The Dining Room Makeover is Almost Finished

(you can click on the pictures to enlarge for details)

Brent and I are so excited about our new dining room! It has absolutely exceeded all of our expectations. There are times that I am walking past the dining room and will stop just to admire how it has all come together.

So the last time I blogged, we had painted the ceiling and walls, hung the wallpaper, and installed the chandelier and the rug. Now the fun part...accessorizing! And truly, here is where the professionals are separated from the amateurs. I, being the amateur, have a panic attack trying to accessorize a room. But I am thrilled with the way the decorator has finished off the room!

The centerpiece is the oil portrait of Jack. We had this done last spring when he was 4. I just love how the portrait has captured "Jack"...his smile, his smiling eyes, the highlights of his hair, his little fingers and toes. And I am so thankful we had it done when he was 4; really the perfect age, still had a bit of the baby look left and beginning to see the boy look.

And I really like the shades of the buffet lamps. I think they are silk (?), and they have a beautiful gold trim around the top and bottom.

Another favorite are the butterfly prints. Once again, if I had been shopping I probably would have passed right over them, but I love their simplicity and the colors (supposedly they are handpainted).

And I must brag: Brent and I hung the portrait and the butterfly prints without a single cross word between us...it has to be a first for us! =)

And the moment the window treatment was hung, the room just looked finished. Funny how something so simple just pulls it all together. They are just a simple light beige silk with a dark green and red tassel trim.

The end is in sight! All that is left are the new host and hostess chairs. They will be the same queen anne style, but with arms, and covered in a dark green velvet and a cording that has celadon green, dark green and red. They should arrive any day now. I'll post a picture of them when they are in place. And once I reload the china cabinet, I'll post a picture of that, too. I just realized that I haven't ever shown the china cabinet, but we do have one!

The Thanksgiving Feast

Brave Running Deer saying the blessing.

Jack made the entire outfit himself.

Thursday was a busy day for us! I dropped the boys off at school, and then did a mad dash to Toys R Us for a little Santa shopping. I had to be back at the school at 10:40 because I was the mystery reader for Jack's class. It is always fun to be the mystery reader because Jack is so excited to have you there. We read 3 Thanksgiving books and I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont. If you have little ones and don't have this book, you must check it out at the library. It is such a fun book. The kids in Jack's class were so excited to call out all the painted body parts.

After storytime, the little Pilgrims and Indians went for a walk while I helped one of the teachers serve the Thanksgiving feast. And what a feast it was...turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, cornbread, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie for dessert. The amazing thing is that the class (16 students) prepared the food. These two teachers are saints, I tell ya! On Wednesday, the children shook cream into butter, measured ingredients, and made the pies. On Thursday morning, they made the stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cornbread. Then all the Pilgrims and Indians sat down for a re-creation of the first Thanksgiving and enjoyed their feast. Well, most of them did; others would not touch the food for anything. Maybe they knew or saw something the other kids didn't?!?! But our little Indian, aka Brave Running Deer, ate everything and declared it "Delicious"!

Later that afternoon, I took Jack down to Brent's office so that they could go to the Miami game. I had both guys in so many layers that they were toasty warm. Jack was wearing a turtleneck, shirt, fleece-lined pants, snow pants, socks, snow boots, windbreaker, heavy coat, knit cap, and gloves. I might have overdone it because Jack was peeling off the gloves and hat. The game was a big disappointment and they were home by halftime. Jack was exhausted and went straight to bed!

Tom Turkey Cupcakes

Aren't these just the cutest cupcakes?!?! And they look so easy to make! Frost the cupcake with chocolate icing, then press in a cookie head and 2 cookie wings (Sandies Right Bite Shortbread Cookies or the mini Nilla wafers). Press in a row or two of candy corn tail feathers. To make an eye, add a small dot of white icing to the head, then add a dot of black decorators' gel for a pupil. For a beak, cut the white tip from a piece of candy corn and press it in place. To make the wattle, cut a 1-inch square of fruit leather (Fruit by the Foot). Roll it into a tube and stick it in place over the beak. What a simple activity to do over Thanksgiving break!

Notice how I said what a SIMPLE activity to do. My mother sent me an email last week "Just in case you feel creative" attached with this:

Uuuummm, hello?!?!? Seriously?!?!? Have I ever decorated a cake in my life?!?!?! And yet, this would be my rookie project?!?! If you check out the Williams-Sonoma website, there is an instructional video on how to bake, decorate, and outfit this lovely creation. Yeah, riiiight! Need I say more? And don't even think I am feeling guilty over depriving my children of this fanciful Christmas treat, 'cause I don't remember a Santa teddy bear cake in my childhood...I'm just sayin'!

