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Well I don't know how much this helps but Erin said to post a before and after. I could only find this before and the counter is covered in cookies. But, I think the pink still shines through.

But, I'm loving it! Everytime I walk into the kitchen I love my counters more and more. I think they kind of look like cement countertops. I've already reloaded them and started using them. I'm just trying not to be up tight about it getting scratched.

Yard Sale

I've gotten a little addicted to yard sales. I've always been a sucker for a bargain but I also love the thrill of the hunt. Last Saturday Tyler stayed in bed with Annagrace while I slipped out at 7am with my mapquested list and diet coke in hand. Most of them were duds but I did score at a couple. One yard sale was all baby girl stuff - YES!! I got this Fisher Price Grand Piano ($40 at Toys R Us), a little pink rocking horse that plays music when you press the ear, and 3 pieces of clothing for $20!!! My main objective for the day was to find a chair for Annagrace and I found a cute set - 2 u-shaped chairs and matching ottoman for $8. (The cheapest new chair I had found was at Walmart for $20 and it was Disney Princess Theme. I'm not a fan of "themed" items.) The set has a Sesame Street fabric on them, but I'm thinking new slipcovers would be an excellent project for Nana when she comes =). But for now, the colors match the play mat on the floor, so it'll do.

I went yard saleing a couple of weeks ago and found a really good one in the back of an expensive neighborhood. The lady had decided to change her decorating style from traditional to contemporary/eclectic. Which worked out perfect for me, I snagged some of her traditional items to fit right in at my traditional house! I can't wait for next Saturday, I don't know that we need anything, but you don't know you need something until you see it!

What do you think?

I think the paint job turned out pretty good, having never painted formica before. I'm still a little unsure about the color. Erin said it was a dark slate gray .... ummm ... it's brown, chocolate brown. But, it's starting to grow on me and it does look really nice with the green and makes the cabinets look 100% better. (Next to the mauve formica they looked pink.) My Mom hasn't even seen it yet but when she heard that it is brown she offered to buy me another quart of enamel if I want to change it. But, the more I look at it the more I like it. We shall see, I have to live with it a few days before I decide. But, I would love some feed back - What do you think?

No pictures

Well, I'm in full house overhaul mode - the in-laws will be here in two weeks. They aren't picky or judgemental but there is just something about people coming to my house that gets my cleaning mojo in full swing. I don't just clean ... I have to clean out, repaint, redecorate. So, with all of this going on I haven't pulled my camera out lately. But, we had a nice weekend. Aunt Carol came down for a visit and showed off her new car. We didn't have or go to any Memorial Day celebrations instead Tyler played with Annagrace all day while I repainted the kitchen. I wanted a change, the house was getting too baige for me. So it is a nice lovely deep shade of Apple Green. It's really pretty but doesn't match anything else in my kitchen. And it made my early 90's mauve counter tops look even more pink than before. So, today's project .... paint the counter tops!!! I've never done it before so here's hoping that it works right. My friend Erin already had the supplies and gave them to me. (She changed her mind after the purchase and did granite tiles.) It's all oil based and super smelly but anything is an improvement from Mauve!!

Watering Flowers

Annagrace got a new watering can yesterday and took it out to Grandmother's to help her water all of her flowers and her veggie garden. She absolutely loves it. I'm affraid she may end up an outside girl afterall. But, hey maybe it will help make me a ummm ... PARTIAL outside girl.

Books Galore

Several months ago I cleared out a bottom shelf of our bookcases in the living room and brought in all of Annagrace's board books, sturdy ones that she could pull off and play with. Well we recently added our entire collection of Little Critter books b/c they are now her favorite. It's not the funny plot, the character relationships, or even the cute moral of the story that intrigue her it's weather or not there is a grasshopper or mouse on every page. She will diligently search each page then point her perfectly straight tiny finger right to that pesky, sneaky little grasshopper. And she knows exactly which books have a grasshopper in them (not all Little Critter books do) and which ones don't. She will pull every book off of the shelf, throwing them over her shoulder until she finds just the right one. Once she has the prized book in hand she crawls, scoots, or scampers her way over to me and shoves it right in my face with an "uh, uh, uh." She could do it all day long!! I think I might go buy a Where's Waldo book and see how talented she really is.

Head Trauma

I'm getting a little worried. I know that falls are totally normal for babies learning how to walk. But, last night she fell in the bath tub and hit her face on the side of the tub. And then tonight she fell and hit her head on the entertainment center - leaving a huge blue swollen line right down her forehead. At this rate we are destined for a concussion before she's two!

Lunch and Shopping

Our two favorite things!

We went to lunch with our friends Jennifer and Abby, Grandmother and GG. Jennifer and Abby weren't able to make it to Annagrace's birthday party so they brought her present to lunch today. It is the cutest puzzle, when you put the pieces back in they make noises - the thing knows when you put the piece in! Love it!

I can't believe this is my baby - walking down through the mall, balloon in hand.

Welcome Home

I had the incredible honor of attending a very special homecoming on Friday. My friend Erin hired me to photograph every minute of her husband Nate's return from a year in Kuwait. It was so exciting and emotional - I loved it. We all waited in a huge room/auditorium with big screens everywhere. They had a live feed of the runway as the plane, carrying the precious cargo, landed. The sight made the room erupt with cheers and tears. The soldiers filed off the plane one-by-one and we saw every minute of it on the live feed. But, when they entered the building, it was not to see their families, they had to go through two hours of equipment returns and meetings. They did display a chart for us, letting us know how far along they were in their meetings.

