I am crafty again....

So I knew that I wanted to do something on Peyton and Kael's wall above Kael's crib. I had been looking for letters to put on their wall for weeks online but they were a little expensive. I saw that Hobby Lobby was having a half price sale on their wall decor. So I went to see what they had!

They only had these gaggy gold colored letters {no offense if you like big gold letters}. I loved the font on the letters though...just what I was looking for! I found some on the internet and they were going to be about $20.00 dollars for EACH piece! I got these for $15.00 dollars for ALL three pieces! So I thought I got a pretty good deal!

Of course I HAD to paint over the gold color. So I went and got some white colored paint. I also wanted the letters to be fun colors but I didn't just want to paint them, I wanted them to have a little depth and texture. So I dug deep in my brain and remembered at my 11th birthday party when my mom had my friends and I Mod Podge jewelry boxes. {my mom threw good parties}. So I took my Michaels 50% off coupon and bought me some supplies {shown above} :)

Mod Podge is so easy! All I did was cut little sqaures of tissue paper, placed them on the painted letter, and painted over it with the Mod Podge! It took a few layers of the tissue paper and some time to dry! But they turned out so FUN...

The letters just after the Mod Podge dried.

Here are the letters on the wall. Just in case you are puzzled the P & K are for Peyton and Kael. It took some real math to get the letters up on the wall. Thank heavens that I have Bryan to accurately hang my pictures! Nothing bugs me more than an off-centered picture!

I love getting thrifty ideas on crafts! There are some great blogs out there that have great ideas! Check out a blog that really inspires me here.

I LOVE to decorate!

For love of mascots...

We were at Chick-Fil-A for family night the other night and the cow showed up. Peyton was in awe. He watched him make his rounds throughout the restaurant. When he finally came to him he was excited. Personally, I thought that he would be terrified of a giant walking cow. Kael just looked at him like, "What in the heck is that?" Peyton was dancing with him and having fun!

I think mascots can be weird. I mean I am not afraid of them, but they are just awkward. Luckily now I have children so I can introduce my children to the mascot. Don't you feel so awkward when a mascot comes up to you and you are alone? I mean they can't talk, so it's not like you can have a conversation with it. You just have to give an awkward smile and slip away somehow. I think this cow loved making people squirm. He walked up to a lady who was sitting alone and just stood by her. This poor lady was just staring at her food while eating french fries frantically. I can't help but think she was thinking, "Maybe if I pretend he is not here he will just go away." How can you pretend that a 7 foot cow is not standing next to you? Like I said...it is awkward on all accounts. I am sure that the person inside the costume was busting up watching this lady be beside herself because this giant cow was standing next to her! This is a time I can say I am grateful I have children, sometimes they help in those awkward situations! They are always a way out! :)

8 months old...

Kael is 8 months old!
I know I say this on every update post...but I really can't believe how fast time flies and how big babies get! He is 8 months old!

No worries, he just celebrated his 8 month old birthday with Croup! I hate it! It comes on so fast and is so scary and horrible to listen to! I know that I am a super paranoid parent {I get it from my Grandma Helen....love her!}. Anyways, but I didn't want to rush him into the doctor's office. Mainly because we have no insurance {we are students} and we were denied for Medicaid. I still can't believe that...someone who makes no money made too much money for medicaid....explain that one! Anyways, so it is pretty pricey to take him to the doctor. I just hate when you think that your child is on death's door and you take him to the doctor and they say "Oh, it's just a virus. He will be fine in a couple of days". Again, I guess that is the paranoia settling in. I didn't want to rush him in for no reason. So I kept a close eye on him all day. It was getting harder and harder for him to breathe, even after putting him in front of the humidifier. So we loaded him in the car last night and drove him to the doctors office. He was breathing heavy which I guess they call "Stridor". Stridor is an abnormal, high-pitched, musical breathing sound caused by a blockage in the throat or voice box. It was horrible. They gave him some steroids to open up his airway and some antibiotics for his ear infections. I am so glad that I took him in and so was the doctor. She said that he could have gotten so much worse and it would have been scary! The steroid worked wonders {I knew it would...Peyton had Croup when he was about this age and they gave him the same thing} He was sounding better after a few minutes. He was able to sleep that night! We were all grateful for that! The picture above is just a couple hours after the steroid treatment. He was a tired little guy!

And the very next day he was back to his happy little self!

He is happy about half of his waking hours. He has a really hard time sleeping {we are not too sure why that is} But needless to say, he is always tired and a little cranky. But he is so happy when he wakes up from his naps. We know that he would be this happy all of the time if he could just sleep and not wake himself up every thirty minutes!

He has been crawling for about 7 weeks now. He has mastered it, and is very fast.

He has been pulling himself up to furniture for almost a month now. Which has thrown Peyton for a loop. Pey was eating Cheetos from a bowl the other day at his little blue table and Kael pulled himself up to the table and helped himself. Cheetos all of the ground! Peyton cried. Peyton is not used to Kael helping himself to his food...and Kael is not used to real food yet. He spits out every solid food that we try to feed him! Annoying! He will eat baby food {which he might be on for the rest of his life}. He LOVES sweet potatoes and apple sauce. He HATES bananas and anything green {which I think is typical for most babies!} He STILL has NO teeth! I have been waiting for these suckers to pop through for weeks now and I am HIGHLY annoyed. I swear he has been aggressively gnawing at things and fussy and drooly for three months! I hate it...almost as much as potty training!
We love our happy {sometimes grouchy} little Kael!

Corey is 16.......

