Officially Unfinished...

As Eric and I prepared to leave the hospital with our older two boys, we knew we were bringing them home to cute, prepared, ready-to-go nurseries that had been completed months ahead of time.  You'd think, being the planner that I am, that Ethan's nursery situation would be the same...lucky for him, he's little and won't remember the unfinished, completely incomplete nursery that he'll have to come home to! 

With what little strength and stamina I have remaining, today I finished unpacking all of the Huggies boxes that contained seven years worth of various-sized clothing.  All of it was repackaged into Space Bags...my new BFFs!  It's amazing to me that eight diaper boxes and four plastic tubs worth of clothing (which were stashed in three different closets around the house) can now fit into one one small space below a shelf in the nursery closet.  Not a pretty picture, but it all fits.  Next is to construct some sort of curtain/covering so I don't have to look at all those Space Bags every time I get into the closet for a burpie or bib!

Eric and I (mostly Eric) will be painting the ceiling white on Saturday...it's currently a dirty, light beige of some sort and just really makes the room darker than it needs to be.  The unofficial theme of the room is birds, so I have some silver metallic bird art pieces to spray paint this weekend as well.  Silver is NOT going to work in a room of browns and blues, so we'll go for a more "hammered" bronze look...Lowe's, here we come!  I also have a couple of craft projects lined up.  Maybe I can get started on those tomorrow (today, actually, seeing as how it in the AM HOURS AND I'M AWAKE...again). 

My sister, Erica, and I have a double baby shower at church on Sunday afternoon.  My big plan was to wait until after this shower to see exactly what we still need to properly plan for Ethan's arrival home.  Well, Monday at my check-up, the due date was changed to next week!  So, I've gone on ahead and ordered a few NECESSITIES from my own registry, praying that they'll arrive before Ethan does!  He may have his fresh, new crib bedding ready to go...and he might not.  Like I said, it's a good thing he's too young to remember, because this boy's hangout won't be finished until, well...who knows???

"I Want Mario..."

This is Garrett's entry into the preschool pumpkin decorating contest.  He started out wanting a "rock star" pumpkin, but decided at the last minute, literally, to have Mario instead.  He got to try on his Halloween costume tonight, Mario, and was smitten.  So, the pumpkin HAD to be Mario.  Quite frankly, I'm suprised it wasn't his first choice! :0)

Freak Storm Destroys Trampoline...

A very strange and strong-winded storm just blew over the house at about 4:20 this afternoon.  I was standing at the sink preparing a mess of peaches for the deep freeze when I happened to look out and see the pouring rain.  After running to close the garage, which was taking on some serious water (and on my new desk, I might add), Eric and I stood by the back door marvelling at this sudden display of weather.  That's when we also got an eye full of flying trampoline!

It flew across the backyard, becoming lodged on the neighbor's bridge across the creek.  The boys were "napping," so they ran in to see what all of our commotion was about.  I just said, "You boys might as well come over and look at this."  Poor guys...

We retreived it a bit ago, unfolding it from it's mangled position in the creek. As I headed back up to the house with the boys, Braden said "At least Santa has plenty of time to make another one!"  How perfectly eloquent...

Eric's New Smoker...

Eric's birthday was the day before Father's Day, so he decided he would like to have an electric meat smoker as a combined gift.  I couldn't argue with that, seeing as how I LOVE food and smoked meat would be a treat for us all!

The boys were psyched to pose with the box that was bigger than they were.  There was talk of putting them both inside and shipping them to Aunt Stacy...suprise!

After all was said and done, Eric proudly cut his first smoked pork ribs...with the rest of us looking on and drooling!  The first try was a complete success!

Weiner Roast...

While Eric was grocery shopping this afternoon, I decided it was high time we began to clean up the scraggly brush around the creek in the back yard. When he returned home, I had one boy in footie pj's and tennis shoes (Braden), one ankle deep in creek mud (Garrett), and I was straddling the creek, attempting to get rid of some big, tangly roots that keep blocking the water drainage. After piling all of the limbs up, I suggested we have a weiner roast, and so we did. Erica, Matt, Tyler, Jacob, Mom, and Larry all came over and we had a marvelous time! The fire was great, the s'mores were greater, and the company was the greatest! We all knew it was just about time to wrap things up when the boys all began laying over on me and complaining of the cold. What fun! I forsee many more roasts in the future!

Does This Tree Look Right?...

