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!!

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!

How not to plan for Fall Break...

1 Month-ish Before Fall Break

Me:  "I want to do something fun for Fall Break."
Jed:  "Like What?"
Me:  "I don't know something."
Jed:  "I think we'll still be cutting beans."


3 days Before Fall Break

Jed:  "I think we're going to finish the beans, and it's supposed to rain."


2 days Before Fall Break

Jed:  "I have a GREAT idea.  We're going to take a train to Albuquerque, New Mexico!  It's super cheap!  I think it's 14 hours to get there."
Me:  awkward silence.... "That would be so fun, but do you think 14 hours is kind of a long time with a newborn and 2 little girls?  What if someone is sick on the train?" 
Jed:  "The trains are pretty empty."
Me:  "Ok, well we could do it in a couple days and get off to do fun things at different stops."
Jed:  "You don't have long enough at the stops to get off.  You have to stay on the train."
Me:  "Ummmmm, well let's keep thinking." 
Jed:  "Yeah, I'm not sure we're going to get done."


1 day Before Fall Break

Jed:  "How about driving to Denver, Colorado?"
Me:  "Really?!  Are you going to get done and be able to go?"
Jed:  "Yep, let's plan on that."
Me Yelling:  "GIRLS we are going to CO!  Let's go to the library!" 


FALL BREAK

9:30  Pulling out of the drive headed to Denver
10:30  Jed and I:  "Girls we're going to Colorado Springs!!" 
It did kind of confuse the girls since I had printed them maps and highlighted Denver! :)

Yes, my husband's a farmer

AND THAT'S HOW WE ROLL!

Planning is overrated, and I refuse to get my heartbroken if it doesn't rain. :)