When the soldiers marched into the room, everyone was on their feet, screaming, crying, and jumping for joy.

Then finally the moment we had all been waiting for:

Erin, thank you again for inviting me to be there with you. I hope you don't mind that I posted these pictures. It was just such an amazing experience, I had to share it!

A WHOLE YEAR

I can't believe I survived an entire year without seeing Laurie. The last time we were together was at her wedding (May '07) and everything was so crazy that we didn't get a lot of girl time in. Laurie is truly my soul sister. I know, it sounds cheesy, but I don't know how else to explain it. While we are completely different women in every way, we are so much alike and I can't imagine the last 23 years of my life without her.

Well, she finally got a week off from work and came up for a visit. It was as if we were never apart, we couldn't even believe that it had been a year - the only evidence is my not so tiny baby. Annagrace was only 6 weeks old at Laurie's wedding. Now, she's a walkin', talkin', crazy mess of a little girl. And despite my excitement, this is the only picture I got of her entire visit!! ME, of all people, only took ONE picture of her! It almost breaks my heart. But, Laurie has promised to come back in a month or two before they (sob, sob) move to Texas. I will have my camera surgically implanted into my hand when she comes. Checking on the flowers in our backyard with Grandmother.
It's on of the main reasons that I wanted a daughter - hair. I wanted all of the ribbons and bows, clips and barrettes. And I am loving experimenting with all of her little curls.

Additional Beach Pictures

I forgot that Tyler took pictures at the beach with the other camera. I just found them today. View from the balcony - those tiny people are me, Grandma Betty, and Annagrace.Sport's Illustrated - here we come.Lovin' the sand way too much!

A lot of randomness full of cuteness

Annagrace's new favorite way to ride in shopping carts - white knuckled, on her feet, with her hair blowing in the breeze.

We purchased towels for a wedding shower present, Annagrace got her cuddles in with them before we gave then away.

We gave a wedding shower for someone in my Mom's branch and I cooked my favorite "entertaining" meal - Chicken Bowtie Pasta. Everyone LOVED it and asked for the recipe. Is it wrong to not want to give it away? It's my signature, straight from my mind, no cookbook, meal. It was fun getting to use all of my silver serving pieces though.

We finally went to Toys R Us for Annagrace's Birthday visit. And of course, she got another belated birthday gift. In my defense, it's educational and I couldn't let her $3 "gift coupon" go to waste!

PIGTAILS!!

She looks so cute and SO big. I tried to get a better picture of them, but she is obsessed with her books now (I'm not complaining) and kept holding them up infront of her face every time I tried to take a picture. Also, check out her adorable little generic Crocs. When we went swimming this weekend, Annagrace's feet got scraped up on the cement (or whatever it is) in the pool. So, I was afraid to put regular shoes on her, that they might make the spots worse. So, I convinced Tyler last night, while at Walmart, that we had to get these shoes so she would have something to wear until her feet heal. OH, that's another story ... Annagrace insists on walking AND pushing the shopping cart at Walmart now. She pushes it -ALL BY HER SELF - with everything in the cart. It's so cute, she tries so hard, bent over with her little butt sticking out. I'll have to get a picture next time.

Happy Mother's Day

We decided to surprise grandmother by going to her branch for church today. Afterwards we went to Aunt Brenda's for a cookout and a dip in the pool. Annagrace LOVES the water. Unfortunately we didn't take and pictures right after church, all dressed up. I may make everyone get dressed again and take pictures!

table food nightmare

I know, it's been a while since I last posted. But, I've been busy fighting, yes I said fighting, with my daughter. I've been trying to get Annagrace on the road to no bottle by 15 months and only table food by 18 months. (Instructions from the doctor.) The bottle thing is okay, we are down to two a day. But, the table food thing is about to kill me. I have to hold her down and force the spoon into her mouth for the first bite. She decides that it tastes good and will open her mouth for a couple of bites, but then changes her mind and we start the whole process over again.

Well, today I had had enough. We went back to baby food and she happily opened her mouth for every bite of THREE jars of food. We even laughed and had fun. So, we are back to baby food and if she shows an interest and wants what I'm eating, I will gladly give her some. But, until then we will stick to baby food. I did at least go up a stage, we went to Walmart and bought a lot of stage 3 foods. We will start on those tomorrow.

Am I being lazy? A detriment to my baby? Or just intuitive? She has crawled on her own time, walked on her own time, and I think she will move to only table food on her own time. I've come to realize that I can't FORCE my baby to do anything. She IS Tyler's daughter after all!

Here, she is happily eating buttered toast ... not the healthiest, but it's TABLE FOOD!!

Triston's Graduation

My Mom called me at 10:00am yesterday morning.

Mom: "I'm meeting your Aunt Brenda at your house at 10:30 to go to Triston's Pre-school graduation. Do you want to go?'

Me: "Umm, well, I'm still in my pjs but SURE."

So, in 30 minutes I was able to shower, get myself ready, get Annagrace ready, and pack a diaper bag for the day. We were completely ready by the time Aunt Brenda knocked on the door! We hopped in the car and headed to Opelika, to his school.

He was so cute and shy at first but was all smiles once he got his "Diploma."Class NTriston and his teacher.The singing performance, pre-diploma ceremony.

Annagrace was very excited for Triston. (Can you see where the blue eyes come from?)