September...(pics)

Finds us beginning the first full month as hosts for our lovely exchange student from Belgium. She sings and plays the piano so our home is filled with lovely music. We have really enjoyed watching her reactions to American food - she loves it...seriously. She may not go home :) Here she being introduced to Italian Nachos (yummo!) from Old Chicago:

 

BNSF also hosted a family day. My husband, Shawn works for GE BNSF property so he invited us to tour his daily life (and his FABULOUS office). It was really cool to see. Everything is so much bigger here than it was in the Galesburg railroad shop. All of us really enjoyed it. They also treated us to a grilled lunch that consisted of hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, desserts, etc. It was all so wonderful. I am so proud of my husband and how hard he works for us.

Also this month we attended a hot air balloon rally here in Topeka. It was so windy Friday and Saturday of the event that only a few balloons out of the hundred attempted to "blow up" but the wind prevailed. Unfortunately, the ugliest balloon at the event was the one that was blowing up when we were there...

...luckily on Sunday we saw a few balloons fly by our house after the wind finally calmed down a bit.

Last but not least, we wanted to introduce Margot to another American staple, baseball! So we took her to a Kansas City Royals game on a Friday night. Yeah, I know, the Royals suck but to me, all baseball sucks so it did not really matter who was playing. It was a blast! It was buck night so we got hot dogs, peanuts, and soda for (you guessed it) a buck! We had dinner at the stadium that night. The Royals won. Afterward, they had a firework display. We are really looking forward to attending another game; even my husband who despises baseball agreed to return to a Royals game (on buck night, of course). :)

 

At the end of the month, Logan had school pictures (he decided on his own outfit, lol). Brooklyn also  tried to hop the bus with Margot or Logan at least five times this month; all attempts ended of course in a meltdown because she just wants to "be big and wide the skoobus!" So, I included a pic of her dressed to chase the bus down before I deflated her plan.

We also went to Louisburg, KS and attended their annual cider fest. We also ventured to their pumpkin patch and picked our prize pumpkins for carving. We love this yearly ritual and everything that goes along with it.

 

Parched, we hit up a local BBQ pit that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and introduced Margot to the decadent world of pork with sweet sauce. Again, she was a fan! While we were there, Margot also got to pin Belgium on the map. The restaurant likes to map their visitors.

Home Decor and Exchange Students!

I really need to find more time for this blogging thing.

So I have not posted since January. Been busy getting our home just the way we like it. Long way to go. Basement refinishing to start soon; installation of swimming pool and a fire pit sitting area are all major projects yet to finish. Most of the interior I have painted and redecorated to our liking. We have really spruced the place up! Added new tile backsplash in our bathroom that matches the new paint colr, changed out the fixtures and plate covers to give it a more "primitive" feel as that is the look I am going for.

This pic shows the mirrors before/after transition. I built and painted a frame for the big, plain piece of mirror glass to dress it up a bit. Then we painted, tiled and decorated to our liking, as shown below:

The dining room was a major transformation, just by changing the color. The gray that was in there was drab and just plain hideous. We like warmer colors so we settled on a Honey Beige and a Redwood accent wall. Pretty cute, especially once decked out in our decor!

These two rooms were just a start. I will post the other rooms as I get the photos taken. As for now, I have a foreign exchange student to finish preparing for! Yes, a foreign exchange student will be living with us for the next year! I need to get better at planning time for blogging so I can blog about our adventures as we show her America. She is a beautiful young lady from Antwerpen, Belgium. She is going to be a Senior this year so I will get to take part in Senior picture sessions, graduation and parties, PROM and all that other great stuff! We cannot wait to meet her tomorrow and spending the most amazing year with her! Isn't she beautiful?!

VACATION!

This month we went on a week long family vacation. Our original plan of driving cross country to see the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and a bunch of other cool places got the kibosh when we realized that Brooklyn in a car for that many hours has never ended well. So, we stuck close to home, but we had a blast. Just Shawn, the kids and I. We are really looking forward to next year!
First, we stayed in Omaha, Nebraska for a couple of nights and visited the Henry Doorly Zoo. The aquarium was certainly a favorite!

