Pantry Makeover

Thursday, September 30, 2010

This is the first house we have lived in that doesn't have a pantry. Both our other houses did even though they were significantly smaller that this one. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?!? When we moved in this house we had to turn a large cabinet into our "pantry". It really didn't work that great but we really didn't have another option. I would try to keep it organized but within a few days the girls would go searching for something or Jason would put the groceries up and inevitably it would get all jumbled up again.

I have a blog I read called Intentionally Katie (http://intentionallykatie.blogspot.com/) and she had a post about organizing pantries. It totally inspired me and gave me hope for my pantry. I emailed her and she offered to give me tips on organizing mine. I sent her these (horrid) pictures and she gave me a lot of good ideas. Thank you!!! This is the before. You wonder how we could ever find anything in there?? We didn't always. I am not gonna lie. Maybe I found a can of Manwich (which we don't even eat) in the back that expired in 2006. ... Ahhh...this makes my heart happy. Everything in it's perfect little place. I know it won't always be this neat, but it we be leaps and bounds better than before. At least everything has a general area and people will know where to find things.

Cool Birds

Wednesday, September 29, 2010 Tonight in our Team Kids class at church we had a guy come that helps rescue and rehabilitate injured birds. He brought several but this one was my favorite. It was a Horned Owl. It had been hit by a car and was blind in one eye : ( All the birds had sad stories but at least there was someone who was taking care of them now. I think the birds were a little freaked out by so many little kids. He also had a baby opossum and squirrel. They were SO cute. It was really neat and the kids loved it!

Cookies and Icing

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 Carrie made us some sugar cookies and we decided to make some icing to kick them up a notch. I love that I know how to make stuff like this now! 5 years ago if you had asked me if I could make icing I would have looked at you like you had 2 heads!

Daddy Dressed Me

Monday, September 27, 2010 This morning I sent Jason a text telling him it was really chilly and to make sure and put the kids in warmish clothes. This is seriously probably the 5th time in Noah's entire life to wear socks. The kid is like a little furnace. Clearly I haven't cleaned out his sock drawer and Jason pays no attention . Not only do they say 0-3 months (and Noah hasn't worn anything that size since he was about 6 weeks) but the heel of these socks are about mid foot. Oh Daddy! I just had to add one more picture of Noah. He is just so sweet. I love love love this baby stage. Adorable and squishy!

Sleep Baby Sleep

Sunday, September 26, 2010 This is what is consuming my life right now. Noah has never been that great of a sleeper. He is stubborn and hard headed. I wonder where he gets that from....?? I just can't let my sweet babies cry, but I am hoping this will help him develop some better sleep habits. And somehow convince him he is in fact NOT a newborn anymore. Not even close. So therefore he does not need to eat every 3 hours at night. *fingers crossed*

Baby Burrito

Saturday, September 25, 2010 All our kids have loved being swaddled. I think me and Jason create some sort of genetic mutation that makes our kids crazy spastic flailing sleepers. We didn't figure out the swaddle thing till Macy was a month old. We almost didn't survive that first month. With Mackenzie and Noah we knew what to do from the get go. Most kids outgrow wanting to be swaddled within a few months. Not our strange kids. Both the girls we swaddled till 7 months and Noah is still going strong. You see the small little piece of blanket coming out from under Noah's bottom? That is the feet of the blanket. We had to cut the bottom out so his feet could come out! It makes him so happy and relaxes him for bed. I think it will actually be a little sad when he is done with the swaddling. My little baby is growing up....

Angry Animals

Friday, September 24, 2010 Whenever we go on vacation the animals get so mad at us. They go through 2 very predictable phases when we get home. First they completely ignore us for about 18 hours. Like they are trying to show us they really didn't even care we were gone. They won't look at us and if we try to pet them they just walk away. Then they move to phase 2 where they decide they just can't hold it in anymore and practically maul us. It's like a dam just bursts. The smother us and love us and want to sit in our laps 24/7. It's so cute to watch them try and be mad at us!

Back to Oklahoma!

Thursday, September 23, 2010 We spent pretty much all day traveling. We left our hotel at 8:00 in the morning and didn't get to our house till 7:30 that night. The kids did great traveling again but they were so, so tired. They aren't the type to just fall asleep anywhere. Mackenzie fell asleep in the stroller, Jason carried her on the plane, buckled her in, and she just slumped over on him and fell asleep and slept most of the way to Houston. We had a great time on vacation but I think we were all ready to come home. We were worn out!

