Happy Tuesday!

I just have to say that this whole blogging adventure has turned out to be really fun. It has been a great creative outlet although my abilities with the computer leave my blog falling short of how I would love for it to look! I have loved keeping in touch with friends and meeting new friends in blog world. I really appreciate every one's comments and friendship!

I took a finished picture of our front door since I had promised that so long ago. Notice how the wreath I made covers the glass so nicely....now I don't have to have so many nightmares of a strange man looking at me through the glass! Actually I am getting used to the idea of it and it is amazing how many houses have glass in their front doors when you drive around and look.
By the way, I've gotten a little addicted to this softening effect on my photos. It makes things so much prettier then they actually are....my husband thought this effect made it look out of focus! Men! I wish I could walk around in real life with this softening effect going on, especially in the morning before I put my makeup on!
This is the area above my stove in the kitchen. It is one of the areas in my kitchen that puts a smile on my face....plus if it didn't the sign reminds me! When we bought our house we took a few cupboard doors off to have some open shelving. These are the original cabinets in our 1940's era house so they needed a little cheering up with fun colors and pretty flowery trays! I love my kitchen because it is quaint and cottagey but we still dream of fixing it up a little more one day. We just have to be careful we don't over improve because our little house isn't worth all that much!

We are having a pretty quiet week - we need to try and sell our broken down car...who will want it? I think I will have to advertise that someone could take it for parts too. I hope we can get something out of it!

I am thankful to God this week - two of my husband's cousins (they are sisters) were in accidents this past week. One was hit by a bike while walking and the other totaled her car. I'm thankful because both of them came out okay, a little banged up but safe. It reminds me how quickly our lives can change and to be thankful for God's protection -AND to appreciate the time God gives us with our loved ones.

On that note I'll sign off and wish everyone a happy Tuesday.

Just Playing

A gal at another blog I like to read always has these cool soft edges on her pictures. It makes them look so pretty! I asked her how she did it and she has Adobe photoshop. Another gal commented that there is this free website where you can edit photos - www.picnik.com. So I went for a little visit and played around. This is an example of what I was able to do. I don't know that I love the looks of it all but fun to have a FREE editing tool to play with beyond what my computer does!On another note, my hubby finally took the bug encrusted plastic off of our front door windows yesterday! It is like the heavens have opened for us to see all it's glory - okay so that is a stretch!. It is just so crystal clear and beautiful after almost two months of looking through murky plastic film. Plus now I will really be able to see those pumpkin snatchers and they will really be able to see me. On a sad note, we will now have to close the bathroom door every time we use the facilities as the front door looks down the hallway and straight into the bathroom. (Our children are still young enough that it is not traumatizing for them to see us use the bathroom.)

I cleaned off the front porch again last night. It seems like I just decorated it for Fall but since my pumpkins were taken, my mums were dead and everything was covered in leaves I decided I needed to do a little rearranging. I pulled the droopy leaves off of my Kale and moved it onto the chair by the door and put my dried rosehips on the other chair. I also finally took down my dead hanging basket. It looks so bare now but so much cleaner. My steps are totally empty and look horrible. I painted my concrete stairs and porch this summer with floor and porch paint and it has worn horribly. It is stained and dirty. I'm really disappointed with how it has worn - does anyone have any advice on what would work better next time?

I hope everyone has a happy Sunday!

Just another reason I hate Halloween.

Besides the fact that I'm just not into all the scary stuff that goes with Halloween, I HATE that people use it as liscense to do mean, stupid and really - illegal things. What is this I'm ranting about you might ask? Someone stole my pumpkins right off my front porch and smashed one in my driveway and one in my street. In the middle of the evening - with house lights blazing - and a car out front! Not like my pumpkins are so precious to me (although I did spend money on them and they were on MY property). I guess it really bothers me that some punk was right outside my front door (my new door with windows in it that kind of freaks me out anyway) while I was in my living room alone with the kids.

Okay, so I wrote this earlier today and I am a little more over it now...sorry for the rant.

I am in love with my new car. I created reasons to go out and drive it today. When Greg got home we took it to his parents to show them. The kids fell asleep and it was dark and cozy and we were listening to great music....I wanted him to keep driving. I think I like it too because right now it is clean and my house is not. I am going to be gracious and let Greg take it tomorrow morning too (he has this class he is taking for work one Friday and Saturday a month). I'm sure I won't get my act together to leave the house tomorrow morning anyway and having it sit in the driveway would just be selfish! So I am really thankful for our new car.

My blogs are not going to be very exciting for awhile since my camera is broken. I don't know about any of the few that might read this but I prefer blogs with a lot of pictures. And since I am not the greatest writer out there I think my blog needs pictures.

