November Pictures

This is what's left of the pictures I took in November! 

Our New Old Bathroom

I said from day 1 living in this house that all the walls must be painted!!! And while some rooms are more daunting then others, I figured it was high time to paint the hall bath. This is the main bath that guests use while visiting, and the main bathroom the boys use before and after schools and before meals. Its probably the most used bathroom in the house! And the pink sponge painted walls burned me eyes each and every time I walked in there. It was just gross! So I told my mom that I was ready to paint!! She came to help, thank goodness! I had the room all prepped and the supplies were ready, and just about the time we were ready to roll, Levi called. So I chatted with him for a little while and came downstairs to say, "I'm ready!" and my mom says, "I'm about done!" She'd already rolled on the first coat as was onto edging! If I knew it was going to take that long, I would've done this- oh the 2nd day we moved in!!! But I'm glad it is finally done! I had a rug I liked already, and after a failed attempt to spray paint the existing mirror, I bought a new mirror, artwork, hand towels, and towel hook and we are all set!! We just love our new old bathroom! It sees twice the size without the dark pink walls and the humongous towel bar taking up the whole wall! I added a bigger mirror too and that really made a difference!! Makes me want to tackle the next paiting project...hmmmm...

Snowy Day INSIDE

Yep, it snowed inside our house! That's what Grant yelled down to Wyatt. We had received a package that had a TON of packing peanuts inside the box. I figured it was finally time to start breaking down the boxes of all our Christmas shipments (thank you Amazon!) and as I carefully dumped all the packing peanuts into a trash sack, I realized I wasn't being so careful and I pretty much just spilled them all over the floor. I stood there for about two seconds and contemplated which direction I would go with this- 1) Hurry up and sweep it up before anyone decides they want to play with it or 2) Tell the kids to hurry up and come upstairs to play with it! I went route #2 and I'm glad I did! Grant came in first and he ran down to the basement to tell Wyatt it was snowing. Wyatt came upstairs in disbelief as he looked out the window, but once he looked in the kitchen he understood! Boy, this kept them busy for a good hour and I am sooooo happy I ignored the OCD Mom in me and let them have fun and be imaginative! But believe me, it was super hard!! But these pictures show just how happy they were!

 

 They started making their own snowball forts....Wyatt was tearing all of his in half- oh joy!

The aftermath....

It took us a good thirty  mintues to clean it all up, and I'm still finding Styrofoam pieces hidden throughout the kitchen!! A good mess means happy play!!!

Basement Playing

Our basement is one of the biggest blessings in our house!!! For the majority of the time, all the toys stay in the basement! And it gets MESSY!!! But that's what its there for!! I can shut the door at night and not even know its a mess!! And it always is, but that just means that lots of fun has been had!! Usually, most of the toys don't stay in the actual playroom part of the basement! Grant has been setting up Star Wars battles all over the basement! No surface is safe- although I haven't found any Star Wars guys in the bathroom or kitchen down there...yet!! It just a big wide open space for their imaginations to run wild- and they usually do!!! Here's a tiny glimpse of what our basement can look like on a normal day...

Thanksgiving Crafting

Thanksgiving didn't last long in this house. We went from Halloween, then moved onto some Thanksgiving crafts, school games, and books for about two weeks and we moved directly into Christmas! While I love Christmas activities so much more than Thanksgiving, I can't say I blame them!! But we did enjoy some fun activities in those two weeks! Of course, I didn't catch everything we did, but it was a worthwhile two weeks!!

I made Wyatt lots of school games! He loved them all and we played them daily! Grant made an appearance a time or two!  Like for this- they liked to make their own Fall Candy Shops with the little gems we had! I am still finding them in tiny nooks and crannies in the living room!

