Super Six Year Old!!

This super special, spectacular, sassy, six year old has celebrated in grand style from Saturday until her actual birthday yesterday!!

Her craft party on Saturday was a complete hit and I think the 4 girls who came had a wonderful time. We did several crafty projects that I can't wait to tell you about....I just have to wait for all the pictures to upload to my Flickr account.

Dear Cambree Jane,

You are the Dr. to my Pepper, the Sun to my Shine, the Sauce to my Spaghetti, the Beat of my Heart!!

The older you get and the more you mature, the more amazed by you I become!! Someone said that you look at other people and it doesn't matter to you what they can or cannot do, you are their friend regardless. I admire that about you and admit that even I fall short in this area. If we would all take our cue from you the world would be a much brighter and happier place. Full of love and joy and happiness!

It's crazy to think that I am the mother and yet I catch myself thinking that I should be more like you. You know who you remind me of in SO many ways? Your namesake, Loretta Jane, my grandmother. You are so much like her it is uncanny! She would have loved you to the moon and back a million times just like I do. I would give anything to have seen the two of you together!! I hold on to the hope that the reunion you will have in heaven is going to be full of giggles and hugs and such a blast. I hope I am there to witness it!

Determination. That is always a word that comes to mind when I think of you. You are not going to let anything stop you from reaching your dreams. I can tell that just by watching you accomplish the small, simple tasks of life. Like tying your shoes. Lot's of kids your age can't tie their own shoes, but you took one look at your new shoes and decided that you were going to tie them yourself. And you did. Several times. And I bet that you have done 1,000 cartwheels through our house trying to get them just right! In the last 4 months you have improved so much and it is obvious that you love your gymnastics classes and that you want to be the best!

One of the other things that I admire most about you is your positive attitude. For the most part, you don't let failures get you down. Got tagged out while playing baseball? Oh well, head to the dug out and get ready to play in the field. Messed up a picture you were painting? Oh well, get a new piece and start again. Mistakes and failures aren't a big deal to you. They are just part of life and you handle them and move on. I wonder at times if you realize how wise you are? And if you will carry that wisdom with you as you continue to grow. My prayer is that you will.

Your tender, loving heart is what I love most about you. You don't like to see people hurt or upset and you are the first one to lend a helping hand, or to ask someone to be your partner when others ignore them, to offer a Kleenex or even a simple hug. Boy do your hugs have a healing touch too! They can bring me out of a funk in a hurry. You are such a reminder of how blessed we are in life!!

Cambree Jane, until you have a daughter of your own who looks just like you and makes you want to be a better person, you will not understand the love or appreciation I have for you. I don't take time near often enough to thank God for letting me be your mom!! You truly are one of my biggest blessings and my greatest joys! I love you to the moon and back a million times!!

Love,

Mama

Girls weekend!

01.27.2012 Girls Weekend, a set on Flickr.

The last weekend in January Cambree and I met my BFF Melissa and her 6 year old daughter in Wichita for a little Mother-Daughter Girls weekend.

Traditionally, Melissa and I have met in Wichita for a weekend of scrapbooking, shopping, catching up and relaxing. This year though we threw the little girls into the mix and boy was it a BLAST!

We met up on Friday afternoon at the Intrust Bank Arena for Disney Live! Three Classic Fairy Tales. It was our Christmas gift to Melissa and Harper. And let me just tell you that this show did NOT disappoint! It was fantastic...we sang along, oohed and aahed, had overpriced snacks and laughed and giggled through the entire show.

Then we headed back to our hotel, the Drury Broadview Hotel. I totally give this hotel a 5 star rating. Everything about it was exceptional. We enjoyed a dinner there in the hotel with our complimentary "Kickback" in the lounge and then hit the pool for some splashing around. One thing I have to share is that while we were sitting in the hotel lobby trying to decide what our evening game plan was going to be {2 type A personalities at work here} Harper said the funniest thing...."I could do appetizers for dinner. I mean I am okay with just dessert." She thought appetizers were a type of dessert and that was all we were going to have to eat! My kind of girl!!!

Saturday morning we got up Bright and early {too early for the momma's} hit the free breakfast buffet and headed out to do a little shopping. We hit up Target, Hobby Lobby and a great little antique shop where I scored two Pyrex bowls. One is a pattern I had never seen before. Hobby Lobby was our favorite stop, because there we got to load up on craft supplies to make our valentine's! It was so much fun to be in there with 2 other creative girls!! I loved hearing all of the comments that Cambree and Harper made.

Then it was lunch at Spangles...sadly no pictures here. What were we thinking Melissa? Next year we must take our picture with Marilyn or Elvis!! Back to the hotel to get crackin' on those valentines!

The girls did a great job of finishing them up before they started hounding us about heading down to the pool. Cambree and I scored the idea for her valentine's off of Pinterest...where else?! I think they turned out super cute and with the use of the Cricut to cut out all those hearts it was a breeze. The hardest part was getting all those googly eyes to stay on!

Back to the pool to splash around and enjoy the hot tub. We did remember the camera for that one and did a little group photo shoot! It was fun to be the only ones down there...well except for that creepy guy in the background, LOL!!

A quick change back into our clothes, more appetizers, another hobby lobby run, more swimming, and another craft project we found on Pinterest before heading to bed that night! Whew it was a long day, but it was so much fun!

Sunday morning it was time to pack up all our crafty things, stuff the dirty laundry back in the suitcases and head back home. But before Cambree and I could leave town we had a few errands to run for the new house....paint, tile, lights....we came home LOADED down in the suburban. Every inch of storage space, and then some, was full!

