Talking

Garrett is a big talker, he asks a ton of questions, I do my best to be patient and answer all of them for him. I try the "what do you think" and he usually gets mad and just wants an answer. Sometimes I honestly, just don't know. Sometimes he gets mad and says "just tell me", and then we argue because the fact is, I don't know. I also say, that's the way God made it, and I don't use this as a cop out, I just feels it's true.

He's very intrigued by death and dying lately, I have no idea why, but I do my best to answer as truthfully as I can and keep it simple for a 4 year old. We had a conversation, in the car, on Friday, it went something like this:
G: Where do we go when we die?
Me:Heavan to live with God
G: would I live in a house?
Me:Yes (honestly, I don't know, but that seemed important to him)
G: Will I have a bike?
Me: yes
G: will our house be big?
Me: yes and it will always stay clean, so I'll never have to clean again :-)
G: good, I hate picking up my toys
G: will there be good food?
Me: yes
G: will I have friends there?
Me: yes

This went on for a while and I realized I might have been making heaven sound a bit too good, so I quickly reminded him that if he went to heaven, I'd never be able to see him again, and he said:
"Mom, when you die, you live in people's hearts and never leave them". I quietly choked back tears and said, "yes, Garrett you are right. You will always live in my heart and I in yours."

Yes, he came up with this on his own.

Bathroom - pre remodel

Here are the before pictures of the bathroom. It had kind of an Asian theme to it and it doesn't didn't fit in with the rest of the house, plus it was builder beige....

I knew I was keeping the counter tops, they are a gorgeous, matte black granite with some white and green flowing through it, and the faucets were brand new (when we moved in), so I wasn't replacing those either. I made sure my new hardware was brushed nickle, instead of shiny gold and silver.

I still want to replace the light fixture, I found one I liked, for $20, I kick myself for not buying it, it was on clearance and now is gone :-( I'm not too picky on the light, I just want the shiny silver gone.

Bathroom

I've been thinking about home improvements for literally months and months, but we never have any extra money. I finally decided we never were going to, and that I could do so much more by myself then I was giving myself credit for.


Since the house looked pretty much the same as the day we moved in, other then Garrett's room which I redid while pregnant with Payton, I decided to start with something fairly small. I had so many ideas in my head, it took a while to narrow it down and get organized, but then finally things started falling into place. I had a picture I knew I wanted to use, but had a really hard time matching the color, one day I found a shower curtain I really liked, and it had the same colors as the picture, I took it to the paint store and found an exact match to the green they had used in their example (I knew I wanted green in the bathroom). I ended up liking the color so much I painted part of the kitchen the same green!

So, I had Amber come watch the kids one day and I painted and then Matt took them outside to play one night so I could do a second coat. It took a lot more then I expected, the walls were so dry! But, I loved the color once it was on the walls. I found bathroom hardware I really liked at BB&B, on clearance, oh, the shower curtain was on clearance too. I found dark blue towels on clearance at Target, so I was really pleased. I bought a shelving unit from BB&B that ended up being on sale and a vase and flower from Michael's with some coupons. I found a purple elephant that I really liked, it was online and only $10, but the shipping was $7, that just seemed high for one item. But, after searching at 5 stores for something to put on the shelf I just couldn't get the little elephant out of my head, so I ordered it, turns out it was the last one (it was from etsy) and the shipping ended up only being $5, so she refunded me $2, that made me feel better. I need one more vase for the third shelf. I found one I like at Crate & Barrel for $10, so I"m thinking I"m just going to order it. I haven't seen anything in a store I even remotely like, so it seems like it's worth it.

Oh, and the roman shades! I found a link on pinterest to make roman shades yourself. The shade in there was just plain ugly but I didn't want just a curtain either, it's a small window, but I wanted something cute. I ended up with a soft grey material, since the shower curtain is so busy, I didn't want the shade to compete. I decided I liked the grey more and more, because I want to paint the hallway outside that bathroom grey, so it will all tie in together.



I'm pretty happy with my one room improvement, next is the living room, the hallway, the kitchen area, the master bedroom.......

Payton's backpack

When Payton started going to MDO, I had decided I was ready to switch her from her diaper bag. We just really didn't need it anymore, even though I love her diaper bag so much. I am not going to get rid of it, just won't use it for normal excursions, we'll use it when we need to pack a bit more to go places. I found one I loved on pinterest, it was an Owl, silly me, I thought I could just go out and buy one. Well, not in B/CS anyway! I tried 4 or 5 different stores and then gave up, only to stumble onto it on the Bed, Bath & Beyond website. By going in to the store to order it, I could use a coupon. I had to pay for shipping, but with my coupon that ended up being free. It took a little over a week to come in, so she's yet to take it to school, but we brought it to church with us today and she insisted on wearing it. She was just adorable walking in the parking lot wearing her backpack, I've got to get a picture so you can see.

Grunting

I noticed, about a month ago, that every time Payton sat on the floor, she would grunt. At first I thought it was just plain hilarious, then I started thinking, where in the world did she learn that from. Well, it was me!! I started paying more attention and I guess every time I get on the floor to play with her, I grunt. How funny is that?!?! I don't know how to stop P from doing it, but being aware of it sure made me stop!

Garrett stops napping

A few weeks back, I was beginning to think my 4.5 year old would nap forever. But, things changed, and fast. All the sudden we noticed he was still awake at 9:30, 10, 10:30 at night. I did a little test and had him not nap 2 days in a row, he was in bed by 8:30 both nights and never came back out.

I should probably explain that after he goes to bed, we don't go check on him unless he calls for us. His door squeaks and we found that if we went int to check on him, we were waking him up. We like the door squeaky because then we know when he's coming out of his door.

Then, I had him take a nap. It was Saturday, so I figured if he was up late, it was ok. Well, he came in our room at 10:40, just wide awake, I decided then and there that naps were done. So, for 3 days we've been doing "rest" time, because honestly, momma needs time to get stuff done and I need rest time. So far, so good. No major meltdowns, which tells me he really was ready.

My baby boy is growing up.

Ice

Payton LOVES ice, and not to chew on, she wants it in her sippy cup. I'm not exactly sure when this started, but because it's so hot, I always have a cup of water for her, she usually carries it around the house. When it gets too warm for her, she'll take it to the freezer and stand there hitting the fridge with it until someone comes and puts ice in it for her. It cracks me up every time!

I guess I drop a lot of ice, so when you fill up her cup, she looks on the ground for fallen ice, so she can put it in the sink. Which brings her a ton of joy. So, now, I make sure one falls, just so I can see her smile and clap her hands :-)