Carpet, Finally Carpet!!!!!!

Well after living for a month with wood floors on all of the floors in our main living areas we finally have some carpet!!!!  We got the same carpet for all of our upstairs.  It feels so nice on our feet and the lighter color really lightens up the rooms.

Here are some of our before and after pictures, with the new furniture arrangements.

Here is Jamie's room, before

After, Jamie is crying because of thunder and lightening going on outside.

This is Lizzie's which I don't have a before picture of but I wanted to show off her fun bed, I think it is such a fun bed!!!

Here is my room, before, with the furniture just where the movers left it. 

And here is the after that we are currently trying out.  I might have to stay this way just because the dresser with the mirror on top is to tall to fit anywhere else.  I really like this furniture that we found though.

We like the carpet so much we almost decided to have a slumber party right on the landing.  (The doors are leaning up against the walls because we still need to shave off the bottoms so that they will fit again.)

We are so thankful to have carpet upstairs.  I am amazed at how much better it feel, looks and sounds.  They nearly gave me a headache putting it in, but now things don't echo as well and I can't hear my daughter running around as well.

This week we should also be getting a room size rug for the play room and our living room rugs as well as the carpet for the stairs.  I think it will make this house feel much more like a home.  Then the next thing will be to get some curtains.

Fun Times This Week!!

This week we have been able to have some more fun then we usually do in a week.  Last Friday Brian's sister Rachel and her family came to stay with us for the night.  Saturday morning we went to the Great Swamp to see the frogs that were waking up after the cold winter.  I was fun to walk around the paths and look for the frogs, we finally heard some just as we were about to leave.  They then went on to Grandma and Grandpa's house where we joined them for dinner Sunday night.  

Monday and Tuesday I was able to go over to visit some families in the ward.  Monday was just a play time and Tuesday was a recipe exchange mini enrichment group.  They kids seemed to enjoy getting out of the house and I enjoyed having other women to talk to.

Wednesday and Thursday the kids seemed to really enjoy having time to just play with there toys and relax at home.

Friday we went to the Circus!!!

It was my first time into Manhattan since coming back to NY.

We rode the train in, just like Brian gets to do every day!  

(It is hard to take a clear picture on a moving train.)

We had left early in hopes to get some clown training only to find out when we got there that there was no clown training that day.  So we just hung out while we waited for the show to start.  Rachel and family and Grandma were there to enjoy the circus with us.

It was a great circus and we all really enjoyed it.  It was fun to see how excited the kids got, especially when the animals came out.  I thought that they might get scared, but they didn't not even once.  I tried to take pictures of the looks on there faces as they watched, but it didn't work. I was also amazed that they didn't get sensory overload with all that was going on, after all I think I did.  It did seem to go a little long for them though, but then they brought out the tigers which got their interest again.

Here is a picture of all of us outside of Madison Square Garden after the show!!

We met up with Grandpa for a yummy late lunch before we headed back home on the train.  Jamie looked so cute sitting in the big train seat all by himself.

Should you ever give kids knives???

Only when covered in Nutella!!

First Day of Spring

Well today is the first day of spring and we woke up to this . . .

Actually when we woke up the snow was much worse covering almost all of the ground, however by the time breakfast was over and I had cleared the pictures from my camera so that I could take more, this is what it looked like.  

And now the sun is shining and it is a beautiful day!!!!
 

Kissing Siblings

My kids have recently discovered kissing.  They never did it much until they started kissing the walls in the hallway at Grandma and Grandpa Hunters house.  They have finally decided it is okay to kiss mom and dad as well.  Which I am quite enjoying.  Lizzie feels it is important to kiss both checks.  Yesterday they started to kiss each other and it was so cute I had to take a video.  Of course, once Jamie saw the camera he forgot what he was doing, but it is still a cute video.

Emily this one is for you!!!

