2014 Christmas Parade

This year we went to the Annual Christmas parade.  We took muffins and yogurt for breakfast and got there early to keep our place in line.  

 Then, the parade finally started!  By parade standards, it was very quiet.  I guess I am used to constant talking and shouting and music, etc.  But it seemed to be very quiet.  

We do have a few favorites:  The Shriners.

 The horses.

 The old cars.

 And anybody who hands out things.  Like flags or candy ;)

 I am partial to marching bands, but I may be a little bit biased :)

 Hubby and I didn't think it was the most exciting parade we had seen.  But the kids seemed to enjoy it.

And that's all that matters.

Laundry Helper

Apparently, this is what I look like when I fold clothes...

Is that a compliment?

From my house to yours!  May Santa bring good things and may the Spirit of Christ be in your hearts!

The Masterbath cabinet: DONE!!!

In my last bathroom post (boy, does that sound weird), I told you the doors were stained, and then stalled.  In order to mount the fronts on the boxes, we wanted to start from the bottom up, so the spacing would be even.  But then I mentioned that he box seemed to be out of square, thus making it not fit and slide properly.  We tried everything we could think of.  Everything measured right.  The tracks were exactly parallel.  But when you measured the bottom box diagonally, it was different.  Hubby tried corner braces and side braces and all manner of things.  And, for some reason, we could never get it exact.  But we could get it enough to fit.  So, time to move forward.  

We decided to mount the drawer fronts simply using the screws from the pulls.  We would drill through both the front, and the box, screw the pull in from the back, and then the only thing you would pull on would be the drawer pull (which is as it should be).  Problem here being, that my original pulls didn't work.  If we mounted them in the middle of the drawer, they were too big for the panel.  As you can see, I took this picture before they were stained, so this was a problem we (thankfully) saw coming.

 Close up!  See how it over hangs the panel part in the middle?  Even if we moved it down, and didn't mount it in the middle, it still overhung.  So...  new pulls!

 This is the bathroom cabinet as it stood for a year(ish).  Completely functional.  Drawer boxes full of stuff.  But not exactly the most pretty.

 After we figured out the spacing, we mounted the bottom drawer and toe kick.  Then we cut a spacer to make the spacing easier.  We marked each drawer center with blue painters tape, then spaced and centered the drawer front.  Then we drilled.  

 And....  Dah duh duh Dah!!!!  This is without flash, so you can see the brown, but in real life, it doesn't look this light.

 It looks a little more like this.  Drawer pulls installed.  The dark brown matches the oil rubbed bronze of the faucet, mirror and light fixture. 

I LOVE IT!!!  It looks like a totally classy piece of furniture.  It is functional and has tons of storage space.  That bottom drawer includes the toe kick part, so it is about 12 inches deep.  

I don't have a ton of visualization ability, but when we started talking about the bathroom downstairs, I got a mental picture.  And it looked like this.  And I am so happy 1-that it is finally done!  And 2- that it looks as super high class, and great as it does!  Yay!!!

Fantasy Lights at Callaway Gardens

We obviously did not foresee staying in Virginia for an extra week after Thanksgiving.  So, when we got back from our little fiasco, we had plans.  We had things we had to do and jump right back into with both feet.  One of those being: tickets to see the lights!  We have lived here for several years, and I have wanted to see Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens for almost as long.  But I am cheap.  Have I mentioned that before?  I don't really like to pay a ton of money for things.  And with a family as large as mine (6), everything is going to be expensive.  But our friends (the ones we went camping with) could get tickets cheaper through his connections at work, so, we were finally able to see the lights!

 It started a little rough.  Hubby had a meeting at work that went over by almost an hour.  But we made it up to the trolley and the kids had lots of fun!

 Some parts were cute.

 Some parts were awe inspiring.

 All of it was on the difficult side to photograph because it was dark and the trolley was moving which does not bode well for shutter speeds.

 But we really did have an enjoyable time, despite being a little worn out from our travels.

 Unfortunately, our friends left to go home as soon as the lights were over because she wasn't feeling well.  But we stayed around to see some of the other fun things.  Like the huge chess set.

 And the huge turkey legs!  We also shared a funnel cake and some fried Oreos (which I must say, are delicious!!!)

 There just might have been some powdered sugar involved...

...  But I couldn't be certain.

Kelsey and Daddy

If you are a parent, you know you can often tell when certain members of your offspring have been in certain areas of your house.  On this particular morning, hubby came upstairs, ready to leave for work in different clothes than he had set out.  Turns out, Kelsey had been in our closet.  And he couldn't bring himself to wear his black shoes on that day.  He left them as they were for just a little bit longer.  

Turns out, hubby is a big softy.  Who knew? 

Shower crown

While we have been showering in the bathroom downstairs for years now, there were a few finishing touches that we hadn't gotten around to.  Namely, the finished edge of the tile and the ceiling.  There was a small gap that we didn't know exactly what to do with.  Caulk?

Then, hubby found this molding.  It is dark brown, so it matches, and it is pvc (plastic) instead of wood, so there shouldn't be an issue with mold.  

 Then, it was a few cuts, a few nails, and bing bang boom!  Done!

