FINALLY!

FINALLY Graham has given me the okay to paint our kitchen cabinets! And POSSIBLY go ahead and tear down half the wall between our kitchen and living room!
I wanted to do this when we bought the house but after painting every blame wall, ceiling and door (which we still have 3 doors not painted ;)) we were burnt out on painting. I also, at that time, thought I HAD to paint the inside too..........well I've seen some cabinets not painted inside and it looks fine!
We are on a tight budget, as everyone is. We both agree that we can go without all the extras so that I can stay at home with Addie. Not that we really go without alot, Graham does a GREAT job of giving me and Addie everything we need and most the stuff we want. When we do have extra money we would rather go on a cool trip than do things to our house..........we will probably always be that way. Have a nice house, but have some AWESOME memories from the cool trips we get to take. We have always prided ourselves in everything we do we do ourselves. We didn't have help from our parents when we bought our house, they didn't pay for paint, cabinets (bathroom) or any remodeling items (not that they didn't try, lol). We really like sitting in our home and knowing that it is all ours, we paid and did everything in it. I am very proud of us for this!
Anyways, this is all we want to do in the kitchen:
1. paint cabinets
2. replace all hardware
3. new counter tops
4. new sink
5. knock out half the wall between kitchen and living rooms and put in a bar (I.E. more counter tops)
6. new lighting in that space
7. new bar stools
8. decorative railing for the top of cabinets
9. range hood (it's the only thing that hasn't been replaced in our kitchen, appliance wise)
10. lighting for the top of cabinets.

It really wouldn't be all that expensive to just do it all at once but I'm NOT going into debt to redo a kitchen when we probably will move with-in the next 3-4 years. So I think we are going to start with painting the cabinets, changing the hardware, and taking the top of our cabinets off and making a shelf, which we will do lighting up there too! Then in a couple of months we will do the rest! I am so excited, this is the last thing INSIDE the house we need to do (it will help with resale value too!).
The outside will cost us like $10,000! So we really will have to wait on that, if we even decided to do it????? Here is that list:

1. Knock a door out of the laundry room (there is no exterior door to the back yard, weird huh??)
2. Buy a door for that
3. Poor concrete on the gravel part beside the side of the house (where our camper stays)
4. Carry that concrete around to make a patio OR
build a deck.
5. Put up a fence (Graham only wants to put up a privacy fence?????)
6. landscaping
7. Furniture
8. MOST IMPORTANTLY---get a HOT TUB!!! (Yeah this will NEVER happen, Graham will never go for that!)

Like I said, $10,000 atleast! Even with us doing most of the work! So that will have to wait, we don't normally keep that much money laying around,lol. Actually if we did, we would be taking a trip to Alaska, Italy or SOMEWHERE!
My plan is to let Addie spend the day and night with mom on a Friday night. Thursday I will take everything out of the cabinets, and sand. Then Friday, while Graham is gone, I will get most the painting done ( i could do it alot faster without him telling me how to do things). Then Saturday we will finish up! I'm hoping it goes that fast! Ellie will be gone on vacation the last week of June so I'm shooting for that weekend! I am so excited!! Pics soon!!

Summertime!

I LOVE SUMMER because:

I can take the girls OUTSIDE to play

I get to have a tan

The Beach

The pool

My mommy is off from work (she is a teacher) and I get to hang out with her alot!

I love the smell of fresh cut grass

I LOVE playing outside in the evenings and..

this year has been the first year Addie is actually fun to play with outside.

Last year we would go outside for alittle while here and there but she couldn't run and play. Now she is everywhere, doing everything (even stuff she isn't supposed to do) and basically into EVERYTHING! But I LOVE IT!

Today, I took the girls to my mom's at about 11 to go swimming. I take Ellie an mom takes Addie in their floats and we play play play! It is a blast. We swim for an hour or so and that's about all the girls can take. So they have lunch and lay down for a nap. This is my fav part..........me and mom just layout in the pool catching up, remembering the past and laughing ALOT! It's even more fun with Cale is there. I Really do have the BEST brother ever! I love these times and know I will cherish them forever!

When Graham got home and was almost finished with cutting the grass Addie and I came home and we all played in the yard the rest of the evening. I know I will remember nights like this for the rest of my life. Tonight was the best just watching Addie and Graham run around in the yard, I can't imagine life being any better than it is right now in this moment. Don't get me wrong, I hope we will have more children and I am sure I will think those are the best days but for now, these are the best days (haha)! Well I hope everyone is having a great start to the summer!!

