Making our house our home, Part 3

We've made a few more changes to the house since moving in. I don't have pictures of all of it quite yet (it involves more painting that's almost finished), but I do have a few of the living room. This was how it looked when we first got all moved in and painted.
I lived with it for about 5 months and decided last week that I really didn't like the way it looked. So I rearranged. I moved the couch to the wall where the loveseat was. Then I moved the loveseat under the window. However, when we moved the tree in, the loveseat had to go where the couch originally was. Once the tree is gone, it'll go back under the window. It really opens up the room.

I've been on the lookout for a lamp for my end table in this room ever since we moved in. Whenever I've seen a lamp I love, it's way too much money. But then I went out on Black Friday, and I got THE perfect lamp in THE perfect color! Seriously, I am SO stoked about the deal I got! I went to a local store here called Bealls Outlet, and they were having a 70% off sale, plus an additional 15% off. I got this lamp, a shirt for Kyrie and pajamas for Asher (shh, those are Christmas presents!), and I only spent $10 TOTAL! The lamp alone was originally $27! I can't even stand it. Love!!

I still have more plans for this room (new bookshelves, wall art, a plant if I can ever convince Derk to let me get one, etc), but it's getting there!

Stay tuned for more transformations. :)

Our tree is up!

Derk is a Scrooge when it comes to Christmas decorations. If he had it his way, we'd probably not get our tree until Christmas Eve, and we certainly wouldn't have any extra decorations. He knew there was no use arguing this year. I've got my house, and darn it, I'm going to dress it up for Christmas! He's even obliged to hanging lights around the outside!

We did make a deal that I'd hold off on Christmas decorations until December 1st. Luckily for me, my kids went NUTS when they saw that Wal*Mart already had trees out. With 3 kids pestering him and a wife not coming to his rescue, he gave in and we got our tree last night. :)

The finished product
(I went back after the kids went to sleep and fixed the ornaments a bit, cause I'm anal like that)

Always an artist

Kyrie is constantly drawing, coloring and creating. She came rushing out of the bathroom a couple of days ago and told me to come see what she'd made. Of course, having the kids I do, I was instantly afraid of whatever she was going to show me, running through all sorts of horrendous scenarios in my mind. What I found was a pleasant surprise (no mess!) and was hysterical.

She made a boat out of toilet paper. I think she got a wee bit bored while going to the bathroom... ;)

Cambria's 3rd birthday

I cannot believe my baby is 3 years old. I remember my parents would always talk about how time flies and how they wanted to put bricks on our heads so we'd stop growing. I thought that was so funny growing up, because back then it felt like time was dragging by for me. I didn't understand what my parents meant at all. But now that I have my own kids, I know what they meant about the bricks! I think I've said that before, but it's so true. Sometimes I really wish I could stop, or even rewind, time, because it's flying by too fast.

Her party was so fun. We invited several neighbors and other friends from church. We ended up having 6 kids (so 9 total) and 4 adults here to celebrate. I decided to throw her a dress up party, and of course she thought that was the best idea ever. I took her to Party City to pick out her party decorations. She chose this really cute pink, green, blue and white striped tablecloth, and then we just got solid color plates, napkins, etc to match the tablecloth.

All night, Bri had a one-track mind, and all she could think about was those presents! I had to beg, plead and nearly sell my soul to get her to eat dinner (fajitas) and play just 2 party games. The first game we played was a game with the balloons. The kids had to keep their balloons up in the air for as long as they could, and whoever let their balloon touch the ground was out. They had a blast with this game. Then we played a hot potato game with this little hot potato Tigger ball thing that Derk's parents gave Bri for her birthday last year. I was a little busy with all these munckins running around, so I didn't get too many pictures (or very good ones).

After that second game, she dove into those presents without giving me a chance to protest. She'd rip through a package, say "Wow!", then threw it immediately on the floor and moved on to the next gift in the same fashion. It was too funny.

After the presents were opened, she was finally ready for cake. Of course I forgot to charge my camera battery, so I didn't get us singing to her on video. :( Here's a picture of her cake.

Happy birthday, Bri! We love you so much!

Singing

Our kids sing all the time. Even Bri has started doing it, which I think is adorable. This week, she's been singing happy birthday to herself almost constantly. :) I didn't get that on video, but I did get a video of Kyrie and Asher singing over the last few days. In the video of Kyrie, Bri is singing along, too, but it's really hard to hear her.

This is Kyrie singing along to her Barbie computer game

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


Asher made up his own song :)


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Asher to the rescue

The kids were playing in the backyard yesterday, and Isis decided to go exploring the canal behind our house. Asher was really upset, thinking the cat was going to get hurt back there, so he tried to go after her. Luckily Kyrie came in and got us before Asher got hurt! As Derk was running over to get him, I snapped a picture of his newest predicament. ;)


I have NO idea how he managed to even get up there! Even standing on the picnic table, it doesn't seem like he should have been tall enough to climb up. I always say my children are monkeys!