Happy Birthday Sharmyn!

Today is my fabulous sister Sharmyns' birthday. Sharmyn is the best person that you will ever meet and she is my sister! She is humble, sweet, loving, beautiful, kind, generous, smart, funny, great sense of style, clever, an amazing cook, an great hostess, and loyal just to name a few. Every good personality trait that you could ever want is found in Sharmyn. It's hard to live so far away from her. If I could, I would be her neighbor. Preferably, in her really cool guest room.

I have always wanted to be like Sharmyn. She has done so many neat things in her life.

She is well traveled. The picture above is when she and her husband Jon, came back to visit while they had been living in India. See the pretty clothing she has on. INDIA! She lived in India for over a year!

She is outgoing and friendly. Sharmyn and her husband have people over for dinner several times a week!

She has her college degree English Lit, something that she loves. She is so smart!

She is fluent in Japanese. Hello! Hardest language out there! I am sure she still knows some French and then there is Sharmynisms. She is very fluent in Sharmynisms.

She has a unique name and 'y' in her name. (All my sisters beautifully unique names and all got 'y's' in the spelling of their names. I got the common name. I am slightly jealous.)

She makes homemade cards for everyone's birthdays. Beautiful, unique cards that mean more than anything that you could buy.

She has the most beautiful sense of style. Her home, all though I have yet to visit her there, is warm and inviting and looks like it stepped right off the pages of a magazine. This is her home where she hosted Thanksgiving this year.

She is an amazing chef. I always wished that I had half the talent she does. This is something that she serves often. Beautiful and delicious! Check out the other yummy pictures that she has posted on her friends food blog.

Sharmyn is also extremely entertaining! She has the best sense of humor. She can make you up a song over anything. Right on the spot. She has the most beautiful singing voice! This morning, she called me on the way to visit her husband and sang herself a birthday song. She is too funny!

Sharmyn has taken care of me, been there when I have been sad and lonely, and happy for me when I am blessed. She has entertained me, fed me delicious food, talks to me about my hair. She lovesme and my little family. She gives her all to everyone. We all love her and I am so happy that she is my sister! Happy Birthday Sharmyn!

Love, Meg

Renovating. Stay tuned......

I thought that I would be so done with the home fixin' up after spending so much time painting the basement, but I find myself thinking about the next project often. Which room am I going to tackle next?? What colors shall I paint? How long will it take to pull off all that plaid wall paper in the kitchen? As Mia says it: "I will think about it!".
Meanwhile, I doing a little personal renovation of myself. I bought a home hair coloring kit. I haven't done this myself for years. The last time I did it in the salon was over a year ago. Or more. My hair looks drab to me and there are really too many gray hairs popping out. Mia is fasinated with the mess of color in my hair right now. She keeps staring at it, asking about it and smelling it. She is a funny little one.

Since I still have another 10 mins before I can wash this goo out of my hair, how about a few pictures.


Awww...baby, baby. This little ducky outfit was Jake's. I remember how much I didn't like it when it was given to me. How come I like it so much now? It's just so sweet and baby-ish. And Sam looks okay in yellow. Jake and Mia never looked good in yellow.

Look at this handsome dude! He's getting way to big for my liking. He lost another tooth yesterday. Did I mention that he is going to turn 8 and be baptised in 9 months! Too old!

Look at that little girl! She looks grown up in it. She always has a dandelion bouqet. And one more sporting her new trick. I am taking credit for this one, but, I can't take credit for the "yo." she added to it.

Okay, gotta get this junk out. Yikes! Stay tuned......if it turns out I will post pictures.

Been sellin' in my yard

Since we have moved in, there are an obnoxious amount of boxes and items that have been stored. Some items have been stored for almost 3 years! I have been happy to see some, but mostly, overwhelmed. In a feeble attempt to clear out some of the clutter, I quickly threw together a yard sale this morning. I didn't have much and I was the house that was driven past. A. lot. Jake sold lemonade and made over $8 last I saw! Pretty good if you ask me!

It was funny to see the difference in the kids personalities when it came to selling. Jake was excited to sell and looked and looked for things to sell. Mia horded everything she could find. She was upset that people were looking at her things. She is sassy that little one. I gave her $1 for the one little thing that she would let be sold and now she is holding on that too. I wonder what she will be like when she is older?

I was thankful that my darling niece Chelsea came to help me with the kids for about 2 hours. It was good company. Thanks Chelsea-bird! All and all, it was a decent day although I completely plan on not having another yard sale for a very long time.

I got one!!

I finally caught a smile on camera! My camera is so incredibly sllloooowww that I usually miss all the good stuff.

Bopadabah!

Before:

After! Bopadabah!

