First Snow

Wow, 3 new posts in one day. All the fun seems to happen in the same week.

We had a little snow fall last night, so I pulled out the winter clothes so Eleanor could have her first real snow experience. It was one of those beautiful snow falls where it sticks to the grass but not to the road and it is still warm enough outside to enjoy playing in the snow. Most of the time it is too cold here to find any enjoyment in being outside once winter really hits. There was lots of fun to be had this morning though. Eleanor was eating snow all morning and was loving it. . . until this mouthful.

Halloween Wreath

I had fun making this tulle Halloween wreath last night while the girls were sleeping. I sat in Aaron's big comfy chair, watched a chic flick and made a wreath. . . yes, Aaron is still in Georgia.
I tried to get a close-up but it doesn't really show what I wanted it to show. I put about 15 pieces of black sparkly tulle that is a little stiffer in the wreath at random places. It gives it a little pizazz. :)

Four!

Penelope is 4 now. I can't beleive it! She is such a big girl. We had a couple of different celebrations for her since Aaron was out of town for her actual birthday.

We had a little birthday party for Penelope to open family gifts on Sunday before Aaron left for Georgia. Aunt Penny's gift was, as always, a big hit, but Eleanor decided the baby lotion was hers and would not give it back to Penelope for a long time. We also had a little pancake celebration on Penelope's actual birthday. FYI: if you put candles into hot pancakes, wax will stay in the pancake. :) On Saturday we had a combined birthday party for Penelope and Kael (a friend of Penelope's). I decorated the garage, in true Grandma Cox style, and we had the party out there. This was an excellent place to have 20 or so little kids with candy and cupcakes. It also provided easy access to the backyard, where we had a costume parade and a ghost pinata. Good thing the weather was mild. I made homemade rootbeer with dry ice. Always a fun Halloween treat.

My cute cowgirl and garden gnome, all ready for the party. Penelope taking a whack at the ghost pinata. The pinata held up pretty good through all of the little kids but once cousins Nicolas and Alex got to it, it was all over.

The loot.

The Cry

I was impressed with the speed I moved with last night (being 6 months pregnant and a little awkward) when I heard Eleanor fall out of bed. I can usually get her calmed down before she wakes Penelope up but this was a different cry. Isn't it awful when you can't make the pain go away? So we had a quick little trip to the ER to confirm my suspicions that Eleanor had broken her clavicle. The problem with a broken clavicle is there really is no fix. Just 6 weeks of healing time in an uncomfortable figure 8 brace or a sling. She is ok as long as she doesn't move too much, but how do you not move too much when you are 23 months old? Poor babe.

Parade of Homes

So, I got a call the other day from one of the hospital auxiliary ladies. Their major fundraiser every year is a Parade of Homes. They charge for admission to go into 5 different homes in the Shelby area and take a look at what people have done to fix up their houses. Really, really fun to go get ideas from the other houses, not so fun when you are the one being asked to have your home as one of the homes they will show. I guess the word got out about our kitchen remodel so on Sept. 26th our home will be on the parade of homes.
With only a month to get everything finished that has been sitting patiently on our "To Do" list for the past year, we have been a little frantic. We have been painting outdoor trim and doors, finishing the tile in the kitchen, finishing the crown molding in the kitchen and living room, reorganizing the shed and garage, painting the playhouse trim and door, finishing the porch roof. . . Do you get the idea that we had a lot of unfinished projects? Well, on top of that, we decided, or maybe I should say that I gently suggested to Aaron, that we do some other projects as well. Why not use the deadline to get things done right?
So instead of forking over $1600 plus shipping and handling for these cute Pottery Barn beds, I found some plans at knock-offwood.com and Aaron built them. So for less than $300, we now have some really cute beds for Penelope and Eleanor with lots of extra storage options. Thanks Aaron!

A hand-me-down from a friend that I repainted. Perfect for holding little shoes.I repainted the dresser to match the beds. We replaced the old ceiling fan in our master bedroom with a new, nicer one. The problem is that my wheat-colored paint turned to mustard yellow in the new lighting, so I naturally had to repaint. And while I was at it, I decided that the room really needed some architectural detail. It already had the two chair rails on top, (which always bugged me because I don't know why they put them in and I didn't like them) so we added the rectangles to the bottom and repainted the room. The rectangles are hard to see in the pictures, sorry.

I really need a pretty blue accent pillow. Oh darn, more shopping. :) (Aaron made the bed by the way, so I wasn't about to complain about it being a little sloppy.)

I think the room is looking really pretty. It is much better in person. And anything would have been better than mustard.

Aaron installed a new chandelier in the kitchen. Please ignore the library books on the table and the shoes on the floor. :)

There are lots of other little things that we have done that I haven't taken pictures of, so I guess you will just have to come and visit to see the rest.

Here are some other random pictures I thought I would include.

We have to enjoy every day that there is not snow on the ground. Rain or not.The girls love their playhouse and honestly, who wouldn't? So many hours of enjoyment from left over wood and supplies from our shed project. Look how tall our corn is! Can you believe it? Now we just need one or two more weeks without a freeze and we will have yummy corn straight from our garden. The only problem is that is has been awfully cold and wet. Please, please, please don't freeze

Wish us luck that our stamina holds out and we can get everything finished before the 26th!