Our trip to New York

Some of my friends and I have been talking about taking our daughters to New York. We each have two daughters that would be the right age to enjoy it.

 After being pushed off multiple times we finally chugged our way up to New York on Saturday. After looking at how much motels were we decided to just go up for the day. We thought it'd be fun to ride Am-trak up there. So bright and early on Saturday we met in Harrisburg to board.

They had a miniature train set at the station which occupied the girls while we waited.

It was so exciting and something I always wanted to do since I was a little girl. It was fun to experience this with the girls.

The girls had their dolls along since we were planning on visiting the American Girl store.

It was around a three hour train ride so the girls settled down and read or colored.

Or played with their dolls.

There were many neat things to see outside. The train stopped off at one horse towns like Mt Joy, (my home town) to big cities like Philadelphia. I remember when I lived on the farm in Mt Joy depending how the wind blew we could hear the train whistle. Back then I always thought it would be so neat to take the train somewhere. 

Before we knew it we were there!

The girls gathered all their things and got ready to hit the streets of New York.

She looked like the height of New York fashion!

Think you'll find those two missing front teeth in NY?

I can't even begin to descibe to sights, sounds, and SMELLS that hit me. Honestly I would have loved to just sit down and watch all the people scurrying around. I always wonder what there stories are, where they're from, are they Christians? 

It would have been fun to take a taxi or ride a horse or the bike but we would have been separated and I think we were scared of losing each other.

The girl's were amazed by the skyscrapers.

They said they would like to live on the highest floor! Hmm! Not me! After this day I know I ain't no city girl!

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So after walking many blocks and then deciding to take the bus the rest of the way we finally arrived at our destination: The Plaza Hotel.

It was gorgeous! The girls thought it was "so fancy."

We ate at The Palm Court in The Plaza. The girls were able to order off an Eloise inspired menu. We didn't know much about the character Eloise but it was neat that they had kid friendly items to order.

Olivia made sure her "friend" didn't go hungry. By the way, yes my mom did make monkey hats for their dolls.

They got complimentary Eloise cookies at the end of  their meal.

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After  learning some lessons on the way to The Plaza  (1. the bus does not take credit cards. 2. the blocks are long. 3. We are a long way from Lancaster, Berks , and Perry county)  we decided to purchase a metro card and take the subway to the American Girl Doll place.

We happened to go past Times square. We took some pictures of the bewildered girls who I don't believe understood why were taking a picture here but whatever gets us closer to the doll place.

Finally, the store the girls have anxiously been waiting for.

We just have to cross one more street and we are there!

The girls enjoyed looking at all the displays.

I am so blessed to have such awesome friends. It is nice that they have daughters that are around the same age as mine. We had these same girls over for Madi's birthday party last November.

Many hours later outside the store with our purchases.

HMMM! What else do we want? We rested a little at the Rockefeller center.

Tickets, please

One of the girls told her mom later that this was her favorite part of the trip. The conductor was teasing the girls. He asked if their little friends, (the dolls) had tickets too. They thought it was funny when he threatened to throw them off the train.  

Some people can't handle all the excitement. :) But seriously it was an exhausting day. I probably would have slept too but I drank an iced cappuccino before boarding so I was wide awake.

Madi sleeping peacefully with her new look alike doll.

Olivia slept very little on the way home so while all the other girls were sleeping I let her watch a movie.

We enjoyed our day so much! I wouldn't want to live there but it was fun for one day! I loved being with my girls. On Sunday I was challenged in Sunday school that it's more important to build a relationship with your children then doing something with them. I totally agree with that but throwing a trip to New York in while building a relationship is fun too. I can tell our relationship is strengthened when I spend time alone with the girls without the constant distraction of Abbi and Preston. 

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I told the girls that I want to take some pictures of them outside with their dolls. I think this "photo shoot" could have gone on for a long time.

Madi's doll has freckles and red hair.

Olivia's doll has long red hair.

The end.



Our year at school is over and we are going home!!!

Our girls' last day of school was May 23rd.

Yes, a whole week ago!

It seems the busier I am the more pictures I have

and the less time I have to post them

and the more time they have to just sit in my camera.

So since the end of the school year was speeding it's merry way here I knew I had to think of something quick to give the teachers as a thank you. I often look on this site for neat ideas but I actually got the idea for their gift here.

In case you can't read it. It says

Thank you for quenching my thirst for knowledge.

The girl's on the last day of 1st and 3rd grade!

This was their first day! Oh fun, don't they look excited.

Mother's Day weekend

We had a pretty normal weekend.

It started out with Quintin digging holes for posts for our new deck.

