New Wall Additions

About a month ago, I was on the hunt for letters to spell out Brooke's name. I was thinking I was going to get Espresso colored ones and hang them with pink ribbon. Well, April and I were leaving Babies R Us and I was telling her about my ideas. She was like "I think Babies R Us has some". So, we turned around and went back into the store.... She was right!!! They had the perfect letters....White with pink and brown polk a dots! I brought them home and was very very excited to show Mark. He, however, not too excited since he was going to have the fun task of hanging them. Well, after a month of waiting, Mark finally hung the letters this past weekend. Bless his heart because the holes on the back of the letters were not even, so the leveler was absolutely useless. Each hole for each letter was at a different place. Not to mention the fact that I wanted them staggered and not straight across! Due to Mark's greatness and patience, he got the job done! On top of the letters, I brought home some metal sculpture thing to hang in our dining room. He equally hated that. It had those holes the go into smaller holes on both sides of the frame. NOTE TO FAMILY - Mark needs THIS.

Look who is standing!!!

Brooke has now decided that she likes to stand up...despite the whole balance issue. She does great when she is leaning on something. Sometimes I will go to sit her down, and she will straighten her little legs and back. What a little stinker!

Inauguration Day 2009!

I have to admit...I am not all that into politics, however, this was a very historical Inauguration Day. Brooke and I were watching it for most of the morning, while I was getting ready. Not that we really had a choice....it was on EVERY channel. Anywho....I am looking forward to some positive change in this country.

Brooke's window

So, I am usually not a huge fan of window valances, however, Babies R Us had one that went with Brooke's bedding, so , naturally, I bought it. All the while, I was thinking I was going to get some cute pink curtains or shears to hang with the valance. I had a hard time finding the perfect pink. After several consultations with my interior decorators a.k.a. April and Nicky, I decided to just hang the valance by itself. I bought a really cute curtain rod with pink finials to match. I think it turned out really cute.

New Lawn Mower = Happy Mark

On Saturday, after picking up the paint from Home Depot, we made a trip over to Lowes to see if they had a push mower. Well, they did...and we bought it. We got it home and I don't even think I was out of the car by the time Mark had the box ripped open. Mark enjoyed mowing his lawn before he started his "honey-do" list. Lucy even enjoyed the lawn. :-)

Bye Bye Pink!!

So as you you all know, the master bedroom in our new house was painted pink. Well, as much as I love the color pink, it just didn't go with our decor. I thought about buying new decor to go with the paint, but since Mark LOVES painting so much(*), if figured why not just paint. ;) Also, since Brooke's room wasn't a neutral color, we painted in there as well. Saturday morning, we got Brooke's room knocked out pretty quick. Then we started onto our room. We only got half way done on Saturday, which was fine, because we were able to let that one half dry, then move all the furniture over to that half of the room. On Sunday, we, well, Mark, finished the second half. It came out really nice and I am VERY happy.

























(*)sar - casm   [sahr-kaz-uhm] –noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark: a review full of sarcasms.

Oh to be a baby again....or a dog!

Last night I was a little late on washing Brooke's bedding and favorite blankey. She feel asleep before they were done drying, so I laid her down in our bed. Well, Lucy a.k.a. Jealous, jumped up on the bed to see what was going on. Here is what happened next.....

New Carpet + Dining Room Mirror = Happy Leanne

When we leased our house, we were really excited that there was tile through the whole downstairs. This meant, no fruit punch stains, no coke stains, no mud stains, etc. However, this also meant, no crawling or sitting on the floor for Brooke. So, we started looking for 10x12 rugs. We began to realize that rugs of that size cost around $1,000 plus. Absolutely rediculous. THEN, I spoke with a co-worker of mine, Orion, who was previously in the same situation as us. He went to Lowes and ordered actual carpet and padding and had it bound up to look like a rug. Orion said it was FAR less expensive doing it this way. So, off we headed to Lowes. He was right....we found some great carpet and padding! We ordered it and sent it off to be bound and even ordered an extra 5x8 piece for under our kitchen table. Total cost $405. It took Mark 2 1/2 hours from the time he left the house to pick up the carpet to the time the carpet was laid out, taped down and padding cut. It is SO nice to be able to put Brooke down in the living room now. Even Josh enjoys laying on it while he plays his video games.

In addition to the carpet, we also purchased a ginormous mirror for our dining room. We went to the Orange County swap meet and found the perfect one. We found alot of other nice things, but of all days...it was 90 degrees, so we left. I can't wait to go back!

Big Brother, Big Sister

On Saturday, January 10th, my work sponsored a Big Brother Big Sister day at Boomers in Irvine. I, along with 28 others, arrived at Boomers at 10am. I met up with my assigned little sister, Kassandra, and we got to hang out together until 2pm. It was a lot of fun...we went on the go karts, rock climbing, tea cups (check out video below), laser tag and the arcade. To read more about Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County please visit their website http://www.bigbrooc.org/. You can find a little article about the day here. This was such a fun way to give back to our community.

Window Box!!

I had been wanting to spruce up our window box outside my bedroom for a while, so a few Saturdays ago, Nicky came over to help put my thoughts into action. We went to Michaels and both agreed that Hydrangeas were the way to go. Nicky bought the greenery for me as a house warming gift (so sweet)! We got home and Mark "cut the styrofoam to perfection". April also came over and helped spread a few of the leaves. Here is our end result!

New Years Eve 08-09!

For the past few years now...I haven't felt, at all, like going out on NYE. It must be my old age, but I just don't want to pay $50 to get into a bar, then buy $20 drinks after waiting in line at the bar for an hour. I would much rather be at home, in my comfy clothes with my family and friends. So, this year, the kids each invited a friend over (Maddy and Brendon) and I also invited friends over (Nicky and April). We had lots of junk food along with some beer, wine and some sort of shots I made up with the Vodka that has been in my freezer for umpteen months and whatever left over juices I could find in the fridge. All in all, it was a fun and relaxing night.Brooke missed all the fun...she was asleep by 9pm.

Christmas Day - Evening

After Ken and JoAnn's, we headed back to our house. Since Carlie and Josh were unable to go to my parents on Christmas Eve, my parents and sister came to our house to give Carlie and Josh thier presents. Mark made Spaghetti....Brooke ate paper.

Christmas Day - Late Morning

Around 10pm, we got everyone loaded into the Man Van and head over to Ken and JoAnn's. The whole family was there as well as Ken's famous Potato Pancakes and JoAnn's yummy sweedish Pancakes. There was PLENTY of food and it was all delicious....but all Brooke ate was paper.