Big kid room transformations have begun

Dallas and I decided a few months ago that we wanted to redecorate the kids rooms for their 2nd birthdays. We have thought, planned and even started to order a few things for their rooms but we hadn't actually started production until this weekend. We decided this weekend would be a perfect time to paint. I called Dallas' parents on Thursday and ask if they could keep them on Friday night and most of Saturday so we could at least get Paige's room painted. They were thrilled to keep the kids and I was thrilled to get started!

I packed all the kids stuff on Friday morning and at lunch. I decided since the kids were climbing out of the playpens last week at Melissa's to just let them sleep in their guest bed with a bed rail. I didn't have to bring booster seats either because Grand daddy and Nana have a little kids table and chairs. I packed all their food, clothes, toys, books and everything else needed to keep them entertained for a couple of days. I picked the kids up from Melissa's around 4pm and headed straight to Las Colinas. We hit a small amount of traffic but over all the kids did really well on the trip.

Linda and Michael met us in the garage and helped get everything upstairs. Once the kids were settled in I headed home to get to work. Cheyenne had offered a month ago to help us paint so she headed over and met me there. Dallas had had a very long Friday at work which is a blog in itself. He was exhausted on Friday night but still managed to help some. Cheyenne and I worked on cleaning out Paige's room and started taping it off. We worked until around midnight and got 1 1/2 walls primed.


Saturday morning we woke up a little later than planned but I was not about to get up at 7am with no kids at home. We slapped ourselves around and got busy. By 12:30pm we had Paige's room primed and ready to be painted. Ethan's room was almost ready to be primed. We had ran out of primer and hadn't gotten the paint yet so I headed to Home Depot while Chey and D continued to work.


Cheyenne and Dallas' masterpiece they created when they ran out of paint. They were having fun I was so irritated when I returned. Sounds about right, huh. Ha!

I was at Home Depot for 1 1/2 hours getting paint!!! Geez, Really! I was the second person to get helped however I needed two gallons of each color and we had to paint match. It didn't help that the guy helping me had to go to lunch in the middle of my order. The deaf gentleman that was left to fend for himself did the best he could but he was ambushed with customers. I finally got home, we ate some lunch and it was time to get busy again. I was starting to panic because the kids were supposed to be home in about 4 hours and we were no where near being ready for them to come home. I called Linda and she said they would love to keep them longer. Thank goodness!

We started painting Paige's room with the pink and I was thrilled! The pink was such a beautiful color and it was very easy to apply. It didn't take the three of us very long to knock out Paige's room and we were on to Ethan's room. We worked our rears off all day long and were finished painting both rooms around 7pm. Safe to say we were all exhausted and disgusting. It was time for showers and down time. The rooms looked so good!!!



Dallas decided to take advantage of the kids being gone and went to hang out with his brother and Kris. Cheyenne and I took advantage of the kids being gone by sitting in front of the TV. Ha! I sat as long as I could but the ocd in me took over and I had to go finish working on the kids rooms. I stayed up until midnight or so taking down tape, putting light covers back up and arranging the rooms. I was so excited!

Sunday morning we had to get the kids earlier because Linda had to go to work about 11am. We decided to send Dallas to get the kids so Cheyenne and I could put the house back together before they arrived. The house was a painted disaster area! He had to drive around the block a few times but we pulled it off just in time to welcome them home.

The kids had a very full weekend at their grandparents house and that too is a blog in itself. They were exhausted when they got home but they came alive regardless when they walked in the door. We were waiting with a camera in the playroom for their reactions...

The first discovery was the full size mattress we had laid in the playroom floor until we can get it moved. The bunk beds in Paige's room had to go since Ethan figured out how to climb onto the top bunk by himself. Cheyenne's oldest boy is going to use the bunk bed until we are old enough to be safely left alone in the room with it. They went nuts jumping on that mattress! I had to physically remove them to even get their shoes off.


Ethan eventually made his way into Paige's room and stopped and stared. He looked, pointed and smiled so big.



We had to pick up Paige and bring her into her room. She did the same thing. Just looked and smiled. She ran to her bed, her new princess table and she even ran to the wall and touched it. Priceless!