And now that I have alienated 1 of my only 2 readers: I love you, Mom! But you just had to know you put yourself out there when you sent me this =)!

It's My Party & I'll Cry if I Want To...

Will had his first school party today...it was so cute! The teachers had made little Indian hats for the boys and pilgram hats for the girls. They looked adorable for the 10 secs that everyone had the hats on! One of the mothers brought sippie cups for everyone to decorate with stickers. Well, Will knows all about stickers (they are a favorite, second only to pamps!) so he was all over that activity! Then the children had lunch...pumpkin-shaped sandwiches, cheez-its, cantalope, and leaf and acorn shaped cookies. The cheez-its and cookies were the hits. Will swiped about 4 cookies, no joke. After that, the party mood deteriorated...children falling out on the floor in total meltdown. Just too much fun for one day. Will had his meltdown as we were heading home; somehow he got into Jack's school bag and ripped to shreds Jack's pilgrim girl art project. Jack is in the back screaming, "Will, don't rip the eyes off. Moooommy, he tore the eyes off. Will, don't rip off her hair. OOOOHHH Will, you are so bad. Mommy, stop him!" Here I am driving the car...what am I supposed to do?!?!? If Jack hadn't been in the backseat, I would have been laughing at the comedy of the situation, but that probably would have sent Jack over the edge. So I tried to do my best to sternly scold Will and let Will know that because of his behavior, he would be going straight to bed the moment we walked in the door. Actually, that was my plan all along, but Jack seemed satisfied that Will was in trouble and justice would be served.

Tuesday is gymnastics day for Jack. I love, love, love this gymnastics program. He has been in it since he was 3. The coach knows all about Jack's hypotonia and is wonderful about making sure that he does each skill and doesn't let him fly under the radar. She told me that she wishes she had a video of Jack at his first class and Jack today, because the progress that he has made is astounding. And truly it is! I am completely blown away at his improvement. I could not be prouder of his effort. For the last 6 months, he has moved from the pre-gym class to the beginner class. And he was in the lower half of the class abilities-wise, but he was keeping up. Well, this session the class is made up of 8 boys (god bless the coach's heart!) and Jack is the only one with any gymnastics experience. I never thought I would see the day, but Jack is the star of the class! Y'all...I sit there with a stupid grin on my face for the whole hour just watching him do cartwheels, yee-hahs, somersaults, walking across the regulation-size beam unassisted, etc. Just amazing!

Brent is doing his first deposition ever tomorrow and it is solo as in he is there all by himself. So y'all say a prayer for him. I have no doubt that he will do just fine, but it would be nice for him to feel a peace about it. So send a little prayer up for him, please. So when Daddy is out of town, the boys have an early bedtime. There were no complaints tonight. We are all tired and my back is killing me, so I am off to go lay on the heating pad.

Weekend Wrap-up

I don't know what we did this weekend...I am sitting here trying to recall anything of importance and not much is coming to mind. It has been wet and cold all weekend so we've sorta holed up at home.

We watched football all day on Saturday and I discovered a new pet peeve. Just a little public service announcement.... For any college football teams that are looking into the "black out" uniform idea. Please reconsider. Georgia tried it this season against Alabama and got shalacked. Florida State thought it might work against Boston College...umm, not so much. You just end up looking silly. If you are looking to intimidate your opponent, try working a little harder on the gameplan, or in the weight room.

Besides, don't these ding-dongs know black is slimming? I mean, you work all year in the weight room to get all big and bad, then you put on black and look like a skinny little girlie-man out there. Not so intimidating anymore are you Mr. Seminole, with your skinny little self. Skip the black. In fact, if you're wearing all black, then I'm going to cheer against you just on principle. If you need something to get your fans psyched for a big game, then get new fans.

Although, on second thought, let the FANS were all black. It is slimming and does much for your fan base's image. For example, Mr. & Mrs. Tennessee would do well to wear all black in place of those pumpkin suits they are always wearing. Am I right?!?!?

Note: This DOES NOT apply to the New Orleans Saints, whose all Black uniforms look great! Wouldn't you agree, Honey =)!

