Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Crazy Hair

I'm somewhat at a loss with Grace's hair.  I mean, I know I married Rick Jordan and the kids had the possibility of inheriting his curls, but I mean, really...

(And I challenge any of you to get a better photo of the back of squirmy-pants' head!)

I even devoted a whole Dallas Moms Blog post to how I need help.

Grace's hair grows every which way and despite people's advice that the length will help weigh down the curls, the hair is just getting more and more chaotic as it grows longer.

Well, I finally listened to my own advice and took Grace into see a stylist.

I had grand plans of taking cute photos of Grace during her first haircut. I took my "real camera" and everything.  But, behold.  Grace preferred sitting on my lap thru the cut.

And although the stylist was gifted and helpful with Grace's mane, photos are not exactly her specialty...

Shirley Temple's haircut looks pretty cute.

-Bethany

Kindergarten Roundup

Last week was Kindergarten Roundup for our nearly five year old.  Palmer was totally unfazed and loved seeing so many of his friends at his "new school".

Meanwhile, I thought I was fine until we stuck him in front of the little Class of 2029 star for a photo op.  Rick looked over at me and was like, "Really?!? Now?!"  haha.

It's going to be great to have the school right around the corner from our new house where we will hope to walk most days and avoid the crazy carpool lines.

And in Grace's world, she is a singing machine at the moment.  Grace is forever singing a constant medley of "Twinkle, twinkle/Happy Birthday/Old McDonald/ABCs"

However, she does not like to perform such songs for the camera.  Every time I put up a camera, she stops.  See exhibit A.  She was all happily singing until she caught me...

Can we say, "Mind of her own?"  Sheesh.

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Our Fixer Upper: Before and "After", Part 1

The perfectionist in me hesitates to post too many photos because there are so many more things that I think "need" to be done first.  (Katie Burrus, I have a feeling you can relate and that's why you have yet to send me new house pics.  Ahem...)  But, I know we've made a lot of progress since we moved in three weeks ago and I do want to share a few rooms' before/afters.

First off, the master bedroom.  Before we moved in, we pulled out a huge floor-to-ceiling cabinet, ripped up the old carpet, took the popcorn and track lighting off the ceiling, added recessed lighting, new carpet, and freshened everything with crisp new white paint.  We still need to replace the foggy window glass, hang the TV, add art, fix the missing trim, reupholster furniture, etc.  I'm also accepting all ideas on what to do with the brick throughout the whole house.  Painting the brick or stuccoing the brick or whatever will be a huge project for another day since we will probably need to do all of the interior and exterior at the same time.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

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AFTER:

Next, the guest room/Rick and my offices.  During the construction phase, the carpet came out and new hardwoods went in, popcorn and track lighting came off the ceilings (plural! The poor painters had two ceilings to deal with in this one room), retro brown wallpaper came down, built-in cabinets came out, recessed lighting went in, we put glass in the loft (there wasn't any- hello dangerous!), and new paint was applied everywhere.

I think this room is my favorite so far.  My dear friend Carson helped me pull together the finishing touches and knocked it out of the park.  Rick's office is upstairs in the loft and mine is underneath.  Any guest is welcome to come cozy up in this room, too!  We can all be one happy family! :)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

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And lastly, the stairway.  The stairs were covered in carpet and during the construction whirlwind, we made a last-minute decision to go ahead and do hardwoods on the stairs.  What a difference it made.  Now, we just need the glassmaker to come in and install our glass so the stairwell isn't so open and dangerous.  It's on order and should be here any day!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 BEFORE:

AFTER (I need more books):

 "Mom, take a picture of us, too!"  Well, okay.  You guys are troopers and so fun to be around these days!

More rooms to come in another post.  I won't bore you all at once.  (I'll let it be a slow burn...)

This remodel has been such a fun project and creative outlet.  Watch out, I'm going to want to flip something else when this is all done.  This is such a treat to do.

-Bethany

Sibling Talk

Palmer and Grace were apart for nearly two weeks recently.  Due to Palmer's back to back trips of New Mexico to go skiing and DC, the two sorely missed each other.  Grace walked around most days saying, "Where's Bubba?" or "Bubba Ski" or "Bubba DC".

Thanks to FaceTime, the duo chatted nearly every day and their conversations went something like this almost ever single time:

Palmer: Hiiii Gracie!
Grace: Agua? (Proceeds to try to give Palmer her cup thru the phone)
Palmer: Hiiiiii girleeeeeee.
Grace: Knock knock.
Palmer: Who's there?
Grace: Cow.
Palmer: Cow who?
Grace: Knock knock.  (She hasn't quite got the hang of joke telling yet.)
Palmer: I love you girleeeeee.
Grace: Love you.  Knock knock. Agua?

It's primitive, but their relationship works for them and is filled with love.  When they finally reunited, they both knocked each other over with hugs and then giggled in the backseat of the car the entire way home.  I'll take it.

-Bethany