Layton's 1st Dentist Appointment

Another "first" in the books.  This one was for Layton.  April 28th was Layton's first trip to the dentist.  He was so excited because he has seen his bubba and sissy go several times.  He could hardly wait for his turn.  He did so great!  Look at this sweetie.

Getting his x-rays.  Such a cutie pie.  He was so proud of himself and talked about his trip off and on all day and how good he did.  Love him.

New Paint

I have loved our main living area wall colors for the past several years.  But I was ready for a change.  I really wanted to lighten and brighten things up!  Here are some before pictures of the kitchen, living room, dining area, and hallway.

I had already taken down my curtains and some pictures on the walls, especially in the hallway.

Kris has a paint lady that they do business with at work that is so good to him.  She lets us buy Sherwin Williams paint with her discount, let us borrow a really nice texture machine, and even came over and gave us some advice.  One of the things she suggested was taking down the chair rail.  I had not really thought of doing this because I knew it would be a lot of work.  Kris wanted to so I agreed.  I am glad we did, but boy was it alot of work!!!

Kris and his little helper.  Layton loves to help his daddy work on things!

Here is Kris applying the texture to the walls.  Oh my goodness what a mess!

Our house was like this for weeks.  I HATE clutter and mess so this was super hard for me!!!  The dirt and dust were everywhere.  To get it all cleaned up off the floors afterwards I had to get on my hands and knees and scrubb every inch.  NOT FUN!!!

Finally, we started to see the light!  We actually got new light fixtures in the dining room and eat in area of the kitchen.  They needed to be updated badly.  They were the old gold style.  Kris liked this look, but I wasn't really sure.  However, he talked me into it and I have to say he was absolutely right.  I love how they look!!

We decided to move our china cabinet into the kitchen and take off the top part.  We will just store it for now.  We got rid of the kitchen table and are eating in the dining room now.  Doing this has really given us a ton more space.

It has taken a while, but I have finally slowly gotten my decor back up.  So, here are the after pictures.  I still have a lot more pictures and things to hang, especially in the hallway.  I do not like to hang pictures and getting Kris to do it is kind of hard.  But it will happen.

I actually made these curtains myself.  I found the idea on Pinterest and the fabric at Hobby Lobby.  It was kind of hard to match the chevron but I finally figured it out.

It is hard to tell but there is actually blue in them.  It looks green in the light though.

I had enough fabric left so I made a table runner and two couch pillows as well.

I wanted a picture collage on the big wall in the dining room.  I love how it turned out.

I got the hanger at Kirklands.  It is great for coats or back packs.  I took an old picture frame that I had from when Hannah was a baby and painted the frame orange and the glass with chalk board paint.  I am going to enjoy writing little sayings and notes on it for our family!!

I got the curtains at Target and the cute pillow at Gordmans (another store I love)!

I had a hard time with my mantle decor.  I finally settled on this.  I love the family picture and wanted it to be prominent.  The thing I like about this is that nothing is mounted to the wall, so I can change it up when I want to!

I haven't done anything with this wall yet.  I am thinking of getting another vinyl wall decal.

I will probably do another picture collage on the right side wall in the hall and I am not sure about the others yet.

I am loving how it all came out!!!  It feels fresher and lighter and cleaner which is just what I wanted.

All About April

Now that May is half way over, here is all about April.

One Saturday morning the kids made us breakfast in bed and then fixed themselves breakfast in their beds.  This was all fine and dandy until someone (we won't say who) spilled their red cranapple juice all over their bed.  So, I had to strip the sheets and clean up--but they really were sweet and I didn't get too upset. :)

Our good friend, Mike, turned 40 and Stacey threw him a party at Murray Park.  It was such a nice day and we had so much fun with our friends.

Birthday boy.  So thankful for his and Stacey's friendship and to be raising our kids with them.  By the way, it is definitely the year to turn 40 around here.  So many of our friends are turning 40 this year.  Kris will in June!  That is such a big number to me.  I never imagined myself 40 years old (I have a couple more years in my 30's myself).  It is really weird.

The awesome and delicious cake that Stacey made.

The kids all attacked Mike with silly string and had a blast!

We gave Mike some marbles in case he lost his.  Ha!

Such a fun evening!!!

At this last 9 weeks awards ceremony Hannah got three awards--All A's, Best Writer, and Best Citizenship.  Very very proud of her and her hard work at school!!

Lincoln's class celebrated the end of standardized tests one day with banana/strawberry cars.  I went to help with this.  I know they all worked hard, so it was great to reward them and have a little fun.

I always enjoy looking at the walls outside the kids' classes while I am up at the school.  This time I found this written by Lincoln about his spring break.  So cute and I love his drawings!

Just a random selfie with my little tag along!

One Saturday we went to Layton's friend, Brett's. birthday party at The Wonder Place.

Another awesome Stacey cake!

This is how Lincoln insisted his hair be one morning for school.

Of course, someone else had to be just like his bubba.

Big hair cut for me.  I really loved my long hair, but I was tired of blow drying it.  Hopefully it will be cooler for summer too!

This was one night at dinner.  Lincoln was eating corn on the cob.  All of a sudden we heard a clang sound on his plate.  He spit something out of his mouth.  It was his tooth!  It was so funny!  We all had a really good laugh about it!

Lincoln's creative mind is something that just melts my heart.  I LOVE to see him use his imagination.  Many times when he notices that we empty a box of something, he asks me if he can have it.  So, one day he had a good collection going and got busy.

These are his creations.  I don't exactly know what he made, but he does.  These are some of what he used:  a gum box, a cereal box, an egg carton, a candy box, granola bar boxes, some feathers, a paper towel roll, a toilet paper roll, part of a cardboard box, a lot of tape, and some scissors.  I can't wait to see what he becomes when he grows up!!  I just love him!

Layton and his girlfriend Lucy.  They are the cutest together.  When she left this day as we were closing the door, he told me that he was going to marry her.  Love it!

Another one of Lincoln's creations.  He has become quite obsessed with his rainbow loom.  He and Hannah both love to get on the computer and look up rainbow loom tutorials.  This one was some Minecraft figure.  They are obsessed with Minecraft too.

Layton with his first popsicle of the season!

Rainbow looming outside one beautiful Saturday morning.

Lincoln went to a birthday party of a little boy in his class.  He loves to swim so he joined the Barracuda swim team this year.  I look forward to seeing how he does!

I love our children's ministry at church.  One Sunday morning all the kids marched in singing "Send the Light".  They had spent time collecting money by doing odd jobs around the house or for others to earn money to donate so that they can send bibles over to many of our missionaries.

This was during a prayer.  I couldn't help but take Lincoln's picture.  He looked so sweet there with his head bowed.

Well, that sums up April.  The weeks just speed by.  Sometimes I wish I could freeze time and then others I can't wait to be done with this "stage".  But the bottom line is I love my kids and cherish the opportunity to watch them learn and grow every day.