Finally, pictures of our new bathrooms! So wonderful & exiting! A spa experience!
Master Downstairs...
Master Upstairs...
And the not quite finished yet because it's waiting on me to install a new shower door, coat of paint & be grouted Jack & Jill bathroom. It may be a long wait for the cosmetic issues to get done, but we FINALLY have all 3.5 bathrooms in working order!
The big 4-0... wow. I turned FORTY on January 13th. I felt so... blah. Until this...
It was so wonderful to celebrate with DD & DS. It didn't matter that I was FORTY! What mattered was that I could spend the day with my wonderful family.
Other special moments in January included...
DS playing FETCH. I absolutely love the way he runs... it's so darn cute. It's one of those things I want to remember forever about my baby.
My boy... all grown up! So proper.
DD, in a new coat & hat.
DS asks to go out.
DD, so serene...
Of course, winter wouldn't be winter without the prerequisite cold to go around. My poor pathetic babies...
Luckily, the cold past quickly & the kids were up & about making mischief in no time!
After almost 10 years of living in a 3.5 bathroom house in which none of the bathrooms were fully functional, we decided it was time to renovate/remodel/update & just plain old FIX our bathrooms. Dan at Custom Build America was fantastic! The job started mid-January & took about 4 weeks to complete.
The downstairs bathroom before pictures...
Bathroom 2, pre-Jack & Jill.
The upstairs bathroom before...
The teardown went suprisingly quickly! Just a couple of days! The workmen installed all new plumbing, new electrical, new flooring... basically new everything!
The bare bones of our bathrooms...
We live in a house built in the 1960s, so we were expecting the unexpected during the remodelling. What unusual wallpaper!
The new doorway for our new Jack & Jill...
Coming together...
Of course, we have been too busy to take any pictures of the final Masterpieces, but! I promise I will get photos up within the next couple of posts!
One of the items we recieved for Christmas was a professional hair trimmer/shaver. We wasted no time having some fun!
DS has a new do!
I don't think he was terrible excited by this.
My handsome boy!
My beautiful girl!
One family tradition at our home at Christmas time is the reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas (over the phone with the Canadian contingent) in our brand new pajamas!
On Christmas morning, we usually open our stockings then have a wonderful breakfast (lovingly prepared by JB). Afterwards, we open all the wonderful gifts that we had so thoughtfully recieved from friends and family.
DD deciding which present to open next.
DS trying out his new "bike" helmet.
DD loved the musical drawer from Lisa & DHK.
DS checks out a truck built especially for him by Grandpa Anderson.
DD curled up with Clifford (courtesy of Grandma Helen, GrandBob & Biffy) and her other stuffed animals.
DS enjoying playing dress-up with a ruffled skirt from Grandma Anderson.
In the afternoon, we had a visit from Grandpa Anderson, Aunt Marianne, Uncle Jon & cousins Mazie & Bailey.
Grandpa with his Grandchildren.
We had a wonderful Christmas!
One of the interesting things about living in Roswell is that we are so close to the city AND the country! About 5 minutes from our house is a goat farm. Yup... a goat farm. Today, for the first time, we stopped by and fed the goats. DD kept getting upset because there was one particular goat she wanted to feed, but it was shy & young & the greedy big goats kept getting in her way. Still, we had fun!
We actually started our Christmas cards in November... it took alot of practice to get the perfect Christmas card shot with the kids. I dressed each kid in Christmas themed onsies & filled the lid of their turtle ball pit with all the red & green balls... then the fun began!
Since I was unable to get a picture with the 2 kids in the ballpit, I went with 2 of my favorite photos...
A quick trip to Shutterfly & some creative editing gave us our Christmas card!
We did wait until December 3rd to decorate the tree. Both kids had so much fun and (this year) no ornaments got broken in the process!
Daddy helped DD put the Christmas angel on top of the tree...
...while DS pretended to be a present.
The following weekend, we partook in some more Christmas crafts & built a gingerbread house!
Of course, we had to sample our masterpiece once we were finished!
On December 19th, we went to Roswell Presbyterian preschool to watch & listen to DD in her school's Christmas program.
On December 24th, we finally had to put Zachary in a forward facing carseat... he was getting too tall to face backwards. He definitely liked this new direction much more then the old one & would (and still does) grin like mad when someone in the front seat turns around to look at him!
I had a great Mother's Day weekend! On Saturday night, I went out with a bunch of other moms to Sip & Stroke for a painting class. Our finished masterpieces...
I came home late & was ABLE TO SLEEP IN Sunday morning! Then I got coffee & breakfest in bed with my two best munchkins. Daddy made the yummiest waffles with fruit compote.
The rest of Sunday was spent splashing at the pool with DD & DS, sleeping & being pampered. I am so lucky to have a husband like JB! I will post a picture of the craft he & DD made me once it's finished.
As I look back at pictures from November 2011, I am filled with thanks! My babies are healthy, strong & growing!
I know from the pictures that DS is teething... such a drool Monster! Like Evelyn, though, he rarely got cranky or irritated with the process. Such a happy boy!
His hair grew back so very quickly from when we buzzed his mohawk off...
Mohawk boy... October 20, 2011
Buzz cut baby, October 27th
Growing longer... November 7th
November 15th
November 22nd
December 26th
...back to the mohawk, January 8 2012. I have such fun with his hair!
By November, DD & DS are playing together more regularily, although, DD sure does like to take the lead!
DD is busy teaching DS all her antics, from climbing, to jumping, to somersaults.
DS is learning that if DD squishes him too hard, he can retaliate by pulling her hair.
This incident actually ended quite well, with the siblings posing for a picture for mum.
As we've done in the past, we traveled to the Carolinas for Thanksgiving week. First, a stop at Grammy & Grampy's in Dataw... including DS's very first trip to a beach (November 22nd)!
Initially DS wasn't too sure what to make of the sand. He'd played in sandboxes before, but never where there was SO MUCH SAND!
He wanted nothing to do with the water. Even DS was a bit concerned with the surf...
...and hightailed back to the dry beach when her feet got wet!
I guess we'll have to practice dipping our toes in the ocean & go to the beach more often! Next on our itinery was a trip to North Wilkesboro to visit Grandma, GrandBob & Biffy. We had so much fun!
A random note to end this post, this is Sekhmet.
This is DS... in the same chair. Hard to comprehend we have cats that are as big as boy is.
No, you haven't entered a time warp... this is me playing catch-up!
We spent October enjoying the company of good friends...
Evelyn & her best buddy Sidney
Evelyn, Luc, Alex & Pierce
...and family
We also enjoyed some unseasonably warm weather...
Yummy, yummy bum!
For Hallowe'en, we went trick or treating with our wonderful neighbors & we had an awesome time until we were joined by The Robot... who ever thought masks were a good idea around toddlers just got that wrong... DD flipped out & we went home. But it was fun while it lasted!
DD was perfectly willing to try on lots of dress up costumes that we have lying around (Target 90% off sales RULE! Although it means our house is filled with stuff... but I just KNOW that when the kids get older, they will use/abuse/wear/play with blah, blah, blah)
Spider woman
Green Dragon
Purple Dinosaur (no, this is most definitely NOT a Barney costume). Just an FYI, that pile of cloths in the background... dress up cloths, not laundry!
In the end, DD decided to wear her awesome pumpkin shirt from Canada Grandma & a really cute hat.
My wickedly cute girl!
DS' choices were more limited...
Skeleton
Canadian
Pumpkin
He ended up being the pumpkin.
We had lots of fun creating Masterpieces...
and making Hallowe'en cookies.
A great month.
