8 Is Super Sonic!

Happy Birthday Corey!


You are such a little card..you make our lives so much more entertaining!
Love you lots big guy!

Demo the Sequel

Soooo....Lucy strikes again!

My dear, sweet, wonderful husband tore off the first piece of paneling only to find this:

The drywall went down to just below where the trim would be....errrrrrrrrrrrr! Then to make matters worse, the "new" drywall was really only patch jobs here and there on the original plaster. Oooops!

Jim was a trooper and started tearing out all the old stuff....except he ran into problems with the corner by our closet: (see the nice bare spot in the corner where ceiling tiles used to be?!?). Now I will have not only new walls, but a new ceiling too!...and a new shower and closet because they never put a real wall in between the closet and the shower, just a rigged piece of paneling that they glued the shower surround to :/

Corey's birthday party is Friday evening...right now our bathroom looks like this:Thank God for my Wonderful Husband, Mendards gift cards and drywall being dirt cheap now that the housing market has tanked!

Demo For the New Year

Now that Christmas crafting is done, it's time to jump back on the remodel wagon.

Jamie's room finally got painted and new carpet installed a couple of weeks ago...it was super cloudy so this picture is blah....it's called battleship gray. We found these vinyl stickers at Target for one of his presents.
Now I just need to paint his bed (and take off the Star Wars stickers), his side table and dresser...then he'll be done forEVER!

The bathroom is what got my attention the other day....I've already started demolition on these disgusting panel walls. I was originally just going to do a drywall fake out like in J's room, but this morning while I was taking out the plastic joint thingies I realized that the goofballs had hung new drywall AND then nailed the plastic yuck on top. Sooooo...once Jim gets home with the straight bar (I don't know the technical term for it..you know, the crowbar that's just straight)...I'm very carefully taking down our molding and then ripping out the panels.I need to find a new vanity and that tiny mirror needs to go...and those lights (shudder)....the only good thing about this room is that it's HUGE...90 square feet worth of flooring to replace!!!! Not sure what we will do for that flooring...the house is older then dirt so ceramic is out of the question on this old bowing floor...maybe vinyl or....laminate. Has anyone had experience with laminate in the bathroom? I kind of like the idea of keeping everything that's not carpeted "wood".

The shower HAS TO GO!!! I think at one point this was some sort of scene with bamboo? So gross! The only thing in here that I like is this shower curtain! (ikea special) The hooks were from Walmart on clearance for $2......ehh..they work.

Day After Christmas Specials

We braved a snow storm to trek into town to hit up the Target (sorry if you're confused by the ikea bag...it's a good size to toss the ornaments into while gluing on the tops). Unloop a coat hanger, carefully string the large and medium balls. As you go, fill in wholes by hot gluing the small balls into the spaces. I used 1 box of 40 large balls, 1 tube of 10 medium balls (the stripey ones) and one box of 25 small balls....again, ALL are plastic! I ended up paying $16 for all of them.

My mom got the blue and silver ones. She used one box of 40 and a swag that had 3 different sizes.

I'm really liking these wreaths! I'll take a picture once I hang it on my built in hutch. (after I find a bright pink ribbon or something)

Recaped

Here's a quick recap of Christmas (I totally forgot to snap some pictures Christmas morning..or at Jim's parents'...but I finally had the brains to pull out the phone at my parents' house)

Jamie got this awesome hat from my sister with the Navy Seal logo...I'm not sure he's taken it off since that night!Corey got a Sonic the Hedgehog hat..it's fleece and super cute! (he also got a ton of Buzz Lightyear stuff..notice the arm things...and wings that have been knocking over everything in his path!)
Bumblebee was Riley's big hit this year...lots of transformers and this costume..again, I don't think it's come off since Christmas!

Here's just a glimpse of the madness..and this was only one house!!!

Looks like a Christmas tornado hit my mom's basement!!!!!
Crystal actually pays attention to me when I talk about blog land!!!!

Love how this cookbook ends! Perfect!

Hope that you're well rested and recovered from all the festivities!

We Bring You Good News of Great Joy!

On this day we celebrate the birth of a child, the Son of God. A beacon of hope sent down to this dark world. Because of him the veil was torn, the gap was bridged.

O come O come Emmanuel!

Merry Christmas~~~may the full blessing of God rest upon you this coming year!

Christams Eve

I just realized that I never really showed our Christmas decor....forgot to snap a pic of the Armoire, but oh well! (this year I'm just going with the flow..if it happens it happens, if not no biggy!)

Here is our wonderful door way between the living room and dining room....inspired by Jennifer Juniper and of course Elf!
The tree (which has only been up for a week!). We decorate in a fireman theme. I found these wooden toys at Target a couple of years ago and then just screwed in some eye hooks. Kind of quirky, but seriously...we are celebrating the birth of the ultimate Rescuer!

(yes...the hubbster put stickers on for all the vehicles that he gets to play with in real life!)

And this is a cool new piece that I found up North....really like how it's not super apparent on the dark fake brick (which is next on the hit list).

The boys woke up extra early this morning because you know it IS Christmas Eve....why not get dressed and ready to go to Grandma's at 7 am...especially when we don't have to be there until 6PM!!!

Thank goodness that I had the foresight to buy something crafty to occupy the time! I first saw these cuties on Alpha Mom.

