Paint paint PAINT!!

We painted all of the inside of our house as soon as we moved in. The outside needed paint to, but after all the inside painting, we had NO desire to start another paint project. We would save it for next summer. Oh how I wish we had just done it ;o) We spent a good month looking at paint samples and ordering some online. FAIL!! The colors were way different than we had thought (not surprised) but disappointed. So we just picked one from the lumber store here. We are happy with it. I took a nice close up of how bad some spots were. Yuck. My mom and i scraped and sanded peeled and caulked. Wow, a few days of prep, and we were ready to paint. (we weren't really ready but the house was;o)

As I started to paint I was so happy that the nasty white and blue were finally disappearing. I was so excited that the paint was covering so well. I was worried for a while we would have to replace the siding :(

After I finished this part of the house i just sat on the lawn and looked at the house ignoring the fact that we had so much more to do. I just pretended that it was done :o) I started to think it still needed something. I decided to build some shutters. Matt and I were a little worried at first but I am so glad that I did, because I think it looks much better!

Here is the after with the shutters. So much better.

Here is a before shot of the front. Man, I am not a big fan of the white and blue.

And yet another shot

And here is out after!! I am so happy. One of our friends came to drop something off and drove right by. We aren't done with the front yet, we are going to paint the front door black and put a planter under the big bay window to bring some of the black over there. I'm also making an address sign.

It was a lot of work!!! Matt and I both got sick (way to much sun) I had to get up on the roof because the plan was to paint the front of the house to surprise Matt while he was away at scout camp. It's not the height of the roof that scares me its standing on the top step of the ladder and jumping up I hate. Thank heavens we found a better spot to get up there. Noah even came up with me :O)

Still more to do, barf, but at least the front of our house looks better. We were pretty tired after this, we had no idea how hard the next project would be :o)

I'll post about our floors soon!!

All I want for Christmas is my two. . .

FRONT TEETH!
We try to get Libbie to sing the song, but she won't :) Matt's pretty sure the tooth fairy is giving too much per tooth, but I think it's just fine. ;) These kids are growing up way to fast :(

Peace

My house is so peaceful right now! It's been a long time. This is how afternoons should always be!!!

My helper :)

I fell in love with gardening and have made Matt dig out some new places to plant. I wanted to keep going but he told me maybe next year :). Levi has been a really good little helper. I turned around to see what he was up to and saw him doing this. So sweet!

Maybe that's too much water :)

Here is a little look at what I've been doing while Levi sleeps. I LOVE building beds. This is just like our bed. It was so easy, thanks Ana White. I am SO excited to finish the girls room re-do so be ready! I have plans to make Emma the same bed and then the boys will get their beds made to, in a different style. I have wanted to make their beds ever since we made ours. Matt wasn't so sure. I was already to buy their new beds and when Matt saw how much I was going to spend, he said I could give building a try! ( He fell right into my trap)

Oh sick

Ya, that's my old carpet. I think it looks beautiful in my driveway on it's way to the dump. After 20 years of service I'm sure it's happy too! All I can say is who ever lived here before us had very big not housebroken dogs :( sick!!!

BBQ

The family that cooks together, stays together ;) you can't see her, but Libbie is right behind Emma. These people are my favorite!

Our big back yard!!!

We were a little sad about the size of our back yard when we moved here, but were happy to have it open up to "the desert" as our kids call it. Now that Matt got us our ATV our back yard got A LOT bigger :o)

We go out ever day on it. A few days ago while I was making dinner Matt was out exploring and found this little creek. This morning I loaded up all 5 kids and snacks and off we went.

We had so much fun out there! I feel so blessed to live in a place like this!

How cute are these girls!!!

Noah kept telling me how he would be fine to drive across the creek. After lots of please mom, and dad would let me do it, I gave in. He did fine (no surprise) but I have a hard time realizing he is growing up and can do things like this!

Ya, we all fit on there! I didn't like taking all the kids at once, but with Levi in the sling it's really not as bad as I thought! Levi just loves to ride. If you say 4 wheeler he runs to the door yelling to get on! It is SO cute. Next time we will be taking both 4 wheelers and Dad! We missed him :o(

Let's read!

Matt and I really wanted the kids to read more this summer, and so far so good! This morning on Facebook I saw the cutest idea for a book mark.

Instead of drawing and cutting out lots of little monsters for my little monsters I used my silhouette and "designed"our own. Now I just sit back and it cuts it out for me!!

