Avery LOOOOVES bath time. And I'm convinced it's because she looks forward to this:
So thank you Aunt Kathy for the homemade kids towel...without which these nightly giggles would not be possible.
PS Please make 2 more. Please and Thank you.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Independence Day Festivities 2013
As a side note, there are some fires in the mountains pretty close to our house and they were raging huge on the 4th. I took this picture from the exit ramp on the way home. You can really see the smoke funneling up there in this photo. So pray for all the families who have evacuated Mt. Charleston and the firefighters up there.
On the 4th of July this year, both Troy and I had to work, so we didn't get home until about 530pm. I raced over to Carolyn's (our nanny) to pick up Avery and Troy got some BBQ stuff together. We are blessed with a wonderful small group from church that we have spent the last few holidays with. All of us are not Las Vegas natives and don't have family around, so we spend holidays together...how cute are we?
For Easter, we had a potluck at our house. On Memorial day, we went BBQ'd at another couple's house and for the 4th we had another HUGE potluck with everyone at another couple's home in our neighborhood. It was a BBQ and everyone brought some meat and a side and we all kinda shared when everything was done.
I was the most impressed with the desserts, which the hosts provided. HOLY COW they were awesome. There was a Chips A'Hoy lasagna thing with layers of chocolate chips cookies dipped in chocolate milk and layered with Cool Whip and chocolate sauce. I died. It was awesome. There were brownies, fruit salad, and cupcakes where you could pick your icing of choice. There were a couple preggos there, so be assured, there were some seriously happy fetuses. And children.
After eating, we headed outside for some kid friendly fireworks. There were these things called "Pop its" that you throw at the ground and they make a cracking noise. Avery preferred to step on them. Poor girl seems to have gotten her coordination from her momma, so aiming and stepping at the same time was not easy for her...
The second she stepped on one, she would go chasing after Troy, who was holding her box, saying "more please, more please, more please" and making her best begging face. I mean, who could say no to that?
She loved it and went around stomping on the wrappers of ones that were already popped. She was actually pretty good at spotting ones that had been thrown, but didn't pop, so she sure showed us! Cackling the whole time. Love her.
No "in the air" fireworks were allowed. Hunter had bought a package of permitted ground fireworks for our viewing enjoyment :) The kids loved it! Avery kept wanting to run up to them... between Troy grabbing her shirt and the other kids holding her hands, we kept everyone safe. As of right now, Avery is the youngest child in the small group...but that will change soon because 3 of the 6 of us are preggo. Something in the water, huh?
As you can see, Noah kept trying to hold Avery's hand, but she would rip her hand away to get closer to the sparks...eeek! But look how cute all the kids are!
Here's a front shot of the kiddos all being sweet to each other. And Avery standing in the back, protected from running up to the fireworks.
We eventually pulled her into Troy's lap, which made them both very happy :) Even though after every firework, she would jump up and clap and say "AWESOME!!" Her Dad taught her that...he was so proud.
After the fireworks were over, everyone headed over to a neighborhood park for an HOA sponsored Independence Day celebration. I went home. I had to be at work seeing my first patient at 630am. Yuck. Too bad I forgot it was the 4th of July and apparently fireworks are involved. ALL AROUND MY HOUSE. So even though I had good intentions to go to bed early, it didn't really work out in my favor because people were celebrating. But that's okay, I got some good snuggle time with Optimus because he is terrified of fireworks. And Avery slept until about 945 the next morning.
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Anyone else do anything fun?
On the 4th of July this year, both Troy and I had to work, so we didn't get home until about 530pm. I raced over to Carolyn's (our nanny) to pick up Avery and Troy got some BBQ stuff together. We are blessed with a wonderful small group from church that we have spent the last few holidays with. All of us are not Las Vegas natives and don't have family around, so we spend holidays together...how cute are we?
For Easter, we had a potluck at our house. On Memorial day, we went BBQ'd at another couple's house and for the 4th we had another HUGE potluck with everyone at another couple's home in our neighborhood. It was a BBQ and everyone brought some meat and a side and we all kinda shared when everything was done.
I was the most impressed with the desserts, which the hosts provided. HOLY COW they were awesome. There was a Chips A'Hoy lasagna thing with layers of chocolate chips cookies dipped in chocolate milk and layered with Cool Whip and chocolate sauce. I died. It was awesome. There were brownies, fruit salad, and cupcakes where you could pick your icing of choice. There were a couple preggos there, so be assured, there were some seriously happy fetuses. And children.
After eating, we headed outside for some kid friendly fireworks. There were these things called "Pop its" that you throw at the ground and they make a cracking noise. Avery preferred to step on them. Poor girl seems to have gotten her coordination from her momma, so aiming and stepping at the same time was not easy for her...
The second she stepped on one, she would go chasing after Troy, who was holding her box, saying "more please, more please, more please" and making her best begging face. I mean, who could say no to that?
She loved it and went around stomping on the wrappers of ones that were already popped. She was actually pretty good at spotting ones that had been thrown, but didn't pop, so she sure showed us! Cackling the whole time. Love her.
