House and Cronko

Brick is still coming along.......

They started on the stone yesterday but it was hard to get a picture since they have all their scaffolding everywhere.  I'll share when its finished.

We had our "tile walk" yesterday and went over specifics for our showers and back splashes. They prepped and scrubbed the floor and then started tile in the laundry room. 

Most of our lighting is in now.  They have been working on all the can lights and finally most of our fixtures went up.  We are waiting on 2 more to show up.  I am loving all of them so far.  Unfortunately, I take a picture and then look at it and think "that doesn't look good at all" so I have decided not to share any more until the house is finished and probably even decorated.  This is my foyer light though......

When I say that our house is trashed........I mean, our house is TRASHED.  After each trade comes through they always do a good clean but we have brickers, electricians, tile people, and sometimes painters inside.  I know all this will get cleaned up but its really gross right now.  

A sneak peak at our granite.  Everything was cleaned off and wiped down and then that plastic protective sheet was laid down.  Now the counters are covered in dust and tools......so yea, we won't be seeing pretty granite any time soon. 

Cronko is still busy at our house.

Cooper is my responsible child.  However, he has lately been a little lazy with some of his school work.  So Cronko left him a little reminder.......and Cooper told me that morning that is kind of hurt his feelings!

I have learned that this kid's love language is "time together" and most recently, playing games.  I was dog tired last night but I knew my guy needed some attention.  So we played Stix and Stones for a bit before bed.  Just love this kid!

Brick and Family Weekend

The brickers started on our house on Friday. It was freezing and I felt so bad for these guys.  The wind was blowing really hard and it was even hard for me to stay out for very long.

We picked the boys up from school and headed to Sonic to get 16 hot chocolates for the crew.  Trying to find opportunities like this to show the boys that its important to take care of other people.

Still a long way to go but its a start.  Quite a bit of the back and left side are finished.  I'm excited for them to start on the stone sections.

Afterwards, we took the boys to get haircuts.  Cooper has loved this seek and find sheet since he was little.  It keeps him entertained every time.

What?  Did any of you watch Days of our Lives?  I watched it some in high school but it was huge for us in college.  We watched it every single day.  So sad to hear that Stephano died a few days ago.

Friday night, we ate some homemade soup and cornbread and snuggled up to watch Home Alone 2.

On Saturday night, we decided to check out the new Mr. Gatti's pizza that just opened near our new house.  My parents loved Gatti's when I was little.....and its been since college I think since I've had it.  It was pretty good!

They did have a small arcade area......with this huge Pac Man game.

Then we drove around and looked at all the pretty Christmas lights.

Came home and had game night......LIFE!

Enjoyed a simple and low key weekend with the family.  The next couple of weeks are crazy with holiday stuff so it was nice to chill with my boys.

Happy Friday!

I feel like we've been in the painting and staining stage forever......the weather this week has been super cold and its taking a really long time for everything to dry.

Our handrail got installed the other day......

I'm excited to see how the stain pops against the paint color.  It's been wrapped up though so we haven't been able to see it.  I've had some dreams lately that all our colors turn out wrong and everything looks horrible.  Ha!  I'm sure this is normal.  We picked a lot of our selections from tiny samples and then just prayed it all comes together and works.  Next week should be the real start to all of that.  We are scheduled for granite/sink install on Monday and our tile work should start on Tues.

I have no idea how these poor guys work like this.  We have honestly avoided the house most of this week because the fumes are so strong.  Bless them!

On Tuesday  morning, I left my house at 8:30am without a single gift purchased.  My goal was to come back and be 100% finished.  And I did it!  I will say that this year was pretty easy though since most of our family asked for gift cards but either way, I'm so relieved to be finished.

Sometimes I get on my phone and see random things like this that one of my boys have searched up.....

I went into Cooper's room to put some laundry away and saw these 2 pictures on his dart board.  Glad to see that "Cooper & Ryan Rule the World."  So funny!

I think my little guy has a gift of drawing.

At Christmas time,  White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn is one of my favorite things to make.  My sister-in-law brought this bag of popcorn to my sister's house for Thanksgiving and we didn't open it.  She sent it home with us and last night we opened it up.  Ya'll, its sooo good.  Wonder if I just dump this into a bowl if anyone would know it's not mine?  

December 1, our elf returns to our house.  I always dread trying to come up with simple ideas but seeing Cooper look for him each morning is worth it.  I just hope he doesn't compare stories at school and realize that his mom isn't that creative.  

Bean Boozled is one of my boys favorite games.  He loved this one!

That time that you ask your husband to move the elf and you give him no instruction on what to do?  Yea, he's "napping."  All I can say is Thank God for Moms!!!

Happy Friday!

Plays and Dolly

More stain happening at our house.

We got garage doors last week.  Now we just need to get those stained too.

This semester, Cooper has been in an acting program at school called Troupe.  He has been practicing the last 8 weeks and last Thursday they had their performance.  He had a small part....8-9 lines total but it was a great first start for him.  He really liked it.

Last Friday, I spent the morning at the boys school.  The PTA did something so amazing for all the teachers.  They told the teachers to get started on all their Christmas shopping.  They were given several sample wrapping paper and bow choices.  They filled out a little slip of paper and several of us wrapped all the presents.  As a former teacher, I would have LOVED this.  We gave them the gift of time.....now they don't have to wrap their gifts and can spend their holiday break doing something else.

On Saturday, my friend Mistee hosted a "12 Sprays of Christmas" make and take at her house.  It was fun to make some really pretty gifts.

Look at those pretty labels!

Several weeks ago, I told my family that Dolly Parton was coming to town and that I wanted to go for my birthday.  So, we all got tickets and saw her in concert Saturday night. 

Dinner at Pappasitos before the concert.

In high school, I had a tape of Islands in the Stream. And I played it so much that I completely wore it out.  It was awesome getting to hear her sing it. Would have been amazing if Kenny had been there too but she did great on her own.