This Is What Happens...

This is what happens when I sit down for a moment to eat some cereal for breakfast. This is what happens when I hear my daughter begin to rummage through the pantry around the corner and I choose to let her be, because after all, she does this a lot, as she likes to play with the boxes that are sitting on the pantry floor. This is what happens when I allow the pantry goodies to occupy her for a couple of minutes so that I can enjoy my cereal. And this is what happens when I decide to check on her because things suddenly get eerily quiet...

Dump Truck Drivin'...

Now here's a game they both can enjoy...

Mason even gets a push from Ellie!

This game of hauling each other around in the dump truck entertained them both for a long time! Mason was so amazed that Ellie was "strong" enough to push him, that he couldn't stop laughing (I guess that's the magic of wheels!) Ellie likes to play this game solo as well. The down side--every time she hits a wall, she has a mini meltdown because she can't get the truck turned back around to go the other way!

The New 'Do...

I love my daughter's hair! It's so fluffy and light...and a bit unruly. But this morning when she awoke with bed head, the sight of her hair reminded me of a certain 80's band:

Does anyone else think she could be the front man for A Flock of Seagulls?

Goodbye 1972...

As many of you know, when we moved here, we bought an older home--built in 1972 to be exact. It was definitely a fixer-upper, as it was dirty and completely outdated in so many ways. During the first months of us living here we painted the entire interior of the house; replaced most of the flooring; replaced kitchen sink, stove, and countertops; replaced bathroom countertops, faucets, and toilets; painted interior doors and changed all doorknobs, as well as every drawer pull and cabinet handle in the house; added a french door, ceiling fans, and replaced every light fixture, and the list goes on....

A couple of years later, the one thing that had yet to be updated were the "gorgeous" (I say sarcastically) wooden arches that hung above the bathroom vanities...accompanied by the sounds of the melodious, humming fluorescent lights which adorned our bathrooms. I mean, these things just screamed 70's!!! I tried to decorate the bathroom and add pretty knick-knacks, hoping to drown out these huge wooden fixtures, but no matter what I did, these "beauties" just stood out like a sore thumb...an extremely sore, aching thumb. Since Matthew is so handy, and has done most of our home updates himself, I'd been harassing him to remove these dandy pieces of decor for quite a while now. But since the project would be such a huge endeavor, it was put off several times. But this past week, when I brought it up to Matthew again, he was on board! The next thing I know, he's up on a ladder with a hammer and crow bar ripping the 1972 out of the walls! (Did I mention how great it is to have a handy hubby!) I'm so impressed with his work and just had to show it off. And by the way, he completed this project in both bathrooms in less than 5 days!

Here is the lovely "before":


He ripped out the light, as well as the big block of wall that was attached to it!


Here is his finished project--Oh yes, and did I mention how great it is to have a handy husband?!

Memory Lane...

Last month, on our wedding anniversary, I wanted to post some pictures of Matthew and me throughout the years, but because we don't own a scanner, I had to omit pictures from our younger years together. (We met in the youth group at church in junior high, and began dating toward the end of high school.) Well recently we visited our parents, and since they have scanners, I was able to dig up a few old pictures of us.

Ahhh, who doesn't remember the good ol' high school prom:


On the bus at our church youth camp. And no, this wasn't a junior high camp...we are actually both 19 in this picture!


This picture was taken sometime during our early college years. We dated long-distance three out of the four years of college.


Here we are 13 years (8 years of marriage) and 2 kids later--we've come a long way baby!

Sister Hurdles...

Look out! Here comes Brother!


Will he make it???


Success!


(Mason played this game with Ellie over and over the other day. Every time she saw him running toward her, she would laugh so hard. Then when he'd jump over her head, and she'd turn and see him on the other side of her, she would fall over in the grass laughing hysterically! This seems to be the crux of their relationship--Mason doing risky stunts involving Ellie, and Ellie thinking everything he does is hilarious!)

My Sister And Me...

Throughout July, I got to have several visits with my sister and niece. It was lots of fun to catch up with her and get to see the kids play together. We stayed up late one night looking through old pictures to find some of Matthew and me when we were younger. But we came across many of ourselves in the process. Here are some pictures of my big sister and me over the years:





The two of us nearly a decade ago. (I purposely skipped over the junior high and high school years. I wanted to spare myself the humiliation of our 80's "fem mullets", braces, and big bangs). :)


This picture was taken just after Matthew and I were married
eight years ago.


The two of us today, 31 years after the first picture was taken. Emma and Mason took this picture of us last week. It's strange to look at our younger pictures above, and then have our own children, at the same ages, taking pictures of us now.