A little before and after

We've been in this house for a year and a half now, and I can't say that anything is totally finished. It is definitely a work in progress, but looking at pictures like these are good because it reminds me of how much we've already done. Here we have our master bedroom on move-in day. That carpet went away right after these pictures were taken, and the wall paper border (of a man fly fishing) went away shortly there after. My dad laid the bamboo floor in this room about a year ago, and since then we have painted and slowly been adding to it.

Here it is today. Some IKEA, some Craig's List, some thrift store...the bed is the only thing we really spent much money on.  A couple more things to do in here. Get rid of that horrid ceiling fan (although we need a ceiling fan to keep it cool so we'll have to replace it with something not so dated), a rug to go under the couch, and some art for the walls. I'm hoping to get this all finished sometime fairly soon so we can check this room off of our list.

Fun in the sun

Feeling better

Poor Eden has had a tough week first with strep and then she had hand, foot, mouth disease. She was pretty miserable, but is thankfully feeling better now.

 This is a classic Eden look right here...

  {fake} sleeping

Birthday continued...

I was planning to have wrap up Alena's birthday stuff today with these pictures and pictures of her playing at the park with her friends, which was her birthday celebration of choice. Unfortunately, we've had to postpone the party due to Eden having strep. Hopefully it'll happen next week instead. 

Alena on the morning of her birthday, "Mommy, now that I'm 5 you won't believe all the things that I can do!" 

How old are you today? 5

What is your favorite color? pink
What is your favorite food? macaroni and cheese
What is your favorite book? Fancy Nancy
What do you want to be when you grow up? a firefighter
Where is your favorite place to eat out? Chillis
What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? go take walks
What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? sit down and read books
What is the best thing about having Mya for a sister? she gives me things under my pillow
What is the best thing about having Gabe for a brother? he plays with me
What is the best thing about having Eden for a sister? playing a game with her
What is the best thing about having Laney for a sister? she can crawl
What is your favorite thing to do with your friends? play on the playground
What can't you wait to do when you get bigger? go to school
Where is your favorite place to visit? Grandmama and Grandaddy's
What do you love about going to Mathu and Pathu's? eating there
What do you love about going to Grandmama and Grandaddy's? sleeping in our own bedroom
What is your favorite thing to play? Princesses
What thing do you most dislike doing? my chores
What is your favorite part of the day? jumping on the trampoline
What would you do if you could stay up all night? read books
Where would you go if you could go anywhere in the world? to Toys r Us
What makes you happy? when my sisters play with me
What makes you sad? when my brother doesn't want me in his room
What do you wish you could do? climb a tree
What made this the best birthday ever? eating cupcakes

9 months

 

See those 2 little teeth? I think (although I'm far too lazy to drag out the baby books and check) that this is the earliest any of our kids have gotten teeth. Eden was well over a year old before she had any. 

 Also feel the need to add that Miss Shaggy Hair here does most of the time have a hair bow in.  Just didn't make it in for these pictures. 

First and Last

First day of 2011-2012 school year

 

Last day of 2011-2012 school year

 

First day of 2011-2012 school year

 

Last day of 2011-2012 school year

 

First day of 2011-2012 school year

 

Last day of 2011-2012 school year

Five

 

Happy birthday to our Alena!

Legoland

On our last day in FL, we headed to Legoland and enjoyed a day of rides and marveling at what can be built out of simple blocks. We opted to do Legoland over one day at Disney for several reasons, and I think it was the right decision. Our kids were the perfect ages for this; Alena was able to ride everything, and even Eden enjoyed many rides. We had a great day, and left exhausted!

Enjoying sunny Florida

A school day they'll never forget!

Read this to find out who stopped by the kid's tutorial on Monday. They were quite excited as you might imagine.  

The summer buzz

 Somewhere along the way we had this:

Gabe - 4 years old. I always loved this haircut.

 And now we have this:

 Gabe - 8 1/2 years old. I love this haircut too; mostly because I love the boy.