CHOO CHOO!!!!!!

Bryant and Judy came into town for the weekend, and so we took off on Friday and headed up to Chatters (Chattanooga) to ride the train.  We had taken Jacob on the same train ride when we lived in Dalton and thought that since Thomas is realllllly into trains right now, he would probably enjoy it.  And he did.

Not wanting to stay in his seat:

Happier now

And happier yet

Artistic shot:  taking pictures of taking pictures!

Ready to ride

Break at the turntable and steamworks!

And then downtown to traipse around and eat and play:

(table manners are not necessarily my strong suit)

This picture is so sweet-- that is a smile of pure joy from Jacob!

Mountain lion on the loose!!  

It's kind of a dangerous house we live in these days:

AMAZINGNESS!!!!!

And, on a random note, our best buddies just had their third baby girl this week and Heather and I got to go visit them earlier this week...

Baby A-Dawg!  oh, I mean, Baby Alayna...she'll have to grow into the A-Dawg nickname I suppose. 

Craftiness

Since we've moved in, we've really done a lot of stuff---mostly cosmetic---and mostly involving cans of spray paint.

Here are a few of the projects I have tackled since we moved in:

1.)  Mirrors for my bedroom: (and yes, they could use a little GooGone- that's what you get with a crafting non-perfectionist) And I have decided that I need to make one more to go at the bottom:( UPDATE: the third mirror has been added!

2.)  Curtain for Jacob's nook in his room: This picture has been holding this post up for literally months, and since I evidently don't take the camera upstairs, you will just have to trust me that I did this.

3.)  Throw pillow for chair in living room:

4.)  Sundresses/ Thomas' new jon jon:

I took apart an old dress and used it for the bottom of this one...and the dress I wore for Easter was one that I had made too...but no economic re-purposing involved in that one.  I bought the fabric.  I was able to cut one of Thomas' jon jon outfits from last year that I had monogrammed and sewed it into a new shape so I could use it this year!  Homegirl's not gonna spend $6 unless I have to!

5.)  Spray painting outdoor light to make it look like all fancied up without buying a new one:

6.)  Chalkboard for kitchen:

I found this mirror at a yard sale, primed and painted it, while Jeff cut a new piece of wood stuff for the chalk board.  I used a couple coats of some chalkboard paint and there you have it!

7.)  Giant corkboard wall in the schoolish play room!  I used 12 inch cork tiles and (Jeff) mounted them to some foam board he had at work (when you buy cork apart from an already assembled board, it's too thin for tacks), and then he cut some framing stuff and attached it around the outside so it looks FANCIER!

8.)  Baby gifts (if you're having a baby girl in the next couple months, just don't look at this):

I think I'll get them monogrammed too!

July 4th and beyond

I CAN NOT believe that I didn't post on July fourth...what with all the hullabaloo from sun up to sun down!  I feel certain there are 2...3 tops,  of you out there compulsively checking the blog, waiting for an update...and here it is!

7/4/12 AM:  Wake up bright and early, eat breakfast, pick up MK, and head downtown to ride on the "Mike Bearden for Bartow County Commissioner" float!

Jeff and Thomas rode up with the Halls, and the little ones really enjoyed the parade too:

But, no rest for the weary...we came back, packed a lunch and headed to the pool for the afternoon...our friends the Halls and the Hoerls were there too with their little ones which meant lots of buddies for the kids!

BUT WAIT!! There's more!!  After a nap, we geared back up...scrounged for some food, and brought our scraps to the Hall's house for a thrown-together type cookout!  (And it was delicious interestingly enough!)  While there, we managed to talk Ritchie and MK into coming with the four of us to see fireworks...so we left from dinner and headed out to camp out and wait for fireworks!

We met our friends the Hoerls there and had root beer floats, courtesy of Heather, played with 8,000 sparklers, poppy things, and glow bracelets!  The fireworks show that Cartersville, Georgia put on was really impressive...much longer than other shows we've seen in MUCH larger places!  Here are some highlights from the evening:

Little Patriots: Emma, Mady, Thomas, Ethan, MK, Jacob, Kyle

MK and Jacob sparkling, as usual

Jacob and the boys throwing those poppy exploding things

Thank goodness Mady way around to keep Thomas from looking like a slob!

This is the ONLY way to keep a 1.5 yr old up 'til 11...sugar.

And the token cute picture of Jeff and boys

We had a productive few days with Jeff home and I can definitely say that I wish he could take more time off...I think we do well to have him at work and the three of us at home most days, but boy was it a nice treat for him to be around!  We got a few random things done this morning including a trip to Home Depot for the kids building class...Jacob built a Penske truck!...we threw together the finishing touches on my wall-sized bulletin board, did a little work rearranging some things in the basement, and I made a few baby gifts!