"Mom do cashews have shoes in them?"......Thomas James

Brynnley's FAVORITE book. I have to post it while it is in one piece. This book certainly brings you joy! I love it when you bring it to me 50 times a day and squeal and smile as if it is the first time you've read it every time we open it up to read it to you. If the book is in your sight you say..book....book...and we read it to you over and over again! You would much rather read a book than watch TV. You are much too busy exploring to watch TV. Inside this book you love hearing about the animals and the sounds they make. Dad does some pretty good sounds but Moms are more realistic! Brynn's words this week are "snack" and "chocolate"......your Dad must have been eating it often this week for you to be saying it so much.

Avery was busy this week building a house. She and her friend Morgan created this beauty. You were pretty proud Aves.

This weekend was great. Went to apple fest in Lebanon(right next to us) and spent most of the day there. I must say my favorite part besides being with my family was finding the most amazing cupcake shop. I love it that my partner in crime loves it too. The kids got to adorable pumpkin ones and Eric and I split a turtle, apple butter, and chocolate truffle. Mmmmmmmmmm! Best cupcakes we've had. We both agreed they were better than the ones we had in San Diegos when we were there last Spring. We did get some healthy stuff too like our favorite Honey crisp apples. It was a beautiful day to top it off. I didn't get many Spring days this Spring, so I am enjoying them in September! I am hoping we can get to the apple orchards next weekend.

Where have the days gone....

The days since the last post have been a bit busy. I had a sick little girl who got a lot of extra attention(which is pretty normal I guess). A mothers true love comes out full force when her kids are not feeling well. Being a Mom now I see why I always wanted(and still want) my Mom around when I'm sick. There is no one more nurturing. I don't know what I would have done without my Aves those few days when Brynn was really not feeling well. Without being asked she helped me out a lot by cleaning the house and taking extra good care of her sister by snuggling her, reading to her, and making her happy. She saved me! You are one amazing little girl sweet Avery!

I already found Thomas a Spider man costume for Halloween, but couldn't resist buying this awesome Fireman costume too. It was less than $20 and is made very well. I couldn't believe the price. He loves it. He kept asking me to call for help so he could rescue me. This little man cracks me up and pulls my heart strings. He has been asking this question a lot...."Mom what would happen if....."(for anything you could think of). He is always thinking. He is SuPeR independent and wants to do everything by himself......which is totally fine by me!!! He is learning a lot and is cute with his alphabet sounds. He sounds out a lot of words he hears by saying,"ppppppp popcorn....Mom pppppopcorn starts with p". I am glad he likes school. He better because he has a loong way to go:).....check out his Fireman pose. His faces kill me. I can tell you take your job very serious Fireman T. I am so lucky to have you on my team!!

Not hurting for love.....

A snap shot of Brynn with her little piggies(Avery thought they were so cute). I am glad I got the picture because about 10 minutes later, they were pulled out leaving some nice wings. Eric asks why I even try. He should know I don't give up!! She would rather have hair in her eyes than cute bows and flowers. I am lucky if she keeps a clip in to keep the bangs out of her eyes. Good thing she has curl in her hair. I may have a cute little tom boy on my hands. I loved getting dirty and building forts when I was little but I also loved dolls and Barbies. I was a girlie tom boy(if that makes sense)when I was young. I remember pulling out the pony tails my Mom put in every day in Kindergarten. However, there was one tight difference....I had those rubber bands with the balls at the end and it was pulled so tight I almost looked I had a face lift at the age of 5. Love you Mom!

Thomas with his new "Man" bracelets. One says "Future Missionary", and the other is a CTR snap bracelet. He uses them as super hero powers. I told him what they should remind him of when he looks at them, but for now he can think they shoot out water when in fire fighter mode and strings when Spiderman shows up.

Showered and ready for bed.......Muahhhh! Sleep tight!

P.S. Notice her awesome Cincinnati Sports medicine shirt(that she wears to bed because it is too big)!!Day and night we support out Dad......GO Dad!

Projects done....for now!!

I wanted to do a piece of furniture that had some color. Why not mustard yellow!! At first I wasn't sure but after glazing it, now I love it! I am still playing around with the toppings but our it has brightened up the room.

