A New Project...

I love a project!!! In fact, I can't work on one project without thinking about starting another one! ESPECIALLY house projects!!!! When we bought our house almost 3 years ago, we weren't able to do a whole lot of updates to it, so we've slowly been doing some "improvements" around here!


The latest started TODAY!!!!


After a trip to Lowe's last night, we were ready!


We have a formal living room in the very front of our house. It has double pocket doors that lead into it from the foyer and then also solid french doors that lead into it from the far side from the family room.


Before we bought the house, here's what the room looked like:

When we moved in, we didn't really have any furniture to put in it, besides some that had been given to us (that was previously here).

For a year or so the room was just pretty empty and we didn't ever use it.

This is the only picture I have and it's at Christmas and shows only part of the room, but you can see we painted, replaced the carpet, got rid of the cornice boards and drapes, and added trim around the windows....

I recently moved all of ABs's toys in there because we are at the point where we need a playroom... I knew something had to be done, but I couldn't really get it in my head what I wanted to do to make it a more efficient play room... plus the size of it kind of threw me for a loop. It's a big room, and the thought of little miss having access to a room that big with so many toys makes me cringe. Not to mention the fact that it's the first room you see if you come in our front door. Talk about pressure, having to keep it picked up and clean in case someone drops by!

We had toyed around with the idea of possibly adding a wall and splitting the room in half, making 2 separate rooms. We'd talked about moving our office into the front part of the room, and making the back part the playroom. And that's just what we're doing!

Here's what the room looked like this morning (everything is piled up and pushed out of the way)

From the foyer looking in....

(do you not love my old school-house table & chairs?!?! They're isn't going to be room in the new playroom for them, so they'll go on the sunroom for now... but I think once the playroom is turned into a "homework" room they'll look great back in there!)

From the living room entrance...

And when the builder left today, here's what it looked like!

Office side:

Playroom Side:

I am so excited, especially now that I can really get a feel for the size of the rooms with the wall up. I was worried they would be too small, but they're still really good sized rooms... it's hard to tell that in the pictures...

I've got several ideas for the playroom, including an art corner here....

I can't wait to see what progress we make tomorrow and this weekend!

This afternoon, because it was killing me not to be involved with the wall building, I felt the need to build something myself... so I took the fabric that I'd bought for the playroom months ago,

(I still might use it in there, too) and made Annabelle a crayon-roll. She is loving to color these days and I've been wanting to make one of these for a while. So easy and I think it turned out really cute.... next time I am going to try doing the ric-rac around the edges... These may start being our birthday party gifts at kids' birthdays! Wouldn't it be cute paired with some cute coloring books or other art supplies?!?!?

Have a great weekend!

~amw~

The Lost Pictures, Volume I

Yesterday, Annabelle and I had lunch with my friend Emily and her daughter Ryleigh. I got out my "diaper bag camera" to take a picture of the girls who were having such a good time together.



Aren't they cute?!?!?

When I got home, and looked at the pictures, I kept scrolling to see what else was on the camera. I laughed because they were of so many different (and completely random) things...and some even taken MONTHS ago...

I keep my point and shoot camera in my diaper bag and rarely use it. Most of my pictures, especially the ones I take of AB are taken with our "big" camera. I just call them my "little" and "big" cameras, because I have just recently learned that the "big" camera is called a SLR and my "little" camera is called a point and shoot. Who knew?

I keep the little camera in my diaper bag so that I always have a camera with me. I use it to take pictures when I don't have my big camera or when it's easier to just grab the little one. Since I rarely use that camera, I rarely upload the pictures off of it, so it was fun to go through all of them yesterday.

Here are a few highlights...

Of course, there were lots of pictures of Little Miss...

The first of which, is of her wearing "Queen Esther's crown"...she was with me when I was decorating for our Bible Study group's "Esther Banquet" and insisted on wearing the crown all around the church fellowship hall! I am pretty sure queens don't stick out their tongues though!

Here she is in our front yard. She scares us out of our minds when we play outside, because she goes straight for the concrete and asphalt. We've already had our first scrapped knee.

