

It took Kevin and I over 2 hours to place these two wall vinyls on our wall. I love these things. I found each of these vinyls on Esty. I selected the style, color, and the verse I wanted.

Monogram vinyl

Here's the master bath. It's hard to compare because I don't have before photos. I switched out the curtains. Added the wall clock. Moved the wall hanging that used to be on that wall to another wall.


We got these candle thingys for our wedding. I used to have cream candles in it but switched them out for some brown ones. Then I added a ribbon and rhinestone.

So that is it. Its funny how much it has changed our bedroom. I am so happy we went with the color. I highly recommend switching things up a bit. I am a creature of habit. I never think to move furniture or move around the wall hangings but this renovation has inspired me to do so. It totally changed my mood...maybe it was the Buff Gold paint. I don't want to move for years!

Bedroom Renovations Part I

Another reason that I have been offline lately is that I have been working on a project. Kevin and I have had the same bedding for 5 years. We loved it but it was starting to get worn out and old. In December, Kevin suggested that we change our bedroom a little. Little did I know that suggestion would cause a lot of home improvements.


Before I purchased a newbedroom set, Kevin also suggested that we have our room re-painted and the kitchen repainted. You see our little boy is super sweet but he is a mess. I blame a lot of it on us because he would touch our walls and drag his hands along the walls every time he walked. I'll show you the pics. Please do not judge. The walls were disgusting. Not sure if they will show up but we had handprints, chapstick, and other items smeared on our walls.

Heres a bedroom wall with chapstick...again please do not judge :)


So I found a WONDERFUL, and affordable painter. He was so reasonable that I had two more rooms and two hallways done. This painter also convinced me to change the bedroom wall color. Kevin and I are very neutral. We like khaki. However the painter was really insistant that I step out of the box and try another color in the bedroom.

Here are the before photos of our bedroom. I'll show you the after photos tomorrow.

Family Love

For Valentine's day Kevin and I celebrated on Saturday night at home. We always cook together. We enjoy this time together so much. Zachary enjoyed it too. He loves being in the kitchen. Unfortunately, we did not get any pics from our dinner but it was yummy.

On Valentine's night (Sunday) we had our families over for Heart-Shaped Pizza. Zachary was so excited all day he couldn't wait. Along with the pizza, we had salad and then Grams brought homemade iced sugar cookies that she made with her womens group at church.

Here's the heart pizza. Zachary was hugely disappointed that his piece was square when it was on his plate. He thought they were going to be heart shaped pieces. Grams spoiled both boys by using a heart cookie cutter to give them their wish of a heart pizza.



Mom's cookies
The group minus my MIL...she was not feeling well. We missed her.

The boys. Poor E fell asleep on the way to our house. He just woke up when I took this. He walked out of Zacharys room and went straight to Zachary to give him a hug.


See the tired eyes?

Playing with a G-Force Hamster

It was a great excuse to get everyone together to celebrate the day of love. Kevin and I feel so blessed to have our family so close. We love that Zachary has both sets of grandparents near by.

Go USA! Olympics 2010

****I lost my image card reader so I have been out of commission on my blogging. Fortunately, today I found it...under our chair. Good thing I vaccumed right?

Last week, our friends Andy & Betsy invited us over to celebrate the opening of the Olympics. Besty was so creative. She asked everyone to bring a dish representing a different country. Leaving the guest to chose what you wanted to bring and what country you wanted represent. After a lot of thought I decided to bring all GREEK dishes. One of my uncles was adopted from Greece so I was representing him. I made a hummus dip appetizer, Greek Salad, and homemade Baklava. I actually put a poll on Facebook on what to prepare and a long time friend, Julie suggested Baklava. She shared her daughter-in-laws YUMMY recipe. Boy, was it delicious and very authentic. At first I was nervous because the recipe seemed so over my head. One reason I was overwhelmed was because I have never used fillo dough. I am glad I made it because it was wonderful! Thank you JULIE!

The other food dishes that were represented was homemade pizza (Italy), egg rolls (China), Quesadillas (Mexico), German Chocolate Cake (Germany), mini quiches (USA), and birthday cake (USA).

When we arrived Betsy & Andy gave each of the kids a gold medal. Which Zachary LOVED! We ate, played and visited unti USA arrived at the ceremony. Then Andy passed out mini American Flags for us to wave. It was so much fun and the kids LOVED it!


Thanks Andy & Betsy for inviting us. It was a fun night!


Chrissy, Caleb, & Kaylee came in true Olympic fashion...all decked out in there USA & Red, White, & Blue.


Here's a pic of the Baklava I made. Thanks to Julie it was great!
The egg rolls & Quesadillas

Betsy's homemade pizzas

The Hummus dip, a cheese dip, greek salad, and mini quiches

The girls eating and of course talking (Susan, Besty, Chrissy, Kaylee, Me, and Jill)

Miss A, Zachary, and Lilly playing

This was hilarious! All of the kids were upstairs in the bonus room. We heard it get really quiet up there so I went up there and found Benjamin reading to all the kids. No wonder they were quiet. They had the worlds best entertainment. Benjamin is so wonderful with kids.

Here's an arial view of the guys watching the Opening Ceremony. All the ladies were upstairs with the kids watching it on another tv.

Happy Valentines 2010!

Happy Valentine's Day from my little Valentine. I love this little guy SO much! He makes me smile every hour of my day (even if he's doing something he should not be doing). On the back of this shirt is a Number #1. He asked me if it said, #1 Kid. I said YES! Kevin quickly reminded me that I won't be able to dress Zachary in I Heart MOM shirts much longer. I am enjoying every second of it. Happy Love Day!

Heart Party

So the preschool party was a lot of fun. Z has 10 classmates so it was the perfect size party. All the kids had their Valentine box & Valentines. Thank goodness a lot of the parents were there to help the kids pass out their Valentines and help with everything else. We had a cookie cake, read 3 Valentine books, made bookmarks, & played a Valentine version of musical chairs. By the time the party was over I was tired, Z was on a sugar high, and I was ready to come home. Here are the pics from the party.



Zachary with his "girlfriends" Brinley & Kamryn

Cookie time
Musical Chairs

This is one of my girlfriends from church. Her daughter is Kamryn. The little guy in the sling is Carter. Zachary loves him.

Alissa, Kamryn, & Carter

Getting ready for V-day

Yestersday, Zachary and I spent a majority of the afternoon getting ready for his Valentine's Day party at school. It was a wonderful way to spend time together and work on our "projects". First we made Zachary's Valentine Box. He was very adament about having a Toy Story box. Fortunately, I had some leftover stickers from my nephews Buzz Lightyear party. I was in luck. Basically I wrapped an old shoe box and Zachary placed the Toy Story stickers where he wished.



After our box was complete we started putting together Zachary's Valentines for his friends. I thought about making our own Valentines and then I came to my senses. We purchased the Toy Story Valentines that came with a lollipop instead. It was super easy, saved a lot of my time, and Z loved them. We put each design into a pile then he chose which one was perfect for each of his friends. Funny thing is Z did not want anyone to have the one that he liked. He was saving the "Best Friends" Valentine with Buzz & Woody on it for Elliott and himself. Needless to say we had a teaching moment to discuss giving to others, sharing the things that we like, and how we can't be selfish. We're all ready for the party at school. Get ready for those pics tomorrow. It should be fun!