Laundry Room Redo

I love Pinterest. I get all kinds of ideas for things I want to try. But mostly, it's just that...ideas. But when I saw this laundry room, I had to have it! My laundry room is my least favorite room of our house, and not just because of the dreaded chore that goes on in that room. It's tiny, it's dark, it's in a bad place, you can't switch out laundry unless you go in and shut the door behind you, making me, a non-claustrophobic person, slightly claustrophobic. Basically, I hate it. But I stumbled upon this laundry room on Pinterest, I figured that was something easy enough for me and my handyman-challenged husband to handle!

First, we got the washer and dryer out of the room and started massive clean up. I don't know how the floor can get so dirty underneath those things! David took the opportunity to drain the washer hose or something, whatever it was, I know it stank, bad!  Then we went to Home Depot and got all the wood cut. The pedestals for our washer and dryer are around $250-299 each, ouch! The wood for this project was about $110. Major savings!! We also bought a drip pan thing for under the washer, just in case.

Then David started assembling the pedestal while I painted the room. I went back and forth on the color, I recently painted my dining room wall a dark orange, kind of paprika color, and I like it, but I also had turquoise paint for the fireplace wall, and it's nice and bright and cheerful, so I went with that (maybe this will be my new happy place?)

While the pedestal building and painting took longer than we expected, having to work on it bits and pieces after work, we still managed to get it ready in good time. Of course, Regan comes home with a last minute picture day order form, and no clean picture clothes, so that was one snag in the process, but we got it worked out!

Then we put the pedestal in place and had fun trying to get the washer and dryer back on top and re-connected, but we managed. The only thing left is I want to trim the front so it looks a little nicer, and I'm looking for orange bins for the shelves. But, as it is, I *love* it! We even did a load of clothes as soon as we were done to make sure it didn't jiggle off the pedestal, and it worked great! I'm loving not having to get on my hands and knees to switch out laundry and we can now walk through to the garage without stepping over broken laundry hampers!

 

 

 

 

Now, back to Pinterest so I can find my next project!!

Sweet Berry Farm

Sweet Berry Farm

The kids had the day off school, David took a day since he had just been on call and it was a rough week for him, so we thought we would surprise the kids and head out to Sweet Berry Farm. David had only been once, and not during fall so he really wanted to do the giant Texas corn maze. We got there, and it was pretty crowded, but we got our obligatory pumpkin ice cream (best ever, in the world) and I went camera happy, taking pictures of all the crazy pumpkins they have out there. We fed the goats, and then made our way over to the huge Texas maze, and it is ginormous! The kids wanted to do it by themselves, so we had a parents vs. kids maze race.

It took over an hour to find all the towns, but the parents were victorious! They give you a card with 12 towns on it, actual towns, this theme was towns with animal names (like, Crow, Crane, Marlin, White Deer, etc) and each place has a unique hole punch, so you punch your card as you find towns. Well, it was hard, but we got them all and were sitting enjoying our prize "free" drink when the kids came out, upset that they couldn't find the last two towns. So, dad to the rescue, he took them back in, and they emerged victorious a few minutes later.

Then we headed back to town for dinner and home. The weather was perfect, and the kids (and parents) were exhausted! I love when we have fun family days!

Red's Range

David has been wanting us to get some guns lately ('A' gun, I don't want to be on any government watch list!) so we went to Red's to do some target practice, and see if we liked this one. We didn't, so he's still looking. But it was kind of fun. The kids were mad that we didn't take them with us, and someone brought some very loud something or other, even with those headphones on, I would flinch each time it was shot. I really don't know much about guns, and just want one that will put a hole in a bad guy, but David says I have to be all comfortable with it and all that. Annie Oakley, I'm not!

I thought I did pretty good though, the ones closest to the black are mine. Of course, David shot farther away than I did (full disclosure) but still, I could hit a bad guy at 3 yards! We have the best date nights.

Fashion Show

The kids have been growing like crazy, time for new clothes! I've been finding some good deals at Ross and Riley seems to love what I get him lately, so I had him do some modeling for me. He's just getting more and more handsome each day. He's such a great kid, I know as a parent, you have to LOVE your kid, but I really like him. He's turning into a great guy, and he's so funny. He keeps me laughing, which is not what I expected. I thought he would be more serious, and he can be, but he does have a wicked sense of humor!

