Please, Do Come In.

I thought it would be fun to show you some pictures of my house. Two reasons: 1) Many of you live too far away to visit so now you can see where all the magic happens (?) and 2) I change my house so often that I thought I might start documenting it just for kicks.

Now, I'm not gonna show you my whole house right up front. (Must leave some things to the imagination.) But today, please meet my entryway:
Yes, those are shoes on the floor and random things on the lower shelf. That's where I keep all those things that actually belong to other people and need to be returned to them. Like the pink scrapbook you see there. I made that for my cousin 4 YEARS AGO. Yup, it's pics from the night before her wedding. Sorry, Ev.

The entryway is small but I love having a place to keep certain things that's not actually IN my living room cause once you step through the front door that's where you are. Meet the living room:

I was planning on making the house look all perfect before taking the pics, but then I got to thinking. Even perfectly clean my house doesn't look like a magazine and if I showed you my house perfectly clean and then you actually got to come visit in person you would think you were in the wrong house. So, I just left it how it was. School supplies and play doh and everything.

I do like how open our house is. And you'll notice that the magazine holders I told you about here are already different. When I decided to paint the picture frames you see in the previous picture the same color as my accent wall I also went ahead and painted the magazine holders too. I love them!

I had been having a little trouble with really being at ease in my house. And so I kept adding more orange thinking that was the problem. That I hadn't spread the color around enough. Finally, I decided to do the exact opposite and remove most of the orange and I am feeling so much better!!

Meet the dining room:

The china cabinet came from RC's grandmother who got it from her grandmother. Cool, huh? And the china inside came from my grandmother. It is white with just two black long stemmed roses on it.

When my grandmother saw my wedding colors: black, white and silver, she new that her china would be perfect for me. And she was right. It is simple and elegant and I love it!

My living room from the other side. I just moved this bookcase in here. It used to reside in my bedroom. When fall rolls around I just want everything to be cozier. Something about books, and fires, and throw blankets and instead of open, airy spaces I want cozy, snuggly spaces. And I'm also loving the convenience of it. We are learning French this year with a program on cd and now the cd player has a shelf to sit on instead of the floor. Gotta love that.

The focal point of our living room. The dresser the tv sits on was given to us by a friend in Montgomery. It is beautiful with marble inlaid in the top. I love having it in the living room instead of hidden in a bedroom. I get to look at it so much more this way. Also, the drawers make for great storage. All our DVDs and wii stuff is kept nicely together.

Also, this year we decided to hook our computer up to our tv. This way when the kids and I are researching something online we don't have to crowd around a tiny little screen. We can all spread out around the living room and have a great view. Also, I can watch Dancing With the Stars on the big screen now. =)

Well, thanks for stopping by! I have enjoyed your visit and am absolutely, positively certain that the next time you stop by my house will look somewhat different. I'm crazy like that!

Bridget

Pumpkin Patch '09

We went to the Pumpkin Patch in Chillicothe, TX a couple of weeks ago. If I was on top of things I would scan old pics at the pumpkin patch into the computer for fun. I'm just not that on top of things right now. But I do hope you enjoy these. They are getting so big and so funny!

This is his 'laughing candid' shot. The big silly.

His shirt looks too small bc it IS too small. I made him wear one of Bear's shirt for coordination's sake. I know, mean mama.

It was crazy windy and unfortunately there's not one picture where my hair isn't blowing in my face. =(

The End.

Bridget

Birthdays Galore!

Princess's birthday was on Tuesday. She wanted an Ariel (The Little Mermaid) cake and party and 'cowboy girl' stuff.

I made cupcakes Monday night and I'm gonna be completely honest...I made cupcakes so I could have one Monday night without anyone noticing the next day. =)

My kids are really good at being excited for each other. Its really wonderful to see.

They love their baby sister. Just this morning Popeye offered the last of his poptart to her bc she didn't like the one she had picked. So sweet.

Her 'cowboy girl' hat. She is gonna be a cowboy girl for Halloween and so we got her some boots. Grandma and Granddad got her the hat.

Popeye's birthday was on Wednesday. He told me last week that he wanted a Transformers party. Then on Tuesday he changed to Star Wars. Too bad so sad buddy. When I got out the Transformers stuff for the 'party' he wasn't at all upset. Just commented that he'll have Transformers this year and Star Wars next. That's my boy.

You might notice that Princess is still in her pajamas in these pics. Just a time reference: it was lunchtime not dinnertime and frankly, with that girl, I tread the 'lets get dressed' and the 'how about this to wear' line VERY carefully.

