Re-decorating

My MIL and SIL are great decorators--I am not. So they offered to come help me with my house. I've been wanting some pictures hung up and the hall bathroom changed but I'm not good at it and I wasn't too motivated. When my house is a mess, I don't really want to make another mess on top of it. I really needed the help. So they came over on Tuesday and did most of the work while I was at speech with Katelyn, then at Jordan's school picking him up sick. They were busy little bees.
First they rearranged Jordan and Jocee's room and took out a dresser that wasn't being used. Now the room looks so much bigger and they have room to sit and play on the floor. I've been wanting that dresser out but haven't been motivated to actually do it because it's so big and heavy. They moved it out in no time! They were pros. I'm so glad they came. I totally needed this "lift". I was really feeling down and cleaning up my house and making it look great has really given me the boost that I needed. Thank you guys!!!

(Jordan came home sick and crashed on his bed.)
Jocee's bed and their clothes bins on a new wall really opens up the room.
I was so sick of the shower curtain that we had. It was old and stunk like pee (hmmmm...I wonder who missed the toilet?) So my mom bought this bright, cheery new curtain, matching towels, and a hook rack to hang them on.


My dad gave me this great black mirror so they hung it in there too. You can't see all of it, but there's also a brown shelf that used to be in the family room that I'm going to paint black too and put some pictures and greenery on.



Here's the living room with my awesome, new picture hanging in the middle. I'm going to paint the little white table a more earthy color. Mom also bought us three new beautiful lamps to go in there to create more light. They moved the rug to cover an ugly stain and I just love how it all turned out! The room looks so good and I love being in it. It's such a good feeling to walk around my house and it's all clean and organized and decorated! I can't thank them enough for what they did for me! It all looks awesome!

Yummy Chicken

When Katelyn wasn't looking, Callie snatched one of her chicken nuggets right off her plate! It was so funny! She wanted it that bad, so I let her eat it. It was her first one ever! Lucky for me I had the camera to take her picture enjoying every last bite!
She went to town on that baby!!

Boys Night Out

Last week the boys went to a Diamondbacks game. Jordan was so excited to go. He kept saying "I'm not gonna get bored. I'm not gonna ask to go home. I'm gonna have so much fun!" He was cute. After the game was fireworks but I guess they didn't start right away so they went ahead and left. But when they got to the truck, the fireworks started so they watched them from there. Jordan was exhausted and fell asleep on the way home. In the morning he told me all about it and how much fun he'd had. I'm glad they got to spend some one-on-one time together. Kids really need that, especially when they're amongst 3 other kids all needing mom and dad's attention!
Jordan!! The camera's over here!!
I know it's dark, but this was the view from their seats in left field. We usually sit behind the plate so it was cool to have a different view for a change.


Still not looking!

Love the weather!

We are loving the rain!!!!!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

On Saturday, my MIL took all the daughters out to dinner and then shopping!! It was so fun! We went to TGIFridays for dinner and then to Ross and Mervyns. I got this cute skirt, shirt, and necklace! Chad thought I looked hot in my new outfit. I was so happy I found a new outfit to wear to church! And the shirt I can pair with other stuff too! We all had so much fun shopping with no kids. We wish we could do it every weekend!!











Chad and Jocee got me this beautiful bracelet and necklace that oddly enough, matched my new outfit!! Jocee said she picked them out for me. Good job!













I made this yummy dessert for my mom and me. It was soooo good!!

Cousin Ryan and Sick Kids

Callie is just about the same size as her 2 month old cousin, Ryan! (Actually in this picture, his legs look like they might be a bit longer than hers! If I remember right, his mom said he weighs 13lbs and Callie weighed 16 lbs at urgent care yesterday! She's so tiny! Which I am enjoying because for the past month or so she's been so clingy and only wants me to hold her. I took the 23 girls to Urgent care yesterday (the Dr. office was booked for the day by 8am!), because they all had bad coughs. Callie has croup and strep throat, Katelyn had 2 ear infections (possibly strep too) and Jocee didn't have anything that needed a prescription. Callie also got a shot in the leg of some medicine to help her stop coughing. Her cough sounds so painful...like a seal barking. I feel so bad for her. She also got another top tooth to finally cut through so she's basically feeling pretty crappy these days...which means I've been pretty stressed out! I can't get much done and she just cries a lot even when I'm holding her.


Here's a picture of us after Ryan got blessed a couple of Sundays ago.


My cute little angel!
Jocee and her cousin Jillian. Jocee's a shrimpo next to her! And they're only 7 months apart!


Katelyn looking so cute!
My handsome boy wearing his new sports jacket.

Industrius Day!

For some reason, Callie slept through the night last night and didn't wake up till 8:30am! So I actually got a full night's sleep with no interruptions! What a difference a full night's sleep makes! I got up and made waffles from scratch, then I cleaned the kitchen floor, then I vacuumed the house. Then I decided that since I haven't been to the store in about a week and our fridge is pretty empty, that I should clean it. So while Katee and Jocee played in the back yard, Callie and I cleaned the fridge! Callie was a great little helper! :)

She decided she'd climb in the drawer!

Here she is posing for the camera. Such a cutie!

The end result! A nice, clean, organzed, sanitized, and EMPTY fridge!

Then after I got done with the fridge, I decided I'd had enough of the messy back yard and patio. I've been asking Chad to clean it up, but it still wasn't done, so since I was on a cleaning spree, I tackled it myself! First I got a garbage bag and picked up the garbage (like empty wrappers, water bottles, junk the kids bring outside and chuck on the ground), and put the toys in order and also picked up dog poop! Then I figured I would mow the grass to make it look even better. I wondered if Chad would notice that I mowed with his precious mower! (I should have taken a "before" picture so you'd better appreciate the way it looks now, but I didn't. Oh well.)

Then.....after mowing (I was filthy because we have dirt areas so the dirt kicks up all over you while you mow, not to mention all the grass all over me that was making me super itchy because I'm really allergic to grass, but that's how dedicated I am!), I figured that since I'm already a mess, that I should give the dog a much needed bath! So Jocee helped me scrub Rocky and get him nice and clean and smelling great! She had fun...poor Rocky didn't like it so much though. After we were done, he posed with her for a picture. He's such a good dog.


All the while, Callie was hanging out in her swing. She didn't even fuss when I was too busy to give her a push. What a good girl!In the midst of cleaning up the back yard, I also cleaned off the patio and sprayed it down with the hose.

I had all that done by 1:20pm!! I was so proud of myself for being so productive. When Chad came home, the first thing he said to me was "Why did you mow the back yard???"

Then later this evening, I went to work at Mervyns for 4 hours!! Boy am I exhausted! Whoever says that stay-at-home Moms have it easy, obviously isn't one!