Barn Dance Cotillion

Saturday night Cameron's cotillion theme was Barn Dance. So, he wore a western shirt - but that is as country as this boy gets!!

The lighting in this pic is horrible - but here he is:

After cotillion, the kids got together for a bon fire (in a fire pit). They roasted marshmallows and ate chili dogs. I made some food for him to take.

First I made a pumpkin cheese ball - this didn't get much action so it must not have been very good. I don't know - I had never made it before. Here is a pic:

Then I made a caramel popcorn crunch with cashews and pecans - then drizzled with white and milk chocolate. It was so good - I made a double batch so we had some at the house. I found the recipe here.

Here it is cooling on the counter:

I am pretty sure Cameron had a good time that evening. Only 2 more times for cotillion this year.

YAY - Hubby finished up the laundry room!!!!

It took him less than 48 hours - he started at like 6 PM Friday night and was done today at 1PM!!!! WOW!!!! It does help that he used to lay tile - but way to go E!!

So here is how the rest of the process went. Here is the backsplash getting ready to be put up.

In this one Eric has the floored prepped and ready to go. If you have ever done tile - you can especially appreciate what it takes to remove tile - and thinset mortar from the floor to get it ready for new tile.

Ah - the few last finishing touches before bringing the washer and dryer back in.

Now - let's not forget the Before:

And now, drumroll, here is the after pic.

Bad news is this has left me wanting stainless stell front load washer and dryer!!! But it looks great. Thanks Eric for dedicating your whole weekend to getting this project done - love ya!!!

Turning a pile of floral stems into something

So, Friday night while Eric was being productive painting the laundry room - I didn't want to be sitting around not accomplishing anything. So I remember the flowers I had bought at Hobby Lobby a couple of months ago to repurpose my plain ivy plants from my dining room.

So here is what I started with:

While I was making these, Eric was painting in the laundry room right by me and the kids were upstairs. So we were listening to the 90s station on TV. That was awesome hearing all the songs (and singing along) that were popular around the time we started dating, got married and had Cameron - more nostalgia.

Anyway - here is how these turned out:

And how they completed the dining room look. So yippee - one productive night down!!

I have another project that I am working on that I will share soon!!

Fall - My Favorite time to Decorate the House!!

Well aside from Christmas and my multiple Christmas trees - Fall is my favorite time to decorate. I really don't recall decorating much for Fall when we lived in Pineville - but once we moved to our house in Bentonville we have always decorated.

It started the first year we lived here. My mom came and helped me pick stuff and decorate. So now I get very nostalgic when I pull out the decorations - and remember the first 2 years of living here and mom helping me.

I almost opted out this year (laziness) and then thought of my mom and decided to go ahead!!!!!

Here are the pics from this year (for you mom, wish you could be here to see it!!!) Mom also made the quilted table runner in this first pic on our hall table.

These last 2 are with the lights off to show the scarecrow and candles.

Lucky for Lucy she has 9 Lives!!!!!

Poor Lucy!! When we got her she was Cameron's cat, because Kiana wanted a black cat, thus Allie became hers. Over time she found out that Allie did NOT like being picked up, but Lucy would tolerate it.

Now - poor Lucy gets picked up anytime Kiana spots her. As soon as she puts her down she literally RUNS and HIDES. I feel so bad for Lucy - but Kiana will not stop picking her up.

Here is the pic of them from tonight:

Laundry Room Facelift Phase 1

Over a year ago we bought tile to redo our powder bath and our laundry room. As honey do's go, Eric got the bathroom completed - which was a lot of work - but he never quite made it into the laundry room. So the tiles have been sitting and waiting.

Suddenly he is full of energy - and has taken on this project - so that is AWESOME. Tonight he pulled out the washer and dryer and painted - with the assistance of Kiana.

Here is Kiana helping dad out:

She has been begging for the last couple of days - basically since we bought the paint and she heard the word "paint"!!! She is our little artist and helper.

Cameron was nowhere to be seen (meaning in his room playing XBOX).

Here are a coupe of Before Pics:

And here are some photos of the room almost completely painted:

Next up - ripping up the tile on the floor and the strip above the counter - and replacing with new!! Hoping for completion this weekend!!!

Stay tuned.

Please go vote for Kiana every day in the Gap Casting Call.

Kiana NEEDS your votes. Please go register and vote for her every day!!

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