Goodbye, Sierra

Today we had to say goodbye to our loving dog, Sierra.  She had a wonderful life and lived to the ripe old age of 13 so we don't have any regrets.  We will all miss her very much and still can't believe that she is not here with us. 

You will always be in our hearts, Sierra! 

Family Pictures ~ Fall 2010

Halloween Fun!

I always love our annual visits to the Pumpkin Patch because of all the great photo opportunities!  The weather was great (it's been unusually warm this Fall) but the wind started to pick up so I pulled the shade down on Averi's stroller.  A few minutes later I looked down to check on her and realized that she was peering out from under the shade with her head sideways...it was so funny so of course we snapped a picture!

We created a Frankenstein jack-o-lantern which turned out pretty cute for being designed by a five year old!  Arielle actually helped me clean the pumpkin guts out this year...with a spoon {she and Zak think the guts are the most disgusting thing ever!}.

This year Arielle dressed up as a "Pink Pirate" and she was very excited to wear real makeup (eyeshadow and blush).  This was the first year that Averi dressed up and she was the most adorable ladybug ever!  Except she hated wearing the hat so that only lasted for the five minutes that we tried to get a "good" picture of her wearing it. 

We went trick-or-treating with Arielle's BFF from school.  Averi went too and she enjoyed every minute of it.  She kept pointing to the houses and babbling from her stroller.  I think she had just as much fun as the older kids :-)  Arielle decided that each house with their porch lights on was "in business" so she kept telling her friend, "It looks like this one's in business!"  Zak finally told her that it is actually "open for business" but it was really funny while it lasted. 

Averi's First Birthday Party

Averi ~ 12 months (ONE YEAR)!

***This post is long overdue but things have been crazy lately between a new project at work that I am managing and a ten day vacation to Florida***

Averi turned one year old on October 2, 2010! 

We took her in for her checkup just a few days later and she weighed 23 lbs, 10 ozs.  Her first birthday party was a very fun for her, especially the cake eating part!  A couple of days after that we jetted off to Florida for our annual Siesta Key Beach vacation at Gaby and Tee's.  I can't wait to post pics of both events...

Here are some of her milestones at 12 months:

-Averi is crawling around like crazy and pulling herself up very easily.  She is not showing any signs of walking yet but that is okay by me because I love how she is all baby!

-Still wearing size 18-24 month clothes and size 4 diapers but she has thinned out a lot in the past month.

-She has five teeth and we started brushing them before bed every night.  She loves the toothbrush but I can't get her to close her teeth so I can clean the front of them well enough.

-Averi doesn't say much other than MAMA, DADA and DOG-DOG (I don't know why she says it twice but she always does).  I think she says SISTER too but it's very hard to tell.  She is lot further behind in the language department than Arielle was at this age.

-She shakes her head YES and NO and points to things she wants all the time and says "EH" or "DAT" or "DIS".  She also waves hi and bye and waves at herself with both hands when she wants you to give her something. 

-She is off the bottle and only drinks from sippy cups.  She drinks well from open cups at school which is a requirement to move into the one year room (so is walking).  She tolerates cows milk well and loves to drink it!

-Averi got her first ear infection this month probably due to the same crud that she and I have been fighting off for the past couple of months :-(  We found this out the day before Arielle's ear tube and adenoid removal surgery.

-Averi sleeps well at night usually between 7:30 pm to 6:00 am.  She naps once a day for 1.5 to 2 hours, sometimes more if she is at home and the house is quiet.

-Her hair is getting so long and staying so blonde!  She gets a lot of compliments on her beautiful, big, blue eyes.

-She knows how to kiss now but still most often with her mouth open a little bit.  She gives high fives too!  Another way she likes to show affection is to head-butt!

-Her and Arielle enjoy taking baths together regularly which is great because it saves us a lot of time in the evenings.  Averi is getting used to her sister's ways which most of the time are very sweet and thoughtful but sometimes Arielle gets a little jealous and possessive of her things (naturally) and isn't afraid to let Averi know.  Averi hardly cries when Arielle takes stuff away from her...she just gives her a look like "Whatever crazy girl"!

-Some of her favorite things to do are look at and touch dogs, play with the dishes in the cupboards, empty containers and put everything away, play with her stacking cups, crawl through stuff like tunnels, open and close doors (she'll even close the baby gate whenever someone leaves it open-thank goodness!), crawl as fast as she can into the bathroom so she can stand up at the toilet and tub because she is fascinated by water.

-Some of her dislikes are waiting for her food, when mommy leaves the room and sitting still or sleeping on airplanes (she cried for the entire last hour of the flight home which in retrospect might have been because she has an ear infection but we thought it was because she didn't take a nap-maybe it was both.