We then took them to Ethan's room and the reaction was just the same. They were amazed by their new colored rooms and so excited they didn't know what to do. They really wanted in their beds since they had been away from home all weekend. I took the front gate off their beds so they could freely get in and out of them.




They ran phsyco for the next hour. They ran from room to room, bed to bed and moved chairs between rooms. We all agreed that all our hard work was well worth it by their reactions!





The rooms are by no means finished we don't even have the borders up between the colors. The hardest part is done and now it is time for the fun part. I am currently shopping for the accessories for each room and the kids toddler beds are on order. We should receive their beds this week or next which is perfect since Ethan keeps crawling out of his crib. I can't believe how old the twins are getting but I love every single moment!


Mommy getting Thank You Kisses!

A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to Linda and Michael for keeping the kids and Cheyenne for working herself to death to help us finish on time! We Love and Appreciate you guys!

*PS- Ethan's room will ultimately be a Dallas Cowboys/Football room and Paige will have a pink and purple princess room. Yea!

Krissa's shower

Last Saturday, March 7th was my cousin Krissa's baby shower in Mineral Wells. I carpooled with my sister-in-law, Wendy and had such a good time. It was wonderful to have time alone with Wendy to visit on the way there and back. The opportonity never arises to spend time with either my brother or Wendy. Neither one of them will have a free moment anytime soon with their new addition on the way.

Back to the shower. As I have mentioned before Krissa is the last of the immediate family that is about to have twins. She is expecting twin girls in late April probably around Ethan and Paige's birthday. We arrived right on time and joined in visiting with everyone. It is always fun to get together with my family and talk twins. The only kid that was actually present was Nikki, Krissa's sister, youngest son, Jake. He was such a cutie and loved having all the attention to himself. I couldn't get enough of him and that sweet smile! Krissa's son, Weston, showed up with Daddy near the end of the shower but he wasn't really in the mood to socialize.

He did want his "big brother" gift though. :)

It's always interesting to hear outsiders reactions when they hear our family "multiplcation" stories. They always have a hard time believing we all have twins and all in the same age range! I am so excited for Krissa and Kris to finally experience what we have all been talking about although they might not be as ready yet. Ha! (I wasn't ever ready either when they were on the way!) The only thing that is going to be different for Krissa is having her twins AFTER her singleton. Nikki, Wendy and I all had twins first and we don't have anymore. I think it would definetly be harder to care for infant twins with a toddler than vise versa. I reassured her that regardless they will make it work and before long she won't remember what life was like without them! Congrats Krissa and Kris!












Krissa, Granny & Wendy


Granny and all the twin moms/cousins!

*Great Shower Aunt Sharon and Nikki! Loved all the pink and brown, too cute!

We LOVE Playing w Mommy!

I love playing made up games with the kids and most of them end up with the kids getting tickled. This weekend Dallas happened to be home while I was playing with them and snapped a couple of pictures. It is nice for me to see their reactions and smiles while playing with them. I am normally the only one who thinks to take a picture and then I am not in it.

This game consist of the kids putting both of their hands up like they were going to clap. I then put my hand in the middle of theirs and go back and forth really fast. I immediately go into a tickle under the chin and they die with laughter! Most of the time I can't get very many hand claps in before they lean into the tickle. Good times indeed. Thanks honey for capturing the moment!


It's easier to do with only one kids at a time in your lap.


My sweet baby girl!


Here comes the tickle...


Goodness he is a cutie!

It's Official

Buster is officially a member of our family as of Friday, March 6th. I want to thank everyone who sent me their opinions on his staying with our family. I really appreciated the thoughts. I think I definitely over reacted when he initially knocked the kids over by licking them. He is a little bigger than we are used to but he is so sweet. He has really adjusted well to our routine and Zoe is a different dog now.

Zoe was always playful with Bruce but he was a good 5 years older than her and he didn't want to play all day. Buster is supposedly 2 to 2 1/2 years old but I guarantee he is really only about 1 1/2 years. He wants to play constantly! Zoe was very irritated with his playing at first but now he seems to have brought the puppy back out in her. I have yet to decide if that is a good thing or not. Ha! They play so much now that Dallas and I have to intervene to get them to calm down at night. The last week when it was so warm and nice outside I thought those dogs were never going to calm down. They were still on the floor rolling around and playing till 11:oo pm. I even had to lay down in between them the other night to get them to stop playing. I don't think I have ever seen Zoe so energetic. She has slimmed down in the last few weeks and looks like she did before Bruce passed away.

