Completed

Okay, I finally finished my two big projects: the desk chair for the kitchen & the chest of drawers for Gabby's room. I actually finished the chest about 2 weeks ago. The chair got the finishing touches today.

Here's a look at both:

Chair Before:


Chair After:


Excuse the messy desk..that's another project!! ;)



Gabby's chest of drawers (+ canvas that I need to hang)


It was fun (but a lot of work) but I think I'm done for a little while. I do have a headboard to paint for Gabby girl's room but that will be later!! Now on to the wall....ahhhh! We are very quickly approaching a year of being in our house (one month from now) and I think I have ONE thing on the wall. Must.change.that.SOON.

Ten on Tuesday...the late edition

1. Officially one week left of summer. What a bummer! SO much left to do in a short 7 days.

2. I got the garage cleaned out yesterday (with the help of my mom & dad - thanks!!) I feel 110% better walking through it now. We took almost everything out, organized it, swept/dry-vac'd/mopped (it still had dry wall dust on the floor in some parts!!) Then put everything that was going back in neatly. We can almost park 2 cars in there now!

3. I'm working on painting Gabby's dresser (chest? whatever!) It has 3 coats right now: 1 primer & 2 paint. It's going to need at least 1 more coat of paint...maybe 2. That will be finished by the end of the week. I'm determined. Then we'll be able to park both vehicles in the garage...at least I think we can!

4. We went to Panama City Beach last Tuesday. I don't think I've ever seen the water as beautiful as it was that day. It was crystal clear! I could see the little fish swimming at the bottom. I could have stayed in the water all day!


5. I got my canvas of Carter last Friday. But had to send it back today. :( It had a few small spots that the company needs to fix. I hated to send it back because I wanted to get both prints on the wall. I guess I can wait a little longer (as if I have a choice!) It turned out PERFECTLY though!

6. Carter still isn't taking many steps. 5 or 6 at a time. He could totally walk if he wanted to. He's content to crawl. He's faster that way. He'll be making his way around on his feet soon enough!!

7. Gabby has had a summer full of friends! We got to see Lily again (we weren't expecting that!) and Ella came to swim that day too:
We've played with Lizzie & Kyle several times. We've been to Landmark a few times. One Friday morning we went to learn about moths & butterflies. Gabby was terrified of the live catepillars. She did like making a butterfly out of a coffee filter though. Here are Lizzie & Gabby's beautiful butterflies:


We got to see Joseph & Jacob...I took their pics @ Landmark...(we met Lizzie & Kyle again that day too) We enjoyed some ice-cream from the old general store!

Maybe we'll get to see more friends before summer is over!

8. We're headed up to Portland in September. Just the girls (me + Gabby!) I'm excited! I've never been to that part of the country AND a bunch of us girls (Emily, Jennifer & Kara) are going together to visit Tim, Laura & Lily. Laura will have a new baby by then, and I plan to take lots of pics!! Gabby hasn't ever flown before, so that will be an experience!

9. We're going to try to head down to Destin for one night this weekend. Chad has some days off next week, so we're going to take Gabby & Carter to the water park down there again. Hopefully we'll have some good weather!

10. My hair no longer looks like this:


But you're going to have to wait to see what it does look like! I just got it cut today, and haven't had time to take a picture. I will say this: it's short again!

Guess what's happening....

in this series of photos??? (click on it to make it a little larger)


Carter has been taking a few steps since last Monday!! He still isn't walking far, but he's definitely making progress. I guess he's going to beat Gabby after all. :)

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you all enjoy the day with your family & friends! I'm thankful that we live in a country where we have freedom. Thank you to those who serve to protect that!

*I took this picture at a parade we went to last November (of course it's cropped here :)

The Gardens: Revisited

I made some progress on my #3 from yesterday's post by taking over 200 pictures today! Some of you may remember when I made my whole 2nd blog post ever (okay, yeah right..no one read it then...or maybe even now for that matter!) Look what I got earlier this afternoon (the one of Carter) and how I plan for it to look on my wall:

I already have a 16x24 gallery wrap canvas of Gabby that I have never put on the wall, and have been wanting to take Carter out to the local botanical gardens to get the right shot of him to put them up side by side (which will help me with yesterday's #5.) I'm happy with the outcome. I can't wait to order the one of Carter and display my two sweet babies on the wall!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Wow, 2nd week in a row!!! Can you believe it?! Another ToT post. :)

2. Head over to www.SpanglishBaby.com for a fun Spanish DVD giveaway. I don't have these DVDs, but they look like fun! Actually it's a whole week of giveaways, so if you miss out on today's be sure to check back tomorrow.