After countless hours of painting the basement, Ryan said we needed to have a Home Depot moment. Ya know, the commercial: " 'You can do it. We can help.' commentary while the couple stands proudly looking at their handy work" kindof a moment. It was more like "Let's never paint paneling again!" kindof a moment. It still needs picky things like door knobs, outlet covers and pictures actually on the wall. Pah! I say let's live on the wild side!

I did the basement first because I bought this fabulous armoire and I couldn't tell if the color would work in the house. I don't think it is working. At all. It would have been better with a nice gray to make the blond wood stand out but we ended up with this tan (due to my super stellar paint picking skills) that makes the armoire clash. Such a bummer because it really is a nice armoire. After much debating and me not being willing to paint it nor paint the basement again, we have decided that we will most likely sell it.

So there you go. It's still not finished. It's not a fabulous room. It still needs a lot of work and a designer but at least it's not dark anymore. It was so satisfying to paint over that nasty pink color.

Now, which room is next?

It's finally (80%) done!!!

The family room is finally done! Well, to the point where it can be usable again. That project was way tooooooooo long!!! It has me thinking that I am not very willing to jump into the front room/kitchen project. At least the upstairs doesn't have paneling to paint. I have pictures to upload. I will share soon. In the meantime, look at our before picture and then add 1 1/2 gallons of primer, 1 1/2 gallons of Edgecomb Gray paint, 1/2 gallon of Ultra White paint and 6 big tubes of caulk! It's gotta be better. It just has to be better!

5 months

Samalicious is 5 months old today!! How the time is flying by. It's just not fair. You are growing up so fast. You are still such a content little guy.

You still smile at us every time we smile at you. But getting your smile on camera is proving to be a difficult task. We especially love your wrinkled nose smile. You are generous with your smiles, but stingy with your giggles. We torture you with tickles and we barely get a little chuckle.

We love the sweet little cooing "mmmm" sound that you make. I say that you are practicing to say "mama". This week, you have discovered your tongue. It's a cute little tongue sticking out at us. Mia is not so sure that you are being nice sticking your tongue out at her.

You had rice cereal for the first time the other day. You seemed to not be too offended over it. Only 2 shudders and a gag. Pretty good!

We think that you look so cute in this little Bumbo chair. It's been the best little seat for you. You like the view that you get.

We are feeling better about your ability to lift up your head while on your tummy. We have been concerned about you that. You don't like to be on your tummy so you usually flop over shortly after you are set down. You would much rather stand thank you very much! You award us with your big cheesy smile! You try to sit up whenever we prop you up usually causing you to tip all the way forward. The kids really think that is funny! You love to chew on everything! Fingers, hands, and toys. You love your bright toys. Your whole body shakes and you focus in that toy while trying to direct your little chubby hands to grab it.

We love you, our blue eyed boy!

Love, Mom

Thursday already???

I can't believe that it is already Thursday! Where has the week gone?? Where has the month gone? It's already mid-May! That means there is only 2 weeks of school left. Yikes!

The basement is slowly progressing. Ryan was able to help a bit yesterday. With his help, we were able to finish priming every last surface in the room. There was a lot to prime! I picked out Edgecomb Gray to paint the walls and when I put it up on the wall, we were surprised to see that it's not so much gray but tan. Veeerrrry tan. Argghhh.......I am the queen of picking the wrong colors. So here's my dilemma. Continue painting because I have the paint and I spent the money on it and oh how I want the basement back in use, or, go back to the 158 paint chips that I have and pick out another. The basement is supposed to be "retro chic" (since we have turquoise carpet that we are working with) not "cozy neutral cottage." What's your opinion?? Meanwhile, I am going to have a hayday with a tube of caulk to see if I can fix any of this crazy mess of walls, trim and paneling. Aren't you sooooo jealous?

{random picture monday}

That Sammy is so snuggly. Now back to this...........

blech....

Happy Mother's Day!

I am so blessed!

Garden Discoveries

Looky, looky!! I have poppies in my garden! I love poppies! We have only lived here a few months so it's been fun to see all of our surprises in our yard.

And a fabulous old walnut tree with a sturdy old homemade swing that Mia loves.

"I'm huge now! I'm four!"

I can't believe that you are already four years old! You were so cute today! You have had a spring in your step all day. You couldn't wait for your birthday to come and you invited everyone that you know to come to your birthday party tonight. You have been loving us singing "Happy Birthday" to you all day. I wish that I could of captured your sweet face. It made you so happy!

We started out the morning with me wishing you a Happy Birthday and you said "I'm huge now! I'm four!". We made eggs and toast for breakfast and then baked your pink cake together. It was nice to just being you and me.

