Trains and Cranes???

Thomas the Tank Engine has finally made
his debut in Jackson's room!

When Austin was little he was all about some
Thomas the Tank Engine...
we had every movie,
every train,
every accessory that went with that Railroad...
and now it has come out of the attic and it's a hit once again!



Jackson seems to already be taking to it like Austin did.
And it is so sweet to hear Jackson say
"Austin, build me a twack"
and big brother is happy to do it for him.
We had thought that we would use Thomas as a
"bribe" for potty training, but as of yet,
Jackson doesn't care anything about going to the potty,
Thomas or not!

He will sit and talk to the trains and act out little
stories just like Austin used to do.
Oh the hours these trains have seen.
I am excited they will see many, many more
hours of play.

But the trains could not compare to the new toy
that Daddy brought home today.
Yep, it's a crane.
Papa needed to rent a crane today so they could fix one
end of his barn that had been blown out,
so once they were done with the barn it
traveled on it's way towards our house to
be used to hang some new flood lights.

Scott is more brave than I am...
I wouldn't be caught dead up that high...
just sayin'

While he worked on putting up the new flood lights I
looked at our handy work of staining the deck.
We are sooo close to having that project complete.
Hopefully the rain will hold off and we can sneak in about an
hour of work tomorrow afternoon and get it done.
Scott finally told me tonight that he really did like the color
of the stain.  Whew, I have been sweatin' that one.
I am ready to get that done, but once the deck is stained,
the patio furniture needs to be painted.
It never ends when you have a house.

Scott was working away at taking down the old lights
and putting up the new ones.  He kept asking if I would make it
stop shaking...I reminded him that it didn't shake nearly as bad as
the ladder would...
scary!

He finished the one on the left hand side of this photo
tonight, and will put one up on the right hand side tomorrow.

But they worked and brighten up the back yard.
Just what we wanted!

Once Scott was done fixing his light,
Jackson wanted to go for a ride.
He thought that was a lot of fun!
(And no mom, he didn't go all the way up...
this was as far off the ground as he got)

He really wanted to be the one pushing the buttons,
but Daddy stayed on the controls the entire time.

Well tomorrow ends another busy weekend,
and then it's time to check the calendar to see what is next!

Planning Ahead

Guess what came in the mail yesterday?



Did you know it is only

183 days until

Christmas?

I am determined to not let it sneak up on me again.

Last year, I had started to plan ahead.

I had even gotten a lot of shopping done online.

I thought I was ahead of the game,

until the stomach bug hit the house and put

us all out of commission for the entire month of December.

Now, that is one Christmas memory that I do not want to repeat.

I sat down last night and started looking at all of the cute paper

and started making my plan!

I will not spend all day on Christmas Eve

wrapping...no, I will not

I think these fun Santa faces would be fun under the tree...

And these little peppermint swirls would be match with the

other papers that I have already.

And there is something about Polka Dots that I just can't

pass up...these would even work for everyday

wrapping paper

And in red, too.

So yes, while it is 100 degrees outside,
I am starting to plan for Christmas...

Bring it on!
Now, if I could just get everyone to give me a list,
I'd be on my way.

And The Project Goes On....

Sunday we were able to work on the deck
a little more...we are almost done.

The stairs are complete and the front face of the deck is done.
(sorry...forgot to take a picture of that...I'll do that when the
entire deck is done...)




Up and down both stairs...
those were a pain to stain!

(I just noticed we missed the side of one of the steps...
I'm sure there are a few more touch ups to hit as well)

And here is a picture of the one half that is finished.

Scott just keeps saying,
"It's Red"

I don't think he is really pleased with the color choice.
The stairs have lightened up in real life.
It's a little hard to get a good picture of it.
When I look at the photos, I think the same thing,
but in real life it doesn't seem quite so RED.

 

We stopped about half way across the top when
we ran out of time...and now they are giving rain
every day this week...
not so good for staining,
but good for us, we need it.

My little Hibiscus is blooming again.
I just can't figure this little flower out.
One day I think I have killed it for sure.
The leaves will be all dried out and faded looking
with not a bloom on it,
and then the next day the leave are shiny and green
and blooms all over.
I can't seem to find a happy medium.
I think at first I watered it too much.
then not enough...
maybe now I have figured out what is
just right...we'll see.

Five flowers this morning with about 7 more
ready to bloom in the next day or so.

