Family Room Redo....

So last weekend my Very Talented and Bargain Shopper cousin and best friend Rachelle says to me. Mandy do you ever use that living room down there. I said well no only when home teachers and visiting teachers come. She said why dont you move your tv down there and make it you family room, It would give you so much more room upstairs and thus began our day today. After our score of a $5 gallon of paint a few Furniture items at the DI (that i will be refinishing this week) and diet coke we did this.
Before pics (i forgot to take pics of the very crowded and cluttered upstairs area that is now open and spacious)



The Process:



The Result:(Still need to find Window Treatments and cut some vinyl lettering and hang a mirror or some pics butI LOVE IT!)



The Not so cluttered and Crowded Dining Room area. I will be refininshing that Sofa table so stay tuned...



Thanks Shell for all your Help. Next up. Redo Braxtons Room Western Style!

Christmas Morn

Well Santa made it to our house. We got up at about 730 and got ready for the day soon after we were ready Brax woke up and was ready to see what all the commotion was about. I was in the living room with the camera while Brooks got Brax out of bed. Braxton walks out and heads right to his New 4 Wheeler Santa left him He could care less about the 17 horses and barn all set out on the floor or the Huge Chuck the Talking truck stunt set that santa scored for $0.79 it was all about the 4 wheeler he started driving it around right away. Brooks and I decided to not do a lot for eachother this year which was great we did stockings and a few little things and that was it. When we were done opening presents grandma and grandpa Beattie and Grandma and Grandpa Hadlow came over to see what Braxy got. After they left we headed to my moms.








My brother was so excited for the kids on Christmas Morning. He helped My mom do the shopping this year and they were SPOILED. They didnt know what to do with all their new fun stuff (most of which gets to stay at grandmas because they are there often) After the kids played a while we had a yummy lunch of ham and potatoes of course and then we watched a movie together. It was so nice to just relax all afternoon.










around 4 we packed up and headed to Brooks's parents for the evening. When we got there Papa Beattie had his horse and carriage hooked up so Brax got to go for a ride which I am sure was the highlight of his evening. Then we all had dinner and gathered in the Living room.
This year Lane talked to the kids about the true meaning of Christmas and about the Christmas Story. It was nice to have a little reminder of what it is really all about. After that we all opened our gifts this year they gave all the families passes to Lagoon. We opted out of Lagoon becuase we thought brax may still be a little too young so we got Cherry Hill Passes which I am very Excited about! All in all it was a Great Christmas Busy and I was beat by the end of the day but Christmas is SO much fun with a child!

Getting ready for Santas Arrival

After our party we came home and got into our jammies. Brax and mommy fixed santas plate of Cookies and Chocolate milk and an apple for the reindeer (we were out of carrots) We put our Santa key out on the door so Santa could get in, listened to the Night Before Christmas from Grandpa Angus and to bed we went...Well Brax went!

Christmas Eve-Norwegian Style

Every year my family gets together for a bug Norwegian Chirstmas Eve. We have yummy Norwegian food, the Ulenessen (Norwegian Santa) comes and hands presents out to the kids and then we also do a $5 DI gift exchange it is always such a fun night!



Little Miss Macie is TERRIFIED of Santa. She B-lined it up the stairs and out the front door and would not come back until he was gone. Its kinda funny!

Brooks's DI gift was a big tall horse. Lets just say Brax LOVES it.



This My cousin Grant modeling his AWESOME Boxer shorts he recieved!