KC Chiefs Basement Makeover

Ben has wanted to paint the basement for quite a while. I happened to like the way it was painted, but I do want him to have his space and be happy, since the rest of the house is the way I like it. When he first started talking about it, he was determined to paint the lower part red, the top half black, and the chair rail yellow. I just couldn't get behind that idea. I tried to talk him into black on bottom and white on top with all of his red accessories, but we had to come to a compromise. Here are a few shots of the nice colors we had down there before.

Kara was happy to get to help me with the white coat. The paint we got was not what I'm used to working with. It took 3 coats of white, 4 coats of red, and at least 4 coats of black, and in some places, 5 coats of black. It took 3 entire days, but I did get it done eventually. I originally thought it would take maybe 7 hours. But I wasn't anticipating having to do so many coats.

All finished. Well, I still might paint the baseboard, but finished enough. This is Ben's favorite wall. That is a fathead arrowhead. I was not willing to try to freehand paint one myself.

A shot with his new TV. The old one stopped working a few weeks before Christmas, so he took the opportunity to upgrade. Since we no longer needed the base we were using for the old TV, he got that fireplace to put below. It actually does a pretty good job of warming the basement.

As soon as we get his Joe Montana poster in the correct size frame, everything will be perfect.

Now he's just dreaming of the day when the girls are done keeping their toys down there, so he can tear out the closets/play area and build out a bar. In the mean time, it's still a pretty fun place to hang out.

I was really concerned when I finished painting, before we put the furniture back. It looked so much like Mickey Mouse's clubhouse. I was horrified. I was ready to redo all of it, even though I was pretty tired from 3 days of painting all day. But now that the furniture is back and his accessories are up, it's not quite as bad as I thought.

For Christmas he got these red cubes for the shelves, so we can fit more toys and things, and you really don't have to see any toys when the girls aren't down there playing.

We didn't fill every inch of space, so if he gets new things here and there, it wont be too much trouble to find places for them.

Notice the yellow stripe on the column. He wants to do the same thing on the front/arrowhead/tv wall. But I just think it's too much. So that is still undecided.
He loves it, and that's the most important thing. I wouldn't want to spend my time and energy on a basement he didn't love spending time in. So mission accomplished.

New Year happenings

I wanted to get a few pictures of Kara riding her new electric scooter. She loves zooming around the neighborhood, though it seems to go a little too fast, and has caused me no small amount of anxiety watching her ride it.

We had some nice days at the beginning of the month, but it's been too cold for her to ride the past week. She's just itching to get back out there, though.

A hospital picture of Evie waiting to get her stitches. She was the sweetest little patient, and quite well behaved for being there for 5 hours.

On New Year's Day the girls made some gingerbread men. They turned out pretty cute.

On the last Friday of winter break Kara and I had appointments with the eye doctor, so I took the girls to lunch afterward.

When we got home, they wanted to do makeovers. So I pulled out a bunch of old/rarely used makeup. Kiersten did Evie's.

I got to do Kara's makeup, and it was kind of funny how concerned she was about what I was doing. When she saw the final product, she was pretty happy with it. Maybe too happy, because she attempted to give the same makeover to Kiersten.

Evie had a great time drawing on my face with eyeliner. That's pretty much all she did, so it didn't take much to wipe it off afterward.

You can sort of see some of the scribbling. It was hard to get a picture, she had such a light touch, and used mostly brown eyeliner.

Kiersten was really happy about her makeup before she looked in the mirror. When she finally saw herself, she was upset that Kara made her look like a zombie.

She wouldn't even smile for a group shot :( I added some color to her eyelids, and removed the makeup under her eyes, and she was happy after that. I had to be sneaky so Kara wouldn't see me fixing her up.

After makeovers we played board games while we waited for Daddy to come home. It was a pretty fun winter break, and we're all a little sad that it's over.

Wrapping it up

Our year has been another great one. According to Ben it was our best year yet! Here's what the girls have been up to lately.

