I'm famous one more time

this picture has nothing to do with the post, but who posts without a picture?



So back in February of 2009, I wrote in to this amazing interior design blog for some help with my house. I posted about it here. Christine was awesome and gave me great advice, which I didn't exactly follow. Because of that, I never sent in my "after" pictures. I've had some guilt issues about that, as I've continued to follow her blog. And even though I didn't follow her exact advice for me, I did use the advice she gave to others on her blog to help me finish off my living room and kitchen. I finally wrote back in to her and sent her some pictures of my finished room, which she nicely posted on her website. You can check it out here.

Remember those before pictures? How embarassing!!! Somebody needed to slap me - Mom where were you? Seriously.

I didn't realize...

how hard it is to get a house ready to go on the market. Yikes. But here it is. We had pictures taken on Friday, and it should be officially on the mls tomorrow. Also, I realize that it's Easter and we had a little sewing factory set up here until very very late last night. I'd love to post pictures but I don't have any yet. And I was hoping to get some put up tomorrow but Ian's outfit is missing in action (he gets passed around a lot at church and after changing his diaper, Michael didn't put it back on him. "too confusing to figure out" was what he said. Because that's why I stayed up late to finish his little outfit last night, so he could hang out in church in his onesie polo shirt??? Anyway, they are just a little pair of dungarees so I'm not really sure I agree with good old Meeshell). I'm on the hunt for it and as soon as I locate it, I'll get some pictures taken.

In the meanwhile, if you know of anyone who might want a lovely vacation home on the southside of Corpus Christi, send them my way.

Kitchen

kitchen 2
kitchen 3


living room

living room

laundry room

computer room

kid's room

master bedroom

back patio

the potty part that wasn't {warning: gross post below}

I had a really good idea a week ago or so. I decided it was high time for Leah to join the world of big girls and princess panties. Let's be honest, I'm really just growing tired of spending so much hard-earned money on diapers. I mean, there are so many more fun things to buy, right? So, in mentioning that I was planning on doing the potty training thing, a good friend informed me that I just had to have a potty party. "Make it a big deal," she said. Ok, I can do that. We made cupcakes, we bought balloons, we welcomed a lovely little frog potty into our home to live, we even bought the plain (cheaper) panties and convinced Leah that they were really princess panties. The party was to commence at 3pm, after Leah returned from preschool.

It started out very promising, as I pumped her full of juice, soda, chocolate milk, water. Anything to fill her little bladder up. We then took all of her clothes off (I know this sounds weird, but many have informed me that this is how you do it) and waited around. We tried out sitting on the little frog potty, we tried to "go", we even tried to sit on the big potty. No luck. That little frog potty is just as pristine today as the day we brought him home from the store. The highlight of the party was when I looked over and saw a piece of, well, poop on the floor. Who knows how or when it got there (well, I guess I know how, but the question is really how I didn't notice...). It was gross. I ceremoniously cleaned it up and continued to encourage Leah to try to go. No deal. Early evening and one wet carpet spot later, Leah was fighting me to even sit down on the potty. It was at about that moment that I decided we were going back to diapers. I mean, it's pretty lame to have to change diapers, but it's worse to have clean it up off the floor. And while we're on the subject, how come there wasn't any pee next to the poop? I mean, who poops without peeing?? Is that even possible?


So, there was one little guy who really enjoyed the potty party, and more specifically the cupcakes at the potty party. The picture at the top of the post is of Leah's cupcake, barely touched. She was quite ladylike about it. Ian, on the other hand, annihilated his cupcake. He took it in his two fists and went to town. It was impressive. Almost as impressive as Leah's short potty training career. We've put that idea away for another time and another day...

braids braids braids

So, it has been well established in calls to Elizabeth and calls to Mom that Leah's hair needs to be cut. So does little Ian's, but this post has nothing to do with him. Back to the subject at hand. Leah's hair is so long these days that I've been trying to get some more exciting hairstyles going. We tried two french braids for preschool this week. I was quite surprised that Leah sat still for the entire operation.

And in my own defense, I think Leah's head was a bit tilted in this picture. I mean, her braids were crooked but not that crooked. We're going to work on our technique a little bit.

our day at the park

We love the swings!

little teeth

Ian is working on getting his upper front teeth in completely. He's been a bit miserable lately.

That makes all of us miserable in our house.

But he still knows how to have a good time. Especially when peek-a-boo is involved.

just another day at the beach...pool

While the rest of the country is still deciding if it's springtime, we're already enjoying the bright sun and warm weather. We decided to take a little dip in the pool last week.

Ian loved being in the water. I read some advice the other day somewhere that said if you're baby is cranky, put him or her in water. That sure works around here.

Ok, so I know I always act like people who ask me if my children are twins are so silly, but I think this picture makes these two look pretty close in age. I'm sure that will be the case more and more and Ian continues to get bigger and Leah continues to stay the same size (generally).

my little one

I must admit that when I found out that Ian was a little boy during my ultrasound appointment, I cried. I could picture my two little girls in matching dresses with matching hairbows. Not so. I cried. And then I cried more for being a bad mom. I had my heart set on another little girl. I just pictured all the stinky, loud, dirty boys that I had ever seen. As it turns out (months later) I'm in love with my little boy!! He's not stinky or loud or dirty. Well, actually he is all of those things, but I sure don't care. He's my little boy. I was wrong. And I'm so glad to have him!! As far as I'm concerned I could have lots more boys. Just as long as they're not too loud or too stinky, I guess.

more by America

Got some more pictures from America from our spring break photo shoot. Just wanted to post a few more pictures. We're in the midst of getting new carpet, cleaning out three and a half years of junk, and finally getting the garage organized (because that's what you should do when you're getting ready to move...get your house just like you like it. So lame, but what can I say??). Anyway, so I haven't been taking many snapshots of my kids. When my house is all ready (and after the cleaning lady comes on Monday : ) I'm going to take pictures and post them here. When it's all clean and organized, I'm going to be pretty proud.

So, here's a picture of all of the little ones (minus Sebastian who was being a fantastic sport about the whole thing). I love that America brought the lollipops. My kids thought they had died and gone to heaven. And America did a great job!! She's so talented (much more so than she thinks).

These two have really learned to get along and play together much better than they used to. Mia is less of a bully and Leah is less of a wimp (we call it "tender", Leah used to be "tender" alot). I think mother's day out has really toughened her up. Thank goodness. We don't want any mealy mouthed wimpy girls around here!!

So, thanks America for all of your hard work!! America's got more posted over at her blog (http://ririeville.blogspot.com/). Check it out!!