We had our second and third open houses today. I went to HR and then met up with Brent at SJ. SJ did not disappoint; we both felt it to be a warm, caring environment with a strong Catholic and academic education. So SJ is still #1 in our Catholic school poll. I was so excited to visit HR. It is only 10 years old and I had heard that the facilities were top notch. But to be honest, after a few minutes of being there, I just had the gut feeling that this wasn't the right place for us. It is so hard to describe and I am so disappointed because I really wanted to like this school. Yes, the facilities are very nice and the faculty and staff seem very nice as well. However, during his welcome address, the principal kept telling us what a great school HR is, "the best", "none better", over and over so that I began to feel like the school had an inferiority complex. It would have been more effective if he had said HR is the best because a, b, c, & x, y, z; but there weren't many concrete examples given. Last weekend, CTK had specific examples of programs the school had that set them apart from other schools. So I am sitting in the audience today thinking "Do I really want my child to go to a school with an inferiority complex?" The second thing that struck me was that of all the students at HR today, I only saw 1 boy. The choir that sang during the program, all girls. The 3 HR alums that spoke, all girls. The junior honor society members that were our guides, all girls and 1 boy. The principal kept apologizing and reassuring us that HR does have boys, but as the mother of 2 boys I am thinking "So where does my child fit in? Are there opportunities for him here?" I really wanted to be so excited about HR...two of our neighbors were at the open house and we were joking that we had our carpool already and HR is close and convenient, but there is just something that I can't quite put my finger on. On Thursday night, I'll go to the Open House for OLA and then that will be it for the schools that we are interested in. And then the praying begins....big time! So please pray that the Lord will make it clear to us which Catholic school is the best fit for our family. And maybe an extra prayer that we get in, too!

Never a dull moment

Today has been a good day. Jack had school and the baby and I went to the gym and the grocery store. Both boys love to go to the grocery store to get the free cookie. However, I am getting more and more irritated with Kroger about this free cookie deal. When Jack was a baby, we would always do our grocery shopping on Wednesday because it is Senior Citizen discount day on Wednesday. So Jack would get his free cookie which would keep him entertained through the produce section and then he would flirt with all the senior citizens as we walked up and down the aisles. And Kroger always had the free treats out in the bakery department for the kids to enjoy (and I witnessed on numerous occasions Grandma and Grandpa partaking too). Well within the last year, Kroger has been making it more "difficult" to receive the cookie. The cookies won't be out on the counter, the workers will pretend they don't see you standing there, etc. So I was starting to feel like a mooch asking for cookies for my children. My friend and I were talking about this awhile ago and she says that she hunts employees down to get cookies for her children. She has made many a trip to the deli department looking for someone. And if nobody is to be found, she'll open a box of bakery cookies herself, pull out the two that she needs for her kids, and leave the rest on the counter for everyone else to enjoy! (I was howling as she is telling me this story...I'm sorry that I didn't do it justice here.) I even asked one of the managers if they were still giving out free cookies and he said,"Oh yeah, if there aren't any out then be sure to ask." We'll there ya go! I might be opening my own box in the near future! All this to say, I had to ask yet again today for a cookie for Will.

The boys played nicely together today, so I was finally able to wash my referee's uniform. It'll be nice and clean for when they start back up tomorrow. Jack knows all of Will's buttons to push and Will can burst your eardrums with his screams. But not too much of that today =).

Also, Will, my picky eater, is starting to broaden his culinary horizons! I think moving him from the highchair to the table with us has done the trick. At the table, he loves using his fork or spoon to eat whatever we are eating. In the highchair, he wouldn't even let the food grace his tongue before spitting it out. This week Will has discovered that he likes hummus and pita chips, red grapes (the boy can eat his weight in grapes now), steak, salmon, asparagus (I nearly fell out of my chair tonight to see him eat half a dozen stalks), and raisins. Alot of progress for our trans-fat loving little man!

Bath tonight was alot of fun! Jack was scuba-diving in the bath tub with his goggles and this enormous magnifying glass. Will caught on to the game and had to have his turn as well.









And just so you know, goggles make a wonderful accessory with your very fashionable monkey jammies. I'm telling you...the only way he would get out of the tub was with the goggles. He loved them! And I couldn't help laughing...having this 1 year old looking up at you with bug eyes and this huge smile on his face!





