Father's Day

I have the greatest daddy anyone could ask for! He is over protective, over opinionated, and beyond crazy!! He would give anything he had to someone in need, but he'd rather teach you how to get it yourself. He can sell socks to a man with no feet. Everyone loves him. He knows everyone....and when I say everyone, I mean it. He will run into someone he knows everywhere we go - even in other cities & states. He is definitely a good person to know too. He's sneaky and sometimes we wonder if he thinks he is the neighborhood police officer. If I ever find myself in trouble, I know who to call first - even though he has said it a million times "If you get in trouble b/c your too stupid to what's right, don't call me" He doesn't say I love you or show much affection, but we all know he loves us very much. He will say what is on his mind and he doesn't care who he offends. Sometimes it's embarrassing, but most of the time he says what we are all thinking, but too afraid to say it out loud. He love his grandbabies more than anything else I can think of, even my brother and me. We got the back burner when I had Cori. They are lucky to have him too.

We don't have many pictures of my dad smiling....something was obviously funny!
Me, Dad & Brother, Stewart

Always ready for a good time...yes, that is a T-shirt under his jacket...
He lost a bet & had to wear this to my cousin's wedding!

Mowing the yard!

He can not wait for Levi to grow up a little and go  hunting and fishing!
He calls Levi his little side kick! 

Filla Filla Rides!

 I love you Daddy-O, Happy Father's Day!! 

Orgnaization

I typed in the word "Organization" into Pinterest and let me tell you, I am having SO much fun looking around. I visited my friend Ashley when she lived in FL and she was OCD organized, but ever since, I have been inspired to stay more organized and I am actually good and it and really enjoy it. You already know that we are buying a new house and, oh my, my mind is going 100 mph thinking of all the possibilities of decorating, organizing, and creating a new home for us. I have about 253 projects listed out on the notepad of my iPhone and most of them go along with pins from Pinterest. Oh Pinterest you are so dangerous but so cool. I try to get James to look at my boards but he is very uninterested - typical guy, I suppose. He says we will broke, old and tired if I complete all the things I have in mind. I'm trying my best to convince him that each and every one is necessary - even the chandelier in the master closet....so cute {okay, maybe he's right, maybe I am crazy} There are TWO closets in the master bedroom and I have some big plans for mine! The kids each have built in desks and shelves in their rooms and those are gonna be cute too.....is painting in their closets silly? I don't think so. I have BIG plans for the kitchen, but that will be a big spender. It needs some major upgrades and renovation. I don't consider that one of my projects. I'll let James handle that one. How do pick a place to start in the new house? I guess I should take it one step at a time and the first step will actually be moving into the house....until then I will keep pinning, dreaming, and annoying my husband with all my ramble. I can't wait. I'm beyond excited.

Ashley, I wish you lived closer! I bet you'd LOVE to come help me organize. I'm sure I still have a ton to learn from you. One day when your girls are in school, I hope you become a professional organizer. I bet a lot of people would appreciate your OCD when it comes to that!! I miss you and can't wait to see you next week!!!!

Our House

I love seeing houses. New houses, old houses, model houses....you name it! If you invite me into your home for a tour I will never say no!! So, with that said, I'll show you some picture of my house, that we are now selling. It would be easy to just post the online listing of our house, but that would be putting my address out there and I'm not cool with that. This is our very first home. We purchased it a month after our wedding (almost 5 years ago!!) Enjoy the pictures!

Welcome to our home!

Entry way. Cori & Levi's rooms, and bathroom are to the right, the dining/office to the left

 Living Room, the French Doors go out to the back yard.

the open squares look into the kitchen

Dining room that we use as an office for James. Wait until you see his office at the new house!! 

It's AWESOME!

Master Bed Room

My crazy red & zebra bathroom. I think this was one of those bad pregnant decisions. Even though I still like it, what in the world was I thinking painting RED on the walls? My Realtor says she likes it too, so we didn't paint over it before we listed our house. 

My sweet Levi's room. 

Cori's Room

The kid's bathroom

Our grand patio! Jackie says this will sell our house!

We have loved having this pool, but the pool at the new house is much better! 

We sure are going to miss this place but the new house has more to offer and a lot more property!! I can't wait to post about that!!

Before & After

So as you know our house is on the market to be sold. We already have a contract on our new house & we are supposed to close July 31st (giving us some time to sell ours. Pray, pray hard that it sells soon!). We've had 5 showings in 2 weeks & over 650 online views. Jackie, our realtor says that's great & she is hopeful that it will sell quickly! Anyway, Jackie was able to pull the original online listing of our home & send me pictures. I forgot how plane & dirty our house was when we bought it. It was a foreclosure & it looked like the previous owners trashed the place before they left. I made a few collages to show before & after. I did all of this from my phone so excuse the horrible quality!

James built a HUGE 26x26 covered patio on the back of our house, all wired with speakers, fans and recessed lights. I was so proud of him for thinking and creating this!! We have spent MANY hours outside here and a few birthday parties. I'm going to miss our outdoor space, seriously!! 

We upgraded all the fixtures, put hard wood floors in & painted. 

Masterbath and Breakfast room

I'm going to miss my baby's first bedrooms. This is so emotional!! 

Memorial Day (early)

We did our Memorial Day family time yesterday. My brother grilled hotdogs, we hung out, played & just had fun!

Mixed emotions!!

So we put our very first home on the market to sell. I'm excited & sad at the same time!! This has been an emotional roller coaster for me! This was the first house James & I bought a month after we got married. I brought both of Babies home to this house. So many memories have been made over the last 5 years here! My parents (built in sitters) live 3 houses down too. (where I grew up since 2nd grade) I can stand on the sidewalk in front of my house and my mom can stand in front of her house and Cori can run between houses. It's been SO nice to live so close. My mom is very upset about the sign in our yard and is trying very hard to keep her cool with me. She knows that we are not moving because of her. Our neighborhood is wonderful, and cozy and everyone knows everyone. Unfortunately, after an ISD rezone, we got stuck in some not so great schools within the ISD. I can't even begin to think of Cori attending the schools, and I almost fainted when I started calling for prices on private schools. We knew when we bought this house that it wasn't going to be forever, but five years sure did come quicker than we expected. We still have 2 years before Cori starts school but we have no idea how long it will take to sell our house. Wish us luck - we are hopefully headed to a better school district.

Mother's Day

My Mother's day was plane and simple, just the way I like it!! Cori woke me up at the butt crack of dawn remembering that it was Mother's Day! She ran to her back pack to get the cards she and Levi made for me at school. 

Miss Janie Loves my kids, she got them together to take these pictures and spent her own money to create this card and have it printed. I was so happy & I love it. This one is now at work with me! 

My first squishy hand print from Levi James! 

Cori colored, cut & glued this (with help) just for me!! 

I get this SAME piece of paper every year from Cori - I can't decide if I like it b/c I can compare the hand prints each year, or if it annoys me b/c they can't photo copy another saying for Mother's Day each year.

(okay, I'll quit complaining!) I love it. 

The rest of the day was spent hanging around the house, mostly outside in the pool. It was a perfect day and I am so blessed to have my babies!! Here is a awkward picture of us on Mother's Day!