I can't believe it...Corey is 16. I was only nine years old when Corey was born...I feel old! I remember him as a tiny baby. We were so excited to have a new little baby in our family. We lived in Marysville, WA at the time, which is just north of Seattle. I had asked Santa Claus for a baby sister the Christmas before. I believe that it was in early April, maybe late March when my parents told us about our new sibling to be. My dad was saying the prayer one night at dinner and blessed the baby in mommy's tummy. You can bet that all of our eyes shot open at that comment! We could hardly contain our excitement! I knew that Santa Claus was real. It was only until the ultra sound tech told us it was a boy that I had my doubts. Maybe he exists, maybe he doesn't ;) . My brothers were so excited, and I felt so jipped. My only chance to have a sister....gone. But, when the little guy arrived I loved him just as much as I would have loved a sister, maybe even more. In the end, I didn't have to share a room, or clothes, or toys! Corey was always my little buddy! There was enough years between us that we didn't have to fight! Corey is such a great person. He is such an easy person to get along with. He is so eager {well, sometimes not eager} but he is always willing to help someone out! He is the best uncle that anyone could ask for...I mean the BEST. My little boy Peyton loves him....I mean LOVES him. Corey lets him hang out with him and all of his friends. Peyton thinks that he is one of the guys. His heart breaks if Corey has to leave...anywhere {sometimes even the bathroom}. Every time Kael lays eyes on him he can hardly contain his excitement! He is a great kid, brother, and uncle! We love Corey and we are so glad that he is here {even if he wasn't a girl ;)}.

Corey was so excited to get his license. He studied for days for the written portion of the drivers test {who knew he could study...he has totally been holding back :) } I think he got 100%! He then got a 98% I think on the road test! Anyways, he was so excited on his birthday to get his license he was at the DMV first thing in the morning to get it! He even went before high school! Here he is proudly displaying his accomplishments! We love ya bud and drive safe! Happy 16th Birthday!

Friday Night Lights...

Last Friday night we went to a Coppell High School football game.

When our hometeachers came to visit we talked about how we HAVE to go to a high school football game while we live in Texas. I mean, it is INSANE here! So we decided to go along with the Naef family to our local high school's football game. Troy and Sarah have two little boys, Kaden and Eli. Kaden is a little older than Peyton and Eli is about 18 months old. They are adorable!
We first went to get a hamburger at my new FAVORITE hamburger place, Steak N' Shake {seriously good hamburgers for cheap...and their strawberry milkshake is the best ever}! What is funny, is they have a drive-up but when you go inside, you have a waiter or waitress. It is so good. If you are ever in Texas...I highly recommend it! {I have a long list of restaurants that I have tried here and some I want to try....and not one that I have tried has been bad!} After we went to eat we went to the game.

This is the home side of the stadium! Totally insane right? This is just for THEIR high school. A lot of the huge stadiums around here are shared between two or three high schools. In Arlington, TX they are building a 32 million dollar stadium....for a high school. CRAZY.

We entered on the visitors side and couldn't really figure out how to get across to the home side, so we sat on the visitor side. The visitor side was just a little smaller than the home side. Pretty sure that they have reserved seating {with actual chairs} for the season ticket holders. Season ticket holders? I am telling you...this is an experience! The Coppell Cowboys were playing the Central Keller Chargers. This is the mascot of the Chargers. Peyton thought he was the coolest horse around! He gave him a high five and a hug. He asked me if the horse could ride home in our car and stay at our house. HMMM. I can't believe that he held still long enough for me to take his picture....and he was smiling {we are making progress people}!

I know this is not the best picture, but I wanted to show the players' "tunnel". On the right side of the photo {the black inflatable helmet} is where the Coppell players enter the field. At the beginning of the game and after half time. On the right side of the picture {the red inflatable tunnel} is where the visiting Chargers entered the field. The teams bring along their inflatable tunnels!

The half time was 30 minutes long. Is that normal for a high school football game? I really don't remember from when I would go! I know why they are so long...the visiting teams as well as the home team has their marching band and their drill teams perform. Which I thought was also odd. Usually it is just the home team that performs. The marching band was HUGE! Probably double the size of Davis High! And they could spell things. While playing their school song they spelled "This Is Our Year". {They are undefeated} Eat that Davis! Just kidding! Their drill team, the Lariettes {what is that?} had 60 girls on the team. I think we had 15-20 on our high school's drill team! I guess that cheesy saying of "Everything's BIGGER in Texas" is really true!

It was so fun to go and experience, and fun to be with friends! It was a little chilly though, 48 degrees. This is pretty cold for Dallas this time of year! It felt like a real football game...cool and crisp!

Teddy Ruxpin....

Today we made our bi-monthly visit to Sam's Club. Of course, Peyton need a churro { and I needed a Diet Coke...I really am going to kick the stuff...I promise!}. So we were standing in the concession line and I saw this little boy. He was about ten years old and Asian. Now of course I have nothing against Asian people or their looks {I promise I am not racist!}. My sister-in-law is one quarter Japanese and she is beautiful! Anyways, I was studying this boy and finally I said to Bryan, "That boy looks like someone." Bryan then quickly replied, "I'll tell you who he looks like, he looks part Teddy Ruxpin"

I couldn't help but laugh my face off......I don't know who I was thinking that this little chubby faced Chinese boy looked like....but yeah, he did look part Teddy Ruxpin!

Who thinks of Teddy Ruxpin when they are comparing a human? I will tell you, my husband! It was the most random comparison I have ever heard!

Sorry if this is such a lame post, I just had to write this down because I wanted to remember it. My husband is a really funny guy, with a lot of classic one liners....and this is one of them! At least between us, maybe you had to be there. I am telling you, if you would have seen this sweet little boy....you would have thought the same thing!

Some of my besties....

Before our big move to Dallas, I went to dinner with some of my best girl friends from high school {minus Marci and Jen}. We went to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate!

Whit, Hil, Me, Michelle, Jenna, and Em!

It was so fun to get together and see them again! Love them!