Remodel Complete!

It is time to relax! Our remodel was completely finished on Monday! I am so excited to have my house back and have it looking fresh! If you will recall I blogged about the impending remodel
a while back, and now I have the finishing pictures! There are a lot of decorating issues I still want to change but it looks TONS better!

Here is my finished Kitchen, before there wasn't an oven under the range there was a cabinet.


The cabinet here was where my oven was. It now serves as a pantry area so that I don't have to use my laundry room for a pantry too!

Here is a look at the new flooring!

Here is the paneling painted and one of the many fans/fixtures.

Bathroom tile!


New sink!

Aloha Friday

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you would like to play visit Kailani

My question is:

If you could change just one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Clean

I love a clean house, don't you? I love the sight and smells of my house all fresh and sparkling clean. I have a routine that I go through during the work week to make sure it all stays orderly, and then on the weekend I clean like a mad woman. Usually I have to deep clean the boys bathroom in the middle of the week also because, well, they are BOYS! On Fridays as soon as I get home I get BUSY! I clean one room at a time starting with the living room, then the kitchen, den, bathrooms, and bedrooms. Of course I do straighten the boys bedrooms throughout the week or it would take me all day. I also do at least 2 loads of laundry most days, so that I don't have to kill myself on my days off. I try not to clean on Saturdays but it is usually inevitable. Why am I blogging about this you ask?
Well for starters I am home today with Joe Braden, who has strep once again, so I am using today as my cleaning day. Secondly I have one HUGE cleaning issue that I would love some advice on. If one room constantly suffers it is MY room. Seriously the whole house will look neat and orderly until you open my door and it is just scary! I find myself running out of time so I neglect that room. I am constantly putting overflow stuff in there and it just gets overwhelming. I clean it usually once a week, but sometimes it is every two. So my question is this, How do I stay disciplined in making my room a priority too?

Wordful Wednesday

This has always been one of my favorite pictures! He was soooooo excited to see the Dolphins!



For more Wordful Wednesday visit Angie

What a weekend!

Well I didn't blog yesterday because I was down with a Sinus and Upper Respiratory infection. I felt horrible, but thanks to some high powered antibiotics I feel much better today. I really didn't feel good all weekend! I guess due to that I had little patience with anyone, especially my family! Poor Joe and the boys probably thought that Mama had lost her mind! Joshua was certainly a 2 year old this weekend! He threw more fits than I could count, and because of being out of routine he had several accidents, when Potty Training had been going so well. We went to my in-laws on Friday night for Joe's nephew's birthday party and all I wanted to do was climb in bed. I did do that for about an hour but then decided I should at least try to be social. They all knew I didn't feel well, so I am sure they understood. Saturday I was good in the morning but as the day wore on the worse it all was! It was just one of those weekends where you can't wait for the week to start!

Busy Times

Sometimes I wish that I could slow my life down a bit! I feel so busy and like we are so involved in so much, that I don't want to change, but sometimes it starts to get hard. We have so much going all the time that we sometimes miss things with family that I hate missing. We have to miss events that are important to extended family and I feel horrible. I know most of them understand, but remember I am that "people pleaser", and hate the thought of hurting feelings or disappointing others. I just wonder how many other people feel this way!

WW: Me and My Boys

I just love these pictures, because they really capture the stages of life my boys are in with me. They show the love that we have for each other and they are so innocent!





For more Wordful Wednesday visit Angie

Do I know you?

America's Favorite Pizza!


America's Favorite Pizza. We don’t make this stuff up. Independent national taste tests confirm this honored distinction. We brought Pan Pizza and Stuffed Crust. And now we bring pizza to the internet with online ordering at pizzahut.com. America’s favorite pizza is now America’s most convenient pizza! (This is from the Pizza Hut website and will be important later in the blog!)


