This is powerful stuff

So I am obsessed with they guy who sings the song in this Subaru commercial

His name is Sean Hayes and I just love his voice.  It makes me want to roll the windows down, open the sunroof, and cruise to the beach!!!

The royal wedding

Yep, I woke up at 4:30 this morning to watch the royal wedding!  I mean I am half English so I pretty much felt obligated  :)   I think it was absolutely gorgeous and I was on the edge of my seat all morning.  (I did have two huge cups of coffee, afterall) The bride was beautiful and the groom was handsome.  I loved the elegance of the wedding party and all of the guests.  I loved the dress.  I loved the uniforms. And of course the hats.  I was especially giddy when they kissed the second time.  You can just feel the love!   She just looks so genuine and you can see that he absolutely adores her.  Oh to be a royal......

Kitchen Makeover

Before it was all dark wood cabinets

A little bit of hydrangea border paper

And a mustard yellow lantern

After a little white paint on the cabinets and some turquoise paint on the lantern...

Our kitchen is a lot more modern. 

I still need to find frames for the pictures Ryan got me for Valentines day, paint the walls, and I would like to find a frame to paint turquoise and make into a chalkboard for the pantry door.  So I still have a ton I would like to do, but the painted cabinets and lantern are huge improvements that I love!!

Easter

Wakey wakey Kiddos!! 

 Go and find your baskets!

Nice shirt Heath!!! Go Gamecocks!!

 Maryanne looking at her goodies.  Happy First Easter babydoll!! The easter bunny left yummy cheerios in her eggs, a dvd and a bathing suit.   Heath got same except for a shirt instead of bathing suit. 

Dropping Maryanne off in her big girl class.  Easter was her 1st time in the "crawler" class.  They grow up so fast :(  

 Heath and Daddy matching!!! I just love it

I just love these guys so so so so much! 

Happy Easter everyone! 

before and after mailbox edition

I mentioned in a previous post that I had redone the flower bed around our mailbox.

Before:

After:

and I hope to be getting this mailbox in the NEAR future, right honey? ;-)

I've had my eye on it for a while now.   And ripped its picture out of the catalog and put it up on our bulletin board.  Is this normal behavior for a mailbox?

Entryway: before and after

OK yall Obviously I have been under a rock because I have had the old post editor and not the new one. Meaning I could only upload 5 pics at a time, in reverse order of how I wanted them to appear on the blog.   UGH I would get so frusterated with posting b/c of it and it kept me away.  So now that blogging is A WHOLE LOT EASIER I am going to be chipping away at all of our before and afters! 

My Entryway

Before

Unfortunately, we bought a LOT of vinyl wallpaper when we purchased this house.  And fake rocks as flooring.  Cute huh?

During

Yep, thats four different layers. 

After







Fw: MaryAnnes 9 month bday

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: bjjmonroe@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 20:04:15
To: Go@blogger.com<go@blogger.com>
Reply-To: bjjmonroe@gmail.com
Subject: MaryAnnes 9 month bday

On sunday we celebrated MaryAnnes nine month bday! I can't believe that she has been here this long already. time flies! So far she has four teeth with a few more on their way. She has been scooting around and has just recently started to go from tummy to sitting. She wants to crawl so badly, but I am glad she is taking her time! Before long I will have kids running in opposite directions. She loooves her food and puffs and we just can't seem to feed her fast enough. She loves using her voice and it is so neat to watch her and Heath communicate. He makes her laugh so hard. She is such a sweet little girl. Just so precious. And that smile melts my heart. Happy 9 month birthday sweetie! I love you. Love, mama
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Curb Appeal

When we first moved into our new house last May, the front looked like this:

Army green wrought iron, tan siding, huge window hiding bushes, and of course, a naked baby.

It also had an ugly mailbox with an absurd flower bed around it! I painted the mailbox and wrought iron black, Ryan painted all the siding white, we hung window boxes and hanging baskets and cut shrubs down to normal size, and I expanded the flower bed.

Then we decided that we should add some interest to the right side of the house. So we formed up a semi-circle driveway.

We had a cement truck come to the house to deliver the goods.

And lots of family to help with the man power!

We love our new driveway and think it adds curb appeal. Of course we could always use more flowers...

but I think it turned out great! And we have put it to good use with all of our motor vehicles, riding toys, and now....A place to use the tile saw!! (hehe that is my intro for yet ANOTHER redo!) Stay tuned for more before and afters to celebrate our first year in our new house!!

BEWARE: Extreme Couponer Xing!!

Over the past few weeks I have noticed a new trend and am jumping on board. Couponing to some is an art and I am learning the tools of the trade! At first it seemed a little overwhelming and tedious to find coupons, organize them, and search for the right product in the store with two little ones in tow. But, after realizing how much money we could be saving, I feel that it is totally worth it. I just have to prepare in advance for my shopping trips! Last night was my first time trying out my new skills and I was thrilled to have saved some moolah! I saved $11 at Rite Aid by taking two coupons and finding one in the store. Then, I went to Target for paper towels and a few other things and ended up saving $7, and received a $5 giftcard b/c I bought 2 packs of paper towels!! My total savings yesterday was $23!!! I admit I am starting out slow and could have saved even more if I had a better selection of coupons, but this is a pretty good start! Do any of you use coupons? Any extreme couponers out there with any tips for a beginner? (ps. i did buy a coupon organizer last night to reward my efforts and to keep myself organized :) )

Chair Redo

I was in the market for a rocking chair for MaryAnne's room when I came across this beauty. Please note that I found this on the side of the road while I was taking the kids on a walk.

So picture me pushing Heath in a jogging stroller, wearing MaryAnne in a baby bjorn (she was a lot younger when I came across this find. Its been sitting in a file waiting to be blogged...) and then carrying this chair all the way home.

It was exactly what I had been planning for her room. With the help of some pretty fabric, a glue gun, a staple gun, and my BFF spraypaint, I was able to turn a chair that was headed for the dump into a pretty piece of furniture that fits perfectly into MaryAnne's room for less than $10!

Doesn't she look so comfy in her new chair? What do you think? Have you ever found a piece of trash that you turned into treasure? Leave me a comment and tell me about it!!