Home Improvements

Finally our list of home improvements are done. I am so glad that Chad is such a handyman and was able to get these done for me. I'm sure that every time I mention I want to go to Home Depot or Lowes he cringes. Knowing that the small project always turns into more then he bargained for.

Here's our list:

• Kitchen Cabinets
• Bathroom Counter Tops
• Bathroom Plumbing
• Kitchen Faucet
• Fresh Coat of Paint for Bathrooms and Kitchen

Kitchen Before:
(more Pictures here)

Kitchen After:

Bathroom Before:
Lovely peach counter top.

Bathroom After:

Bathroom Before:
Ah, the blue and white zest swirl with a hint of gold glitter.
It doesn't get better than this!

Bathroom After:

New Kitchen Faucet.
I don't have a before, but it was not pretty.

Friday Night with my Boys

Chad spent Friday night with the guys. So that meant that I got to spend Friday night with my guys. We had a blast. We started the night off with pizza and a movie and ended it with eating cookie dough straight from the tub with spoons. It doesn't get any better than that!

The boys couldn't believe that I was going to just sit there and let them eat cookie dough like that. Little do they know, their mom does it all the time!

He's Sweet

Last Sunday Luke came out of Sunbeams with a cupcake. From the minute I saw it I wanted it. I am slightly above taking cupcakes from a three year old, so I refrained and thought I would just make my own when we got home. I was not happy to find out that I didn't have any cake mixes so now I couldn't have a cupcake. I decided to just have a nap instead. When I woke up I could smell this yummy smell from downstairs. When I got down to the kitchen Chad had made me cupcakes from scratch!

Let me start by saying that Chad is a really good cook. He cooks the majority of the meals at our house. I can cook but I really don't like to. He enjoys it, so it works out. Now on the other hand, I do like to bake, and can pull most things off, Chad usually can too.

Here are the cupcakes Chad made for me:

After they were done, he also told me that he had melted my measuring cup and my oven was a mess.

The next day I made cupcakes.

They turned out fantastic. This one is for you babe!

Rednecks

One morning during breakfast Chad thought he would make the kids laugh and came down wearing a mustache. They thought it was funny and wanted to have a turn. Lucky for us Chad had a 7 pack--one for everyday of the week.

We thought it would be funny to put one on Austin. He didn't seem to mind.
Then we put on a different one. Now he looked tough.

Now all he needed was glasses to complete his look.

There's a new sheriff in town...
Then Blake had his go with one...yes those are his real teeth.
Then I thought I would have a crack at it...
BIG MISTAKE!
It instantly turned me into a man....with a nice Kentucky waterfall!
Chad darn near wet himself while he was taking the picture. If I ever start to grow facial hair I am screwed, or Chad is one lucky man to have such a versatile wife.

Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve family photo.

On Christmas Eve they get to open one present...always new PJ's.

Modeling the new Jammie's.

Cute little Austin bug

Luke. He has a weird fetish about wearing things that are new---he won't. If I buy him something new I have to hide it in his drawers a few layers down. And when he discovers it he thinks it has been there the whole time. I didn't know if he would wear the new Jammie's but I told him he only had to for the picture. He did sleep in them that night but has not worn them since.

Blake. Not at all excited that it's almost Christmas.

Austin got an activity table...which he loves.

Luke got Criss Cross Crash. It's been a hit!

Blake got a Paper Jamz guitar and amp. I have to remind him to turn it down, but he has lots of fun.

Ugly Sweater Party

Chad and I got invited to an ugly Christmas sweater party. Since Chad and I dont own any ugly sweaters we just wore our favorite Christmas sweaters. They were a hit!

Notice Chad topped off his outfit with his trucker mug...classy!
The Group
Chad actually won the grand prize of ugliest sweater. What an honor. It was a close call, it came down to 2 finalist. Chad and David. They had to do their best cat walk to show off their sweater. Chad won hands down! Maybe I should look into modeling for him, the boy has some moves. Thanks to our friend Tami, for providing the award winning sweaters. They were awesome!

Stringing the Lights

Every year we let the kids decorate the tree, and they help Chad put lights outside. Well, they stand there and watch him and keep asking when they can plug them in. This whole ritual is always the same:

• Assemble tree.


• Cry because lights never look right.


• Chad saves the day, gets the lights perfect 1st try.


• Kids decorate...only have ornaments on the bottom half.


• Kids redecorate it everyday till Christmas.

This year was different. I got a new tree! Pre-lit. Snaps together in 3 parts...no more putting on every branch. Plus a little added bonus....a rotating stand. I had no idea it had this little feature, kind of reminded me of my grandma. But who cares, with how long Chad and I keep trees I will still have this beauty when I am a grandma. Then I can take full advantage of all the bells and whistles this baby came with!

The finished masterpiece...bring on the holidays!

The boys being wild while waiting for me to break out the ornaments.

Luke was carefully placing all his ornaments in the same spot. He thought they looked better like that.

Blake got the hang of it this year, and made sure we had ornaments all over. Thanks buddy!

Luke got to place the star on the tree this year. It took about 5 mins because he didn't get that he had to really smash it on there. I'm sure Chad's arms were killing him.