 Wyatt is my crafter and would do projects all day if I had the stamina! He chose some dot pages one day- he likes the colorful ones and tries to match his dot marker to what color the dot should be. He loves experimenting with color mixing. Its a very serious activity for him :)

 And really, what holiday is complete without handprint art!! I did manage to get them both, but I guess I only got Wyatt's turkey on camera! They turned out so cute!! I've saved every handprint art they've ever done! Love looking at their tiny fingers and toes each year! Good memories!

Star Wars Gallery

It all started with an extra pumpkin carving template. While I carved the pumpkins, Grant made a storm trooper from the extra template. Then he asked for a Darth Vader. Fast forward a month later and we have an entire Star Wars gallery in the playroom!!

Wyatt is even on the action now, requesting to me to print off a new Star Wars helmet everyday!! I print off the helmet/face, they make the bodies!! 

And since I took these pictures, I think we have a good 6 or 7 more adorning our walls! We are having to move them out into the rest of the basement! I have to admit they are pretty darn adorable. And it makes me not feel so bad about not hanging up the art in the playroom I've been sitting on since we moved in!!

And I just had to include this adorable Star Wars picture Wyatt drew! Just too cute!

Little People Christmas

I don't have many years left where I can pull out these adorable toys and hear squeals of delight!! My kids have never really been into the Little People- unless its a themed holiday set!! We had two Halloween sets that they couldn't get enough of, so when I pulled out the Christmas boxes they had completely forgotten about our Christmas sets we had!! And I may or may not have added a few more sets this year! They're just soooo cute and the boys have a great time playing with them!! Hours and hours have gone into preparations for the reindeer takeoffs, decorating the town tree, and even a cookie party thrown by Mrs. Claus!! It's so cute sitting back and pretending I'm not hanging on their every word, cherishing everything they say in their pretend play! Wyatt even said once, "Go to Italy, Paris, and then back here, Ok?!" Sweet sounds of playtime!!!! Not too long from now, I'll have to retire these toys and save them for the grandchildren, but until then I may just have video them each playtime so I will never forget these precious moments!!

Glimpse of Christmas

It's been getting Christmassy up in here for a few weeks now! With a new house, and doing it all on my own, we tackled one thing at a time! Little by little, our house has been transformed into all its Christmas glory!

 I framed all of our Santa pictures for the built ins! The fancy frame is for the current year picture!

We put up a village, which we've never done before! We got a few for Christmas last year, and bought at the after-Christmas sales and of course, bought new accessories this year! The boys love redecorating it and moving the people and trees around!! They all light up and the one in the middle even moves! It's a big hit!! 

 I knew I needed lighted garland the second we walked into this house the first time we saw it! It's a magical sight!!!

Found the only wall big enough for the quilt my mom made me last year!! 

 Of course, lots of Christmas school play has been going on!

 Two of my favorite things- my vintage tree from my Grandma and the ornament holder Levi made a few years ago! Perfect greeting at the entry way!

And this year, we are doing a Jesse Tree during Advent, and this is it! A fun new tradition to add to the already magical time of year!

While this is just a glimpse of the Christmas in our house, its exploding with joy and magic and anticipation for another blessed season!!

Wyatt's Thanksgiving Feast

Wyatt's preschool put on a darling Thanksgiving performance and feast!! He had been looking forward to it all month long! "Is today my feast?" he'd ask me every day before school! So when the day arrived and bounced into preschool happy as can be!! My mom joined us for the fun festivities! 

The fun starting in the church where they put on their performance! We got a front row seat and Wyatt waved and waved when he spotted us! They sang some adorable songs- I mean how could preschool singers be any cuter?!?

Then we took a little spin through Wyatt's classroom and showed Mimi all his artwork! And we finally made our way into the big room for our Thanksgiving Feast buffet! Wyatt munched on carrots, muffins, and popcorn, and deserts of course! Mimi and I had a taste of turkey and some deserts! 

And just like that, it was over!! But Wyatt was so happy to have us both there! We headed over to Grant's school to pick him up a little early- the look on his face when he saw Mimi at his classroom door was priceless!! Thankful for Thanksgiving memories!!!