The children got so dirty.

As soon as they go out our back door they seem to get covered with powder like dirt but I keep reminding myself it will all be worth it.

They had to get in the hole. Abbi's not too sure about it. Quintin poured cement in the bottom of each hole. Hopefully we can get the deck started at the end of this week!

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Preston woke up early from his nap and helped me make zucchini bars.

MMMM! SUGAR!

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I wanted to take some pictures with the children. Because I was (as usual) behind the camera it started out with me taking random pictures.

                                           
                                                       This picture makes me smile.

Finally my turn.

I love being a mother to these children that God has blessed me with.

Even though there were times I wondered if I would ever be a mom God had a plan for my life all along.

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I have been wanted to catch Preston in the act of doing this for awhile.

Which wasn't too hard because he does it quite often.

He "stands" on his head and plays with his toys.

Today he was also making motor noises.

HeY!! Who's taking pictures.

Look mom! I can do it too.

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I also saw him playing with his trains while sitting like this.

He is really starting to sit for along time and play.

It might help because I went through the toys again and just left out what fits in my two ottomans.

What now?! I need to investigate.

What cha doing , mom?

Well, all in all, a fun weekend.

Happy late mother's day to all you mothers.

And may God give grace to all the women who are praying to become a mother. I know this is a hard holiday but God has a plan for everyone who believes in Him. When things don't make sense I'm reminded of a crazy quilt. To us who only see our patch and a few surounding it seems ugly and crazy but God can see the whole quilt (the whole picture) and it is beautiful.



tackling the bathroom take 2

Let's try this again.   I try to only blog when the little ones are sleeping because they will tear the office to shreds if I give them a chance. We are still finding offering envelopes in strangest places after one episode.

Oh, and to answer a question someone asked me about my shelf from my previous post. Yes those are antlers on the shelf. Quintin is a hunter and so I try to add his hobby in as much as possible since most of the decorating is my style. He would be happy if our house looked like a cabin which can be cool depends where you live. So this is the way we compromise :) 

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Anyway, I really struggle with taking pictures in the bathroom. I think it's the lighting and the small awkward space. or it could possibly just be me. Half the time I was standing in the tub and I think they look really distorted. I took the pictures and downloaded them twice. I still am not happy with how the wall colors look on the pictures but whatever

This is what it looked like before.

And the after.

I really like the airy feeling the color gives to the room.

The color is Coventry gray from Ben Moore.

Yeah, it looks nothing like the pictures

 At first I was not sure about the black counter top but I'm working with it. I wanted a white top but Quintin and the salesman overruled me.

Not sure if I like the aqua blue curtains yet but it is really cheap material that I just hemmed and clipped on. I like using those clip on's because I can easily and cheaply change curtains. I like to keep an eye on cloth napkins because they make cute already hemmed curtains.

I moved the curtain rod up and out.

I wanted it to the ceiling but then Quintin pointed out that there is no light in the shower so it'd be awfully dark. I said we can get the electrician to install a light. He just looked at me with a look that said "We ain't spending no extra money to install a light just so you can have a shower curtain to the ceiling to make the room "appear" bigger which I have my doubts on and while we are on the topic you should be glad I have the patience to stand here while you tell me how high or low to put the rod." I had been joking but you never know until you ask.  

I could not find a shower curtain or liner long enough so I had to sew two plastic liners together. For the curtain I got a $14.00 white curtain at Walmart. I then went to Hobby Lobby with a coupon and bought the ruffled material. It was really easy since I didn't need to hem it. Olivia wants a skirt made with it. So if you see her with a ruffled skirt she is not wearing our shower curtain.

Quintin's homemade hooks went back on the wall.

My floating shelves that Quintin rolled his eyes at.

So with my either useful or pretty theme I tried to make the shelves hold useful things. The small wooden crate I got years ago obviously holds toilet paper. The two tier Hobby Lobby tin thing holds nail polish and fingernail clippers. The little Longenberger basket holds tweezers, my glasses, cosmetics. I have used the basket for those things I think since I lived at home. The taller glass Goodwill jar is empty. Not sure yet what to put in it. Cotton balls would look nice but we don't use them so it would seem like a waste. Little squat Dollar tree jar is full of q-tips.

Tackling the bathroom

So finally done with the bathroom. We had a busy April by our standards. It doesn't take much to get us frazzled. Olivia, Madi, Lexi and I went down to South Carolina with a friend and her two daughters over a long weekend to visit my niece. Well, my friend went down to visit her friend. I forgot my camera unfortunately. :( We had a great time though and made lots of memories. The next weekend Quintin left for Grenada. His boss sends a work crew down once in a while. The girls had their Spring Program that Thursday evening. I got a babysitter for the "babies" because I was not going to wrestle a 1 and a 2 yr old all by myself for an hr and half program. Plus it was nice to have a little break. Quintin came home early Sunday morning of the next weekend. I had picked up Camrin and Anya that Friday so we had them that weekend too. 

