The Kids' Bedrooms...

Here they are... the last of the house photos. Well, until Eli's room is done... but, that may be awhile!

NATHAN's Room

GRACIE's Room

Happy Valentine's Day...

Last night Bryant and I went out on our Valentine's date. We dropped the kids off at church for Parent's Night Out and then headed to Olive Garden... my request. After Dinner we did a little shopping at TJ Maxx where we bought Eli his first set of clothes... some gowns, and some jammies for Nathan and birthday dresses for Gracie. It was so exciting to be looking at baby things. And even better to be able to only look at the boy stuff! It has been almost 5 years since our last little boy was welcomed into this family and wearing baby clothes. And since then we have given all of his clothing away for other new little baby boys to use, so we get to start all over! Which, honestly I'm fine with.... I'm sure just about each shopping trip out will bring us something new to add to Eli's dresser. After all, I did just buy him his first pair of shoes (size 2) just last week!

This Valentine's is the 11th that Bryant and I have celebrated together. 11! And just think next month we'll be married for 10 years! If I wasn't pregnant we would be doing something awesome in March.... but, our little cruise or trip to the Bahamas will just have to wait a little longer.

Oh, and Gracie took this picture for us! I think she did pretty good.

This year we decorated a lunch bag and used it all week to stuff Valentine's in for our family. The kids have never ate their breakfast faster then they did this morning! They couldn't wait to see what treats were awaiting them!


Happy Valentine's Day!

Wrapping up the Downstairs... and some other stuff...

Today I'm gonna finish showing you around the downstairs of our house. For obvious reasons I'm leaving out pictures of the bathrooms, because well... we all know what a bathroom looks like. Just imagine a pretty shower curtain and some colorful bath rugs and vwa-la, you have our bathrooms!

So, here we have the living room (as we call it). Our house was built in the 1930's however before we moved in the military hired private contractors to come in and renovate the homes and build additions to them. This room is our addition.

This picture is really crooked... sorry!

You really can't see the kids' bookshelf, but it's there in the corner behind their table along with their mega blocks and remote control dinosaur.

And our master bedroom. This house has a split floor plan so, we snooze downstairs and the kids are all tucked away upstairs. I have to say that we have always had really good size master bedrooms regardless of where we have lived... it's been awesome. However, our bedroom now is the smallest room in the house. And I can't complain because it just gives me much less room to store or "conveniently" hold onto things... you know what I'm talking about, you do it too! However we still have a large walk-in-closet (which houses Bryant's dresser, because it doesn't fit in the bedroom) and a very nice sized master full bathroom.

OK, enough of that! Now, for the past week we have been snowed in. Bryant hasn't worked since last Friday and this weekend is a 4 day weekend for him too! So, once roads were opened and we could venture out, we did... and we did this today! Bryant headed to the gym and the kids and I met with a friend and her little boy for some play time and lunch. It was so nice to be able to actually go somewhere!!

The Den...

The Den is what we are currently calling this room, for lack of a better name. Floor plan wise, this is the "living room".... but if we call it that then the kids run into the "family room". I like it as the napping room myself! Whatever it officially is, it is the room that is not complete. The rocker will go into Eli's room and that corner will have a sitting chair, end table and lamp... not to mention I need some pillar candles on the mantle and some more sepia pictures on the walls. But, it is a work in progress... expect to see some updated photos of this room in the future.

Another Snowy Day...

Well, today was a snow day for our family. Church was cancelled and all there was to do this afternoon was to play outside! Enjoy our snowy day pictures.

Of course, you can't play outside without a little snow ball fight.

And before heading in, the kids warmed up (by the dryer vent!)...

And here is our house... look how tall that snow is to the kids.

Welcome to Our Home...

Now if you were to really come to our house, then the first thing you would see would obviously be the house... right?! Well, today it is snowing a lot and I am not about to go outside and take a picture of my house. So, here is the neighbors across the street. It looks identical to ours only the floor plan is switched left to right. Oh, and here's our snow too!

Now, come on in. We enter through the back door and into our kitchen. So, today you are getting some kitchen pictures and dining room too. We've completely changed the color scheme by purchasing new curtains and throw rugs. Our walls are all white, all the time! And they will stay that way... otherwise we have to repaint them back to white when we move out... and I'm not into that! On a side note, Nathan expressed today that he prefers long curtains that go all the way down... child, you don't get a say.

and yes, the messy fridge picture.... full of magnets, art projects and pictures. What else would you expect on a mom's fridge?!

Thanks for visiting. Tomorrow (hopefully) I'll let you tour some more.

A Little of This and a Little of That and Some Yummy Roast.

It's been a week since I last blogged, and we've just been getting back into the swing of things. Both Nathan and Gracie have had croup, I have had some nasty sinus cold thing going on and with all that we've still been trying to make this house a little more homier.

• Major kudos to Lowe's.... we bought our area carpets there this past week and paid a pretty nice penny. Then the next day I found out that they give 10% military discount ALL the time! So, over the weekend I went back with my receipt and they honored it... and to say thank you to them I bought some more stuff!

• So, finally these white walls have some curtains draped along the windows... now to clean and get you all some pictures. I think that my children have taken over the house because it is a mess lately.

• Gracie showed her mommy side. And no I don't mean the cuddly, loving side that she shows her babies. I'm talking the temper side that I know she got from her mommy... because I surely remember the time when I would loose my temper and throw things. Gracie got mad at Nathan for taking her crackers away from her and picked up my patriotic American Angel and chucked it across the living room, breaking it in half. Her face was an immediate frown.

• And finally, when I was in New York last I attended a Ladies Church function with my mom and got a new cook book as a gift. Bryant is tired of eating the same old every day for lunch and asked me to cook him a roast so that he could take some roast sandwiches to work. So, I tried the new roast recipe out of my new cook book and mmmmmm.... it is good.

New Old Fashioned Pot Roast

1 chuck roast (4 to 5 pounds)

3 medium- size onion, sliced

2 cups already-peeled baby carrots

8 medium sized potatoes, peeled and quartered

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves or 1 tablespoon dried rosemary

Mix ketchup, vinegar, water, Worcestershire, and salt in small bowl. Place roast and vegetables in 5- quart or larger slow cooker. Pour sauce mixture over roast and vegetables and sprinkle with rosemary. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 6 hours.

**** I only used 1/2 of a large sweet onion, and did not use potatoes and carrots since we wanted to shred this and use it for sandwiches. I also cut back my rosemary, to 1/2 tablespoon for dried rosemary (our preference).****