Noah's First Haircut

We decided to take Noah to an old fashioned barbershop for his first visit. Meet Andy. He's been in this location since 1953 and he certainly knows how to cut hair (though I'm betting his dad owned this shop before he did!).

There's a bar next door to Andy's Barbershop and all of the bikers were trying to talk Noah out of getting his haircut. Noah's a good boy, though, and listened to Mommy and Daddy. After all, his cute baby curls were turning into a mullet!

Noah loved Andy and his parrot, Black Jack. Noah was very patient as Andy trimmed off his mullet baby curls but the clippers were another story. Fortunately, after Abel's haircut, Noah let Andy finish trimming it up.

Bates Nut Farm

In keeping with tradition, we took the kids to Bates Nut Farm to pick a pumpkin and take photos in their Halloween costumes. Bella wanted to be a princess but she has SO many princess dresses, I wanted to make her something a little different. (If you're wondering why her costume looks a little plain, she was put in charge of putting her tiara and shoes in the car but forgot so instead of looking like a princess, she just looked over-dressed.) I don't think I'm done with her costume, though. Abel suggested I make her a sash--which I think is an excellent idea.

Noah, our little Frog Prince, was much more cooperative in his costume than Bella was at his age. I kept it simple for him but I find his costume pretty funny. He just started talking and his first word was "wow". He loves going places (probably because he stays at home with the Nanny all day) so when we get out of the car he's always pointing at things and saying "wow".

He now calls for his blanket ("bebeeeee") and, since he loves dogs, he says "puppy" (he also called his horse "puppy"). Of course he's starting to say "mommy" and "daddy" though he's not very consistent.

I haven't been posting as many pictures of the kids, so I wanted to share a collage of our trip today. They loved everything--from the pumpkins (Bella thought the white pumpkins were pretty funny), petting zoo, and horse rids--they had a great day.

Wet Paint

I'm almost embarrassed to show you, but here are some pictures of what we've been up to this weekend. Painting.

We removed the ugly curtain that was here when we moved in. Not only was it an eye sore, but it collected 10 years worth of dust on the ledge. We also discovered the one thing that was updated in this out before we moved in...the wall paper was removed (kinda). We found that in some areas they just painted over the yellow velvet (yes, it was textured) flower wall paper. I was so excited to find it was (mostly) removed. I removed most of what was left and textured over the rest.

And yes, that was me on the ladder.

It's hard to tell the color because of the light, but you can best see it in the last picture of the foyer (also recently painted...and updated with new light fixtures). I still have a ways to go on the painting, but you get the idea.

Ignore the mess. It's only temporary (I hope).

New Acquisitions

Abel's parents are getting new furniture and gave us some of their old pieces (since our house is so anemic right now). I have to say though that it certainly made a big difference in our house--it feels a little more lived-in.

(Ignore the bad pictures--I didn't mess around with the lighting...)

We didn't add anything to the bar but a few weeks ago I reorganized it so it looks so much better. I wish it didn't have the glass behind it because it really takes away from our glassware, but oh well! Another project for another day!!

We haven't put the doors on the china cabinet yet but we'll get them up today (my mom really wanted to see pictures ASAP). But the size is really great for our space...and so is the table. It's much larger than the table we had there before. Someday we'll get a larger table but this works great in the mean time.
My grandmother's secretary had to find a new home. It's here for now but I'm not 100% certain it's the perfect spot. I love this secretary because my brother and I used to play in it when we were little--my grandmother kept skeleton keys in the drawers (I'm sure she's always wondered why they always disappeared).
This is a couch that Abel's parents kept in their formal living area. It looks much nicer than the old couch that was here (Gunner's couch) so we moved Gunner's couch to the playroom and placed this one here for now. When we get a seating area in front of the fire place, we will remove this couch all together (and probably move it to the downstairs in front of that fireplace).
My brother and his wife graciously gave us this bed as well. We put it in Bella's room for now until we get a new bed to put there (our neighbor has a white twin sleigh bed that they are going to give her in the next few months). This bed will then graduate into Noah's room or the downstairs guest room.
Here's the coffee table that we gave Abel's parents one time (since they severely needed a table)--they are now ordering a coffee table for their house so we took this one back but it needs some TLC (again, another project). The color goes with our couch a little better and this one is a little taller, so we moved the other table to (you guessed it) Gunner's couch in the playroom.
And finally, this buffet belongs with the dining set, but we badly needed something in our entry way, so I borrowed it to place under the clock. The clock now seems a little high but maybe it'll look better when I add some pictures and (maybe) a lamp to the buffet.

This is what happens when I upload pictures

(Yes, that's rice krispies all over the play room floor. Evenly distributed. Her flower-girl skills came in handy.)

House Updates

Visit from Grandmother and Pepaw