A little home decorating

We decided to do a little painting this weekend. We painted our dining room and living room. For the dining room, we painted the top 1/2 blue, Paul put up a chair rail and then the bottom is white. He's going to add those "boxes" made from wood molding in a couple of weeks.

For the living room, I have always wanted to do a dark red, but have been too chicken. Seriously, I have been debating about this for 6 years. Well, I finally decided to just go for it and I'm so happy we did - I LOVE it! I think it's my favorite room in the house now. I used to hate our couch and love seat (the whole room used to just be different versions of tan), but now the color gives them a whole new life - which Paul is happy about (so we don't have to spend money on new furniture).

Here are some pictures of our "new" rooms:

This is a collage of pictures I had done for a photography challenge on a scrapbook website I visit. I just thought it looked cool, so I thought I'd share.

Big Boy Joe

Joey's been asking every once in a while to go on the potty. We try, but nothing ever happens.......until today!! When I changed him this morning I noticed he had a dry diaper, so I asked if he wanted to go on the potty. He said yes and a few minutes later we had success!! I know we still a long way to go before he's potty trained - and honestly, I'm not sure I'm totally up for it yet myself (ha ha), but at least we have a start.

Alli Loses her 1st Tooth

Alli lost her first tooth tonight - finally! That little bugger has been hanging by a thread for quite a while now. She refused to pull it out or let us near it, for fear we would pull it out. Somehow it must have gotten caught on her towel after her bath and out it came. We put it in her special tooth fairy bag and put it right under her pillow. She's excited about her 1st visit from the tooth fairy tonight. Here's a picture of her new smile.

So Proud!!

So, back in August, about a week or so before school started, our district had a bus safety program for all the kids going into kindergarten. When we were there, they mentioned that they were having a coloring contest and that there would be a winner from each school. So, the next day, Alli worked on coloring the picture and we mailed it back to the transportation department.

The Friday of Labor Day weekend, we had a message that Alli had won the contest for her school and that there would be a special ceremony in the middle of September. Well, today was the big day! They had all the winners come down to the district office where they had all the winning artwork displayed. After taking pictures, they had juice and cookies for everyone. It was really sweet and we were so proud of our little Alli.

Here are a couple of the pictures I took.

School, soccer and dance

After a one year hiatus, Em and I are back on the soccer field. After playing soccer with Uncle Ryan, Tyler, Chi Chi and Alli, Em decided she wanted to try playing soccer again. I resumed my role as facilitator, helping out an old neighbor and friend Mike Ramsey. So far, we played two weeks and are having a great time. Emily has learned to dribble the ball very well and looks to be a future Abby Wambach.



This week Allison and Emily started dance classes again. When getting the dance shoes ready to go, we realized both the girls, especially Alli, have grown a few shoe sizes. Emily's class this year is tap, jazz and ballet - she really liked the addition of jazz. Alli's class is tap and ballet again and she was excited to see she knew most everyone in her class this year.


I can't leave out the little man. Joe and Mommy are having a great time "hanging out" while the big girls are at school. Jen got a bike trailer and she and Joey have been going for bike rides or walks every morning enjoying being outside as much as possible before the cold weather hits.

1st Day of School

Today was the 1st day of school - Emily started 2nd grade and Alli started kindergarten. They were both SO excited - I think I was the only one that was a little nervous. Emily (who is NOT a morning person) was up with her alarm, dressed and ready to go out to the bus with 20 minutes to spare. I sure wish that would continue every day!

Alli had a great 1st day and said she wished it was longer (it's 1/2 day and she's only there for about 2 1/2 hours). She made a new friend and can't wait for tomorrow. Emily was excited to see all of her friends again. The only thing that was disappointing was her teacher is ill and out until October - she said her substitute was very nice.

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls this morning.

End of Summer Pool Parties

To celebrate the last day of summer vacation and the beautiful weather we're having, the kids and I thought a couple of pool parties were in order. In the morning we had all of our friends from MOMS Club over - the big kids had a blast jumping in and playing around in the deep end and the smaller kids hung out in the shallow end. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. I'm hoping to make this an annual tradition.

In the afternoon, we had some of the neighbors and their kids over for swimming. Emily is the oldest on the street, so the playing was much more calm this afternoon. Since our neighborhood is still pretty new, it was a nice way to get to know some of the girls a little better.

So, now the kids are all bathed and in bed and excited about their first day tomorrow. I've got to admit, I'm a little sad that summer is over, but I'm happy to see them so excited about getting back. I'm also a little nervous about having to get both girls ready by 7:30 am every morning to catch the bus. Wish me luck :)

Summer Vacation Highlights

So, it's Labor Day and there is officially one more day left to the kids summer vacation, so I thought I would finally post an update.

