Thursday, February 27, 2014

Operation Brace Face: Phase 8

This morning it dawned on me that we have almost reached our year anniversary with Operation Brace Face! 
It is so hard to believe that a year has gone by so quickly so for fun here is a quick pic recap:











Amazing right!
This trip was planned for bracketing the last of her adult teeth but of course they are being stubborn and have not cam in yet, so we are scheduled again in 8 weeks... 
She did get the final wire on for her bottom teeth though and she did a color change and picked Green for the luck of the Irish :) 
(It boils down to St. Patrick's Day is  coming up and she doesn't want to be pinched...)

A year in and if they gave me the right time line at the initial appointment we are HALF WAY THROUGH! YAY!
and she hasn't even broken 1 bracket! 
(knock on wood) 

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

10 things I am obsessed with

Thought this would be a fun topic to cover today since we had a BORING Monday...
I wanted to share the 10 items I am obsessed with right now besides the obvious things like my kids, photography, my blogs, facebook, school, etc....
Please note that these are not in any particular order. :) 
SO here we go 10 things I am obsessed with ....

One:
 BK's Iced Coffee either in Vanilla or Caramel!
Granted I would prefer DD or Starbucks but BK is local for me and I can drop kids off at school swing through the drive thru and be back home in time to get my little Bray so it is a win win in my book.
And a little over $2 for a large is a okay in my book :) 
Two:
 Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Peppermint Crunch:
I don't eat a lot of ice cream these days but when I do I like to "treat" myself to something spectacular and since my favorite so far is the Ben and Jerry's Pumpkin Cheesecake which of course is seasonal I had to try this! But first I had to search for it!
Three:
 Do I dare say that I am stuck in the twilight zone with this game!
I know a lot of people were ALL about this game and it is still the #1 downloaded FREE game in the Google Play store. 

Four:
 I love me some Mexican food so naturally I am a HUGE fan of queso! My favorite so far is from Moe's Southwest Grill but I hardly get to go there much anymore (the hubby is NOT a fan of Mexican food)
So I got some dare I say store bough queso and I have to say it does well for a quick Mexican fix... 
Five:
 An American Classic that all of our kids will be reading in school one day and I just had to check it our from the library to see what the fuss was all about. I am half way through the book ( I am not a slow reader but I only read 15-30 minutes a night right before bed) but I am very intrigued and look forward to reading time every night
Six:. 
 Of course this is a product that only the inked would use but after being introduced to it from our new tattoo artist I am won over! back in the day (about 13 years ago when I got my first taste of ink) I was recommend Tattoo Goo and honestly used it up until  my last tat for my birthday and I am afraid I will never go back to the goo! This stuff is amazing and we always keep some on hand to help with the old ink along with the new...
Seven:
 Let's be honest as a mom with 3 kids there is little time for pampering hair cut and color not to mention extra cash flow to do it so I improvise.. I have not cut my hair since the youngest was born though I do trim the ends myself once in a while and I dye my own hair... 
I love this color and kit!
Eight:
 Paint colors! Of course this is a HUGE thing right now as we are picking out colors and then the big debate on which room to start with and when we will have the time is almost a daily discussion in our house these days, I am still as excited as I was a week or two ago but at the same time I am ready to start the process because I know it will be a tiring one :) 
Nine:
 Good ol' fashioned Southern Sweet Tea. I am telling you I was missing out on this growing up in Cali! granted it is a southern tradition and almost blasphemy if you order unsweetened (unless you have a medical condition) here but it is something that I hate to say would miss if I ever moved away from the south...

TEN: 

I don't know if it is the color or the scent of this soap that makes me want to spend all day in the sink but I am LOVIN' this! Dial has come out with a Himalayan Pink Salt and Water Lily and needless to say it is a hit!

So there you have it.. some odd things yeah?
Today we med check for D and that is one appointment I honestly say I dread... 
Wish us luck! 

Monday, February 24, 2014

While we were out: Recap to our weekend

Another weekend has past and Monday has it us hard..
We HATE Mondays in this house it seems...
On Friday night the hubby and I FINALLY got to go get our Valentines gifts to each other 
(Since I had lack of planning for valentines night)
Our life saver and go to gal Tracy watched the girlies or us so we could go and do this....

 A new piece to my sleeve and a new reminder for the hubby... it means family and goes perfect for his patience reminder that is on his opposite wrist. 

We have to give a shout out to our shop here Anchor Tattoo and our amazing Artist Chad for the beautiful work yet again! He is amazing at what he does!

We were also surprised when we walked in tot he shop to see one of my sisters there getting a memorial tat for our grandfather who had passed away before I got to meet him.
Again a huge thanks to Chad for this wonderful piece of art work to help keep him in memory for her. 