This next picture was taken to actually post on here! See that detergent? I got it for FREE using my coupons. We have to use ALL Free & Clear on AB's clothes because of her sensitive skin and I was beyond excited to get my first completely FREE item using coupons! That Zyrtec is also AB's and a great deal, as well... I got it for $6.00 (half off what I usually pay for it!)

The next one makes me giggle. This is Garrett, my nephew. You cannot look at him and not smile. I don't know if it's that sweet bald head or his silly little grin, but he's just a doll. He's wearing my sunglasses here...

and since his cousin, has a sticker obsession now, she "decorated" him. See how she puts stickers on? One on top of the other! Ha...

6 turkeys in our front yard...

There were also pictures of our Easter decorations on the memory card... I thought this one of the ornaments on the "egg tree" was cute...

I took this next picture for a blog post that I never wrote. Ha... I was SO EXCITED to get our Census package in the mail! This was the first Census that I've ever filled out, and so it was also the first that Devin and I were on together! Awwwww... I was a little disappointed when all I had to answer were like 3 questions. We also mailed it back in the same day, because I didn't want to get into any kind of trouble, since it was REQUIRED BY LAW that we mail it back (as clearly stated on the front of the envelope.)

This one makes me laugh... and not just because I have Harvest Gold appliances-circa 1960... The tiny cabinet below our beloved Harvest Gold-double oven is AB's favorite place to be when I am in the kitchen. She thinks it's a pull-out chair, just her size! She also loves to sit on top of the dishwasher when it's open, but it's NOT Harvest Gold and we bought it when we moved in 2 1/2 years ago, so I am not wanting it replaced anytime soon. (NOT that I let her play with things that she MIGHT ACCIDENTALLY tear up, that I actually DO want replaced... hee hee...)

Ahhh... her other favorite place. Our pantry. We swear she has a future in the Supermarket Industry... the girl can stock and rearrange shelves like nobody's business.... her true knack is UN-STOCKING the shelves, though...as you can see.... On any given day, whatever part of our house she's been in, looks like it's been ransacked by robbers. Until I make the rounds and we start it all over again...

This was at lunch one day at McAlisters.... I love it because she's wearing that hat and I don't think I have any other pictures of her all winter wearing it. It was shaped like a cupcake and so cute...

This picture is of the remains of my red bows and garland that hangs on our fence at the end of our driveway at Christmas. Three words... THOSE DANG COWS....

AB pushes her baby stroller around and around the house. She seriously loves it. But its a Kodak moment when there is actually a BABY in the stroller. Usually its a shoe, or her paci, or her sippy cup or some other random toy.... Yep, she's in her pajama top, diaper and crocs. Didn't you know as long as you have shoes on, it's considered a complete outfit???

This one was taken the same day. I was so shocked that she had her baby in her stroller and was so proud when I saw that she'd covered 'Abby' with a blankie. (What a good little Momma! Even if the "blankie" really is the changing pad out of Abby's play diaper bag.... its works... she's resourceful!) :)

Aunt Lauren & Annabelle playing stickers... Look close, they both have them on their noses... so sweet...

Our newest resident, whom we LOVE! I have been trying to get a fox squirrel to come make a home in our yard since we moved in, and it's finally happened!

And last, but certainly not least... the best peanut butter pie of my life. So amazing, I had to take a picture to document it. I've had another piece since that first one, and it's not been enough. I need piece now.
~amw~

Beachin' 2010 Begins....

It's official. The beach season has begun for our little family!

We took a day trip a couple weeks ago to see the renovations that my in-laws have been doing on the condo (which looks awesome, by the way! I wish I had taken before and after photos...I know how everyone loves a good before & after!) But, this weekend marked the first trip that we packed our jammies and swimsuits so we could stay a while! That "while" is always way too short when the beach is involved. "Amen," anyone?!?!?

We joined AB's Pappy & Granny, Aunt Kels & one of her friends for the weekend.

The weekend was full of ruffles...on swimsuits & pink floaties!

And there was plenty of diggin' to be done,

lots of beach to explore...

and

plenty of popsicles to eat!

