Help please

A Better Bathroom

We have removed all the old wallpaper. The previous owners had painted over at least one layer of wallpaper. They had also wallpapered over an old fixture and it looked terrible. Now, I need help deciding what color to paint the bathroom. As you can see there is already a lot of yellow (we are not attempting to remove all the wall tiles) so we need something that will go with the light yellow. keep in mind that the floor is white with little blue square tiles. I am thinking to paint it white since there is already so much color. Daniel is thinking there may be a color that goes with the yellow and will add some warmth to the room (we both think white seems too sterile.) So please post a comment and tell me what you think!!

Christmas

Santa came to Gail's house in Charlotte on Sunday. It worked out perfectly since that was the day that we were going to be there! We weren't able to see all of Daniel's family since they were all coming in town at different times but we did get to see uncle Dave who came in from Philadelphia. We opened tons of presents, played parcheesi, and as always shared lots of laughs when uncle Dave is around. Gail loves Christmas and does an amazing job picking out the perfect presents for all her kids and grandkids!





We opened presents Christmas morning at our house. This year we decided not to make the drive down to Louisiana and stayed home to enjoy some of our own family Christmas traditions. We had a quiet and peaceful day of opening stockings and presents, playing as a family, eating a huge vegan feast (Tofurky, fresh green beans, vegan sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, breads, and chocolate zuchini bread for dessert). The girls spent most of the day and every day since then riding their new scooters from Nana and Daddy Bill.


Our tree.


Daniel showing off his presents from Ellen.

One of Ellen's favorite presents. . . earings.
Arianna and her new favorite thing. . . horses.
Riding the new scooters in their pajamas.
Christmas breakfast. . . Silk soy eggnog, and cinnamin toast with the angels. (Me with my coffee!)

The stockings I crocheted for the girls. . . aren't they beautiful:)

Family Time

Daniel is pretty much done with his semester. He did an amazing job juggling all the papers he had to write or grade and all the tests he created and graded. It is so nice to have him around again. After several months of very long days and 6 day work weeks we now have about a month to take a little break and enjoy more family time. We also have a list of house projects that we want to start tackling although we are trying to be realistic about how much will actually get done. Daniel finished putting up the crown molding yesterday while I worked on removing old wallpaper in the bathroom. Some other projects we hope to get to are sanding and painting house/deck, removing old carpet and sanding hardwoods underneath, painting bathroom, knocking down walls, etc.


Since he doesn't have to rush off to campus, Daniel is enjoying long walks with Jay and the girls in the mornings, extended imaginary play times in the playroom, gardening, and yesterday he took the girls to their art museum class. Today we spent the first half of the day just playing around in the backyard.
This is a view from Arianna's perspective.
Enjoying the beauty of a fire.
Nutcrackers and bird watching

"The hawks wings were this big."





This broccoli has been growing since september.

Garlic that will be ready in spring. I planted about 30 cloves. Greens coming along behind the garlic. In the picture below they are putting up frames to make it easier to cover the potatoes when it gets too cold.


I have become addicted to crocheting. I learned the basic stitch from my grandmother a long, long time ago. Then I starting knitting a few years ago. A few months ago I started a blanket for Alder but I never could get it to look right. I have a very hard time reading patterns! Sorry to say that I gave up on that and ripped it out and now I'm using the yarn to make shawls for the girls. I'm also making a few little presents for Christmas. I carry around my little bag of yarn everywhere I go these days slowly working my way through these projects.

Friends posing

We love spending time with good friends. Last Sunday the girls and I went to Greenville to see our good friends the Weidenbachs who moved there this year from Indy. Here are the kids Arianna, Lily, Ellen and Cole.


The girls take ballet on Wednesdays. They are in a class with some of their closest friends which makes the class all the more special. Ellen and Arianna were originally in separate classes but they decided to combine the 2 classes due to the low enrollment in the younger class. Arianna was so excited when she found out the news that she would get to be in Ellen's big girl class. You can imagine as a little sister how great it would be to be included with your big sister and the big girls.

Fall Field Day

The fall field day is put on by our homeschool association. This was one of the first things that we did last year with our group. It was a lot of fun then but the girls were still so young for most of the activities. This year of course they are still so young :) but they amazingly are old enough and coordinated enough to actually compete. I can't believe how big my little girls are. Wasn't it just yesterday I was carrying both of them on my hips then they got a little older and were too shy to do anything. Not any more--they were so excited about playing with their friends and lots of other kids that they had never met.

We did this relay race where we ( I did this one too since we had an odd number of kids and I made the teams even) had to put on baggy clothes and run around and pass the clothes to the next person.


This is the pie eating contest. Arianna had no interest in this one last year but this year was different. They had to eat it, crust and all, with no hands. The kids had a blast.


Most of the events were divided into age groups but we did play one big game of all ages kick ball. Ellen actually made it all the way around the bases this year and scored a point. It didn't really matter since we weren't keeping score but it was still fun. Here she is as she rounded the bases. She stopped on home plate and just stood there wondering what to do next.

One of my favorite parts of the day was the three legged race. The girls were partners and after I tied them together they spent time practicing on the field like the other teams. Ellen and Arianna did awesome when the race began. I was cheering them on like some proud and obnoxious parent and coaching them to go slow and steady. Others kept running and falling and the girls just smiled and kept on going. They got to cross the finish line first and Ellen's face was priceless. She said to me "Mommy this is the first thing I've ever won!"



Our weeks stay full homeschooling. I don't even blog about most of the wonderful things we get to do on a daily basis. But big things like the fall field day make me really appreciate all the things I get to be a part of in the girls lives. They will be young for such a short time and I'm so thankful that I get to witness their days. We teach each other every day. On this field day I was proud of them for working hard even when they couldn't win and for having fun with a big group of kids. Not just on field day but every day they make me proud.