Taking A Thankful Break...

You know in the complete and utter chaos of life sometimes you just have to sit back and look around and thank God for it all. I know that my family is blessed. I knew as a kid growing up, I was blessed to have two parents who loved me. And I had not one but two sets of grandparents who loved me, told me stories about their childhood and shared their lives with me. I was lucky. I'm sure Keith would tell you the same thing.

So when I sit back and look at the toys on the floor, the spilled tea in the truck (sorry Keith), the unfinished work that needs to be done, I can't help be thankful! I cherish it all. My kids had an awesome lunch with their Pa, they giggled the whole time. They kissed their daddy good bye this morning as he headed out to work. They are taking a nap at my office, while I work (really, not many moms can say that!). We get to see Grammy and get a hug before we go home tonight. We most likely will skype and see/talk to Naggy and Pappy. Yes, my kids are very lucky.

What brought on this really random post was watching Ava, who is 21 months old, pick up a toy phone and say:

"Grandma? Grandma? Where are you?"

She paused, nodded her head and said:

"I love you too!"

And put the phone down. Too priceless not to record and too precious not to smile.

My kids are very blessed to have such an amazing Great Grandma too - and when they don't get to see her on their Monday's in Alto, they sure do miss her! :)

We are very thankful to be so very blessed.

New Windows!!

After saving for a couple of years, we finally were able to get new windows in our house!! Talk about a long drawn out process. After talking to and getting quotes for over seven vendors, we decided to go with Windows R Us in Tyler. We liked them because their customer service was AWESOME and they were very quick to answer our questions, via email as we requested instead of insisting on calling us on the phone, which always seemed to happen with the other guys at the most inopportune times. They also were cheaper than the next lowest bid by $1000 which you can't beat.

We got the Vista Brand Double Hung windows - which were very comparable to Pella, and the other brands presented to us. We also decided on doing double prairie grids which was a leap of faith b/c we hadn't seen the double prairie on any examples shown to us, but we love it!

Front of the house & Living Room Window

On the large windows in the back of our house we decided to do something different. We went with what they call a three light slider. We were very pleased with the result. It really changed the whole look of the back of the house!

We also decided to do the opaque window in the the master bath. By doing this we don't have to worry with blinds and we get so much more light in there now!

Not only did it change the look of our house, but the feel of it too! We haven't gotten an energy bill to compare the difference, but we can already tell it helps so much! Our windows leaked quite a bit, especially in the play room and living area. All that waiting and saving paid off because now we have awesome new windows and no payment to make! :)

Every Child is Different...

This cute little girl...

...gives the best hugs and says the sweetest "I Love You's." She smiles constantly, but is quick to turn on the tears if she thinks it will help get her way. She gives the most pitiful sad face you'll ever see...seriously, it will melt your heart. Some days Ava eats enough for she and Carli combined, some days she prefers to just have a banana. She loves to take baths, and wants so badly to be just as big as her sister...

She also has yet to grasp the concept of the difference between paper and everything that is not paper...

No this is not the same picture from the previous post...it is a different one with a different marking on the same wall!

Look closely...she marked the play oven as her own!

For all the markings done with markers, I can say that they were at least all washable. I took away all the markers, only to find the hallway was nicely marked up with a crayon...which takes a whole lot more elbow grease to get off!

And just for kicks, my facebook status for that day:

I think I shall invest in a Magic Eraser, as crayons do not wipe off my walls nearly as easily as washable markers. However, crayons also do not mark up my fabric furniture as badly as markers....it's a toss up as to which I despise the most at the moment...

Oh sweet Ava, there is never a dull moment with you! :)

We Put Another Hole in the Wall...

And rebuilt the mantel! Keith bought a new TV last April. I told him if he got a new TV, he would have to fix the mantel b/c all the components and wires just wouldn't do. We lived with it until January when after much debate, we decided on a game plan and got to work. Actually, Keith did most of the work, I just come up with the ideas and paint when he is done building...