(which by the way- have you ever noticed how much faster a popsicle melts at the beach? We noted that this weekend. And also, if you haven't tried the Edy's Real Fruit Bars you NEED to. DW had strawberry and I had lime, and he let me take a bite of his because 'he sees me' and 'I see him' and 'we connect' so we do stuff like that. Did yall see "Avitar" yet? I am so not a Sci-Fi girl, but the Sci-Fi-ness of Avitar was salvaged with the little bit of a love story that it had, and was actually pretty good. It was complete weirdness with horses that were like cross-bred with ant-eaters and all the "connected" stuff with their hair and all, but it was good. Anyway, back to the popsicles. You have to get a lime one and a strawberry one and try them together. It's like a frozen strawberry limeade and it's AMAZING. I'll be buying some this week at the grocery store.)

After dinner, we had another short walk on the VERY WINDY beach...

Here are some pictures from our "test run"...I bought this dress to take beach pictures in this year, and wanted to do some "test pics" to see if how it looked. I think we're going to try of phlox pictures this year in this dress, too....

Just a little advice, too. When you apply your sunscreen (or spray tanner - with SPF, of course!) make sure you RUB it in. If not, you'll get a really awesome sunburn like this one! See the awesome burn-lines and circles?!?! I can't wait to see how this "tans"...

This girl has learned the lesson. :)

~amw~

Take Your Daughter (in-law) to Work Day...

When I first started blogging, I read lots of mom/family blogs and enjoyed getting to know them and have loved forming friendships with girls from so many different places. I also read a couple of the "big blogs"--- The Pioneer Woman is one of my faves. She does it all. She's got the whole cooking section and photography section and she's just plain hilarious. One of the things I've loved about her site is getting to see photos of their ranch. Country life is nothing new to me....my Grandfather was a farmer and I have several uncles who farm, too. I grew up in 4-H & FFA and showed steers in the county livestock fair and spent lots of spring days setting out watermelon and tobacco plants, and in the summer,way too many days to count in the garden picking peas, tomatoes, okra, squash and everything else! But, I don't have much experience with seeing how you "work cows."

DW's agricultural roots also include some farming, but the heart of the ranch he grew up on is cattle. His Daddy runs the cattle company and I wanted to see what this "working cows" business was all about. This interest REALLY set in after seeing Pioneer Woman's blogs about their ranch. I had my PW knowledge to go off of, and I was really curious to see if we do things out here like they do in Oklahoma. I also wanted to tag along one day to just take pictures of the guys working. I feel like so much of our lives are spent at our jobs, and I want to see the people I love doing theirs and so of course, I want a picture to remember it! One of my favorite pictures of my own Daddy is one that was taken when he was working on a drill rig in a mine in Australia. You can only see his silhouette and I love it. Another favorite "working picture" is of my Papa standing with one of my cousins in his tobacco patch.

Anyway, (whew this story is getting long...) it was two weeks ago and Spring Break. One of my brother-in-laws was on a cruise and my mother-in-law (who also helps when they work cows) was at the beach for Spring Break with my little SIL. So they were short-handed on the farm. They only had a very small herd of cows to work, so I don't think they were THAT concerned about being short-handed, but as soon as I heard they were, I talked to Lauren about going, and got on the phone and volunteered us to "help!" My father-in-law laughed, but agreed that we could come. I am sure he was shaking his head on the other end of the phone line. Ha...

That night I was so excited that I could hardly sleep and the next morning came EARLY. We were suppose to meet up at the horse-lot at 6:45. The men had already been there and had the horses saddled and loaded on the trailers... AB & I jumped in the truck with Pappy and we headed to the pasture where the herd was that we were working...

I figured I would at least be "gate-opener", but riding with my FIL is like riding with DW... He got the gates.

When we got up to the cow pens, I didn't know what to expect....everyone else was there and the horses were unloaded and tied up on the fence.


It was early and the sun had barely come up, and the ground was covered with fog.





The guys got on their horses and rode off to gather the cows and drive them into the cow pens.