My little tomatoes are enjoying the hot sunshine we have
had lately.  Me, not so much.
It has been HOT for June.
We have already had highs near 100
and we usually only have that much fun in August.
I think the weather man said the other day that
we were on a roll for highs above 95 for about 18 days straight.
Yeah...and Austin was at camp for those two weeks!

But cooler temps and rain are moving our way this week.
It will be a welcome change, but I'm ready to get this
deck staining done!

So that is what I have been up to,
What have you been up to?

I am going to link up to
Toni's
One Project at a Time Party...

Go and see what everyone has been up to!

Father's Day 2011

This Father's Day was
filled with a sick little boy...

Jackson woke up Sunday morning
a little puny so Scott stayed home
from church with him, and then Jackson slept all afternoon.
I stayed home last night with him
and then stayed up with him during
the night...




We did shower Daddy with his
Father's Day card and gift
before Austin and I left
yesterday morning...
He got a new Impact Wrench because he makes
such an "Impact" on or lives....


Thanks for being such a
great Dad.

We promise to make a
"special day"
to celebrate you
when Jackson is back to his
old self.


 

One of My Favorite Things....

I have always loved dishes...

I don't know what it is,

but I love china and everyday dishes,

it doesn't really matter.

I have two sets of Christmas dishes,

My good Lenox Holiday China

and my Nikko Christmastime dishes.

two set of everyday dishes,


Pfaltzgraff Heritage

and then my latest addition
FiestaWare in
Ivory, Lemongrass, Scarlet and Chocolate

(I want to get two more Fiesta colors in Cobalt Blue and
Orange to match all of my Auburn Chip-n-dips and
party platters for football season)

and I have my set of Wedding China.
Noritake Chandon Gold

I love them all.

In the world of blogging I have discovered that

you can meet all kinds of different people.

Those who sew beautiful clothing,

those who love to travel,

those who can decorate like a dream,

and those who organize.

But recently I have found a new set of bloggers.

Oh yeah....

The Tablescaper!

Oh my....my dish collection has nothing on these ladies.

Their beautiful collections are a mass of

fully "dressed" tables.

Beginning with the tablecloth and building up with place mats,

chargers, full place settings of mixed and matched china,

topping it off with matching stemware and flatware.

And finished with a napkin and coordinating napkin ring.

Absolutely beautiful!

I have started a list of blogs on the side

that are tablescaper's.

I  found several while looking around blog-land

the other day.  They were having a linky party showing

how they stored all their dishes.

WOW...

there were a lot of dishes.

And a lot of wonderful husbands who were

adding lots of storage to houses to accommodate all of

those beautiful dishes!!!

Just a note...my husband is going into convulsions

some where reading this thinking that I am going to start

hiding dishes under the couches and in the recesses of

closets...

I make no promises...

just kidding...

maybe...

So if you have time,

check them out if you love dishes as much as I do.

I am going to drool over all of their pretty dishes...

and also start paying more attention to

TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Ross, Tuesday Morning...

I'm sure the list goes on...

There was even one lady that had shown a picture of her

stemware and listed the name and where she bought it.

One of them came from The Dollar Store!!!

Can't beat that!

I'm off to dream...

Three Year Check Up

I took Jackson for his 3 year check up today.

We received a clean bill of health.

50th percentile for weight at 33 lbs.

95th percentile for height at 41 1/2 inches

One shot and a finger prick later we were on our way.

He was a perfect patient

 

He is growing up waaaayyyy too fast!

Before we know it, we'll be sending him off to camp.



Projects That Seem to Never End

I guess that is the story of any homeowner...
the projects just never seem to end.

Our deck was in serious need of cleaning...
so we started cleaning.
And cleaning, and cleaning...
it seemed to go on forever.

Not really.
Actually, it only took us two weekend to get it done.
But now that it is all cleaned, we thought that we should
take the time to finally stain it.

So my deck still looks like this.
Everything pushed to the side we are not working on,
and then when one side it done,
it get shoved back to the other side.




But you can tell that it really needed to
be cleaned.  You can see the
before and after
on the steps below.
WOW
They were nasty.

 

My handy, dandy husband helping me get

the deck all clean!
With the help of a lot of cleaner,
scrubbing with a lot of elbow grease

and some pressure washing.

All cleaned and ready to go. 

Now to just pick out a stain.

I picked out a stain.