**Click on the picture to make it bigger**

Yes, we put a hole in the wall. He built back into the wall so that the new mantel would hide all the components. We still need to add the doors to the sides and middle, but for now we are using it as is since Keith has started grad school and we don't want him to get distracted.

I think he did an amazing job! I'm very lucky and proud of the amazing talent Keith has to take my random ideas and turn them into reality!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day from the Hays' Crew!!!

We had lots of fun making our Valentine's Cards this year. We made two different sets. One for our family/friends and one for Carli's school friends.

Our first set of Valentines we made were red heart stamps. Ava wasn't so sure about this, she made a couple and was done. Carli had a blast! We took two empty toilet paper rolls and made hearts from them. Then dipped them in paint so the girls could stamp some hearts.

Ava making one of her two cards...

Carli took her heart stamping very seriously!

And Ava's done! But at least she kept us company and read us a book!

Carli showing off a finished card.


See, Mom can appreciate the boxes versitility too! ;)

Our second set of cards were for Carli's Valentine school party. We used a friend's template to make our toppers and added stickers and M&Ms to the bags. Carli really enjoyed doing these cards, as did I b/c there was no messy clean up and it took less than 15 minutes!

Carli show me your cards!!

Carli show me your cards and your face!

The day isn't even half over, but I can tell you that this Valentine's Day has already been so much fun. Carli has wished everyone a Happy Valentine's Day since last week. She always follows it up with "I Love You" and Ava is quick to copy the "I Love You!" Can't beat that! She was so excited for her party today at school. Plus their daddy, all on his own, went and got them Valentine's Day cards and coloring books. Can't wait to see him give it all to them! The girls already enjoyed getting Valentine goodies from Naggy & Pappy and Grammy & Pa. This morning Logan and the girls exchanged their Valentine gifts before we hurried out the door to school. They were so sweet talking in the car thanking each other for their gifts. Love it! :)

Happy Valentine's Day Ya'll!!

It's a Love/Hate Relationship

For Christmas the girls got a box...actually, Aunt Megan got a box and the girls took it. :) The box resided at Naggy's house while we were in Amarillo and all had a grand time playing and hiding and drawing on the box....especially this little one...

That was in December. Fast forward to January when the box somehow managed to make the 8+ hour journey all the way from Amarillo to Whitehouse and ended up in our house. It has been well loved, survived near fatal attempts to be hauled to the curb for trash pick up, and thankfully not one dog has marked it as his own.

However, we are sad to report that this will be the last few days of the box's existence in our home. It has come to our attention that the box has created confusion with the littlest member of our household. To her, the box and the wall are one and the same. Thus, today we found this....

And there was lots, lots more, but the camera had to be put away in order to save the walls and attempt to talk some sense and logic into the head of a 20 month old...which is impossible and so the box is begging for a new home before next Wednesday when the trash truck will make its rounds once more...

It's been a good run Mr. Box...but this Momma says it's time to go.

Just Coloring with My Sister

If things get too quiet in the house, this is usually what I find...

All for which I am grateful that the markers stay on the table/paper most of the time...although there was that one time that Ava got a little creative on the wall! :)

Pizza Making

Does anyone else have the problem of getting their kids to eat...period. Not just eat their veggies and fruits or even meats but to simply eat?! I'm sure it is a phase and one day they'll eat everything I put in front of them...right? Right. Don't burst my fantasy.

In an effort to get the kids to eat dinner I let them make their own pizza's one night. Nope, no veggies or fruit involved...but hey, we had meat, dairy and grains! :) We made some Mickey Mouse Pizzas which were actually a huge hit!

Carli decorating her Mickey

I was not aware she would eat pepperoni until she put it on her pizza!

Logan "cheesin'" with his Mickey prior to cooking...

The finished Mickeys. Ava got one too, although she was not interested in decorating it.

Keith had a good time filling in for her though!

What?! Would that be a real smile?!
Times 2?! What are the chances?!

The kids pizzas were much more yummy than the adults! The pizza crust I had frozen and used apparently had no live yeast in it and was flat and no bueno. But the pizza topping was good! :) We'll take the small victories when we get them!