Big Ol' Post

Hey all, Wow, I've got to be more consistent so I don't have to put up such large posts!  That just makes me further procrastinate and then the posts just keep getting bigger...  We have had a very busy last couple months.  We have redone the girls room, they are now in a big girl bed (sleeping in a queen all together).  I did a lot of the painting and remaking myself so it took a lot of time to get it put together.  Redecorating seems to take forever here, I have three little major distractions.  We also seemed to have a million doctor's appointments in the last couple months.  The girls have been quite healthy (cold and flu-wise, a few cold here and there but no life flight to the hospital episodes so far).  Mckenna had eye surgery in January and we have had a lot of follow up appointments for her.  Carly is also getting ready for eye surgery the first of April so things won't be slowing down anytime soon.

Here's Carly!  Carly is Miss Life of the Party these days.  Always ready to have fun and be loud and crazy!  So happy when she wakes up in the morning, she has a definite yellow little personality.  I think she might be our little TomBoy as well, she loves trucks and cars and is really into the sports-type activities, throwing a ball, kicking a ball, running, etc.  She, like Maddy, never stops moving!

Maddy has been giving us a run for a money lately.  Oh, she loves pushing the boundaries as far as she can to see what she will get away with.  So much fun for Mommy.  Please say the 3's are better than the 2's.  Maddy (for right now) has taken on the boss roll.  Carly is just along for the fun but Maddy is kind of the bully and forces everyone into the path she wants them to take.  She's also pretty sure she is always right.  Example:  "Maddy, let's put on your pants now."  No, it's a skirt."  (Not really, it's technically pants) "No, these are pants that we are putting on."  "No, it's a skirt!!!"  Me, "Fine, it's a skirt...."   Some battles just aren't worth fighting.  Oh, I also found out the other day, according to Maddy, that the picture of the temple I have in my bedroom has eyebrows.  We went through the no, honey, it's just a building, they don't have eyebrows, only to have her get very matter of fact with me that "No Mommy, temple has eyebrows!"  Oh, what fun times we have!  Here's Maddy with Lamby.  Have I ever talked about Lamby?  She has had her little stuffed lamb since she was little and rarely does she let it out of her site.  They are best buds.  It's going to be a sad day when we have to put an end to Lamby because his insides are falling out.  Which we are getting closer and closer to everyday.

Kenners.... if Mckenna was physically strong as her sisters, I think there's no question she would be the boss.  She likes to have control of all household proceedings.  Maybe one of these days Maddy will have to give up the boss crown to Mckenna.  Mckenna loves the camera.  She is such a little poser.  She will hold this smile forever while I take my time snapping away...

 These girls are so in love with their stuffed animals.  They really haven't gotten into the princesses yet.  Maybe down the road.  Right now it is all about the animals.  They love The Lion King and sometimes Bambi.  Tangled, they could take it or leave it right now.  It's okay with me.  Stuffed animals are a whole lot cheaper than all the Disney empire paraphernalia so I can take my time on them wanting that stuff.

Like I said, Mckenna had Botox eye surgery in January (didn't want to do the traditional eye surgery-which Carly will have in April- due to worry that she would react wrong to it).  Botox on eyes it kinda new here in the U.S. but is done all the time in Europe.  It takes about 3 months for the Botox to completely wear off before we will know if it worked or not.  She looked crazy at first with her eyes going in all directions but right now her eyes look soo straight.  Now that they are straight, I can see how crossed they were before.  Hopefully they stay in this position and don't continue to go in as the Botox wears off.  If not, then she will have to go back in for another injection.  She is also doing so well on learning to walk.  She's finally starting to stand without holding some one's hand for a few seconds so hopefully we will get to walking sooner than later.  My goal is by this fall but I have made goals for her walking and passed by them many times so I am trying to stay realistic.

 Oh, she is so good at the innocent face... she was posing so well this day that I just kept on taking them of her.

 All the crazy maniacs together.  Carly, always looks like she's ready for mischief at all times!

They are truly the best of friends and then, quite quickly, the worst of enemies.  And the cycle goes round and round and round.

"I've called this meeting together..."

L to R: Madison, Carly, Mckenna

So here are some pics of the girls room.  I decided two things after looking at these pictures: 1.  I need a wide angle lens!  Interior rooms just look so much better when taken with them.  Kyle, honey?  Pretty please?  and 2. My camera man needs to be fired (that would be me).  I really need to take lessons, I have this fancy DSLR camera and I don't even use it like I should.  So, at some point, I have got to get into a Photography class.

Anyways, here's the girls new bed.  Our friend Ryan built it for us.  I know, crazy huh?  He is uber talented and came in with a bunch of boards and turned it into this.  I wanted a picket fence headboard and foot board and he figured out how to do it.  It also has 6 drawers underneath, three on each side.  The girls LOVE it!  They were so excited to go to a big bed.  Carly said over and over the day it was being built, "Sleep together, sleep together, sleep together!"  In her most excited voice.  They only fell off a couple times, and had a hard time sleeping for about 1-2 weeks but now they are adjusted and even still take naps.  I was pretty sure I was going to lose their naps but they still manage to fall asleep.  We sleep them long ways so they have plenty of room to spread out.  I made curtains and big loungey pillows.  Oh, and I had to do a gallery wall of vintage paper dolls on their wall.  I have a weakness with everything vintage.  Hopefully you can click on the picture to see them close up.

On their toybox I painted silver letters to say "Play" and glued them on (toybox also courtesy of Ryan's talents).  And the yellow high boy adds the perfect fancy to their room (before and after below).  Also painted and hung the blue shelf and put their Cinderella and Snow White pics on (bought them way back before I was married from a friend who now designs for Disney).  Also painted the little black and white night stand (pic below).  Also, over in the corner is the girls hairbow holder.  It keeps all the bows so nice and organized.  And you can't really tell in the pic but I spent way too many hours cutting out fabric and tissue paper and glueing it on those paper lanterns in the top right corner and hung them from the ceiling.  My friend put twinkle lights in hers she made for her little girl, and now I want twinkle lights!  So maybe down the road I will add to it.  And speaking of lights...

Do you see in both these pics my new light fixture?  I lovingly call it my "Victorian Jellyfish."  My mom found it for free in all it's brassy loveliness and I spray painted it white, glazed it and added crystals to it.  It's one of my favorite additions.  I love the green globe on the top.  I was going to have to spend over a hundred dollars for the crystal chandelier I wanted but when my mom found it, she knew it was perfect for their space.  And free, people!  Whoo hooo!  Kyle's still warming up to it.  He doesn't love girly things, hmmmm I wonder why?

So I feel pretty great about the room! I didn't want to paint the walls a color and worried that it wouldn't be colorful enough (without painting the walls and I wanted to make sure it was a happy cheerful litle girls room.  I feel like I accomplished that without overdoing.  The only thing that makes me crazy is that aluminum foiled half window.  I wanted to take the curtains all the way to the ceiling but it's too sloped so it wouldn't work.  I'll just have to wait until we can save up the dough to put one of those crazy expensive half window shade things in.

So here's the before of the high boy dresser...

And the after!  I know it's not everyone's thing to paint over good wood but hey, it's completely my thing!

Not the best pic of it but here is that cute little nightstand I painted as well.  Love the stripes mixed with the diamond pattern.  I actually had to use math to figure out the diamonds which is a scary thing for me.  It will be a lot cuter when I can put an adorable lamp and accessories on it but for now those things are not feasible in my 2 year olds' bedroom.

 Next up, (hopefully sometime this early summer- depends on how these eye surgeries go) we are redoing our master bathroom.  Just minor but we are going to try to DIY tile!  Crazy!