Fun with Stickers

On any given Sunday night you will find a small army at our house. We love to have people over and hang out, have fun, let the kids run wild. It really can get crazy, and we LOVE it! So, this Sunday, as usual, Alex and Tristan (we miss Merissa who is in North Carolina) and my brother Pete, Jessie and Ashley came over and we grilled yummy hamburgers, hot dogs, veggies, corn on the cob, Pete made these chicken wings with some kind of spicy Asian sauce, and then, we made FUNNEL CAKES!! It was like being at a carnival, we had a blast. David got his new smoker/grill so he loves to use it, so I love to let him.

So, since most of my cabinet doors are still off (most of them are painted though, I just need to paint the trim) Ashley and Regan found some stickers in my craft cabinet, and had some sticker fun. They looked so cute with stickers for finger and toenails. They had a good time. So...Sunday nights at my house everyone!

Haircut Time!

For Riley this is like pulling teeth, he HATES having his hair cut. Maybe cause there are not a lot of people who know how to trim a mop?? He just wants a tiny bit cut off but by the time we get into the salon, he always needs more than a tiny bit cut off. When we go swimming, it's hard to tell he's a boy when his hair is wet, all the curls straighten out and his hair is nearly halfway down his back. So, we went to Cool Cuts, at least I don't have to drag them kicking and screaming in there, and they both got really cute new 'do's. Regan wanted hers short again, but thankfully not as short as last summer! So here is our mini modeling session after the cuts. This is also the next morning so Riley has a slight case of bed head going on. But just like the lady said that cut his hair..."Look at his pretty eyes!"

New Bicycle

This is Regan on her new bike she got for her birthday from Mimi and Papa. She loves it!! She hasn't been able to ride it because she needed a new helmet, and so we finally got one and she couldn't wait to get home and try them out. This bike is an 18 inch, which is much bigger than her 14 inch bike that she had, so it takes some adjusting for her. She can ride in a straight line but has to get off to turn the bike around, it's so cute. So here she is showing off her new wheels.

Week of the Movies!

It's been too hot to do much outside, so this week we caught up on movies! First we saw Kung Fu Panda, which is total awesomeness. The kids enjoyed it, and for some reason, Regan couldn't remember Master Shifu's name, so she's been calling him Master Ebay. Whatever works for her I guess. We went to a Sports and Toy Science demonstration at the library, got the kids haircuts, and then...you guessed it...
Another movie! WALL-E! It was really good too, the kids loved it, Pixar can do no wrong in my eyes. For a movie with very little actual talking, this one had some great moments. And then we headed to the pool in our neighborhood for movie night! Cats and Dogs this time, an oldie, but the kids don't remember ever seeing it, so they had a good time, and are pretty worn out from swimming, so it's all good. I promise to get them outside more next week.

Honor the Texas Flag!

The last act of Daisy Troop 131 was to say the Pledge of Allegiance and the Pledge to the Texas Flag in front of a Pflugerville City Council Meeting to earn their Courageous and Strong Petal. The girls did a great job up there! AND, they were televised, and it will be on local access TV for the next few days, for those few people who get Pflugerville cable. It was a mad rush to learn the pledge to the Texas flag, as short as it is, we didn't know until the last minute that we had to say that one too, so we were standing outside going over it, and they were so confused, getting the pledge, the Texas flag, and the Girl Scout promise, all rolled into one big pledge! Then someone gave me an email and asked me to forward my pictures on to the newspaper with the girls names so they will be in the Pflugerville newspaper too, our very own local celebrities. Then we headed out front for some photo opps with the City of Pflugerville sign. And just because I know you're curious, the Texas flag pledge is: "Honor the Texas flag: I pledge allegiance to thee. Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

Snaggletooth and Other Stories...

This picture is for Grandma, she wanted a picture update of the loose tooth that hung in FOREVER! Well, it finally came out today! I don't know what it is about loose teeth but they just give me the willies, so Regan constantly twists, turns, and wiggles it and just totally creeps me out with it. So today when she came over and the tooth was completely backwards, I knew it was time to come out. She tugged and pulled and yanked until it finally just came out. Thank God! I was so tired of looking at that wiggly thing.

And Riley made it home from camp, so excited and so worn out! He had a great time, and I heard he did EVERYTHING! He has quite the adventurous spirit and was not afraid to try it all. He did miss us, but I think he had so much fun, that he got over being homesick pretty quick. He can't wait to go back next year, and already the phone has been ringing from girls he met there! Wow...quick!

