Avery's Room Re-Do!

Avery's room has also been in need of a spruce up since we added Avery's big girl bed. She requested purple bedding (of course!), and we've been planning to incorporate more purple into her big girl room.  Thanks to Christie, we finally finished!

BEFORE:

And AFTER!

We traded the "baby" shelves
(and all 99 trinkets that came with them)
in for a fancy new purple starburst mirror.
Christie made a new fun pillow for her bed too.

And she painted this lamp
to coordinate with her pillow!

Avery's new gallery wall!
The focal point of the wall is a silhouette of Avery!

No more baby left in this room (boo hoo!!), but Avery loves it and so do we!

Anna's Nursery

Well, Anna is 15 months old, and we finally finished her nursery! Poor Baby #2... We enlisted the help of our friend, Christie so that she could actually help us finish what we started...

Here are some before pictures of her room:

And here it is now!

We replaced the Barbie pictures with a

pretty new mirror:

And moved the Barbie prints into a

grouping over her bed:

We added decorative hooks over her chair,

and Christie made this super cute pillow

to match her bedding:

And she also made the memory board to

go over her chest of drawers.

Finally a completed room!

Renovation Realities Part VI: Before & After!

Now that we are officially done, I thought it would be fun to take a look back!

BEFORE:

We knew when we bought this house that we would end
up rearranging the appliances. The placement was not
functional, and we had very little counter space.

AFTER:

We replaced the desk with the fridge, and we
relocated the microwave and oven to snag more
counter space. We added a lazy susan in the corner
and opted for drawers on the bottom to maximize
storage space.

BEFORE:
Aside from the obvious dated cabinets, the
split-level bar closed off the
kitchen and cramped our work space.

AFTER:

We lowered the bar, centered the sink on the
island, added a trash can drawer to the left of
the sink and another bank of drawers
between the sink and dishwasher.  

We honestly could not be happier with our new kitchen!!

Yee to the Haw!

The Mr. and I took Monday off to head down to the rodeo with the girls.  YaYa & Boompa came down to celebrate Daddy's birthday (Happy Birthday Dear) and head to the rodeo with us!

If I could have figured out how to post Avery's video singing "Happy Birthday" to her Daddy then I would have, but you'll just have to take my word for it that it was super sweet.  

Avery & YaYa making Daddy's birthday cake

Ok - now off to the rodeo...  At first we did not think the weather was going to cooperate, but poor Avery had been talking about going to the "radio" for weeks!  Thankfully the weather cleared up, so we headed into town!

First stop - the petting zoo!

Avery loved it...

Anna loved pointing at the animals but wanted

nothing to do with actually touching them...

Then it was time for some pony rides...  First up - Anna!  I really didn't think that she would even sit on the horse, but she did, so we went for it.

She maintained a death grib on my thumb...

 

And then came this... most people thought she was
waving, but that, my friends would be
sign language for "all done".
As in, ALL DONE WITH THIS HORSE.

Seriously, mom, I'm all done.  Are you not understanding me?  

I. WANT. OFF.

And then came Avery...

She was a natural!  You could not wipe that smile off of her face!

We saw cows...

Chickens...

And we even witnessed a few births!  Baby pigs, a calf, and we even saw some chickens hatching! Boompa thought all of the birthing could raise some "questions", so we were outta there pretty quickly. :)

Time for "Fun on the Farm"!

Anna enjoyed collecting all of the produce, and thankfully all of the volunteers let her take LOTS more than one of each. :)

Checking out her produce before she "sells" it at the Farmer's Market!

Last stop - the carnival!  

I have never heard my child giggle and squeal like she did on this ride!

Anna didn't enjoy it quite as much as her sister...

Avery & YaYa on the carousel

And the grand finale...

Avery and Mommy on the "Karris" Wheel! 

Such a fun day...we're already looking forward to next year!

Music to My Ears!

Two nights ago, you FINALLY uttered the word "Mama" at dinner... I was starting to think I was never going to hear it! After a long day, that was music to my ears!!

While we're on the topic, you've added a few new words lately... Dah (Dog), Ight (Light), Gace (Grace - your friend from school), Eyes, More, and Daddy thought you said door.  You are also shaking your head "yes" now, which cracks me up... And just for the record, I much prefer it to "no". :)

Kitchen Update and a Funny Story...

Tonight's conversation at dinner:

Avery: "Mommy, we got your car all cwean (clean)!"
Me: "I know! Did you go with Daddy to do that?"
Avery: "Yea, we went to the octopus pwace (place)"

Haha... good times.

 You know what else is good? This...

The butcher block is in...

...And I am one happy girl. :)  

Renovation Realities Part V: Paint!

Lots of things have been happening over the past week, but not too much has been photo-worthy! Well, except this...

Just after catching her sitting in the spice drawer... I love her expression here - It's like she's saying, "What!!?? It's my size, and it's OPEN!"

Our contractor finished installing all of the cabinets, grouted the backsplash, and now we have PAINT!! The doors are all wide open so that the paint will dry and cure. Our butcher block comes tomorrow, and I can't WAIT!!!

Renovation Realities Part IV: I Can See the Light...

Now that's what I call progress!!