Growing up!

In January both my 'babies' turned a year older. First was Parker's 3rd b-day on the 15th. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we hit Disneyland on the actual date of both boy's b-day's. But, of course, we also had a family/close friends party the Sunday after their b-days. The whole family came over and so did our good friends the Stockdales & Pugmires. (Funny, we thought, 'oh, we'll keep it small' but just those families and there were about 18 people in our house!) Parker had asked Grandma Fletcher to make his cake, he requested a Batman cake. Of course Grandma Fletcher came through with flying colors! He LOVED it! What's not to love, it was awesome! He got to open presents and spent time with his friends & family, it was a great afternoon.
All his friends were nice enough to help him open his presents...aren't they thoughtful?

He even got to play a game with his uncles. Good times, Good times.

David turned 5 on the 30th. This one was a hard one. I couldn't wrap my mind around the thought that I had a 5 year-old. It's still weird to hear. Anyway, we had the same type of party for David, but with less people. Hey it was Super Bowl Sunday, it's to be expected! David told Grandma Fletcher that he wanted a dogie cake, kinda like his Baby Dogie (he's favorite thing). So again, Grandma Fletcher delivered.

David loved it! Isn't it super cute?! Not to mention it was SUPER yummy! David got a bit more gifts then Parker, but hey, he's older! When he opened a bag of clothes I had bought him, he looked inside said, "clothes" and tossed it aside without even taking them out. What a boy. He had mentioned to Aunt Jenn a few times that he loved the Snugglie commercials and that he wanted one for himself and one for her. Well, Aunt Jenn listened and got him one! He was pretty excited and uses it all the time!

We also got him his very first Leapster. Wow, what an a great buy that was! Both he and Parker both LOVE it! Grandma Vidal got them each their own games for it, Jedi math for David & Wall-E for Parker. Let me tell you, if you want your kids to sit quietly in a waiting room get them a Leapster! I LOVE it!
We are SO grateful we got to celebrate another year of their lives. They are the greatest kids we could ever ask for. It's hard to believe sometimes that they are really ours. They are both so smart, loving and so dang CUTE! We love you boys!

Launching and Landing Room

It all started a few years ago when I came across two awesome items in Ikea. The Leksvik set. A hat rack & shoe rack. I instantly fell in love. These items became regulars on my lists of wants, Christmas lists, birthday wish lists...you name it. Then I saw them at my friends Adrienne's house, and it reaffirmed how awesome they really were. But unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how it's viewed) I'm married to the cheapest man on earth. Lets call him frugal, that sounds allot better. He was not going to buy them...ever. In fact he had it set in his mind that he was going to MAKE them for me (more on this in a later post). Now I LOVE Dave to death, but a carpenter he is not. So I knew it would never be. So in January I started what seemed like the project that ever ends. I had an idea of what I wanted to do then saw it realized in a Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication on Storage, yup in a magazine. What can I say, great minds think alike. I had a old armoire that I acquired along the way, honestly I don't remember where.

And I was going to transform it. It seemed like an easy weekend project, why not? I had the paint. I had purchased an antiquing kit that was on sale a few months back. I didn't need it or have any use for it at the time, but hey...it was on sale! So I went to work. I painted the armoire and doors black then distressed the edges and added hardware. One door I turned into a coat rack. Parker is demonstrating in this pic how even a 3 year old can use it! (Granted he's a very smart, unbelievably cute 3year old)
The other door was to serve as a key holder/ chalk board. (The chalk board part is not done yet, I'm going to paint the bottom rectangle with chalk board paint and add a small chalk holder which will be made from left over crown molding from another project.)

The bottom 2 drawers work great for storing shoes and keep them out of sight and out of the way. No more tripping on random shoes as we enter the house.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. And Dave is very please with the final expense, just under $40. Not too shabby! Her are some before and after pics. of the room and finished project.