Eddie's Fast Cars

Edison is way into fast things. Every time we walk from the apartment to the car, we have to race. He can not walk anywhere; its always running, galloping or skipping. He has a pretend horse named Casa that he gallops around on everywhere. It is pretty hilarious. He is always trying to show me how fast something is going by swinging his arm around. Here is a little video sample.

Yes, he looks like his arm is going to fall off.

Maps For Sale

The other day Gordon taped this sign to the end table and proceeded in trying to sell me a treasure map. I thought, sure, here is some fake money. No, he wanted real money. Cash, specifically. He wants money to buy his own stuff.

It's my own fault really. Every time he whines that I won't buy him something I say, "When you are old enough and have your own money, you can spend it however you want." Yesterday, he started cleaning without me asking. He cleaned the bathroom, washed the table, dusted, did some dishes, and picked up the front room. He did it all with such a happy, positive attitude. Now, what is it that has him so motivated to make money? He really wants a turtle. We went over to a friends house for dinner last week and they had a fish tank with a turtle in it that they had caught at a golf course pond. Now he won't give up until he catches a turtle. He's seen two just on the little walks we take. He is a very persistent kid. I talked to him about how animals in the wild are meant to stay in the wild and if he really wants a pet we need to get one at the pet store. He has been wanting a pet for at least a year. Chris promised the boys a dog when we got a house and that didn't happen. And it is not going to happen now that we are in an apartment. 

But the boy needs a pet. That is where you come in. 

What is a good pet? I want something in a cage obviously. Something a 6 year old could take care of. Something not stinky. But something fun, that he is not going to loose interest in. What are your thoughts? 

The Remodel Reveal

This post has been sitting in my draft posts for awhile now (like since July! How embarrassing!) I added the last few pictures and here it is. 

Well, we finally finished our house remodel...just in time to put it on the market. (If you know anyone wanting to buy a house in the Burley area, give me a call!) It has been stressful but fun to see our home transform. Lets start with the front room shall we. Of course, here is the before:

 Pay particular attention to the hideous fireplace and the disgusting pee-stained carpet above...

And here is the reveal:

Now pay particular attention to THAT fireplace. I also have to mention that my amazing husband did all the work himself, with a very little, tiny assist from me. Please excuse the lack of decor. After the remodel was all done I thought I would be so excited to decorate but now I feel, "what is the point, we are moving again anyway?!" I'm a little bummed I won't be able to enjoy all our hard work longer.

Now on to the kitchen, which I am just going to say is my favorite transformation. And it was probably the hardest and longest standing project. 

Now I want you to fully appreciate the hideousness of the cupboards here. Lets get a close up shall we?

Those handles!!! Oh the handles! I felt like I was in a kindergarten classroom. 

Now back to this mammoth of a project kitchen. We sent the boys off to Chris's brothers for a whole day, night and half a day while we sanded and painted the cupboard bases. And we didn't even get it all done! I had sawdust and paint in my hair, eyes, nose, ears, fingernails...everywhere for the next three days! Not to mention the mess it made of everything else in the kitchen. Wow. What a project. All right, I'll stop talking. 

Here is the reveal:

 Also, Chris tiled the floor in the kitchen and dining room. He did a great job. It is times like this I am glad my husband is a perfectionist. Other times...not so much. If Chris hadn't lost his job we probably would have put in a new stove/oven/hood/microwave.

 I am absolutely in love with the colors we chose. I was nervous about the yellow color and the yellow with the off-white and even the color of the glaze was questionable but it all turned out lovely.

 Those are the existing cabinet doors. We added trim and new hardware (well we actually just spray painted the hinges.) and put the glaze in the corners. We used a paint sprayer to paint the cabinets because we wanted a smooth finish.

(I am kicking myself because I cannot find a picture of the dining room with the table Chris built.)

Now on to the bathroom. This is Chris's favorite transformation of the house. Here is the before:

This was also a bigger project than anticipated because the floor under the linoleum was rotting and disgusting. Also the shower had some mold we had to take care of.

Here is the reveal:

At first I really hated the color of the walls, but it works. Chris, once again, did an amazing job tiling the shower and floor. There were a lot of choice words spoken when he was trying to fix the tub faucet and he almost gave up and called a professional, but he figured it out. 

We also painted some bedrooms but nothing too exciting to share. This beautiful house is still up for sale or rent. We have renters in there until at least March. If you know anyone wanting to buy a house in the Burley, Idaho area, pass this along. 

