My Fashionista and My Artist

Guess who is who ;-)

Somebody has a tooth!

At 7 months, Cate has sprouted her first tooth! Isn't she cute? :-D

If you want smart kids, include them in your projects!

My girls cook, paint (like real painting), landscape, do chores, and many other things with me. They play integral roles in our family and in our daily lives. I believe because they help so much, they know they are very important to us, which leads them to feel confident about themselves. The best parenting advice I have is to include your children in as many ways as possible. I know it may take longer to do projects, or things may not be done quite right, but it's so worth it. Think of how much they can learn from you, and how good they will feel about themselves because they know their parents believe in their abilities.

Bronwen and Ava helping me paint artwork to hang in our house

The Bedroom: No fun project goes unpunished!

"Why on earth did I want to redo Cate's bedroom when we have the house on the market?" I asked myself this question each time, six times (one per iteration) until I was finally satisfied with the finished look.

Before Cate was born, her bedroom was our beautiful, spacious guest-room, equipped with my treadmill. Introduce Cate's crib, the room looked like the spot where we stored everything. Funny how one piece of furniture threw off the feel of the room. I felt bad for Cate, so I wanted to fix it. This is when the circus began. ;-)

Iteration 1: "I'll paint a beige accent wall, behind the headboard." I went to Lowe's with the intent of buying said paint, and I don't know if I 1) had a stroke; 2) aliens invaded my body or 3) went color-blind because somehow I came out with mauve paint. This was the result:


Iteration 2: "I'll paint an off-white stripe across the wall to break up the mauve." Conrad came home (yes, I do my projects secretly while he's at work so he can't stop and reason with me!). His words, "I don't get the stripe. It reminds me of a racing stripe." I laughed with my girlfriend later on. "Ya, that was the theme for the house -Nascar." Hmm, "Maybe I should have attached some cars to the stripe." Haha!

Iteration 3: "I'll add small chocolate-colored stripes on either side of the off-white to warm it up. And while I'm at it, I'll have some fun with vinyl and buy a chocolate-colored blanket." Results, good, until I hang up the silver artwork above the headboard. Yikes!

Iteration 4: "I'll rope in Bronwen and Ava and we'll spray paint the artwork pink, and paint the borders chocolate." The darn pink doesn't match the mauve!!! Agh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Iteration 5: "I'll spray paint it brownish/bronze." It looked silver! Agh!!!!!!!

Iteration 6: "I'll just repaint the borders chocolate again." Finally, success! I know the mauve is a little out there for some people's taste, but I actually like the look.

My rule of thumb that each of my projects involves a minimum of 4 trips to Lowe's, and several tries before I get it just right. It's so fun though!

Happy 9th Anniversay to My Love

I love you more than words can say.

THE cake :-p

Some cropping and cutting and pasting had to happen, but here it is. It was as delicious as it looks!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom, you are the most beautiful woman in the world. I always think of how you take care of me. I love you, and hope you had a magical day.

A mom who is so beautiful

A mom who is so talented; she BUILT that waterfull and put in the landscaping (I mean like literally tore out the grass, hauled in the rock, etc.!)

Tash and I made a fabulous cake (as tribute to the waterfall) for mom, but I need to repost the picture.  The one I put up earlier had somebody in the background in their underwear hahahaha!

Love,
Your Chellie

Pictures of the girls and me -Conrad will be in the next set :-)

My changing attire with a 6-month old!

It was a short while ago that I resigned to the fact I could no longer wear black. "Why?" you ask. It's because of a cute little baby named Cate. For the last several months Cate has liked to leave almost bird-like droppings on my [black] shirts, or [black] pants. Despite being grossed out by the smell, I was always thankful that the spit up occurred with 99% accuracy on the front of me, as opposed to my back. The latter scenario would end up being very embarrassing. I could just picture it; I would be gallivanting about the town, unaware of nasty, smelly white streaks on my back. Yikes!

Well...that has changed! With the introduction to solid foods, I can no longer wear white! I made this unfortunate discovery today when I got to the pediatrician's office with a nice splash of orange on my shirt -ewww! The visit went well, despite mine and Cate's attire, and the shots.

Onto great news, Cate is right on track for her age! She's sleeping through the night (hooray! happened right after we moved her to her crib), sits by herself, and laughs at all the cute things her big sisters do. She is truly a little doll, as are her sisters!