Friday, December 30, 2011

Massive Organization Movement..starting with Hannah's room

We are looking at putting the house back on the market with a realtor. I spent the last 2 days working on Hannah's room. We added touches of her celadon pottery (from our time in Korea) and she finally let me have a series of paintings she made this year in class (the neat thing about the paintings are there are old pattern pieces layered under the paint - very cool). Linens from Target, the quilt was made by my Aunt Sherrell, vintage furniture, and Longaberger sidetable - not bad for a thrown together bedroom. Hope she likes it when she comes home. Oh, and I cleaned out her closet too - SURPRISE! Now onto the guest room and our organization project.




Thursday, December 29, 2011

New Year - New Commitment

Okay - I am the first to admit that I have not done well with blogging, but it's a new year and time for a new commitment. We had a difficult year last year - Stephen's mom passed away the day after Christmas, his step-dad has been sick most of the year, Megan graduated in May, Stephen retired from the Air Force in June, the girls moved out in August - Hannah into an apartment with 2 other girls and Megan into a dorm, and Stephen found a new job with a contractor in September. We've had our house up for sale (and off, and on, and off) various times this year as well with no luck. It's just been a very busy year for our family and very stressful as well!

I am hoping (and praying - ALOT) that this year finds us more settled and that I feel better, get more accomplished, and yes, that I stick to my blogging. Wish me lucks folks!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Stationery card

Happy Bright Moments New Year's Card
Create custom Christmas cards this holiday at Shutterfly.
View the entire collection of cards.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

We Just Put Our House Up For Sale!




We just put our house in O'Fallon, IL up for sale! Hope it sells soon - but not too soon! We're hoping that we can have Meg's graduation party here before we move! So many possible changes are happening for our family this year - hope we enjoy the ride!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

So I have to admit it - I'm kind of loving these and am thinking we might have to add them to our Mr. Potato Head collection (yes, we do have one and I catch the high school/college kids playing with them all the time!).
Which is your favorite - Vegas Elvis or Jail House Rock Elvis???


What I'm Crushing On Right Now...

Through A Lens Photography - http://www.throughalens.com/ - for these amazing photos of my girls



Anything Mary Engelbreit - http://www.maryengelgreit.com/ - can't wait for the new products that she has coming out soon!


I love the ladies at Eighteen25 - http://www.eighteen25.blogspot.com/ - they constantly amaze me and inspire me!



Amanda at Shindig Parties To Go - www.etsy.com/people.shindigparties - she just created the most amazing party printables for Megan's graduation party in May - she is soooo talented! Thank you Amanda!



Celebrity Crush for years - Hugh Grant (would love to see him making more movies!).


Thursday, January 6, 2011

Better Late Than Never!


We had so much fun hosting some of the volunteers for Art With Heart over for a Christmas party. This was their sweet table (don't know why I didn't take a pic of the food table). I think the kids enjoyed everything though and it was great to have them over!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

Above is my St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake that I made tonight thanks to a recipe I found on www.tidymom.net - love her blog! We've lived in the St. Louis for over 4 years now and until we moved here, I had never had this delicious dessert! Sooooo good! Try it for yourself!

http://tidymom.net/2011/ooey-gooey-goodness/

Saying Good-bye to the Old and Hello to the New

A new year, time for new goals, new dreams, new challenges, and new changes.

We've had a difficult time the last 4 1/2 years at this assignment. During the time we have spent here, Stephen has been "deployed" (stateside though!) for 6 1/2 months, had approx. 12 months of TDY's all together, spent a year remote in Korea, and has changed jobs at Scott AFB. We've also lost both of his amazing grandparents and just said good-bye to his mother the day after Christmas. Hannah was on 8 different meds or med combos before find the "right one", she's had 2 different jobs, and made it through 3 miserable high school years here. Megan has had 3 jobs, survived lots of high school drama, and went through a friend losing a brother much too young. I have been lonely here - probably the loneliest I've ever felt - as I went though the motions of setting up a home, dealing with my husband being gone, teaching the girls how to drive by myself, working through Hannah's medical issues and a scare with Megan, and losing such dear people. It wasn't quite what we were prepared for coming here. It's been a few rough years for our family, but I can honestly say we are looking forward to 2011.

We are blessed that Stephen is currently home (and it looks like it will remain that way!), Hannah is in her second year of college and is doing great with her medicine, and Megan just graduated early and starts community college in a few weeks. We have new goals and expectations for each of us this year: (1) to find a church home that we all enjoy worshiping at, (2) to watch Hannah finish up her associates and figure out what she wants next, (3) to see Megan start into college on her own in the fall, (4) trying to sell our house this spring and figure out what will be next for us - will Stephen retire from the USAF or will we take another move? We have so many new things to figure out and challenges to overcome, but we are looking forward to what this year will bring.



Happy 2011 everyone! I hope that the year brings you just what you are looking forward to as well!