A Little Sneak Peak...

Scott's Mom and Dad went to check on the truck the other day and sent us a little sneak peak of the paint color. We still can't decide if that is anywhere near the color that Scott picked out or not but we are thinking it's pretty, and it's on there now so...he's gonna like it!

I think it is going to look really nice!

Scott bought this truck before we met (16 almost 17 years ago) and has always dreamed of fixing it up and just kept putting it off.  He finally decided that if he was ever going to do it he would just have to jump in and do it.  He would never find the time, or the money to do it if he didn't just take on the project.  So it all began.  He has been working on this for a long time (since waaaayyy before Jackson--and he's almost 2).  He took car repair classes at the Tech School once year to learn how to do some of the body work and has spent many hours working to get everything just right.  Sanding and painting and replacing and fixing...it's been a long process but I think it is all going to pay off in the end.

We've taken pictures of it since he's been working on it so I am going to have to whip him up a little scrapbook to keep in his office to show off his handiwork. 

I was teasing him a few years back and asked him if he loved that truck more than he loved me and his response was "No, but don't ever ask me to prove it!" 

He did say it with a smile so I know he was kiddin'....I think....I hope!!

If the weather holds out tomorrow we are planning on going over to see the progress and take a few more pictures while we are there.  We'll have to post some more when we get home.

Baby Steps...One Down!!!

 and a whole lot of house to go!!! But Jackson's room is done!! I took out all of his clothes and cleaned out his closet. Packed away 2 tubs of clothes for consignment-- one box spring/summer and one of fall/winter. I put all of the clothes for this spring and summer that he hasn't worn yet on top and sorted through his clothes on the bottom so now we can find things for him to wear without searching through 6 pairs of shorts and 13 t-shirts!! All of his clothes to take to Goodwill are boxed up, accounted for and ready to go. I plan on making a run there this weekend to drop off a bunch of stuff!!

So here is what it looked like last night before Jackson went to bed. All nice and clean...I even vaccumed!!!

Feels good to sit down and relax for a few minutes before bedtime and not feel like all of that mess is calling my name!!!!  Watch out world, I may get organized yet!!!!

Organizing....it's a process, right?

OK--my new years resolution was to get organized...if it kills me...which from these pictures you will realize that is just might do that...

I can't put things away because there is too much clutter in those places taking up space, blah, blah, blah!!!

We have enough room in this house to have everyone's stuff in it's place but some how that just doesn't happen.  So I decided to start in Jackson's room today.  There is a basket of clean clothes that couldn't be put up becuase there was no room in his closet, but he had nothing to wear because I had not taken the time to clean out stuff that was too small....

So TODAY was the day!!!!!!

I started this before his nap this morning and stopped when the poor thing climbd in his rocking chair with a pillow and laid down by himself.

Here's a little of the progress-- choosing to focus on the progress first, then the mess I've made!!

See all the room on the top rack for spring and summer clothes!

 

Now here's the mess-- piles of play clothes to take to Good Will, piles of good clothes to take to Consignment sale,  riding toy, cause we had to play too...

Bibs, Burp Cloths and the 800 blankets that babies need...packing them away!!

Well, it's about time to go and pick up Austin from school so I'll have his help keeping Jackson occupied while I get this mess cleaned up before Scott home.

Science Fair project is done and now they have to start working on his Pinewood Derby Car for Cub Scouts.

Stick a Fork in it... IT'S DONE!!!

Well folks.... here it is.... the 5th Grade Science Fair Project!!! And I can't tell you how happy I am that this is DONE!!!!

Now I can just dread helping him with another one next year....yippee...

It did turn out really nice. Scott made him the little stand for his batteries and his lemons and I helped him type up all of his information and he helped me mount it all on the board.

We'll see if he wins a prize...the entire 5-12 grade classes will be turning in their projects tomorrow morning so we'll see. Awards are Wednesday morning in chapel.

A Diamond in the Rough

One of Scott's hobbies is working on his cars. He has always taken good care of the cars we drive and also enjoys fixing up his antique cars as well. He bought this truck before we ever met and when we lived next door to each other, I would always get mad when he left for work because it was so loud it would wake me up. Cathy and I lived on the apartment on the very end of the unit and Scott and Jeff lived next door, but he would park it on the end of the building next to us.