Saturday was nothing special since the hubby was a work but  we did have BEAUTIFUL weather for a change and I locked the kids outdoors for the majority of the day as I "cleaned" house when I could pull myself away from the outdoors. 

Sunday we all went for a family walk (the hubby's idea) I am pretty sure all of us girls whined on the inside 75% of the walk... 
Then back home for some lunch and laundry (good combo right) 
After nap time for the hubby we went to the local Home Depot and Lowes to check out more paint colors!
 We are wanting to do Grey and Orange in the master room but can't decide on if the walls should be the orange or the grey.... 
 We have narrowed down the office to a grey distributed by Disney paints since it is also the guest room that my 7 year old little boy I keep sleeps in.
Disney has extra durable easy to wash paints which is just perfect for the office and the girls room in which we have changed the colors in there to this turquoise and orange combo.
As for the living room I want to do a nautical theme in there and we have a TON of browns in there now.. 
We are thinking these greens would off set the browns and with the art to go in there we can still do the nautical beach theme. 
One is called intoxication which of course HAD to be the one I chose... (yes he rolled his eyes)
Sunday also marked the 2 week count down til our oldest turns 12 and I have done NOTHING to get it started and planned... 
(Mommy of the year award right here! Right?) 

I hope you all had an amazing weekend and got to enjoy some warmer weather. We are back to colder days and nights this week and needless to say we are all over winter....


Thursday, February 20, 2014

Painting the Roses.... I mean rooms :)

As you all have heard I am in the zone of cleaning out and refreshing our home. When I got the idea to swap rooms I got the brainstorm to paint BUT we rent. Needless to say I let the idea leave my mind for a week or two until I got the balls enough to ask the landlord.
(my grandma always told me there was no such thing as a stupid question)
After 24 hours of calling them (seemed longer though.... WHAT?! I was anxious)
I got a return call with my answer...

We were given then a okay to paint anything that was already painted so this means everything bu the doors to the room and the floors... ;) EEEKKK

Before getting the girls yesterday from school I RAN almost literally to the Wal-Mart down the road and started snatching colors that I had in mind for room off hand...

When the hubby got home (he is so UNEXCITED) we sat down and got a few rooms narrowed down already

The girls room will be a Cool and Clear Turquoise to coordinate with the room make over ideas in mind. 
There has been mention how cute a Chevron accent wall would be in there room which is why there is the darker color to the right of the final pick for the kids. 

Yes I am a little scared but that is why there is you tube and Pinterest right? 

The bathroom will be a Stormy Day Grey to go with the industrial Black and White City-scape theme that we have in mind.

As for Cafe SJ (the kitchen) I really wanted to do a brown and a red accent wall BUT red is hard to cover and we have to repaint so I saw that beautiful rich Spicy Cinnamon color that I may still accent with a tan tone but I have not decided on the details.
As for the res of the rooms, we are still in the stages of picking colors for the living room, I think a light earthy beachy brown... he thinks it would be too much brown in there with the brown furniture but he has no other suggestions... (men) 
Our room will be a grey though we are unsure of the two colors which one we want to go with. 
We did decide on a grey and orange room 
(the orange can be changed out to re-freshen the room at any time) 

The office is still up in the air and I have NO idea what I want to do with that space... 

I am very excited to do this I think that the hubby is less so but I hope that these coats of paint will help us love our home even more :) 

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

The Room Swap Update

This last weekend we worked hard in getting things ready for the room swap when it all came to a screeching halt when the hubby broke out the measuring tape.

Since we have a king sized bed that we are well ummm addicted too we have NO option to put it in one of the other room.. (yes I about cried) 
Between the king sized bed and the vents located on the floor our options for moving furniture is SLIM to NONE and this mamma is NOT a happy camper. 
I was SOOOO excited (more so than anyone else) to swap rooms and get things cleaned out, but after a few days of pouting (yes I know I am almost 30 this should really stop right?) 
I am back on track on plan "B"

Since we are still in desperate need of cleaning out the house I have focused energy on that task.
With the girls room done, and our room half way through we have managed so far 4 trash bags of clothes and stuffed animals and 2 boxes of books!

With the living room, kitchen, office, closets, bathroom, and laundry room still to go we are headed in the right direction though the swapping of the rooms is apparently now a NO GO...

But have no fear the rooms are still going to get make overs ( I am a little determined  obsessed with this idea)

Have you ever had a brain storm back fire?

Monday, February 17, 2014

While We Were Away: A Valentine Weekend Recap

Friday after school the girls were so excited with all the LOVE and SWEETNESS that they had been showered with at school!



