Before & After: toy/schoolroom edition

We moved in the house in late September. This is how the toy room first looked as we were going through boxes. Scary!! Needless to say we got rid of some toys..

And then got the toy room set up!

There was fairly good order in there, but it didn't look like a boys toy room to me! And we had other things in mind..

We finished the toy room the same time frame as the boys room was in late October, I just never took pictures of it until now!

Here's the door and what you see looking in.

Yep, that's a chalkboard! :) We painted the bottom with chalkboard paint, and picked up a piece of chairrail at Lowes. Darryl installed it and there we have it! the boys love it.

Here's a close up of the train my mom made for Caleb to help with his blends in school, too cute!

Here's a closeup of their bulletin board filled with their crafts and papers.

Going left now, there's a window and then the bed.

And there's their diner and closet door.. Mimi & PaJ got those airplanes and clouds to put on the wall, and they are able to be written on with chalk too!

And here's the closet! I plan on getting hooks to hang the nets up. the top stores little toys like playdough & k'nex.

Here's the wall that our dry erase board is on. It is in between the closet door and door leading to the hallway.

Hope you enjoyed the before & after!

Merry Christmas!! 2009

We had an amazing Christmas, I hope all of you did too! Pops & Nan came up last night to suprise the boys! They were already sleeping, so it was a huge suprise to the both of them! Caleb came out first and just ran to Nan Nan, and then to Pops. Penny went into the room right when Ay was waking up, and he said Penny! And then he said, "Pah!" and ran into the living room searching for his grandparents he loves so much. It was such a sweet reunion, and the most awesome Christmas present for them.

Here's a collage of pics from Christmas morning/afternoon! Click it to see a larger version. :)

First, Darryl read Luke 2, as we always do Christmas morning, before presents. Then Nan read the boys the Christmas story out of their Bible. It was so cute because they both had their "hot cuckoo coffee" (hot chocolate) with them as they were listening intently. They were both very excited to get to the presents! They made out like bandits. They got Buzz Lightyears, and Doodle Pro's, soundtracks of Disney shows and Toy Story, trains, games, and BIKES!! They were stoked about the bikes, and right when Daddy brought those out they dropped everything and started riding around the house. Ayden is still a bit small for his bike, so Pops pushed him around. It was so cute!! They had a blast doing that for awhile. The boys both got Darryl & I a few gifts and one of the ones to Darryl was a big styrofoam airplane. Well Caleb spent over an hour outside with that thing!

He loved it! And so did all the other "big kids"... :)

Then we took the kids for a bike ride..

And then had lunch! It was so yummy.

Ayden was so worn out from playing that he fell asleep on Pops at the dinner table!

So cute. Pops looks a little tired here too. Hahaha. After lunch, we hung out and played all day, did a fire,and then watched Alvin & the Chipmunks. Caleb loves the movie, butAyden isn't much of a tv watcher, he'd rather run around everywhere. :) Anyway, we all ended up falling asleep fairly early because it was such a busy but fun day!

The next day we slept in and then headed to Cracker Barrel! It was so yum, and felt great not to cook! :)

We then went to the Bass Pro shop in Jackson, my parents had never been so it was great to introduce them to that amazing store! My mom ended up leaving with a pink fishing pole. :) Awesomeness! Then we headed home and played a bit and put the boys down for nap so Pops and Nan could head home without the boys getting too upset. We had a great time with Pops and Nan and were so happy to finally get to spend Christmas with them!

Christmas Eve Traditions!

We are trying to instill lots of traditions each year with the boys for them to look forward to. A tradition in my family while I was growing up was always going light looking on Christmas Eve, usually after the Christmas Eve Service at church. We are still church hunting here, and we didn't have a service to go to, so after Darryl got home from work, we ordered a couple of stuffed crust pizzas from Pizza hut, and watched the Polar Express! Then we hopped in the truck and went light looking! That was alot of fun with the boys, and we came across one house that was SO bright! Frustrating that not that many people decorate any more though. Where's the Christmas spirit? Ugh. Anyway, when we got home the boys got to open one present, and it was a bath toy for both of them. A boat from the show Thomas the train, and it goes when you pull the pull string. They got in the bath to play with them and then they were OUT! Caleb fell asleep on Daddy, and Daddy was fading too. (he tends to fall asleep pretty easy, haha)

Unbeknownst to the boys..we had a couple of extra special "guests" visiting for Christmas!! They are going to be SO excited!!!! :)

Caleb's 4th birthday party!!

Yes, it's true. My Cbear is 4 years old!!! We celebrated with a Thomas birthday party (again, who would have thought? lol) at Mimi & Pa J's house. It went so well! He had LOTS of his friends from church and even some of Mommy's friends from highschool! It was really neat. It was extra special too because Uncle Mike & Aunt Sarah and all three cousins were at the party! And ALL four grandparents!! Now I know this is the norm for alot of people, but for us it's a first, and a very neat thing!! Aunt Lisa & Aubrey couldn't be there of course because of just moving to California, but they were there in spirit.

So at first all the kids played in the kiddie pool and slip n slide, both of which were a huge hit (even for Pops)!!

Then Uncle Eric suprised Caleb by bringing a firetruck to his party, it was a huge success with all the kids. Very sweet of him to do.

Then it was time to eat, by then all the kids were pretty hungry, and it was sooo hot out that day! But beautiful weather for a party! Then it was cake time! I had to make another Thomas cake, but it wasn't near as nice as the one I made last year, but Caleb still liked it and that's what matters most.

The kid made out like a bandit with all of his presents!!

Especially the big train table we suprised hiim with!! Then on to the pinata!

All in all it was a GREAT day! And after naptime we went fishing in a lake at a friends house, and it was so fun! Caleb caught a fish all by himself!! Daddy really enjoyed fishing with his boys and can't wait to do it again soon!