Karalee

Kara finished up second grade and began third. She is doing great at school, and attends the 4th grade math class. I always worry she'll fall behind, but she amazes me with her ability to understand and keep up. She wants to start attending an after school chess class that begins mid January. She also tested into the gifted art program at CCL, and is very excited to begin that class when school resumes next week. Kara started learning Tae Kwon Do this year, and has earned her orange belt. She works very hard and likes to practice. She is also on a basketball team through the school district, which she is enjoying. She is in her second year of Brownies and loving it. She likes having a little more independence as she gets older, and particularly enjoys when I drop her off to activities, and don't stick around. It's hard to let go, but I don't what to smother her. She has been learning to cook, and has become a tremendous help at dinner time. Kara loves animals, and always wants to watch documentaries or read books about them. She is rarely seen in anything but a cat shirt. Sometimes she'll sport another animal instead, but I think I've counted 17 cat shirts in her closet, and about 6 leopard prints, which are second in her heart. She also enjoys sporting cat socks, and leggings, which look kinda crazy, but make her happy. She would love to be a cat owner again, but Ben is too attached to his allergy free lifestyle at this point. I guess we'll have to see what the future holds. Ben is convinced she'll grow to be a crazy cat lady later in life. She really enjoyed visiting Yellowstone this summer, and was very intrigued by the interesting things to be seen there. She also loved visiting with family and their pets. She says she would like to grow up to be like Aunt Jackie (because she can beat up boys) or Taylor Swift (because she's a beautiful singer). She hopes to be a "pop star" or if that doesn't work out, a makeup artist. Karalee is now 53 1/2" and weighs 56.8lbs.
Here is her updated list of favorite things!

Color: sky blue
Animal: domestic cat
Food: cupcakes she has baked herself
Song: Shake it Off
Game: Loaded Questions
Movie: The Parent Trap
TV show: The Secret Lives of Cats
Best Friend: Addison
Favorite playtime activity: video games
Toy: glitzy globes
Non-play activity: making jewelry
Anyone she would choose to see at this moment: Taylor Swift
Favorite outdoor activity: riding her electric scooter
Outfit: leopard print peace sign shirt from Katie
Favorite thing to do with Mom: play board games
Favorite thing to do with Dad: play video games
Food she doesn't like: spinach
One thing she dislikes: Elmo

Kiersten



My sweet Kiersten is such a happy and nice girl. She loves her friends, family, and teachers. She would hug everyone if she could. She graduated from Kindergarten and started first grade. She just loves being able to be at school all day instead of half days. She adores her teacher, and ranks her the best in the world. She is doing great at CCL, and just finished up a project on mammals. She studied gibbons for her report, and could probably tell you anything about them. She also did a unit on germs, which has improved her hand washing skills. She refuses to wash for less than the time it takes her to sing a verse of "Twinkle Little Star". She is having a blast in her second year as a Daisy scout, and loves all of her little troop-mates. She loved the soccer camp she attended over the summer, and playing on her team this fall. She is very anxious for spring season to begin. By the end of this past season she had started playing goalie, and really loves that position. She is thinking of taking Tae Kwon Do with Kara, but might decide on dance instead. She is also excited to get started again with swimming next month. She told me that this year she is not going to get any DQs. Time will tell. She has come so far with her reading, and spelling, and I couldn't be more proud. She has also become quite the football fan, and loves cheering on the Chiefs every chance she gets. She probably knows more of the players than I do. I had her dressed cute for a picture this morning, but she put on her Chiefs sweatshirt over the top. She says it shows her personality the best. Kiersten is such a sensitive little soul, and doesn't like to see anyone else feeling sad or hurting. We really have to be careful about what we say sometimes. The other day Evie asked what happened to Humpty Dumpty if he couldn't get put back together. I answered, "I guess he died." Which was a fine answer for Evie, but then Kiersten came slowly up to me, blinking away tears, and asked, "did he really die, Mommy?" I also learned my lesson about letting her watch YouTube music videos for any sad song. She just has the biggest heart, and it's interesting for me to see things from her perspective. I think she's softened me a bit too. She says she'd like to grow up to be like Daddy and Papa, because they are strong and cool. She would like to be a rock star, and as a backup plan, she'd like to be a teacher or soccer coach. Kiersten now measures 49", and weighs in at 47.8lbs. Here are her faves.

