Dining Room!

When we moved into our house almost 2 years ago, we had the house painted from head to toe. We picked out a red for the formal dining room and it turned out DREADFUL!! Since then we have done nothing to the dining room. It has been used as a LEGO room, a storage room, & anything else that we don't know where to put room. Throughout this time we have looked around for furniture to put in there and had just never found anything we really wanted. Two weeks ago I was browsing craigslist and stumbled upon a great dining room table with 8 chairs!! Clay went and looked at it and made a deal! So that forced us to do something about the dreadful red paint. We now have a grown up looking dining room that we love! Now all it needs is some accessories!!!

Before

During

After!!!!

Where to Start???

Well it's a new year and I hope to pay more attention to this blog. I have been neglecting it for so long. Still taking lots of pictures, but just not really wanting to sit down and work on the computer at the end of the day.

Everyone here is doing great and we are off to a great start for 2010! The first week of January, the kids and I traveled to my parents to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday. It was a great weekend with lots of fun for everyone.

Saturday afternoon we took the kids to the Discovery Science Center for them to play. Nathan and Abby had alot of fun!

Cousins!! Abby loves her Mallory! Every time they are together they have more and more fun. Getting them to both look at the camera is not easy, though.

Important Firefighter call, here.

Nathan loved this magnetic wall with pvc pipe. He worked really hard to create a tube where a golf ball could go all the way down.

Saturday night we had a birthday dinner at Mom & Dad's. Just a warning: if you are every around Mallory, watch your shoes! We call her the shoe bandit. Here she is wearing Abby's shoes. No one's are off limits, though.

Party Planner Extraordinaire!!

In other news this month, Nathan was selected to be the Gator Great for his class during the 3rd six weeks. Every month they have a character attribute the are looking for and this month it was caring. We are so proud of him and the boy he is growing into. Here he is at a special breakfast with the principal.

Nathan's First Day of 2nd Grade!

Well we are 6 weeks or so into school, but here's Nathan on his first day of 2nd grade. He has gotten off to a good start and still really enjoys school. He was much more excited to go back than I was. There always has to be one crazy pose!

My sweeties!!!

After school with his buddy Joey. They are not in the same class again this year. Nathan was really upset about it when he found out, but he recovered and has alot of kids from his 1st grade class with him this year.

Nathan & Mrs. Rhodes

Abby's 4th Birthday Party!

Well, for anyone who still bothers to check my blog, Abby turned 4 on Aug. 28th. We had a great swimming party at a local pool for her. The little kids and the big kids had a great time!

Our Big 4 Year Old!!!

These next few pictures show Abby's personality perfectly! She is completely full of life. There is never a dull moment with her around.

Nathan, Meghan, & Mikey

Even the grown ups had fun!

Parker, Abby, Juliana, & Sofia.

Her DS buddies.

Our sweet girl had her heart set on a Batman party. She talked for months beforehand about this and stood strong until the end. We got turned on to a Batman shirt that was pink with purple glitter on it and we went with that for our theme. It was perfect!

Target matched her cake perfectly to the shirt!

New Bathroom!!!

About a year ago, we noticed a leak in our master bathroom from the shower. At first we didn't think it was to terribly huge, but it was. But now, after many months of all using the upstairs shower, we have a newly remodeled master bath!!! It is so pretty and we are super happy with how it turned out.

Dee's Birthday!

My mom's birthday was on July 26th. She came up here and spent the night with us on her way to Muenster for a birthday celebration. Marcia and Mallory were here and we had a fun and funny night celebrating our Dee. We had a yummy dinner of Texas dressing with pound cake and fresh peaches for dessert.

Before dinner Abby fixed Dee's hair. This is something that both Marcia and I did when we were growing up. So I'm glad Abby can carry on the tradition.

After dinner, Dee opened all of her presents. We gave her a golf-themed chip and dip sort of thing for her real present. Nathan and Abby gave her a ton of other presents that they chose and wrapped all on their own. Here they are helping her to open all the mystery gifts.

Nathan gave Dee one of his golf balls to use for her golf outings.

Abby gave her the "shotter" from her doctor kit.

Abby also gave her a carton of plastic Easter eggs.

Here is her real present!

Abby also gave her the "Mac" truck from the movie Cars.

They gave her a cap gun, too. Just what every good grandmother needs.

These two loved helping her open all the "presents"

Wedding in Granbury

About a month ago, Clay's cousin got married in Granbury. We went down there for the wedding with Alyssa and Ryan. It was a silly night full of lots of laughs. Most nights involving Nathan and Abby turn out to be silly and full of lots of laughs. Those two are nuttier than a fruit cake!

We had several failed attempts at a family picture. Our kids do not enjoy taking pictures right now.
Abby was insistent on dancing with her daddy!
Nathan ran around and popped rose petal ALL night. Aunt Gail even chased after him with Pa-Paw's cane. He loved popping the rose petals!
Gramma and Grandpa John