Next stop, Mall of America, Bloomington, Minnesota! Here, Larynn enjoyed trying on some funny hats at a funny hat store, both girls thoroughly enjoyed the American Doll store, along with the huge Disney store. Larynn brought home Merida from Brave and Brookie wanted Ariel, the Little Mermaid. Logan went crazy over the giant Lego store. They all tried to convince us that they needed to bring home a Hermit Crab from one of the vendors. (Luckily, we convinced them that the crabs would not survive the rest of our trip). We ate at Rainforest Café (and will never return).

Next stop, Wisconsin Dells! Here, we stayed at Meadowbrook Resort for a few days. Our room was awesome - it was a bunk room and we could walk right off our patio into the pool. We even had our own kitchenette and a campfire outside to roast marshmallows and s'mores. It was wicked fun :) We visited a fossil store as well (Logan was in heaven) and even saw a life size dinosaur at a Sinclair gas station nearby! We enjoyed pizza at a Moose Jaw restaurant one night, nearby and enjoyed the sites. Because I am from the area, I had a great time giving my family a tour and taking my kids to/by places I went when I was younger.

'Til next year!

4 years...

...ago today, I married the love of my life :)

 

New truck! (pics)

Yep, we did it again. We are now proud owners of a new Ford F150 FX4. (My hubby was jealous of my new car.) Actually, I had to convince him to purchase this bad boy. I think when I said, "you are not a real man unless you have a truck," he decided to sign on the dotted line.

;)

New car! (pics)

Well, the day has finally arrived. After 9 months of test driving, research, interviews, etc. I finally decided on and purchased a new car. (Well, my awesome hubby actually bought it for me but that is just a technicality.)

*happy dance*

Crazy? I know crazy!

So, obviously the thankful thing didn't work out on a regular basis online, but I did work it out in my head anyway. I took time each day to reflect on the little "thanks" in life, but didn't find the time I had hoped to find during the day to post about them. At night when the kids were in bed would have been the perfect time, but I was too consumed in the peace and quiet; oh, and watching my DVR'd TV shows that I am also so thankful for :) There's nothing like ending a long day with The Biggest Loser, Parenthood, Property Virgins, House or Castle. It is definitely a relief after cartoons echoing through the house the majority of the day.

Well, the remainder of November found me selling off things in the basement that I did not want to have to go through once the move was over; as well as preparing for showings, making long trips to Kansas to view homes and waiting to get closed on the house we finally chose to buy. I spent long hours drooling over the photos online as I anticipated every little thing I was going to do to change it! Yes, I love me a good home makeover, Kelly style, of course. The house is fairly new, but the colors and decor were all wrong. Great bones, and super fantastic layout with a ton of space, so I was excited to get my little hands on it! Shawn spent long hours at work, as well as trying to find time in the day to rush over to the new house for inspections, etc. But, finally December came and the real fun began.

We closed on our new house on December 15th and began moving in December 16th. We were also super excited for our dog, Haylee, who finally had a fenced backyard to run free in, rather than being confined on a tie-out. The first thing that damn dog did was jump over the fence. I guess the one acre backyard wasn't enough room to roam; she needed the other two acres as well. Stupid dog. I am certain we will be meeting our neighbors soon...hope they have a sense of humor!

The movers were here all day Friday moving us in in the freezing cold, bless their hearts. They were a fabulous group of men and will certainly be requesting their services for our next move. I frantically unpacked as they brought boxes in, I put the kitchen table together and worked around them as much as I could. Shawn told me I better slow down, or they were going to hire me :) The movers were joking about which one of them they were going to use me as a replacement for! We had a great time. I made them hot coffee to keep them thawed and after the unloading was done, we had pizza together before parting ways. It was a great experience.

Well, we have been in the house 5 weeks now. Most of the boxes have been unpacked (I did this quickly so I could start painting!) and the house is feeling more and more like a home each day. Still lots of work to do to make it our own, but we love it. We all do. The kids all have their own rooms (which are all master bedroom sized, it's crazy) and for the first time ever, I have a master suite with a jacuzzi! Not sure I will ever use it, but having there at my disposal is fantastic!