Color: pink
Animal: giraffe
Food: cherries and gyozas
Song: Call Me Maybe
Game: Eye Found It
Movie: The Little Mermaid (I will be sad the day this changes)
TV show: Paw Patrol
Best Friend: Teagan
Favorite playtime activity: Riding bikes
Toy: Purple Bear and Pomma the Panda
Non-playtime activity: writing
Anyone she would choose to see at this moment: Dustin Colquitt (A football player for the KC Chiefs)
Favorite outdoor activity: Soccer
Favorite Outfit: Christmas tree dress
Favorite thing to do with Mom: crochet
Favorite thing to do with Dad: Go on Daddy-Daughter dates
Food she doesn't like: mac and cheese if Kara makes it
One thing she dislikes: fighting

Evangeline

Evie has really changed a lot this year. She graduated from the 3's class, and started her last year of preschool. She has the same teacher that Kiersten had, and loves to rub it in, as they both love her to death! She is still working on getting all of her letters down, and has made some progress with reading, though we're still in more of the memorization phase than actual reading. I'm sure she'll get there this coming year. She is a leader at school and I always hear stories from the teacher of her settling disputes, helping other kids, and generally solving problems for the other kids. She is one of the youngest, but just has such a strong personality. She is a lot less bossy now than she was at the beginning of the year, so that's a good thing for her. She loves to be helpful, and gets upset if her sisters are helping me instead of her. She particularly likes folding up socks, which at this point, is as much control as I'm willing to give up in my laundry folding. She learned to swim this year, and is very proud of her accomplishment. She hopes to make the swim team, so we'll see if she's ready. If not this year, then I'm sure she'll be great for the following season. She loves taking care of her pet fish, Lemon, and is always asking me if I remembered to feed him. She is my little chatterbox. I've never met anyone who talks as much as her. She just goes on and on, and if you don't follow her train of thought, it's easy to get confused, which she doesn't like. She will roll her eyes and keep repeating herself until she's sure you understand what she's talking about. Sometimes she says really crazy things that catch us off guard. Lately she has been saying, "Awkward..." whenever there is a lull in conversation. I can only imagine how many times she's probably done that at school too. A few weeks ago she asked me if I was going to die on Christmas. I assured her I wouldn't, thinking the poor thing was concerned about my safety, but her response was, "well, if you do, can I have you presents?" She has gotten more artistic this year, and is finally more interested in drawing her own pictures instead of just doing coloring pages. She does still like to color pages at the gym babysitter, and likes to get those stapled together like a book. She's become more interested in music this year, and is super cute singing along with her sisters in the car. She's very possessive over certain songs that she considers "hers" and will get upset if everyone else is singing along too. She has only gone to the ER once this year, just 2 days ago. We almost made it the whole year without going. She lost balance while twirling, and hit the edge of the wall. She ended up with 4 stitches through her eyebrow, which is why she's tilting her head that way in the photo. She did not want those stitches to be seen in the picture. She fell in love with the ocean on vacation this year, and says that's her favorite place to go now. Evie wants to grow up to be like Aunt Katie, except for the getting married. She has decided never to marry. But she says she wants to be pretty and nice like Katie. She'd also like to be like me, since I'm such a great cook. (HA!) She hopes to be a painter when she grows up. She will paint pictures, not a house, cause that's too hard. She has grown to a whopping 43 1/2", and weighs 39lbs. Her favorite things include:

 

Color: red

Animal: kitty- the real kind

Food: mac and cheese

Song: I Love you like a Love Song

Game: hide and seek

Movie: Cinderella

TV show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Best Friend: Colbie

Favorite playtime activity: playing house with Kara and Kiersten

Toy: Pumpkin the dog

Non-playtime activity: taking naps

Anyone she would choose to see at this moment: Jesus

Favorite outdoor activity: jet ski

Outfit: candy cane shirt with red tutu

Favorite thing to do with Mom: watch a movie and eat popcorn

Favorite thing to do with Dad: snuggle

Food she doesn't like: spinach

One thing she dislikes: heights and dogs putting their teeth on her

 

 

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful 2015! This year will be hard to beat :) And I have to shout out to Ben for losing almost 50lbs this year. He's looking smokin' hot these days!



