Making Progress...

Finally, the dining room window treatments are complete! Only two years in the making... Thank you Mr. Phil for building my creation! What a beautiful way to hide my mistake. I bought this fabric about a year and a half ago. I quickly made use of about three yards to cover my dining room chairs before I really knew what I wanted to do with the windows. When I finally decided on drapes, I realized I'd used too much of the fabric to allow enough yardage to cover from the top of the window and reach the floor. Then, when I tried to find a companion fabric to create a topper, I just couldn't find anything that worked...not that I didn't try. Anyone want to buy about 6 yards of fabric? So, my solution to the problem? Make the drapes anyway and cover the shortage at the top with a wooden cornice. I'm really please with the final result.



Reagan's room isn't quite finished, but close enough. I've got some decorative painting to complete on her dresser, and she's getting a black writing desk for Christmas that will complete the new look.

I made this topper from the bag that the bedding came in.

The girlies have an advent calendar that they look forward to opening each day in December. Saturday, their goody was to create a gingerbread house. I assembled the walls for them and turned them loose. They did a great job and had loads of fun. I have to admit (for Heather's sake) that after a few starting photos, I left the room. For me, it wasn't to prevent myself from getting upset with them or yelling or what have you. It was so that I wouldn't take over the project or give too much input. We all have our faults. :)

Finally, our dear friends Scott, Wendy, and Tyler King came over Friday evening. Wendy emailed me last week saying that they had a bathroom leak in their shower and wanted advice on tile, fixtures, etc. How ironic that we are going through the exact same thing, so they came over to look at our changes and visit for a while. As anyone who has gone through any sort of renovation will know, we had more unforeseen problems. When the girls and I got home Friday afternoon, we arrived to find that the cabinet guy had accidentally busted a water pipe in the bathroom and had to turn off the main water line to the house. Mind you I had company coming at 6:00. Long story short, the plumber didn't arrive until 7:00. All's well that ends well though. We had pizza and a great time despite being unable to use the potties for a few hours.

The kids had a great time playing together.

December Fun Continued

The girls have spent the last two weekends with their Mimi and Poppy. Both times they've made homemade batches of gingerbread. My mom used to do this with with me and my brother during the holidays. Yummy! The girls get SO spoiled at their grandparents. This weekend they went with my mom to my Maw Maw Cauthen's and decorated her house for Christmas. It's neat that they get to know their great grandparents.


This Sunday we had our children's Christmas party after church. The kids had a great time. We had pizza, talked with Santa, made a craft, and decorated cookies.

These are pictures that go with the previous post.

Our evening at Atlantic Station.

Finally, one of my completed projects...

December Happenings

The last week has been so busy. It's like the first day December hits we never stop going and doing until the New Year. Last Saturday, we enjoyed an evening out with the Thompsons at Ashley Park despite the thirty minute downpour. The kids were excited to see Santa make his grand appearance and light the tree, and the live reindeer were pretty cool too. Wednesday, I had an appointment at Emory in the afternoon, so we made our way to Atlantic Station for dinner afterwards and a "magical surprise" for the girls. At seven o'clock every evening during the Christmas season, they simulate snow in what they call Central Park. It's really beautiful. The girls had so much fun running around for about 20 minutes in what will likely be the only glimpse of "snow" we'll get in Georgia this year. The house is finally decorated although I'm still finishing up my decorating projects. In addition, the guys started the demolition of our master bathroom this week. Many of you already know the story of our three year leak in our shower that we only recently discovered. If you haven't heard, long story short, we are now getting a new tile shower, subflooring and carpet in the master bedroom, and new cabinets and countertops (Those last two were a splurge.). I'm so ready for it to be completed, and they've only been at it for a week. I don't know how people live through a complete house renovation! Here are a few pictures of the latest with more to come as soon as I figure out how to get the photos off the new camera.

Ramblings

The girls and I have been enjoying our week off so far, and thankfully Rome will join us tomorrow. I'm determined to finish all my "half-done" projects, so I've been working furiously on sewing curtains (that I cut out a year ago), painting Reagan's room and dresser and finishing decorating her room, building wooden cornices (with Mr. Phil's help) all amid decorating for Christmas. We scored big time on a deal on the Nikkon D60 today, so I'll be able to take pictures as soon as it's delivered to post. Whoooo Hoooo! I'm so excited. The last two months I've been "borrowing" my grade level camera every weekend from school, but of course I forgot it for the Thanksgiving holiday.



Funny story from Sophie today:

As Romeo is dropping her off to gymnastics today, Lily our dog who was along for the ride, pounced on Sophie's lap to get to the window to see some kids. Sophie yells "Oh my nuts!" "What?" Rome asks. Why do we always ask them to repeat the crazy stuff they say? "She's on my nuts!" I'm guessing it's time for an anatomy lesson. Romeo explained that that's really not a nice thing to say, and BTW you don't have nuts!



Hope everyone enjoys a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday! I know we have so much to be thankful for.

Happy Halloween

Hope everyone enjoyed their "All Hallow's Eve" yesterday. We took the girls over to Summer Grove and met up with Melanie and her girls for trick-or-treating. We started early and took our time letting the girls run from house to house filling their buckets. Summer Grove is the coolest place to take kids on Halloween. Most everyone in the neighborhood really gets into decorating and dressing up. After about two hours we all went to Chick-fil-A for dinner. They were giving free ice cream sundaes to everyone in a costume, so the kids loved that treat as well.

