Posing Princess Violet

We spent a lot of time outside while the hubs was hard at work laboring away. I finally remembered to grab my camera and take some pictures of the kids!

She was being silly!

Ooh! That's pretty good of all of them!

Eliza loves this little car. It has survived them all! I think Ashton got it around a year old!

She wanted a a picture with Eliza!

Pretty much how Ashton takes pictures these days!

This one is a pretty poser!

Always on the move!

Oh Tim!

Drought Proof Backyard

Well, California is in one of it's worst droughts in history. Last year, we stopped watering our fairly new sod. Wahhh! I had done that when the hubs was off to Iraq, so that was under 4 years ago! But people are living without water, so we had to do our part and sacrifice! So, we have been living with dirt and weed patches for the past year and something had to be done! The hubs decided to drought proof our old lawn with pea gravel. Eventually we can put walking pavers and maybe even a picnic bench, or better yet, an above ground pool!

We had all the pea gravel and mulch delivered to the front of our house.

My pretty posing princess and Tim being Tim!

They worked hard digging up all the remaining grass patches before laying down the weed barrier.

Was Violet really working?? She's not one to do manual labor!

Our poor sod!

Watch those toes Ashton!!

Dad getting the job done!

Are all kids like this?? I turn my back and Tim is scaling the wall!!

After a week of hard work, the pea gravel and mulch transforms the area.

I started our garden that weekend. This was about a month ago. I should take a picture of how much has grown!

I love fresh mulch!

I told you she loves to pose!

Eliza Waving

Eliza is a girl of few words but oh does she love to wave! She has waved for awhile but it's so cute. She does the "up-and-down" shake her hand kind of wave. And lately has been doing the "side-to-side" way. All of which can either mean Hi, Bye, and All Done! She squeals quite a bit and can point like no one's business to get what she wants.

Oh yes! And she has some teeth! Two bottom and 3 top teeth! That stubborn fourth on her left side won't pop through!

The up and down wave!

Side to side with a raspberry from Tim!

She is so cute sometimes

Tim too!

Taco-tongue Tim! Yes he has figured out how to do a taco with his tongue and he won't stop!!

Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations - Not My Best Decisions

So remember a few years ago, we went from Oak to Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations?

Remember this... such a deal?! Right?! For $150 (the cost of two kits), my kitchen was transformed!

From this...

To this...

Yeah...it was so pretty. For a little while! I can safely say with confidence, DO NOT DO THIS!

Two years later, and two more kids, it looked like this...

Gross right?! The "paint" was not easy to clean with a wash rag.

So I guess it looks fine if you aren't going to touch it.

But if you are... watch out! It does scratch off... easily!

Granted, we do have four kids but really?! It should clean off easier than this!

 So, off to Pinterest I went to research "How to paint your cabinets (correctly)."

So, we sanded...

And labeled...

And 3 weeks later,

Well, it's still a mess but it really does brighten up the place. So I followed the "real" (ie correct) way of doing things. I sanded things down, primed, and then painted with two coats. And here we are a month later, the cabinet doors are mostly done. I have 4 more doors to complete the last coat of paint. I have the hardware. But the hubs still needs to drill the holes. I am too afraid of messing that up! So, let's cross our fingers that this weekend, after a month, that our kitchen can be back to normal!