 They all had a blast at school with their parties but what they didn't know is that the fun was far from over! 
Friday after school my sweet little Max (a boy a babysit for) and his family came over for an after school play date and ice cream! 
YUM!
They were also showered with more chocolate goodness from the neighbors (okay so I forgot to take a picture :/) which of course they LOVED!

That night they got to spend the evening with the infamous Tracy and her nieces and got to indulge in brownies, ice cream, strawberries, blueberries, popcorn and even coffee! 






All while me and the hubby got our first date night in MONTHS! 
We first went to get each others v-day gifts BUT we were unable to due to lack of planning  the fact that they were booked...
BUT we set up an appointment to exchange gifts at a later date...
We have decided on of course  ink work to work on our sleeves. 
Here are the ones we decided on


After that we were honestly at a lost on what to do but we decided dinner out with just us two would be a great start so we drove around to see what we could find that did not have lines out the door or a trip into Little Rock and was happy on narrowing our choice to the Dixie Cafe.

After dinner we made a trip to the grocery store to pick up a few things that we needed (okay so we apparently can NOT go a night with out being in mommy and daddy mode) .
Saturday was cleaning house, cars, doing laundry and running errands and I ended up feeling like crap so it was nice to kick back and relax some and NOT have a million things to do.

I also got the privilege to see some of the finished products that my hubby and God-Father have been working so hard at lately and I am in complete awe of this lighting in this home! 
These two men really know their art and are so talented at what they do! 

We also got to see an AMAZING sunset that night while leaving the store!


Sunday was to be a repeat of Saturday with lazy dazy days since I still was not feeling all that hot I was in no mood to do much of anything BUT it was SOOO nice out we decided a trip to the River Market was just what the girls needed.

Who doesn't enjoy tag in the tunnels... Yes all of my babies including the hubby was running around like 2 year old's hiding and playing tag. 

Today the girls are out for President's Day and enjoying it with a play date with Max and his brother. 
They are also going to the dentist for their semi-annual cleaning and are excited! (yes I know they are not right in the head sometimes :) ) 
Have an amazing day!
Come back tomorrow to see what they found out at the dentist, and the latest update about the room swapping!

Friday, February 14, 2014

Room Swap Update and how we celebrated the day of LOVE ALL WEEK!

So this week was the first week that I tried failed at starting the clean out process of the room swap.
I have found working with a 22 month old is more difficult than I remember when mine were younger so needless to say I did not get a ton accomplished.
I did how ever get some of my clothes gone through and some of the youngest clothes and got 2 boxes of books ready to go for the neighborhood yard sale that I put together this week.
Since I have found myself bouncing from room to room and getting no where I came up with a goal sheet to get it all done!

Week 1: Girls Room
Dresser
Closet

Week 2: Our Room
Dresser
Closet

Week 3: Bathroom
Cabinet

Week 4: Kitchen
Top Cabinets
Bottom Cabinets

Week 5: Hallway
Closets

Week 6: Office
Toys
Closet
Desk
Boo's Dresser

TIME FOR ROOM SWAP AND YARD SALE!

I know this all LOOKS and SOUNDS totally insane but with some days where I keep anywhere form 1 to 3 other kids and may get 10 minutes to myself a day I hope that these little goals will help get me more motivated to get this done.... after all it is what I wanted...
Run by and check out the previous posts about it here and here 

 As we all know today is Valentines Day!
The day to celebrate love!

Well this year we have celebrated it all week long!
If you read my post here you saw that a few nights ago me and the hubby had already received a pre-valentines gift.

The other night we had the neighbor come by for her gift from us ( I just couldn't wait any longer)
 Then last night my sweet M that I watch came by for a few to play with the girls and brought the whole family a little something to make our day sweeter!

Tonight is date night and we have still NO idea what we are going to do but the girls have a girls night planned next door with the neighbor and her nieces which they are TOTALLY excited about!

Come check back Monday where I will reveal what we finally decided to do!

Happy Valentines Day to all of my readers! You guys rock!

Now off to buy blueberries for 4th grade! 

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Happy Early Valentine's to ..... US

So last night our neighbor/my BFF came by to surprise us with an early Valentine's gift! 
 She surprised me with a new wine to try and some of my favorite candies :) 
 The hubby got his favorite "beer" to drink and his favorite candy! 
Yes he is a goof 99.99% of the time...
Yesterday I found these adorable napkins to send to school with Lo for her V-day party! They are having a Ice Cream Sundae Party and I thought these were too cute! 

The hubby and I are still in decision mode on what to do for the date night that we were surprised with but we have come up with a few ideas....