-Speaking of water, Averi did have an incident with the bathtub which thankfully did not have water in it.  She leaned over to get a toy out and fell in when mommy wasn't looking.  She cried and had a bump on her forehead but was fine.  Our tub is plastic, not porcelain so it wasn't as bad as it sounds.

-Lastly, Averi had her first trip to the ER while we were in Florida.  The chair that she was strapped into tipped backwards and we thought there was a chance she hit her head on the tile floor (even though there was no physical evidence that she had).  We didn't want to chance it so they did a cat scan and fortunately everything was fine!

  

A Poll: Guest Room Nighstand Color Dilemma

I am in the process of redecorating our guest room.  Everything will be changing except the bed frame and linens.  I already made over the cube shelf that is used as one nightstand in the room.  I purchased this round pedestal end table on craigslist for $10 to replace the existing nightstand that is in the room.  The current nightstand matches the bed frame perfectly but that is one problem and the fact that it is glass is another problem.  I used to have a passion for glass furniture but now that I have kids I don't like it in my house for obvious reasons.  I want this room to feel beachy, fresh and airy when I am done with it. 

All of that being said, what color do you think I should paint the new nightstand? 

Please vote in my poll.

Floral {Lamp} Shade Makeover

I have seen a lot of lampshade makeovers and thought they were such a great idea so I decided to make my own.  I used a lamp shade that I already had and purchased a yard of designer's fabric from Jo-Ann for $7. 

Here is my lamp shade before the makeover:

I thought this was going to be an easy project because of one reason; I thought the lampshade was "Drum" shaped but it turns out that it is slightly "Bell" shaped.  I discovered this after I already cut the fabric so needless to say I did not make a template as I should have.  The result of this is that the line where the fabric meets in the back is slightly diagonal and the fabric doesn't lie flat against the lampshade in some areas.  What should have taken me about a half hour to do took one and half hours.  Ultimately the shade ended up looking pretty good and I was able to hide the bad spots because the lamp is in the corner of our living room.  I do have enough fabric leftover to perfect my shade cover but I am going to hold off until I find a good deal on new shade. 

The only supplies I used were a hot glue gun, scissors, measuring tape and iron.  First I measured the height and length of my lampshade and cut my fabric so that the length was two inches longer and the height was one inch longer.  Next, I folded the raw edges of the fabric by half an inch and ironed them down then I hot glued the seams together.  

When I was done with this step my fabric looked like this:

Lastly, I matched the fabric up to the top and bottom of the shade and hot glued it around the edges.  Like I said, this would have been super-EASY if the shade was perfectly drum shaped but since it had a slight taper and was a bit bell shaped I should have created a pattern first.

To see what this lamp base looked like before my makeover click here.

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A Note to Averi from Arielle

This note that Arielle wrote to Averi {on Averi's new chalkboard table} is so sweet.  It fills my heart with joy to know that Arielle loves her little sister!

Translation: 

"Averi, I want to thank you for being a good sister"

Thrift Frame Makeover ~ {Shell} Art

I had leftover paint from my beachy cube shelf makeover so I decided to transform a picture frame that I bought at Goodwill for $3.  It was black but I wanted to brighten it up and use it in my guest room makeover that is still a work-in-process! 

I had this beautiful shell that fit perfectly inside my new blue frame.  First I cut a piece of fabric and spray-glued it to the picture frame backing.  Then I applied the shell to the fabric with 3M heavy duty foam mounting tape.  I love my new framed shell art and the fact that it only cost a few dollars!

I still have about a quart of my custom-made paint left over so I may have another makeover in the works!

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Kids {Chalkboard} Table

Did I mention how much I love chalkboard paint?!?!  If you have been reading my blog than you know that I am additcted to this stuff.  A good friend of mine, Michelle, gave Arielle a kids table and chairs which Arielle loved and she used for more than three years until she outgrew it. I decided to make it over so that we can use it in Averi's room as soon as we no longer have a need for the rocking chair that is in there now.  For the makeover, I finished the top of the table with chalkboard paint and the rest of it with Sweet Pea {pink} by Rustoleum in a satin finish. I wasn't able to paint the chairs because they need some minor repairs that we haven't done yet. I might even replace them if I can find different ones that are in better shape. 

I am so happy with how the table looks now and wish I had done it sooner!

BEFORE

AFTER

I can't wait for Averi to start enjoying her new chalkboard table!  She has just started pulling herself up onto things {tonight was the first time I found her standing in her crib} so it won't be long.  This table is going to go great in Averi's pink and green bedroom.

***LINKY PARTIES***Today's Creative Blog***The Shabby Chic Cottage***Paisley Passions***Just A Girl***