Thanksgiving

I only have a few moments to post this, so it is going to be mostly pictures. We had great Thanksgiving weekend at D's parents house. Playing with the cousins, having adult conversations, and the fellowship are wonderful blessings.

The kids were fascinated with uncle J's new iPad. The adults had plenty of fun with it too.

Bria and cousin C being bridges over two train tracks.

The kitties provided great amusement for the littlest kids. Bentley even says "meow" now.

Bentley and cousin L playing together, as much as two one-year olds can.

The kids need my attention, so I guess I am out of time.

Other Weekend Fun

The girls enjoyed having grandpa and grandma here to play with for four days. It was a little difficult for them to have their bedroom and play room in the basement torn apart for that long. Some days it was hard to keep them entertained. Here are some of the non-painting moments I actually took pictures of.

Rolling around on the air mattress that D and I had slept on the night before (to avoid paint fumes). They had a good time jumping and walking on it.

We went out for pizza one night and Bentley wanted her shoes on. Bria offered to help, so Bentley sat right down and let her.

Bentley was resting on grandma. Nap times did not work out very well since we were painting the girls' room, so Bentley was quite tired the whole weekend. Bria dressed herself and insisted that pink and red go together.

Bentley found dad's hat and had to try it on. Too cute!

Weekend Painting Projects

This last weekend we had a long weekend. D had a couple of days off at the end of last week, so we decided to tackle several painting projects. We painted the girls' room and all the livable rooms in the basement. I was sick for several of the days, and wasn't able to help as much as I would have liked. D's parents were here, however, and so we were able to get everything accomplished that we had set out to do.

One of the bedrooms in the basement before it was painted. The other bedroom is very similar, it only had a different color of paint. We didn't actually mind the colors, but they were so banged up they needed some help.

The same bedroom after it was painted and had the furniture back in it. Right now the basement is all the same color. Eventually we may paint a wall in each of the bedrooms to dress it up a bit.

The girls' bedroom before. The picture is a bit dark, but the room was painted gray and dark blue with a horse border that was partially torn off.

Now their room is pink and purple (just a little bit girly). On this wall we did pink stripes on the top portion. They are very subtle because the pinks are the same color, we just used a different gloss in the paint. We also replaced the horrible light fixture and hung some of the girls' wall hangings.

Over by Bria's bed we hung the letters we had painted for her when she was born.

Both girls seem to be enjoying their newly painted room. And I am very happy with how everything turned out. It is nice to walk into a room that has nice, fresh paint.

Chopped Off

On our way home from the wedding this last weekend we stopped to get groceries and some other things, and I decided to get Bria's hair cut. She whined every time I tried to brush her hair. It was also looking very scraggly. Her long hair was all curled for the wedding and looked really cute, but I can't do that with her hair all the time. I thought I would see how a much shorter hair cut would go. We cut of 7-8 inches. It makes Bria look more grown up, but I can already tell it is a lot easier to manage. She is adorable either way.

Her hair is now just below her shoulders. Before it was just above the top of her pants. Bria is excited to have shorter hair.

Wedding Activities

This last weekend we spent in the TC's celebrating J's sister's marriage. We are very happy that she found someone who loves her so much. There were a lot of activities, with rehearsal on Thursday; bridesmaids breakfast, pictures, wedding, reception, and dance on Friday; then brunch and gift opening on Saturday. The girls cooperated way better than we were expecting. Bentley didn't take many naps at all, and didn't get enough sleep any of the nights. She was still quite the trooper, however, and didn't get crabby about much. Bria also did very well. She obeyed and was where she needed to be when she needed to be. D's parents were around to help take the girls back to his sister's or our hotel when it got too late. By Friday night Bria was begging to go to bed because she was so exhausted. She didn't even want to stay and dance, which she absolutely loves.

The bride (J's sister) at our Friday morning breakfast.

One special Daddy and his daughter.

J with her sisters.

Instead of a traditional guest book the bride and groom decided to have people sign something they would use every day. All the guests signed a cookbook. I thought that was a wonderful idea. It was fun to leave a little message to them on a recipe.

The little girls were all entertained by all the tissue paper and bows during the gift opening.

The food during the weekend was so good. The reception was catered by the company that T and her new husband work for, and everything we had was excellent. I know that over the course of the weekend we all ate way more than we should have.

Now we are back home to our regular routine.