We finally bought a house!

After 5 {was it really only 5, felt like so much more} months we finally bought a house.... ehemmm. I mean we made an offer that someone accepted! Our 7th! 7 is now my new lucky number! I am going to put a sign in my new house with No.7, kinda like the Jack Daniels logo sans the Jack Daniels part!
This house is perfect! 4 bedrooms, only 2 bathrooms {how I hated cleaning bathrooms before} a big yard with room for a garden, {which reminds me to go to the library and learn how to garden}. The entire house has been remodeled. The paint color is exactly the shade I always tried to achieve but could never get quite right. I will make a note to ask the contractor what color it is. The kitchen has cherry cabinets....I had my heart set on painting old dingy cabs antique white.... but since these are brand new  I wouldn't dare! So I will take some notes from other kitchens I love like Thrifty Decor Chick

 And I love this one too..... My sister sent me this photo and I don't know who to give the credit to...

Now when I said this house was perfect.... I would like to clarify that it LOOKS perfect. It had its quirks like every other house... The first night we moved in we {hubby} noticed that the hall bath had a leak that would run back into the wall when you ran the bath faucet so he told kids they would have to use the master shower......That's when we realized the master had no HOT water..... These were both fixed by the contractor's plumber after a few days.... Then I washed some dishes by hand in the kitchen sink... Hubby asks me if I dumped the water out on the back porch, NO..... another visit from the plumber. He also took a look under all the sinks in the house and found that they were assembled incorrectly, which he fixed. Then the washing machine started flooding {apparently the pipes were plugged and the water couldn't drain} Let's see... Oh ya and when we had the cable installed... To make a long story short, Casey got in the attic to help the poor struggling cable guy and ended up accidentally cutting electrical with an electric saw. The fact that he wasn't electrocuted still amazes me.
So ya it's been a little hectic... throw in Ella's birthday and Christmas and here we are! I put away Christmas already and can finally see what my house looks like :) I can't wait to start so projects and post before and after photos.
On my near-future to-do list:
Bead board in the bathroom with hooks for kids to hang their towels.
I would also like to frame out the mirror.
You are probably thinking these are more Casey's projects than mine....you are correct :)

10 years

I can't believe it's been ten years already... I know everyone says that, but seriously!

For our anniversary we snuck away for our own little 'staycation'. We had a nice dinner at Shula's Steak House. Seriously my filet was like biting into butter...yum! Also it was the most expensive steak I have ever ordered so I guess it's true you get what you pay for ;-)

 They gave us this chocolate cake complimentary for our anniversary... Thanks!

I am so lucky to share this life with such a wonderful man!

October so far...

Second day of open windows, taking Ella for a walk, and playing at the park. It is GORGEOUS outside lately and I LOVE it. What a nice break from house hunting. Speaking of which here is the update.
It's a numbers game.
12+ showings (I have seriously lost count)
6 houses lost (One went to auction, 2 had cash offers)
Oh well. I somehow remain optimistic most of the time. Casey.... not so much. :-)

So I am getting crafty to keep my mind off of it.
I painted a table for Miss E to use for tea parties. Will post that later...

Made spider pumpkins with the kids.

 Mini pumpkins, black pipe cleaners (cut in half) Googley eyes and tooth picks...

 Poke holes for the legs, in pumpkins first, with toothpicks so that pipecleaners go in easily

 Add eyes and use a Sharpie for other facial features.

Austin & Steven turned 8

For Austin & Steven's 8th birthday we had a DINOSAUR theme.

That's what they wanted :-)

This cake was really easy to make!  It's just cake rounds.

2 for the bottom with frosting in between. Then a half round. Then a third of a round. Then a quarter.

{If I remember correctly, of course}

Each layer needs to be secured with toothpicks. I used left over cake pop sticks for the top to hold all the way to the bottom. Otherwise this bad boy would totally topple!

Chocolate frosting. Cocoa puff boulders. And dinos of course :-)

 All the kiddos chowing down the Hungry Howie's. You can't beat it for $5 a pizza!

 Pin the head on the Dino Fossil...

 Brown paper bag so no peaking!

 My brother, who doesn't have kids yet, got the boys these AWESOME paper jamz guitars. While admit they are the coolest thing since sliced bread, they are also really LOUD!

 So of course the kids love them!



