Project Nursery

Yep, this picture just about sums up how crazy this nursery project has been.

I'm not going to lie, I have been dreading starting on the nursery.  Not because I wasn't ready to get the party started, but I knew that once the party started, it was going to turn into something huge.  And a huge project it was!

First, the room had to be cleaned out.  The room that will be the nursery had become our junk room.  You've got one of those right?  The room had a full size bed, dresser full of of fabric and sewing supplies, sewing machine and desk along with a TON of stuff set aside for a garage sale.  Thankfully, we had some extra space in our garage due to the recent sale of Ronnie's beloved Mustang.  So to the garage most of this stuff went.

Next, we decided to take the carpet of the room.

We had planned on getting new carpet in this room and knew that painting the room would be much easier without the carpet.  See, I had this crazy idea a while back that we should paint all the trim in our house white.  We would just paint it one room at a time.  Have you ever painted trim?  It ain't for sissies I tell ya.  Anyway, Avery was such a big helper getting the carpet out of the room.

I had to throw in the picture with Avery wearing her wellies. It wasn't raining inside or outside during this project. She has her own fashion sense.

After the carpet was out of the room the real hard work began.  Ronnie was a saint and did most of the work although Avery and I got our hands dirty every once in a while.

Trim: 3 coats of primer and 2 coats of paints. Like I said, it ain't easy!

Avery was such a big helper!

See? I actually did some work.  When Ronnie and I paint, I'm always the cut in girl.  That's my job.  I'm pretty good at it.  Plus, it usually means I don't have to use any rollers.  I prefer it that way. And that awesome bandana?  It gives you super powers.  My friend said it does and I believe her. Although it does not help a pregnant girl get up off the floor while painting trim. 

Let's be honest, Ronnie did most of the work. And by most I mean 95%.

He's such a paint stud!

Still working.  Ronnie did most of the taping himself. We decided to go  with one white line around the room.  Why we always insist on stripes in a nursery is beyond me.  It's such a hassle.

At one point, Ronnie spilled just a tiny bit of paint on the floor.  Just a little bit.

He tried to blame it on me.  Thankfully we did pull up the carpet!

Ronnie had a little fun in the room. During one break time he left this little message for Avery and I. He included the New Kid's initial but at this point, it's still a secret!

All that work was worth it!  The room is painted and I big fat puffy heart love it!

The white trim really makes the paint color pop. The paint is an aqua and teal and this picture does not do it justice.

Avery and Ronnie thought it would be fun to put their handprints in the closet.

All in all this project took a week to complete.  A week!  I could have never dreamed we would spend a week painting a room but that's what it came to.  It looks great though and I can't wait to get the carpet installed, crib put up and bedding made!  This kid will be here in about 12 weeks! Yikes! That just doesn't seem like enough time!

I had to throw in this last pictue.  New Kid already has a closet full of "stuff".  I can already tell having two girls is going to be crazy!

Avery is so excited for baby sister to be here.  We tell her that her baby sister will be here at Christmas time.  I've heard her tell her friends that.  The other night she told me "I'm so excited for baby sister to be here. She will be here at Christmas."  Melt my heart! We know she is going to be a great big sister.

More adventures to come!

Tour de Avery

This past Labor Day weekend was one of the best weekends we've had in a while.  For starters, we had nothing planned.  Nothing.  Do you know how nice it was to not have anything planned?  I'll tell you.  It was heaven.  I'm not saying we didn't have stuff that we wanted to get done, but we really had no where to be.  It was lovely.

Ronnie did get to work on the New Kid's nursery.  I'll post more on that later.  Let me just tell you this, 5 days later, we still don't have paint on the walls.  Painting trim is a big ol' pain in the kiester I tell ya!

Anyway, while Ronnie was busy getting his paint on I decided to take Avery for a bike ride. My reasoning was multi-fold:
1. Avery LOVES riding her bike. She did seem to be under the impression she was going to her friends' Natalee and Lyla's house though.
2. I was trying to wear her out so she'd take a BIG nap.  Mommy may have needed a nap too.
3. The weather was too BEAUTIFUL to stay inside. I mean seriously.  Haven't you been loving this cooler weather?!

