Spring Training Fever!

We caught a Brewer game in Maryvale. We were so excited to get there early and get in the stadium to get autographs.... well, we waited at the gate for about 30 minutes before we got to go in. It seems were got there too early!! We had a good time, it was a high scoring game against the Reds. As you can see, Joelle had a great time using the bench seating as her own personal slide.

This is your kid without autographs.

The day was overcast so it was a great day to be outside for hours.

We went to a Reds game in Buckeye. The drive is long, but the stadium is really nice. As long as Joelle has plenty of water and a few treats, she is great. David and Megan like to get to the game early so they can try to get autographs.

After the game, the kids were able to go onto the field to play catch. They all got a small ball as well. Joelle had a blast running around. I am pretty sure David and Megan thought it was cool as well.

As we were leaving, the kids managed to get more autographs!

Hanging with the Family

The day that is rained while my parents were here was of course the day we were planning to see our first night spring training game. We also wanted to see the new Diamondback stadium. Oh well, My mom and I went shopping (power shopping with a capital P) and the men took the kids to Gameworks.

On Grandpa Bob and Grandma Ginny's last morning, we went to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast. We got a little silly.......

3 Going on Twenty

Joelle enters the family room holding her "baby jaguar" (her jaguar stuffed animal) and she is pointing to his paw telling me that he has a scratch. I take baby jaguar and look at his paw (very concerned about his scratch). Joelle proceeds to tell me that she fixed it. He's all better. Then, as she is walking away she says, "When I grow up, I am going to turn into a doctor."

The Lamp Shade is Done!!

Thanks to Grandma Ginny I had a way to complete this lamp shade! I had to take 3 separate panels from Joelle's crib bumper pad and I hand sewed them together, then I attached them to the ribbing at the bottom. The inside of the lamp shade is still a little messy and I have to fix that, but all in all, I think it turned out pretty good.

This is what happens when your youngest daughter has to sleep in the master bedroom because her room was painted....

The good news is that when I checked my makeup drawer, everything was in its place!! She may not know how to put it on, but she apparently used it correctly!

Crafty Me- Who Knew???

This desk chair used to have a purple and white checker pattern. I took the diaper holder from Joelle's crib set and used it to recover the chair so that it matched her room. It turned out really cute.

This is the crib bed skirt that came with Joelle's crib set. I don't have a sewing machine so I hand sewed it and cut it up so that it would at least cover the parts of her bed that are seen. The other side of her bed has nothing! I used Velcro to attach the bed skirt to the foundation so that it stays in place.

This pictures came from her bumper pad. I bought wood picture frames from goodwill and used the batting from the bumper pad to cushion the pictures and I cut out the parts of the pad I liked and made these pictures. I used the ties from the pad to make the hangers. I am also working on making a lamp shade from the bumper pad. I don't have that completed yet, my mom just gave me an idea of how to make it work. Hopefully by the end of the day it will be done and I will make another post.

Megan got a new comforter for her room and it came with 2 pillow shams. We don't really use pillow shams so I used those to make these pictures for her room. They turned out really cute. I used the ties from Joelle's bumper pad to make the hangers for these as well.

I got this great fabric from goodwill (it has shoes on it) and used that to make more pictures for Megan's room. I have really enjoyed re-purposing items. I bought a staple gun to complete these projects and I am already trying to think of something else I can use it for!! Look out!

Joelle's Secret Garden Room

Before: Joelle's room was a pale shade of blue. This used to be the office, it also had a build in desk along the wall where the door is. We only had 3/4 of a gallon of paint to do the room so it was touch and go a few times, but we ended up being just fine.

After: This is the third room that I have painted this shade of green for Joelle. My mom helped me paint her nursery and I painted the second room on my own, and this one I had my mom's help again! Joelle's crib bedding set was called Secret Garden. I used her crib bumper pad and diaper sack to make some of the elements in this room.

Above the closet door will be Joelle's name in red letters. The watermelon quilt is something my mom made many years ago and gave to me. I am so glad that it works in Joelle's room.

The floating shelf really shows off the fancy red picture frames. The memo board came from Megan's room, she got a new one that is part of her mirror. All in all, I love the way the room turned out. Obviously I have done this room 3 times and I am a little attached to the theme! Weird as it sounds, I already have some ideas for what her "school aged" room will look like in a few years. I just wasn't ready to give up this theme yet! The room turned out great and Joelle really likes it.

David's Miami Dolphin Room

This is a before photo. There was a sports themed valance on the window.

I had to take this border off before we started. The first wall was pretty easy, but it got worse from there.

After: This is the view when you enter the room. Grandma Ginny and I spent last Friday painting rooms. David's room needed 2 coats of paint. The color that he picked turned out great. We put two coats of paint on David's room and painted Joelle's room in 9 hours!! I could not have done this without the help of my mom. It is so much fun to do projects like this with family so that when you see the room, you know that lots of love went into it.

You can't really see it, but the curtain rod was a wood rod that I spray painted orange to go with the theme of the room. I also spray painted the wood boarder of the bulletin board orange so that it would pop.

