So Long, 2013

So long, 2013

Hello new year, new beginnings, and new possibilities!

Libby Brag

Oh, Libby...

I so enjoy this kid!

She's funny, lively, loving, spunky, comical, and has a great sense of sarcastic humor.

She's definitely (hopefully?) one of a kind!

Libby is learning so much in school and has made great progress on speech in just a few months.

Some of my favorite Libbyisms of the moment are:

"That is so prettiful!"

"MOLY HOLY!"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!  Hold it, guys!"

Libby doesn't have a shy bone in her body and has never met a stranger.  She will happily engage any random person she comes across in conversation.

I think everyone needs a little Libby in their lives.  

I'm just glad she's all mine!

Libby's New Room

I've had these pictures sitting around for quite some time.  I had great intentions of getting Libby's shelves hung and putting all the finishing touches together and then posting.

However

We got Libby's shelves hung and then stalled.  I'm just not entirely sure what to put on them.  I had an idea in mind and then it hit me....Libby can reach the shelves.

So anything on the shelves needs to be Libby-proof.

There goes my idea of finding bird statues and painting them funky colors to match her decor.

**sigh**

So, at the moment she has three cute little shelves, the one the furthest from her bed holds her daddy-made peacock painting (her request - after I had them hung so that the painting was balanced on the wall).

Libby had been sleeping in the tiny nursery in her crib/toddler bed.  When it became evident that Libby was quickly outgrowing her little bed I decided that instead of squeezing a bigger bed into the oddly shaped room I'd rather just move her into the muchlarge guest room/storage room/catch all.

Since she was dead set against the move reluctant less than thrilled with the idea of switching rooms at first I thought we'd make a big production of it with Santa bringing the "big girl" bedding at Christmas.

Yeah.

After weeks of refusing to so much as discuss the possibility, one night she announced she would sleep in the guest room from hence forth.  Which led to a mad scramble to throw down some clean sheets and put any potentially dangerous objects (which, for Libby is just about everything) up out of her reach.

I spent many hours searching stores and browsing online shops to find a bedding that was fun and feminine without being frilly.

I finally found a set at Linens 'N Things online, then the fun of adding the details began!

Welcome to Libby's room...

Land of Nod is one of my favorite places to find quirky little accesories like these art hooks.  I also got a pink closet storage system with colored drawers.



Pinterest is awesome.

I got the idea of using embroirdery hoops and fabric to create a display for this wall from Pinterest. 

See the purple handprint?  All my idea. 

Oh yeah.

The wall decals came from Amazon.  They are from the Happi Tree line by Dena Designs.  The set was huge, colorful, and a great addition to her room!

The lightswitch cover matches the decals.  I found it on an ETSY site.

Eventually we hope to replace her hand me down and down and down furniture with something white with traditional lines.

Curtains.

Oh, curtains.

This is an example of me being a glutton for punishment.

I hate spending ridiculously large amounts of money for sheets of fabric. 

Curtains seem so simple to make....

Looks can be deceiving, folks.

I've dabbled in curtain making in the past.  It wasn't pretty, so I'm not sure what my thought process was for attempting to do it again.

Oh wait.

Yeah...$80 a panel curtains. (And don't even get me started on what money hungry corporate giant came up with the idea of selling a HALF of a curtain.  REALLY)....and reading far too much at  Young House Love.

So I thought....Jo Ann Fabrics has pretty fabric...

I can buy pretty fabric....

I have a sewing machine....

I can totally sew my baby some curtains.

Did I mention my "sewing machine" is about the size of a BeDazzler?

Long story short - I sewed up some decent curtains.  But factoring in the time and energy and money I spent on them, I would have probably been better off buying some overpriced curtain panels.

Believe it or not, she has actually left all the pictures on her art hooks!

All in all, I really like how it turned out!

Since this is still a work in progress, I'll be posting more pictures on the shelf saga!

Stay tuned....

Growing Kittens and Catching Up

Both Indy and Ella are doing great!  They survived Libby's overwhelming "love" through their fragile kitty stage.  After two rounds of deworming medicine, we finally got them healthy and growing.  Now they enjoy getting into mischeif and racing to see you can cause the most damage to my furniture. 

Indy is still a gentle, lovey, purring, rather stupid furry feline.  He's still quite often taken by surprise when Libby scoops him up out of a sound sleep.  He's slowly learning that the safest place for him to snooze is on the top level of their kitty tree - far out of Libby's reach!

That cute little dotted nose!  I love it!

Ella is getting over her aloofness and becoming more lovey.  She's still more likely to ran maniacally (is that even a word) around the house. 

One night we caught her hanging (literally) from the top of our curtains.

Needless to say, both kitties are going in for their surgeries next week.  A spay, a neuter and hernia fix.....and, after much consideration, we've decided to get them declawed.  I'm still not 100% convinced it's not a barbaric procedure designed solely for human convenience.  However, after talking to several (yes, I'm a nerd like that) vets, I believe the pros will outweigh the cons.  At the very least, our kitties will be treated to the newest, high-tech, laser claw-removing-surgery.

With a high-tech price tag attached.

pets.

=)

On the homefront...well...I am just utterly grateful to God that we still HAVE a homefront.  It's been a crazy month!  The tornado sirens have certainly been getting a work-out, that's for sure.  April still has several days to go and already it broke the record for the rainiest April and earned a place in the top ten rainiest months.  Of all time.  Yipee!  Oh, and did I mention that I heard on the news the other day that May statistically gets hit by more tornadoes than any other month?

Oh boy.

Over Easter weekend we got hammered with rain.  Our already saturated ground couldn't soak it in fast enough and as a result our backyard turned into quite the water park.

So we did what any other sane, normal parents would do.

We encouraged our kids to splash around in the ice cold water while thunder rippled threateningly in the distance.

And it was fun.

These are my feet.  We had a good 3 inches of water rushing by.

For the record, we did lecture our offspring on the importance of caution when it comes to flood water.

Then we took a drive around the county to see all the flooded areas.

Life has been flying by at its usual hectic pace. 

There is a light at the end of the grad school tunnel - just TWO more assignments and I am FINISHED!  I'm really looking forward to taking the summer off completely.  No work, no school work, no house building.  I'm just going to enjoy the time off with the girls, work on keeping the house clean and cooking good meals, and hopefully go on a few vacations as well.

Anna celebrated her 7th year of life on April 17th.  We treated her and her royal firends to a tea party that weekend.  I'll post pictures soon. =)

Easter and Eggs

Hail, Zoo....LIBBY!

Hail.  What a thing to see during Spring Break!

A bald eaglet to be.

This elephant rammed into the other one, and we're pretty sure she broke her tusk.  She then searched it out and rubbed it on every surface in her cage.  You can kind of see it in her trunk.

And....

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If you ever wonder why few pictures of Libby have been posted, behold the reason....

Crazy girl!