How to Entertain a 3 year old

Tell her to do a silly dance, take a video of her, then let her watch the video. This can be entertaining for upwards to an hour, depending on your ability to take videos. Alternatively, you can take a video, let her watch, then delete it before you take another.


To be a good Aunt, be sure to teach your niece the things that your Aunt taught you.

Top Ten Thursday

Welcome to the first edition of Top Ten Thursday. Not that I really need more of a reason to blog, but this will be fun for me every week. I like lists, and Thursday is my favorite day of the week. In honor of Thanksgiving, here are the Top Ten things I am grateful for (and I promise I won't always be this mushy gushy!):


10. Michael Dell--thank you for being the reason I have met some amazing women! Without you, I would not have an Austin family, an amazing church family, my current job, or probably my current husband.

9. My 1st house--Wow! I always knew I would be in debt for the rest of my life, but who knew I could look so good doing it!

8. 4 Seasons--I might not get to experience them all in Texas, but I know that each one is only a plane ride away.

7. Travel--you are my drug. I crave stripping down in the TSA security line, living out of a suitcase, jet lag, and high dollar airport food. Thank goodness I need never wait too long for my next fix.

6. Babies--I love them. I am thankful that my nieces are healthy and that I can be a doting Aunt. I also love other people's babies, until they start to cry. Most of all, I am thankful that baby pictures are the only babies that live in my house.

5. My grandmother--She was an amazing women whom I will admire my entire life. I am thankful to have been able to have such an amazing relationship with her.

4. Grace--it's free. How can you turn down free stuff?

3. My family--with the in-laws, we can now staff a football team, and I cherish my relationship with each and every one of them.

2. My husband--he wakes up everyday still in love with me, even when I steal the covers.

1. And finally, I am grateful for all the amazing people who touch my life everyday. You make me the person I am.

All Redheads are NOT Related!

I was in the grocery store, minding my own business and looking for Gruyere cheese. An adorable little girl, 15-18 months old was near me with her grandmother. She came over to my shopping cart. I said hi and smiled at her. I found my cheese and started to move away. Little girl started following me. Her grandmother told her that was my cart and to come back to her cart. I smiled again and walked away around the corner. The little girl RAN after me. Her grandmother didn't move very fast. The little was trying to climb into my basket from the front. I tried to talk to her and tell her that her grandmother was over there (all the while wondering why it was taking her grandmother so long to skedaddle over to her granddaughter!). She seemed determined to come with me. Once her grandmother finally got around to us, the little girl ran to the handle side of the basket like she was hiding from her grandmother and then grabbed onto my leg for dear life. With the little girl safe in her grandmother's hands, I ran away to the cries of the poor little girl.

Come to find out, the little girl's mother was a redhead.

Housewarming

We were able to open our home on Sunday to family and friends to show it off for the first time! I had fun making food for my first big entertaining event in our new home.
Espresso crinkles and white chocolate cranberry cookiesCranberry orange nut cookies and chocolate chip cookies
Brownies and pumpkin cranberry bread
Fruit and veggies
Pumpkin Dip
Drinks
Do you feel like you were there to enjoy everything? As housewarming gifts, we asked for plants and were overwhelmed with what we received!

"Projects"

I love my husband. He is an amazing and talented person. He dreams big. When he takes on a project, he does it right. In all his years of being an artist, he seems to think that he can either build anything, or learn to build anything. The down side is that his projects usually take longer than anticipated, but they look GREAT when they are finished. I have already written about the wonderful boxes in the kitchen. Nicholas recently worked on making frames for some of the prints he made in college. It took him four days to make three frames. In his defense, he spent one day stripping wood down on pallets. Then another day he built a table to hold his router so he could make the frames.
Here is a look at the finished products.
Nicholas says it will be awhile before he will complain about the cost of framing again since he didn't realize exactly how much work it was! Needless to say, with all these "projects" our garage is more of a workshop.

Have a Seat

We have a few new additions to our living room.
Comfy!

Upstairs--The Finale

To round out the tour of the upstairs, here are the hallways. They seem so much bigger now without "stuff" sitting all over the floors. Standing by the office/guest bedroom looking toward the master bedroom.
Standing at the master bedroom looking at the guest bedroom (on right) and office (on left).
Peering down the hallway to the guest bathroom (open door) and looking at the linen closet (closed door). You can also see the laundry room through the mirror.
Standing by the guest bedroom looking down the stairs.
And the laundry room-to-be.

The Office

The lavender color has disappeared from the office. Now we have antique white on the top and Shire Green on the bottom.
I am looking for some solar shades to put on the enormous window.
Looking at the closet door.
Say hi to the neighbors.
Standing behind the desk looking at the door to the hallway.
A close up of the paint colors.
This room gets lots of afternoon sun.

Master Bedroom

At last, the Master Bedroom, in its entirety. Looking into the room from the hallway:
Slightly different angle, same position:
Standing in the bathroom doorway:
Corner #1:
Corner #2:
Corner #3:
Corner #4:

Guest Bedroom--finished!

We left the wall color, and I painted the trim in the guest bedroom Embellished Blue.
The room isn't completely 3 year old proof, but it is good enough for now. I removed most of the really fragile glass pieces and put the rest in the cabinets I can lock.
Trim around the doors.
A close up of the trim around on the window sill.