house projects

People have been asking me to post pictures of some of the things that we have been doing to the house since we moved. Here are just a couple of things that have been keeping me busy...

Here is a picture of our family room. We got new couches, pillows, curtains, entertainment center, and TV. Nick was really excited about the TV. It was the one thing that he really wanted in the move. I don't know why he wanted it so much because he never watches TV! I was also really excited about the area rug that we found. It really matches our tile and you can't tell form the picture, but the little cream flowers in the rug have little blue centers. I think it really helps to tie the room together.
Here is a picture of our piano. The bench was covered with a cross stitch and I left it on way longer than I should have. My dad helped me staple a new one on that matched my decor.

Here is a picture of the curtains that my mom helped me with in our formal living room. I included a close up the curtain fabric because in the far away picture you can't see it very well. I was also able to find an area rug and pillows to match. It has been a slow process, but it is coming along.

Here is a picture of one of the sets of curtains in the master bedroom that my mother in law helped me with. We have five windows in our bedroom, so it was a pretty good sized project. The gold part of the curtains were already there, but the previous owner had hot glued some blue fabric to the bottom of the curtains. I was shocked that she had hot glued them because she didn't realize that she had to leave the window treatments with the house and she threw a crying fit about leaving them. I let her have the ones that I wasn't planning on using, but who would cry over leaving curtains that had been hot glued together?

The first week we moved in, my sister and I painted the toy room green. It was the exact color of our old family room in our last house. You can't see the color very well from the picture, but I have always really liked it. We got book shelves for all the kids toys and put our old TV up their for the kids to watch movies.

Now I have been busy getting the kids rooms finished. We finally got everything out of the "sorting" room and I painted it and we moved the kids into that room. Now I have to paint the bedroom that they had been sleeping in and that is going to be Sydney's room. I will post pictures when I am done.

Pretty sweet seats

One of the contractor's that Nick does business hooked us up with some awesome tickets to see the Rangers play the Yankees. Our seets were right behind home plate. We went to the game and they had to start it over two hours late because of a hair storm. We couldn't stay for the whole game because it got to be so late and Blake was still in school. A couple of weeks after the game someone told us that the Rangers were letting people change in their ticket stubs to see another game. I was pretty sure I had tossed them after the game and was pretty disappointed. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon them and we got to go to the Rangers vs. Twins game this week. Blake is totally addicted to baseball. He watched all three hours and forty minutes of the game and knew exactly what was going on. Sydney and Trey got a little testy after the snacks ran out, but they were good sports about it. I must say that I am starting to really like going to baseball games.

Gramps

Nick's paternal grandfather died this month. He was almost 91 years old. Nick and I were able to leave the kids with my sister and go to Utah for the funeral. It was sad to say goodbye, but it was nice to be able to see so many family members that we do not get to see very often. This picture is of Nick's dad and his mother and siblings.

Lake Owen

Every year we make the journey to Nick's favorite place in the world, Lake Owen in northern Wisconsin. It is an incredible place full of wildlife and good times are had by all. Thanks for always making it possible, Nana and Dadaw!

Little Skier

Blake graduated from having his skis roped together and connected to the boat to skiing like the big guys. He was a little upset about having to make this change, but he was happy when he mastered it. Maybe next year we will get some footage of some barefoot action!

Liebling Brothers Circus

When any circus makes a stop in a town that doesn't show up on most maps, you should be suspicious...or as Nick puts it, you shouldn't miss it! We went to this little circus and I don't think I will ever forget it. It is put on by a man and his family. One of the highlights was the monkey that stole all of the kids cotton candy right out of their hands. We have some pretty good pictures of Trey's reaction to this. Another great part was when the ringmaster asked who wants to pet the snake and then announces that only the first little boy gets to pet the snake for free. All of the rest of the kids have to pay to touch it. The show was mainly performed by his three children that were between 14-and 10. They were the most flexible children I have every seen but it makes you wonder if they can read. The family had two younger children as well. They had a two year old that ran around in clown shoes and then we saw him licking his fingers and eating right out of the cotton candy maker. He was also helping himself to popcorn from that machine as well. The family also had an infant in a play pen for the show that feasted on popcorn and drank Hawaiian punch from a bottle! It was almost embarrassing to watch! The kids had a ball though and the members of our group who did not attend were filled in on everything they missed. What an experience!

Blake the Great

Lake Owen shots

We had a really good time at the Lake this year. It was a little colder than it normally is, but that was ok with us since it has been over a 100 degrees most of the time in Texas. I don't think it ever even hit 80 in the two weeks that we were at the Lake. The kids were pretty brave in the water though. They just went right in. We thought we were going to be able to get Syd to water ski this year, but the closest she got was putting on the skis. She freaked out after that and declared that she wasn't going to try again until she was 13. I guess we will have to hold her to it. One of the highlights of the trip was getting to see Miss Ruby, Nick's niece. She is such a sweet heart and the kids love being around her.

Fishing

The kids wanted to go fishing so bad that they could not wait for Dadaw or Daddy to come to the Lake. Nana and I were brave enough to take them although Nana refused to touch a single worm or unhook a single fish. The fish were going crazy and we were pulling a fish in every time we dropped the line. So, needless to say, I was pretty busy with all of the fish. The funny thing is that we took Nick when he got to the Lake and went to the same spot at the same time of day and could hardly catch a thing. I guess we need to do a little more research. Every night Blake would pray that we would catch a fish that was big enough to eat for dinner. I think Nana prayed every night that she wouldn't have to clean a fish for dinner and her prayers were answered this year....we may not be so lucky next year!

Bayfield on Lake Superior

Every year we take a little day trip to a little town called Bayfield which is on Lake Superior. We always have fun looking at all of the boats, eating a good meal, getting the kids picture taken with the Swedish troll, and seeing the store that has the bear in it!

Meet THE Bear!

Nana and Dadaw have told the kids about all of the bears they have seen at Lake Owen, but the kids were really getting frustrated that they never had seen one. We were just discussing this on our way home from church when we came upon the bear! The kids were so excited! We stayed in the car and watched him for a pretty long time. We made a lot of noise and he would look at us and then go back to his stolen garbage. We even saw him go dumpster diving. He went in and then a threw a bag out. We thought it was funny that we wouldn't eat it in the dumpster. He liked to get it out and spread it around first so he could weigh his options. We had a few more sightings of him during our stay. One was a close call when Mike went to take out the trash one evening. He heard a lot of noise coming from the dumpster and called out and no one answered. He then got his first view of our friend the bear. Good thing he didn't get too close!