Animal Kingdom

Wednesday, September 22, 2010 We spent our last day at the Animal Kingdom. The first thing we did was go on the Safari tour. How cute is that little baby elephant?!? We saw several giraffes. A couple rhinos. It was a really cool tour! The girls like the triceratops ride. CHHHEEEESSSEEE! They got to meet Pluto and Goofy! And we finally got to meet Mickey and Minnie! Mackenzie waited for this moment all day. Mickey and Minnie Mouse are her favorite! Here we are on our way to dinner after spending the day at the park. These hats and ears are what the girls decided to buy with their spending money on. I thought they made a good choice. They look so cute!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Holla!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010 Oh the glory! This was the thing that me, Holly, and Jason were most excited about on this trip. We are all HUGE Harry Potter fans. And this was full on Harry Potter submersion. Hogwarts Express?? Yes please! Taking a little tour of Hogsmeade. No big deal. Enjoyed a little lunch at the 3 Broomsticks. Got to try a Butterbeer. It was delicious. Noah was Harry Pottered out. Next we ventured over to the castle. So. Awesome. We took a tour of the castle. Why yes that is the Sorting Hat. And it was talking to us! Got our pictures made with the Beaxbaton and Drumstrang students. Outside of Ollivanders. The inside of Ollivanders. And of course we both got wands! Bludgers and Quaffle. Quidditch anyone??? Monster Book of Monsters. And yes, it was trying to bite! We finished out the afternoon with a visit to Honeydukes. The girls favorite! Jason bought himself a chocolate frog. And it was SOLID chocolate. Yummy!

Hollywood Studios

Monday, September 20, 2010 In line for Toy Story Mania! We all had our 3D glasses and were ready to ride! Me, Noah and Jason rode together. It was a super fun 3D game where you shot at targets. It kept your score and you competed with the person who rode with you. Jason beat me, but I had a major handicap. I had to hold Noah AND shoot at the same time! They had a Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground that had giant blades of fake grass, rocks, and bugs. It was super fun! The crew all in line and popsicled up waiting for the parade. Parade time again. Hello Heimlich!

Magic Kingdom

Sunday, September 19, 2010 We made it to the Magic Kingdom just before it opened to see the parade that comes on the train at the front gates. EEEK!! We were so excited! We made a beeline for Cinderella's castle. The girls were just in awe. And maybe I was too.... One of the first rides we rode was the carousel. Doesn't London look adorable?!? As we were getting off the carousel we saw Mary Poppins and Burt!! The girls were so excited to get their picture made with them! Over by the teacups we ran into Alice in Wonderland and the White Rabbit. We watched the afternoon parade. Noah was enjoying the parade. Can you believe this guy is 6 months old today?? I can't. He is so stinking cute. Notice all the glitter on his face? The girls had super glittery princess dresses and by the end of the day he was COVERED in glitter. He looked like a little baby vampire shimmering in the sun. It will probably take a solid week to de-glitter this poor kid. This was THE princess Macy wanted to meet. Princess Tiana. And she was excited to see Prince Navine too. The dress she had on was a Princess Tiana dress. She just smiled and smiled and felt like such a star. Princess Tiana made such a big deal that Macy was dressed like her. This was definitely the highlight of her day! To end the day we watched the fireworks and went by the castle to see it lit up at night. SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

On Our Way To Disney!

Saturday, September 18, 2010 Yay! Finally on our way to Disney World! We are so lucky all our kids are fantastic travelers. They love to fly. The girls enjoyed all the excitement of being on a plane and Noah slept pretty much the whole time! After we landed in Orlando there was a bus that took us back to our hotel. We are all so excited! (We didn't really let Macy hold Noah on the bus, she just held him for a few seconds for the picture!) After a long day of traveling we went to Downtown Disney to eat and relax a little. The day had a few bumps along the way. Macy got the stomach bug that me and Mackenzie had 2 days before, we got lost going to Downtown Disney, and our luggage was super late. But when we finally got there and got some food in our stomachs we all cheered up. After dinner we found this splash pad and the girls had so much fun playing in the water. These smiling faces and giggly girls made all the trouble worth it!