The wood shelf was a darker wood that I spray painted as well. The orange baskets we had. I guess I have wanted to give him a dolphin room for a while:)

David and I went to the Mesa Marketplace swap meet and found this great Dan Marino photo. I had an old wood frame that I painted orange and it turned out great. The photo frames that are on the dresser are an orange colored wood so they fit in perfect! I love how the room turned out and I hope David loves it as much as I do.

Honey, We're Home!!

Well, we have been in the new house for 2 weeks now. It already feels like home. Joelle loves the new back yard. She wants to play outside all the time now. It is great! Even though we went from a two story to a one story, it feels like we have so much more room. Most of the set up is complete. The main living area doesn't have a couch or anything in it yet. We are waiting awhile and then we will get either a love seat and sofa or a small sectional. Megan wanted her room to stay the same, but Joelle and David will be getting their rooms painted when Grandma Ginny and Grandpa Bob come on Wednesday. I haven't posted any pictures until now because I told my mom that I wanted her to be completely surprised by the house. Mostly for the back yard. I LOVE the back yard. I have spent so much time outside in the last two weeks it is ridiculous! Anyway, here are a few pictures......
This is the view when you enter the front door. The lighting was screwing the camera up so the picture is not that good!
This is the same room on the right side....
and this is the left side. We are looking for a nice sectional or maybe a sofa and love seat for this room. So for the time being, it has a rocking chair in it:)
Our backyard!!! We LOVE it and spend soooo much time out here. The weather has been terrific.
The side yard. We are planning to get Joelle some kind of play structure for the part of the yard. It is perfect because there is plenty of room for it and we won't have to see it from the table.
Additional space.
the reverse view.
The kitchen- I am so glad to have an island again. It is perfect for Joelle's cereal in the morning before school so now I don't have to have an ugly cover over my pretty table.
the reverse view.
The kitchen leads right into the family room. This is where most of time is spent (well, when we aren't outside!)
This is David's room. It will be getting a make over in the next few days. We are painting the walls Miami Dolphin green and using orange as accents. I can't wait to see how it turns out.
This is Joelle's room. Her room is also getting a make over. We will be painting the walls a shade of green called Mother Nature. I have made a lot of the accents for her room with her old crib bedding set. The bed skirt you see here was the one from her crib. I sewed it together to make it fit her new bed. Well, it shows in all the places you can see!
This is Megan's room. She did not want her room painted, but we got a new comforter and put up her new curtains. I also made some wall hangings for her room from some fabric I bought and the pillow shams that came with the comforter. I will post those later.
This is the master bathroom. Finally Steve and I have double sinks:)
And here is our bedroom. We got a new King bed, but we haven't gotten new bedding yet! I love having a couch in our room to relax on while we watch TV:)

Having a Great Day!

Today is a good day. Why? I am not really sure. It could be that my two week break has begun and I have spent the entire weekend doing the little odds and ends that a new move requires to make a house a home. Or it could be that I began prepping David's room so that my mom and I can paint it. Or it could be that today, Joelle and I had a picnic lunch in our back yard. The weather has been beautiful the last two days. I got a blanket and put it out on the grass, in the sun because the sprinklers had already gone off and the grass in the shade was still a bit damp. While I went back into the house to get the hot dogs, Joelle had moved the blanket in the shade, so we wouldn't be "hot". She is such a good girl. We ate and listened to the birds. I could have literally laid down and taken a nap. So, yeah, today is a good day.

Purple is coming to get me!

We have been in the new house for exactly 3 nights. I am sleeping and it is about 11:30pm. I awake out of my stupor to hear Joelle calling for me on the monitor. I get up to go to her room and Steve (who was watching TV) was also on his way. I walked into her room and she is curled up in a little ball on her bed. She has her hands plastered to her eyes to cover them. I picked her up and asked her what was wrong. In a shaky voice that was hard to understand she says, "Purple is coming to get me mom." Huh? I must not have heard that right. I tried to take her hands away from her eyes and she smashed them tighter to her face and started to cry. I tried rocking her on my lap and asked her to take her hands down and she refused. I asked her again what was coming to get her and she said Purple. Steve came in and tried his hand at it. At first she still wouldn't take her hands off her eyes, but eventually she did. When we made the insane suggestion that it was time to go back to sleep, she panicked and started to cry again. She said, "I wanna sleep in your bed mom." Well, guess what, she did. She has never had a bad dream like this and I was sure that being in a new room was a little scary. She is quite the crazy sleeper, thank God we got a King size bed before we moved. Cut to the next night at bedtime. I was worried that since we let her sleep in our bed she may not want to try her room again. I was right. As soon as we walked into her room at bedtime she began to cover her eyes. I tried to walk around the room and show her that there was nothing there, but that did not help since her eyes were closed! Luckily I found another night light and I put two in her room (the one she had was not too bright, when I peeked in at night, I couldn't really see her in her bed) and that did the trick. We also said a little prayer that Purple would not come and get her anymore. It worked! She woke up the last two mornings very happy to let me know that Purple did not come to get her through the night. Now, if only we could figure out what Purple was!!