Piper's Favorite Things...lately

Her babies, puppies, and bears along with her new purse and any keys she can get her hands on! I hear, "Keys?, Keys?, Keys?" ALL. DAY. LONG! Bath!!! She LOVES bath time...finally!! Especially with bubbles!

Barney & Friends! This is her watching it and dancing to it! She was really excited at this moment b/c they were singing a song! Everyday she asks, "Barney?, Barney?" And gives me the puppy dog eyes! I have been recording it every day and let her watch it after nap time most days.

Her shopping cart. Notice-her purse is in there and she has a baby in the front. She does this every time she takes her cart around the house. A purse and a baby of some kind are always in her basket! She is paying attention to mommy at the store!

And, this guy---Daddy! She talks about Daddy everyday as soon as she wakes up in the morning. For some reason, she has not figured out that he goes to work everyday. Ever since he stayed home over the Christmas holiday she thinks he is going to be home in the morning when she wakes up. And, when he does come home in the evening, she is so excited! So sweet!

These are a few of her favorite things!

Decorating stuff

I've promised a few of you to upload some recent pics of our house with the recent decorating I've done so here. it. is!!! I've asked everyone imaginable for ideas and suggestions b/c I have not felt very confident with my decorating ideas. We have officially been in this house 1 year so I need to get some stuff done! It's so much harder w/a child than it was before. ha!! This house is beginning to feel homey to me and I'm so glad! Even Michael mentioned that last week. This is the living room. And, that's the front door in the background. I made the curtains. The rug we already owned. The picture was my grandma's. The chest and sofas are new. The rug looks like it matches well with the curtains in the picture but in person I don't really like them together plus it makes the room even more brown so I'd like to find a rug with lots of red in it which will change the look of the room totally!

This is the angle of the room behind the sofas. See-lots of brown. I'm still mulling over ideas for the walls on each side of our TV. That door in the background goes outside to the driveway. We already had the brown and red chair. The red chair is one of a pair that was also my grandmothers. I loved them as a kid and I was very fortunate to receive them as an adult! They are in great condition!

This is the kitchen. I didn't pick up the random things left on the counter. I still need bar stools for the bar! I don't just want brown ones; I want red or a green color and I cannot seem to find any within my price range in those colors. I've found them but they've all been $300 each! No thank you!! The fork above the window is really the only new thing in the kitchen. The rest was already being used in my old house!

This grouping along the staircase is new. I used some of my Christmas money to purchase the frames and the custom mats. The pictures were all free b/c I waited until I found a deal online that was offering free printing! Chandra painted the silhouette of Piper for my Christmas present!!! Isn't great?!?! I love it! I plan to keep adding photos each year all along that wall.

The hallway to our bedroom, the guest bedroom, and the utility room has a small little cutout and I put this hand-me-down bench there. I recovered it last week w/fabric left over from Piper's room which was free in the first place and I quickly made the pillow with leftover fabric from the curtains in the living room. I want to make pillows for the sofas out of this fabric. Maybe next week! The plates were a wedding gift. They are there temporarily while I find something more suitable. I liked the colors there though.

Then, in our dining room is this newly finished craft project of mine! The blog, The Little Green Notebook, I mentioned, had a post about framed chalkboards. I decided to take the picture out of this frame, buy this wood stuff from Lowes and paint it w/chalkboard paint and re-frame it! It's so cute in person. This project was cheap!!!! I bought the chalkboard paint a month ago for $8 and the wood stuff was called tempered wood or something like that and this HUGE sheet of it was only $12. I have enough for a friend to do one and probably another friend could do one too! Anyway, I love it. The picture that was in there before was a print of a piece of bread, a pitcher, butter, and a bowl of fruit. I had it on my mantle in my Tyler house. I did like it a lot but it wasn't working right in this house. The frame is so unique so this is perfect!

That's our new table--I'm into lots of brown lately! I got this at World Market for a great deal! They were having a sale plus I had a coupon! Ha! This is really the breakfast nook but we turned out dining room into a study and now the study has been turned into a playroom! I didn't photo that! Anyway, I love the table. It's solid wood and looks like one of those barn tables. Eventually I want to get chairs for the ends!

And, this is the frame of the chalkboard!

So, that's what's been done recently. My next major thing is our bedroom and bath. I think I know what I want to do in there but am waiting on Mr. Moneybags to okay the project! Haha! Hope you enjoyed the short tour!

