Spring Has Sprung

This week has been Spring Break for me and Luke...but neither of us have gotten any rest. We've painted and planted and worked extra hours. It's been worth it getting everything done but resting would have been nice too. I did take a few hours to take Brooklyn to Wye Mountain on Thursday. It was much colder than I expected and she wasn't much into taking pictures. She wanted to run around and just look at flowers. I took pictures but these were the best I could get of my energetic 18 month old..

With it being just the two of us it was hard to get a picture of me and Brooklyn, but I set my camera on timer and tried to get a good picture:

The drive was breath taking. I ended up having to pull over to take a picture because it was just so beautiful.

It was a great trip overall. Even with Brooke getting car sick (a first) on the way home from all the hills and curves. I'm looking forward to more great spring pictures. We might even venture out to UCA to take advantage of all the pretty flowers they plant!

Home Improvement

We've been in our house for about a year and I've been tired of having the same plain tan walls and no plants in our yard. We finally got a minutes break and decided to paint and plant...

This is the living room BEFORE...

And the living room AFTER

(you can't tell much difference but we painted it a brown and rearranged)

Here is the kitchen BEFORE...

And AFTER..

(the pictures not so great but the walls are RED!! I love it!)

Here is our plain front yard...

And our favorite little helper...

And here's the finished product!

This is from the road.

It's so nice to have color in my house and plants outside. It FINALLY feels like its our house. We've still got some rooms to go, some stuff to get rid of, and some organizing to do before I can feel like everything is perfect..but it's coming along!

Busy Life

Life is so busy right now. I'm going to bed past midnight which is not like me AT ALL! I love my sleep and get grumpy when I don't get enough. But there is so much for me to get done. And it's hard to get much done with Brooklyn awake because I'd rather play/read with her than do my own homework. Even though it's been hectic in my life lately, I've still gotten to enjoy my beautiful little girl. I even remembered to grab the camera to capture some of her fun moments...

She kept trying to put this on her head all night. I put it on her and she actually kept it on! She liking things on her head a little more now that she's getting older.

Thank goodness mommy's phone has an otter box. Otherwise it would not be alive.

"Brusha teef" is a very used phrase around our house. She LOVES to brush her teeth. And looking at herself in the mirror while doing it just makes her more happy. :)

Luke and I started painting our house (more pictures to come) this past weekend. I turned around to paint for a little while and I look back and B has climbed up 2 steps on the ladder. She is such a little monkey...and fearless! I had to take a quick pic before I made her get off. She loved the ladder!

Sunglasses ("gwasses") are another thing she LOVES now too! She loves looking at herself in the mirror while she wears them. She just thinks she's so cute! (But who can argue? She is the cutest child alive!)

Mommy's little diva!

I can't believe she is already 18 months old! She's growing too fast! Here are a few facts about her now that she's 18 months old...

• 18 month clothes are getting too small...24 month and 2T fit really well and will be what we buy for her spring/summer clothes
• She is starting to put together sentences...it's really funny
• Tinker Bell is still her favorite
• She is also into babys and baby dolls
• She climbs everything!!
• She LOVES being outside!
• She will sit still and read several books with me at night! :) (This makes me so happy!)
• She loves people and isn't very shy
• She's a very caring child...she'll go check on anyone that's crying.
• She knows places (we can pull up to my mom's house and she'll say "my mimi" then as soon as I get her out of the car she runs to the door and knocks)
• temper tantrums happen whenever I tell her "no"

There's so much more but I can't list everything. Now that she's tucked into bed..I think I will go to bed too.

How to get INK out of Carpet

About a week ago Luke and I noticed we had two black stains in our bedroom carpet. We had absolutly no clue how they got there. Our only guess was Chloe must have busted open a pin. I was about to freak out! This is my brand new house with brand new carpet. Neither is even a year old! I take pride in keeping it looking nice so I wanted those stains gone!! I first tried resolve because that usually works for me...not this time. I got online and did a little research on how to remove the stains. Here's what I tried...and what worked for me..

This is one of the stains before...very noticable!!

And the other

Everywhere I looked online said to use vinegar or hairspray. We didn't have vinegar so I tried spraying hairspray on the stain, laying a rag on top, and ironing it. It pulled up some of the ink...until I ran out of my hairspray (which was low to begin with). After I had time to go to the store I tried the vinegar...nothing. My Mamaw had mentioned using ammonia, so I picked some up and tried that. It worked so much better than the hairspray and vinegar! I had to be careful so that I wouldn't bleach my carpet but most of the ink disappeared with a lot of scrubbing.

These are the stains afterwards. You can still see them if you look closely...but I'm going to try not to notice them.



I thought this might be useful to the moms and wifes out there.

Watch Me Grow

16 months




12 months

9 months

4 months

2 months

It's amazing to watch the changes!!

Valentines

I've never really been much of a Valentine's Day person. I feel as though love should be shown by everyone everyday of the year. But I do understand how other people love it...and I want Brooklyn to know that she will ALWAYS have a Valentine...mommy and daddy. So we got her some gifts...

Since she is OBSESSED with Tinker Bell we decided to get her Tinker Bell stuff. She got 2 Tinker Bell Sippy Cups (we never can have enough...they end up at other peoples houses) and the original Tinker Bell movie...all wrapped in a Tinker Bell bag!! Her Nana and Pop got her a Tinker Bell backpack and blanket and Mimi and Uncle Matthew got her "Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue" and a Tinker Bell plush toy. (She's pretty spoiled)

My 1st graders had their Valentine's party on Monday and since it snowed last Thursday they didn't get my present until today. I got them pencils...they always say "I need a pencil"...or "I need an eraser!" so I thought it would be the perfect gift!

These were Brooklyn's Valentine's that she gave out to family and friends. They are Tinker Bell (of course!). I would give them to her and tell her to take them to people...she didn't want to give them up.

I know holidays are going to continue getting more and more fun! I can't wait until St. Patrick's Day and Easter! Lots of GREEN and PINK coming your way!!

Snow Day!

The last time it snowed, Brooklyn didn't like it very much...we tried to go out but she didn't want to wear her hat or gloves and she wouldn't go 2 feet from me. This time she LOVED it!! It wasn't freezing outside, so we bundled up and ventured out for a little while. She tried to help me build a snowman...fail! I'm not a good snowman builder! But it was fun trying.

We got out her sand toys so she could play with them in the snow...and she loved them!!

She is the happiest little girl in the world!! And she loves smiling for the camera! CHEESE!! :)

Chloe knocked her over. She didn't complain at all! But she couldn't get up...it was pretty funny watching her try on her own.

She was lovin the snow!

She got all bundled up to go outside...and kept her hat and gloves on the WHOLE time!!

(Sorry the pics are all out of order!)