Christmas morning in Ballwin

Santa definitely visited our house last night!

Evie has been asking for a singing Elsa doll, and was apparently good enough this year to get her wish.

Kiersten saw this "journey girl" in the Toys R Us ad. She went back and forth between wanting the bunk bed and the wardrobe, but ended up asking Santa for the bed.

Kara asked for a zoomer dog, and said she didn't care which color. I think Santa picked out the perfect one for her.

Their stockings are always full of fun goodies.

Kara had such a good time training her dog today. It was funny to hear her commanding him. She seems to think that saying the commands really loud is important. At one point she was shouting, "I love you!" to try to get him to bark back with a response. It was funny to hear it from the other room.

She did have some candy coal in her stocking, which we are taking as a subtle warning to be a little nicer to her sisters next year.

Santa spoiled Kara and Kiersten with little cans of Dr Pepper, which they always want, but never get. Sweet Kiersten even offered one of her cans to me, but I made sure she got to enjoy it herself.

She's pretty excited about her new doll, and had a great time decorating the bed with stickers.

Papa and Grams were on facetime, and the girls enjoyed getting to show off all of their fun gifts. Kiersten was super excited to show Papa the little guitar Kara gave her the night before. She says she can't wait to play together with him.

I think Evie is the only one that isn't a little tired of hearing Elsa sing today. She even sang in Spanish a few times before we got her on the proper setting.

Katie and Ben watching the girls open their gifts after breakfast.

I'm always excited when my sister Chris has me for Christmas gift exchanging. She makes awesome gifts!

I got this fabulous cross stitch framed picture of Christ. It looks like a painting, unless you look close, and can see the stitching. She is truly amazing! Now the difficult task of deciding where to hang it.

Evie got a gift that was wrapped in a triscuit box. She loudly said, "SERIOUSLY?!?", and was angrily tying to set it down. It took us a minute to get her to actually look in the box. She was glad to find a frozen purse inside the box.

One of Ben's favorite gifts was from his Mom. He's excited to use it this weekend when he goes to the game with his friends.

It was so fun to see Evie open her big gift from us. She was just overjoyed about this dog.

And Kiersten got the baby panda she's been dying for. I don't know why she wanted another panda, but she likes what she likes, and this one does do a lot of cute things, where her others are just stuffed animals. She named her Pomma. (The box called her Pom Pom.)

Kara wanted an electric scooter, and even asked if that's what it was when she saw the gift behind the tree. I said no, but it turns out I was a liar. It had to charge for 12 hours,  (which I should have figured out ahead of time), but she's pumped to try it out tomorrow.

My little nurturer took care of her baby all day. She even went around the house telling everyone when it said, "Mama". She was proud of her baby's milestone.

Evie had a great time dancing around with her puppy, Pumpkin. This dog even talks for some reason. Kinda weird, but I actually prefer it's talking to Kara's dog's barking.

Evie got everything she wanted and more. She couldn't come up with anything that would make her day better. She just had a wonderful day.

My sweet heart spent most of the day taking care of the Panda, and decorating the doll furniture. She got some fun crafts, and I'm sure she'll get to those soon enough. She'll have to give the panda a break at some point. I had fun playing her new look and find game with her.

Kara couldn't have been happier with her haul. She even got an iTunes card, and Katie got her the perfect shirt, which she is just thrilled about. I think she's already done all but one of her crafts. We played blokus a bunch of times, and the rest of the day she spent training her zoomer dog.

Kiersten gave her a snow globe making kit. It's pretty cute, and has a few extra spots, so she can get more of the little snow globes to add to the stand. She's also in love with her cat-wearing-a-santa-hat earrings.

Kiersten did do the bobble-head puppy craft that Evie gave her. She got to paint 3 little puppies, and accessorize them. I'll have to take a picture of them all finished, they are the epitome of girlyness, and oh so Kiersten.

Evie got a lot of new little people, so she brought her castle up for them to play in. The princess ones all work with the castle, so that's nice.

Kara wasn't too sure about the coal, but she didn't waste much time eating ALL of it.

Merry Christmas! I hope all days were as magical as ours.