I saw this idea on a great blog I love to read and I am going to copy her. She listed five things she could do well and five she couldn't do well. Kind of fun...join me!

Five things I think I do well...

1. Clean - (Mom don't laugh) My house doesn't normally reflect this but my Mom really taught me how to clean well. When I clean I do a good job. I comet my sinks and dust very well amongst other things (this was once an argument between my husband and I when we were dating - he didn't see the point in dusting the living room when my kitchen was a mess).

2. Tweeze - Yes, I know this is strange but I have certain people in my life whose brows I tweeze. I have also been known to tweeze between my husband's brows a time or two.

3. Paint - I have painted late at night, in my ninth month of pregnancy, while watching two kids...you get the picture. I paint walls, furniture, stairs, ceilings. I think I might be a little compulsive but I think I'm good at painting.

Shoot, this is harder then I thought.

4. Worry - Yeah, I know this isn't one to aspire to or be proud of and we know what God says about it. It is hard to think of five good things I'm good at though. I've moved on to the bad things I'm good at. Anyway, been a worrywart my entire life.

5. Reading fast - This is a really useful talent, especially when you have the problem of not being able to put down a book until it is finished or if you have two children under the age of four.

Five things I don't do well....

1. Laundry - If I didn't include this I know my Mom would comment. It is her personal mission to catch me up on my laundry every time she visits.

2. Feeding my family balanced and healthy meals - I am not a born cook. My gene pool is full of fantastic, creative, gourmet cooks but something happened with me...

3. Keeping my house clean - I know this seems to contradict #1 in my "do good" list but believe me - it is possible!

4. Drive in big cities - I am getting better with this one. When I first moved to the medium sized city I live in now the freeways flipped me out. Now I am just fine. I still won't drive in the really big city my sissy lives in though. Never have and don't know if I ever will.

5. Sports - I think this stems from two facts. I am one of the least competitive people I know and I hate exercise. Enough said.

I think this posting is long enough but that was kind of fun!

Does God have good timing or what?

So we have been driving the same two cars since we were married six years ago. One is fifteen years old the other is eleven. The eleven year old is our "good" car that Greg lets me cart the children around in while he is a good sport and drives the oldie.

We have been dreaming about the day we would be able to get something better for so long! Finally last Saturday as we were out getting our flu shots (fun family outing!) we decided to at least go to our bank and talk to them about an auto loan. I quickly jumped on Craigslist and started looking at Wheel Deals since I now had the go ahead. We test drove something on Monday that was overpriced but really nice.

In the meantime Greg went out of town and took the "good" car because his car just isn't safe to travel in anymore. I drove the kids and I to our Mommy/book group in the old car yesterday and to their Grandparents last night so we could test drive another car. As I was driving I was commenting to my Mom on the phone that it felt like it was going to break down on me...lo and behold it did! Greg thinks the power steering column went out. I am just so thankful I was not on the freeway with the kids when it happened. So Greg picked me up from the broken down car and we went to test drive a much nicer car. I had just tried to fill the car up with gas before it broke down too and I let the pump automatically fill up but it only filled up halfway. I think God was protecting me from blowing too much money on gas for a car that was about the break!

We think we are going to buy the car we test drove last night. Exciting! It is actually from this decade, has decent miles and is a good price!

On another note - we had our pictures taken by this great photographer a couple of weeks ago. She came to our house and was so nice to work with. She just posted our photos at http://www.tinyfeetphotography.com/Henson/G01.htm. They turned out so well. I'm not putting any new photos on this posting since my camera is broken. So go view these and enjoy!

So this is a little add on since I posted this....we bought the car...should pick it up this afternoon. My hubby sent me a link and a friend's password to look it up on Consumer Reports. Bad, bad. bad. I did do research, I did! I guess we can just pray their findings don't apply to our car.

A week in pictures......

We had a busy week! Auntie Nicole and cousin Peyton came to visit while Ian was in town for a conference. We shopped Monday through Thursday. By Thursday we were dragging through the mall (we did have two pregnant gals and three small children!) I am now convinced I need a minivan if not just to fit everyone when family comes to town. Here is a picture of the kiddos in Auntie Nic's nice car. When we went shopping in Grandma's car guess who was sitting in the tiny third row climbing in through the trunk? Ummhmm....but worth it to all ride together.

Addison did very well with two boys this week. Peyton was very sweet with her but sometimes I think he terrorized her. She did maintain her cuteness though! Oh - I think today is the day I will officially say she is crawling. She doesn't get too far at once but she is moving those legs! The boys were able to take a lot of baths together...Eli got a new "dirty dogs" bath toy that he was very into and also experience his first bath time mohawk! Maggie the Labradoodle also came for a visit. Here is Addison checking her out. The boys watching Maggie from the bathroom window on their last day together. Aren't they cute?

