One Year

Today marks exactly one year of taking the plunge and becoming first time homeowners.  So much has happened since we first moved into our home.  Since most of that's already been documented on this blog, I figured for this anniversary I'd show you a couple of the rooms that have transformed since the last home tour I gave.

First up is the master bedroom.  This change actually started out of necessity.

Here's what it looked like in the last update I gave you.

It was light and airy and perfect for spring and summer.  I loved the look of it...(after the rug)

And then Caleb started working midnights and my nice light linen curtains didn't do much as far as blocking the sun when one needs to sleep during the day.  So we put in some light blocking curtains that we had from our apartment, which happened to be grey, which really didn't work with my beige and green accents.  So I started building my perfect winter room by switching out a few simple things.

The curtains look purplish with the light,, but in life, they are a really dark grey.  So the beige and green got traded in for dark grey and bright white for the perfect winter retreat.

And who wouldn't wanna dig there toes into this in the morning

Thanks to rugsusa I got this 200 dollar rug(who would pay that for this tiny rug) for...6 dollars!

And I don't think I ever put up a picture of the vanity Caleb got me for my birthday

This spring i'll go back to the warmer colors and possibly find a second layer for my non light blocking curtains so they can be put back up, but for now, i'm really liking the cold weather feel.

Caleb's Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Caleb's birthday.

But the day before I got a new present :)

Our lease ran out in March so we've been looking.  He just went in for an appointment with some questions about releasing so I wasn't expecting a new car a few months early.  I sent Caleb alone since taking the kids to the car dealership never ends well.  I told him I didn't care what the car looked like as long as it had pretty rims and we could get dvd players in the headrests.  He found what I wanted and lots of bonuses on top, navigation system, back up camera, heated seats....trips to NY should be so much more enjoyable!  So far, we are loving it.

Anyways, back to birthday.

In the morning Caleb opened his presents and we headed to cracker barrel for breakfast.  They really do make the best breakfasts.

After that we met up with Morgan and Tim and we bowled for a few hours.  They let the kids have a dino ramp and they had a blast, especially Casen.

After that we came back home to have some birthday icecream cake

And then headed to bass pro to play lots of shooting games and enjoy a nice dinner with family.  Thank Mo and Tim for joining us!

And Happy Birthday to my love!  I hope you had a good birthday and we can't wait to enjoy this 27th year with you.

Visitors

Uncle Tyler and Katie came down for a weekend visit this past weekend.  We had so much fun.  Games nights, adventures, yummy food, and new treats.

Morgan showed us Belle Isle so we checked that out.  It was a little cold, but so worth the trip.  The island was a prison for Union soldiers during the civil war and later on was turned into a hydroelectric power plant until 1963 so there's lots of cool things to look at.  The kids were troopers and Caleb and Tyler found a rock climbing wall, that was so much higher then the pictures seem.  Both made it to the top :)

We then of course watched the Patriots big win and made a trip to our huge outdoor mall.  A chess match was enjoyed and Uncle Ty bought the kids their favorite animals.  Then all 8 of us got to meet up for lunch at the brewery.  It was an awesome time!

Random Christmas

Looking through my phone, I realized I did take a few random pictures from Christmas.  I need to do a better job next year, but it's just so much more fun to see the kids excitement in person then try to capture it behind the camera.


We did stockings and pjs on Christmas Eve...Caleb tricked me into the stockings.  He said he always opened stocking on Christmas Eve when he was a kid...not true, but it was fun none the less.

We skyped with Monki and Bompa earlier to open presents.  I forgot to take pictures, and we skyped with my parents Christmas morning and also forgot to take pictures then.  Are you sensing a pattern?

Caleb had to go to work Christmas Eve night and came home Christmas morning.  We found a new hat for our tree topper...much more fitting for us :)

When Caleb came home Christmas morning he woke us all up (i thought Casen would be up really early, but I guess, thankfully, he hasn't hit that stage yet.)

We usually get the kids a main, more expensive present and then a few smaller ones to go with it.  This year we got Arya a doll that cries, you feed it, sleeps, burps, laughs, the whole nine yards.  She loves it and she's a great little mama.  We got casen the dinosaur matchbox playset he's been asking for for months.  And we got them this cool ride to share...their mother may have a little more fun riding it then them :D

http://www.overstock.com/Sports-Toys/Lil-Rider-Ride-on-Roller-Coaster-Wiggle-Car/8767227/product.html?searchidx=4

The kids got spoiled by extended family this year too.  Casen got a new police lego set and imaginext dinosaurs and Arya got a play kitchen and a new table/easel.

I got Caleb some new Oakley gear and a few new xbox games, including the new Call of Duty.  He got an xbox one on black friday so he needs a new stash of games :)  And he spoiled me this year.  I got a black and white diamond necklace, a fossil clutch to carry when we go out without the kids, a patriots hoodie, and a waterproof speaker so I can listen to my music in the shower.

After presents Morgan and Tim joined us for a big Christmas breakfast.  I'm thankful we can still do this because big breakfasts was always a tradition for any holiday growing up.

After breakfast we spent the day hanging out, playing games

And unfortunately that's all in the picture department.  Better luck next year.

So excited to be an aunt again!  And so happy for twinner and Tim.  Can't wait for a new close by baby I can snuggle and spoil!