Camp Dry Gulch

Riley's off to Camp Dry Gulch in Oklahoma! He was a little nervous about being away from mom and dad for 4 whole days, but I think he's excited about all the fun things he's going to get to do. I remember taking a group of kids to Camp Dry Gulch many, many years ago that included David's brothers Kris and Matt when they were 9 and 7, so Riley thought if they could do it, surely he could too! He did go two years ago, and I think he was totally unprepared for being away that long, we got several phone calls home from him crying saying he missed us, and once he got home, he wouldn't even go spend the night at a friend's house anymore, but he's always been my clingy one. Regan on the other hand, she would go for the whole summer and not look back!

My Sad Day

Family Pictures

Today was a sad day...my dad and Linda had to leave. I really, really, really miss them living here. I told them I am praying for them to move back, so if you're reading this, pray for them to move back too!! Ohio is pretty, but it's too dang far! And who needs a garden, right? We have HEB. Or Whole Foods. Anyway, I'm just sulking some, so I know I'm being selfish, but it would be great if they could find a way to move back down here to be with the grandkids, just think of poor little Ashley crying her eyes out saying in her wee little voice, "I wanna go wif ew Gamma Winna!" How can you say no to that?!

I feel so blessed to have both a mother in law (actually two of those), and a step mom that I not only get along with, but totally enjoy being around, so I feel like I hit the family lottery!! I should count my blessings with that, but I am pushing it, I want them HERE!!

Well, here are some random pictures of their trip here, it was a whirlwind. I can't thank them enough for all they did. Linda helped me with my kitchen cabinets, I got so many more of them painted now, and a lot of the trim work done, I am so close to being done in there now! She helped me paint the kitchen, convinced me my color was a good choice even when I was having my doubts (and she was right, it's great!) My dad got my bathroom fixed, it's a miracle!! He showed David how to do some other repairs around the house, since David isn't exactly mechanically inclined! So at least now we are on the right track.

Can't wait for you guys to come back, I promise next time it will be more of a vacation, and less WORK!!

Happy Father's Day

We had a pretty low key day, it was so great to have my dad and Linda in town, and we had a house full with Pete and Jessi and Ashley over, Alex and the kids came over and brought "man steaks" for the dads, David smoked a brisket in his new toy, his father's day present:

I made some boiled new potatoes, a Caprese salad, and corn salsa rice, and we ate on the deck, and then I made some strawberry shortcakes, and we just chilled out and Pete taught the boys how to play poker! And I think overall David enjoyed his day:

Slippin' and Slidin'

One of Regan's presents was a cool Spongebob Slip and Slide, so we hooked it up on Sunday and set her and Ashley loose in the backyard while dad was smoking his brisket. The girls had so much fun, it was a great way to cool off from the 100 degree heat we've been having every day lately!! And they looked so cute!!

Princess Regan is 6!

Regans 6th Birthday

We had Regan's birthday party at Acrotex Gymnastics where I spend the better part of my summer watching the kids these days. It was a blast!! And air conditioned, and NOT in my house, so all positives!! The kids had an hour to play in the gym, on the trampolines, the beams, bars, the zip line, the little round things they get in and have someone roll them around like a donut, the rock wall, a rope swing, all kinds of fun things. Then we ate cake and opened presents and went home, and continued to party! Walt and Linda are still here, and Tammy and her kids, Merissa, Pete, Jessi and Ashley and Daniel came over, and we played the Wii, Guitar Hero, Mario Kart, Wii Fit, it was a blast! We had Papa Murphy's Take and Bake Pizza, and the kids destroyed Regan's room, all in all a great day.

Riley spent the day with some friends at their lake house in Marble Falls riding wave runners and swimming all day, and we missed him, but I know he had fun, he couldn't stop talking about it when he came home to grab clothes to go spend the night with a friend. That boy has a busier social calendar than I do these days.

House Update

Here are some picture updates to what we've been doing around the house. Most of my "before" pictures are on another drive so I have to dig them out later. Here's a before of the kitchen:


And this isn't really an "after" more like a "during" since we haven't finished the cabinets on this side yet:


And the Game Room, we moved the living room furniture up there instead of the futon, since they kept pulling the futon mattress to the floor so they could use it as a gymnastics mat. Now it looks more like a living room and not a gym, and the kids are up there more often, playing the Wii and watching iCarly:


Here's the kids bathroom with the curtain up, the new towel bars installed and the fancy towels that I forbid the kids to even look at:


This is Kenzie's room, we painted it, we had the bed frame and headboard for a while, just never put it up, so we got that put together, rearranged the room, just haven't decorated much in there yet. But I do like the color, it's called Cafe au Lait!


Last but not least, new furniture in the family room. Entertainment center off Craig's List, just so we could have something that would hold ALL the TV, DVD, DVR, stereo, etc, etc!! And we moved the TV off of one wall onto the bigger wall, so we needed something bigger too. And I wanted to get rid of our ginormous sectional because it took up SO much room. It looks a lot better now, I think.

Dad to the Rescue!