For years Scott has wanted to fix it up. It was in pretty good shape but he wanted to make it really pretty and have it painted and put the wood bed back in like it originaly had. He started the process several years ago and slowly (to slowly for him) he has gotten it taken to the paint shop.

Here is a picture taken several years ago (I think in 2004). I laughed a little when I saw how little the shrubs were in the front of the house so it's been a little while!




And this is what it looked like last Saturday when Scott went to Mr. Wimberly's to check on th progress!
He showed Scott the paint color that he picked out and I think he is very pleased with his decision.  It is called Dusk Blue and is kind of a smoky gray blue metallic color. He is going to paint the bottom the dusk blue and have the top painted a metallic white.

The inside is going to be a darker gray to match his new seats that wil have seatbelts in them.  Now the boys can go for a ride with Dad in his "new" truck. 
Scott doesn't know how long it is going to be before we get it back.  There were several wrecks this last week with the ice and snow which have to be his first priority.  Scott is getting really excited and I can't wait to see it all put back together.  It's going to be pretty.

USS Alabama

On Friday, Scott and Austin headed to Mobile to spend the night on the USS Alabama Battleship!  His Cub Scout Pack was heading down as a group to tour the ship and spend the night and see how it felt to be a sailor during World War II.  Coach Duke gave all of the boys the day off from school and they headed out around 10:30 for Mobile.  They boarded the ship around 6:00 and had free run of the ship until 11:00pm, then it was lights out.  They woke up early and had to have all of their stuf cleaned off the ship by 7:00am and then they could keep on touring the ship for as long as they wanted to.  Unfortunately, it was raining the enitre weekend but they still had a good time.  There was plenty to do inside the ship to keep them busy.  Austin came home with a little ball for Jackson and a "dog tag" with his name and address on it.

Scott, Austin and Jason checking out some of the planes that were used in the Air Force.

Andrew and Jason saluting the flag that flew over the USS Alabama and

Austin was posing for the picture.

Hopefully Austin and Andrew will never really end up in the Brigg but they had one on the ship!

I think the boys had the most fun in the room with the Missles and such.  Austin enjoyed checking out the cannons and all of the really big guns!

Over all the boys had a great time.  Other than the weather it was a wonderful weekend.

Austin is looking forward to going back one day with Jackson when he gets older.

They arrived around back home around 4:00 Saturday night and came in and asked

"What's for Dinner?"

Well, do you think I had fixed anything....nope! So we headed out to Cracker Barrell and a quick trip to Lowe's and then home for the evening.

Snow Day!!!!

We  are so pitiful...well...pathetic is more like it!

This is how much snow it took to cancel school today.

We are suppose to get more today as the day goes on but this morning when we woke up-- we had nothin'!!!

Last night by 5 o'clock they were already cancelling schools all over North Alabama for Thursday.  Several counties had also added Friday in there as well.  Now granted they are the county school systems that run busses and are in more rural areas but, come on...this was before the first flake ever even fell in the STATE!!!  We tend to panic a littel bit when it snows.

Austin has been using his day off to play with his LEGO Mindstorm.  He found on the internet ysterday where you could make it into a guitar and there were even programs that you can download to it to make it sound like an electric guitar.  So first thing this morning, instead of sleeping late (weird kid), he was up and on the computer designing his new guitar

Well, maybe later today we'll have some more snow pictures to post but I'm not holiding my breath!  And Jackson is hoping we don't have much more either....he needs Milk!!

More Christmas Morning....

Austin didn't waste any time handing out presents and Jackson just didn't know what to do!! He still wanted to play with the presents that Santa brought!  He didn't quite get the concept that there was more to open.  Scott would hand him another present to open and he would just look at him with a very puzzled look as if to say "But I want to play with the one I just opened"  He seemed to be happy when he was all done so he could just sit and play with his toys.

We were all so focused on getting Jackson to open his presents that we didn't take many pictures of the rest of the family opening their gifts. 

Christmas Day 2009

We had a wonderful time with friends and family over the holidays!  It is a little sad to see it end.

However, I am looking forward to things calming down a bit and getting back into a routine and on a schedule again.  The boys had a great Christmas and as always wound up with too much stuff!! So first thing on my "to do" list for 2010 is Operation Toy Clean Out!!!

Here is a collage of photos from Santa on Christmas morning.