Well, Emily I took this video with your kids in mind.  They enjoyed our last video so much I thought that they might also get a kick out of this one.  Really I am just trying to give your kids bad influences from a far.  Anyway, enjoy!!

We have finally done it!!!

After three months of driving other people's cars we have finally broken down and bought our own car.

We have had in our minds for a long time to get a  Toyota Prius.  Yesterday we left our house at 11:00 with a list of things to do, first to buy a car.  We went to the dealership and after I tried to convince Brian to get a Carolla, or Camry, he was still decided on the Prius.  So we did it and finally after 5:00 I drove out of there in a brand new brownish Prius.  

We got it for a good price using the Costco Auto Program, or at least that is what the salesman said.  We should be able to sell it in a year or two old for about the same price, if we decided to.

All of this spending money has been kind of interesting.  I am realizing how easy it would be to get over your head in debt when you are buying things that you don't have to pay for till later, so the full cost of it doesn't really sink in and it is easier to say add that little more for the warranty.

Update on the wall coloring!!!

Well I thought that I should give an update on the coloring situation.  If you have not seen my last post you may want to read it first.  

It turns out that Lizzie has become quite obsessed with getting the crayon off.  This morning she began again to take toilet paper to the wall, table and chair.  

I decided to help her by giving her half of a magic eraser while I used the other half.  She really loved cleaning with it, though it didn't do much good.  

She did throw a fit when I took it away an hour or so later so that we could go for a walk.  And went back to getting toilet paper when we got back.

I, on the other hand, got to realize just how hard it needed to be scrubbed in order to get any crayon off at all.  This was my poor half after I was able to get one little part off.

It looks just like the picture, wouldn't you say?  And that was just the second time that I used it, the first was to get crayon off of my kitchen cabinets, which was very easy to do.  It just doesn't do as well on the textured wall and table.  It will definitely take a couple magic erasers and a very sore arm to get it all off.  I will see if I really want to put that much into it.  I will probably just leave it there to remind Lizzie that she shouldn't draw on the walls!!!

I have heard the advice that if your kids make a mess make them clean it up.  Well Lizzie is one girl who hates messes.  I'm not sure having her help clean it up will help her to not do it again.  When she was littler after the second or so time she spilled her milk and then asked for something to clean it up with, I cleaned up the mess to help discourage her from spilling her milk so that she could clean it up.  Kids really do come in all kinds.

Is all laughter good?

I have decided to post some of the things that make my kids laugh!!!

Below is a picture of my kids playing with their favorite toy.

Yes, that would be a tissue which they tear up and play with in all sorts of ways.  Todays way of choice was to blow it across the table.  I would get mad at them for doing this if they were not just so cute when they did and they will even clean it up sometimes when they are done playing.  One tissue can keep them occupied for nearly an hour as they laugh away.  Oh the joys of simple things!!!  I have even included a little video that I took of them, because they are just so cute.  It is kind of long, but you don't have to watch it all the way through it is just the same thing over and over again.

 

Well today after dinner the kids were laughing and playing once again and I didn't think much of it as I played away on the internet.  Lizzie would come and get some crayons and take them into their play room.  They have some coloring books in there so I wasn't to concerned.  Then I heard the unmistakable sound of crayons on table and went to investigate.  And this is what I found . . . 

I guess all of my telling them to just color on appropriate paper has yet to work when I am not looking.  I learned that not all laughter is good.  It did motivate me to get them ready for bed which I had been playing to much to do before.  As I was trying to get Lizzie to go upstairs for bed she came to me with some of the tissue that hadn't got cleaned up from earlier and wanted me to get it wet so that she could clean the walls, it was cute, but I wasn't convinced that it would work, so I ushered her off to bed all the same.  Maybe tomorrow we will spend some time cleaning it up!!!

Thankfully the coloring is just in their playroom so I will not be up all night trying to get every bit of crayon off of the walls, life will go on and it will probably get more coloring on it, before our time here is through.  Well maybe all laughter is good, even though we may not like what they are doing!!!