Forgive me I don't have any pics from today/tonight but here are some I took at the park last Saturday:

My mommy's Blog!

I have to introduce my mom's new blog, angelwithaclippedwing.blogspot.com. Forever now, she has talked about writing a book about my brother. He has a very inspiring story that everyone should hear, so I after ALOT of encouragement she started a blog! I'm so excited to read it everyday, and I know all the stories! I'll give you a brief background on my sweet, wonderful and loving brother.
Cale had a stroke in my mother's belly (sorry I can't say womb it sounds really weird to me) and it caused the left side of his brain to 'die'. I say 'die' because I am not sure if it just stopped growing or it really did died??? ( I know I should know these things) Anyways, even though throughout the entire pregnancy she knew something wasn't right, we didn't know for sure until he was like 5 or 6 months old. After several tests the doctors diagnosed him with Cerebral Palsy (CP). That started a whole lot of tears, fears, thankfulness, and mostly motivation on my parents and Cale's part. Read my mom's blog she will take you through the amazing story of Cale's life, all the heartache, the joys, and how Cale, The Angel with the clipped wing has inspired everyone he meets!

House Plans

Can you believe I have posted so much this week?? I'm so proud of myself!

I came across this picture and I am in LOVE! I have been thinking about and looking at designs for a new house lately and I totally have narrowed it down to two type; Victorian or Colonial.

When I was in high school I went on 2 mission trips to Cape May, NJ, it is on my top 5 places to live list. It is beautiful! Imagine hundreds of Victorian Mansions...........right on the beach! Ahhhh.........perfect! There is also alot of history in this small town. There is one house that was actually cut down the middle, moved down the street and put back together, twice! The first time took place in the winter of 1881, and farmers were hired for the job. They moved the house on giant tree logs pulled by mules and horses! http://angelofthesea.com/ here is the website to read all about it. I went with the adults one day to tour this mansion and other things in Cape May (while all the teenagers went to the beach), I know I'm an old soul! Anyways, it is BEAUTIFUL there. I beg Graham every year to take me there. One day I'll just make him!

Here is the picture that has inspired my rambling:

Isn't it just perfect? I love all the different shapes and details! It's just my dream home! I can imagine sitting on the front porch with my sweetie and a glass of sweet tea watching our kidos playing in the yard. I WANT, no scratch that, I NEED that life! You can not appreciate the beauty of a Victorian mansion unless you see one in person. There are so many details, so much time put in, its just amazing. Can you tell I'm in love? I can imagine the inside, dark hardwood panels from the floor more than half way up the wall, where the top makes a shelf to hold pictures. The real hardwood floors that are scratched and dented (love marks are what I call them), I think they are beautiful and add character. I can see a small closet under the stairs that Addie can play hide and seek in. I see a grand dinning room, a formal living room, and a big den/kitchen combo. I would want everything to be in original condition except the kitchen. I would have a magnificent kitchen. I would do it though in a way that it fit. I could go on and on and on about my plans. Poor Graham is going to have to figure out how to pay for it all :)

The other type of home I Love is what I call Colonial, but after looking around it really is more of a Southern style, Plantation even home. Here is a pic of what I like

Yes, this is Noah's house in the movie "The Notebook" , but I have loved this style since I was a small child. There is actually a house like this just over the GA line from St. Elmo. It can only be seen in the winter when the trees are bare but I have dreamed of living in this house since I was little. It's HUGE and has SEVERAL fireplaces, lots of land and is beautiful!

So...................which house do you like better?? (there is a poll to the side)

Addie's 2nd birthday plans!

I know there is 8 months until Addie's second birthday, BUT I have already been planning her party alittle. Addie's birthday falls in a bad time of year. First of all, it's right after Christmas. She more than likely (with all these grandparents around) will have gotten anything and everything she could think of for Christmas. Second, it's in a cold time of the year! No pool parties, camping out parties, not even a party at a cool playground! I know how this was, my birthday is in March and I remember wanting a pool party SO BAD! Luckily my mom was the BEST at making my parties awesome and I want to be the same way. So Addie will have ALOT of slumber parties, maybe even in a hotel every now and then, maybe (if we can afford it) she can have small trip birthdays, but nonetheless it will always be so cool! lol I hope.