Well, I finally got the tree decorated, with a LOT of help from the boys...and a LOT of removing, replacing, and rearranging the ornaments afterwards! :0) Eric says he's not sure about the "topper" I've gone with this year, and now I'm seconed guessing myself. Any and all commentary is welcome. Does it look right? If not, any suggestions? I'm just not a star kind of person.

My Merry Christmas Craft...

I have a new craft...my ultra cool Merry Christmas sign (please ignore the ghosts and Halloween whatnot on my mantle in the pics!). I had seen a similar one on Etsy, but it was painted chipboard rectangles with stamped letters. That's what I would prefer, but I couldn't find the large alphabet stamps in any of our local craft stores. SOOOO, I found some perforated alphabet chipboard at Hobby Lobby, painted w/acrylic paint, and attached "Merry Christmas" scrap paper to the back. I hole-punched the tops of the letter cards and threaded w/wired ribbon. Finally, I tied on decorative ribbon scraps at the ends. It's light enough to be held on w/scotch tape, or I could put up those 3M hooks and tie the ribbon to those. Anyway, I'm just so proud that FINALLY, something turned out RIGHT! I also have enough letters left over to do a Happy Halloween...but at this late date, I may do something else...who knows?

The One and Only...Dixie Chopper...

While I may appear to be in the depths of despair, I'm really not...well, maybe, but only because Eric insisted on photographing me on THE Dixie Chopper (cue angelic singing in the background). Eric talked and talked and talked about purchasing a ZTR-zero turn radius for those of us who don't know and don't care-to cut down on the LONG mowing time for three acres. So, long story short, I am fully in favor of cutting a four plus hour job to an hour and a half, but am totally frustrated by the way it "drives." I'm learning. Yes, I was ALLOWED to operate said Dixie Chopper. Shocking, I know. After all, it is the "man mobile!" And I promised to post this photo in return for something, but forgot what it was...no, not that...

The hotel...I mean, our bedroom...

Okay, I think that our new bedroom looks and feels just like a really nice hotel room. That's good, right? AND, I always thought that people were NUTS when they went gaga over 300 thread count sheets...boy was I wrong! Eric splurged on sheets when Linens -N- Things went out of business and we are LOVING the luxury and plushness of the three hundred and fifty thread count sheets!!!!!!!

Eric helped pick the room colors of a soft moss/fern green and the accent wall of tobacco brown. I was a little leary of painting a wall that dark of a brown, but it really pops! Our new furniture is Ashley, also from Furniture Emporium in Pocola. We went from a California king to a regular kind and ditched the air bed/mattress for a normal one...thank goodness! Every night feels like a dream already come true! The bed is pretty high off the ground, which tends to interrupt my television view, but I'll get over it and force myself to move every now and then!

Our living room...

The new living room suite finally came almost two weeks ago and I adore it! We ended up purchasing from Furniture Emporium in Pocola like so many of our friends recommended. We are very pleased with their service and selection, although we still do not have our ottoman that goes with the chair-and-a-half...disappointing. The delivery guys said they forgot to put it on the truck because it was raining (suprise) and they were in a hurry, but it's still not here!!!

I picked out a suite from Ashley that is identical to this one, but the one we got is said to have been made right here in Fort Smith and was WAY cheaper...just hope it's not "cheaper!" Since the kitchen and living are open to one another completely, the living furniture had to be somewhat neutral so as to not be grotesque next to all of that red in the kitchen!

Our kitchen...

I have debated back and forth about what color should be dominant in the new kitchen and it seems that red won again! There is definitely a large amount of red, but also moss/fern green and beige. I love it! Created some arrangements for the cabinet tops from Wal-Mart and picked up several sale items at Hobby Lobby about a week-and-a-half ago. I think it all came together pretty well. Ignore the fact that our cabinets have no doors...that's another project for another day! :0)

The Flood...

Well, it rained, and it poured, and it rained, and it poured, and it rained some more and we ended up with the great flood in our "back forty..." It was really just the back 1.2, but you get the picture. Anyway, I was a little worried that we might have to go lookin' for a neighbor with a row boat, but it was gone all the way down by that afternoon.

These photos are from about two weeks ago, the Saturday morning that the clouds just dumped buckets on all of the Fort Smith area for hours. The creek you see above is actually usually only a trickle...seriously. And the water cut our property off from itself in back. Flooding by an old dog pen in the back by the tree grove.