Too Many stories, too little time...

There is a contest with lots of great prizes over at We are THAT Family. The contest is perfect for us. Entrants must attempt to prove that they are THAT family, you know the ones... So in a monumental effort to put off packing until the verrry last minute, I decided that I just must enter this contest. Although I have many new and inspiring stories yet to blog about, the ones that make you think, "I hope I never have to deal with THAT!!" I have yet to write the babysitter story, which is going to prove to be a masterpiece tribute to being THAT family, it will have to wait until post moving chaos. As for my submission and the wry amusement of many members of my family, I humbly offer the following past entries:

Our Royal Family (according to Emma)
Our Little Schemer
How we got a Cherry 7-up stained ceiling
NO idle curiosity here
A Jordan story
A Jenna Day
The Christmas Story
Paralyzing Glare
What are they Thinking?!!

The sad... proud... embarassing... (don't know how to feel about it) part is, that these are just a small sampling. Keep browsing under kid's stories, parenting and each child, you will find oh so many more!

Don't forget to check out the side bar featuring some of the things our children have said!

If we do not qualify to be THAT family, I don't know who does!

WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!

We signed the closing papers yesterday and got KEYS! There are still a few paint touch ups and cleaning to be done by the builder along with some deliveries we are getting tomorrow: fridge, washer, dryer, water softener and kitchen table, but it's all ours! Obviously I am excited and rambling! If only I were so excited about packing! My computer is serving as a procrastination vehicle right now. Hmm.... what sort of chocolate reward can I use to motivate myself....

BTW, any of you out there who are looking for extra blessings, muffins, juice and a sandwich. All these things can be found at our moving party on Saturday at 9am!

My baby turned two yesterday!

I can't believe Jenna is two already. In the past I have not been a particularly sentimental person when it come to my children, but there really is something about your last. Jenna is our sunshine. As you can see by her pictures, she is almost always happy and smiling. She is also our little monkey and climbs on everything. She has already had stitches once and has had many other close calls. She is very sensitive to others' feelings and is quick to try to comfort them. Jenna is so much a part of our family dynamics and her personality has blessed us all. We love her very much! Happy Birthday baby!

We had a fun little party. Of course, Jenna chose "chocolack" cake! She such an addict already. She was so excited to open her presents. She loved the fun toys, rocking chair, quilt form Grandma and Grandpa B, and "If you Take a Mouse to the Movies" complete with large stuffed mouse from Grandma and Grandpa Huntington. What a fun evening focused on our little one.

DIY project - Jenna's chair

Over at A Soft Place to Land, Kimba is having a great giveaway so I decided to enter with the project I am trying to finish up for Jenna's b-day. I bought an unfinished chair at Michaels with my 50% off coupon (gotta love those). Sorry, didn't take a before picture. I sanded, and sanded, and sanded! They say they are pre-sanded but don't believe them. They have not been sanded nearly enough. I painted 2 coats of white and then began painting the back slats and seat slats with pink. This is what it looks like so far:

The blue tape is still on because I had plans to paint the arm rests and the rest of the seat slats yellow (the girls' room is yellow) and then mod podge some butterflies and or flowers on the back and maybe the seat. Now that I look at it, I wonder if I should forgo the yellow and just put on the pictures. What do you think? Would the yellow be too much?

Update: Here is the final look. I printed the butterflies on vellum to give them a little depth. I think it turned out cute even if the yellow is a little brighter than I wanted.

I am looking forward to seeing all the great things everyone else is doing over at the DIY party. I love to see the new things Kimba is doing and my "wanna do" craft link list is full of her ideas! Check it out!

Update 2: She loves the chair!

Black Island Farms

We took Cami's advice and went to Black Island Farms. What a fun place!! It is a little pricey but we found coupons online. The kids had a blast!





They all had a lot of fun on the animal train and rode it as many times as we would let them!












The slides were really fun! This is just one of them. The boys did some pretty amazing stunts going down this one! I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the biggest tube slide. It was Jenna's favorite! It took her forever to climb the stairs!













The girls especially loved the jack o' lantern bounce toy!













Despite her face in this picture, Jenna loved feeding the llamas! The only way to get her away from them was to tell her we were going back to the slide.

It was a great family activity and we have decided we would like to make it a yearly family tradition.

Updated pictures of our house

I am just so excited to see each stage finished!

I decided that we would not be afraid to put color into this new house and so we painted the family room a beautiful brick red. It seemed a little strong until the rock went on the fireplace but now we really like how warm and bold it is. Although it is hard to see in this picture, the color is perfect for the rock! You can see they are laying the pad for the carpet.

Here is the kitchen minus appliances and a pantry door. I love the granite countertops and the varied height of the cabinets!

The only thing missing on the exterior is the shutters on the front window and they will paint the window box dark brown.

We are loving how the house is shaping up! We have painted the girls' room a sunshine yellow and we want to paint the master bathroom a warm chocolate brown. I am so excited to get moved in and stretch out. Almost every day I find there is something I wish I had from the storage unit! We are 3 weeks away now and counting the days!