Off to Grandma's house we.......went!

We got back yesterday from a five day visit to my parent's house. We went down for the weekend because the guys had tickets to the WSU football game. Auntie Nicole, Uncle Ian and cousin Peyton drove all the way across the state to join in on the fun!

The kids and I stayed an extra two days while Greg headed out of town for work....ah, vacation! (I don't mean from Greg! Being at my parent's house is always a vacation!) I have help with the kids, my Mom makes incredible meals that I don't have anything to do with!

Here is a cute pic of the cousins before they said their goodbyes.
Little Addie discovered Grandma's fruit bowl.
On Tuesday we went out to this great little farm. They have U-Pick flowers in the summer and in the Fall she makes beautiful wreathes from what she has on her farm. My Mom and I took the kids out and Jane (the very nice lady who owns the farm) showed me the ropes and let me make a wreath of my own.

This was a pumpkin display she had at the farm. I thought it was so beautiful I took a picture so I could copy her! She said she put moss between the pumpkins so they wouldn't rot and the berries wrapped around them are rosehips. I love this!
This was her cute pumpkin stand.....she had so many different kinds of pumpkins...really fun!
Here are Grandma and the kiddos waiting patiently while I make my wreath.
Jane's wreath (which I probably should have just bought!)My wreath that needs a few adjustments and fillers!
I think I will hang it on my front door to add to my Fall decor.
Thanks Jane! It was so much fun!

On the drive home yesterday we stopped at this awesome store - The Hurd Mercantile. It is in this cute little town about a half an hour from home. I could have spent a lot of time there and a lot of money. Really cool home decor items, antique, new...you name it. I managed to find a "Welcome to our Cottage" sign I will hang out front and a squatty little turquoise Ball Mason jar! Fun, fun!

Happy Anniversary!

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our


Our house it has a crowd
There's always something happening
and it's usually quite loud
Our Mum she's so house-proud
Nothing ever slows her down
And a mess is not allowed


Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our
Okay, so not all of the lyrics in that song by Madness are true....


The reason I am serenading my house is because it was exactly a year ago today that we first saw her.


Greg and I had about given up on our search for our first home. The houses in our price range were either disgusting or in sketchy neighborhoods. It had been a good month since we had looked at anything and I had resigned myself to the idea of staying in our tiny apartment until we could afford something better. I really do have to give God credit because He made everything fall into place so perfectly. Our realtor called us up and told us there was a house in our price range in a pretty good neighborhood that we just had to see. Greg couldn't see it with me but my Mom was in town for my ultrasound (more on that later) so she came with me.


We saw the house and even though there was faux, faux, faux everywhere (on the walls that is) we knew there was so much potential. The house had only been on the market for a few days but someone else had already made an offer. That was great because it pushed us into quickly making an offer as well. As you know we ended up with an accepted offer two days after we saw the house. We were able to close in a month and we had a month of being able to work on it before we had to be out of our apartment. God made the timing perfect and gave me the "cottage" I had always dreamed of owning.


I wish, wish, wish I had taken "before" pictures of my house! What was I thinking? Anyway, you'll have to trust me that it is a big transformation. I am grateful for my house today - a dream that at times seemed like it would never happen.


What a difference a year makes.....

This is the other reason I am celebrating an anniversary today! (Much more important then my house by the way!)

A year ago today we found out we were having a girl. The ultrasound picture is of Addie's cute little face and the other picture is her exactly a year later. She's in her "Where's Waldo" sweater on my "Where's Waldo" rug. I am super grateful she is in my life. She is my little sunshine. I love her so much......

Oh Happy Day!

Today was a happy day after I checked my mailbox.....check out this oh so cute bag my friend Michelle made me for my birthday! She is a whiz with the sewing machine (I am so jealous) and she whipped me up this reversible shoulder bag. One side is a dark chocolate brown corduroy and the other is this cute floral print. She even included a little change purse - she is so thoughtful! Thank you, Thank you Michelle!
Today is also the day my childhood friend Shandra is getting married.....in Mexico! Happy Wedding Day Shandra & Tyler! We wish we could have been there but a baby who won't take a bottle just didn't make it easy.This is Shandra & Tyler at the coast in May - we were so happy to get to meet Tyler! They are a great couple!

Oh by the way, the furnace guy came yesterday...an hour earlier then scheduled and my house was a mess. Alert the media, the world knows I am a slob! (Yes, miraculously I survived...he told me he had five kids..all little. I figured his house couldn't be too tidy either!)