Before and After

The first pic is our "after" pic for our recent little bedroom reno.  A few weeks ago I went shopping with my sister-in-law, Allison.  She needed new bedding, and I fell in love with the same things she got.  I ended up buying almost the same euro pillow shams (she has the shams in white) and the exact same duvet cover.  Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?

Kid and Carpet Pics

Here's a pic of my beautiful children before going to church this morning.  This is another one of the dresses from Joanne; I'm not sure on the exact history.

 We're in the midst of a small bedroom reno (I'll post pics when I'm done), and we decided to paint the bedroom.  I had cleaned most everything up when Anna Belle woke from her nap.  I picked her up and continued my clean up efforts.  I sat her down briefly so I could plug stuff in behind our night stands.  I turned around and found Anna Belle sitting in a puddle of paint with a very full can in her lap.

I immediately set the can aside, rushed her into the bath tub, and ran for the dust pan and trashcan.  At this point I'm feeling really good about my quick thinking and response time.  I scooped a few pans of paint into the trash and I hear Anna Belle calling for me.  I turn around to find her standing in the tub with paint all of her face (AAAHHHH!!)  I left the paint spill to go clean up my daughter and make sure she hadn't swallowed any of the paint.  

On Friday we had a carpet guy come out and patch the carpet stain.  You can see the patch a little, but it's hardly noticeable compared to the huge paint spill.

How'd you do that?

One of my biggest irritations as a stay at home mom is how Brady totally tunes me out.  He's really a sweet boy, so when he finds me yelling he asks, "Mommy, what's wrong?"  I then inform him it's the 4th, 5th or 6th time I've said the same thing (in a row).

The problem seems to be expanding.  He couldn't stand to ride his bike next to me yesterday, so he drove himself in a big circle around the neighborhood (with me following) and came back to our house mad that he didn't get to the park.  I'm finding the humor in this more and more.

Today, Brady asked for vitamins and then rambled on about a hundred different things before he realized the vitamins were right in front of him.  He looks back at me and says, "How'd you do that?"  It's like I'm magically fast : )

Livingston Wedding

Click here to view this photo book larger

I just finished my first draft of Brett and Allison's wedding album.  I'm sure she'll want to make a few changes before going to print, but I thought the family would be eager to see.  

Gig 'em Aggies

11 years ago, Taylor and I met at the Memorial Student Center (MSC) where Taylor chaired a committee (which I joined, due to a mutual friend) in the Student Programming Office (SPO).  The MSC SPO had a lovely reception for former students for the grand re-opening after a 2 year renovation of the MSC.  Jane Bailey is and was my favorite no-nonsense mentor.  

Yesterday, we went swimming and set up a little station for Brady to paint outside.  It was so nice to not worry about the mess!

Brady and Anna Belle are so cute together.  They chase one another around the couches in the living room.  At this point, Brady caught Anna Belle and started blowing raspberries on her.  I love that my home is filled with their sweet giggles.

Wet happened?

I'm so glad that Taylor watched the kids today, so that I could get acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and have lunch and shop with his sweet sisters.

After a dry month or so, Brady has wet his pants several times this week (I'll spare you the drama and details).

After I told him we weren't going to play with play dough, Brady took the neon orange play dough in the Harry Potter closet to play. It was in his stuffed animals, the walls, his clothes and all over the carpet before I discovered it.

When I was pregnant with Brady, I splurged on a little ceramic alligator bank. I caught Brady pulling it off the 4' shelf, so I moved it up to the 6' high closet shelf. While atop his suit case, with a hanger in hand, he batted at the alligator until it fell to the ground and broke. Brady came downstairs with unexplained boo-boos, which Taylor cleaned up today. When I heard Brady playing with loose change, I suddenly realized what happened. I wish I could replace it : (

In anticipation for playing golf with Daddy after work, Brady tore apart our closet in an attempt to pull out Daddy's golf bag, clubs and balls.

After wearing me out with additional clean up efforts, he still just melts my heart. I love that he asks, "Mommy, wanna watch TV wit me?" and wants to cuddle. He tells me he loves me about 20 times every morning and gives lots of kisses. He's really good about saying thank you and being gracious when we fix his meals, or help him get dressed or help him take a bath. I love the way he mumbles through our prayers before dinner. I love that he sincerely loves his sister, and loves blowing raspberries on her tummy to make her giggle. I love that I wake up to Brady gently petting my back and saying, "Mommy, can I have Cheerios, please, mommy, please?"

I may be tired, but God has blessed me with a sweet son and I'm so happy to be his mommy.

Washington DC Pics

When we found out that David's promotion was during the Cherry Blossom festival, I felt inspired to hire a professional photographer for the first time. This year actually marked the centennial of when Japan gave these cherry trees to the U.S. to beautify the capital. Most of the blossoms had already faded, but these were still in full bloom.

In the Japanese culture the cherry blossoms represent the "awareness of impermanence", thus this photo shoot is our attempt to capture of these precious moments while our children are young.

It's a long drop if Anna Belle fell backwards (probably 15 feet), so I was holding on tight.

The steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Runner Up

We had pictures taken in DC a few weeks ago. These are the photos that didn't make it to our favorite 12. I hope to have the final images of our favorites sometime this weekend.

A few photos from Easter

Brady looked quite dashing in his little sports coat, and then I failed to get pictures of him . I got plenty of Anna Belle.

I think Anna Belle ate 3 slices of cake on Easter. She would travel to whomever still had cake on their plate.

Photo Glutten

I sat in the same spot and took 125 pictures of virtually the same shot, and no 2 are the same. Here's my baby boy SOOOO happy to be learning baseball with his daddy.

Our little cheerleader snacked in the outfield : )

Happy Easter

Easter bunny was good to our little ones. Brady's really excited about both of the movies. We look forward to having Easter dinner with Taylor's family tonight (and getting to dress Anna Belle up in another one of her new dresses).

This is our first year to decorate and hide real boiled eggs.

Our little Easter egg hunt, in our swimsuits.

My boy loves punch balloons!

My little angel in one of the dresses that Aunt Joanne sent. I'm not sure on the story behind each dress, but she sent dresses that were worn by her girls and some of them are from when Joanne, Allison and Ann were little.

I set this lovely table for Easter dinner with my family, but we all ended up eating on melamine out by the pool. At least clean up was easier : ) We're really excited about our new shutter, which was installed on Friday.

I don't know what's been going on with the ducks, but they've been hanging out at my house every morning. Brady loves greeting them when he wakes up. He's also in his SuperMan shirt, which he would wear every day (if I let him).

My happy kiddos love taking a bath together in the mornings.

I really like looking at landscape photos from year to year. The "before" pics were from late May 2011. You can tell I took them at different times of day, and I had the garage spot in the second photo rather than Taylor.

Before and After (again)