And Regan, she's just so sweet. She is volunteering at church now, with the two year olds and she loves it. Every week I get huge compliments from the people she serves with about how great she is with the kids, and how sweet she is. She loves all animals, and is still wanting to be a vet someday. She is a HUGE A&M fan, and is hoping to go to vet school there, and loves reading about the school, their mascot, and their traditions. She's pretty funny too, but mostly unintentionally. She just has such a servant's heart, and is always fixing us drinks, or asking if she can get anything for us (even her brother!)

Well, I didn't mean for this to be a "brag on my kids" post, but oh well, I can write what I want! To be fair, as great as they are individually, they are like oil and water together, or fire and black powder. They are highly combustible! I love them dearly, but together, oy vey!

Riley Shooting a Big Gun

I forgot to upload the video of Riley shooting the K98 German Mauser. Here it is!

Brady Lake Drill Weekend

Brady Lake Drill Weekend

This weekend was drill weekend for Riley and the Sea Cadets. They had been planning this for a while, and Riley was so looking forward to it! We were a little disappointed because there was supposed to be some re-enactors coming to ambush the cadets, and that wasn't able to happen, but they all still had a great time.

I went back and forth about whether Regan and I should go, since we had our big Girl Scout camp out last weekend, I wasn't sure about another weekend away, and this one a little more "rustic" than what we're used to. But, I had heard there was a pool, so I figured if nothing else, Regan and I can chill poolside for the weekend, let the boys run around with their guns, we're good.

Well, things didn't exactly work out like we planned! Our cabin was supposed to have a refrigerator, so we took David's car and packed it to the gills and didn't bring any food. Thinking we would just get food there and put it in the fridge. We had the option of eating with the cadets, but with me being gluten free these days, I didn't want to pay them for food that I might not be able to eat. So, we ended up buying a styrofoam ice chest at Walmart in town to hold some food for us for the weekend.

We stopped at Cooper's on the way down, David's absolute favorite place to eat in the world, and had some leftovers that we put in our new ice chest! Got to Brady and had no cell service, couldn't even use the GPS on our phones to find out how to get to the lake! Finally found it, got unloaded in our fancy cabin (not). But hey, the a/c worked great! A little too great. We got our beds out and got Riley settled with the cadets, and then went to sleep.

The next morning, the cadets were up bright and early around 6:30 for breakfast (or chow, nothing is called what it really is in the military). We slept in a little later, seeing as how we were on "vacation" and Regan had me bring her to the bathroom a quarter of a mile away in the middle of the night and I couldn't go back to sleep after that!

But, we got up and got moving and realized something, there isn't a pool here. Not one around for miles and miles. And the one thing Regan really wanted to do was fish. But...we didn't have room for the fishing poles in the car, and we thought about just buying a cheap one, but then found out the lake was so low and they had a problem with red algae, and dead fish all over, so we figured fishing was probably not gonna happen. She was so disappointed. And then we really did have nothing to do. We went into town for lunch (more BBQ, I think that's the only thing people eat in west Texas) and picked up a movie from the Red Box for Regan to watch on David's laptop.

We hung around some of the other cadet's parents that were there also, but overall, we just sat there. There was a playground so Regan could swing or slide, but no one to swing or slide with! We walked around and explored the marina, which Regan thought was haunted since the water was so low and no one has used it in so long, there were spider webs everywhere!

The cadets had training in how to make shelter, how to make fire (which led to how to make s'mores) and how to navigate by the stars, and they did "colors" every day, which is basically raising the flag.  The Chief of Police came out and spoke to the cadets about leadership, and what it takes to make it in the world of law enforcement, and life in general. He was great, and I even took notes, he had a lot of great things to tell the cadets.  And it was so cute to see Riley running around in his camo gear, I mean, BDU's.  He did forget his hat though, and had to borrow one from Lt. Foster!

On Saturday night, we started a fire and heated up our BBQ leftovers and ate in our cabin. That was a fun meal of trying to cook without any of the proper utensils or pans! But it was fun, and we fed our leftovers to the cats (there were tons of stray cats all over the place!) and then stood in our window and watched the cats run off with huge pieces of sausage and chicken!

Then on Sunday we went to the gun range. It was fun, they had 14 different guns to shoot. They each got a lesson on each gun, how to shoot it, load it, sight it, etc. We brought a couple too, so Regan got to shoot some also. I don't even know all the guns they had! AK-47, Garand, Mauser, that's about all I remember. Regan and I stayed and shot for a while, then she wanted to walk back to the cabin and start packing up, so we did, and as soon as they were done at the gun range, it was time to load up and head home. It took a while to get everything packed back into the car, but we did it, and hit Cooper's one more time on the way home!

