Finally Making Our House a Home

I have started today on our house renovations. I know it may not be much but the laundry room cabinets had to be changed (pics to come soon!). I have to say that I was completely tired of my house looking like a bachelor pad with no carpet, beat up cabinets and plain jane walls. This home makeover is going to take a while with us being on a budget and all, but I can't wait for the finished product (:

I think I have convinced my dear sweet husband to invest in hard wood floors! Yippie!! I have wanted them for soooooo long. But then again anything is better than concrete right now. I still can't decide whether I want to put hardwood or tile the kitchen. But I do know that I will defiantly be pulling up the NASTY linoleum in the bathrooms and replacing it with tile. And the funny thing is I have carpet... YES! CARPET!! in half of my bathroom. I don't know what these people were thinking!?

And then comes my kitchen cabinets! They are awful! Horrible! Okay well maybe I am being overly dramatic by just a hair. But I think that they are awful. I am sure that back in the day solid oak cabinets were in and people just loved looking at brown all the time. NOT ME!!! I spend a lot of time in my kitchen and I want something fresh and relaxing. Something that is going to make me smile every time I walk in instead of making me wince every time I see them. I have two ideas and I am not sure which one I like. I got them both from The Lettered Cottage! Her house is amazing and I love both things she has done with her kitchen. She is my new inspiration on remodeling my house :) Both are absolutely b.e.a.utilful! And I just can't decide which one I want to see every morning when I walk into my kitchen.

The white and grayish cabinets are so relaxing and they really brighten up the room. I have all white appliances so I know that they will go perfectly with this color scheme. And I love how neutral all the colors are. You can put almost anything in there to decorate and it automatically fit right in.

Then again I love the black cabinets against the white appliances and tan counter tops. I am afraid that the black will make the room look small and will darken it a little too much. I do have 2 huge windows in my dining area and one above my sink but I am not sure if it is enough natural light to keep the room bright and cheery.

With the boys bedroom I am going to start purging toys. I think it is ridiculous that my boys were allowed to accumulate that many toys. Especially since they are about the same age and play with the same things. So I have two of things! It's a hott mess!! After I get rid of toys and trash I am going to move their bed and paint their walls a soft yellow. Something that resembles sunshine to open up the small room. Both the boys LOVE bugs! So, what I have decided to do is paint a huge tree in the corner of their room and various bugs around the room. Eventually I will hang things on the wall... but not until they won't rip them off first chance they get.

And lastly, OUR BEDROOM! This is the one I want to get done more than anything. I am ready to have a room I can go relax in that is my escape from all the craziness throughout the rest of the house. I want a big comfy bed that I can snuggle up in at night and dream sweet dreams. Then I want to have a vanity that screams HEY BEAUTIFUL every morning when I brush my teeth (: But mostly I want to turn Michael's 'man' bathroom into something that we can both use.

Swimming with Cousins

The other day I took the boys to play with their cousins and they had a wonderful day playing in the water.

The Joys of Cleaning

Today I have to get caught up on housework. I am not looking forward to it in the slightest. The sad part is I need to clean the entire house. There are dishes, laundry, dirty bathrooms, toys everywhere and an unmade bed. All that I want done by the time my wonderful husband gets home from work.

After I get done I will be going to the store to get a new vacuum cleaner to help me with my task of cleaning out my cabinets (they really need it). I am ready to de-clutter my house!

Off to cleaning I go!

School is almost here!

Yesterday morning I took my little man to his preschool to register him for the school year. He was so excited and I have to say that I was a little sad. I can't believe that he is old enought to start school. We have a lot to do before August 23rd!!

Love Summer Colors

Here are a couple of pics of beautiful summer color from around my house. The first are the purple sage bushes in my front yard and the second is some flowers I bought myself and put on my sink window sill.

The Boys New Do

Back to School Offer from Ziploc

www.tasteofhome.com/ziploc/ZiplocBackToSchool.aspx

For all you moms that have kids starting shool or multiple kids in school I thought you would like this. This is a free menu planner from Right at Home and Ziploc. All you need is the UPC codes from ant TWO Ziploc products. It is packed with easy to prepare breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert ideas to get the school year started of right.

Back from Mini Vacation

Last Friday Michael, the boys and I packed up and left for the 8 hour drive to Oklahoma City to visit my in-laws and sister in law and her family. I have to say that I don't so much enjoy the car trip, but I really enjoy seeing his family. I am really hoping that Michael will decide that we need to move to Arkansas soon because I would really love to live closer to his family. And on top of that Becca, my sister in law, announced that she is pregnant!!! Now I really have to move closer!

Our rainy road trip

Michael's shattered iPhone (and it still works)

Peaches that we made fresh homemade peach pie with

Pretty purple flowers on the trees in my in-laws backyard

Making homemade ice cream

A and Jacob playing with a worm they dug up

Be and Becca at the pool

Tyler and Be at the pool

And lastly, the escape artist frog!