Both birthdays were very small but fun. On the Saturday before the two big boys had a birthday party to go to so Hubs, me, Popeye and Princess went to Wichita Falls for the day. We let them take their birthday money from Mema and Granddad to Toys R Us and pick something out. It was sensory overload. Princess just kept running from one thing to another squealing. Seriously, squealing. Finally I convinced her to buy a game she had seen first and she was happy with that a ring pop. Popeye got some Star Wars action figures. Figures. =)

Oh, and Popeye is gonna be Darth Vader for Halloween. Our first Halloween bad guy EVER. Not at all surprised its Popeye. From the time he was a few months old his dad has been battling his brothers with him. When he was a baby Hubs would hold his legs and use them as his weapons against Bobo and Bear. So from the get go he's been fighting 'the good guys'. Why be any different for Halloween?

Bridget

*I just have to note for my own sake that the 'using a baby as a weapon' reference was quite fast and loose. RC would be sitting on the couch holding Popeye and would just make Popeye kick his tiny little legs pretending to fight Bobo and Bear. He wasn't swinging him around the room or anything. Promise. That wasn't till he was at least 1. ;-)

Life is Better Lived Together

There used to be a car commercial that had that tag line. "Life is better lived together." RC and I would always comment when we saw that commercial how we totally agreed. Life is better lived together.

Basically, that's the whole point of this blog. Because I believe that life is better lived together I have put our life here on this blog to share with friends and family. And because I am finally firm in that being the sole purpose of this here blog I am changing some things.

First, I will now be posting every Tuesday and Friday. I will only post on other days if there is something vitally important to tell and since that has never happened in the 2 year life of this blog I don't expect it to happen now. If something is vitally important it usually isn't something I'm willing to post on the blog right away or ever. So there you go. Tuesdays and Fridays it is.

Second, because I have determined a set posting schedule I will no longer be sending out email reminders. I know they are handy, but with my new email I can only send out 5 at a time and it is taking longer than it used to. If you can't remember to check my blog - Good! It means you a) rarely get on the computer, b) see or talk to me on a regular basis and don't need to check my blog to know the Babione6 happenings, or c) rarely see or talk to me and therefore rarely think about me and therefore don't need to know the happenings of Babione6. I'm sure there are more reasons, but you get my point. If checking my blog isn't something you ever think of doing I am perfectly fine with that!!!

Third, I am going to post things that I would normally share with friends and family in conversation or if you were to visit our home. Because that is the purpose of this blog. If you want more information (like how to do something I've done, or where I got something, etc.) then ask. I am now thinking of this blog more like a conversation rather than an instrument for transmitting information.

Likewise, I love receiving feedback from you all. I'm not looking for validation or praise. I'm looking for living life together. This is why I've stopped listing the blogs of people I don't personally know. All the blogs in my blog list are written by people whose names and faces I know AND who know my name and face too. I'm not looking to be a professional blogger I'm looking to stay better connected with those I know and love. So please continue the conversation with me as though we were on the phone or drinking cherry coke / diet coke / sweet tea / kool-aid / water / or a Bacardi together. And I'll do the same for those of you who have blogs or email.

If you happen to be reading this blog and don't personally know us please know that you are welcome. However, having a large following of people I don't personally know is not the intent of this blog. So I will be writing with family and friends in mind, not strangers.

I love you all and I appreciate you taking time out of your life to get a glimpse into ours. Because life is truly better lived together.

Bridget

The Many Wonders of Decorative Paper

I have a nook in my house that is all mine. It is in our living room and has my desk and shelves and pictures and candles and pencils and drawers and boxes and stuff. And I love it. Rarely does anyone else use it and they must ask permission first. Even the Hubs.

No, not really. What's mine is his and all that.

Anywho...I have some magazine holders I use for everyday school stuff that I got at Ikea. Side note: we have some friends who affectionately call Ikea Ikillya. It's funny. But back to the magazine holders...they are great, but they are plain white. And in some instances that would be wonderful, but on my shelves that you see first thing when you enter my house it just wasn't cutting it.

So I covered them in decorative paper. The same paper I have hanging in frames in my dining room. Ok, so not the SAME paper cause that would mean I don't have that paper hanging in my dining room anymore and that would make me sad. I mean the same looking paper.

The before: And the after:

And now I'm completely convinced of where the children get their propensity for cheesing it the minute they see a camera.

