light fixture updates

Even though it seems like we're always putting money into improving and updating our home, we're still kind of tightwads in the things that we do.

Most recently we updated some of our light fixtures. This is the fan/light in the kitchen. It wasn't horrible, but neither of us liked the lightbulb covers, and the fan blades weren't doing much for us either.

So instead of buying a whole new ceiling fan (way more than we wanted to spend), we decided to just switch out the old light covers with some bell-shaped frosted glass ones.

Then we flipped over the fan blades and painted them a solid brown color. Ta da.

We did the same to the ceiling fan in the front room too.

In the bedrooms were light covers like these. They were very bright, but not our cup of tea on looks.

I wanted lights with brown edges, but we couldn't find any with the white glass, so we bought this low-priced package of lights...

...and spray painted them to our liking.

Voila.

Oh, what will we do next?

interest in writing

Recently, Drake and Graham have taken more of an interest in writing and drawing.

Here they drew some pictures to send to my brother on his mission. The picture on the left is of a temple, and on the right is Justin and a missionary.

And this is a "missionary walking along", obviously.

Graham drew this picture of Avery---notice the curls on top of her head?

And with a little bit of prompting, Drake wrote this out for my parents and all the kids signed it (for babysitting while we were out of the country).

Drake decided my pen holder wasn't good enough and moved it aside for his amazing paper creation, seen taped to the wall.

Drake also picked up on the idea behind grocery lists. If I need to buy something at the grocery store, I write it down on my blue pad of paper. Then when we go to the store, I buy it. Drake decided he would make his own list of things he wanted to buy, and put it up on the fridge right next to mine.

Then he told me next time we went to the store, I could buy it. If it's on a list, it means you can just buy it, right?

And in case you can't decipher his list:

MnMs (candy)

Big Oranges

Toy Train

New Scooter (Shad wrote that one for him)

Remote Control Train

If only it were that easy to get stuff.

she's growing up

I know I post a lot of pictures of Avery, but she's the one who lets me take her picture most often, so I do.

I can't believe how fast she's growing up.

Her sweet, little personality is fun to watch.

And even though I see her every day, I can never get over her eyes.

She's beginning to have more of an opinion.

And a desire to do things on her own (here she was insistent on getting her coat out by herself).

She put on the boys' shoes and made sure I saw how funny she was.

She loves to play and will often sit by herself and stay entertained for a while.

Before I had a girl, I was content with just boys, and could have been happy with all boys.

But there is something about having a sweet girl in the house that you don't get from boys.

I love having a daughter (she's saying "cheese" for the camera in this picture).

And I wouldn't trade her for nothin'.

buds

Few things are as satisfying as watching my kids get along.

I often think about when they're all grown up and I hope they'll still get along even then.

Because right now, they are best friends.

For better or weird.

And although they aren't perfect,

and get on each others' nerves from time to time,

I still love them.

They play together.

They learn together.

And they love together.

And because my kids like to watch themselves on video, here's a random video of them looking for plastic eggs.

I love my job.

avery likes to eat, still

I think I've already posted about Avery's fondness towards food.

But I'll do it again.

She is by far our best eater.

And prefers to eat on her own.

And we love it.

Because we know that she won't be wasting away any time soon.

And she's fun to watch, too.

Love this girl.

back to normal...

When I returned home with the kids, I discovered that Shad had tiled my "craft room".

I stayed with my family a little longer so we could have fun without someone being sick, but Shad had to return home earlier because of work.

It's nice to be home again.

I hope to help make this a good year for our family.

more colorado

This is the last of the Colorado pictures.

Until we go there again.

Harassing "big" Landon.

A bunch of us went for a walk with the kiddos.

Lincoln found the good stuff.

Playing some Settlers of Catan.

And no family get-together would be complete without the boys gaming.

The end.