Ella's Sweet Shoppe

Better late than never... While browsing in blogger land I started thinking about my own poor neglected blog. So I read it. WOW! Have I skipped a lot! LOL. So just for fun I am posting Ella's birthday party from eh....uh,,,, last december (don't judge me)

It was a Sweet Shoppe!

Here are the invites that I ordered from The TomKat studio. They were just as adorable as I had expected and so easy to print and put together yourself.

 I made these lollipops for the yard  muhwa-self. So easy! 2 paper plates fronts together with a dowel rod in the middle at the bottom. Tape to secure. Then wrap in tissue paper of your choice, tape. The clear wrap over that (I used an irredescent) Then a cutie patootie ribbon of your choice.

 Ah yes the candy buffet!

Most of these candies were from Sweetie's in chandler. They sell in bulk, have great prices, and have a lot of the 'old' candies you may remember. {Like those gum cigarettes your mom wouldn't let you get ;-)}

 Dang I wish I had a close up of the little cupcake toppers and cake pop sticks so you could see more of the little tags that came in the package from TomKat. They were so cute!

Games!

 Bean bag toss.

Also used extra bean bags to anchor down some balloons. Kids used a hula hoop to toss over them.

 My amazing sister who helped me a TON!

 My talented Auntie Shari who made Ella's 4 for her shirt. Thanks lovie!

Birthday girl

 Oh and how could I for get!? I made this topiary... The foam form came from the fabulous Hobby Lobby. I painted the pot, glued in the form, then started poking in dum dums. (You have to cut down the sticks to fit) I had about half of this bad boy down when I decided to take a little break and tried to move it. I wasn't expecting it to be so dang heavy {only on the one side} and it came crashing down. Bugger. Had to paint pot #2 and re glue. Lesson learned... Word to the wise: Evenly disperse the dum dums while poking them in.

And my methodical Father in Law guessed closest to 'How Many Dum Dums' so he got to keep it. He was totally excited. Not at all embaressed to have his picture taken with it either.... HA ha!!!

 This little candy sign hung on the front door. I made it the same as the lollipops except for the dowel rod of course. Cute?

 It was a lot of fun! And delicious of course! Already thinking about what to do for her party this year... Especially since it's in only 2 and 1/2 months!

What do you think?



Mama Schell Says: 40 Bags in 40 Days

So my friend Jenn AKA Mama Schell, posted this challenge on her blog... and I'm IN!

Mama Schell Says: 40 Bags in 40 Days: View full post
Here's my List:

1. Kitchen junk drawer
2.Kids cabinet
3.Under bathroom sink- downstairs
4.Kitchen cupboards
5. Freezer
6.Nightstand
7. Hall Coat closet
8. My bathroom vanity
9. Make-up
10. Linen closet
11. Ella's Closet
12. Boys' closet
13. Movie shelves
14. Book shelves
15. Garage
16. Old office {where i hide everything-eek!}
17. Under the stairs closet {AKA- dungeon}
18. Back patio
19. My closet
20. Pantry
21.Under kitchen sink
22. Office Desk
23. Scrapbook room
24. Master bath linen closet
25. My car
26. Lower kitchen cupboards
27. Fridge
28. Jewelry
29. Holiday bins
30. Spices
Ok, I have been purging already and I'm sturggling for 10 more things, BUT maybe as I get going they will come to me! :)
Thanks Jenn for this inspiration!

House hunting

Where have I been? Well on the 4th of July {makes it easy to remember} we discussed an opportunity that kinds fell into our laps.
Moving. Yes... back into 'town'. Close to hubby's work {I guess the one hour drive each way, for the last 7 years, is kinda wearing on him} Also it would allow him to work more/ take a promotion, should one come along.
Sooooo we started looking. We were so excited because "oh houses are so cheap!" Reality check: most houses are crap. "We could buy a short sale!" Reality check: We can put an offer on a house and get attached and wait for months to hear anything.
So we did find a couple of houses... only to lose in the 'multiple bids' war.
Ugh...
Something I have learned to appreciate during all of this is: My house is freakin nice! Haha! In comparison to all the houses that we have looked at where no one has been 'loving' on them in quite some time. Yards dead, weeds overgrown, holes in walls... And DIRT. Holy cow! My house can get dirty but at least it's MY dirt, if ya' know what I mean ;-)
Any who... it seems there is always a new house popping up on the MLS and one of them is bound to be 'ours' one of these days. In the meantime I think I am going to do THIS challenge from my friend Jenn. It will keep me busy AND get me ready should something work out in the 'Let's Move' plan.