So off Avery and I went.  Avery on bike, me on foot.

But everyone knows that you can't start any major sporting event without a snack.  Sting cheese.  It's the snack of 3 year olds champions.

We did stop for a bit of gymnastics.  I know, I know, those aren't exactly the best balance beam shoes.  What can I say, Avery loves her "heels" (as she calls them). 

Next up, drink break.  Avery told me that drinking water "made her ride her bike fast".  I think she was right.  Girl can go pretty fast!

After riding for a bit and asking me every other minute if she could go to Natalee and Lyla's house (Avery's friends around the corner) she got off her bike and just started twirling.  When I asked her what she was doing she said "I just need to twirl for a minute".  Um, okay.  As soon as I started taking pictures, she started posing for me.  I think I could've take a million pictures.

She's such a little big girl.  I can't get enough of this crazy thing.

By the way, the bike ride worked.  A big nap was had by all!

More adventures to come...

Craft Time

I have officially had a new job title of Stay at Home Mom for 7 weeks.  This Monday marks my 8th week.  You would think by now I would have some sort of schedule and have this thing figured out.  But alas, I don't.  I'm still winging it around here trying to convince Ronnie I've got my act together. 

Avery and I are managing to get along though and one thing she really does enjoy is when I bring out a craft or two.  The last few weeks I've pulled a couple things for her and she's loved it.

Hobby Lobby had their summer crafts on clearance not too long ago for like a bajillion percent off.  I picked up a package of foam visors on the cheap thinking it would be fun for Avery.  I was right.

The package was actually a pack of 6 with pink and blue visors.  Can you guess which color Avery picked?

Crafting is serious business and Avery does not take her responsibilities lightly.

Although Avery does know how to spell her name (A-B-E-R-Y - per Avery) she doesn't quite know her letters.  I did help her with her name addition.

Avery was quite proud of her finished product and wore her visor around for a while.  She even wore it on a trip to Sam's with her cousin.  We lost the visor for a brief moment, but thankfully it was found.

One of Avery's favorite things to do is paint.  But lets be honest, what 3 year old doesn't love to paint? I picked up a wooden car at Walmart on a whim one day and finally pulled it out and let Avery create a masterpiece.

I love watching Avery concentrate so intently on her projects.

Ronnie came doing during the time she was painting and had to "help" with her car. Avery was sweet enough and let her daddy get his paint on.

After lots of work and lots of paint, Avery and Ronnie both finished the car.

The picture on the left is Avery's side of the car.  I think it's perfect and beautiful.  The picture on the right is Ronnie's side of the care. Not too shabby. 

So there you have it.  Craft time at our house. It should be a regular occurance. It doesn't get much better than this.

Do you have a favorite craft you do with your kiddos?

More adventures to come.

Random Vidoes

I haven't blogged in a while.  I have some pictures from some recent adventures but haven't been able to actually get them from my camera to my computer.  So in the meantime I'd thought I'd post a few videos I've taken of Avery recently.  Grab some popcorn and enjoy!

Avery loves to do flips off the couch.  R taught her how to do this.  I'm pretty sure he regrets it.  I'm constantly afraid she's going to break her neck.

Since I've been staying at home with Avery, I try to take a picture of video of Avery every day and send it to R while he's at work.  It's usually not much but I think he enjoys it.  This is one that required no prompting from me.

This video cracks me up.  Avery was singing a song she made up and I was trying to get her to sing it to me.  Then she started doing flips.  The girls loves to be upside down.  PS- please disregard all the laundry on the floor.  My maid hadn't done her job for the day. PPS-she's wearing this bib/smock because she was either getting ready to paint or had already painted.

Alright, last video.  This summer, we've tried to spend a lot of time outside.  The weather has been hot, hot, hot but we've really tried to power through it and be active.  One of Avery and R's favorite games is "Blast Off".  They've done this since Avery was small.  I love hearing Avery's laughs and giggles. And I love how great Avery's dad is!

So it's not much but a little glimpse into some actual video of Avery.

More adventures to come!