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 I decided while Quintin was gone and to keep myself occupied because I had nothing else to do I was going to finish the bathroom once and for all. Well, until I decide I don't like it and change it again. 

So this project included spray painting the brown light fixture to satin nickle.

                                  

Since the fixture came with the brownish globe and didn't match anymore I ran out to Lowe's for other globes. I picked these because I knew they'd give off more light. I like my spaces lit up. Exspecially the bathrooms and kitchens.                                                              

I also bought this mirror at Lowes too. I have been eyeing it for awhile and decided to get it but of course it's not exactly the color I wanted so I got my trusty spray paint out again. This mirror was a project all in it's self. First I thought I'd tape the mirror off and spray paint the frame. It was hard to tape around the curves so I thought it might just make a cleaner job if I just take everything apart. Well, 562 screws later I had the back off but then the mirror was hot glued to the frame so I got a serrated knife and started sawing at the glue. It actually came off pretty easy. So I had a little bit to go and impatient me thought maybe if I wiggle the mirror the glue would just break off and I'd have the mirror free. Well horrors but that mirror cracked right in half. It was one of those moments where you just stare at it horrified and wishing you could just take back the last 2 minutes. But oh no does the drama end? I immediatly called several hardware stores and the last one (Ace Hardware) finally said they cut mirrors but the guy is in only two days a week and he won't be in that week anymore. So the next week Quintin called and they said they'd call him when the guy came in. The day he was supposed to be working I thought I'd save Quintin the trip and go and get the mirror. This is not like just hopping in to the car all fancy free and speeding to the store hopping out and asking for a mirror to be cut. This is changing diapers, putting shoes on, getting sippy cups, buckling in, driving at a safe speed, putting shoes and socks on again, getting a cart, unbuckling, convincing a 2 yr old to sit in the back of a cart, wrangling a 1 yr old in the front and buckling him in kind of speed. So low and behold the guy was not there!! They said he only works Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I was like this is Wednesday! Oh, but he only works until noon. I said but you said you'd call when he came in and we never got a call. So I left my order. I was highly frustrated and asked them if this would get done or do I need to call up and make sure it gets done. Quintin couldn't belive I said that but I asked very nicely. Quintin did say that after all this hassle why don't I just go back to Lowes and buy another mirror. After a couple of days I decided I'd do that. I really liked the frame yet so I knew I could use it somewhere else. So I went out and bought another mirror. I did call up and cancel the order for the mirror. This time I layed newspaper in the middle and taped the edges.  

Quintin put the vanity in. We painted the walls Gravity from Valspar. It's the same color we have out in the living room, kitchen, and dining room. Quintin decided he didn't like it in the bathroom because it looked too purple from the low lighting.

                     

So after buying I think, 6 samples we found the gray we liked.

Coventry gray from Benjamin Moore

So I gated the babies off and went to work. It was nice when I could see them at the gate but worrisome when they were somewhere else and I couldn't hear them. TRoUblE!!
Oh and that day I thought ok instead of pouring paint from the gallon container into a smaller container so that I could climb a chair to cut in I would just use the leftover paint from our sample that we had gotten earlier.
When Quintin came home that evening he asked why I painted with flat paint all around the edges. GRRR! You usually can only get samples in flat but I forgot. So we had to go over that again!
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Well, I need to go. The girls are going to get off the bus soon. I guess I'll have to post the bathroom pictures another day.

I'll leave with these pictures though. This is what I did with the frame from my broken mirror. Before Quintin left I asked him to hang this shelf that has been collecting dust in the basement since we moved here.

He actually made it for our old house to store some of my books.

And to keep it real this is what it looked like before I took everything off the hooks. The shelf is huge. I have decided that the only thing I'm going to keep in the house needs to be either pretty or useful. I asked Quintin if he thinks he falls in any of those catergories :)  Anyway, so since I have baskets I thought I need to make them functional. So the first basket holds all our church toys. The second one holds Preston's shoes. The third Abbi's shoes. It has worked out great so far. The shoes often end up at the entryway so since they can't reach them they're not drug all over the place.  

Where is it? You won't miss it when you walk in the door. It's the thing taking your eye out as you walk in the door. Oh and the "N" stands for Nolt not Nikki in case there are any Nikki's out there that think that. You know who you are.