Happy Birthday to Me

No, it's not my birthday yet, but this Rigid set just came out, and husb couldn't wait any longer...

It wasn't a huge surprise - he has been scoping out the small, girl-sized drills every time we go to Home Depot lately, and on today's trip I caught him having an employee open a set so he could scope it out. Then he met me in the trim department with it "hiding" on the bottom of the cart. We actually needed a couple of the tools in this set for putting some tricky trim back on (residuals of the tiling project), so he decided today was the perfect day to give me an early birthday present. I love, love, love it, and the way I see it, him working on the trim is the icing cake! So far, Ty is impressed with the power of the drill, but once we give them some good tests, I'll do a Product Review and let you know how it stacks up!

Thanks husb! I am excited to test them out!!

Random Paint Tip

I thought of a good painting tip to share when re-painting the accent wall in the kitchen. I had planned on blogging specifically on that paint job, but didn't really need to after I mentioned it and pointed out the paint job in the first set of before and after pics for the tiling post.

So this will be short and sweet. When painting a room, snip out the color you are painting, off your paint chip strip, and tape it onto the back of one of the room's switch plate covers...

You already have the switch plate covers off to paint the room, so it's super easy. The back of my swatch says the paint brand; if yours doesn't, you may want to note that on the swatch. Then you'll always have a record of which rooms are precisely which colors. Handy if you need more paint for touch ups or, like me, need to repaint the entire room after a year because you have a small child and greasy husb who trash walls like nobody's business. =)

Girl Clothes ARE Fun!

Okay, so I had tons of fun shopping for clothes when Mark was tiny; dressing him like a mini-Ty was easy. Baby girl clothes? Not so much. I think it is because style does not come naturally to me. Not good style, anyway! My BFF Leah always has to coach me. Anyway, today, Mom and I went to Old Navy and I was smitten by so many cute girl clothes! But, I practiced some self control, since she doesn't get dolled up too much yet - being only 3 months old - and only left with two outfits.

This is what I picked out for Mom to buy her as an Easter gift (she will fit it next spring :)...

It all looks black in the pics but it is actually all navy, even the coat is heather navy. The little capri lace leggings! And I wish they had a jacket like that for me! Well, Leah, fashion advisor... did I do good?

And I bought her a cute little pair of short-shorts and a bright striped tank, which I can't find on their website. It will be nice and cool for her this summer when she is crawling around.

Now that I discovered the girl-baby clothes at Old Navy, I can't wait to check out Baby Gap, which I know makes cute stuff - I see it on Ty's sister's kids all the time! And I get hand-me-downs! Yay, girl clothes!

Let There Be Darkness

That's right, darkness. Why? It adds nap-ability to a room! Some of you with little ones may know it really helps make an easier nap time if the room is darkened. When I re-did Susanna's nursery, I took out Mark's black-out window treatments, and said to myself, "I'm going to start out making Susanna sleep without black-outs, so she won't get used to them and will sleep anywhere." Yeah. Here I am, installing black-outs to save my sanity. She ended up going down for her nap perfectly but (especially on bright days) would wake up every 20 minutes or so. I put dark blankets over the window and it helped so I decided to find a more attractive, functional and permanent solution.

I measured the windows. If you have an old crooked house like me, be sure to measure the gap right where the blinds will be installed. Mine are a little loose because I measured the outside edge of the window sill, rather than at the back, where the blinds actually attach, and there was about a 1/4 inch difference. Oops. As long as I pull it gently it doesn't fall down. I will have to get a new one, but at the moment I am too cheap.

Anyway, I took my measurements to Home Depot and found an employee to help me. They actually custom cut the blinds to fit your windows. I grabbed a couple mounting brackets and was on my way. At home, the only tool required was a drill (you could use a regular screw driver if you have some muscle).

I mounted the brackets up in the window. Don't look at my bad caulk job up in there.

In my case, I had enough room to mount the black outs directly behind the honeycomb blinds (yay), so I have separate light blocking and insulating blinds. For lots cheaper than buying new light-blocking honeycomb blinds, by the way. There was just enough room for the roller blind to function. I popped in the blind on both ends and ta-da...