No "in the air" fireworks were allowed. Hunter had bought a package of permitted ground fireworks for our viewing enjoyment :) The kids loved it! Avery kept wanting to run up to them... between Troy grabbing her shirt and the other kids holding her hands, we kept everyone safe. As of right now, Avery is the youngest child in the small group...but that will change soon because 3 of the 6 of us are preggo. Something in the water, huh?
As you can see, Noah kept trying to hold Avery's hand, but she would rip her hand away to get closer to the sparks...eeek! But look how cute all the kids are!
Here's a front shot of the kiddos all being sweet to each other. And Avery standing in the back, protected from running up to the fireworks.
We eventually pulled her into Troy's lap, which made them both very happy :) Even though after every firework, she would jump up and clap and say "AWESOME!!" Her Dad taught her that...he was so proud.
After the fireworks were over, everyone headed over to a neighborhood park for an HOA sponsored Independence Day celebration. I went home. I had to be at work seeing my first patient at 630am. Yuck. Too bad I forgot it was the 4th of July and apparently fireworks are involved. ALL AROUND MY HOUSE. So even though I had good intentions to go to bed early, it didn't really work out in my favor because people were celebrating. But that's okay, I got some good snuggle time with Optimus because he is terrified of fireworks. And Avery slept until about 945 the next morning.
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Anyone else do anything fun?
Monday, July 8, 2013
Upgrading Builder Grade Items
When Avery came home, my stepdad flew with her. That brave soul. Thank goodness for direct flights, eh?
We were giving him a tour of the house when he got here and I started mentioning things that I wanted to do/change/upgrade and he pretty much decided to take lead on that while he was here visiting for a week.
First, we got some hardware for the kitchen cabinets. I cannot say how much I have been bugging Troy to do this. I probably said something about it once a week for 6 months. I think that could fall in the nagging category...
Here is what they looked like before:
They're pretty and all, but just looked super unfinished. And my baking cabinet always had flour/oil/greasiness on the door from grabbing the edge of door rather some hardware.
Troy and I headed to Lowe's to pick some out and settled on some brushed silver handles. We picked out another set initially, but when they told us they'd have to special order them because we needed 45 of them, we were like "um, well what do you have in stock?" The special order would take 9-10 days and my stepdad was not going to stay that long to give us a good kick in the rear and get it done. So we picked something that we could take home that day.
SO MUCH BETTER! The kitchen feels SO much more finished and after having them in for 2 weeks, I don't know how we lived without them for almost a year. Seriously, it changed my life. So much less cleaning and wiping down of cabinets. Those dark cabinets would leave wicked handprints on them. With the brushed metal, you don't see any fingerprints. YES.
They made an easy, breezy template for installation and to do all 45 handles, and it only took about an hour.
The other big upgrade made was the light fixture in our downstairs full bathroom. It was seriously gross because I always wanted to dust the bulbs. You could see every speck of dust on them. I have hated it since we moved in. I don't like the exposed lightbulbs and hope to upgrade the other 2 bathrooms very soon. It makes the room feel so much more homey and nice.
I didn't take a picture of the actual fixture, but here's the picture of the twin in Avery's bathroom upstairs. It makes me cringe. Seriously.
I LOVE the new one. It was designed where you pick out the globes that you want for the fixture. We already had extra globes in our garage from another project (the chandelier in the dining room) so we saved money there :)
We were giving him a tour of the house when he got here and I started mentioning things that I wanted to do/change/upgrade and he pretty much decided to take lead on that while he was here visiting for a week.
First, we got some hardware for the kitchen cabinets. I cannot say how much I have been bugging Troy to do this. I probably said something about it once a week for 6 months. I think that could fall in the nagging category...
Here is what they looked like before:
They're pretty and all, but just looked super unfinished. And my baking cabinet always had flour/oil/greasiness on the door from grabbing the edge of door rather some hardware.
Troy and I headed to Lowe's to pick some out and settled on some brushed silver handles. We picked out another set initially, but when they told us they'd have to special order them because we needed 45 of them, we were like "um, well what do you have in stock?" The special order would take 9-10 days and my stepdad was not going to stay that long to give us a good kick in the rear and get it done. So we picked something that we could take home that day.
SO MUCH BETTER! The kitchen feels SO much more finished and after having them in for 2 weeks, I don't know how we lived without them for almost a year. Seriously, it changed my life. So much less cleaning and wiping down of cabinets. Those dark cabinets would leave wicked handprints on them. With the brushed metal, you don't see any fingerprints. YES.
They made an easy, breezy template for installation and to do all 45 handles, and it only took about an hour.
The other big upgrade made was the light fixture in our downstairs full bathroom. It was seriously gross because I always wanted to dust the bulbs. You could see every speck of dust on them. I have hated it since we moved in. I don't like the exposed lightbulbs and hope to upgrade the other 2 bathrooms very soon. It makes the room feel so much more homey and nice.
I didn't take a picture of the actual fixture, but here's the picture of the twin in Avery's bathroom upstairs. It makes me cringe. Seriously.
I LOVE the new one. It was designed where you pick out the globes that you want for the fixture. We already had extra globes in our garage from another project (the chandelier in the dining room) so we saved money there :)
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