this....

makes my heart, literally, melt....i luv those girls.

AND, in case you are wondering...potty training is going pretty well. I'll just say that day two was MUCH better than day one. We'll have to see how day three pans out.

this week....

We are potty training....we'll be back to regularly scheduled blogging as soon as we can...gotta go!! (and yes, that pun was intended!)

a sledding we will go....

Over here, on the east side of town, hills are not exactly plentiful. When it snows, and we want to go sledding, we don't have many options. In fact, other than building our own hill in the backyard, we pretty much only have one option - Sledding Hill. But, alas, Sledding Hill is a pretty good option. It was made just for sledding. So, if the conditions are right, sledding on it is so very good.
And sled on it we did. On Saturday. As it turns out, the perfect day. Had we gone on Sunday, it would have been very wet and slushy because it was quite a bit warmer than yesterday.


We started out on the smaller backside hill. Emily was quite content to go down all by herself. Paige still wanted to go with one of us, or her big sister.

After about fiver or six times, we switched over to the big hill. I took Paige down with me all three times. It was awesome. She loved it too. And we would have gone lots more, but, OH MY GOODNESS, walking up those stairs with a sled and a two year old, was a bit much.

So, we took our final run....
And headed home.
SO. MUCH. FUN.

And people wonder why we live here.

R.I.P. Frosty

Today, the last day of February of 2010, our beloved snowman passed away only six days after being brought into this world. The temperature outside reached 50 degrees and he could not cope. Standing happily in the shade on our back patio, he brought us joy for nearly a week before returning to the watery state from which he began. As Winter slowly yields to Spring this water will wash into the Earth, and next Winter the cycle will begin anew. The box of snowman parts will come out and a new figure will be created. Will we see the return of the snow chick?

before and after

You know how when you go to someone's house, see some cool stuff, and then you come home and your house looks not so awesome? Well, after visiting some of our family and friends this past vacation, my mind has been on re-decoration overdrive since we got home.

I already re-arranged Paige's room. I did that on Sunday afternoon. And, it's MUCH better.

Then, I took a look at our family room/great room. It's so BORING. We already painted. New furniture is not in our budget. How about some new draperies? Yes, we can do that.

I know that Eric doesn't think so, but man oh man, adding some draperies to a room really makes a difference.

Here is the before:

And now, the after:
MUCH BETTER don't you think?

In case you are wondering - the clock on the sofa table is broken, so it's always 10 o'clock in the front room.

I am now reviewing paint colors for the kitchen. I am just doing an accent wall. It's probably going to be red. I am a little scared, but I am just going to dig in and do it.

And incidentally, it looks like this outside.Have a great weekend...you may be seeing more before and after on Monday. I think I may be making a paint run to Lowes later on......

never before seen....

Is it really true...is February almost over? Well, It must be. My February photo file is just busting at the seams. And while looking through my photos for the month, I found some that escaped my blog that I am just loving....even the one of myself. So, as a treat, I thought I would share.

These days, I am finding that more and more I am reaching for my SLR camera rather than my p&s. The result is much prettier photos. And in a couple months, I will be pulling my hair out when I am trying to pick which ones I want to scrapbook. I am about a year behind in my scrapbooking, and I am trying out a new system of not printing anything until I need it. I am hoping that this results in a lot less photos that are sitting around not being scrapbooked because I have no earthly idea why I printed them....

But these photos, will most likely be on the top of my printing list for February:








Happy Thursday!

vacation. days four thru end.

After DisneyWorld and all it's magic, we left on Tuesday morning for South Florida and loads of family and friends. We stayed with Eric's parents and watched them get to re-new their relationship with their Grand-daughters. It was a delight.

Wednesday was a day I would like to forget. Not because I didn't have a very good time seeing all my co-workers at Adventure Travels, and not because I didn't have a perfectly wonderful lunch with my good friend Linda at our all time favorite place - La Bamba, and also not because I got to spend time with my old friends at the McCarver house.....no, I would very much like to forget my eldest daughter's run in with a moving car at the Promenade of Coconut Creek.

The story goes like this: We left La Bamba in Ft. Lauderdale to go back to our old neighborhood, see our old house, maybe see some of our old neighbors, and play in our old park. Well, our neighbor friends weren't home at that point, and we all needed a bathroom break. I wasn't sure if the bathrooms at the park would be open, so I decided we would check out the new shopping plaza and use their facilities. We went into a Starbucks, did our thing, and waited outside for Eric. I spied this really nice fountain, suggested to Emily that we go and have a picture taken by it, she agreed and was off. I guess she didn't realize that the cobblestone/paver walkway was also for cars, and she went running....right into the side of a moving car. Luckily, she wasn't two seconds sooner, or else she would have been under the car. As it was, she smashed her nose into the side of the car, and was bleeding quite profusely. Yeah. It was very scary. She wasn't knocked unconscious. She knew her name and age. And after a couple minutes, the nose bleeding subsided. Everyone within the vicinity of the accident was totally wonderful, and brought us napkins, wipes, water, bags and bags of ice, and even a stuffed reindeer. I am truly thankful for all their help.

So, Ann-Marie, this is why we never made it to your house......we were totally planning on going back to see if you were home after our pit stop, but, for obvious reasons, we couldn't.

Anyway - Emily took it easy for the rest of the night. Her swelling went down as the evening wore on. She never complained of any pain other than just on her actual nose. No black eyes the next morning, just slight bruising on the bridge of her nose. Another side effect - parents who now cannot stop warning her about cars...even if they are miles away. :)

I can still hear the sound of her hitting the side of that car. It haunts me. It was my suggestion to go and have their picture by the fountain.....ahhhh, Mother's guilt, right?

So, on a lighter note...pictures:

The following, are from Thursday - we spent the day with Eric's parents, and Aunt Ingi. The girls finally got to go to a park, and had a fun day.



We also saw 7 alligators in the morning at a nature preserve in Boynton Beach:










And that's pretty much it. I didn't really take any pictures in Tennessee. We just enjoyed a relaxing 23 hours with my Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Ed. And then we took off Saturday afternoon for home - we arrived at midnight, and collapsed into bed.

Glad we made it safely - glad no one got really hurt - and glad to see everyone. Good vacation.