Before......

After.......

Kids table.......It had brown and pink paper that I modged podged. It was super fun getting it off but she needed a change so it was worth it. The kids love it!

It has been a great week. We had a great weekend. Got to get out with an amazing handsome man, play with the kids, and relax a bit. I must say though that the days are flying and I am trying to remember what day it is a lot this week. Kids are still playing their hearts out and loving it here. Avery get homework done in seconds and then tells me about her day and then she is off to socialize. Thomas is loving school. He learns quickly and is into doing everything himself when it comes down to his homework and writing his letters etc. Bynnley loves hanging out with her siblings and getting into things. The other day I had left some butter out on the counter to make some sweet bread and somehow she reached her arms up onto the counter and grabbed the butter which ended up creating an art piece on my windows, her clothes, and the floor. Butter is pretty fun to clean up too. I don't think she will be making such an art piece anytime soon as Mom had learned her lesson and now puts the softening butter our of reach. Oh I love her still! She has such a great personality. I don't think she will be as girlie as Avery as she is constantly tearing out the pretty bows and flowers out of her hair. She and Avery both could spend their days outside. As soon as you ask Brynnley if she wants to go outside she grabs shoes and runs for the door. It has been beautiful lately too. I love fall! I hear they are amazing and LONG here too! Yay!

"No babies allowed"......................

So Avery and Thomas were so nice to clean the basement for me. It was even nicer of them because Brynnley was pretty much the culprit of the mess. The basement is kid land and I let her go for it. Anyways, after hard work Thomas came upstairs and told me they had cleaned up all the mess but that he needed some tape. I gave him a piece of tape and then later I saw this on the door leading to the basement.........I asked him what is was for and he said, "It's so no babies will be allowed to come downstairs because they make big messes."

Well, soon after that explanation I saw Brynny's(the baby that isn't allowed)hand tearing the sign off the door.......

After the sign was down she headed back down to the basement to see what her siblings were up to. It a good thing she has an awesome brother and sister who time and time again help out by cleaning up after their little sis. It's amazing, they still love her to pieces!

Today we were excited to give Brynnley a test run at church today in the nursery. She is still a few weeks away, but the day is coming soon and she is not liking the quiet, stay still time in the adult classes. She had a blast! She is getting so big. Some of her new words are kitty cat, apple, Thomas, ta-da(when she finds something), who dat, there, and a few more I can't think of right now. I just need to document better for her. She understands so much now. She pretty much understands everything we tell her to do. Eric told her the other morning to shut the bathroom door and go and find Avery. Instead of going through the bathroom to find my makeup, she shut the doors and went and found Avery. We are still working on the NO thing. I know she understands, but she just sometimes wants to do it anyways. She's a lot of fun. Her hair is getting longer and she has the prettiest curls. I hope they stay. It's not your typical curl at the bottom when they are babies that you don't want to cut off because you know whats left is straight hair. I did that to Thomas and look back at his pictures when he was Brynnley's age and think to myself why I thought a mullet with a little curl at the end was cute. Avery and Thomas are growing up. Tonight at FHE they were both listening so intently. Thomas even asked me if we could talk about one more topic when we were done. I taught the lesson and chose to talk about being kind to others and stranger danger. Now that they are in school and out of my care more each family home evening we have a church topic and then talk about things at a level for their age that will help them in the world. strangers. The kids love it and I think(and hope) are soaking it in. I hear more and more stories about what small children can be exposed to so early on. I think educating them as early as possible and at their age level is so important. It makes me feel better but not fully confident about letting them leave the home. It was weird having Avery go to kindergarten just because I have only known them to be with me. Knowing where they are and what they are doing. I am excepting it more and know they are learning and growing and hopefully using those tools they learn at home. They are happy. They love school and making new friends and I wouldn't have it any other way. I did run into a lady who home schools her 8 children. Yes, she lives to tell me about it and has a smile on her face. I must say it sounds appealing in a way but then reality hits and I know that it would be hard. I really do think the social aspect and structure of school is important. she has given me some ideas of educational day trips to take the kids to. I think it is amazing for some mom to be able to do that and commend them for their patience in doing so. I was amazed though when she told me Kindergarten takes 30 min. out of her day. Wow! I do think all day every day is a lot for these little ones but some thrive on it. Anyways.......I am going to relax with my hubby and listen to the rain hit the windows. I love nights like this. I could have them often. Did I mention I am excited for fall! I have a date set up already to hit the pumpkin patch. I love everything about fall. I love the weather, traditions, crisp nights, hot chocolate, soups, homemade bread, pumpkin farms, apple picking, drives to see the changing leaves(going to be beautiful here with all the trees), and the list goes on!

