LoVe iS iN tHe AiR...

Happy Valentines Day!

This is our family valentine we decorated for Caitlin's Kindergarten class! we each took turns decorating a part of it.
Mom- lace
Dad- letters
Will- red heart
Caitlin- diamond heart
sparkles- Brinley (with a little, ok A LOT of help from Caitlin!)

This morning we had a special breakfast and a new fun toy waiting at the breakfast table!

When Will saw Brinley's Monkey... he said..."Aw, A ZEBRA monkey!"
...And a super sweet Valentine made by Grammy for the kiddos...

Sticker Books!!! These were a BIG hit! the kids LOVE looking at their stickers... and the fun part is... that there is room to add more pages...
Thanks Grammy and Papa!

Quilting For Men

You might remember back in December when we told you that our powder room toilet busted and leaked all over the floor... and we had to pull up the flooring, take out insulation etc... It's been a work in progress... and we are happy to say, it's ALMOST DONE... done enough to share pictures and stories... :)

First we start with installing the new insulation under the house...
Here's Justin gearing up for the big show... Caitlin looks like she's about to make buttons that say... "My dad is an Oompa-Loompa... and I'm proud of it!"
Yeah, coolest thing since sliced bread...
I love this picture, Brinley's reaction was awesome... "dad's at it again..."

So, here's the Gorgeous 80's bathroom... BEFORE PIC...
This is after the floor had been taken out, and before we painted the walls...
Wilbur
taking measurements... doing laundry... floor before pic...
We decided since we had to do the hallway too, we'd do the laundry room as well... for a more continued look... flooring out, time to prep for painting...
next step... this middle flooring designed for tile... not sure what it's called.  JUSTIN CHIMING IN:  HARDIBACKER BOARD :) 


Paint...
paint done, testing layouts for tile... eventually we'd like to continue the tile into the kitchen... i think it goes well with the back splash seen in this picture...
nice radiation suit, Doc








love this picture (that face!), reminds me when Justin was in the middle of refinishing the hardwood floors HERE and when he was trying to save the house and an unfinished roof from a huge rain storm HERE... Good Times! (tear, loved that little project house)  JUSTIN:  CAN YOU FIND THE HUMOROUS REASON THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN?  HEY, I'D BEEN IN THAT FLIMSY SUIT ALL DAY!  DON'T WORRY... I AM WEARING PANTS UNDERNEATH.  :)
tile set, grout dry... on to new quarter-round...
YES! Washer and Dryer BACK in the house!!
Happy with his work!

Here's one of the best parts, NEW COUNTER TOP, sink and fixtures for bathroom!! Our neighbor is a granite dealer... so he matched our kitchen Granite perfectly and helped us get a great deal!!! Yay, love hook ups!
Here's Before pic...
when ever I'm trying to take a picture of something... the cat follows me around, this was funny to watch... because he jumped up here thinking there was a counter to stand on... hahaahaaaa... big surprise!

Family field trip to the dump... and then off to Lowes' to get a new TOILET! Kids LOVED the dumpI get the best action shots!  New toilet going in...

AFTER PHOTO... (we still need a mirror, and light fixture.) but wow, huh??
Thanks, Justy, for all your hard work and mad skills! Thanks also to our cool neighbors for their help, Darin and Val you guys rock :)

Black Bean Soup

Saute 1 chopped onion, 1 Tbsp. cumin and 4 minced garlic cloves in 2 Tbs. olive oil. Add 3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, 3 chopped tomatoes (or 1 can diced tomatoes), One 15-ounce can black beans and one 1.4-ounce can diced green chili peppers. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 5 minutes. Add one Tbsp. Snipped fresh cilantro. Garnish soup with crushed tortilla chips.

Makes 4 servings!

245 CALORIES, 10 G protein, 34 G carbohydrate, 11 G fat (1 G saturated), 8 G fiber

ABC...easy as 123...

You might remember last summers activity I did with the kiddos:
Each week during the summer, we took two or three letters, painted them and talked about words that started with that letter, took turns pointing the letter out in books and magazines ... It was a lot of fun...the kids LOVED painting too!So, what did we do with all the letters??? Well, up until 3 days ago, they were tucked away in the back of my junk cupboard, yes every house has one, usually it's a drawer... i'm blessed to have a whole cupboard! and I decided that it was time to make room for 'other junk'. I found some of these cool wall picture hanging strips at Staples...
I cut them in half... and stuck them onto the backs of our letters...

and the other half on the wall! They easily peal off the wall too, you can move them around if you don't like where you put them... This saves you from making 26 little holes in the wall...totally, my kind of tool!
Here's Caitlin and Sydney admiring my work...
Caitlin, Claire, Sydney and Will (i mean, Mario! Actually, he looks more like Hitler in this picture...? What is he doing? LOL!)
(covert, no flash...) funny, you can see the lamp shadow... ha
"...And that's how easy love (for letters) can be!"