Sunday, September 25, 2011

Happy Birthday!

Tuesday marked Joshua's 29th birthday. We celebrated with a small party (Wes, Shaun, Bill), and a Dairy Queen Cake.

Here are some blurry pictures from the events. (camera frustrations...)
Friday night we had a few more friends over, and another Dairy Queen cake. Yes, two ice cream cakes. Yum!

Happy birthday Jush! Love ya!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Birthday Bash



Today we celebrated Ava's first birthday with a small family party. The hat was a big hit, and fit perfectly!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Fall Projects

It seems that Fall is on it it's way (cooler weather and back to school is here!), and with it has come some fun projects.

When we first moved in to our lovely home, we got right to work on several projects to bring it up to date. (I'm sure you're thinking back to all those blog posts with new paint, curtains, and organization.) After this initial push to get things done, much has stayed the same, until very recently. I got it into my head to take down the ugly scalloped wood piece over the sink that I've hated for two years. It came down in less than five minutes, and then I promptly decided that the grape-themed light fixture had to go as well. Here's what I came up with.
Yes, I installed it on my own (after Dad helped me changed it from a pendant to a semi-flush mount). Go me! And I love it!

The only problem was an adorable matching fixture for the dining room. After all, is a green clover light fixture any better than a grapes light fixture? After hem-hawing for a couple of weeks, Shaun bullied me into it yesterday (I needed the push), and the two of us got it up. Go us! Quite the handy ma'ams (anybody else watch that PBS show in the mid 90s?) Also noteworthy, my projects have come full circle. After spending an afternoon taking down many plant hooks, I installed one of my own for the light fixture. Made me smile.
I couldn't be happier with the result, although now Shaun is pushing me to buy the third matching piece in the collection for the entryway. I agree it would look fantastic, but fixing up an older home has to end somewhere. Also, the three-way switch that it's on has me flashing back to terrible memories of the ceiling fan installation nightmare that ended up costing $800. No, thanks. I'm done, unless the lighting fixture fairy stops by :0)

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The project list goes on, with a very fun knitting project for my favorite soon-to-be one niece baby.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Rained In

Well, it finally happened. After several years of fantastic Labor Day weather, we were rained inside on Saturday. We still managed to complete the crab boil, thanks to a handy propane burner that could be set up under the covered porch. Unfortunately, there was no such solution for playing rolle bolle.

Despite this disappointment, we still had a nice time chatting with family, learning a cheer from cheerleader Kylie (we saw her in action Saturday morning before the game was rained out.), and eating lots of good food.

Crossing our finger for better weather next year.