Cheese

Piper and I were playing out side the other morning, and I grabbed my camera for fun. Of course she had multiple scratches and scabs on her face, and her hair was disheveled to the max (what's new)! I told her to say "cheese," and to my surprise she actually said it and then continued to smile for me! WHAT? When did you learn this child? She is growing up way too fast for my liking...enjoy!

tears and stripes forever

OK, so the title is a LITTLE dramatic, but that is how I feel. I am posting about my stripes project to distract from the fact that I am doing lamaze exercises to avoid crying every 30 seconds. Deployment has officially began; details will be scant for security reasons. It is weird to come home to a quiet house and realize it will be that way for a bit. You notice weird things when the person you think about most is not around. For example: I found myself not road-raging home from work because I knew Ian wouldn't be there waiting when I got there...I hear it gets better. We are very proud that Ian is serving our country and is helping to protect us, even though we have to sacrifice our time together as a family. So, as to not cause an electrical shortage on the keyboard from tears, I will divert this post into a post about STRIPES.

We don't own the townhouse we are in, but it needed some help when we moved in. I have always wanted to try stripes on a wall and I originally was going to do them in Piper's bedroom. We decided to try them in the dining room instead, which we use more as an office/lounge/play area. It suits our needs. I am really happy with the results! As with ALL of my projects, they need some touching up, which will probably happen, UH, never.

I forgot to take a before of the stripes wall, but this is what it was before, a brickish-red (it's not quite as orange as it looks in the photo). No offense to the red-lovers out there, I am just not a fan. Unfortunately, the kitchen didn't get done before Ian left, so it will probably remain the same for a bit.

Completed stripes, and yes, I got rid of that hideous gold-plated disaster that is a light-fixture. I may or may not paint it black to match the kitchen and use it above the table...also note Ian's computer that looks like a transformer. Really makes the room, huh?

Still working on wall decorations, but this is it so far!

BIZ-Y

So, as you can tell from my utter and complete lack of blogging...we have been BUSY. I feel like the month of April was a whirlwind. We had multiple sets of family in town for two weeks in a row (something we hardly get and thoroughly enjoy!), Ian's 30th birthday, and we moved down the street. It was an easier move than usual, as it was literally next door: one building over, same unit. Our townhouse was under contract, so we had to get the heck out of dodge. I really like our neighborhood, it has everything we need, including a pool(uh, helllooo, ima be super preggo in about a month or two and a cold body of water will be vital to my survival during the heat that is a Las Vegas summer). So, as luck would have it, our neighbors were moving out, and I jumped on the open unit! We are mostly settled in, and this time, I get to paint! (stay tuned for our stripes project!)

As for the fun stuff...Ian turned 30 last month! He swears numbers don't matter and claims he will be a kid forever. I believe this as I hear a fart/poop joke at least 3 times a day and he is currently talking into his head phones as he plays some lame computer game. OH WELL...For this joyous occasion we were lucky enough to celebrate with some of our family! My sister and her family came from Colorado and Ian's brother Adam and his GF (or whatever) popped in from Kansas! It was a full house, but we managed! As is customary with every Knecht visit, we ate at In & Out multiple times!

A "fair" we went to. There was supposed to be funnel cakes, I'm still mad I didn't get a funnel cake.

Ian's 30th Birthday dinner with friends/fam!

The next week Ian's parents came in town from Kansas! His mom came out when Pipie was born, but it was a first for his dad! Luckily, it was a very relaxing visit, as we were fried from the previous visit! Did I mention that some insane, crazy, evil virus was attacking us all the while??! Yes, this thing spread like the plague. It was horrible. We all made the best of it and had a few good days where we were all mostly healthy. Having family in town reminds how much I miss Kansas. I miss having my friends and family close by, especially with our growing family!

All the activity took our minds off of our upcoming change. This month we face our first deployment. Being so busy kept us from dwelling on it, and now that it's less than a week away, reality is starting to set in...

We are proud of you Ian!