Basement Update

Since Aaron's tiling job, he decided to finish more of this side of the basement instead of starting the bathroom project.  So now it's painted a pretty sand color, the floor's been vacuumed AND shampooed, set up to look somewhat like a living space, and we've also, since this picture, purchased the wood-burning stove and it's sitting on the tile.  I know my craft area's a disaster, but I'll figure it out soon.

This is where there used to be a half-wall.  Feel free to reference our initial house walk-through to remember what this view looked like.  Our bed used to be in that side of the room, just beyond the half-wall, but, like I said in a previous post, we've relocated.

THIS is what's in that place now - Baby Cole's OWN room.  Didn't Aaron do a FANTASTIC job?!?  He had to cut that vent over the changing table and vent it into the house heating system.  He also put in a return-air vent.  Learning experiences and he's loving it!  Last week I also had the fun project of going through all the tiny little baby clothes and washing them and getting ready for Cole to get here.  So excited!

For those of you who were following the little debate Aaron and I were having over naming Baby Coleman or Colton...we've fixed the problem by just naming him Cole Reid B.  Dispute settled! :)

Also, something I haven't got a picture of.  Aaron bought and installed a water-softening system.  This meant that he also had to put in copper pipes to the location, solder, connect things right...learning and loving, like I said before.  And we can already tell an awesome difference!  My dishes are cleaner and I'm sure my shower will have actual see-through doors soon instead of the perpetual hard-water stains.  Love, love LOVE!

Jose's Blue Sombrero

We recently found a new restaurant near our home, Jose's Blue Sombrero.  Mexican food, a little on the pricey side, but very tasty!  I love that as we walk in, this tin Mariachi band seranaded us.

 

This is so Carson...he will dip and dip and dip a single chip into the salsa - and keep eating!  This kid loves his salsa!

 

My favorite part: table-side guacamole fixing.  In fact, since this alone is $9, Aaron and I have pretty well decided that the next time we go, we'll get this guac, yummy drinks, and an entree to share, cuz neither of us can finish a full entree alone.

 

They even serve it to you in the awesome pestle in which it was mixed!

 

Preschool Valentine Party

Lizzie's preschool group did a fun little Valentine party.  They made a few valentines, made a mailbox, some yummy cookies and played a couple of games.  I had fun doing Lizzie's hair in a twisty-heart.

 

The Hundred-Eyed Monsters!

For Evie's Hundredth Day of School on Feb 7, she made a picture of a monster and stuck it with 100 sticky eyes.

A few days later, she and Lizziepulled the poor monster apart and distributed it's eyes between themselves.  Scary, scary monsters!

 

Evie's SIX!! (Picture overload!)

For Evie's 6th birthday the first week of February, she chose to have a Tangled themed birthday party.  She only gets to choose a theme or have a friend party every other year and she's wanted Tangled since she saw it over a year ago.  Since she turned six, she had the option of inviting 6 friends: three from school and three from church.  It was pretty exciting around here!  We kicked things off with some coloring...

 

The girls made flower hairbows with sparkly flower foam stickers.  Some got put into Rapunzel's 'hair', and each girl got to make one or two to take home.  Side note: the yarn hair took so very long to braid, but Evie still loves it.

 

We made some Pascal blow-outs from the Disney website.  These were a HUGE hit!

 

 

Grandma B made a post of Flynn for the girls to hit with frying pans.

 

Grandma was also the artist who did Evie's cupcakes.  Since Rapunzel paints so much, she made artist pallattes with white chocolate and skittles, and paintbrushes made of starbursts.  I was so impressed and Evie loved them!

 

 

 

Just a couple of Evie's Tangled-themed gifts.  Her Aunt Katie gave her this cute blanket.

 

And her big gift from Grandma was this Rapunzel doll.  She also received several cute crafts like a 'paint-your-own teaset', some shrinky-dinks, and a color wonder set as well as several books.  She rocked her birthday!

 

As a final 'I don't have energy for anything else and we still have 15 minutes before parents come' activity, I wrapped them up in yarn and let them be 'tangled' and get themselves out.

 

Happy 6th Birthday, my sweet Evelyn!

 

 

Here are some of Evie's favorites from her 6th birthday interview:

song: anything off of Tangled

color: light blue

food: macaroni and cheese

scripture story: prison walls came down in Alma

movie: Ponyo

princess: Rapunzel

tv show: hello Kitty

book to read: Tangled story

game: wii mario racing

outside activity: ride bike

More from January!

Some other tidbits from the end of January:

Carson got his big-boy bed so we could start making him not care about the crib.  He loves his bed!

 

 

Evelyn got her very first report card.  She's doing great!  I was impressed that she's proficiant in reading but actually better at math.  So not me, not what I expected.  I'm so proud of her!

 

This picture isn't the best way to show it off, but we moved our bed from one small space into another.  Now our bed-room is adjacent to the downstairs bathroom.  I don't know why we didn't do this before, except that the room just felt so small and it has a hole for a sub-pump.  (No pump in it, but a HUGE heat sucker!)  So we piled blankets on the hole and moved the bed in.  It's actually really nice.  The space where we had our bed will be showcased in another post. :)

 

Snow Day

Mid January, we finally had enough snow to go sledding.

Aaron worked really hard and made a sledding track for the girls.

 

Lizzie loved it.  Evie had some fun, too, but I was taking my nap while she had her turn with Daddy and the sled.

 

The snow didn't last long, so I'm glad we enjoyed it while we could.