Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Rolling over

After a few days of trying, Vivian rolled from her back to her tummy today. She freaked out once she was on her belly!

This just in time to show her mad skills to cousin Vox. We're hoping Vox shows Vivian how to sleep 9 hours!



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Halloween 2013

For Halloween this year, we had a few different festivities.  Jackson kicked off Halloween by insisting that he wear his new tiger costume to the dentist on Tuesday.  Then on Wednesday we had trick-or-treating and a Halloween party at mommy's office so we could introduce Vivian and so Jackson could get some loot.  Daddy and Jackson came home to pick us up to go to Philly and Jackson was crying and saying he didn't want to be a tiger.  So, I grabbed the Thomas costume that Honey brought him last year that he refused to wear.  Success!  Perhaps next year he will be a tiger.  The next day was Halloween and Jackson's parade and party at school. And then of course trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood. While Daddy and Jackson went out trick-or-treating for a bit, I stayed home to hand out candy.  It was pretty quiet though, so Vivian and I joined them for the last half.  All in all, we had a great time and got way too much candy.  For more pics, click here.

Proof that even tigers get their fangs cleaned.  A priming really, for a nice coat of Halloween sugar 
"Daddy is under my spell"
Thomas and our little witch at TW

Thomas making the rounds in the office
Day care parade

Jackson's teacher serving cupcakes 
The school owners get in on the fun
Getting ready to go trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood

Surprise!

The last weekend of October, we hoped in the car and headed down to VA to surprise my parents and my brother and his family.  My parents were out visiting them for a long weekend and thought that we wouldn't be able to come down because we had just moved a couple of days earlier.  Wrong!  We wouldn't have missed their visit AND we needed a reason to get away from all of those boxes for a couple of days.  We had a great time with grandma, grandpa, Uncle Jason, Aunt Milly and cousins Bella, Jocelyn and Ruby. No surprise, Jackson loved visiting his cousins.  He had so much fun hanging out with them!  Click here to see more pics.


The scooter gang takes over the mean streets of Stafford


Ruby and Jackson doing gymnastics
Pony rides at the local fair

Lots of trips down the slides 
Vivian the Koala just chilled 
Hanging out with Grandma.....
....And Uncle Jason
Jackson driving the tractor at the pumpkin patch
"I'm going to get bigger, bigger, bigger"
Amazing they all got on at the same time!
Grandma making Jackson giggle 
Showing off the carved pumpkins

Moving Day and House Tour

On October 24, we officially became residents of our new house in Sharpley.  We moved a couple of weeks after closing to allow the painter to get a head start.  And while he wasn't quite done when we moved in, we were still beyond excited to have a place to call ours!  Below are some before and "after pics."  "After" being post-painter, but definitely not finished state! We have some more light fixtures to add, furniture to buy and decorating to do.  All in good time, I guess!

Boxes, boxes and more boxes in old house
The moving truck arrives to the place we've called home for 3.5 years
We totally filled up that truck!




Home sweet home
Vivian hung out with Miss Janet on moving day while Jackson went to school
Jackson getting in on the action at the new house with his new tool set from Miss Janet

First Floor Tour
Basically, the house had all white walls and the trim was painted green or pink.  And when I say trim, I mean the trim around the ceilings, the windows and the doors.  There was also lots of gold/brass.  And wallpaper in the bathrooms.  This all had to change!

Foyer - before with gold chandelier and green trim
Foyer - after with new fixture and new paint
Dining room - before
Dining room - after
Living room - before with green paint and cornices
Living room - after (still a disaster, but at least no more green!)
Den - before with dark green paint
Den - before
Den - before with maroon paint in built-ins
Den - after it's a playroom (and feels a million times bigger). Can you spot the kids?
Den - after built-ins painted
Great room - before (we only changed out the light fixture and added furniture)
Breakfast nook - before
Breakfast nook - after adding new light and table
Kitchen - we didn't do anything here other than faucet
Kitchen sink - before with ugly, broken faucet
Kitchen sink - after with some WI Kohler love
Laundry room - before
Laundry room - after
Powder room - before with green trim
Powder room - after with white trim
Second Floor Tour
Jackson's room - before with ugly colors
Jackson's room - before
Jackson's room - after
Vivian's room - before with cornice
Vivian's room  - after we kept pink wallpaper
Kids' bathroom - before with pink wallpaper
Kids' bathroom - after
Master bedroom - before with wallpaper and cornices
Master bedroom - after
Master bathroom - before with wallpaper
Master bathroom - after
Guest room - before with pink trim and cornices
Guest room - after with grey