I can't believe how fast this summer has gone. I remembering being worried on Day 1 as I kept hearing how bored they were and what were we going to do.....at that point, we made a list of things we wanted to do this summer, so if we ever had a time when we didn't know what to do, we could look back and get some ideas. I'm happy to say, we got through pretty much everything.

July Highlights:

• 4th of July weekend there was a barbeque at the Klix/Allen cottage. It was a gorgeous day and Emily tried jet-skiing. Of course, she LOVED it!! There was also the annual party for our friend's daughter's birthday at Keuka Lake. Another gorgeous day, with swimming in the lake and lots of fun.





• We did our 1st annual cousins camping trip. My family was going to have a picnic in Stoney Brook, so we decided to camp there for the weekend. Erin, Kory, Kris, Ryan, Donna and all the kids camped together. It started out a little rough - it was pouring rain on the way down and then when we were setting up the tents, Paul realized he didn't have poles for our (brand new, used once) tent. We had told Kris & Ryan they could use our other 4 person tent, but thank goodness Erin & Kory had an extra tent with them so that we were all able to have a a place to sleep. The rest of the weekend went much better. The seven of us had fun hanging out at the campfire after the kids were in bed - we even got a warning from the camp rangers - made this thirty something year old mom feel like a teenager again.
  

• The girls did Vacation Bible School again this year and loved it. They were so disapppointed when it was over after just 1 week. The church really does a nice job putting it together.


• Jen headed to Toledo for a scrapbooking weekend with some friends. We had lots of fun hanging out, shopping and of course, scrapbooking.




• We headed to the Adirondacks with Paul's parents and his sister for a 3 day vacation. Our friend Chris was nice enough to let us use his cabin. The weather wasn't that great, but we did manage to rent a party boat one day and cruise up and down the Fulton Chain of Lakes and do some fishing. Paul and I also took the girls kayaking on this little secluded lake by the cabin. And of course, it wouldn't be a visit to Inlet without a visit to the bears for a picture.

• Paul stayed an extra few days in the Adirondacks for a guys weekend at the cabin. Chris, Rob, Jason, Pete, Todd, Greg and John hung out for the weekend playing golf and kayaking.






• My mom, sister and I went to the American Idol concert again this year. That has become a fun tradition. I loved seeing David Cook.






• I had my first business trip in YEARS. I had to fly to Chicago for some training and was supposed to travel with someone from the office, but at the last minute he couldn't make it. I was so nervous - it had been quite a while since we'd flown anywhere as a family let alone traveled for work. It was a LONG day, but I made it through.
  


• And of course...... lots of swimming

August Highlights

• The girls did an art camp for a week. They love all things arts & crafts, so I knew this would be something they would enjoy and they really did. They got to do painting, make sculptures out of clay, did glass painting, made masks. At the end of every class they got to do face (body) painting. When I would get there, they would both be covered from head to toe with designs.





• W had our annual visit to Faun Lake.
  
  
  


• I had my 2nd business trip - this time to South Bend. I felt a little more comfortable now as I had that first trip under my belt.
  
• Unfortunately, while I was away, I found out my Grandpa Farrell had passed away. He was the biggest Notre Dame fan I know, so I felt some comfort in being in South Bend when I heard the news. After getting back from training, Paul, the kids and I went down to Long Island for the wake and funeral.
  
• One good thing from this time, was that my brother Brian and his family came from Wisconsin for the funeral and ended up staying at my parent's house for an extended visit for over a week. The kids had fun playing with their cousins. It was nice being able to visit with them - it had been quite a while.

• We made a trip to the Rochester Museum & Science Center. The girls had both been there on field trips last year and wanted to go again. We had so much fun and didn't even get to see all of the museum, so we'll definitely being going back.


• Seabreeze - summer wouldn't be complete without a trip to Seabreeze. This was Joey's first time and he loved all the rides. Emily was big enough now to go on all the rides and, of course, being the dare devil that she is, went on everything - roller coaster, upside down rides, you name it. Paul and I are trying to figure out where she comes from since neither of us were like that at her age (who am I kidding, I'm still not like that).


• And we've been closing up our last weekend of summer with a trip to the zoo, a Red Wings game and a the Klix / Allen cottage for Uncle Charlie's Birthday.
  

It was a fun-filled summer with lots of great memories - I just wish it hadn't gone by so fast!!