For Nana and Papa

My mom gives all the grandkids books for Christmas and birthdays. I thought it was hilarious how excited Gordon and Edison were. This video only shows a fraction of the excitement, they went through every single book. Thanks Nana and Papa for the great books.
P.S. Sorry for the poor lighting. Why don't apartments put lights in the front room? Why?

Greetings from Texas!!

Many of you probably aren't aware (because I haven't updated this blog in almost a year!!) that we have relocated to Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth area to be exact. Chris got a job here in November and we moved the day after Thanksgiving. It was kind of a crazy, last minute decision but more on that later. How are we liking Texas?
Gordon's favorite thing about Texas: our apartment, the park here, there are so many sticks and acorns to play with.
Edison's favorite thing about Texas: playing at all the different parks
Chris's favorite thing about Texas: his job
My favorite thing about Texas: the city we live in and the weather (at least right now). There are so many parks and trails and trees everywhere.

The worst thing about Texas: Being away from family and friends.

I promised my family that I would update this blog more often now that we are far away. I won't make any promises about how often but it will be more than I did last year! Also, my new years resolution is to take more pictures. I was organizing my 2011 photos and was sad to see how few there were.

Tap, tap...is this thing on?

Well, hello again. I know I haven't been the best blogger in the world lately and I don't make any promises to become better anytime soon but my little boy just turned three on Saturday and I think he deserves a post. Edison is in love with Toy Story (the only movie he will sit through) and he especially loves Buzz Lightyear. So, of course we had to do a Buzz Lightyear themed party for him! The cake didn't turn out quite as I was hoping but Edison loved it and that's all that matters. He was in the bath while I was frosting it so he didn't see it until it was complete and he was so excited, he wanted to eat it right then.

I don't know if you can see his devilish eyebrow very well in this picture but let me tell you--this guy is a little rascal!! He certainly keeps me on my toes.

Edison was delighted that so many people came to our house just for him. We had 19 family members at the party and he was just pleased as punch that everyone was there for him. He took center stage and had no problem with it.

I decorated the house with cardboard stars covered in tinfoil, green and purple streamers, and a glittery Happy Birthday banner. We have this spare room upstairs so we turned it into our "Space Ranger Training Camp." We filled the empty room with about 200 balloons and had the kids do target practice with some nerf guns and then we gave each of them a can of silly string and let them go at it. We are planning on replacing the carpet in that room so I didn't think it would be a big deal. Boy was I wrong! It made such a mess! But the older kids thought it was cool to pick up all the silly string and make a big ball so they did most of the cleaning for me. Anyway, the kids enjoyed themselves so that was good. We got Edison a Toy Story bike that he still needs to learn how to peddle by himself but we can't get much practice time with all this snow and cold weather we've been having. We Gordon also got him a Zhu Zhu pet so that they could play together (Gordon got one from his cousin for Christmas and the boys think they are the coolest thing to hit planet earth!)

I just cannot believe my baby boy is three. His speech has really taken off in the last couple of months (Oh, one of those things I forgot to blog about--he graduated from speech therapy!! Like back in October/November?!) He is quite the chatter box now. In fact his favorite word lately is a curse word he heard from someone of the male species in this house. It starts with a d. He also loves to argue with his brother non-stop and won't give up. He knows he is always right! His other favorite thing is to have me close my eyes before he gives me anything and then put it in my hand and say "surprise!" We sure do love this little  big boy!

Gordon's 5th Birthday Interview

Interview with Gordon:
1. Something you do well.
swimming... plus one is two.
2. Something you wish you could do better.
do gymnastics
3. Your favorite food.
quesadilla
4. 3 words that tell about you.
me is me
5. What makes you happy.
you.
(oh, that is so sweet.)
Is there anything else that makes you happy?
No.
Something that makes you smile?
you.
6. The most important thing in your life right now.
the airport.
Why?
because that's is where airplanes land. That is where they start driving and fly.
7. Your favorite movie.
G-Force, Wipe-out, and Polar Express
8. Your favorite book.
Runaway Bunny- a bunny runs away and the mom bunny runs after it. If the baby bunny is a fish the mom bunny will fish for it.
9. Your favorite thing.
watching movies. My favorite song is You Better Watch Out! You better not cry!
10. Your favorite place to go.
to Izzy's house
11. Your favorite thing to draw.
Disneyland
12. Something you want for Christmas.
You know what Spencer got for Christmas at Papa's house. It is green and white and you plug it in? That is what I want.
13. Your favorite color.
Blue, yellow, white, green, red, black, peach
14. What do you like to play?
Going to Vegas
How do you play that?
Get on the couch. Pretend that the couch is a rocket. Get all your stuff, make a mess. (he means pack his clothes but I always tell him he is making a mess) Take a shower, take a bath, and go to Vegas!
15. What do you like to do when it's raining?
Stay inside. Play Vegas. Hug you. Take naps. Hahaha
16. Your favorite animal?