These are the results...

The hallway light was on in both pictures, but you can tell it is a lot darker with the blinds.

An easy way for mommies out there to get a few minutes of peace and quiet!

An Astonishing Weekend

This will be a long post. With lots of pictures.

First, my daughter has googley eyes. It is true. My nephew once said, "She looks astonished." And she does look astonished. All the time.

Now, let me take you through our astonishing weekend.

Friday night, Mark needed some wild + outside + daddy time, bad. So they got out the bike and went out to the pasture. Ty had Susanna in the front pack, so I could brush and ride my horse (kudos to Ty - I haven't ridden since halfway through the pregnancy!). I had to stop brushing Shadow and run over a few times because there were many photo-op's. Susanna wasn't sure about the boys' activities...

She was, in fact, astonished by their antics...

Mark was certainly burning some energy and being wild and crazy, pretending he was going to run me over...

He's getting that crazy look in his eyes! He had to stop a couple times and check out his sweet ride...

Typical man. Then on to the jump. He is supposed to jump standing up, to let his knees absorb some of the impact for a safer landing, but I had the evidence on the camera...

Not standing up. Daddy had a talk with him, to remind him...

But Mark declared he was a winner, and struck his best Travis Pastrana pose, even though he didn't stand up on the foot-pegs...

Then I saddled up and rode down to the neighbor's pond. I took this Marlboro Man-esque picture for y'all...

I know I need to work on my photography skills, right? I'm sorry, but it was getting dark and I really have trouble getting clear pictures in low light. Not to mention, I was sitting atop Ms. Can't Stand Still.

Then Mark and I made these Blended Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies for the first time. My Mom always makes them. She created them - they are a modified form of the infamous Neiman Marcus Recipe which is always going around on mass emails...

SO good. But since they have oatmeal and wheat flour, the little devil on my shoulder takes advantage of that and says, 'Eat some, they're healthy,' and I eat tons. I, myself, was astonished that they did not come out F-L-A-T as hotcakes like all my other cookies do these days. Leah had a good point though; probably beginner's luck. Does that happen to anyone else - whenever you make something for the first time it turns out great, then you can never make it good again?

Saturday I went to Kristel's baby shower and I gave her the wierdest shower gift ever; a toilet seat!

It is the child/adult one I blogged about here. She loved it (I had pre-approval to give her the weird gift) and her toilet seat was broken, so she needed a new one anyway. This way she'll be ready for potty training her little one in a couple years! She got tons of cute stuff, and I think this was the cutest idea...

It was loads of fun, and I think she will be well prepared for baby Lucy!

Mark is learning his letters now. Sunday was letter E and we did a review of all we have learned so far...

Not bad for a 3-year-old, and he just started drawing a week and a half ago. He drew a heart for the first time - he had been having trouble with them...

He and Susanna watched Land Before Time while I did some housework, and she was astonished by the dinos...

Then she flipped me some 'tude...

I told her to 'pipe down' and she was astonished that I would speak to her in such a way...

Is that astonishment, or... what is that look? Is that a threat? Like, 'I'm warning you mom, I could fly off the handle at any moment.' Girl babies are trouble!

She got a bath that day, and I almost let her drown while taking this shot of her holding Mark's hand and reclining with her little ankles crossed...

See her mouth and nose about to go under water? Yes, I will accept my Bad Mom of the Year Award for that moment, caught on camera. As you can guess...

She was a little astonished that I would nearly let her perish! Mark was right there and didn't even tell me "She's almost falling, Mom!" like he usually does.

Then we had a hen-fest party to welcome Susanna and introduce her to Ty's side of the family, since some of them had not met her yet. She got some snuggle time with Great-Grama...

Such a treat! The shower was a treat, too! MIL made the coconut cupcakes that I love, and SIL made the salad that I supposedly hate but chow down every time she makes it, and there was a perfectly sized group of family and friends. We had a lovely time eating, visiting and passing Susanna around, and I was blessed with enough cash and gift cards to get the double stroller I have picked out! Thanks all!

Well that was about the longest post ever, but I had lots to share. And I'll be back with more soon!