Riley had a blast, was super tired, and super dirty. He is loving Sea Cadets though, and all the opportunities it's giving him. He has some really great people that give up their time to teach them all this stuff, so I'm so glad he is able to be a part of this great organization!

Jellystone Park

Our first Girl Scout trip of the year!I can't believe this is our 6th year to be in Girl Scouts, and mostly with the same girls. We have a great group of girls and I love that we get to do so many fun things throughout the year.

This was a super fun camping trip! We had 12 out of 15 girls that were able to make it. We had it planned for a while, but then it started raining and I got a text the night before that the trip was canceled. Regan was SO upset, and I hadn't even started getting any of our stuff together, so imagine my surprise when the next day around noon I get another text, the trip is back on! Well, then it was flight of the bumblebee to get packed for me and for Regan, and get to Krista's to load up. We were leaving at 4:30 and another van load was coming later.

So we got to Jellystone Park and got our tents set up as quick as possible. The girls do most of it, and then we let them take their sack dinner over to the outdoor theater and watch Puss and Boots while we finished up.

Of course it took a while for them to settle down and go to sleep, so I wasn't asleep till close to 1am, and the girls were up bright and early around 6:45am! We got up and got breakfast going (baggie eggs, breakfast tacos and fruit). By the time we got it all eaten and cleaned up (Girl Scout rules means no paper plates or plastic utensils, but using a "mess kit" and washing dishes with boiling hot water and bleach water after each meal!) so it's a little more time consuming than the easy way out! Then we went to Candy Bar Bingo, and you pay for your bingo card with a candy bar! It was fun, and I even got a bingo!

Then we headed over to the pool, with the awesome 6 person super fast water slide! The girls rode that thing over and over and over! They also had a new 4 person water slide, which was really fun, but I think hard for the girls to carry the huge tube up all those stairs. We swam until lunch time, where we had sandwiches real quick so we could head back to the pool again. After more swimming, it was time for an ice cream social. The park had a daily list of activities, so we were trying to do as many of those as we could. We then headed back to the pool for some more slide time.

After the girls were completely water logged, we had our first official Girl Scout meeting of the year, where we talked about some of the community service projects we have coming up, brainstormed some ideas for our Bronze Award, and planned an activity for our sister Brownie troop to help them earn a Try-It. For dinner it was Frito Pie (gluten free, yay for me!) and the girls got it all cleaned up in time to go watch the outdoor movie again, while we grown up took our showers and got ready for S'mores.

By bedtime that night, we were all pretty exhausted and I head that it rained a little, but I never heard it, I was out cold all night! There was the cutest little dog that hung around camp, the girls named her Cocoa, and she was so sweet. Regan cried wanting to bring her home and adopt her and take care of her.  The next morning it was time to pack up, say goodbye to Cocoa, and before we left we stopped and said the Pledge of Allegiance with Cindy Bear at the Flagpole, and took some pictures with Yogi Bear. It was a really neat park, and the girls want to camp there again! They had some pretty cool cabins that I wouldn't mind staying in sometime too.

I just love Girls Scouts :)

Jellystone Park

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day Weekend

We had the best Labor Day weekend! David had taken a couple days off work to burn off some extra vacation days he had, so he smoked a pork shoulder to bring with us, and as soon as Riley got off the bus Friday, we dropped Princess at the groomers and headed east!

We got in late Friday night, and Saturday afternoon we hit the lake. Riley is SO enjoying learning how to wake board and it's so cute to watch him get more confident on the board. He tries to jump now and the smile on his face when he lands it is priceless! And of course, there have been some stellar wipeouts as well!

Regan loves to tube, and then we park the boat and swim to cool off, and it's a blast. I can't wait till we have a house on a lake, any lake! Uncle Danny and Aunt Kathy came over that night and we grilled burgers and visited for a while. It was really nice when a small storm blew through after dinner and we sat and watched it rain on the lake.

On Sunday morning, we went to church with Trista and Chris, they have a great church, and I really enjoyed it. It was the first time for our kids to be in a small baptist church so it was quite a change for them! But they enjoyed it as well. Trista said they were singing hymns that day and I thought, I don't know any hymns, but I was surprised, I knew them all, but one!

Then my Aunt Kathy had lunch ready for us, a small pre-birthday party for me and Trista (her birthday is the day after mine) and she had us a cake and everything! It was so yummy. Uncle Danny showed David and Riley his new guns and then took Riley for a ride on his motorcycle, and of course, Riley loved that!

Then we hit the lake again, one last chance to wake board and swim. And then the sad part, we had to pack and come home. We wanted to come home Sunday night so we would all have Monday to relax and get ready for the week. We got home around 11pm, tired, but relaxed! It was a great weekend. I love my family!