 It looks so much better, and finished and high class, dontcha think?

Camping, The Hike

On our last night there, a park ranger came over and told us about a cool place to go hiking.  So, we packed up all our gear and drove a little bit down the road.  That is hubby and our friend J looking at the map.  This picture makes me think of a joke.  Something along the lines of men asking for directions ;)

J & A brought along the extra s'mores marshmallows on the hike.  Kelsey enjoyed stuffing her face :)

There was a beautiful bridge we had to cross over.

There they are!  J & A!!!  Super fun camping buddies for sure!

You hike up along this river (ish) and at the top of the trail there is a pond.  Now, in my head, I thought that just meant a fun hike with a definite end.  I think I might have been mistaken.

Friend J was nice enough to heft the camera while I carried Kelsey.  

Nothing like hiking with a few extra pounds.

This was towards the end, and at a place that seemed particularly difficult.  At least, not as easy as the rest of the trail.  I am glad we made it to the top, but around this area, I was almost ready to throw in the towel.

At the top of the trail, there is a swimming hole.  Having not brought any swimming things, I didn't think we would be getting in the water.  Hubby, on the other hand, thought differently.

While none of the adults got in, all of the kids got wet.  

And, because of the afore mentioned rain and playground equipment, we really didn't have any clean dry clothes left for the kids....  So, they got whatever was left.  After the hike, we stopped at a little restaurant for lunch.  I thought about letting J & A going in with my kids in their rag tag clothes (or lack there of), but, in the end, we all went in together.

Super fun camping trip!  For sure!!!

Camping Waaaaaaay Back

While I didn't super love camping while I was growing up (who would: hot summer, bugs and rain), I have since started to enjoy it much more now that I am grown.  We usually go camping around the first weekend in October and this year was no different.  Usually we also go with my inlaws, and meet them somewhere in the middle of our houses.  But this year, it didn't work out that way.  At first, we thought we were going to have to go by ourselves.  Then, as luck would have it, I invited some friends that we had been hanging out with quite a bit, and they actually wanted to come!  I know, right?  Amazing!  This year we went a little closer to home, but still up in the mountains.  We picked a state park in Tennessee, and it was quite pretty.  There was a playground in the middle of the camp grounds, and that turned out to be pretty convenient.

We also brought along the kids bikes and helmets so they could ride the circle.  Dylan got a new bike this trip, and was super excited to try it out.  

Isn't the view lovely!

This is the first grown up camping trip that we have had where it rained.  And, it rained pretty hard for a while.  Thankfully, nothing inside the tents got wet, but we did have to come home and set everything BACK up to let it dry out.  Not my favorite.

Our friends J & A also brought some cool thing that when you threw it into the fire made the flames all different colors.  It was pretty sweet :)

There she is! Miss New Cool Van!

After spending time at the dealership on Thursday, and putting a deposit down on a van we had never seen, we spent Friday with the old van.  Hubby worked on taking off the trailer hitch we had installed ourselves.  The chassis had stayed the same for the newer model, so we figured it would transfer.

 I spent the day going through nooks and crannies.  Pulling out papers, and napkins and stickers and random barbie shoes.  I didn't bother to vacuum or wipe down because a) I am lazy, and b) why would I do that when I am giving it away, and I am sure they are going to send it to auction?

 Because daddy spent so much time under the car, most of the kids showed interest in the van for a minute or two.

 And while it shouldn't have been difficult, and it actually wasn't, it took a decent amount of time and muscle to finally get the dang thing off.

 Friday, after we got the call that the van was finally ready, we told the kids to go outside and make peace with Old Bessie.

 Everyone gave it a hug, and Dylan actually shed a tear or two.  Sensitive little soul.

 Then, after spending more time at the dealership on Saturday (much more than we wanted.  And don't ask me, because I have no idea why!) we brought home this beauty.  She doesn't have a name yet, but she does have leatherette seats with suede inserts.  The funny part is, I don't super love leather.  And, according to hubby, I convinced him to go cloth on his truck, where he could order everything exactly as he wanted.  So, he has cloth, and wanted leather, and I have leather, and preferred cloth.  Oh well.  When you are are going off the lot, you take what you can get.

 It is all black on the inside, which is quite a bit darker than the previous grey, but hopefully will show dirt less.

 Yes, her primary voyage was in the dark and the rain.  

 I got heated seats and a heated steering wheel (which may be the feature I am most excited about).  It has navigation features (which are perfect for someone like me who gets lost easily) and sirius radio for a year.  It also syncs with my phone, but I find that more annoying than convenient.  With 4 kids, the background noise on a phone call makes it hard to hear, and the robotic voice doesn't read my texts with any emotion, so....

 The console in the middle is upgraded from my last one two, and will hopefully allow me to organize without showing everyone what I have.

She made the trip home very well, and got pretty decent gas mileage.  The only thing it is missing is the DVD package, that also comes with the 115 v outlet in the back.  We have plans to add that soon.  

And that is the end of my tale.  It was an eventful week, to say the least.  Full of indecision and frustration and waiting and new experiences and fun and thankfulness and family.  What more could a person ask for?