And file this under "one step forward, two steps back". He hasn't been out of the bath more than 15 minutes and has already given himself a pamp (stamp) with Sharpie marker. Y'all...that stuff doesn't come off! It has to wear off. Tomorrow is school day and Will has already shown up with highlighter "pamps"; his teacher is going to think this child is never supervised. In my defense, however, I was just 2 feet away with my back turned helping Jack get into his jammies. I wondered why the little booger was being so quiet! And I must point out that both the highlighter and the sharpie markers were not in my nightstand drawer; I know better than to leave permanent ink lying around for my children to find. However, the owner of said drawer is working very late tonight because he is slammed at work, so I think I'll give him a pass. Because I am so generous like that!

Weekend Wrap-up

This week we received the sad news that Brent's grandmother, Grammy, passed away. She lived a wonderful, fulfilling 90+ years with a family that loved her very much. Brent headed on Friday to be with his family and was privileged to share a few of his memories of Grammy at her funeral.

Jack was out of school on Friday, so Thursday afternoon we headed to my parent's to pick up his oil portrait. The portrait is bea-u-ti-ful! I am so excited! It is going to be hung in the newly redecorated dining room and I look forward to admiring my first born for years to come. Friday afternoon was spent at the Children's Museum. The highlight of the visit was the puppet theatre. Both boys enjoyed putting on a show...Will would just pop out from behind the curtains, but Jack entertained Mom and I along with all of the other museum patrons with an animal puppet show. And having a captive audience, Jack led a Q & A session all about animals. The boy was in heaven; literally jumping up and down when his students got the right answer! We drove home late Friday afternoon in the rain...so not fun =(.

Saturday was a low key day...Since Brent was out of town, I took the boys on a modified Donuts with Daddy run. We all loaded into the car in our jammies and headed for Dunkin Donuts (I did throw on a sweatshirt so as not to scare the donut lady). We ordered one box of mixed Munchkins without any of the other extra donuts Jack likes to add on. And we skipped Starbucks. When Daddy got home, Jack reported my minimalist approach to Donuts with Daddy and it was decided that Daddy is the best and Mommy could never again be in charge of this sacred Saturday morning tradition. The rest of the day was spent waiting for kick off of the biggest game of Alabama's season. I was too stressed/nauseous about the LSU game to do anything productive except load & unload the dishwasher and work on the ever present mountain of laundry. Roll Tide! I was so proud of the way our coach and team handled the game and the preceding "situation". Regardless of the outcome of this season, good days are ahead for the Crimson Tide! I hope you are immortalized in bronze real soon, Coach Saban! Roll Tide!

Today we had our first Open House for kindergarten. This was for CTK. Brent and I had very limited knowledge about the school beforehand, but from the moment we stepped foot on campus, we were impressed! The facilities were wonderful...the kindergarten rooms were colorful, engaging, and fun. There is a computer lab just for the 3 kindergarten classes. Every Friday, the kindergartners cook. On Halloween, they made Mummy Dogs (hotdogs wrapped in strips of crescent rolls) and this coming week they are making Indian corn (a rice krispy type treat made of colored cereal and shaped like corn). The principal has been at the school for 20+ years, and several other faculty that were introduced had long track records as well. Several of the faculty are CTK alumni. The curriculum coordinator informed us that starting in 4th grade, the teachers identify students that would benefit from accelerated coursework and start these students on an advanced track. Another positive surprise was the school's emphasis on the enrichment courses; the art department has a teacher dedicated to K, Pre-1st and 1st grade classes and the music departments have several different choirs. Although SJ is still our first choice, CTK would be a wonderful second!

The Making of a Republican

Jack's Young Five class has been learning about the election...how you vote (wait in line, go into voting booth, vote, get stickers), the candidates, what a president is, where the president works, etc. And then today on election day, the class was going to have their own mock election. A nice civics lesson for 5 year olds.

On Friday, Jack comes home and tells us that he is voting for Orock Obama. Well as you can imagine, that comment didn't go over too well with Brent. So Brent teaches his version of the civic lesson and deconstructs the two candidates' platforms in terms that a 5 year old can understand. And it went something like this: Barack Obama wants to take away your toys and then he's going to take Daddy's money so that Daddy can't buy you any new toys. John McCain wants you to keep your toys and wants Daddy to keep his money so that he can buy you more toys. Suffice it to say, Jack learned his first lesson in American politics this weekend.