Once they're in the cow pens,
it was time to "sort" them. Someone sits on top of the pen and works the gate. On this day, it was my BIL, Adam's job.
When a momma cow would come through, he'd let her out, but when it was a calf, he'd swing the gate shut, forcing the calf to go in the pen. So you see, for a little while, the babies were separated from their mommas. Some of the mommas took this pretty well. Some on the other hand, were pretty ticked off. Just ask this one....


Or this one, who came up under the barn where AB and I were watching! This Momma here jumped right on the fence when she came our way! Ha...




After the cows were sorted, all we were left with were the babies. (There were about 60 babies in the first group and a little more than that in the second group.) Since they're new babies, they have to be tagged with an ear tag and a tracking-like device, plus they have to be vaccinated.

The calves are sent through the squeeze chute and the person pushing them through the lane looks to see if they are a "bull" or "girl"--- When he'd yell "bull", Lauren and I would cringe, because this meant, too, that he had to be "cut" (castrated). Eeek.... Nope, that certainly wasn't our job! Ha... Lauren's job was to work the computer. She would enter in the tag numbers on each of the calves and run the scanner wand thing over the tracking device. That's some good explaining, huh? Ha! I should point out here, that AB was asleep strapped in her car seat in the truck, parked right by the fence, with the windows rolled down, before I say that I had a job!


Anyway, my job was to vaccinate.

Yes!, they let me give the cows shots. I'm like a "cow-nurse" and I never even had training! Unless you count the first 3 times when I did it wrong, and Mr. Lint (one of the men that work on the farm) had to keep telling me to "leave it squeezed until I get it all the way out"--- Finally after about the first 3, I had it. I was a pro. I was pretty nervous though, especially when they said to be careful not to stick myself or anyone else (which implied that it had happened before...and hello, if it had happened before and was going to EVER happen again, ya'll know it would be with ME!) Thankfully, no one except those who needed it were poked that day. (Even if I did threaten my BIL, Adam a couple times!). I'm sure I was "slow as Christmas", but nobody got stuck that wasn't suppose to!

Don't worry, ya'll, the calves didn't even flinch when I stuck them. They weren't like our babies when they get shots at all. (THANKFULLY, because anyone who knows me knows after the first one cried, I would be DONE). Now, that castrating part? I can't say the same for that....it wasn't too terrible, though.

After we'd gotten all of those calves tagged and vaccinated, it was time to gather up the others.


Annabelle had woken up by this point and she was interested in seeing about the horses who were tied up. Want to know how to get a bunch of busy men to take a 5-minute break? Just be 16 months old and flash them a smile and point to their horses.....

Pappy leading Annabelle

Uncle Adam & AB (he told her she might not be dressed like a cowgirl, but that she did know how to ride!) :)





Back to work! The other cows in this herd were on the opposite side of the field, and everyone got on their horses. One person has to drive the truck and be the "gate-getter," though, so that was us girls. I'm glad, because, well, I'm terrified of a horse. I so wish I wasn't and I really do want to try to ride and not be scared... maybe that will be a goal.... for now, I'm happy with "truck-driver."

AB sitting in back, watching....





My FIL said we could ride to the middle of the field, so we could see, and that we wouldn't be in the way. I was a nervous wreck driving through the field.... I just knew I was going to do something and scare the cows and make them break and run or something.... everything turned out fine, though....
These guys headed over to push part of the group




and these guys went and pushed the other part.




They had to stay close to the cows to make sure they made it through the gate and we had to be right behind them to shut it once they all got through it.

After that, since AB was up, we stayed long enough to get our picture taken at our "job posts" because we wanted proof that we'd worked cows and then we headed home!

On the way out, look who got the gate?!?!?

Nope, things didn't turn out like I'd planned in my mind! I assumed I'd be the "gate-getter" and didn't get to open the first one! But I did get to be the "cow-nurse" and that was way funner anyway!

When we got back to the office where our car was parked, we had to run in to see DW....

and we had him take a group-shot of the cowgirls-for-the-day! We were real glad that none of the cows we "worked" that day had horns like this guy! Ha....

I think the morning was a success and I hope we were actually a little bit helpful and not just in the way. I loved getting to see all of it first hand!

I'd also like to report that in the end, I had cow poop on my shirt. Everyone was proud.

~annie~