drum roll...please

Ta Daaaa!

Our cabinet doors and drawer fronts were put back on today! We were a little nervous about having oak cabinets refinished due to the wood grain showing through but, WOW, these turned out great!

bring on to the next project!

{words} to live by

just breathe...

you'll never live this moment again

little man {walking}

Mason is walking!

He started toddling around about a month ago but couldn't go more than three or four steps until this last week. Now he's walking all over the place.

Jeans are still a little tough to walk in but he's getting the hang of it.

I love my little man!

{happy} homeowners

Before

During...

...Still During

Oh, the joy of being a homeowner! We have lived in our house for a little over 4 years and have spent most of that time busy with life. Since we moved in we got married and had two kids. Not to mention the little bout with pneumonia and blood poisoning Dustin had about a year 1/2 ago that landed him in ICU for a week and off work for about a month. Who says you don't need a spline!?! Anyway, life has kept us pretty busy and hasn't really been easy on the pocketbook either.

So, we finally decided to buckle down and spend a little time and money on our house. I've hated our oak cabinetry in our kitchen and bathrooms since we moved in and vowed to change it. We spent 4 days at Dustin's parents house while this was being done and finally got to sleep in our own beds again last Tuesday.

Now we're just waiting for our cabinet and drawer fronts. It's still a work in progress and even though I love our new kitchen, it just makes me want to jump on our next task of replacing counter tops, updating appliances, laying tile floors and refinishing hardwood. Geez, a girl is never happy!

beautiful day

What a beautiful day at the Oregon Coast! We took a day two weeks ago while Dustin was on vacation to enjoy a gorgeous day at the Coast.

the kids slept on the way

We went shopping at the outlets...for kid clothes. I'm not one to get super excited about finding a deal (I should probably work on that) but The Children's Place had and AMAZING sale! We were buying whole outfits for $2-3. Oh yeah, you read that right! Items were ringing up for 99 cents!

Anyway, after our fun-filled shopping spree we headed to the beach for some time in the sand. Mason had never seen the ocean before and of course tried to eat the sand the second he had the chance. Oops. Brooklynn loved it and ran all over the place finding rocks and shells and trying to get close to the water.

I wish we had a photographer...of course there wasn't a soul in sight to take a family picture

blah, blah, blog!

So, I haven't posted anything in a while. I think I'm just a little overwhelmed with my to-do list and the chaos that has been my life the past couple of weeks. However, this blog was meant to be an outlet for my stress among other things so here are a few new posts. Enjoy!

summer, please

I'm craving summer. I need summer. I'm going crazy.
Usually by the time spring is approaching I welcome the sunny but cool days, birds chirping in the morning & flowers blooming. I don't usually mind the rainy days. I don't prefer them but I don't mind them. This euphoric feeling comes over me when I smell that fresh, clean rain smell and I just soak it all in.

Not right now. I couldn't care less. I just want HOT, summer days! I NEED HOT, SUMMER DAYS! Maybe we've just had such a long winter that I can't force myself to get excited about spring.

I shopped for bathing suits online today while the kids napped. I loaded my shopping cart with bikinis, cover ups, sexy heels and WAAAY too short dresses at Victoria's Secret. I did this while sitting by the fireplace, trying to ignore the wind hurling rain at my windows...and the fact that it was only 39 degrees outside. I later decided that willing on summer by buying stuff I can't afford wasn't the way to go about this rut I'm in. So I deleted my shopping cart and made grilled cheese and soup for the kids.

Oh, Layla

We took Layla to the vet today.

Yep, Brooklynn, Mason, Layla and I went to the vet. We started out alright. I took the stroller since I would need three more arms to contain all three of them without. Things went pretty well. Until...

...Mason got tired of sitting, then got tired of being held and insisted on crawling around on the floor. No, I didn't let him. He just squirmed in my arms until it was time to leave.

...Brooklynn was great and I let her get out of the stroller not too long after we entered the waiting area. However, while she was keeping herself busy by buckeling the straps in the stroller, she climbed into the back and since there was no weight up front, tipped the whole thing over onto herself. It was all downhill from there!

By the time we made it back out to the waiting area, the kids were a wreck and so was I. I try look like I've got it all together but I must not do a very good job. THIS is why total strangers ask if I need help when I'm out with the kids. Thanks to the reception staff, our vet, another vet (we know him and he came to say hi) and yet ANOTHER vet who came out because the noises she heard were definitely not of the four-legged kind, we made it out alive.

Layla, on the other hand, faired pretty well. She got a manicure and eye drops for her allergies. Since her eyes started itching, she started clawing at them and now has a scratched cornia. I think she feels better already now that we started the drops.