You asked for it sister! It's about to get dirty!

***Update***

Mandy and I have decided to end the bad picture war before it got really bad. Hope you all enjoyed this at our expense, AMY!



This is tame compared to the other two I have. You have 22 hrs to take the picture down or I bring out the big guns.

Amanda Marie Murdock

I give you 24 hours to take that picture of me off your website or I will enter a picture on the blog entry that is an equal atrocity.

*Amanda is my sister for those of you that don't know and this is just a game between us. But she started it and since I am the oldest I am exerting my elderly authority.

Where do you blog?

So when we first moved in Shane and I just shoved the desk against the wall and called it a day.

But, he keeps joking (somewhat) that I need to write a book and make millions so that he can work in the garage and build stuff all day. Ha!

Well, talk about being uninspired while looking at a builder's white wall of the time. So after a large coke that I drank at 5 pm yesterday, I decided to move things around. I turned the desk facing the window. ( BTW: I watched the sunset as I organized the pen drawer- I am that anal.) I dragged the nightstand my dad made up from the basement and turned it into a printer stand. And took the wooden chair out and put the comfy chair in. Man it made a huge difference. I am going to have to force myself to be a mom now and not an office junky, ha ha ha. This tiny little space is off of our master bedroom and is so great when I am hiding from the whining. Yes, I do that. I go up and blog when they just keep whining and suddenly they start playing and are happy. Why do kids do that?

Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll ever come close to writing anything that would be published and let Shane retire in his 30's, but at least my blog pages might be more thoughtful and creative. :)

My Little Ballerina

Avery has been asking Shane and I for months to take ballet and I called yesterday to sign her up. Today was her first class even! We rushed out to Target last night to get her little outfit and she didn't stop talking about it for the last 24 hours.

When we walked into the studio my heart was racing. Was she really going to walk across that big room with all the mirrors and join the other 3 and 4 year olds? What if she forgot to ask to go to the bathroom, could she function without me by her side?

My little princess practically sprinted across the room to her teacher, Miss Vanessa and sat down with the other little ones. I literally could feel the tears welling up I was so proud of her. And so excited to see her doing something that she clearly "dreams" of doing. Isn't it every little girl's dream to wear ballet shoes and a pink tutu?

She seemed to listen very well to the teacher and even took lead a couple of times in their lines. And as the proud mother I am, she was one of the only ones that would hold first and second position for an extended period. Of course the whole time I'm smiling wondering if the Miralax would suddenly kick in and her tutu would turn brown. I must confess that I put a pantyliner in her leotard under her tights. Am I horrible? I just didn't want her to get made fun of on the first day of class. But she was great. She went potty right at their designated potty break and pranced around like she had been doing this for years.

I love that I have a husband who also believes that as parents we are to give them opportunities and see where it goes. I only paid a partial balance just in case she changes her mind, but she looked quite content and the happiest little girl. Which is great after all of the poop issues we've had. Are you allowed to write poop in a blog all about ballerinas?

Anyway, I digress...she loved it, I loved it, and I can't wait to get online and order her the "proper attire." She is suppose to be in a black leotard and real ballet shoes. I feel like I am 8 years old again dressing up my Barbies. This is way too much fun. I wonder if I will be this excited with Reece's activities, hmmmm.

Cuddling with Mom and Dad

New Creations on a budget...

When I got pregnant with Avery I really wanted to create all of her nursery decor myself. Shane bought me a sewing machine and VOILA. Then we moved to Virginia and it sat in storage for over 8 months. Well, I finally got the thing unpacked and hauled to my Mom's house for some sewing lessons.

I love the smocked and embroidered dresses in the boutiques, but the new budget doesn't allow for such items. So, I am learning to do them myself. I started with just a basic jumper pattern and have figured out some decorative stitches and Mom's embroidery machine has jazzed up some cute dresses for Avery. Here's what we have so far:

The purple striped dress was fabric from my grandma and she would be so excited to see her fabric being used for her great-granddaughter. The green polka dot was fabric I got today at Walmart. So how much did these dresses cost?

Purple= free

Polka dot= $3.oo!

I've spent $60 on dresses like this before. My sewing skills leave much to be desired, but I'm getting there.

The Mom-Mobile

Well, after three years of debating, discussing, dreading, anticipating- we broke down and bought a minivan. Shane's been at the dealer for a couple of days trying to get a good deal and we ended up with the one we've wanted for awhile. For those of you that don't know, I have been driving my Honda Civic for 7 years and I love that car, but no the best for two little ones, two adults, and two black labs.

I'm officially a nerd, but I have to say. I am the coolest nerd. This thing even has a spot to plug my IPOD into the sound system! The DVD player is awesome for all these trips to the grandmas houses, and the heated seats...oh my bum isn't dreading winter so much. HA HA HA!

Here's our new baby. And yes, I got up this morning wanting to drive somewhere, but where? Now that we have an actual car payment and don't want to be part of the repo statistics- we will have to pay for this thing. Which means less shopping trips, but wait oh! There is one place that only costs a couple of dollars and rhymes with larducks. I can at least go there today! :)

Did I mention that when I hit a button the sliding doors open BY THEMSELVES! My sister-in-law Amy has this car and we drove it a lot last week. So I am going to totally copy your trashcan and first aid kit idea. Next time we get together we're going to look like the Mom parade! :)

And a special thank you to my honey. I know that this was hard for you. You have put in three years of searching, investigating, watching numbers. You are so wise with money and this was such a big gift to our family. All three of us really appreciate how hard you work each day so that we can have things like this. I love you.

Having fun with Mimi and Pop

Micah

Jonah