And yes, I really mean escape artist! As we were driving down 277 North we saw a million frogs. Well I thought that A would love to have a frog. I had Michael pull over so I could catch one...at 11pm lol. I had nothing to put him in so I stuck in my Whataburger bag thinking he would be safe. WRONG! When we got to Oklahoma City I pulled the bag out and the frog had chewed through the bag! I didn't even know they had teeth!? And worst of all, we couldn't find him. So after church Sunday I went to the back to get my purse out and guess who came hopping out?! Yep, it was the frog. He later escaped from the pool as well and we have not seen him since.

No more work for me!

Well.... at least not sitting behind a desk doing paperwork all day. I have officially quit my job and starting Monday I will be watching my cousin's two kids during the day while they are at work and also pulling my kids out of daycare and they will be staying home with me as well! I'm so excited!! So instead of computers and paperwork it will swimming and capri sun (:

And some other good news... On the 19th of July I go and register Jacob for preschool! Yes, I am very excited but at the same time I am sad that he is old enough to go to school already. It is only half a day so it wont be to bad. It will be fun going and shopping for a new backpack and school supplies. I think he is excited too!

Poor Tyler :(

We have discovered that Tyler is extremely allergic to mosquito's! Not only does his bite swell, but the whole limb that gets the bit as well. We constantly keep the boy doused in bug spray but they still get him. Below are two pics of his poor little hand that had a bite on his pinkie knuckle. It's so sad because he will hardly even use it and all his poor little fingers are swollen.

UPDATE: I took Tyler to the Dr this morning and she said he is defiantly allergic to mosquitos. I have to keep him either doused in bug spray or indoors. I bought one of those little off looking fan things that you clip to your clothes to see if that helps. I just feel so bad for my little guy. I also have to keep an eye on him for further swelling and give him benedryl. Hopefully the swelling in his hand goes down soon.

Laundry Room Inspiration

I've been on a roll today when it comes to this whole inspiration thing, eh? The picture below is looking into my laundry room. I am definitely wanting to paint the walls a different color. I hate the off white walls! And I defiantly want to replace that hideous door!

This is the area where my washing machine is (the dryer is on the other side). I would like to either get rid of the cabinets and put up shelves or put smaller cabinets with shelves underneath.

I really like the idea of putting the laundry soaps in the glass jars and use chalkboard paint to label them. I think it looks a lot better than just having it in the boxes. But, if I were to do that I would definatly need shelves to display them on ;)

Kitchen Inspiration

I told you how I wanted to redo my kitchen/dining room in this post. I have been searching the internet all over for ideas. Now don't get me wrong, I love my kitchen. It was one of the main resons why I bought my house. I would just like to update it a bit.

I have found a few ideas that I like... I would like to keep my white appliances because it is too expensive to replace them. I really like the kitchen below because it still has that country feel but it's not all cluttered.

Hiccup Berry Please

When we were in Oklahoma City a few weeks ago Jacob got the hiccups, so my father in law gave him 'hiccup berries' aka blueberries to cure them. Worked like a charm! Ever since then that is the only thing that our kids call blueberries. It is really cute because Tyler cannot fully say hiccup berries so he slaughters the word. But the kid loves them!

Hope ya'll have a berry wonderful day! (:

Ain't we somethin?

R we cute or what?

Dining Room Inspiration

I am ready to make over my kitchen/dining room!!! We have lived here for 5 years... so I think it's time we start making it a home! About 2 years ago we painted the kitchen/dining room walls FABULOUS RED. I think I want to paint the walls or something to brighten it up. I know it is a small space but I think that I will be able to open it up and make it look bigger with a few simple touches.





This is my favorite inspiration by far! I love this look!! I love the round table and the mismatched chairs. I want to replace the microwave stand with a small dresser or something like it and then put a microwave above my stove. It would take some modifying but it would be a huge space saver.

What every woman dreams of...

Today after church Michael decided he was going to cook lunch... and boy was it hard for me to get a picture of him actually cooking! I love it when he coooks!!

We had left over sirloin sauteed with jalepenos and onion on tortillas with avacado slices and re-heated potatoes. Yummy! This is what we like to call deer camp food :)

Revive! Refresh!

That is exactly what I want to do to my bedroom.... revive and refresh! I think it would be nice to have a place to go and relax. Right now my bedroom is in bad shape. Everything is out of place and it's HORRIBLE!

I have been trying to decide what to do to our bedroom for a while now. I want it to be a place we both like. Below are a few ideas that I found...


I like the earthy tones of this one. It would be easy to match things to and you could always add color if you wanted to.


I LOVE this one! I love the teal colored walls and the yellow bedding. It's bright and cheery all year round! And most of my bedroom furniture is already black (:


And I like this one because it shows how you can mix black and earth tones together to make a really relaxing bedroom. This one is my second favorite!

Randomness

For the past day I have been playing with my new camera and just taking random pictures. I am completly amazed at how well it focuses and the clarity of the photos. I am still learning all the ins and outs and how everything works, but here are a few of the shots I took yesterday.

Clovers in the front yard

Dying flower... or is it a weed?!

These boots are made for walkin! (My feet)

Like daddy like son! Michael and Jacob working on daddy's new truck.

The flower that is sitting on my kitchen window sill