Olympic Redwood,
with some help from Scott...
My original choice was
Rosewood, but when I looked on the board
at Lowe's, the Rosewood looked really dark,
so I choose the lighter.
I am glad I did, because it is still pretty dark.

I started staining last night and so far, so good.
I only managed to get the bottom stairs done.
I had someone trying to help me out...a lot.
For some reason he thought painting would be more
fun than helping his Daddy pull weeds.
So did I, that is why I was staining.

 

They are definitely darker.

I like the color contrast with the almond colored rails,

but like Scott,

I am curious to see how it looks when we get up next to the brick.

Stay Tuned...

Growing Up!

I sent my baby away to camp today...

I realize he's not a baby anymore...

one more year and he's a teenager...

YIKES!

 

At least he is with Aunt Gena...

I am getting regular reports...

I know he is going to have a blast...

I sure do miss him...

and he's only been gone for three hours.

Total Before and After

Several months ago,

we began turning Jackson's nursery into a

Big Boy Room!

I have shown you progress along the way,

but thought I would put together a post

and show you how it has changed with a complete

BEFORE and AFTER...



Here it is before Jackson arrived...

This was the brightest yellow paint known to man!

I remember Scott telling me...
after the 4 coats of yellow paint...
that he would be happy to repaint it
if I didn't like it...
cause he hated it...
but we left it on the walls knowing that it would be gone
in a couple of years.

The fact that his room gets all of the afternoon sunlight didn't help
with the blinding color~

But finally it was time for Jackson to move out of his baby bed
and into a big boy bed!

I started looking around for ideas
and found what I was looking for
at the Thrifty Decor Chick!

I had my inspiration and I was on a mission
to create a cute room for Jackson
and shamelessly copy her idea!

Sarah (the Thrifty Decor Chick) is always adding
beautiful molding and trim to her house
and making things look totally fabulous,
so I decided that some trim was in order for Jackson's new room.

So...instead of being all handy like Sarah,
I looked and Scott and said
"You can do this, Right?"
to which he cut his eyes at me
grumbled a little...
and then replied
"yes"

Oh yeah...it's on!
So the project began!

We started by painting the walls
Bye Bye Yellow!!!

Then Scott started adding the

Board and Batten Treatment to the walls...

It was looking great!!

We also had the carpet replaced...

needless to say,

raising two boys in this room had left

a few carpet stains!

Scott repainted Austin's old furniture

to match the Navy Blue paint above Jackson's

Board and Batten...

Things were starting to come together...

It was time to add some accent colors and

brighten things up a bit...

I found a cute little pillow sham

with navy stitching around the outside...

I took it to my local embroidery shop and

added his monogram and

I was so excited with how

it turned out.

I found some curtains at K-Mart...

which is where the cute airplane sheets came from

that set the tone for the entire room...

you know...

from my idea I stole from

the Thrifty Decor Chick!

So pops of red were added

to spread around the room...

I found these Airplane prints on Etsy

from this seller

I took them to Hobby Lobby and had

some mats cut to match

and then found these simple silver

frames (on sale for Half Price!)

They still need to actually be hung on the wall...

but they are mounted, framed and ready to go!

I also found this cute propeller clock

at Hobby Lobby...

and yep, you guessed it

Half Price!

I still have not decided if I am going to paint it to brighten

it up a bit or not...still thinking about that one!

I have a few more accessories that I am

painting to match and need to

either paint his lamps

or find new ones...

But there we have it...

Our little boy has moved on up

to a big boy room...

sniff sniff.

He is growing up so fast...

I thought I would put this little post together

(OK...so it was not so little)

and link up to

Sarah's

Before and After Party

I'm also going to link up

to Toni at

A Bowl Full of Lemons

I have gotten so many great decorating ideas

from her blog and so many ideas on how to

make my house what I want it to be

without breaking the bank!

We are loving Jackson's new room.

He's sleeping like a champ in his own bed,

and is loving his "E-Plane" room.

So, I'm off to check out the other before and afters

that have joined in the party...

you know,

to get more inspiration

and shamelessly copy some great ideas!

If you want to go back and see the progress along the way...

you can see where we started painting...

and then the board and batten progress...

and the carpet Before and After

and finally moving in the furniture

and adding the final touches.

Thanks for taking the time to take a look at our

little project and thanks to all of you in blogland

that take your time to

give us wonderful inspiration

on how to make our house a home...

I think Jackson is loving his new spot in our home,

just as much as we are loving him our lives.