Anyways, since her second birthday party will probably be the last one I get to decide what we are doing, I am thinking a.........

TEA PARTY!

Not really the Disney Princess(unless she is obsessed with them), I'm thinking more old timey. I want to get hates, scarves, dress up clothes, and jewelry for all the girls (and boys) to wear. My mom has a HUGE teapot collection that I hope she will let me borrow and I am going to do the whole menu myself. The tables will be lined with lace and pretty fabrics, very fancy. Addie plays tea party now and thinks it is the coolest thing ever, so I think she will really like it!

Why do we have kids??

Oh yeah.............That's why! We can Teach them to help out with chores! And they really do LOVE helping! LOL

My car looked great......................until it started raining this afternoon!

Have a great Wednesday!

Beach, Camping, Flower, Slide Oh MY!!! (Part 2)

Addie's first time Relaxing by the Fire, while camping................she was VERY SLEEPY!So we got back from the beach late Sunday evening, had a regular week and went camping Saturday! We have had our camper since late February and haven't had a free weekend to go, until now. And this wasn't the most wonderful weekend to go either. We did have fun though. With it being a holiday weekend it would have been hard for us to find a site at the campgrounds around here so we decided to go to Graham's parent's property close to Crossville. Dottie and Bobby have camped all their lives, the gradually upgraded from a tent to a pop-up (when Graham and Sam were little) to a BIG camper, which they still own. They found this campground that you actually buy the lots and you can leave your camper there. It's very nice, they have I think 5 lots so there isn't anyone very close to them. They have build a huge roof and porch over their camper, nice stone pathways to and around the firepit and they have a boat that stays there. It really is a campers dream. It's very quiet and peaceful there, I love it! We sat up our pop-up on one of their sites and Addie was in heaven. She walked around the property, picked up sticks and played all afternoon. Since she missed her nap on the way up she was pretty whinny after dinner and we put her to bed. Shortly after that, while we were all relaxing by the fire it decided to rain. We went into Dottie and Bobby's camper and played cards until bed. It was so much fun!

Here is our First offical Pic of Camping in our camper for the FIRST time. (it's really not as small as it looks in this pic!)

Mee-Mee playing with Addie while mommie and daddy got the camper all set

The next morning we got up, had breakfast and took Addie to the little playground. She is so fearless, we put her on the top of the slide and before I could get to the bottom to catch her she slid down all by herself. When she rolled onto the ground at the bottom she started laughing and saying, "gin, gin". What a cutie! We had to leave by lunch-time Sunday because Graham needed to finish school, and I had big plans for planting flowers on Monday!

Here is FEARLESS Addie going down a big girl slide!

Monday was a good day, I planted flowers (with Addie's help) in all our flower beds. Now we have to go get some bushes, which we say we are going to do every year and haven't, for our big flower bed. I LOVE sitting on my front porch and looking at the flowers, maybe this year I will keep them alive!

Tuesday Graham had a minor surgery and had a cyst removed from his neck. It took all of an hour and was pretty neat to watch. I took my sweet but big baby of a husband home and we watched movies and napped all afternoon. It was wonderful, we haven't had a day like that since before Addie was born! That evening, before getting Addie from Dottie's, we headed out to Red Bank to pick up a little tikes slide. I have been looking for outside toys forever and finally found this slide really cheap on craigslist. I didn't want to pay full price, of around $65, for a toy that she probably could only use this summer. So when I found this for $25 in great condition, I had to get it! Addie Loves it! She climbs up and slides down over and over and over and over and over!

Thursday, my mom got Addie a castle playhouse. Addie has really racked up this week! The castle is really neat though, it has a slide and a tower that you can poke your head out of! Addie only got to play with it for few minutes last night but she loved it also!

(I don't have any pics of it right now, I will get some soon!)