Last night we decided to take the boys out to eat, and it had nothing to do with the fact that we need to go grocery shopping! It was a tough decision but we finally decided on Pizza Hut because I just needed hot wings and the boys will ALWAYS eat pizza. It was a nice dinner, with very little chaos, which is rare for my Joshua! We ordered the family meal deal so we got cinnasticks with our meal. We had just gotten them and were beginning to enjoy our savory little treat when a group of people walked in. I took notice, but didn't know them so went on enjoying my treat. All of a sudden I felt someone close to me and looked up. One of the ladies who walked in with the group was walking up next to me. She bent down and got her face about 2 inches from mine, and literally screams in a cackle screeching voice, "THIS IS ONLY A TASTE TEST... CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE." I know the look on my face had to be like, WHO ARE YOU? I immediately looked down at my plate when she walked away and continued eating for fear that I would start laughing and not be able to stop. After a minute or two had past Joe goes, "I am waiting!" I knew he meant waiting for me to tell him who that was, because he never remembers faces or names, so I just looked up and said, "so am I!" It was at this point that he realized I had NO CLUE who this crazy lady was. It was the strangest encounter and almost frightening. Needless to say after he found out that I didn't know who the lady was we were out of there. It was just a very odd conclusion to our meal!

Joshua is leaving!

Joshua is so determined he is going to go to school. He is fascinated by the fact that his brother goes and he wants to be just like him. He loves to wear backpacks so I found a cars one that we had that was small and started calling it his backpack. Well he was wearing it when we were visiting my brother and his family and I captured these pictures. He kept telling us all goodbye, he was going to school. It was so adorable!

PSF: Kyle's B-day

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

A few weeks ago my oldest Nephew turned 10! I can't believe it! He has gotten so big and mature this year it is just so amazing. What happened to that 2 year old that called me Aunt L???? It has been an honor to be part of his life and to watch him grow into the young man he is becoming.

Kyle playing Wii

Wearing his b-day hat!

Drew couldn't wait for his Bubba to open presents!

Opening the Wii Fit

Sarah Beth with Drew and Joe Braden

Joshua was so excited for his "present" AKA goody bag!

WW: Family Portraits

I am a bit late on WW, but hey better late than never! We had some family portraits taken back in November, and I have yet to post any! So here are a few!
For more WW see Angie

Here it is!

Well ladies here it is! My new wedding set! Isn't he the BEST?!?!?!?!?

What a week!

So I am sure you are all curious as to where I have been hiding. Well I had a school conference and was out of town from Tuesday to Friday. I learned a lot and have lots of new ideas for technology classes so it was a win for me. Not to mention I had great company while I was there. We all had a great time! Oh did I mention I got a new wedding set? That is right I sure did, and pictures will come soon. I missed my boys soooo much, but I came home to Joe Braden having the flu!! FUN! While getting him seen at the doctor there was a break down of Joshua, but that is another blog all in itself. I am so glad to be off to a good start to a normal week, if that is possible for my life!!

Wordful Wednesday: Did I do that?

I love these pictures. This was when Joshua was barely 2 and decided to get into the craft closet, while I made lunch. It was quite a funny moment and the look on his face was priceless!

Not Me Monday

Well it is that time of the week again, where I get to tell you all the things my family and I did NOT do.

I DID NOT sit and watch my toddler pick a chip up off the floor at the Mexican Food dinner we were at. I absolutely did NOT laugh, and think "well maybe it will help his immune system." I do assure all of you though if it would have happened, it would have only happened because I couldn't reach him without knocking over the sweet little lady walking by.

My son DID NOT lie to his friends Mom and tell her he had a shower before he came, because he was afraid to take a shower in a strange place!

I DID NOT tell my husband, "since I let you watch the Super Bowl could you organize the laundry room?" He DID NOT just look at me and laugh and say "since when did I ask!"

I DID NOT listen to a CD so many times this weekend that I thought Joe and the Boys may break it if I left it lying around the house.

I DID NOT make my chorus group listen to a song on that CD just because I like it! I mean really why would I waste practice time on a song we aren't singing!!

I DID NOT spend 40 dollars at the dollar store out of sheer boredom, I mean really who gets so bored they go to the dollar store, and buy pointless junk. In my defense if I would have gone I would have for sure gotten a few things we needed!