celebrating, crafting, painting, sewing, fixing, and cooking

Since we've been home from our Christmas vacation ... I have been going in full swing.  Billy had some cousins and other family in town visiting this past week/weekend.  Most of the extended family stayed with Billy's cousins who live here, Caleb and Elizabeth.  We hosted three of them for 3 days.

The kids had a lot of fun playing with Billy's cousin's kids ... Maecy and Nolan Keller.  We got to see them when we were in KC for Christmas, too.  They enjoyed running around playing together in Caleb and Elizabeth's backyard.  We roasted marshmallows one night, and enjoyed the company of Billy's cousins and Uncle Gordon.

Roasting marshmallows by the fire with cousins. 

Cute kids! 

That face!

Big marshmallow mouth. 

His cousin, Maecy, made this s'more just for him!

While everyone was here, we had Billy's 33rd birthday celebration!  Happy number 33, Bud!  I baked two pies to share with Billy and his family.  He wanted a blueberry pie, and I had the ingredients for a Dutch Apple, as well.  Billy doesn't usually like to make a big fuss over his birthday.  He's more of a private celebrator ... but he doesn't often have so much family in town over his special day as he had this year.  So, I invited everyone (12 adults and 4 kids ... which included the Adams family) out to dinner at the Olive Garden.  We had delicious food and a great time talking and hanging out.  After dinner, everyone was invited back to our house for pie and games.  Billy stayed up playing games with the boy cousins (Caleb, Ty, Terah, and their friend, Daniel) until 2 a.m.!

This year, I wanted to surprise him with a gift he hadn't put on a list.  He has never owned a hockey jersey with a player's name on it.  I know his favorite player is Jordan Eberle, but I wasn't sure whether to get him the white away jersey or the classic blue home jersey.  I, finally, settled on the classic blue home jersey (after many questions to Billy regarding a Nugent-Hopkins jersey that I want).  He was pretty surprised, and I think really happy!  Now, he and Colton have matching jerseys, and they both look pretty great!

My Bud ... all of his birthdays since we got married!  I am blessed to have him as my husband.

Daddy reading his cards.

Opening his gift!

He LOVED it!

A picture taken by Khloe ... she did pretty well!

The family on Daddy's birthday!

Pies to follow the meal. 

The pie with my creative version of the #33 candles. 

Wearing his gift and giving us a smile before we sing to him! 

Singing to Daddy! 

Blowing out his candles to get a wish! 

So ... I have been crafting, painting, sewing, fixing, and cooking a lot since I've gotten home from our vacation.  These past two weeks have been filled with a lot of projects.  I am trying to get the baby's room complete ... or as complete as you can for a Baby you have no idea what gender it will be or what name it will have!  I have to get the room painted, but I'm prepped and ready to start that on Sunday.  I am halfway done painting the crib (thanks, Kristie!) ... as this is the THIRD paint job this crib has had in 4 years!  I painted it brown for Colton ... and swore I would NEVER paint a crib again!  Then I painted it white for Khloe ... it pained me.  Now, I am making such a neutral room that I felt it needed SOME color.  So, I am painting it a vintage blue that could go either way with gender.

I (amazingly) found some pillows and a throw that matches the blue color EXACTLY at Ikea.  I am redoing the guest bed that will stay in that room, too.  I got a white comforter and pillows ... with some blue/map throw pillows for interest.  There's a lot of gray going on in that room ... and I love it! But I wanted some color.  I was going to order a print from etsy ... and then it hit me (like a smack in the face) ... I can paint my own print exactly the colors I want on a canvas I have left over from decorating Koki's room two years ago!  Perfect!  Save myself some $$ and add a little personal artwork to the baby's room.  Voila!  I am reusing a picture frame that I have had on-hand ... all I need to do is paint it for a centerpiece over the crib.  I repainted a frame on a mirror that I want to use ... but now, I'm afraid it's too girly, if the baby turns out to be a boy.  Bleh!  I don't know what to do about that right now.  I need to peruse Goodwill and Salvation Army to get a few more frames to hang on the wall above the guest bed.  I figure the detail decorating can really wait until after the baby is born.  I just need to get the paint on the walls and the crib completed!  Next major goal for the coming week!

The mirror before ...

After ... just need to hang it somewhere.

As you may have seen in a previous post, my sister-in-law had her baby boy last week, so I am finishing up a quilt I will take to her tomorrow when we go to meet our nephew, Owen.  I like it a lot!  I really like the fabric.  I am finding that I love that color blue right now.  I want to paint everything that color!  I like the dark and the lighter version of the color.  It looks great with gray, too!  I hope she likes it!

Quilt for Owen Maddox Araujo.

Minky on the back ... the coloring is a little off here ... but it's more like a lighter teal ... not aquamarine. 

Last night, I made this delicious mushroom soup from a recipe I got off of Pinterest.  It is incredible!  I added the 1/2 cup of cream to the soup while it simmered, instead of making the suggested thyme cream.  It was fabulous!  If you love mushrooms, you should try it out.

Well ... I finally made it back to the gym this week.  It was a poor showing ... only 2 out of 5 days, but next week, my goal is to officially get back into the swing of going.  I did Bodyflow (yoga), and I did Zumba.  Both were great, and I felt awesome afterwards!  My kids LOVE going to the gym daycare, because the teachers there are fabulous!  Hopefully, I'll, also, get the baby's room completely painted this week.

Rollin', rollin', rollin' ...