Happy 9th!

This girl woke up HAPPY about her birthday even though it was on a Sunday (not a bad thing it just kind of limits what we can do to celebrate).

She was ready for a day about her. At dinner she asked if everyone would go around the table and say something they love about her. Hilarious. Of course we were happy to but pretty funny.

She mostly wanted clothes and more decor for her room. My niece-in-law made two awesome prints for her to hang on her wall. Check it out. Her stuff is awesome.

Elise doesn't care about cake so my mom saved the birthday (again) and made this chocolate chip cookie. Perfect.

And did you see who came to visit this weekend. We loved it. Campbell the Squish, Jen and Kristine. We were sad to see them leave.

Reasons I LOVE Elise:

      E - Enthusiastic

      L - Great laugh and so loving

      I  - intelligent and interested in all the details

      S  - Soccer his one of her loves, she is quite sassy, and she is sweet when the sassy side calms down                              

      E - Entertaining - she had us all laughing last night. She was definitely on a birthday high and looking             for some attention. Favorite quote of the night "Here comes the glam."

Happy 9th!

This girl woke up HAPPY about her birthday even though it was on a Sunday (not a bad thing it just kind of limits what we can do to celebrate).

She was ready for a day about her. At dinner she asked if everyone would go around the table and say something they love about her. Hilarious. Of course we were happy to but pretty funny.

She mostly wanted clothes and more decor for her room. My niece-in-law made two awesome prints for her to hang on her wall. Check it out at A Vintage Poster. Her stuff is awesome.

Elise doesn't care about cake so my mom saved the birthday (again) and made this chocolate chip cookie. Perfect.

And did you see who came to visit this weekend. We loved it. Campbell the Squish, Jen and Kristine. We were sad to see them leave.

Reasons I LOVE Elise:
      E - Enthusiastic
      L - Great laugh and so loving
      I  - intelligent and interested in all the details
      S  - Soccer his one of her loves, she is quite sassy, and she is sweet when the sassy side calms down                              
      E - Entertaining - she had us all laughing last night. She was definitely on a birthday high and looking             for some attention. Favorite quote of the night "Here comes the glam."

Money Burning a Hole in Your Pockets?

So Gavin was given a $10 Target gift card by a friend. I took him to Target today.

This is what he bought. No lie. And I had NOTHING to do with it.

Happy Birthday Gavin Crew

It is hard to believe that the ONE and ONLY Gavin Crew is 7 years old today.

He has been SO EXCITED about his birthday. And I have been so nervous that I would not be able to pull off what he wanted. I didn't really know what he wanted to have happen today. And it is family party year so it isn't quite as fun as a friend party. 

Gavin only asked for one thing. And of course it was something that ONLY Gavin would ask for. And he knew exactly what it should be like.

A filing cabinet with wheels and a lock. A for real filing cabinet. I don't even know if his friends know what a filing cabinet is but he does. He said he saw it IKEA and knew he needed it for his important papers. 

Here is the expression when I brought it to him. Seriously crazy happy.

In past years for birthdays or Christmas he has asked for (and received):
vacuum
wheelbarrow
hand-truck/dolly
music stand
real tools
venus fly trap (the plant)

I really can't think of any toys he asked for. Although he does play with toys too. 

He loves to create and dream up projects. Especially when his Grandpa is around. He is guaranteed a trip to Home Depot. His favorite!

I love Gavin. He he is full of life and energy. He keeps things at our house going. He is persistent and curious. He is very helpful and a great little buddy to have around. He is always up for a good time. And he loves being with family. And he is a talker. Never a quiet moment with that kid.

Funny Girl and my new guests

So we have two new house guests. And we love them. My mom and her sister (my aunt) Carla moved in. It is actually sad. But tonight was a good night. My cute aunt Carla (who is the favorite aunt) and I watched Funny Girl with Barbara Streisand. Have you seen it? I think you should. Carla taught me to appreciate old movies. And this is a good one.

How do you like that sassy picture of me? What? And I am wearing a Seattle Super Sonics shirt. But isn't Carla just gorgeous?

My aunt Carla was diagnosed last week with a bad news brain tumor called a glioblastoma. Google it. Not good. It is a very aggressive cancer. It happens to be the same brain tumor that her old brother (my uncle) died of about 10 years ago. We are all so sad about it. Have I ever told you that cancer is lame?

But we are so happy to have Carla living with us. She is sweet. And she is being a good patient. My Mom is awesome (as if you didn't know that already). She is the ultimate caregiver. And she is tireless. And we all think it is pretty great to have her here even though it is for sad reasons.

Move that Bus!

My kids ask for interesting things. (just wait till you see what Gavin is asking for on his birthday - the kids is UNIQUE). But this year for Christmas, Elise wanted a room make over (thus the title of this post - if you want Extreme Home Makeover).
She knew that it wouldn't be totally ready on Christmas Morning - Santa can't be painting all night long - he has places to be. But she wanted all the parts to be ready to go.
I asked her if she wanted to give any input or pick anything out. She said, "I want it to be a total surprise."
OK.
So, I start planning, sewing, ordering, etc. A week before Christmas we are in the car and Teague is asking random questions. "What is your favorite...?" And one of them is "What is your favorite color?" Elise pipes up, "Definitely not pink." To which I say, "Really? That's a bummer." And Elise says, "Why? Like pink is ok for a shirt, I guess. But not a room." And I say, "Oh wow. That is a real suprise."

Then I spend the next week worrying because as you can see - pink is kind of the main color in the room. Yikes.

Good news is - she was happy Christmas morning.

Her room used to be yellow. Now it is a light grey. And we are happy with most of her room but her walls need some art work or pictures. I would really like those blankets to not be at the end of her bed. And someday I would like to make a quilt to be there. Someday. Her desk needs a few little accessories. It might even need to be a different color. Something is just not right. And maybe a little something else. We are working on those things.

The ruffle pillow was easy to make and fun to use a variety of fabrics. Pillow forms are cheap at IKEA so that was not a big project. The framed picture of Elise's silhouette was done by my super-talented sister Egan. She also has really long dark grey curtains hanging and I love how they look but I couldn't get a good picture of them with my camera.

Pure Silly

Here is our silly little girl trying to win at Minute to Win It on New Year's Ever. (yes she does look like an orphan but come one. I can't compete when I am with another darling little girl who has her own blog and stylish mother. so I didn't even try. :)

She wanted to shake it all night long.