Michigan Trip

We recently took a trip to Michigan to visit family. It was all around a great trip: the drive to and from MI went smoothly (with the exception of a flat tire on the way home), Lucy traveled SO well (better than Brad and I did!) and we got to visit with a lot of family and friends we don't get to see very often anymore. 

Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Visiting Grandma's Classroom

Mom Kidder teaches kindergarten to two different classes - she has over 50 students total, that she sees week to week! (She is amazing.... how she keeps her sanity - I have no idea.) In the above picture, Lucy is playing with Grandma's microphone - such cool technology. 

 Lucy ate up all the attention - all the kids knew who "baby Lucy" was the moment she walked in. Grandma makes sure to share any new pictures with her classes. :)

 The kids were rolling a ball to Lu, and she would pick it up and "throw" it back - too cute. :)

Amy's Graduation

 The reason we went up to MI was because, after 4 years of hard work, Amy was graduating!

 Proud parents :)

 Lucy was so excited for her Aunt- so much so, that she clapped for the first time during the ceremony. :) 

 Lucy also loved the red tassel. :)

 The kids and grandkid :)

 COLLAGE GRADUATE!

 "I did it!" 

(We have a picture of Brad like this in his cap and gown)

 Amy with the Grandmas - Grandma Buning and Grandma Kidder 

 The whole clan :) 

 Amy receiving her "Lamp." Each graduate at Kuyper receives a wooden candle holder with a light candle - the holder is made of 5+ different types of wood from around the world - the "lamp" symobolizes that graduates are to go and be lights through out the world. It was a neat part of the ceremony. :) 

Spending time with Grandma and Grandpa

 Lucy loved spending time with her grandma, reading was a favorite activity. :) 

 

 Grandpa even got to babysit Lucy one evening! When I texted him asking if everything was going ok, he sent me this adorable poem: 

 

Milk and Cheerios were ate, 

Having great fun but it was gettin' late,

My alone time with Lucy was had,

Reminding what fun to be a dad,

Nothing more needs to be said,

Cause sweet little Lulu has gone to bed.

(Seriously! Made. Me. Cry.)

A Quick Remodel

Our trip to Michigan was different this time, because all of our friends there are "grown up" and have full time jobs and mom and dad had to work all day - leaving us at home. This was nice, because Lucy could take good naps during the day and be rested to spend time with people in the evenings and we got to have a little fun remodeling Amy's room. :)

 

 Not before, but during. I forgot to take a before picture..... (Bad Sarah!) But you can see the color of the walls - blue - and a bit of the carpet. 

 Here is another shot of the carpet - you can't tell from this picture as well, but it needed to be replaced. :) So we found a solution that worked well. Bringing Amy's room from Jr/Sr High Student to Post College Graduate. :)

 After :) We painted the room a nice dark grey - called Flannel Suit from Ace.

 And we replaced the flooring with hardwood laminate from Lumber Liquidators. (Love that place)

So as you can see - it was a fantastic trip! :) From start to finish.

Have you traveled lately?

Eleven Months Old

I feel like I always start these month birthday posts with, "Can you believe it? Lucy is --- months old! Man! Time flies." lol, so continuing on in tradition....

Another month has flown by! Lucy is now 11 months old, one short month away from her first birthday! I can hardly believe our little girl is getting SO big! Brad said the other day, "I feel like at any moment, our baby will be gone forever." I feel the same way.

This months accomplishments:

• Laughing of her own accord, with out prompting from Mom or Dad
• Lucy has started pointing - it all started at the furnature store when we were shopping for couches, we were both FED UP with the choices and we looked at Lucy and asked her "What should we do?" She smiled and pointed (at a VERY expensive couch) and although we did not take her suggestion, she lightened the mood a bit. :) She loves pointing at her dad when he points at her - it is really cute.
• Lu clapped for the fist time! This happened at Amy's graduation. I keep saying she is saving all her important milestones for her aunts - she waved bye bye to my sister Becca when she was leaving and she clapped for her Aunt Amy. :) 
• She has become much more conversational, babbling at you when you ask her questions or "copying" words - I am convinced she said "cat" the other day, but she hasn't repeated it.... She sometimes will say "ta" ("thank you"), "da" ("yes" - I am convinced she is Russian) or "hi" (self explanatory) and she has finally started to say "mama" :) (Much to my delight, although she still calls me "dada" sometimes). We are not 100% positive these words are intentional yet, but they do happen to slip out at the right time every now and then.
• Our little girl has begun to show great enjoyment over some foods - she will say "Mmmmmmm" really loud after having a taste of snow cone, yogurt or anything sweet. :)
• Walking sideways - Lucy can go from one side of the couch/hearth to the other on her narrow little feet. :)
• Attitude - well, we all knew it was coming. Lucy has begun to show her defiance. If she is told no, sometimes (not all the time) she will throw a little fit, making a "mean" face (see picture below) and even trying to bite or hit. Yikes...... Well, we have heard stories from our parents about how we were when we were young, I guess we are getting what we deserve. But there are other times we tell Lu, "No, you need to focus on something else." and she will! The happiness we feel when she is obedient far outweighs the frustration we feel when she is not. Welcome to parenthood.... 

Here are some outtakes from our photo shoot last Saturday: 
 

The horizontal one on the bottom is my favorite. It captures her so well. :) (Remember you can always click the image to see it larger)

Well, we will be back next month to introduce our ONE year old! AUGHHHH

Fixin' Up Friday: New Couch!

Before: 

 We bought these couches right before we got married, for (what we thought was) a good deal. Sadly, time has not been kind to our sofa, the love seat is still in great shape (maybe because we usually use the sofa?). We even tried to repair the broken sofa a few months ago, we turned it over, took off the black fabric and stared in disbelief. Long story short - the couch was made VERY poorly, we added a new 2x4 hoping to prolong the life of our seat, and it worked for about three months. This last week however, enough was enough. We had to get a new couch. 

Before continuing the story, let me illustrate for you the condition of the sofa:

 Boards were coming out :( 

 The back was snapped in two, curving the supports :( 

 There were poky things coming out of the back :(

 That's not what a couch is supposed to look like....:( 

We have been looking for new couches for a few months, we have been to every furniture store in Amarillo, most of them twice, and we were having a really hard time finding something we liked. Here was our mental check list: 

• Quality construction - we want this thing to last 7+ years not 3
• No skirt, clean lines on the bottom
• Couch/Love Seat or Sectional - we went back and forth
• Not too modern (straight lines) but something that looks comfortable
• Fabric, no leather, our thinking was that leather (the shades we liked) would be too dark in our room because of the brick wall.

We ended up finding a sectional that we liked, but we weren't too sure about construction, the cushions felt a bit soft. And as we wandering the store, we saw the same sectional in LEATHER, since we really really liked the shape of this sectional, Brad went and sat down in the leather version and exclaimed, "Wow this feels much more sturdy" - and he was right. I was convinced that LEATHER would be okay in the room after being 1) given permission to repaint the room a lighter color if I felt it was too dark, 2) told I could buy pillows/fabric for the couch (it didn't come with pillows) in a lighter color to lighten it up, and 3) informed about the durability and easy-maintenance of LEATHER. I was hooked,

And you want to know the best part?

It was a floor model and was thus discounted $1000!!!!!

Yes, please! So with out further ado, here is our new couch.

After:

 250 inches of comfortable goodness. :) 

It fits in our room perfectly, like it was made specifically for us. :) 

We are undecided on the color of the room yet, but I'm sure you will know if I decide to change anything. :)