When I pick him up from school today, he notices my "I'm a voter" sticker and asks if I voted for John McCain. I assured him that I did. I complimented him on his voting sticker. He said, "I voted for John McCain, too. Orock Obama is a bad man. He wants to take away children's toys. He is a stealer!" I glanced furtively around accessing who might be witness to this political brainwashing of our son. Well, it was a lost cause because he continues with his "Obama is a bad man" diatribe down the hall as we go to pick up Will. One of the teachers overheard him and gave Jack a high five! So if Obama wins tonight (like I think he will), then you know that Jack is going to fully expect every ring of our doorbell to be Obama on the doorstep with a huge Santa sack waiting to haul away all of his toys!

And here is the real kicker...Jack brings home the results of the classroom election. With 20 votes cast, John McCain was declared the winner 14 to 6 over "Orock" Obama. The problem... There are only 16 children in the class. Voter fraud is alive and well! Some little 'Rat-in-training was stuffing the ballot box!!!

Vote

Please don't forget to vote tomorrow, although I don't see how it could slip up on you with all of the campaign calls that we have been receiving. And regardless of who wins, we as citizens need to be praying that our political leaders would be God-seeking men and women.

Bonus: If you vote, Starbucks will buy your coffee. Go to Starbucks on Nov 4th, tell them you voted, and they will give you a tall cup of brewed coffee for free! I wonder if this includes their pumpkin spice latte? I'll have to ask.

Weekend Wrap-up

Well, is anybody else as tired as I am? My problem is that I stayed up watching the Texas-Texas Tech game (thrilling!) last night and then got the morning wake up call at 6:15 am. Yep, the little ones don't understand the concept of sleeping in. And I absolutely hate the time change. Now I will spend the next week or so trying to get them on a new schedule. Let's just pick a time and stick with it! We had to make an extra Starbucks run this morning after mass so that I could fortify myself for the afternoon (during which I did absolutely nothing).

We are making good headway on the Halloween candy! Fortunately, all the candy I bought was dispersed to the little trick-or-treaters, so all we have to eat up is what the boys scavenged. I've decided that my favorite candy is Take 5. Have you had one? I think they are relatively new on the candy scene; I mean new compared to M&Ms, Reese's peanut butter cups, and the other old faithfuls. The Take 5 candy bar is basically the same concept as the Twix bar (yum-o) with a pretzel base. And I think the pretzel is the key...the saltiness combined with the sweet of the caramel and chocolate is perfect! Unfortunately (or fortunately for my hips), there was only one Take 5 bar in all the loot. My least favorite candy...Whoppers. ICK!

So Will has hit the terrible twos full force, and let me tell you, he is a screamer! The little stinker has already been in time out 3 times this week, and that was giving him alot of leeway. This afternoon, he wakes up from his nap screaming, screaming, screaming! I could do nothing to please him. I offered him everything...going outside to play, all his favorite foods, milk, chocolate milk, Pops & candy (hey, don't judge...I was desperate!) and he would just look at me while continuing to scream. So I just decide to ignore him. Well actually, that was Plan B. Plan A was to sell him on Ebay to the highest bidder and then I remembered that someone already tried that and landed himself in jail. So about 2 minutes later (Thank goodness!) Brent and Jack come home and Brent says, "What's wrong?!?!" I explain the situation. Brent understandingly nods, turns to Will, and says, "Would you like a pop?" Will immediately stops screaming, says in his most pleasant, I-am-the-happiest-kid voice, "Okay!" And toddles off behind Brent to the kitchen to retrieve the beloved pop. SYBIL, I tell ya!

Both boys are sleeping like angels and I am off to watch the Amazing Race. Hope you had a great weekend!

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween! This year Jack wanted to be a zebra because he loves animals! Gulp! How was I ever going to find a zebra costume that will fit a 5 year old?!?! But we did find a very scary werewolf costume, and since a wolf is an animal, Jack decided it would work. Whew! Will's costume was a no-brainer. Our little monkey had to be a monkey!

We started the night off at our neighborhood's annual Halloween party. We met all the other ghosts, goblins, superheros, witches, and princesses at the clubhouse for pizza and playing. Then the trick or treating began. Jack and his friend M, aka Darth Vader, had the best time running from house to house and reporting back which house had the best candy. Will knew the drill after the first house...he would run up the driveway, say tick teet, and start digging into the candy bowl. That kid loves treats! We walked around with M's parents and enjoyed our own adult treats. My first year trick or treating with a glass of wine, but it won't be my last!

Both boys were in great moods so we stayed out trick or treating for about 2 hours. Then back home to check out the loot. Will was so excited to get pops (lollipops) as those are his favorite candy. He ate 3 pops last night when we got home. Jack really scored this year! And being a boy after my own heart, his favorites were the chocolate!