3. I don't think I've picked up my camera from last Tuesday 'til today. It sure doesn't help my little project! I'm going to have to change that tomorrow.

4. Gabby went to the public library for the first time last week. She was so excited, and wanted a card of her own. Unfortunately you have to be 4 years old to get a library card, but she still had fun browsing the children's section! We're actually headed back tomorrow to return our borrowed books and get more! I signed her up for the summer reading program, and set her goal as 20 books. We're almost halfway there, and will probably reach her goal at the end of the week. Maybe next year her goal should be 30.

5. My summer vacation is officially HALF OVER. How did that happen?! I haven't even finished my furniture painting projects (chair & dresser), put ANYTHING on our walls, OR cleaned/organized the garage. Where did June go? I guess I still have July to finish my goals.

6. I bought a pineapple today and cut it up this evening. It's in the fridge along with some strawberries & watermelon. I can't wait to have a yummy fruit breakfast in the morning. Both Gabby & Carter like fruit, but Carter devours it...as in can't.get.enough.

7. Carter has just about stopped drinking milk. I thought he was going to be my milk drinker, but he seems to have develop a dislike for it in the last 2 weeks. I did put a tiny bit of chocolate in it yesterday, and he drank that a little better. So I definitely have to keep juice with calcium around. Do you know how difficult it is to find juice with calcium that isn't orange or grape (the staining purple kind)? VERY. I was very happy with Mott's Kids Plus, but now I can't find it ANYWHERE! So now I have found Old Orchard, and their White Grape Juice...thank you juice makers for adding calcium for my non-milk drinking children!!! (If you visit the link you can find a few printable coupons! :)

8. Check this out. Okay. Strange that someone would do that, but that's besides the point. Pretty gross, huh? We don't eat it often, but it sure will make me think twice before fast food again!

9. We went on a walk with the wagon around the neighborhood tonight. We need to do it more often. Gabby & Carter really enjoy it.

10. I love that it doesn't get really dark until after 8 pm!! I just need to get outside & enjoy it more (although it also seems to be the mosquitoes favorite time of day too!)

I'll be back soon...with photos I hope!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Okay, so Ten on Tuesday is rare for me. I've only done it once or twice, but I haven't blogged much, and we've been doing a lot!

2. We've been to two different beaches in the last week and a half. First we went to Cape San Blas, FL Look at the beautiful sunset we saw:


3. Then last Monday we headed down to Destin to stay until Thursday. We hit the water park, the crowded beach (for a whole hour!), lots of good eating, and of course the pool!! Gabby & Carter both loved the water, and we enjoyed the time together.

4. Carter still isn't walking at 13 months. I'm not too surprised since Gabby didn't walk until 15.5 months, but he was acting like he was going to walk before he was 1! Oh well, I just get to chase his super fast crawling!

5. I can finally announce potty training success! Gabby has been doing great. It wasn't that she couldn't do it before...she just didn't want to! I was told that when she was ready she would pretty much do it on her own, and quickly. That proved true! She hardly has any accidents, and she had ZERO on our trip (including in the car!) Hopefully Carter will be much earlier, though.

6. Gabby is a big scaredy cat. She is afraid to go down slides, afraid of the dark...just scared! Sometimes she'll surprise us, but usually she just says "I'm scared," til she trys something and realizes it's fun! Any suggestions for helping to her branch out and not be afraid to try things?

7. I'm working on a small project. I wanted a chair to put at the desk in our kitchen area. I didn't want to pay a lot, so I went to a few garage sales on Saturday. I almost didn't go to the last one, but so glad I did! I found the perfect chair for $5!!! Can't beat that. I'm in the process of painting, and looking for fabric to cover the seat. I'll share the after soon! Here it is before:



8. I still don't have much on the walls. We've been in this house for 9 months now. So it's one of my big summer projects. Have you seen any interesting decorating pieces lately? Do you have a favorite place to find stuff? Keep in mind I'm cheap!!! Decorating is NOT a big interest and definitely not my strong point.

9. I'm trying to be really good about using my reusable shopping bags. I've done really well this week, remembering them each time I've gone to the store. I hope to keep it up! My favorite bags are the two I have from Kohl's. They're big, and stronger than the other one I have. I found them on clearance for $0.79! I should see if they still have more!

10. It is HOT here. I mean like 100 degrees or more. When we got in the car to leave my MIL's house today (at around 1 p.m.) the temperature thing read 108! Stay cool, everyone!