PJ's 2nd Birthday

Yesterday was my granddaughter PJ's 2nd birthday.  It's one of those things where it feels like we've had her forever and yet the time has just flown by.  I guess that's how I feel about all of my children too.  We had a birthday party for her on  Sunday.  We had a lot of close family and friends over for some food and some fun.  I think that's the best part about family parties.  I love to get together to visit and laugh and catch up with each other.  We had family, new friends, and old friends alike.  It was great.  The Toddler got way too many presents but she has been having a lot of fun playing with her new toys.  She's going to be the best dressed kiddo at preschool/daycare.  It was great to be able to have the space to have that many people into our home.  I think I will leave the big open room in the basement as just that, a big open room.  A room to use for whatever event, activity I want at any given time.

I love you PJ!

Family

I had this picture from my brother and sister in law's wedding last October.  It's my family.  I had it made into Christmas Cards last year.  It was an amazingly beautiful wedding in Estes Park, Colorado.  I needed to have prints of this picture made for a lovely frame I bought.  I thought I would share it.

Finally

I spent all day yesterday, Saturday, working in my kitchen.  To be more specific, I was painting all day.  About a year ago Chris redid my kitchen counter and backsplash with tile.  I think he did a wonderful job.  It's beautiful.  When he did that I began to paint the kitchen white from the light gray that it was.  I only got a little bit done and the rest has sat all this time, complete with blue prep tape.  Talk about the ability to stop seeing what was right in front of me.  Ugh.  So yesterday I started to paint at 5 a.m.  It took all day and three coats but a major portion of the kitchen is now finished.  It looks so much better.  I still have some  wall space and the ceiling to do but the ceiling will have to wait as I have a really hard time painting above my head.  I'll need to bribe some of my kiddos to help me.  The remaining wall will be done later in the week.  I think I will go out today and look for some new wall decorations.  

I am a terrible painter.  I can't use a roller to save my life so I always use a brush.  What takes some people a day will take me a week or longer.  It's pathetic.   However, I am still proud of myself for getting this thing in motion again after all this time.  Poor Chris he does this wonderful thing for me and I don't even bother to finish the makeover.  Oh well, live and learn, and hopefully improve.

I watched an episode of Hoarders this morning.  Not only do I want to finish my kitchen make over, I want to organize, and clean every little nook and cranny of my house.  I want to get rid of everything I don't use or need which I'm sure is overkill  What a motivator that show is. 

Fall

This year I am really enjoying Fall.  I don't know why.  I usually start dreading the up-coming holidays this time of year.  Not this year.  I found myself shopping (intentionally) for some Halloween decorations for the house.  I thought the kiddos might enjoy them.  I have been thinking of getting some new Thanksgiving decorations and for some reason unknown to me, I have been thinking about Christmas decorations without wanting to put my fist through a wall.  

I think one of the reasons I'm enjoying things more this year has to do with the  new addition on our house.  We are using half of it and I'm sure the rest will be finished in the not so distant future.  Somehow knowing we aren't going to be so short of space is helping me want to fix up the house and enjoy it more.  That is to say, enjoy it more, because I really do love my house.

The rest of the Harris House took a few minutes yesterday to enjoy a beautiful Fall day!

Happy Fall!

Where does the time go?

I just realized that I haven't posted since last May.  That's a long time!  So much has happened since May.  We had a wonderful, yet busy summer.  We traveled a bit. Nothing spectacular but going on trips with your family even if its just a few miles away is fun.  We attended a family reunion for Chris's family in Pinedale in July.  It was a great day!  The older I get the more I realize the importance of family and a few close friends.

The new addition on our house is coming along nicely.  Chris and his helpers (his dad, his brothers, and a few friends) have been doing a wonderful job.  I'm very pleased and proud.  I'll try to remember to post a few pictures.  We are already using the basement portion.  It's hard to describe how nice the extra space is.  More room to store things and just stretch out if you know what I mean.  The baby can run around and play.  We can workout without being confined in a small space.  Guy can pop in a movie and have a place to get away.  It's awesome is the best way I can put it.

Fall is in the air.  I went today and bought some Halloween items to decorate the Harris House.  I thought Guy and PJ might like some decorations.  I get extra mommy/grandma points for purchasing my pumpkins early this year.  I'm feeling a little bit more festive about the holidays this year.  I hope that spills over into the Christmas season.

I've been reading on my new Kindle lately.  I love that thing.  I find I'm reading much more now that I own and e-reader.  I love books but an e-reader for me is much more practical.  I've also been knitting mittens.  A local group I belong to is knitting mittens for the local Head Start kids.  There are a lot of kiddos in this program so we will be spending a lot of free time (ha ha what's that) on cute little mittens.

With Fall comes a much busier schedule full of holidays, birthdays, anniversaries (our 22nd to be precise) and various other activities.  Hopefully my next post won't take quite so long.