Seriously, this was crazy easy. When I bought the decorative paper I actually bought it in a book. You can buy it in a book or in single sheets. So I had paper just sitting in my closet completely bored. I just used scotch tape to tape the paper around the holders and then trimmed the edges to fit. I didn't even cover the whole things. It is very highly, 100% likely that I will remove that paper and either leave them white or wrap them in different paper someday. I like change like that.

But if you want something more permanent you could totally use mod podge and cover them whole bad boys. More work and it would be permanent but it would last forever. Literally.

I love the change. I love that I can change the change.

And I love my man.

Bridget

Apples, Apples, and More Apples

Last year I found a website that had lots of fun information on apples. I don't know what it is about September and the start of school but it just feels like apples. Fall...teachers...pie. I thought it was the perfect time to learn about apples.

Well that never happened.


Then, this year didn't quite start out as planned and the best laid plans and all that and September went by with no apple activities.

So I decided to modify things a bit and instead of weeks of apple activities we would have an afternoon of an apple activity.


We first went to the Walmarts and bought one of every type of apple they had. Twelve different kinds. We took return labels and labeled the apples as we individually bagged them so we wouldn't forget which was which.

Then at snack time we cut each apple in half and laid one half on a paper plate with the name of that apple on it. We sliced up the other half into six slices so each person could have one. I would read the name of the apple and a little information about it and then we would eat that slice.

There were some definite favorites and some definite misses.

Bobo's favorite was the Cortland, Bear's favorite was the Granny Smith, and Popeye's favorite was the Gala. Princess liked them all.

I had never tasted all the apples and it was very interesting tasting them next to each other. There are some very distinct differences. And now when I buy apples I might actually know what I'm doing.

Bridget

Science Experiment AKA Answered Prayer

The last two years of homeschooling we didn't do many science experiments or projects. Very, very few actually.


Well, this year I committed to using our new curriculum to the fullest. Therefore, determining to do every experiment and project within our capabilities.


You're probably thinking, "Good for you. So what?"


The 'so what' is that for me this is harder than it should be. My mind somehow sees things as harder than they really are. I think maybe it's the perfectionism I struggle with.


Anyway, we had a science experiment to do on Tuesday. It required a d-cell 1.5v battery, a 1.5watt light, and some bell wire. We had none of those things. And I wasn't sure what a 1.5watt light looked like or what bell wire was and where I would find it.


So Monday evening I headed to Walmart. I started in the lighting isle. Nothing. The smallest watt they had was 4watts. I headed to the groceries and called the Hubs. While I was getting some necessities, he looked online and discovered that 1.5watt lights were tiny. Think flashlight lights. Tiny flashlight lights.


So, after picking up some d-cell batteries I headed to the camping section and asked an employee if they had flashlight light bulbs. They did, but the smallest wattage was 2.4. I decided to risk it.


Then, I'm gonna be honest, I kinda wimped out and before really looking down all the isle's I just bought some picture hanging wire bc I knew where that was and it was metal. It should work, right?


Wrong.


Tuesday afternoon, while the kids where playing after lunch I started preparing the experiment. I taped one piece of wire to the bottom of the battery and one piece of wire to the top. Then I tried to wrap them both around the bottom of the teeny tiny light bulb. Nothing. Nada. Zippo. Zilch.

Hubs tried to help, but everything we came up with failed. So I did what I usually do when things aren't going the way I planned and are harder than I expected...I pouted.

Thinking that we were gonna have to do without the experiment, I headed back to my bedroom for a minute and hubs headed back to work. Or so I thought.

While I was in my bedroom, I prayed a rather frustrated but desperate prayer. Lord, I don't know how to do this. I don't know what I need to make this work. Please show me. Please help me.

Then I headed back out to the living room. And in walked my father-in-law asking if I needed help with some electrical stuff. Yup. Hubs had walked next door and asked for help on my behalf while I was asking God.

My FIL knew exactly what bell wire was and happened to have some. When he returned with it he helped me attach it to the battery and then showed me how to roll the end into a circle so I could set the light bulb down into it and then told me to touch the side of the light bulb with the other wire. And guess what?

Well, I'm sure you know. It worked. Beautifully.

And when hubs walked back in the house and asked if his dad had been able to help and then smiled all proud-like when I said yes, I quickly made it clear that it was God who worked all this out. It was God who knew I would ask his help, and it was God who gave hubs the idea to ask for help. And it was all bc of God.

Then I smiled. And I thanked Him and him. And I went on in my homeschooling day even more confident that I am not doing this alone.

Bridget