A week with Papa and NeeNee!

Yep, you read that right....Marissa and Allie spent a whole week with Papa and NeeNee!! I packed them up last Saturday (June 19) and we met halfway and I didn't see them again until the following Sunday (the 27) and Russell didn't see them until the next day, on Monday. And, believe it or not, we all survived!!! This all started when I decided I wanted to "fix up" Marissa's big girl room...we've lived here almost 2 years and her room is the only one that I haven't done anything to....and well, it's really not possible to anything while she is here because as you mommies know, naptime is the only time you can get things done (it's naptime now...) and I can't very well paint her room or work in there if she's sleeping, so I asked my parents if they would be interested in watching the girls for a week...of course it didn't take much convincing, all we had to do was set a date. Annnnyyywayyy....I think mom and dad were a little too busy to take any pictures that week, but my cousin Rachel and her family were in town visiting from Colorado, so she took some great pictures of the girls!!
Marissa examining a flower...maybe she takes after her daddy and his green thumb (she certainly doesn't get it from me!)

Marissa showing the flower to Holly (Holly and Sadie are the precious little girls that Rachel's family has adopted in the past couple of years)


Sweet Allie

Sadie and Marissa were apparently best of buds when they got together...my parents said they played and ran and had soooo much fun together!
Here they are having a blast!

Rachel said they had this game going where they would hug each other, pretend to fall out of the pool and then laugh hysterically!

Running through the sprinklers!

This is probably one of my favorite pictures ever....I love it!! Papa and Allie having so much fun!

My baby girl.

Allie and her belly....i love it.
Allie and Holly. Allie looks so funny in this picture:)
And finally, after a long week without my girls, we were reunited on Papa and NeeNee's front porch swing. Life doesn't get much better than that.

Thanks again Papa and NeeNee for watching the girls for a whole week!! The girls are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents...Pops and Nana....you're up next!!! :)

Oh....and a little side note-I got most of Marissa's room done, there is still a little bit to be done-it was a lot of sewing and a lot of work...stay tuned for pictures. I love the way it turned out!!

"I wanna go to the poooool!"

It was sometime in March and the girls and I were taking a little stroll around the club and we made it to the p.o.o.l. It was then that the questions from my sweet Marissa started and they really haven't stopped for the past 3 months. When can we go to the pool? I wanna go to the pool? Is the pool open? Let's go to the poooooool! It's non-stop, pretty much everyday. It's the first thing she will say when she wakes up and she doesn't let up until we are in the water. She is 100% percent, completely and totally loving this summer and her time at the pool!! As for Allie, she likes it ok, but as you will see in the picutre below, there is something else she would rather be doing....

Here we are in the red wagon all ready to go.
Allie is LAAAAIIIIID BACK. :)

And this is the "something else" I was talking about. Forget swimming, Allie just wants to eat. This girl loves to eat.

But this one....she loves the water! (I am soooo bummed about this picture:( It would have been such a great picture had I not cut off the top of her head.....boo.)

Marissa has even started jumping off the diving board, into the deep end, all by herself! She will go over and over and over again until we force her to stop. It is just the cutest thing, she struts up to the board, usually waving to someone as she walks up there, then does the "double-wave" when she is on the board and away she goes!! She comes up out of the water with the biggest grin you've ever seen. I got it on video yesterday so you can watch for yourself! (oh and little side note, I am so sorry for the video being so shaky...I was holding Allie and videoing at the same time, you may not want to watch if you get motion sickness....side note #2, in the first video there is about 45 seconds of Marissa just standing there, the chef walked up and I think she got shy...I thought I could edit it, but I can't figure out how, so...sorry, go get a snack then come back.) Enjoy!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Guest Bedroom....FINISHED!!

This house has been a true labor of love for me (it still is...). We moved from a one bedroom (teeny-tiny) apartment to a 5 bedroom house...needless to say, we were in need of some furniture...A LOT of furniture! This post will be dedicated to my newest room full of projects, the "red" room as I affectionately call it. (Russell likes to call it the "messy room", because it is where I keep all my clothes and it's usually a mess....but I had a baby shower at my house this weekend, so for the time being, it's clean. How long it will stay that way....well, we'll see;) )Anyway, let's take a tour, shall we?
This is the view when you walk in. The curtains were originally in my living room, but I got some new fabric that I like better, so I moved these up here and I really like them in this room. I purchased the bedding at K-mart (surprisingly, they have some really pretty bedding and it's very reasonably priced.) The rug I got at Lowe's on clearance for $40!

And my latest project was this headboard. I absolutely love how it turned out. Here is the finished product....

and here is how it came to be....I saw this picture on a blog called "Between Naps on the Porch" and this was in a boutique called Ivy and Twine in Marietta, GA that she went to visit and I loved the look and thought I could do that!! (or at least something similar to that!)

So I went to Lowes one day and actually ran into our friend Adam, Layne's husband, and he helped me pick out everything I needed. I bought 10 1"x6'' planks that were about $3.50 each. Everything else I already had at home. I placed all the boards together and put these pieces of wood on the back and screwed them all together. I actually ended up added a 3rd piece of wood to the middle b/c it was still a little wobbly. I bought the plaque several weeks earlier from Hobby Lobby when they were having their 80% off sale. It was around $8, I think.

Next step was cutting out the top with a jigsaw that I found in the basement. I'm not sure if the previous owners left it or if my father-in-law left it, either way, thanks!! I love it!! I just kinda free-handed the circles and cut out one side then moved those planks over to the other side to trace it, so they would be exact. (I'm sure there is a much more precise way to do this....I was just too impatient to figure it out.)

And here she is, painted red, sanded and glazed. With her pretty acessory in the middle (put on with hot glue, of course;) ) My mom helped me hang it on the wall and I think it turned out soooooo cool! So, for a grand total of about $50, I had a new headboard:)

Here's another shot....

One more, I couldn't resist.

The dresser and nightstand were given to me by my in-laws and I painted them black and sanded them. (Thanks David and Gail!) I got the candle sticks at, you'll never guess....Hobby Lobby!!

My aunt Diana gave us the red chaise a few years ago...so, if you're reading this, Thanks!!!

The chair was part of our old dining table and I recovered it with the curtain fabric.

And lastly, the door mirror. This door was in our bathroom when we moved here and it was broken at the hinges. So it has been sitting in our basement for over a year. Well, my friend, Jennifer, suggested I put a mirror in the room and then I remembered this post from the Shanty2Chic sisters. I went to Wal-Mart, got a $5 mirror, painted it brown, glazed the white door to make it more "antique-y" and my mom and I bought those little medallions at Hobby Lobby (shocker, I know.)

So there you have it....our new and very improved guest bedroom.

One last time, BEFORE (very, very bright blue)

and AFTER... black, red, tan and so much more fun!:)
I'm showing the room off at a few crafty parties...if you get a chance and are in need of some ideas, you should stop by these "parties". There are so many talented people that post some really great ideas.

Thrifty Decor Chick