Room Makeover #1

Our kids rooms really need some help, and a friend of mine, Jennifer Bolen, is getting her certification in staging homes. So she needs to do 45 rooms for a project. We were excited to have her work on Charly's room. It is so cute! I love it.
Here's some before and after pictures:







So how long do you think this will stay organized. . .

Hopefully she'll learn to pick up after herself. The neat & tidy thing is tough for all 5 of us.
Christman made the above piece for Charly. Click here to see more of his work.

Below is an up close pic of the red cabinet that we painted pink & off-white to match the dollhouse above.


One last look at the room:


Looking forward to getting the boys' room done too. Ridge is moving into Cobb's room this month. Or at least that's my plan.

My Little Commentator

Well, we made it to 6. . . I mean Cobb did. I started hearing Charly moving around at 5:45, but she hasn't come down yet. Ridge woke at 5. I let him do his little moaning thing til it almost broke into a full throttle cry. I grabbed him in just in time to hopefully not wake the others.

I think I might just have the loudest two year old known to man. His voice is always at full throttle, and he's ALWAYS talking. Our conversation this morning went something like this:

Starting when I walk into the room, the crying stops and. . .
R: hi mommy
Me: Hi Ridge
R: I go dow stay. I go dow stay. nee food. I hungy.
Me: ok (having to interrupt him)
R: I foss min whea. I gap nut.
Me: you want cereal. which one, frosted mini wheats or grape nuts?
R: I foss min whea. I papet milk. I see light keen! I see light keen! (pointing to his lightening mcqueen car)

He continues talking as I fix him chocolate milk and cereal. Keep in mind that it's only 5:15 a.m. and his voice is at FULL throttle the whole time breaking through the silent morning. After I give him his stuff, I move on to pour myself some coffee. . .

R: Mommy, coffee?
I nod
R: me papet milk. see? see foss min whea? Wan some foss min whea mommy? see keen?? voom voom! see keen? uh oh. Keen pill. Keen pill my foss min whea!

Yes, Lightening McQueen had bumped into his cereal and spilled it. His commentary went on and on. My little talker. Gotta love him even in the wee hours. . .

oops gotta go. the water is running, and I just heard Cobb shout, "No Charly, no!" Trouble. . .

Back to the drawing board

So around Christmas and New Years my kids were blessing us tremendously by waking at 7 a.m. (or at least 6:30 and waiting til "the sun wakes up" to come downstairs). But this morning, I'm afraid we're falling off the wagon. . .

I rolled over sleepily when I heard giggling in the living room, and it dawned on me that the monitor was off. I leaned over in the darkness searching for that little button on the side of the baby monitor. As I flipped it on, a sad and furious baby cry echoed through my room. "How long has he been up?" I wondered to myself. It was pitch black outside. Disoriented I figured it must be the middle of the night, but then I heard the girlish giggle from the living room again coupled with boy laughter. I look over at my clock to see that it says 5:45 a.m. Yes, ALL THREE were up, and had been up for quite a while (this being assumed from the noises heard).

There was no chance of getting all of the munchkins back to bed so close to "wake up time," but I am grateful that we woke up happy. I'm hoping this doesn't go back to being the "norm" because I have unfortunately gotten used to later time. Oh well, you can't win them all!

Hope everyone had a great first day of school!

Celebrating New Years

We've celebrated the new year with the Fifers for 5 years in a row. This year we headed to the Fifer's lakehouse on New Year's Eve to spend the night. It was so relaxing! The kids did such a great job playing well together so the adults were able to chill: chatting, reading, football, eating, etc. . .
Here's Rob & Kingsley:

Christman lit fireworks New Year's evening & the kids absolutely loved it. Cobb & Abby have never said "awesome!" so many times in 10 minutes even though many of the fireworks were duds. After the kids were in bed, the four adults chatted & watched the ball drop. We went by NYC time, and headed to bed at 11.

The next morning Christman made breakfast for all of us.

While Christman cleaned up from breakfast, the rest of us headed to the park.


The park was great! All old timey playground stuff. . . guess what this is. . .



Yep! It's those old horses! How cool is that!

And there was the good 'Ol Merry go round:

And the human hamster wheel:

The playground was so fun, and I think the adults liked it just as much as the kids.

Ridge & KK by the lake:

Daddy comforting a tired Ridge:




We played outside most of the day because it was so pretty!

The kids even got in the lake:





Ridge & Christman watching the big kids:


Sweet friends. Thanks for letting us celebrate with you again this year!

Updates from December 2008

We celebrated Ridge's second birthday with family and a few friends. Click here to see Stacey's post about it, she did a great job of describing the event. Plus, I somehow ended up with no pictures except this one. . .

We had the chance to babysit Mia (Trisha & Marc's little girl) for the first time. Charly drew her a picture, and it gave Charly & me baby fever!



My family came in town for Christmas, and we all had such a great time. It was so nice to get some quality time with my sisters, bro-in-laws, and mom & dad. Santa came & brought the kids just what they wanted. A bike, a scooter, and a race track. How did he know??


We had warm fires and matching Pjs and presents under the tree. . .



And lots of fun times!
with our new toys:



with cousins(their mouths all full with pirates bootie):




making gingerbread houses:







And then we got a visit from Bennett at 3 a.m. because his babysister was ready to come into the world. Here are the boys in our bed after they woke up.

Welcome DAYTON JOY Parker!! See their blog for more cute pics of her. . .

Remember Charly's Scissors Adventure??

Click here if you don't remember.

Well, it turns out she was just trying to copy her Aunt Missy's cut from 1986.


Missy is pretty keen on style and fashion, but it's hard to believe that was really "in."

And just for kicks, here's pics of my cute hubby and Cobb about the same age(& wetness). . .

2009 Begins

Happy New Year 2009 from the Thomas Clan!

OOPS, the new year has started, and I'm behind already. I know I haven't blogged in a while (as I'm reminded by my dear husband, my most dedicated reader), so I just wanted you to know it's coming. We had SUCH a fun Christmas & New Years, and I'd love to share. Stay tuned! I'm currently working on several posts at once.

Also, just wanted to remind you to sign up for the Journey if you haven't already. What is the Journey you ask? Click Here to find out more about it. Click Here to sign up.

No Regrets in the New Year

Hope everyone has a great New Years...
Check out our newest video from Igniter Media.

Regrets from Igniter Media on Vimeo.