We are looking forward to a laborless fun day tomorrow as a fam.

Choa!

Labor day weekend thus far.......

We went with some friends today to an Amish community. It was a lot of fun. They had some amazing small fried pies, apple fritters, and kettle corn. YUM! Eric and I both said that it would be our dinner as we chowed down on the large apple fritters that melted in our mouth but then we ended up swimming and got hungry and ordered BBQ chicken pizza as well. Go figure!

The kids loved seeing the horses pulling the wagons. It is quite an amazing community. We loved walking around in their market. They had so many jarred items that all looked so good. Eric and I had a hard time picking out what we wanted. They had vanilla peaches, different cheeses, and too much other stuff to mention it all. We also got to talk to an alpaca farmer and got to pet the momma and her 2 month old baby(that was almost as big as her mom). They are adorable sweet animals. We definitely walked away pretty knowledgeable about alpacas as the farmer who raises them talked to us for quite awhile about breeding and raising them. Their fur is soooo soft!!!

We ended the day with 2 hours of swimming at a very large outdoor YMCA pool that our friends invited us to. Avery transformed into a fish swimming underwater and having a blast. It was awesome. Two years ago she wouldn't put her face in the water!

Oh and we finished the night off with pizza which I already mentioned. Now we are going to VEG! Speaking of veg, I have been eating so much corn, peaches, and tomatoes lately. I have to stop at every farmers market, esp. the one that is on the way to school. I am trying to enjoy it while it lasts. I love getting mini whole wheat bagel and spreading it with light cream cheese and fresh garden tomatoes. It just tastes so good. And the corn I just smother with butter! Anyways been thinking about my dream garden someday. Will I ever be a true Gardener? Here's to enjoying the last bit of summer before I gladly welcome fall! I love fall!!!!!

And we enjoyed the day so much I didn't bust out my camera. Some moments just have to be captured in the noggin! So maybe when my kidlets will read this and they will remember : )

Happy Labor Day weekend!

Furniture refinishing projects.....****UPDATE****

This piece needed some help but I saw the potential right away. I am using it as a buffet by the table. The doors had an awesome vomit green color(sorry it reminded me of the color I throw up when prego) well, I don't want to think of those amazing days so I replaced it with mirror and it turned out great! The hardware is awesome and I didn't need to do a thing to them other than wash them off as they were already the dark bronzed look I like. I also love the extra storage!! I got so excited to get started that I didn't get a before picture for you to see in all it's natural glory. Oh well, she looks better with makeup on! Oh and she only cost me $40. And when we leave the rental there won't be burnt orange walls behind it. For now it works!!

***Update***

So below I got the owners to send me a picture that they had of the old piece. So now I have a before and after picture!! So the cabinets had reversible panels inside. You could change it to the wood or the velvet. I took the velvet material off and replaced it with mirror. You can't see the mirror that great in the picture.

Half of the decor together with some pray paint and glue cost and some good finds cost me $5.

Vintage table I refinished for the kids to do homework on and for me to sew and craft on. I loved the detail in the chairs and under the table. For now I will keep it this look but I may do the chairs a different color once we are settled and I know my color scheme in that room. I was thinking of a muted turquoise. We'll see.

I made this "G" and put the flowers together with amber beads.

This dresser isn't so exciting but I painted to match Avery's room. She has a gray pink, black and white room now so I wanted the dresser black and I painted the nobs antique silver(pretend blue walls aren't there)Ha!!

Two more projects and I am done for a bit. One will have a pop of color. Coming soon!!