Walking?

I'm not sure if I should count it, because I wasn't able to get her to do it again, but Neely took two steps tonight! So...maybe she's walking? We'll see.

A Few New Photos

Here are my beautiful children...pulling out every toy in the playroom. Hooray! It is fun to make a mess! (Thank goodness I've discovered dance party clean-up. I put some kids' tunes on the computer, and Aidan will actually help me pick up toys.)

And here's my smiling Neely.

I also managed to snap one of her standing and playing. Shortly after this, I saw her, from sitting on the floor, push herself into a squat, and stand up...not holding onto anything. Her balance is improving. I'm afraid she'll be walking soon.

Aidan just came to me and said...

...in his sweet little three-year-old voice, "When people's Moms and Dads are too far away, they go to Guam, and they ride in a airplane to get there."

Aidan's Room Redo...or finally did?

Alright, so I know this probably isn't going to satisfy anybody, but I've been busy! And I let all my camera batteries die! I finally got one charged back up today, and I snapped a couple photos of my proudest accomplishment this last week. I've finally made Aidan's room look inhabitable. I didn't even take before pictures, it was so embarrassing. All that was in his room was the bed, a rug, and a huge pile of mess (toys, books, stuffed animals, etc.) that had no home. I've been hunting around for a bookcase to put in there for the last couple of months. I wanted a big, tall one, but in order to feel good about a tall bookcase being in his bedroom, I wanted it to be pretty sturdy. You know, just in case he thought it might be fun to try and climb it one day or something.

I never found a bookcase. I conceded defeat and gave in to the $35 cube shelves from Target. I have one of these in the kids' playroom, I just wasn't sure I wanted one in Aidan's bedroom. I found one that went with his color scheme pretty well and ran with it. It's too bad I'm going to have to replace that lamp. Aidan knocked it off his nightstand and broke it. Well, not completely, but it doesn't work right. It's a 3-way, so it doesn't have a switch. You're supposed to be able to touch the base and it turns on and off. Weeellll...if you plug it in, the light comes on. And if you unplug it, the light goes off. But since the plug is behind the bookcase, it's kind of a hassle. I can at least reuse that lampshade.

And the barn stars came from Ross. They were painted a brownish-bronze color, and I hit them with a layer of red spray paint. You can still see some of the stripey, distressed pattern that came on them through the single coat I put on them. I like it.

The night stand is another Craigslist special. You know I love those. I got it for $10 from a lady with 11 kids...who is trying to adopt another. Crazy town! And yes, I spray painted it as well. I ran out of primer when I did it, so the back legs don't look so awesome, but that's why they're in the back, I figure. No one had to know, except that I just told on myself.

This room is still a work in progress. I need to find something to hang on the blank wall over his bed. I also need to make a decision about curtains. I have a pair from his room in our duplex, but they're too short for these windows. I could use them anyway, but it would bother me every time I looked at them. I'd also still have to get another pair to match. I could make some myself, but I've looked for fabric I like for his room and can never find any. One of these days, I'll figure it out.

Oh! Brainstorm! Maybe I can find something to hang over the bed when I go to Trade Days in Canton. Now, I'm excited.

Preschooler Art

Here's what I really intended to share when I logged on this morning. Many of you have seen this first one, but a few months ago, Aidan sat down with a piece of paper and a pen and drew this.

As he drew, he told me that the one on the right is Daddy, and the one on the left is Aidan. I was pretty impressed. I'm not sure what the normal three-year-old can draw, but this was more than I expected. Like a good Mommy, I saved it...but apparently not in a safe enough place. It has gotten a little crinkled.

Aidan hasn't asked for crayons in a while, and I haven't thought to give them to him. A couple days ago, he asked for the crayons. This is what he drew.

There's a lot that's done in white crayon that I can't distinguish, but that is clearly a little dinosaur/dragon on the left side of the page. And there's an airplane flying overhead! And he told me that's a little black arrow pointing to the airplane. I mean, I know he's my child and I'm biased, but wow. I didn't really expect his drawings to be distinguishable for another couple of years. Silly me.

Win some boots!

Okay, so I know that it's entirely too hot here most of the year to even consider wearing a pair of Ugg boots, but come on, who can resist a shot at some free boots? Not me. And maybe it's cooler longer where you are, and you should enter to try to keep this Louisiana gal from winning. Click on over to Whooga Ugg Boots if you'd like a shot at winning a pair.

Recovered Chair

Allow me to introduce you to my $3 yard sale find.

I've been needing a chair to use at my sewing machine, instead of always keeping one of my dining chairs up there, and when I saw this chair, I knew it was the one. I'm always willing to open a can of spray paint for a cause, this one would've been to make the chair match the orange and white room that it would be living in, but I was thrilled that I found a chair already painted white, with the perfect amount of distressing already done. All I needed to do is be rid of this yucky hydrangea fabric.

I love a hydrangea as much as the next girl, but not in my Tennessee room. Excuse me, John's Tennessee room. I set to work removing that dirty fabric. What did I find underneath? This.

It's too bad I wasn't planning on using this chair downstairs somewhere, because this fabric totally goes with my Americana obsession...and it's in perfect condition. I couldn't bring myself to remove it. I might want to peel off the orange and white and use it like that someday. Next, I cut a piece of foam in the shape of the chair bottom. Lucky for me, I already had the foam, leftover from making cushions to go underneath the kids' car seats to prevent them forming indentions in my seats like they have in John's car. Anyway, there was no rocket science involved here. I just laid that bad boy out on the foam and cut around it.

Next up, the fabric. I found this orange and white gingham at a local fabric warehouse for $5. I cut out a square just a little bigger than the chair seat then went to town with the staple gun.

When I finished stapling, I went back around with the scissors and trimmed all the wacky edges that were sticking out toward the middle. Put the seat back on the chair and ta-da!

The $8 sewing chair that doesn't clash with my husband's football motif. Love it.

My Etsy

Just a quick update. I've finally added a few new things to my Etsy shop. You can get to it here or through the link on the right side of my page. Hopefully this will be a more regular occurrence in the future. Hopefully.

Also, if anybody knows anything about making banners and would like to help me out with mine for my shop, that would be sweet.

Me too!

This is equal opportunity blogging. I had to put up a new video of Neely, too.

The Daddy Song

Lyrics and motions courtesy of Auntie Stephanie.

My 200th Post!

I've finally been harassed enough that I'm updating my blog. It's only been a week, people. Get a grip!

Last Wednesday, Aidan, Neely, and I drove over to Fort Worth to visit Auntie Stephanie and Uncle Pants. It's a little crazy having three kids under three all together, and trying to coordinate their schedules to be able to leave the house at all, but we had a great time. The highlights of our week were the neighborhood pool, shopping in Grapevine, dinner at Esparza's, and checking out all the fish and taxidermy at Cabela's. Oh, and learning "The Daddy Song." I'll have to try and get that one on video for later.

Anyway, as usual, I had so much fun that I hardly bothered to pick up my camera. I think Stef has some pictures from the pool, and one awesome one of herself at Cabela's, and I'm hoping she'll share them with me soon. I only took five pictures. Three of them aren't that great, and one of them I cannot share. This one, however, I managed to accidentally censor, so here you go.


Aren't they a bunch of cuties?