Start out with a 2 1/2 inch styrofoam ball. (these ended up pretty big so if I were to do it again, I would probably use a smaller ball...or not...they're pretty neat!). Cut toothpicks in half with super old scissors. Push the flat end of the tooth pick just barely into the gumdrops and then push them into the ball.

I couldn't find my stick pins so I just skewered the ribbon through a toothpick and then onto a gum drop...probably not really secure, but it'll do!

Corey was done after two gumdrops (they do kind of hurt your fingers)..but the other two prevailed!
Like I said before, these are HUGE! (and heavy...not a tree ornament for sure!) I'm thinking of putting some without a ribbon in a hurricane glass. I'm all about the balls right now...next up is trying to imitate a wire ball that I saw at CB2.

Have a Happy and SAFE Christmas Eve....it's ice storming here so be careful out there!

L.Y.B.O. Wednesday (on Monday)

The other night I walked into our living room and this is what I found! Jim decided he needed to do some mending. Pretty good, except he's never used a sewing machine before!!!! I've never laughed so hard in my life! I guess he figured that if he can run any heavy duty tool and he can save lives without too much problem, then running a sewing machine should be pretty easy, eh?!? (Love the fact that he's wearing his big old black work boots...super cute accessory for sewing dontcha know!)

Oh the concentration! He's lucky that he didn't sew his arm to the pocket he was mending!!!!! (I did correct him, but after a ton of laughing!!!)
There he goes with that hand on the inside of the machine! All in all he did a pretty good job.....hmmmmm....looks like sewing might be added to the honey do lists (right Amber?). Of course as I'm taking these pictures and laughing my Butt OFF, he keeps muttering "Really Shelly, is that necessary?" Yep, totally! Love ya babe!

Gingerbread Frenzy

The boys asked if they could make a gingerbread house this year...the thought had never crossed my mind (we never made them as kids that I can remember). I saw this kit on sale at Michael's. It was pretty easy except for the silly mom who didn't read the instructions and told the boys we could make it...and then wait..and wait...and wait in between each step of building the house!

Each boy got a side to decorate (all of them wanted a different style house on the box so this worked with the least amount of fighting).

Corey had me do the icing while he placed the candy.

Jamie is sooooo serious! I could have told him anything and he would have paid no attention to me...just like normal..haha!

Riley was more interested in eating the candy....big surprise! But, he too had to have everything just perfect.

We all helped with the last side and the roof (and then ran out of the little round candies..how could that have happened?!?).

For a kit that was made who knows when, this was actually pretty good. We've demolished one side of the roof already :) Would I ever make a real gingerbread house...probably not, but this was a fun little afternoon project (I'll have to go back after Christmas to see if they have any left with a big discount!)

Rockin' the Houz Kidzlink Style

Last weekend was Jamie's big weekend to sing in the adult services at our church (4 services = 1 long weekend for the momma). His little group of boppers practiced for a month every week. They put on a great performance..lots of dancing, singing, and even some flipping!

Here they are during a practice run on Sat:
During the service the little ones came up on the stage too....I think the big kids were mainly there so that the song could be heard and the motions done..but man, those little kids are stinkin' cute!!!!

This was a really jazzy song..." there was no room in the inn, but you can make room in your heart..bop shoo bop bop."

Riley is on the very edge in the dress shirt and faux hawk (yep, he likes his faux hawk..we pick our battles in our house!) They all got the "heart" part!...kinda...yep, and then the little guy in front is done....too funny!

They all did great! The boys survived being at church for the entire weekend and then a huge big old treat came on Sunday afternoon (more on that tomorrow...scratch that...I flipped my posts...oops!)..all without too much of hastle!

Freezin' on Ice

Jim's dad gave us tickets for Disney on Ice that he had won on the radio. I don't know how people do it, especially right before Christmas. We had to get an extra ticket (he had won 4)...that was $20 by the time you added in all the fees and junk. Then once you get there, you have to pass by rows of vendors in order to get to your seats. The boys desperately wanted snow cones that came in character mugs....$10 a piece for a blop of snow cone and the cheap plastic cup. They kept seeing the guys with junk on sticks walking by...$20 some dollars for the buzz lightyear that lights up and spins (pretty much the same one I bought Corey years ago for $5!). I refused to give in....kept saying that just being there Was A Treat...we could have easily spent $100 on everything they wanted!!!(isn't Jim's coat lovely? He wears that thing all of the time...it's from his fire department and is covered in reflective tape to keep them safe on accident scenes....he seriously wore this last year to the mall!!!..."Buuut, you won't loose me".....I tried, but he came back.)

Just in the nick of time, the lights dimmed....Showtime!It was great, tons of pyrotechnics....not too princess-y...they got to see all of their favorite characters and I think that they enjoyed it even without the extra stuff.

Corey is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear....I thought he was going to burst from excitement!

Ooohh the Incredibles!!!! Riley loved the Incredibles, but now...he's a big kid, geesh mom :(

I laughed so hard for the Lion King song....not that it was funny, but their costumes looked like rejects from Cats...never good with a guy...hehehehe!

We did have fun once the whining stopped and the show started (have a ton of pictures to sort through and work on so that I can make an album for the kiddos). Thanks Grandpa for the tickets!