So, you may remember THIS POST about my lovely master bathroom issues WAY back in December!! Well, my dad came to the rescue!! Poor guy, came down for vacation and we put him to work. But, you can see why...


All the darker center is rotten wood. I can't even tell you how many ways this bathroom was screwed up. The tile was horrible, the toilet was set all wrong, it was just a HUGE mess. But the good news...I have a working toilet again!! After 7 months of running down the hall to the kids bathroom in the middle of the night, I have my very own toilet back, I'm so excited! He broke out all the tile and cement board, cut out the bad wood, put in new wood, reset the toilet the right way, and we're good to go. Now we just have to re-tile it, but we are going to re-tile the entire bathroom, and David feels confident he can do that on his own, so now we just have to go tile shopping. What was going to cost us thousands in repairs has cost us next to nothing so far. My dad ROCKS!

Riley's Heroes

David and Riley went to Freestone this weekend, they worked a race, and in return got free VIP pit passes. I'm not really sure what all they had to do to "work" the race, but the VIP passes are normally about $200 per person, so they got a great deal by getting them for free. They left at 4am Saturday morning, drove up and went straight to work. Riley called and told me about a Ninja Warrior type obstacle course they had there that Riley got to do several times and he beat just about everyone that raced against him! As long as you win, you get to go again for free, so I don't think he paid the whole weekend.

Then on Sunday, they got to watch the races, and meet a few of his "heroes," James "Bubba" Stewart, Tim Ferry and Andrew Short (who he's met several times out at ADV since he lives around here, Riley walked up to him and says "Hey, you remember me?" I guess he's not shy when it comes to the track. He got some goggles from Bubba Stewart, autographed, that haven't even been released yet, a number plate from his bike, something from Tim Ferry's bike (no idea what piece it is) and got Bubba Stewart to autograph his backpack (right next to Ricky Carmichael's autograph, not sure if Bubba appreciated that). All in all a pretty great weekend to be Riley. And these pictures are taken from Riley's new cell phone, not bad!

Movies in the Park

After a long week at camp, nothing is better than sitting outside on a nice breezy (and by that I mean downright WINDY) night and watching a cute movie! We went to the Movies in the Park to watch Bee Movie, we hadn't seen it yet, and it was cute, and the kids had fun playing on the playground until the movie started. They had games for the kids, Regan won a nice leather bag by knowing the name of Bambi's girlfriend in a trivia contest (Faylene) and all the kids got beach balls and stuff. It was fun and they were more than ready for bed by the time we got home.

Happy Campers

Camp Doublecreek

Today was parent's day at Camp Doublecreek, and I can't say how much the kids love this camp. They've looked forward to this camp pretty much since they day they left last year, talked about it all year, wondered how come they couldn't go to camp over the weekends in the winter time, counted down the days until they could go this time. We even signed up for the very first week so they could go immediately.

Well, aside from a small downpour for about 10 minutes while I was there today, it was nice. Regan was pretty clingy, wanting me to stay right by her side the whole time I was there so I didn't get to watch Riley do much, but when I did check on him, they were playing football in the rain, and four square, so nothing terribly exciting anyway (to me at least).

I got to watch Regan do swim lessons, she's getting pretty good, and then they played some games, farmers vs. ranchers, which is a kickball type game, and a few other ones. Then parents had to leave so kids could do their ribbon ceremony. Riley got a ribbon for "great camper" and Regan got a ribbon for "best attitude"!

As usual, they were exhausted by the end of the week, and can't wait to go back.

Before and...During?

Well, now that summer is here, I've been toiling away on the house. The first week of summer we didn't do much but save gas by staying home and cleaning up and going to the pool. This week the kids are at Camp Dobulecreek again, so I've been using the time to get some much needed projects done around the house. Nothing is quite finished yet, but I'll show you the progress I've made so far.

First is a curtain I got for the dining room, nothing special, just that fact that we've lived here over 2 years and I finally got ONE curtain! (And Ricky likes it)

Then I took a bunch of kitchen cabinets off and started sanding and painting them. I'll post those pictures when I get closer to being done, which could be NEVER, I didn't realize how many cabinets I had, and they're all so big and it's just taking me forever to get them painted.

But I wanted to update the kids bathroom, less puppies, more grown up, and I like it so far. The blind in that bathroom was gross (like that when we moved in, not us!) so I found a cheap one to replace it at Walmart. And for future reference, no windows RIGHT next to little boy's toilets. I still need to paint the cabinet in there, I'm going for a darker brown, and hang new towel bars, but I like the paint color, it probably should have been a little more green, but it's close enough and I'm tired of painting.

Before:

After:

Now I am going to keep plugging away at those kitchen cabinets, and I have a light fixture in the dining room to paint, the projects just NEVER end!!