First Day of School!

This is a first for all of us! This year, the kids will be going to the public schools in our neighborhood for the first time ever! I'm a little leery of public schools, probably since I was raised in private schools, but with Riley wanting to go to the Naval Academy, he is really going to need all the options that a big, public school can provide.

So, here they are, off to their first day of 4th and 8th grade. Regan is riding her bike with friends, they were going to meet up at the corner (and they were all supposed to wear ALL purple!), so she was anxious to get the photos over and meet up. We met her teacher yesterday, she seems really nice, and one of her best friends from the neighborhood, Piper, is in her class, she was very happy about that! She is going from a class of 12 to a class of 22! Big change for her, but I know since she made all A's and B's last year, she will do great this year.

Riley will be riding the bus to school, and the bus stops right in front of our house, so that's nice! His bag was so heavy with all his books and supplies, we had to leave the supplies at home to bring tomorrow, and he still had to carry one of the books. I really hope they don't have to carry those around every day. He's not as excited about heading back to school as Regan is, but I know he's looking forward to getting involved in some of the school's activities.

Navy Sea Cadets

Riley had Sea Cadets this weekend, they have drills once a month, and we had to finish getting all his gear. David took off early and we got his bags packed (what an ordeal!) and they headed up to Ft. Hood early to meet with one of his Commanding Officers to get what he needed, belt, socks, all the little things that have to match everyone else just so. David met up with an old friend who is on base and got a good deal on some Army cots, and then he dropped him off for the weekend.

Riley was so tired and sweaty when we picked him up, and you can tell by the pictures, he wasn't in the mood for a photo shoot! But he looks so stinking cute in his uniform, or BDU's, that I couldn't resist! The drills this month included (I don't have all the technical military terms for this stuff) breach and they had to clear the room, and sleep with their guns (fake guns) and they had people come in the middle of the night to try to steal their guns, and Riley's got stolen, he was asleep hard he said! But he really enjoyed it, and he was exhausted!

We had a parent's meeting on Sunday to go over next month's drill, which sounds like it is going to be awesome! There will be a camp out at a lake, and they have a helicopter coming, and Vietnam reenactors, and they will be ambushing the cadets! They will have target practice with at least 5 different weapons, they will get to eat an MRE, learn basic survival skills, and learn how to make a tent out of their pancho, and a floatation device out of their "blouse". Sounds like it's going to be a blast. David is going, Regan and I have a Girl Scout campout the weekend before, so I'm not sure if we will go or not, but it is a family thing and it sounds like fun! Also, I know if I don't go, there will be no pictures!

So here's just a few pictures from the day, Riley in formation with his group, a couple of new people came to check it out too, that's why they aren't in uniform.

New Hair and Skinny Jeans!

Regan and I went to get hair cuts, and of course, since it was with our friend Sonia, she fixed us up! I got a pink hair extension with purple glitter, and Regan got pink, purple and blue, with glitter! Here's a picture of Regan looking way too grown up with super cute hair!

And Riley wanted some bright blue skinny jeans for school, and we got them on the way to the skating rink to meet up with our girl scout friends, but he wanted to wear them immediately! He's getting so tall, I know he's on skates, but he's taller than me now! (I know that's not very tall either, but he is getting tall, just trust me!)

Cousin Camp!

Some of my favorite memories as a kid were times spent with my cousins! We would go to our Nanny and Paw Paw's and play in the mud and fish in the pond and swing on the porch swings. I sure miss those days, but I'm so glad that my cousin and I do what we can to keep our kids close! We try to get together as often as possible, and I know that's not that often with them in Houston and us here, but the kids have so much fun when we do!

This time, we met them in San Antonio and surprised the kids with a day at Six Flags! They had no idea we were going to Six Flags or that we were meeting the cousins. We got there, and they were all so surprised! We spent the morning in the water park, the boys off on their own, the girls with their daddy's, and me and Tina relaxing in the lazy river!

Then we rode some rides, the kids are so adventurous, they rode almost everything, and then Tina and Bennie headed home to work, and we brought all the kids home with us for the week! I kept them busy :)

On Tuesday, we went to Austin's Park and Pizza, we were there from open to close! On Tuesday, Gattiland, where the boys spent most of their extra money, and got a ton of tickets, and then bought the girls prizes with all their tickets, how sweet! On Thursday we went to Rockin' River water park and then to Kawaii Ice for snow cones. On Friday, we packed for the trip to Houston, and Regan packed her own suitcase (full of stuffed animals, I had to repack!)

