Before & After

This summer, we had to replace our bay window in the kitchen.  Well bay windows are uber expensive, so we opted to replace it with 2 regular windows instead.  After painting the new windows, painting the kitchen a fresh gray, and hanging new fabulous drapes, we have a wonderfully inviting breakfast nook!  Only thing left to swap out is the rug.  It will be the same color, but it will be a circle shag rug instead.  I am extremely happy with how everything turned out, and I especially like it when things turn out the way they looked in my head :)  Happy Friday everyone!

Bella is 6!

                                          I cannot believe my beautiful little girl is 6!  Can we slow down just a little bit?!  I gotta say, 5 was spectacular, but I'm pretty excited to see what she does with 6 :)

To celebrate, we threw a Black & White Animal Party and invited 10 friends.  Damn Pinterest!  It has so many great ideas, that I had to try a lot of them, and in the end it created a very magical party for Bella and me, who am I kidding ;)  I made a table runner from leftover material I had, and then Bella picked out a canvas zebra print that we made napkins and party hats from.  I made a rose ball using 200 paper roses made from streamers and glued to a styrofoam ball.  Trust me, you will see that bad boy at many parties and celebrations to come because it took hours to make, and I just really love it!  Vince and I blew up 70 balloons and stuck them to the ceiling for a cool balloon canopy effect.  We custom ordered her cake from a cute local bakery in our little town of Mint Hill.  It was beautiful, and beyond perfect for the event.  Add confetti, lots of stuffed animals, oreos/chocolate covered pretzels, and presents from your friends, and we have ourselves a rocking good time!  The kiddos all loved it, and at the end of the day, Bella told me that it was an awesome party!  That's what I'm talking about :)

Now to talk about Birthday Circle at school... We just did it yesterday because last week, B-bo was really sick and did not go to school at all.  So, yesterday, I went to school, had lunch with her, and then stayed for birthday circle :)  She and I had made a poster with pictures of her from each year, 0-6, to share with her friends.  First, Miss Alexa lit a candle in the middle of circle (the sun), and then Bella held the earth (a globe) while she walked around the sun 6 times and shared her pictures.  At the end, her classmates sang "Happy Birthday" to her at the top of their lungs, and then I passed out sugar cookies for everyone to share.  I apologized to Alexa for sugaring them up at the end of the day, and her response was that Bella warned her that morning, and as long as there was a cookie for the pregnant lady that she was fine with it :)  Bella was in charge of passing out napkins to everyone before I handed out the cookies... I hear her say, "If you are talking, I may have to skip you."  I had to turn the other way to keep from cracking up.  Miss Alexa said she was being a great helper, and Bella even earned the "Leader of the Day" award.  Yes, I am a proud Mama <3

So, now it's official... Bella has said Good-bye to 5, and Hello to 6!  One more thing before I end this... her stats for the end of the year... She weighs 37 lbs (8th percentile) and is 43.5 inches tall (22nd percentile).  Her doctor's response, "Looks like she's going to be tall and skinny."  In other words, she is progressing just fine, my little string bean.

So bring on 6!  It's going to be fantastic!

Out with the old, and bring in the new!

I know, I know, it's been awhile!  Now that that has been said, here's what has been going on in my world.

I'll start with Thanksgiving.  It was amazing, and just what my family needed in order to heal from last year.  We spent 4 days together laughing, eating, and enjoying each others company while we reminisced about growing up, and of course Papa, sweet, sweet Papa <3  I left Atlanta refreshed, and ready to make December 2011 the best December I had had in 5 years.  And I did :)

December.  December is my birth month, the 13th is the day I was born.  In our house, we like to celebrate the whole month, and my husband did just that.  He chose 3 themes this year for presents... fire, Texas Tech, and owls.  3 of my very favorite things.  Pretty much daily, something new would come in the mail for me pertaining to one of the 3 themes.  Bellows, color changing pine cones, a nice butane lighter, Duraflame logs, and sky lanterns for fire.  2 Texas Tech shirts and a double T for my car in honor of my Red Raiders.  An owl necklace, an owl light and an owl garden sculpture for Pop's garden because I love owls.  Vince went out of his way to make me feel special this December, and I loved every second of it.  With his help, we took back December, and I know it made my Dad smile real big <3  Don't even get me started on Christmas!  It was equally as fabulous.  The nephews came to town and we spent 4 crazy days with them doing this and that, and just having a good time with family.  The year ended much better than it began helping to redeem itself a bit.

That's enough recap, now it's on to a new year... A new year that is going to be fantastic, I can just feel it.