sleep

now that i am on summer break caleb doesn't have to wake up early to get ready to go to kristine's, so he has been sleeping in which is great for me as well but not so great when it comes to bedtime.  he will not go to bed before 9:30 and last night was 10:30 after being up screaming my name, crying, so i go in rock, read, cuddle and try again.  back to the same thing, bri goes in this time and it's 10:00 and caleb is just inconsolable and just wants me.  so he brings him to our bed and caleb tosses for a good 20 minutes throwing ninja kicks at my head and then finally his breathing changes and he's out.  this has been going on for a week now off and on.

i love when he sleeps with me, but then b has to sleep on the couch because caleb hogs the entire king size bed!  he has been extra clingy since we tried a sleepover for him at nana and poppy's house so b and i could enjoy a late date night, only to have to leave the middle of the movie and come get him because he just wasn't ready for a sleepover yet.  maybe he's a little traumatized from that, i don't know but he's sticking to me like glue.


i kinda love it.

bubbles

oh what a gorgeous day it was today.  not only was it the first day of summer break for me, but also a perfect day to spend my first day off with caleb and his bubbles.  this kid is obsessed with bubbles to say the least.  at all times we must have bubbles at the ready along with his bubble mower, bubble machine, bubble guns, and bubble wands.  this is going to be a great summer...

mama style

mama

"mama", is one of my favorite words that i hear a million times a day when caleb's little voice says it.  he walks around that house yelling "mama", he yells "mama", when he wants me to come get him out of his crib in the morning, and he yells it while running to me when he sees me after being away from me for a while.  being caleb's mama is the best gift that i could ever ask for.

i now know more fully the work my own mama did to raise me and my sister.  i honor her today and love her for giving me life.  i praise her sacrifices she made to make us have a better life in america.  i am grateful for dedicating her life to make ours better. 

i love you mama!

table drama

it all started out like this, so we have been scouring places to find a new dining room table and chairs to replace the tiny one we had from our apartment days.  i wanted to keep it under a certain amount and to also find something that b and i can refurbish together.

so i walk into a thrift store on a whim and spot this sad looking but large and project worthy table for only $18.  i had to ask the clerk if that price was correct because i couldn't believe it.  we didn't snap a before pic, so this is after we sanded it.  it pulls apart to fit a leaf in the middle, but unfortunately the leaf wasn't with the table.

we should have cleaned the lense first, duh!  but anyway here is proof that i worked on the table :-)  my first time using a sander.  i really liked this part of the job.

 all of our furniture is a dark color, so naturally we went with an ebony stain for the new table.  also my firt time staining. 

 we had to let the stain sit on the table for 15 minutes before we wiped it off. 

this was the end result.  not at all what we had thought.  we wanted it to be as dark as our chairs, but with multiple coasts of stain and then some research, we learned that it would not get any darker.  when we got the table into our kitchen, it was ginormous.

PART II

on a whim, i went to a local thrift store because we were on the lookout for some chairs for our new table.  low and behold i spot this puppy sitting smack dab in the front the of the store.  i was first enticed by the chairs because they were pretty close to what we were looking for.  i asked the clerk if she would see me just the chairs but was denied.

i spot some other people eying the table as well, so i just plop myself down on the chair and stake my claim.  within a few minutes i was able to negotiate the price from $160 to $140 and this table and chairs were mine.

there are a few rough spots on the edges, but overall it's the color and style we want and it fits our space more nicely.  so now our project table will just become scrap wood for other projects and a good education in refinishing.

mama style

taking some time before heading off for work to snap some shots.  as you can see, caleb wanted to do a fashion post as well.  his cute thomas the train shirt is also from our very successful thrifting excursion where the items bought were all $1.23 a piece!