Little Projects

Here's a few little projects that Mark and I have been working on. 

This dresser we bought at a garage sale for our friends Matt & Shelley's new baby girl, Sadie.

And here's the after! It turned out great! Mark did a great job fixing the drawers and a few part on the front that were really messed up. (I am convinced that given the correct tools, he can fix/repair anything!) I helped with the painting, knobs, and added the "S."

This little rocking chair was given to us. I wish I could find the before picture, but I'm pretty sure I deleted it.:( But here's the after, Austin loves it!!

San Antonio Vacation

In October (I told you I was behind) we when to San Antonio for a mini Vacation. Which was rudely interrupted by a 24 stomach virus, that Brooke, Mark & I got at few hours apart from each other. So the stomach virus claimed a day and a half out of our three and a half day trip. Not cool! But we managed to have a good time. Here are a few pics.

A Little Behind...

OK, so I guess I'm a little behind on this whole "keeping everyone up to date on the family blog" thing. So here's a few things y'all might have missed!



Here's Mark getting his MBA from TAMUCC!!
Hooray for him!! He worked so hard!!!

Here we are at a Corpus Christi Hooks baseball game!

 

"Princess Brooke"

Austin with a description of things he likes at age 1.

Brooklynn Marie with description of things she likes.

And us at the beach...gotta love the beach.

Well, still not completely up to date, but closer than before!

Climbing On Up...

Well, not much is going on around here. Just the normal stuff. Austin has made some real "strides" towards walking. He walks with his arms raised up above his head, I think it helps with his balance. And he has discovered how to climb into chairs. Here's a pic of him in the chair watching cartoons. :) Have a great day!

Play Kitchen

So I found this baby on the side of the road a few weeks ago. And she screamed "Play Kitchen!"

What? You don't hear her screaming that?? OK, well, what about know?

Yep, know you hear it! :) I had Mark take one of the drawers off and cut a whole for the sink. The rest was just a little paint, wooden circles painted for burners, and a few knobs. The whole project cost about $7. Not bad at all!!! And the kids already love it!!!

Playhouse Update

About 2 years ago Mark built Brooke a super cute little playhouse. When he built it, we painted the outside. But besides that, we haven't done much with it. So, this summer, I've been working on it. Here's a few pics...

Those are Brooke's handprints. I'm going to put Austin's on the other side, if I can ever keep him still for that long! :)

This is a tool bench we got from the side of the road! Gotta LOVE free!

Little shelf  above the door for toys!

Opposite wall of the tool bench. Shelf for bubbles and bubble wands, and curtains I made. The black wall is a chalkboard wall. Forgot to take a pic, but it's just black, so you can imagine what it looks like.

Just right of the before pic. Little Mary Engelbreit pic says, " Keep good company and you will be counted as one of them."

Total cost about $20. Not bad at all! :)

August Already???

Well, I'm not exactly sure what happened to the month of July. It seems like it was just the 4th. We didn't really do much in the month, but here are a few pics anyway! :)

Date Night!

On Friday our friend from church, Lyndsi, came over to babysit!! Yay for date night!!! We took Mark's motorcycle and drove down to the island (Padre Island).  It was a beautiful evening. We took a walk on the beach and ate at a local favorite "Doc's." Here is a pic from outside the restaurant.

New Centerpiece

So for a while now I've been trying to think of a new idea for a centerpiece for my kitchen table.  I saw an idea on a blog that I LOVED!! So I had to try it out. Here's what I did..

First I got this picture at Hobby Lobby on clearance for $2. It's cute, buuuuuttt, yeah. I can make it better.

I took the letters off and spray painted the frame white. Kept the burlap on the background (I like how it looked kind of rustic.) Added a few candles that were in my cabinet, and the berries I got at Hobby Lobby yesterday, and there you go. New centerpiece for about 6 bucks!!

LOVE IT!!!!! I think it would look just a little better if my table runner was maybe a red and white print. I'll have to start looking for one!

Hobby Lobby finds

I LOVE Hobby Lobby!! I could spend hours there!! Yesterday we ran in to look for some berries for a project (more on that later). And, OH MY GOSH, three aisles of 80% off clearance!! Thank you Lord!!!
Trying to control myself, I just picked a few things.