Saturday, we left one set of cousins for another set! We headed up to Tomball for David's side of the family's reunion. Uncle James and Tia Lola were in from Brazil, so we all got together at David's cousin Jimmy's house and had a great time! The kids swam, played pool, and got to know another side of the family. It was a good time with family we don't get to see nearly often enough!

Cousin Camp

Camp Buckner!

I think church camp is just about the best thing ever! I loved it when I first brought kids to Camp Dry Gulch WAY back in the day, and I loved it even more when I could bring my own kids and drop them off, and see them come home changed, but this year, I was honored to be the 3rd grade girls camp counselor at Camp Buckner!

Riley left for camp on Sunday and came home Wednesday afternoon, and he really didn't want to go. He thinks he is too old and he's gone every year, but I have my spies out and they all said he had a great time and was a big help, so I know he enjoyed it!

Regan and I left Wednesday morning and came home on Saturday afternoon. This is Regan's last year for Kid's Camp, she was a "Purple Peep" and I was with the "Pink Polkadots!" It was so much fun. We had night services with games and contests, and we learned all about the armor of God, what each item was, the sign language for it, what it meant, etc. Worship was awesome, and I just love seeing all those little 2nd through 5th graders jumping up and down with their hands in the air praising God!

We would get up in the morning, head to breakfast, then chapel (after a little game of Ga Ga Ball) and then we had activities like swimming, water slides, crafts, concessions and movie, the kids were worn out by the time it was light's out at 10:30! The camp is really nice and peaceful and the cabins were clean (and cold!) and it was a blast.

I have to say though, the absolute best part of camp for me was when a little girl in our cabin, 8 years old, tells me she heard God speak to her for the first time, we had 5 girls give their lives to Jesus for the first time. We had awesome prayer time, praying for parents who are Muslim to get saved, and questions about why parents have to get divorced, and why did Jesus have to die on the cross. 8 year olds! I was amazed at their faith, and some of the things that they are going through at only 8 years old and I know that these kids are gonna be great leaders for Jesus, really, they already are! I just stood in worship at nights and cried watching these girls with their hands up, tears running down their little faces as they praised Jesus. What a sight! I know some people don't understand why I would want to go to camp or work with kids but when you see that, how can you not want to be a part of that?

And then, the next day at church, we had a baptism day, and I got to watch one of my little Pink Polkadots get baptized! I took pictures and cried, again. Another life changed by something as seemingly inconsequential as church camp.

Camp Buckner

Elise Brielle Aldridge

Kenzie was scheduled to have a c-section on Monday, July 9th, so Regan and I met Grandpa Don and Cathy (Khaki) at the hospital for the birth. I got to go in with her again, so I had to "scrub in"! Good thing there's that big blue sheet separating me from all the blood! And her doctor was nice and funny, so it was a little weird sitting there making jokes while he was cutting her open. Eeeww. Anyway, Elise Brielle was born at 1:00 in the afternoon, and up until that morning, she didn't have a name! I am proud to say I got to have a little hand in naming her! As we were checking in, I saw the name Elise in a baby book and we were like, hmm, that's it! She's precious, and she was perfect!

Southwest Believer's Convention

David and I decided to attend the Southwest Believer's Convention this year, or as much of it as we could. We had talked about going for years but was never able to make it work but this year, we knew we had to be there. And it was awesome! We heard Jesse Duplantis (one of our personal favorites) Jerry Savelle, Kenneth Coupland, Keith Moore, Bill Winston, and Creflo Dollar. David bought the entire thing on USB and has been listening to it all again, it was that good!

Well, we brought the kids and kind of combined it into a mini-family vacation as well. It was in downtown Ft. Worth, so we got a nice hotel room with a pool so the kids got to swim and we took them on the 4th to the Ft. Worth Stockyards and watched the cattle drive, and let them get lost in the maze! That was fun, but it was so hot that day that Regan started getting a little overheated before she could find her way out of the maze.

We got to have our first (well, first for Regan and me) In and Out Burger! We liked it (but I'm partial to Austin's own P. Terry's). and we got to meet up with my dad and Cathy, and we had dinner with them one night with the kids, and went to Southlake to watch a fireworks display! It was fun, we walked around this little outdoor shopping center, with live bands and games for the kids, we watched the fireworks and listened to the music! Then the next night, we let the kids hang at the hotel and order Disney shows (unbeknown to us, $8 worth of Disney shows they could watch at home for free!) and we went to IHOP with Dad and Cathy and got to spend some time with them. It was a nice trip, and a welcome little mini-vacation!

Fort Worth