The kids had lots of fun helping put the book marks together. They take only a few minutes to put together once they're cut out, but picking your paper takes about an hour!!

The kids are a lot more excited about these than I thought they would be! I think we'll be making lots more!

Here's a close up of Libbie's book mark :o)

Hair cut!

Libbie loves her hair short. It is hard to take care of curly hair and she cries almost every time we have to brush it. This is going to make life easier!!!

So sweet :)

Emma was really upset with Libbie the other day for wearing a pair of her earrings. This is not like Emma at all. We had a talk and Libbie gave them back. Then a few hours later Emma wrote this note to Libbie and gave her the earrings! So sweet. ( I also think it's awesome that she used the word fuss :)

End of school!

The kids had a field day for their last day of school. They had so much fun and I am so thankful for all the work that was put into it. They had been collecting money for Relay For Life, so they were able to release balloons in memory of those who have and have had cancer.

It was really sweet :o)

Then the PTA was nice enough to make all the kids and parents lunch. I had fun taking pictures of the kids as they ate, they did not have as much fun as I did ;o)

Levi pretty much walked from kid to kid looking for hand outs. He got lots and fell asleep on the way home

I am thankful for the teachers that my kids had this year. They were wonderful. I am also thankful for the staff at the school who make my kids feel at home. We are very lucky :o)

Treats for our teachers

We made some little treats for our teachers. Today is the last day of school. I can't believe it. We are really excited for summer!!! I cut out the tags on my "toy" as my awesome friend Lyndsey calls it :o)

Yummy!!

The kids wrote little notes on the back of the tags. I should have taken pictures of what they wrote. So cute.

On to 1st grade!!!

How cute is this!!! Libbie you are just so grown up!!! And how awesome is it that her school has these little cap and gowns??? It's awesome. I will be so sad if they close it down! Here's to hoping they don't and to another year as a tiger :)

We have lift off :)

It's hard to see but our trampoline ended up in our neighbors back yard. 55 mile an hour winds will do that! It use to be on our lawn by the blue chair. It even made it over their swing set. Wish I could have seen it happen!!

For My Matthew :o)

(Warning, if your not Matt you probably have no interest in this post)

Happy 11th anniversary Matthew!! I'm posting from an airport right now, but even though we wont be together this year I wanted to let you know how much I love you!!! Remember this picture :o) Our very first date! Ya it wasn't my birthday (thanks a lot) but I am so glad that we have this funny picture to remember that day.

I found all the notes from you and things I saved. Embarrassing things you stuck on my car or notes you wrote pretending you were me. I have read them all over and over. I have the very first note that you wrote me! Even from the beginning we talked about getting married! I have the mini golf score card :o) you weren't on my team but lucky elbow baby!!! Edgefest in Canada. That was an awesome day! I even saved a test out of a magazine that said we were perfect for each other (we already knew that) As I was reading these notes I thought about how cool it would be if you had kept mine!

And to my surprise in a box down stairs there they were. As I was searching for the first date pic I found all the notes I had given to you. I love that you kept them. It sure is funny to look back and read. (if you don't remember writing the poem, it's because you didn't ;) seems like a theme with us!!

I even saved this from church. We hadn't started dating yet, but I loved the fact that we spoke on the same day, and that our names were next to each other (I know, I know) but hey I never knew that we would speak together many more times in our lives ;o)

I have our prom picture and a bunch of silly pictures we took of each other at our favorite park. (don't worry i won't post the crazy ones)

Our family has grown and changed over the years...

But one thing that has never changed is our love for each other! We have been there for each other through so much. From problems when we were teenagers ;o) and big changes in life. Through many losses of loved ones :o( years of schooling and long periods of time of only seeing each other for a few minutes at the end of very long days!! You are my best friend, and have given me a life I never dreamed I could have. I will spend the rest of my life trying to be the wife you deserve!!

Power Wheels!!!

This is going to make my summer SO MUCH better!! Owen and Levi are going to put lots if miles on this little jeep. And the best part, I wont have to keep running after Levi and keeping him out of the road!!

Funny things kids do.

I didn't know where the kids were. I started for the hallway to find them and I found this little sign. I love that my kids will spend hours making up games and rules and playing with each other. Sometimes the rules are SO confusing it's pretty funny. I should go, I dont want to be late for the sign up ;)

Happy Birthday Owen!!!

Owen's 5 today!!! He wanted to start the day eating breakfast with dad. We stopped by the hospital to share a treat (or what Owen thinks is breakfast) with the awesome pharmacist who works there :) !!!