Jumping Lesson

Madison had a lesson a couple weeks ago that was at another barn with a very well known trainer in the area - she had so much fun with Mata Hari that day!

Last Laundry Room Post!

I already posted this picture from the laundry room remodel but it was hiding the one part that wasn't finished.

I hadn't yet repainted the cabinet.  And now that is DONE!  :)  Here it is after I just got started.

 And voila!  Here is the whole finished room!  A little warped looking since I used the pano feature on the phone but the only way to get the whole 8x12 room into one picture.  

Ha!  I just noticed my wine glass sitting on the counter!  No, I don't normally sip wine while doing laundry but I do have my box wine hidden on the window sill behind the dryer!!

And the view from the other direction

 I couldn't be more pleased with how this room turned out.  I still need to eventually replace the big picture window on the other side of the room but in the mean time, its fine.

Christmas 2014

Getting ready for Christmas was a bit chaotic this year because my work-life was beyond crazy and sucking up ALL my time but with Scott and Amazon's help, we were able to pull it together!

Austin was so thrill with...pajama pants!  LOL!

Madison was super happy to get some new boots...

 And a pretty pink scarf and headband from her brother.

Scott customized a racing shirt for Austin.

 And Madison instantly fell in love with her new yoga mat.

I don't think he was awake enough to realize he was modeling for my camera!

One of these days I'll have two matching table cloths but in the mean time, I'm just happy I can fit 8 easily and I'm pretty confident we could squeeze in 5-6 more.

Later, we got everyone's appetites up with a Wii Bowling Tournament.  I was a winner with Olivia in the first round but then I crashed in the second round.  Too distracted with getting dinner ready I guess! 

A little earlier we did a little portrait photography - of course this started at Madison's request since her and Darryl have to memorialize every occasion when they are dressed up!  And dressed they were - Madison was quite fashionable with her J Crew skirt and necklace and Darryl made a statement in his plaid Christmas shirt with a new green bowtie and Columbia vest.

Scott wore his new 1/4 zip from Madison and hurt our eyes with the bright orange.

Austin also wore a new hoodie (and those new pajama pants that you can't see in the picture thank goodness!).

Daddy definitely loves his kids!

That bow tie got a whole lot of fussing!

I need to photoshop Austin's bright smiling face from one of the other pictures into this one...

And never ones to wear the same clothes for long, Darryl and Madison put on their ugly Christmas sweaters for one last picture later that evening.  

Merry Christmas!!

Hitting the Kitchen

Who knew you could use Wonton wrappers to make ravioli?  I didn't until last week when I made these pumpkin ravioli.  They were actually very good.  Even Scott liked them.

I think it was all the browned butter I poured on them that he liked...definitely not low calorie!

Then I moved on to baking this week with my friend Betty Crocker.  Gotta love that woman.  A stick of butter and an egg and I was rockin' the cookies.

All wrapped up and ready for deliveries.  Well...they were.  Hoping Motocross Boy/Man didn't get into them in the wee hours....

Gotta Love Kalamazoo!

I was running late and it had been a long day but I was pretty darn happy to need a full tank of gas when I saw this price at the pump!  The next day the same station was $2.49.  Yeeeehaw!!

Kitty

Why???  Why here?

Laundry Room Remodel - almost done!

I really didn't think this project would take all that long but that was probably my first mistake.  Here it is as of last night - which was just before I started doing 2 weeks of laundry that's been waiting for the new washer and dryer (thanks to Mom and Dad for the early Christmas & Birthday gifts!).

After doing the easy part of painting, we had to lay down a new subfloor for the tile.  Well, Scott did that part.

Then we had to start in the middle of the room since it's so far from being square.  We started out with me putting down the mortar and Scott laying the tiles but after a while, I took over both of those jobs since my knees are much better than his.

It took some planning to remember to get ourselves out of the room so we were finishing by the door.

Man was I happy to put in those last three pieces!

 And the pre-grout finished job.  That paper stuck to the door is my inspiration photo.

And then we did the grout which wasn't a walk in the park either.

But I do like how it turned out.  Scored the blue striped rugs at Meijer for $4!

Scott then installed the new light fixture.  This isn't exactly the kind of light I would have installed but that's where the hole was on the wall so a ceiling light was out unless I ran it on hooks and wires.  With the room being all white now, this works pretty good. We actually have two of the lights turned to point up now and bounce the light off the ceiling.

I'm kinda bummed that they are a little taller than the window but I LOVE having the pedestals with the drawers under them.  Now I don't need shelves - which I had a hard time reaching over the old units anyway.

But here's the exciting part - the new dryer has an LED light inside!!!  You can actually see those white socks hiding behind one of the paddles.

Motocross Boy/Man

Thanksgiving 2014

My most awesome sister hosted Thanksgiving this year.  She's a much better cook than me - I brought the rolls!  She's taking after Mom though.  The table was set the weekend before (caught this when I stopped by her house on Monday to pick up cookies!)

 The cousins had some great bonding time.

Scott got in the act with them when they did a cute chair dance.  Darryl wasn't amused.

And had to get a family picture!

One with Darryl too since he's stuck around a full year now.

Austin ate WAY too much and ended up finding the couch pretty darn comfortable.

I came home and managed to drag myself onto the treadmill.  Thank goodness I had something good to watch on the iPad because it was NOT an easy walk!

Random Pony Pics

Mata Hari is so spoiled...she was going to miss her dinner while Jon trimmed her hooves so Equestrian Girl held her bucket so she could eat at the same time.

 But I have to say, the effort was worth it.  Her pedicure looks awesome.  This horse's feet have changed so much in a year!

This is the drool-y happy face of a hard working horse!

EG spent some quality time with her pony giving her little braids last week.