It was a whirlwind of pink and presents today. Happy Birthday little 'Melia!! We love you!!

{baby love}

Growing up, I never met my grandparents. I only knew my Grandma Reta. I wish that I knew her better before she passed away. I love that my children have both sets of grandparents. I love that their grandparents love them and want to spend time getting to know them. I love this picture of Gramps and Grandma Sharon because you can see how much they love little Sam. And, since I get asked all of the time who Sam looks like, now you can see that he is a mini version of Bops (Gramps). Right down to the blue jumpsuit! My children are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents in their lives. I am so greatful for them. This makes me happy.

Bomb diggity 'do'

Since I don't have any great progress done on the basement painting to show and I can't stand to leave that awful picture of the fabulous basement up here any longer, I present you with a quick picture of Samalicious. He's sporting a stylish baby mowhawk. His hair is crazy like this all on its own. That kids' got style!

Help!!!! I am been buried alive!

Unburying the family room so I can paint the three different kinds of paneling and fabulous pink trim. I just keep telling myself it will get better. Right?

And a whole lot of spit up!

Samuel, Sam, Sammy, Samalicious. 4 1/2 months. I love these sweet photos that Aunt Jessica took of you. You are such a content baby. Your cry is more of a small complaint. You rarely get extremely upset. You are so nice to take out for errands. You seem to enjoy the ride and sleep when you are tired. Neither Jake or Mia would sleep when we were out. It's a nice perk that I will enjoy as long as you will do it.

You love your mobile. We call the mobile your little friends. You will lay in your crib and watch it with such a sweet expression on your face. You are willing to visit your friends often.

You are just starting to play with toys. I love watch you when you see a toy. Your whole body shakes and you kick your little legs and wave your hands in anticipation of getting the toy to play with. Everything is going into your mouth now. Your fingers, our fingers, your toys, clothes, blankets, Jake's nose. You want to chew on everything that you can get in there.

You have been sleeping through the night the last few nights. I wish that it were the same for me. I get up to check on you often.

We love that your eyes are blue! Blue like your Papa and Grandma Sharon. I hope that they stay blue.

You smell so sweet and are still so squishy cuddlely. We are enjoying your softness and quietness everyday because we know that you will grow up way too fast and become loud and roudy like those other two!You are soooooooooo yummy! We love having you in our family. I can't imagine not having your sweet spirit with us.

Love, Mom

Sparkly shoes.

My daughter, Amelia. Otherwise known as Mia, Melia, and Bobo. Almost 4 years old! It was always a surprise to me that you are so girly. There was so much Star Wars and boy play in our house that I thought for sure that you would become a tomboy. Instead, you are a great balance of both tomboy and girly-girl.

You love to be outdoors riding your bike and playing in the dirt. One of your nicknames is "Extreme Sports Bobo" because when you were one, you had a little push car that you liked to ride on. You would ride it backwards out the front step and this gave us a heart attack the first time you did it. You thought it was great fun!! Now, you will ride your big wheel down the steps on the side of our driveway for anyone that you can get to watch. All this while wearing a princess dress, play high heels and a crown. This makes me happy.

You are a lover of trinkets. You are always scrambling to fill a backpack, purse, or bucket of your special treasures to take with us whenever we leave the house. Even if it is just to take Jake to school. The other day I cleaned out my car and I had two grocery sacks full of your treasures to bring back in.

You are Daddy's girl. You have him wrapped around your finger. He loves you and you love him. You have a special relationship with each other. He loves you to do "tricks" for him. These "tricks" are things that you have said to him that he thought were funny like "Mia likes barbeque.", "Yes, I do.", "I'm SASSY!", and "Please not call me bughouse." He loves to take you with him on outings. He loves to take you out to lunch. He loves to buy you more treasures from the thrift stores.

You love to cook and will snack all day long. We always laugh that you will grow up and become a fabulous cook and we will finally have something good to eat since I hardly make dinners for us. Although, I hope you decide that veggies are good by then because you hard ever eat them. You do like asparagus. Can't blame you. Daddy makes them so tasty on the grill.

You are incredibly independant. So much that it's a struggle for me. That independance does have some perks though. I can count on you to get dressed, brush your teeth, get in the carseat, how you want your hair fixed. You do have an opinon and you are pretty sure that your opinion is the only opinion that counts.

You love your sparkly shoes! Everyday is a ruby red shoe kindof a day. You will only wear dresses now. All kinds of dresses. Dressy dresses, princess dresses, Dorothy dresses, sundresses and nightgowns only. What are we going to do with all those pants we have?

I love you dearly and can't believe that you are almost four years old! We are happy that you are a part of our family.

Love, Mom