My Favorite Thing

Of all the flowers, Hydrangea is undoubtedly my favorite. Our house has two fabulous hydreangea bushes. Every June they put on a real show. The first and third pictures are of the Lace Cap Hydrangea, which is a different variety. These two bushes are one of my favorite things about this house.





Does this make up for the fact that we don't have a dishwasher in this house? What do you think?

SPLASH!

The rain has held off for a few days now, so we were finally able to get outside for Summer Fun at the Splash Park. It is so cool! As you can see from the photos the boys both LOVE LOVE LOVE it! They both left parts of their toes there on the pavement, but what a small price to pay for all the wet fun! We had so much fun that we decided to have their birthday party there. My friend Irma took some great pictures too. There is one of Miller that looks like a commercial for teeth! This is her daughter Izzy getting a hug from Jackson. Here is a short video at the Splash Park. You get one guess to figure out what Miller was crawling towards.!

Guess what Blogger Video is not my friend, so the video will have to wait!

One week

We went to Greenville for one week. Here is some of what we did. These pictures don't include any from my Mom's birthday--which was the whole reason that we went to Greenville in the first place. Happy Birthday MOM!
This trip was a trip of firsts.
We started things off right. If you don't have to hose them off before dinner then you didn't really PLAY in the country!
Jackson's first mud puddle


This is my sister's Great Dane, Sassy. She and Miller were like magnets. Jackson, not so much! Miller's first Great Dane love.

Here they are rolling around together. Can you find the baby?



Michele is friends with a helicopter pilot. He was kind enough to let us come see his helicopter and see his MANY cool toys.





Besides a helicopter he had a pretty sweet tractor in his hangar.

Jackson's first trip to the peach orchard.
Peaches are just coming into season. I love me some peaches!


Thanks for not mowing!


We got to see some of our friends.

Did I mention it is HOT in Greenville?

Feeding the fish at Aunt Chele's pond, it was the first time feeding them food and not rocks!

Indoor helicopter rides!

Holding a frog for the first time.

I was surprised at how gently Jackson held his frog.

We did a LOT of this! This was our first trip in the minivan.

Just a cute baby boy. His first time in a hangar.

We got to see Miss AnnaKate for a few minutes.



I'm tired!

Makeover Monday

Recently we did a little makeover in our basement. Want to see? A couple of years ago Allen (with some help from his dad) finished our basement. It was VERY roughly finished. They put up drywall and made closets. Then Allen laid tile and ripped out the 70's bathroom and put in a new one. It was a real challenge, but he worked on it and he eventually got it finished. In the mean time we had a baby, that is why I say eventually.

When we finished it we used what we had and we "made do". Making do is great, but I realized that we weren't using it too much. It was darkish and not as nice as the rest of our rooms. Not surprisingly we chose to spend time in the nicer rooms. When I proposed the idea of a basement makeover, I didn't get a very positive response. What I think he wanted to say was, "This isn't good enough?" Eventually I made him realize that spending a few hundred dollars was worth it to make it more of a family room and less like a first apartment.

So away we went to IKEA. We had a few ideas of what we wanted, but we ended up getting something different entirely. What we got turned out perfectly. It took a whole day to put it together and install the shelving and entertainment center, but we had a little help from Jackson, so that was good!

Here is the finished basement. Since I took these pictures I got some side tables at a moving sale ($5 each!) and painted them, but alas they have not made it into the pictures yet! Maybe one day.

This is at the bottom of the stairs.



Here are the new bookshelves and entertainment center. So much storage!


This is the coffee, oops I mean train table and sofa. We added the lights above the tables. We also now have red pillows on the sofa. Also please overlook the ironing board that is up. Yes, it is usually there! Nope I just didn't see it when I took the pictures!


Here is a frame that I put some of may favorite pictures in and made a collage. Love the frame.


This is my sweatshop, aka The Pink Dogwood.


If you come visit us, you can see all this and more, in person!

Better Than Expected

Way back when I first started this blog, I showed you pictures of Jackson's big boy bedding (remember this post). At the time I had no idea when we were going to move Jackson to his big boy bed, but I was prepared with his bedding because you have to get these things when you see them, right?
We kept him in his crib for so long because he can be a handful and we just didn't want to mess with something that was working well for us. We thought it would be a tough transition. I imagined all sorts of things.

Well the time finally came.

I imagined that he would be playing in his room, or trying to get out of his room over and over again. I pictured us having to put one of those door knob things on so that he couldn't escape. I pictured us having to go in at about 11p.m. and pick him off the floor where he fell in an exhausted heap after hours of wailing. I pictured us putting him to bed after all his shenanigans and feeling awful that we had to lock him in his room.

Of all the scenarios I imagined, none of them was this: put him to bed, he stays in bed and talks to himself for about a half hour or so and then he falls asleep and stays asleep until morning (very early morning, but still morning).
We have had a couple on incidents, but nothing that won't heal in a week or so.
Since pictures are what you want, pictures are what you get! I did get the bedside table painted (spray paint of course!) but I have been unable to find a chambray dust ruffle, so pretend that it is on there, ok? You might be saying that I could get one from Pottery Barn Kids, but I'll tell you that those are not cheap. I'm waiting to get just what I want--at a rock bottom price!

