Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Oh Libby!

There is a reason God made Libby so stinkin' cute.


A very, very good reason!



You know you have a toddler if...


...every sharp utensil is placed well above the reach of little hands.


...none of your furniture has sharp corners.


...all of your drawers and cabinets are childproofed.


...and so are your outlets.


...and doorknobs.


...your toilet paper is no longer located on the roll.


...tiny fingerprints smudge all walls and doors below 36 inches.


...blood curdling screams don't bother you.


...but you worry when it's quiet.


...you say, "No, no NO!" about 579,086 times a day.


...9 0'clock sounds like a good bedtime....for you.


...you find yourself singing "Old MacDonald had a Farm" in the car...when you're by yourself.


...your weekly shopping trip resembles the Supermarket Sweepstakes game.


...going anywhere - even to the dentist - alone is great fun.


...kiddie leashes begin to look appealing.


...you can carry on a conversation over a tantrum.


...you ask everyone - including your husband - if they have to "go potty".


...a vacation sounds like a lot of work.


...you may lose your mind if you have to say ,"Don't touch!" one more time.

...you laugh at least a hundred times a day at the silly antics of the tiny person in your home.

...you get to teach someone how to say, "I love you."

One great weekend! Part 2

Cute kids, fun times!






One great weekend! Part 1

Our best friends from Pittsburgh came down to visit our old (new) Kentucky home. We had a blast! The kids all got along great and we had plenty of space to spread out with everyone having a comfy place to sleep and eat (priorities in life, ya know).

On Saturday we hit up Evan's Apple Orchard for their Sweet Corn Festival. For the first time, Earl and I actually bought sweet corn at the Sweet Corn Festival. Every other year (and I think we've made it the past 4 years or so) we get sidetracked by the scrumptious array of other baked and/or fried goodies, including but not limited to, apple dumplings, fried apple pies, fudge....well, you get my drift. =)

My goal was to capture a picture of all four children sitting, looking, and smiling. It's nice to have lofty aspirations. I did manage to snap this picture. Not too shabby of our ever growing good lookin' brood of offspring. The tiny tots stayed strapped into their rides because, well, Libby simply would not be in the picture if she wasn't restrained in some manner.

After munching on our over-priced ears of sweet corn, we wandered the orchard, stopping to smell the roses (wildflowers)...


...posing for some more pictures...


...even some goofy ones!

We marveled over the industrious little honey bees and I was even able to spot the queen!

While Libby harrassed, er...enjoyed, the critters at the petting zoo.

A storm rolled in right at closing time, so we packed up and went home. Can't wait to go back for some apple picking!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

A Belated Post

The past three weeks have been filled with hectic craziness. The girls went to Pennsylvania to spend some quality time with both sets of grandparents. That left me and Earl with what should have been a nice, relazing break. Not!

I frantically crammed and read and wrote many a page for my graduate class - and it paid off with a very high A!

We closed on our new home on Friday, June 25th. It was a frantic SPEED closing! But at the end we were given the keys!

Too bad that didn't mean our house was "done". When we closed our wood floors still needed to be repaired, along with a short list of other things that are slowly getting worked out. Still, everything else aside, we are so excited to finally be living here! It's been a long haul, and traveling back and forth from the rental to this house for the daily check had been quite time consuming. Since we have been the official owners of this house we have tackled spackling, painting, chair railing, knob installing, curtain hanging, and a multitude of other home-ownery stuff. The painting, of course was the most exciting. And stressful.

From the beginning, when our home was just some lines on paper, I had been looking at paint samples. I thought I had it narrowed down to a certain color about a month ago, but when we had real walls to hang our tiny samples one, it no longer seemed to be the perfect fit, it looked too orange. That led to another search, involving just about every paint-selling place in the area. We bought sample cans and covered walls, but nothing looked right. Then we got the bright idea to mix two colors, and the result was just what we wanted! Even better - I had snagged a color card on a whim during one of our many trips to the hardware store and low and behold - it was a perfect match! So off we went to Home Depot (they have the best paint) to get our paint. Lots of it. Four gallons to be exact. (We wanted to make sure we didn't have to make another trip.) We get home, we start painting (actually, I start painting, Earl was tackling the ceiling fan). As soon as I open the paint can I can see the color now looks all wrong. We were back to too orange!

Long story short - I hated the color, but we forged ahead and painted the living room anyway (using only one can and barely dipping into another), hoping that it would magically turn into a more subtle color as it dried.

It didn't.

Still, time was of the essence, so we left it as is. Fortunately, once we got our furniture moved in, (and painted the kitchen a complimentary buttery yellow) the colors all came together and now it looks great!





Libby's room....not all finished. The bottom we painted rolling green fields, but I forgot to take a picture.
Our house!
I'll finish off with some fireworks, taken at Scott County Park on July 3rd...
...after a beautiful sunset!