The berries were half off, so I payed $2.99. The BEAUTIFUL lampshade was clearanced for $5.99. HUGE YAY!!! And the clothespin/wall hook thing was broken, and on clearance for $2.70. But I was sure I could put a new clothespin on. But once I got it home I noticed, it wasn't broken, just missing half the cloth pin. Well, I think I have half a clothespin somewhere around here. Esp, since Austin is always trying to take them apart.

Sure enough, found my half a cloth spin and painted it white. And Viola!!!! (is that how you spell that?)

Perfect beside the refrigerator to hold all of Brooke's artwork! (I'm going to buy a white candle for the candle holder to make it really pop off the wall!) Thanks it for now!

The Garage!

Dun, dun, duunnnnnn..... Are you scared yet? Well, you should be. A few years back we started enclosing our garage. On the outside, it looks just like an extra room. On the inside, well, it still needs a LOT more work. And because we don't have an attic or basement, the garage is kind of a storage/catch all for now. (Garage work was posponed due to the whole Mark getting his MBA thing). Needless to say, it occasionally gets out of control with clutter, but this time it got WAY out of control! Here's a look...

Yeah, I know, I know, it was really bad. But I've been really busy  lazy. And the gargage doesn't have AC yet, and it's been really hot! But thankfully, yesterday it rained, which cooled things off a little bit. So no time like the present, right? About an hour and a half later....

Ahh, I feel better. Obviously some stuff just has to live out therefor now, because we just don't have enought room inside. But overall, I'm quite pleased with my end result. (Ignore the giant box of hoses and cords. I trying to figure out a better way of storing them).

46 Days to go...

That's right!! only 46 days until Mark's graduation!!!! He has been working like CRAZY on homework, projects, and reports. While I, have just been plain GOING CRAZY! :) No, it's not really that bad. Although we are both very busy, the effort I put out is no comparison to what he's been doing. Mark has been getting 2 -5 hours of sleep a night. And I, well, I missed last night's episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent because my children were crying! :( I know, I know, the sacrifices I make are such a difficult burden to bear. :) But actually it has been a rough couple of days. Brooke is nearing the end of the Roseola. Thank the Lord!!! She still has a fever off and on, and wakes up crying a few times a night. But her temperature has slowly been going down and she's gradually starting to come off the couch to play. Austin, however, is exhausting on a whole new level. He's like a tiny tornado, tearing up stuff as he goes. And just as soon as i pick something up, you guessed it, there is a whole new mess awaiting me. Tiring as he may be, he is adorable! Wouldn't trade him for the world!

Even with all that, we still found time to make it to the grocery store!! (One of Brooke and my favorite things, believe it or not.) And saved a whopping $28.51 in coupons! Hooray us!! That's about it for now, I have a new mess to clean up!

Long week...

We discovered Tuesday that Brooke has Roseola (Just a virus with fever and rash).  Mark has summer school Mon - Thurs, so this has been a very long week! But thank the Lord, my Austin has been so good! Please pray for Brooke to feel better soon. And here is a few pics of Austin just being cute!!

"I can see outside!"

"Why doesn't my head fit?"

Silly Kids

Someone gave us a Mrs. Potts costume. As you can tell, Brooke LOVES it!!!

(Still don't know how to rotate!)

And, of course, i had to post a pic of Austin. Isn't he a cutie!!!

Day of Freebies!!!

So I LOVE getting stuff for free! Yesterday had a lot of freebies! First, one of our church ladies brought us a bag of fresh onions. Then, the kids and I went to Ihop to eat dinner(Mark was in school). I had a coupon for a free meal and kids ate free from 4-10pm, so Brooke's food was free also! The best freebie was from a friend of ours that works at a Pediatrician's office. She brought us 2 boxes filled with baby formula, pediasure, children's tylenol, bottles, so much awesome stuff!! Here's a pic! Thank the Lord, it was such a blessing!!!!!

Into everything...

 Austin is almost 9 months old and as you can see, he is everywhere...





in the refrigerator...

in the dog's food...

...and just making messes!! He decided he likes craisins, if you can't tell!