Beach, Camping, Flower, Slide Oh MY!!! (Part 1)

May has been a VERY busy month for us! We started out by going to the beach for a few days with my family. This was Addie's first beach trip and she LOVED it to say the least. After a LONG car ride we arrived in Gulf Shores at about 7 on tuesday evening. After checking in, unloading all our Crap ( I pack entirely too much!), and letting Addie run off some energy in the condo we headed down to the beach to show Addie the ocean for the first time. By the time we got down there it was dark and Addie was very very tired so when Graham tried to put her down in the sand she screamed bloody murder. After a few seconds of that we took her back to the condo, I didn't want to tramatize her just yet :) That night, after a quick trip to walmart on my part and alittle school on Graham's part (did I mention he is working on his MBA online??) we sat on the balcony, had a glass of wine and relaxed! It was perfect! This is my FAV thing to do at the beach :)

The next day went alot better, after breakfast, alot of suntan lotion, and alot of packing we headed to the beach for a second time. She LOVED it! She screamed really loud when we put her down in the sand, she was very excited. She ran straight for the ocean! That was it, my baby girl was HOOKED on the beach! She played in the sand, sat at the ocean and let it splash on her (even her face!) and just hung out. She was a perfect angel.

We got there on Tuesday evening then Thursday around lunch Miranda, Ali, My mom and dad, and Cale came down. Then Friday Manny( Miranda's husband) was able to come down. It was very nice to have a few days just me, Graham and Addie. We (Graham and I) have always cherished our vacations alone, don't get me wrong we Love our families, but we like making our own memories that don't include everyone. Anyways, our days were filled with eating (on Addie and Ali's part), building sand castles, playing in the ocean (only Addie, Ali was alitte scared), swimming, and napping ofcourse! We had a blast, we haven't all been on vacation together in a long time and let me tell you it sure was alot easier having my mom and dad there to help with Addie. Kids on vacation is HARD, fun but hard.

Here are a few pics from the beach:

Preview of Addie's First Beach VACATION!

Two LONG road trips, alot of sun, some swimming, some sandcastle building (and destroying on Addie's part), the ocean on our toes, alittle biting, some WONDERFUL memory making and LOTS AND LOTS of pictures (courtesy of my WONDERFUL digital SLR camera)!

Here are a few pics until I can post tonight about our wonderful trip!

April Catch-up!

Here are some pics from Easter and our church egg hunt the day before................. Addie's Easter Dress

I haven't posted the whole month of April, wow! We have been very busy. It seems like we have had something to do EVERy weekend!

Addie had a BLAST this Easter she LOVED hunting eggs, and getting all the Easter baskets (seriously, the child got like 4!) Here is a picture of all her stuff.............................

DOn't tell me she isn't spoiled! She got a basket from Gingy, Mee-Mee, Uncle Sam and Aunt Nikki And ofcourse the Easter Bunny! Something she is NOT going to get used to!

The week after Easter I got my birthday and Mother's day present from Graham...................................

A Cannon Digital SLR camera! I am SO excited! I have been taking pictures like crazy of Addie, afterall she is such a perfect subject! I have begged Graham for one since we got married so he FINALLY gave in. And since it was a pretty expensive gift he decided to lump a few holidays together! lol. Anyways, it was the perfect gift and I LOVE it so much.

Let's see, what else has happen these past couple of weeks................Addie has gotten ALOT of time out sessions, and spankings. All the sudden she has a problem with not getting her way. She will PITCH A FIT if you take something away from her, and to tell you the truth after about the 20th fit of the day I give in because I can't take her screaming anymore..........I Know Bad MOMMIE :( I am trying to do better though! We took her to Toys-R-Us the other day to look at playground stuff and she picked up a ball and carried it around. Graham took it away from her to pay for it and she screamed bloody murder, threw herself to the ground and laid her head on the (NASTY) floor! Graham put the ball up and we left. He's so strong, if it had just been me and her I would have given it right back to her to keep her from screaming, she embarrasses so bad! I guess it is just something I have to get over :) Other than her Temper-Tantrums she is the best little girl. We are having so much fun with her these days, she is talking more, running and actually plays with you. It's a blast!

We are leaving for the beach in a week and I think she is going to LOVE it! I can't wait. My parents, Brother and Sister and her family are all going! Graham and I have always liked to vacation alone. We have gone with my family and his but we ALWAYS make time to go just us. So we are leaving a week from Tuesday at noon and we will have until Thursday afternoon just us and Addie. Please don't get me wrong, I love my families but I also like just being with Graham (and Addie). I don't want all of our vacation memories to be with everyone, I want some of my own. Anyways, here are a few pics of Addie taken by my new camera..............stay tuned for SEVERAL beach pictures of Addie and Ali (My neice)!