Carol came by that Friday and we signed all the adoptions papers. I have never seen Buster so happy. Carol had to sit on the couch so he wouldn't knock her down. Carol is a very sweet older British woman with a heart of gold. She was Buster's foster mom for about 4 months and you could tell he loved her dearly. I almost felt like he would rather be with her but she said they often get attached to her while in her care. She said that if she were to come back in two months he wouldn't act that way. She said not to worry she could tell he was happy in his new home. When she left he laid by the front door whining for a while. It was very sad but we distracted him and soon enough he forgot she was even there.

I feel confident that we made the right choice! It feels like home now that we have more than one dog. It feels like home to be cuddled on the couch and warmed by one on each side. I love to watch Zoe and Buster play for hours in the backyard. They seem to get into stuff together more than Bruce, Zoe and Bri combined but that's okay. I will gladly deal with the playing and occasional destruction to see my family complete again.

The kids like Buster but they are easily irritated when he gets in their way or tries to lick them. Welcome to the real world kiddos where everything isn't always perfect. They will love having the dogs once they are a little older and we will love having them to protect them when they are even older. I think Buster will be going on dates with Paige for sure! Maybe we can train him to bite if a boy tries something. Dallas will have to work on that one.


Good morning kiss for Ethan.


Paige denied Buster's kiss as usual with a foot in the face.


So cute! You see Ethan playing with his tail.


Now touching his tail with his foot. Playing with Buster.


And Buster is over for the tummy rub.


The family is complete~

Visit with old Friends

Sunday, March 1st, we went to visit with our old neighbors, Ed and Nancy. The lived next door to us for about 3 1/2 years and they moved to Benbrook April 2008. We have missed them so much since they moved. We always would talk over the back fence or meet in the front yard and visit over the mail. They had their first daughter, Allison, in October 2006. We followed with the twins in April 2007 and were so excited to have a playmate next door. Their reasons for moving were very understandable. They would be closer to Ed's work and they no longer wanted a two story house with Allison. We threatened to take down their for sale sign several times. HA! They were sad to leave the neighborhood but we all knew it was best for them.

Since they have moved they had another baby girl, Rylie. We haven't seen them since they moved and Rylie is four months old now. I can't believe we waited so long to visit! Every time we made plans to get together something would come up. One of us or them would get sick and we would have to reschedule. We finally were able to work things out and went for a visit.

We headed out to their house after we got around Sunday morning. Allison was so stinking cute! She has grown up so much since they left. Her hair was long and beautiful. She used to be so deathly shy that she would scream if you made eye contact with her but not anymore. Allison was thrilled to have her friends there to play. Of course Ethan and Paige had no problems running through their house and getting into everything. They all loved playing in Allison's room with her new kitchen. Ed and Nancy thought their house was kid proof but it wasn't twin proof! Ha!

Ethan was going through every cabinet and eating cat food. Allison doesn't touch any of the cabinets or drawers which is amazing in my opinion. I guarantee that Ethan left teeth marks on at least 5 foam letters and there is no telling what else. We had such a wonderful time visiting and playing with the kids. Ed and Nancy even made lunch for us and we all sat together at the kitchen table an ate. It was so nice. We decided to leave a little after lunch and were hoping to get the kids home awake. Surprisingly they stayed awake the entire way. We changed their diapers and they went right to sleep when we got home. It was such a nice visit and we will make sure not to wait so long before the next visit. Thanks for having us out Ed, Nance, Allison and little precious Rylie!



Nancy and Allison. Ed and Rylie.


The kids snacking together. Paige loved Allison's kitchen.


Cutie pie and little cutie pie.


Allison and Ethan had a blast jumping off the ottoman.


Fun! Fun! Look I caught Allison in the air.


Ethan and her playing and reading books together. How sweet!!!


Paige found her own stash of books. What a mess little girl.

What a great day!