It was such a great time....I am already looking forward to doing it again. Maybe once a year isn't enough?!!

Seeing the light

...at the end of the tunnel that is!

If you are tired of seeing pictures of the house or reading about the progress, click to another page NOW!  What follows is an TON of photos of the house and as many words as my weary eyes can manage.

I am Soooooo in LoVe with the house that i don't even know where to start showing you things!

Let's start in the basement and work our way up...

The basement bath

Don't you just love the look of the trough sink? I DO!!

Floors, vanity, mirror, shower, lights are all in! All this room lacks is the toilet and trim.

This bath will be the one we use when we are downstairs in the family room, while I am crafting and the main bath the boys will use to shower and get ready as they grow up.

The craft/play room!

looking from the family room towards the bedrooms...

This room is not photographing well since there is absolutely no natural light.  It is NOT that baby blue color, but a turquoise.  I probably could have gotten a more accurate color if I had wanted to....but there was TOO much wonderfulness to look at upstairs.  Don't worry, we'll get there!!

Opposite view...from the bedrooms towards the family room...

I have laid awake at night thinking about all the fabulous creations that are going to come from this room and all the games and fun the kids are going to have in here with me.  The plan is for them to have an area set up on the left side of the picture above and I will occupy the right side.

You can kind of see our reading nook in this picture.  It's under the stairs...behind that ladder.

Here's a better peak.

The kids didn't get a lot of say in the house planning process, but one thing Preston asked for was a reading nook.  NO WAY was I going to tell him no!! I got right on pinterest and started looking at reading nooks and knew right away that under the stairs was going to be the perfect place. 

I have visions of the three of them cuddled up in that little nook reading...Preston maybe a Hank the Cowdog or 39 Clues book, Cambree with a Laura Ingalls Wilder book, and Westynn with a Little Golden Book....okay, so they will probably end up with video games in there, but a mother can dream right?!

Up next, the storage room!

A MUST-HAVE on my list when we were designing and planning and I will admit that this one does NOT disappoint. It is 17x8 and I am already dreaming of all the party planning totes that will be neatly organized and ready to pull out at a moments notice for some grand entertaining. My Christmas decorations will be safely stored INDOORS where they will remain dust free and DRY {there were issues this year when we pulled them out of the storage shed}.  AND i won't have to walk outside on a dark, snowy, windy night to grab a package of hamburger for dinner....

The basement family room...

There isn't anything really spectacular about this room. It will seem a lot more exciting after we move in. This is the ONE room in the house that Jeremy has had complete control over. I have let him make all of the decisions. Even when he asked me to give opinions I sweetly reminded him that I had made 98% of the decisions for the rest of the house and he was responsible for this one.

{Don't tell him, but I think he has done a great job. However, it has taken him much longer to make those decisions...he's more of a thinker than I am. I pick something I like and just go with it. I know I can make it work....He stresses a lot more}

Up the stairs we go.......

And there are a lot of them!!

The master bath

This bathroom sits right off our master bedroom.  I am standing in the doorway for the first picture.  It is painted the same color as the bedroom; which again, is more green than it looks.

I have to tell you about the shower.  It is an Onyx shower and I was VERY hesitant at first.  I thought that i wanted a tiled shower....like we have now.  But Kelsey kept pushing this style of shower and from the internet site I was not impressed.  He assured me that if I saw one in person I would change my mind.  So we made a trip to Pratt one day to the Home Lumber store there and looked at their displays.  20 minutes later we had picked out the color that we wanted and I was 100% sold on the Onyx shower.  No grout to clean or maintain and this is GREAT looking shower.  It's not completely finished yet.  There are 2 corner caddies that go in and some trim.  BUT with the tankless water heater and this beautiful shower, I may never get out!!

I am also really looking forward to taking a nice big bath!  I can't remember the last time I have had a relaxing bubble bath.

And that vanity...it's gonna be a booger to keep dust free, but I sure do love it.  I still need to get mirrors for this room.  I have found some I like, but I need to get back to Wichita to pick them up {hopefully they are still there}.

Upstairs Kids Bath

the floor....this runs a close race with the kitchen for the thing I love the MOST in the house.

I love the pattern and the charcoal grout.  It was a tough decision...white, black, gray...but I went with the charcoal gray and I am so happy that I did.  I don't think I would have liked the others  at all now that I have seen this.

The light fixtures in this bathroom and the master bath are the same and all the bathroom faucets and counters are the same.  It was a LOT easier to just pick one style and go with it across the board.  I am very happy with that decision.  The only difference was that the double bowl sink in the master didn't come in a trough style so they are round instead.

This mirror is part of the bath collection that goes with the vanity.  It is actually upside down right now...but that's how it is going to be hung on the wall.  It didn't work with the light fixtures and the outlets.  But once we turned it upside down it worked perfectly and I actually like it better this way.

The GREAT room....and great it is!!!!

{Get ready for picture overload}

I will do a entire kitchen post one of these days, but for now let me just tell you that I LOVE it!  I can't wait to cook and bake and entertain in it.  I still have to pick out the granite counter tops and order the back splash.  Once it is all here it is going to be FABULOUS!!!!  I can't wait.

Here's the cute help...

A new view from the front. The rock is on the front now....the tires, 2x4's, fence posts, pallets and who knows what other junk is still on the roof!!

If you made it all the way through this post...CONGRATS!  Let me know what you think....as long as you like it :).