New and Improved

Derek and I finally decided, after 11 years of marriage, that it was time to buy some bedroom furniture. We have a rediculously enormous bedroom (17x22, plus a 10x8 addition) and we've hardly had anything in it for the last 4 years.

This was our old dresser. It's solid pine, Derek put it together and I stained it. It's a great dresser, but too small for both of us and it was all we had.This is Derek's new dresser:

And this is my new dresser (which is HUGE, I had no idea how big it was on the showroom).

This is my old nightstand from college (and the alarm clock I got for my 9th birthday).

Derek and I each got new nightstands as well. Aren't they so pretty! My room actually looks like adults live there now instead of college students!

And a new alarm clock is being delivered.

Sew Fun

4 Years ago I made this Tee-Pee for Bryce for Christmas. It is the first and only time I had ever attempted following a pattern when sewing. I love how it turned out, but sewing it was a bit of a nightmare because my machine doesn't do well with thick fabrics like this, so the thread kept breaking and it took forever.And then Bryce never played in it.

So recently I got it out for my little boys. The have been loving it and are so cute playing together.

I recently made a car seat cover for my friend Trin. I followed this tutorial. It turned out so cute. I thought they were kind of pointless the first time I saw one, but they've grown on me and now I like them.

Wonder if I'll get around to making one for my own baby...?

Snow White

If I had dwarves instead of children, I'd have (in no particular order):

Happy

Grumpy

Dopey

Here's hoping for Sleepy.

The Mighty Hunter

Derek went hunting with my brothers and got his first deer.

I'm so proud.

Any suggestions on how to cook the darn thing?

Bryce turns 8

We had a few friends over for cake, ice cream and presents, but otherwise kept it easy.

I love how excited they both are.

Bryce was thrilled with his Pok-e-mon cake. I was thrilled not to be the one who made it.

He also went to his first day of Scouts as a Wolf. He's a great boy and a great big brother. We couldn't ask for a better kid. We love you Bryce!

Thanksgiving 2011

This is the year for all of Derek's family to get together for Christmas, but since it will be too close to my due date to travel then, we decided to go visit for Thanksgiving.Every Thanksgiving Derek's mom out does herself with the food. And it in the midst of it all, she finds the time to make M&M turkeys. My quirky Austin asked for one with a green head instead of the traditional brown.

We went to downtown Grapevine and Southlake's Christmas displays. Grapevine had everything set up to look like the mid 1800's, Southlake was glammed out of control. They couldn't have been more different.

Bryce and Austin spent an OBSCENE amount of time playing the ipad while we were there. It drove me crazy. Austin is a downloading fool.

We also went to a high school football game with 20,000 other people. It was "cold out" - but we couldn't quite see our breath. Don't my boys look thrilled to be there?

It was a fun, relaxing get away. But it was too quite without all of this other siblings there (Jared and Becca are the only two left at home and I think the boys wore poor Jared out). Christmas is crazy when we're all together, but it's really fun. I'm sad to miss it this year.

Movember

In the month of November, Derek started sporting a new look:Was it one I would have chosen myself? Not necessarily. But I also didn't really mind it (who am I to complain about his appearance when mine is so rotund?) and it was fun to have something different going on. One night out to dinner he made our waitress so uncomfortable she couldn't even look at him.

Almost 50 guys from his office participated in Movember . Not only did Derek grow the 'stache but he ended up co-chairing the event. So on the last day, for "Closing Ceremonies" he had to go all out:

Here's the low down. Movember is about raising money for men's health issues. His group raised over $6300 and donated 50 hours of community service. Derek sent out weekly updates on who had the best 'stache, had raised the most money etc. and made it really fun for everyone involved. He was excited about it and had a great time doing it.

It's nice to have him back to clean shaven, but I'm happy to claim him moustache and all.

New Park

We bought our house in 2007 and were told by the realtor that the park in our neighborhood was going to be updated and that the city had set aside $100,000 to do it. It has taken 4 years for the city to finally do it. For the last year and a half the equipment has been unusable. The picture below doesn't show much, but at least when it was taken all of the slides were still attached. Shortly after this two of the slides broke and the city covered the entrances with sheet metal (not kidding) and left it like that. The only slide left was a tornado slide, and the center post had a large piece of hard plastic jutting out from it that they covered with duct tape... for almost a year. The residents have been going nuts.But two weeks ago we walked the 1/3 of a mile down to the trail that runs right by the park to "check it out" and we were able to play!

It is so cool!

The two slides are great and one of them is HUGE.

Bryce loves the climbing net.

And even Chase can climb up to play by himself.

It's so nice to have our park back - new and improved!

Lawn Mowing Fashion

Chase escaped. It was 45 degrees out. He was so proud of himself.Lets hope the neighbors don't take up this trend.

Life Cycle of a Pumpkin

We were very impressed with our own ability to grow pumpkins this year. We had our two growing in the lilac bush and they slowly worked their way to the ground.

Then we gave our 7 year old a sharp object to cut them down,

and decorated our front porch with them (as well as a bunch of other pumpkins and gourds we got for only $9!)

The night before Halloween we brought them inside,

and ripped their guts out.

Don't let these pictures fool you, these 4 guys only lasted about as long as it took for me to take these pictures.

We gave our 7 year old another sharp object...

...and several hours later we had our jack O 'lanterns.

And we didn't forget to roast the seeds. My favorite are the pumpkin pie spice seeds on the right.

Halloween, Revisited: Part 2

A perk to having all boys is recycling Halloween costumes. This is Austin as Spiderman, just like Bryce was 4 years ago.

This year Bryce wanted to be a skeleton.

We sort of had a skeleton theme.

And this was also the year for the clown costume. Chase was terrified of it at first. It took daily exposure for two weeks to get him to go near it. He refused to wear the wig for more than 10 seconds, but at least he wasn't hysterical.

Chase wore it:Austin wore it (2009):And Bryce wore it (2005):Derek's "little" (he's 16 and taller than Derek now) brother Jared wore it at some point too - wish I had a picture of that!