This is looking into his room from the hall. His dresser is to the left and his big rocker is to the right.

This is just to the left of the door.

Here is a look at the bedding. It doesn't look quite like the calologue!


This was my mom's chair, my brother had it with his two girls, and now we have it. I think she is happy that I painted red.

This is a collage of pictures that hangs over jackson's dresser. He LOVES seeing the pictures of himself.

Here is the proud big boy on his new bed.

We were planning to arrange the room a little differently, we realized we needed to be able to put the rocker against the foot of the bed so that he would not tumble off again. Well that was the idea. Sunday night/ Monday morning at 4 a.m. he was howling. I went in and he was in bed and so upset. He kept pointing to his cheek, so I kissed it many times. He typically goes right back to sleep, but not this time. He freaked out every time I tried to leave. After an hour I had to just say, "I'm going."
When I went in to get him in the morning, he had a BIG purple bruise on his cheek, right where he had been pointing the night before. When I asked him what happened, he pointed to the stool that is in the tiny space between his rail on the side and the footboard. He managed to tumble out of the one small spot that was not fully enclosed. What can you do? Move him back to the crib? Nope, just move the stool so next time he rolls out, he doesn't hit it.

Now here is the part where I need your help. I bought two sets of the bedding so that when Jackson and Miller share a room it will all coordinate (and I got a sweet deal on it all). Well, I accidentally picked up one set of twin sheets and one twin duvet cover. Sooo, they don't have it in any of the stores or the outlets. So if anyone happens to spot a set of twin Pottery Barn Kids Oliver's Dog print sheets, get them for me and I'll pay you back. Should be a cinch, right? They look like this



Here's to our next transition being better than expected!

"I worked it."

I have a few cute stories to share, but this one is my favorite.

Here is a little background for you, which is what makes this story so sweet. Allen comes from a long line of handy men. By handy I mean they can do anything! So whenever they tackle a project that I think might be a little too much, they inevitably finish it and do a great job(Did I say that thorough is their middle name?). At which point I will say something like this, "Wow, you did a great job." The response is always the same, "I worked on it." As if to say, "What else would you expect from me?" Allen got this directly from his father, who says it in exactly the same tone, and who I suspect got it from his father as well. It is a nice little family tradition.

As we were putting together Jackson's new big boy room, I was removing the hardware from the bedside table so I could paint it. Spray paint it that is! Love me some spray paint. Anyway before I get all carried away and get off on the Bachelorette or something let me go back to what I was saying.

So after I had removed the hardware Jackson picked up the screwdriver and started working on it. By that, I mean that he was sticking the head of the screwdriver into the holes where the screws had been. When he had done enough "work" he said, "I finished." So being a former teacher I had to tell him that he had done a fine job on his "work". To which he responded, "I worked it."

As far as traditions go there are some that come and some that go, but I think this one is safe for another generation or two. That makes us happy.

Bad Blogger Mom

So I told you that I'm not a blogger Mom, right?
Let me recap for you:
Miller had an ear infection that got better a day or so after he started antibiotics. He got 3 new teeth. Holy chompers that was not easy. One more is right there and coming in!

Allen took a week off of work so we could get some things done around the house and have a little "staycation".

Jackson moved into his Big Boy bed. Oh, did you know that mattresses cost an arm and a leg? Seriously he is going to jump and wet it more than he will sleep on it, so why so spendy? Since no one wants to buy a used one, they kind of have you in a pickle and so you buy one of those ridiculously expensive things. Sheesh!
We put that up, got the new bedding on and changed changed the curtains. He is doing really well in it. Except for the first night. The first night I heard a crash and cry and went running in. I could hear him crying but couldn't see him in the dark. The room is really small so it didn't make sense that I couldn't find him. Well I couldn't find him because he was UNDER THE CRIB! So once I did find him he was back asleep in a couple of minutes. We have had to set his big rocker up against the foot to prevent any more falls. I'll post pictures when we finish painting his bedside table and get a dust ruffle.

We did manage to go to the Zoo in DC and the Aquarium in Baltimore. So fun! Since we know the lay of the land and have been there before, we just hit the highlights. Who really wants to see the iguanas? Not me!

Last weekend I went to a Scrapbooking Crop. I got a ton of scrapbooking done and got to spend some time decompressing. I really needed that. Now after a weekend as a solo dad, Allen needs a weekend too! Thanks honey! Not to mention what he did on Saturday. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but he did something so sweet! More on that in another post.

Sunday afternoon, as I was getting ready to come home, Allen called to say that Miller had a little fever. Tylenol and Ibuprofen, and we were sure he would be fine. Um, we were wrong. At 5a.m. he was screaming his head off. So when I dragged myself in there, he was BURNING SLAP UP! After another trip to the pediatrician, we have a new antibiotic for the same ear infection. I don't think we will sleep well tonight as his fever keep spiking as the medicine wears off. Good thing I love holding him, right?

So you really want pictures. Well you just have to wait, because in case you didn't read any of the above it is pretty tricky getting them taken and downloaded when you are just trying to get to the next hour.

Not to worry, I will get pictures up--before summer begins!