Jesse's 30!

YAY! I'm not the only one in my 30's anymore! Jesse turned 30 this past weekend and we spent his birthday in Knoxville. His parents got him some yummy take-out (thanks to his sister's recommendation) and his mom made him a brownie cake. I told Jesse that he had reached his goal of having a kid before he was 30 and we thought this picture captured it all:

Happy 30th Birthday, hubby! I love you!

The Most Heartbreaking Thing (So Far...)

Shots. I hate them for me. But man, I hate them for Ellie! It is miserable to watch her get her shots and then the aftermath of it for the next 24-36 hours. Her little legs ache, she is irritable, she is sore, and a little out of it. She got her 2nd round of shots this week for her 4 month check-up and her dad got to see it this time. He couldn't put her down for the next 45 minutes because it was so sad. She took them like a champ and I will have to say that it is harder on me than it is on her, but BOO on shots, every one!

So I Hired A Painter...

After painting 4 rooms in our house, Jesse and I decided it was best for us to hire a painter to do the largest part of the house for us (Living Room, Kitchen, hallways and stairs, and the half bath). I mean, I can only tape and paint so much before I want to go crazy! SO, after 2 bids, we went with this guy that works for one of our friends and he did a FABULOUS job! I have a few pictures to show off his work. We used a darker khaki color in the main living areas and a green I had mixed 2 yrs ago for our house now and never used.

Kitchen (Before)

Kitchen (After)

Living Room (Before)

Living Room (After)

The Half Bath

The Stairs & Hallway

More painting...

Here is some before and afters of our Master Bedroom that we painted this weekend. I am OVER painting, so we have hired someone to do the kitchen, family room, hallways and half bath and it will be done this week at a great price! (pics of that in 2 weeks)

I got him!

Surprising my husband is one of the hardest things to do and I finally got him! He has been wanting (begging) to get a kayak for a few years now and we had agreed that it would be his "getting out of the Army" present since it's such a large purchase. Well, in the spirit of this being a big birthday year, and knowing my husband hates suprise parties, I decided to surprise him my own way with an early 30th birthday AND "getting out of the Army" present. I was able to arrange it all while he was away at training last month and had it waiting in our garage at the house in Knoxville so he would see it when we pulled in this weekend. Man, it was so worth the reaction I got from him! Within a minute, he was sitting inside of it like a giddy little boy. Thanks to all who helped in this adventure - we finally got him!

Ellie's 1st Easter

Ellie had a lot of firsts this year on Easter Sunday - she wore her first dress, her first time going to the church nursery during the service, and she celebrated her first Easter, of course! Here are some pictures to show off my baby girl!

House Preparations Begin...

We spent the this past weekend in Knoxville working on our new house! It was such a good feeling to be making that house our home together. We washed the walls of the 3 rooms we were going to paint and taped them on Friday and then our friends, Jeff & Lindsey Knox, came over on Saturday to help us paint Ellie's room, our guest room and master bathroom. Jesse's mom and dad were gracious enough to watch Ellie for the entire afternoon so we could get a lot done in a short amount of time (thank you!). Sunday, Jesse and I returned to the house to do touchups on the rooms (thanks to April for watching Ellie for a bit) and Monday we did a few more touchups and Jesse mowed our lawn for the first time (thanks to the Denny's for the lawn mower and watching Ellie for a bit as well). We also bought our refridgerator and grill for the house so overall, it was an extremely productive weekend. I thought I would show you before and after pictures so you can see what we accomplished.

Ellie's room

Guest Room

Master Bathroom

Many more rooms to go!!