Here's our jack-o-lantern for this year. The girls wanted him to look scared instead of scary, so this is the best I could do.

The girls were winding down by this point.

Reagan started tiring out early on and decided to sit this house out. I personally think she wanted to have a peek at her loot.

This house was the Peanuts house. The guy came to the door dressed as Charlie Brown and had the theme music playing in the background.

It was so cute watching my girls take care of Avery.

The little Indian princess

Little Miss Avery was a hoot all night. She chattered all night long. After a group of creepy looking older girls came by she kept saying, "It's alright. The scary girls are gone."

We've been taking pictures at Chris and Melanie's in this same spot since Sophie was two years old in a cat costume. My how they've grown.

What happened to our little girls?

Allie had a friend, Delaney from school, who joined us.

Fall Fun

We've had a very busy week this past week. Starting last Thursday, Romeo and I went to the Los Lonely Boys concert at the Tabernacle with our friends Richard and Diane. Much to our surprise the opening band was the main attraction. Local country band, The Zac Brown Band, was the main draw. They were fantastic! I could almost be converted to being a country music fan. Truly, I'll buy their CD. Unfortunately, the Los Lonely Boys were a disappointment after such a great first act-at least to me. Richard might argue a different point. We had a great time.

Then, the next evening we took the girls to Phillips Arena to see the Olympic gymnasts on tour. Kids who compete in gymnastics were invited to come early for "chalk talk". We got to go down and watch the gymnasts warm up and listen as they answered the audiences' questions. It was pretty cool. We had time to enjoy the famous Wetzel Pretzel before the show began. Two Disney recording artists/band were also a part of the show, so the girls got to experience a "mini-concert" too. When Shawn Johnson and Nastia Luekin took the floor, Sophie went nuts. She screamed like a girl at an Elvis concert. That was worth the price of admission although we got the tickets for free. Yep, hubby/Clark Howard comes through again! He found a crazy deal on the internet where we bought $30 of Ortega food and got four tickets for free. Our seats were on the posh side of Phillips, and were valued at $48 each. We'll be eating tacos for a year, but hey-it was worth it!

The female gymnasts didn't pull out all the stops like they did in China for obvious reasons, but they were fun to watch. The real excitement was watching the male gymnasts. They are amazing and seem to have super-human capabilities.

Then, last Saturday the girls and I got up early and headed to our school for a work day. The Environmental Club and Beta Club planned a day to work on the school grounds and earn community service hours, so we went to lend a hand and a truck. The girls worked REALLY hard for about three hours. Mom fell off the truck flat of her back on an embankment and really felt her age the next day.

Finally, we spent several afternoons this week preparing our costumes for the much anticipated Family Fun Night at school. Who knows why it was held a full week ahead of Halloween! Anyway, I decided we'd go the old fashioned route of making our costumes this year. Sophie found a pair of moccasins when I was changing over the closets that have been handed down from Morgan, my niece, to Reagan and finally to her. She fell in love with the crazy things and decided to be an Indian. After several suggestions, Reagan decided to be a Hobo. After a visit to Target, Walmart, and the Goodwill store, we had everything we needed. I'm proud to say both costumes were under $25, and both girls were SO proud of them. Sophie went to school and told her teacher, "My mom is making my Indian costume. She's sewing it with fabric and everything." As you'll see in the pics, I went as a Go Go Girl, but was called Barbara Streisand most of the night and even got a couple of Julia Roberts from Pretty Woman. You decide. It was such a fun evening. Our teachers come up with some of the most original costumes you've ever seen, and the kids get to see all their friends in their costumes and come home with a slew of candy.

Well, I ended up writing a book. Thanks for reading and enjoy the pictures.

Riley, Reagan, and Nikki-best buds

Rebecca, Sophie, and Elise-aka Margaret
Sophie and Elise waiting patiently in the trick or treat line.
Oh yes-that is hand beading on that Indian costume. LOL-a bead is already falling off at this point.

Reagan's hobo pouch stick was a heavy broom handle. I was afraid she'd knock someone out.

Priscilla and Elvis-parents of one of Reagan's good buddies, Juliana. Mark, her dad, stays in character the entire time. He does this every year. I guess Rhonda decided she'd finally join him.

I think I was born in the wrong era. I had so much fun in this gettup! It was amazing how many people would walk by me and didn't even recognize me.

The fourth grade teachers "monkeying around"

A parent of two of my former students-I give her the prize for best store bought costume.

Fellow teachers of mine-They take the prize for best homemade costume.

Reagan with the Minichowski clan.

OK-You decide. Barbara?

Have you ever seen a cuter Hobo?

That would be Chelsie Mimmel on the bar and Nastia Leukin in the blue shirt on the left.

Sophie would not even go to the bathroom during the show. I was afraid she'd pee in her pants from excitement.

Hero dad comes through again.

The Zac Brown Band-Give me a shout out if you've heard of these guys. Apparently, they have a single playing non-stop on the country station right now and a video coming out on CMT soon. They were so much fun to listen to.

Ahhh- enjoying a night out on the town.

Beaner and his sweet "lady friend" Diane

Sophie Grace putting in some hard labor to beautify our school.

Work that rake Reagan!

I love a shot when they aren't looking.

Talk about some hard working kids!

We spread mulch around every bed on the entire school grounds.

Wow-you made it to the end. Thanks for sticking with me. Have a great day!