Monday, November 17, 2014

Room Makeovers (because some of us don't have enough to do)

2 girls made their mommy very happy and their dad not so much recently.  Livie has been jealous of Cade's room from the very beginning.  You see, it's a nature, outdoorsy room.  Livie is my nature loving girl and wanted her room to have MORE NATURE. 
LIGHT BULB
I offered the girls a room makeover in lieu of Christmas presents, and they said YES! JACKPOT!!   I love a good project!  Livie's was 1st because she kind of knew what she wanted, and I liked her ideas. :) We found a picture on pinterest of the birch tree decals, and decided we had our plan.

BEFORE PICTURES
In all fairness, it looked a lot better in person.  It's in an awkward configuration because in order to appease her after Cade's room, I moved her furniture exactly where she wanted it.  When we moved she got my old furniture, and my mom made her an adorable quilt and canopy with her favorite color... turquoise.  And she ALWAYS makes her bed, but this particular day she didn't, and when I decide on a project it's katy bar the door because there is no holding back!!  Just ask my husband!  It's a miracle I took a couple of before pictures.



 Let the projects begin...

Livie went to school on Monday, and Claire and I started our project when Cade was napping.  It began like this,
 
but don't worry I had great help.  Do you see my little helper?
 
 
 
And eventually this happened.  We're soaking all of the masking tape off of her body!!
 
 
Finally, Ta Da the finished product.  I actually LOVE it!!  The white really pops, and I think makes the room look bigger!
 
I even recovered her chair to make it look more nature-y!
 
Now on to Little Miss #2.  She had a great idea... Mommy could paint Santa Claus on her wall with the Reindeer Flying!!  Definitely A SOLID idea, but I just didn't feel like we were quite ready to start!  Then we decided maybe a rainbow room.  We could add some different colored dots to her room, paint her bed red or yellow, but we just couldn't quite make it work.  So we went to Wichita for some other supplies,
 
 and we found...
 
OUR INSPIRATION
 
We decided we would add Gold Sparkles to Claire's room. 
 
BEFORE PICTURES



 
AFTER PICTURES
We added gold, sparkly polka dots all over, and painted a couple of her frames gold.  There is no headboard in this picture because I had already painted it from black to red, and then I of course had to paint it back black when we found our inspiration!!  :)  There is a big open spot because she is asking for a desk for Christmas.  Livie is asking for a reading lamp.
 
 
 
 


 
Both girls worked on some special projects for each of their rooms. 
Livie made a bird nest, and painted a bird to go in it.  She also made some paper birds as well.

 
 
 


Claire painted a "C" and a golden sun for her room!


Yes, that is a Christmas tree.  Yes, our Christmas is up! :) 
Happy Thanksgiving!!

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Fall Break... Colorado... Why Not?!

1st Stop (after Freddy's of course)  Colorado Visitor's Center.



After some serious mommy daddy discussion (aka getting really short with each other over finding a hotel) which happens EVERY SINGLE TIME, we stayed at the 1st hotel we had called, which was too expensive an hour and a half earlier, turned out to be PERFECT!
 
We packed every single second.
The girls awesomely woke up at 5:45 the first morning super excited.
 
Manitou Cliff Dwellings
Average visitor time at most an hour and a half...
3 hours later we were on to our next adventure!
 
This turned out to be the girls FAVoritE PaRT of the entire trip.  It was really fun.


Only 1 mishap... Livie had to be rescued from the Anasazi Balcony.  She's terrified of heights, and was certain the ladder, "WAS NOT STURDY ENOUGH TO HOLD HER!"

We did the Souvenir Penny Machines at each stop.

 

Cade's 2 month pictures look a little different this time! :)
I promise you he is the happiest baby, but all of his pictures look like this because well frankly his mommy is constantly forcing him to take ridiculous pictures!! :)

 
Next stop.... the train to Pike's Peak
 
Adorable!   And 5 minutes later... get him out he doesn't like it!!

What this picture doesn't show... we had to FORCE Livie to come out to take a picture because Everything was TOO HIGH, Claire is chanting, "FREEZING FREEZING FREEZING," and Cade is crying.  It was also really bright.


PS:  An hour into the Pikes Peak train ride, Jed said, "It's probably a good thing we didn't go to Albuquerque!"

And on the way down...



Next Day, The North Pole!
Where the rides are fun, and the workers legitimately hate their lives.
Seriously, they weren't very happy.
 
This was honestly the funniest ride I have ever seen! 




 Next Day... Garden of the Gods and Hiking
Cade is 2 Months Old!




Then on to the Dinosaur Museum and
Cripple Creak
 

This is how Claire fell asleep... that is a plastic snake in her mouth, and her shirt is pulled up being she was "HOT!"

 Hello Colorado!

We had a great family adventure.  We hope your Fall Break was Fantastic Too!