All I want for CHRISTmas is....

Hello lovah...I've put it off, I've said I can live without it that my blackberry (may she rest in peace) pictures are just fine....now that I've moved to an Evo ( i curse her) and have been blogging, and my pictures look so sad ...it's time...I've stalked everyone's blog - facebooked people (i believe it is a verb) and the standard answer-Canon eos rebel t3i so I hope I've been VERY good because at the absolute tippy top of my list!!!

A bike.....not just ANY bike - it has to be a pink bike with a basket!!

Her name is LuLu (isn't it perfect?) and she is staying at target until santa brings her 

If I had a bike I would....

Ride around taking LOTS of pictures (with my new camera)

ride into town to do my banking (it's like 4 blocks)

oohh attach a side cart for Annie or Charlotte to ride

invent the first pink bike cooler for my water beer!

A piece - ANY piece of Christian Royal Pottery for the house

http://www.christianroyalpottery.com/

He makes beautiful crosses as well...I've been dying for a piece since I read the story of Christian! And the fact that is made here in Charleston makes it even more special!

I'm crossing my fingers and toes!!

What's on YOUR list??

what a wild and crazy 2 weeks....

To say we've been in overdrive would be an absolute understatement! there has been a LOT of shopping/painting/shopping/fixing/shopping.....there's still some to do but we feel pretty excited about what we've done so far....

 

Please excuse the mess and try to focus on the above the couch area...

 it just needed something else - a little height maybe?? 

if only i could find a really cool BIG sunburst mirror

OH MY - could it be anymore perfect??? oh wait - it can it does this

49 inch beauty made of pallets (my favorite thing) by someone else

cost me the price of $100!!!!! YES i said $100 - i will pause a moment

               for you to cuss me and admire me all at once!! it was just what we needed!!!

              

                                        

again ignore the mess and the pajamas....(girl loves pajamas)

we're are focusing on the sconces with plants on them.

are those so 2000?? I don't feel like i ever see anyone with them

they were making me yaaaawwwnnn....

 Ta-da! yes, we fancy pictures of our kiddos all around the house...

we think they cute (notice mike put charlotte ,our pup,in the middle) 

hahaha - i just noticed i'm busted watching big brother!!

the vanity we were desperate to change

(remember it's a rental so i didn't want to put a lot of money into replacing)

soooo we just put something pretty over the mark and kept going.

I made the shade out of the same fabric as the shower curtain -

but please don't look too closely - haaaa

Annie's bedroom....

 i was trying to "repurpose" her shower curtain 

as a chic monogrammed matlesse ~ epic fail

yeah! i've had the fabric for the bedskirt and shams for years  - add hot pink chevron lamp

newly painted side table and shabby chic bedding - PRECIOUS!!

the other bathroom - new accessories

new pictures, candle holder, plate and turkey in the middle

can you believe this used to be paneling???

outside on the deck...mom and i thought the owl was a "hoot"

(obligatory cheese laugh here )and mike thinks they're silly so this

is where it ended up after he found it

we saw this on piterest and thought it was pretty dang funny so here it sits on our back deck

wow - what a difference a few plants and pillows can make!

yes - we busted our humps but when i was sitting there watching everyone laughing, talking
soaking in all the excitement and shear joy of the moment, the day, the meaning...

the happiness

the friend....the journey to get there

The LOVE

and now the memories....

it was worth every second of hustle!

a few of my favorite things this week...

it has been a CRAZY week around here - finishing those last little things you say you'll get to but never do until you are expecting not just guest but hosting your absolutely blissful friend "get ready to wed" party at your house!!! Soooo we've been busy working and SHOPPING!!

Priss lost her 2nd front tooth! I was giving her some medicine and something fell out of her mouth...hahahaha - it scared me for a sec until i realized what it was! her toothless grin is the cayutest! tooth fairy loot - a doll and some play jewelry!

We went to the lake for Labor Day and ventured to Sumter to do some shopping - they have a hardware store called Simpsons...it has everything...like an Ace/Sports store/home decor/flower nursery all wrapped into one - Mike said it was his favorite store ever....I saw these and immediately fell in love with them! they were $25 each....what a steal!! they're up in the dining room! Pictures to follow!

Charlotte's new bed...Mike picked it out and brought it home thinking i would recover it and i loved it!!

I went shopping at Homegoods today...after seeing all the blogs I shopped a whole new way - i went in looking for what i loved because i thanks to y'all have a new eye for design...THIS said "hey take me home - i want to put it on the deck outside i got new pillows for $5 each at lowe's and forgot to take a picture so it goes with that! I got this on sale for $22

UM - HELLO hot pink lamp with chevron shade??? I had a lamp for annie's room to spray paint but for $29.99 it jumped in my cart!!

this was $14.99 (it's real wood) and is going to be perfect above the bat shelf we're putting in the boys' room and it was the perfect color (dang gamecocks) all in all a pretty productive week filled with lots of good finds! stay tuned there's MUCH more to see!!

NEVER SAY NEVER

Annabelle's last year's end of school party...she's been blessed with the same teacher since she was five years old ~ I put her in Devon Forest because in the three counties this is the only school that had a visually impaired class. At 13 months she was diagnosed with Macular Dystrophy (i had to google it too) she has no retinas so she only has peripheral vision...it is VERY rare in children and genetic (she was also adopted from Guatemala so there are no medical records) I digress...

we have been pleased as punch and looking forward to several more years (it's in the elementary school) FAST FORWARD riiiinnnggg.....riiinnnnggg (thursday morning before school starting on monday) Me - hello??? Judy (Annie's teacher) Dena? You got a minute? M - sure - what's going on?? J - well - the district has decided to disband the vision class and i will now be traveling teacher going to three schools M - um - what does that mean? where will annie be going? J - they've decided to put her in a different special needs class M - sniffling .... like what kind? J - come to meet the teacher tonight...i want you to meet Wesley M - now in tears...ok Well let me tell you - I got on facebook so fast it made my fingers spin - HOW DO I HOMESCHOOL??? I hit enter and looked at what it said....GULP...DID I ACTUALLY JUST TYPE THAT??? fortunately in these times there are plenty of crazy devoted parents who are homeschooling (no wonder alcohol sales aren't down in this economy) Someone told me to call SCAIHS (SC Assoc of Independent Home Schools) frantically I call and get a message (remember school starts in 3 days and I have NO idea what i am doing) I left a message in tears - I'm not quite sure how she understood a word I said but praise God she did and called me back in 5 minutes! She was as calm as a cucumber when she said "don't panic we've got you covered - there's plenty of time and we have a special education coordinator" I still went to meet the teacher ...the classroom was precious, the teacher was amazing - loved her techniques BUT when you're sitting in a classroom with pilate balls and the teacher says "no one is ever going to pick those up and toss them" to the mother of a visually impaired child ... i think "Lady, you cute but you are full of it" SOOOOOO while everyone was putting up their cute first day of school pictures Annie was vacationing at the lake with the grands and I was doing LOTS of research!! YOU CAN LEARN SO MUCH WITH GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK!

so today i went here - it's about 1.5 hour drive and spent 3 hours in conference/planning/soaking it in with the most wonderful woman ...she was full of resources, hints and most of all compassion/understanding ~ she has 3 children, one of whom is autistic and homeschooled them even when it was still cultish progressive ~ I left with a plan and a smile!

so now my new job is principal/lead teacher at "Envision Academy" with a student enrollment of ONE! Did I say NEVER??? I have a feeling God is laughing pretty dang hard thinking "when are you gonna learn child?"