You.
No.
Um...Edison.
No.
Um...my favorite animal is...ME!
No.
an elephant.
One plus one is awesome!


How does it feel to be 5?
I don't know I haven't been 5 for very long.
What was your favorite thing about being 4?
Swimming and playing with Terin
What did you not like about being 4?
Not playing with rocks. I played with rocks when I was 3 but not when I was 4.
What is going to be exciting about being 5?
I am getting older.
What is good about getting older?
I am getting close to being a grownup.
What is so great about being a grownup?
Grownups are stronger and can lift heavier things and kids can't do that.

Better Late than Never

Gordon's party was monster themed and it was perfect because all the Halloween stuff was 75% off. I found this invitation online and changed it to suite our party:

I printed off some Yo Gabba Gabba monster masks and had the kids color them and add different things to them. Then we practiced being really scary monsters. We made scary faces, stomped, and made scary noises. Then we played Hide-n-Scare. Half the kids hid while the other kids looked for them and then they jumped out and made scary faces!

 All the kids making scary faces. Now the story behind the cupcakes. I found these cupcakes in the Fall issue of Taste of Home and that is what started this monster themed party. Well, we had the party planned and everything was ready, including the cupcakes and then Gordon woke up sick (vomiting). So we cancelled the party and ended up throwing away a lot of cupcakes. Well, Chris insisted that we make the cupcakes again and try for the party the next week.

 I wasn't so sure I wanted to make all those cupcakes again! But it actually turned out easier the second time. The kids absolutely loved them. And Gordon even got to help create some with the left over supplies.

At the end we had them follow the green monster footprints to find their goody bags. I just bought a bunch of Halloween stuff (spiders, googly eye glasses...) and I made some slime and put them each in a ziploc bag. All in all it was a successful party.

Fall Recipes

I have been looking forward to making these delicious soups. Both of these are family favorites. Try them out.

Autumn Chowder

6 slices bacon, chopped or 2 cups of ham, cubed

1 cup onion, chopped

1 cup water

3 cups potatoes, diced

1 carrot, sliced

1 tsp instant chicken bouillon

3 cups milk

2 cans corn, drained

½ tsp pepper

3 cups Cheddar cheese

3 Tbsp flour

Fry bacon. Add onions. Brown until bacon is crisp. Stir in water, potatoes, carrots, and bouillon. Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes (it goes faster with the lid on). Stir in milk, corn, and pepper. Heat until simmering. Mix cheese and flour and add to soup mixture. Stir constantly until cheese is melted. 

(image copied from the web...it doesn't look good but it SO is)

Zuppa Toscana Soup

(From the Olive Garden)

1 lb sausage

2 large potatoes cubed

¾ cup chopped onion

1 ½ tsp minced garlic

2 cups kale- washed, dried, shredded

2 Tbsp chicken bouillon powder

1 quart water

1/3 cup heavy cream

½-1 tsp crushed red pepper

Cook sausage. Place onions in large saucepan. Cook over medium heat until onions are almost clear. Add garlic to onion, cook an additional minute. Add chicken bouillon, water, potatoes and simmer for 15 minutes. Add sausage, kale, and cream. Simmer for 4 minutes. Serve and enjoy!!

All work and no play...

...would make for a dull summer! So of course our remodeling project wasn't all we did this summer. We went to Lagoon TWICE!! These pictures are from the whole Thomas Family Lagoon Trip! It was amazing. Seriously so fun!.

 Gordon thinks Lagoon is the best place on earth! It is pure joy for me just to see his face and how excited he gets. With his cousins with him it was heaven!

Edison did much better this trip than last time. He was not scared one bit. It was great to have everyone there (it would have been even better if we had Zach and Katie with us!)

 Chad and Katie with Grant and Lily.

 Maren and Brett with Fisher and Sarah.

Most of us together on the Tidal Wave.

The best was watching all the kids on the bumper cars. The older ones could get around pretty good but the younger ones just kept going in circles.

Thanks again family for the good time!!