someone's been watching too much HGTV

i must say, I LOVE HGTV. love watching a space transformed. love being inspired. love making my home more user friendly. with six of us, every single square foot counts!


when we first looked at this house, one of the things i loved about it was that each bedroom has a walk in closet. for a home built in 1970 that is something to be celebrated! but in addition to that, there was also a great big walk in closet in the hall way upstairs. and even then, i thought it would make a great art room for the kids.


creativity is in their blood...give them a stack of paper, some pencils, scissors and glue and they are in heaven. i love their creations...but hate that it has to happen in MY space LOL


bobby's sisters (aunt T and aunt melba...really terry and melinda LOL) and his mom (nanny...really catherine) sent money for the kids...we decided to use that to make over the walk in closet...to transform it into a SUPER COOL CREATIVE SPACE just for the boys.


i am sooo happy with how it turned out and sooooo happy to have my island back :)

i forgot to take a picture of before we started tearing down shelves and closet rods...here's a 'semi-before' pic:



and ta-da...the 'after' pics:

nanny, melba & t, thank you so much. this is a gift that will keep on giving. xoxo.

a christmas to remember

three and a half years ago, we pulled out of our street (a big ol' penske truck & clifford the big red van) leaving our family behind...a mix of tears and joy as we started this crazy adventure. who would have EVER guessed that there would soon be a southern migration of family? christmas eve we gathered for a traditional dinner:

crazy crazy kids:



ahhhhhhh...thank you LOL

think hudson's a little excited? hee hee

my friend sent the boys matching argyle sweaters...aidan showed up in a coordinating one. aren't they all so handsome?

after everyone left, it was time to sprinkle the food for santa's reindeer:

all decked out in new jammies, ready for a sleepover in the boys' room, dog included:

christmas is always such a special time of year. even though we were in our home last year after hurricane ike, it wasn't until christmas eve. so this was an extra special christmas since we got to celebrate the entire season here. we're so very thankful for a roof over our heads and food on the table. really, what more does one need?

despite bobby's layoff, we still felt incredibly blessed. but imagine how much MORE blessed we felt when a friend of mine asked permission to adopt our children for christmas. i cannot even begin to express to her our gratitude. her family went all out and she insists that it was equally a blessing for their family as she used it as a teaching opportunity for her children. because of their generosity, bobby and i were able to just purchase one gift per child. this was a huge relief for us.

we also received blessings from our church and other friends for the kids, not to mention the family gifts. so our children had a christmas unlike any they've ever had before. before we opened gifts we were able to talk to them about how all of this was a gift from God...a tangible sign of his love for them. what a moment.

after we opened the gifts on christmas morning, we headed over to nana & papa's for more christmas celebration:

check out carson's face when he finds out that nana & papa got the kids a trampoline (theirs was crushed during IKE):

he was so excited he wanted to kiss it...crazy kid LOL

and christmas wouldn't be christmas without the collins & kankelfritz family. we decided to skip tradition and have FELIZ NAVIDAD instead...tacos & tamales...stacey made a version of chuy's jalapeno ranch dip, chuck made some INCREDIBLE salsa and becky made tres leche cake. what a way to end the day.

we cannot begin to express our hearts of gratitude toward our friends & family for the love they have shown our family this christmas. we feel so loved and so blessed to have you in our lives.

melted snowman cookies

because it's 72 degrees out here and we're baking christmas cookies. i mean, could there BEEEE a better cookie to make here than melted snowman cookies???? just perfect i think!

aren't they ADORABLE? thanks to my friend melisa for sharing the recipe. we had so much fun making these with our friend lisa!

and if you love peppermint, the chocolate peppermint cookies are TO DIE FOR! thanks lisa for the FANTASTIC recipe!

carson turned 8

wow wow wow. time is just FLYING.


here are some pics from his birthday party on thanksgiving weekend:

a loving correspondence between brothers

carson and austin were having a squabble. carson was certain he was going to get in trouble when austin handed me the note he had given him. imagine his surprise when he saw me laugh instead.

searyeslea, how can you be mad when you read that???? (and for the record, he's not allowed to say 'pist' and he knows it). ahhhhh, the joys of parenting teenagers and little ones at the same time.

christmas trees and SNOW IN HOUSTON!

last year we were soooo happy to get back into our house on christmas eve that we didn't even care if we couldn't REALLY decorate our tree. so we threw some pinecones on a cheapy one from home depot and it was beautiful in our eyes.

but this year, i am thrilled to be able to REALLY do the tree.

austin and i spent an entire day grooming the branches & putting all the lights on and then that evening all the kids decorated it.

and we actually had some SNOW in houston. south of us, it actually stuck to the ground. but where we are, it just kind of stuck to your clothes for a second before melting. here are the boys just getting off the bus (see why i'm so happy carson finally let us get his hair cut? LOL). and doesn't hudson just look THRILLED by the white stuff? hee hee.

new pics of the kids

my dear friend stacey (of rowan and lucky photography) took pics of the kids. carson was growing his hair out so we had to work ALL of their outfits around his HAT to cover up the scruffy, messy hair (that we FINALLY convinced him to cut off last night...thank you GOD...happy meals are the BEST bribes...cheap and easy LOL).


anyhow, the pictures turned out amazing and as always, i'm amazed to see how much my kids are growing. it seems that from day to day you don't really see the change but then all of a sudden you see a picture and it hits you: THEY ARE GROWING UP :(

if you're looking for a natural light photographer in the woodlands texas, she's definitely your girl :) you can check out more of her stuff at http://rowanandlucky.com/