My New Fave

Okay, I'm sure I'm totally behind in the blog world but I just discovered my new favorite blog...Little Green Notebook...http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/. If you know me at all, you know I like to decorate. Yes, I'm very amateur at it, but I still love it. I mean, I lose sleep over my decorating ideas and dilemmas. Pathetic...I know! Anyway, this blog has already inspired me to complete a project that I will post a picture of soon once I have time! Check it out if that's your thing! It's so worth your time!

Haiti

Today I was going to do a post about Piper's pigtails, as interesting as that is...but, there are more important things going on in the world today and so I'm going to take the time to share this short post w/you! This morning I was reading the following the verse that I had written down several years ago in the back of my bible. And, I really think it is my verse for the year b/c I'm trying to give more and be more financially conscience I guess.... Psalm 115:14-15 "May the Lord give you increase more and more, you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord who made Heaven and Earth." Then later today I got on one of my favorite websites http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ to see if there were any deal alerts I needed to be aware. But instead of reading about deal alerts, I read a post about ways we all can give to the people of Haiti. One way she encouraged bloggers to give was to donate money. And if we donate money and blog about it in order to the get the word out, then she and her husband will personally donate $10 for every blog that does so. So, I'm pretty sure that the Lord had me read that verse this morning and check her website today for a reason! My family donated a small amount of money to Compassion International for the Haiti Relief Fund today. Several blogs are doing the same thing as MSM. If you donate and then let them know, they will donate more money as well. So if you feel moved to donate take a look at some of those websites and this will help your donation be stretched even more! I can't imagine going through what the people of Haiti are going through right now. And, I can't even fathom being one of those mothers who has lost her precious child from this tragedy. I am so blessed today for what He has given to me! (And, mom I'm sure I've made all kinds of grammar mistakes...Please overlook them! haha!)

Afternoon of Fun!

My sister and her kids came down for a quick visit on Thursday b/c their school was cancelled that day due to the cold weather! I loved having them here. We just laid around like lazy bums! I'm sure my busy-body sister was about to die!! Ha! Piper sure had fun!! I wish they lived down the street! (I wish all our cousins lived down the street!!)

Something was exciting at this moment!! Ha!

28 is Great!

My 28th birthday was Tuesday and here are the pics from my day of celebrating! That morning Piper and I attended my weekly bible study. We had a welcome back brunch that morning so that was fun. Then, Michael took us to lunch. That evening, Michael and I went to an OSU basketball game in Stillwater. Chandra & Rusty kept Piper while we were at the game. She got to play with Lilly!

Oh--Michael did really good on my presents this year!! He gave me a gift certificate for a pedicure and a massage!! My favorites!!

Christmas 2009!

Christmas 2009 will be one I never forget!! It definitely did not go as planned but still was very special to our little family! Here's the view out our front window on Christmas Eve as the "blizzard" was happening!This picture is a little out of place!! But, it's in the lineup to show you Piper wearing Michael's ginormous shoes while she is wearing her big boots at the same time!!

Now back to the Christmas lineup! We had Christmas at our house on the Tuesday before Christmas just before bedtime. It was fun to see Piper's reaction to her new items!

Then on Christmas day while we were snowed in, we let her open one of Grandma & Papa's presents that we had packed away in our car.

After the roads cleared off, we were able to travel to Fargo on the 26th. This was a pic of Piper after she had opened presents. I guess it wore her out!

She is telling Grandma something! Piper was a little ham at Grandma's!

After going to Fargo, we drove to Clinton. She wasn't really a ham here...more like a grouch!! Ha!

Except if Papa John was helping her or Aunt Valerie was entertaining her!

Then a few days later, Grandpa & Grandma Levy came to our house in Ardmore to see us for Christmas! They also stayed overnight with Piper while Michael and I spent New Year's Eve in OKC w/the Roush's!!! Thank you!! Notice Michael is not wearing his glasses---he got lasik in December and no more glasses for him!!

By this time, Piper knew the drill with the presents! This is her in the middle of a laugh while "talking" to someone on her new cell phone!

2009 was a great year for us! 2008 brought us a lot of changes so 2009 was a year of settling in and readjusting. It took most of the year for that readjustment and it is fully complete but God has been with us all along the way and will continue to be. I look forward to this year ahead and am excited about the changes He has planned for us!