House Help!

Okay, I need your opinion here .... for real. I really want you to leave me a comment and give me some advice. The shutters on our house are currently 3 different colors thanks to the fading of the sun. I've been thinking about repainting the shutters and doors for 2 years now and this might be the year to just do it. It's not an expensive project, it's just labor intensive.

Before/After

Here is the first option of what I could do. I could just repaint everything the navy blue that they originally were. This would not be a big change. It would just freshen up the look we already have. This would be the easy route because even our shed had blue shutters and our basement door is also blue so I wouldn't necessarily have to repaint everything.

Before/After

Okay, before you freak out...I know that the color of that red door is awful. I was using some editing software and since I don't really know what I'm doing, that's the best I could do. It just gives you an idea.

So this would be a bigger change. I would paint all the shutters black and paint the front door a burgundy red (not a Dr. Seuss hat red). This would involve painting my garage door (not the big one the car drives thru, the little one on the side). I'd also have to paint the shutters on my shed and my basement door.

What should I do??? Which do you like better???

William Turns One!!! The Mickey Party Recap!!!

 We just loved celebrating this cute blue eyed boy!!! Will loves Mickey. It's probably the only show or character that he pays any attention to at all. So the big kids voted to have a Mickey Party!!!

 Here's a look at a few of the decorations!!!

A Mickey Banner I made with his name on it!

 The dining room all ready for the party guests!!!

 I loved the polka dot theme!! Here's one of the kids place settings. The strawberry Crush was not a hit. Yuck! But it looked cute!

 

 Super easy Mickey cupcakes. Those are just Oreo cookies in two different sizes!!!

 Here's the birthday boy with his cake. He wouldn't touch the cake or even a cupcake for that matter. He ended up having some pears.

 All the cousins from my side of the family were there to celebrate Will. That blessed my heart so much that they all came. I mean...hello....gas is almost $4 a gallon. When I hugged my sister-in-law Erin goodbye I started crying because it just meant so much to me that they made the effort to be there to celebrate Will.

The cousins were all so into Will. Several different times I caught them all laying on the floor with him playing.

I've got a million pictures from the weekend, so I'll be back with more when I get around to it!

Patience

McKenna is not very patient. Not even a little bit. It's something I need to be very purposeful in working on with her. So today when we got in the car to drive 20 minutes to Will's well visit check up, I told her we were going to practice being patient.

To start things off I asked her what she thought patience was.

McKenna's definition of patience: It's when your mom is on the phone and you're not allowed to talk!

So apparently I tell her to be patient a lot when I'm on the phone. ha! That girl is always interrupting me.

So I explained that patience is when you have to wait or take your time and you're happy and not fussy about it.

Then I whipped out a package of marshmallow peeps. Oh my word she wanted them. I promised her that I would absolutely give her one, but that she was going to have to wait AND BE PATIENT for 2 minutes. During that 2 minutes she could not ask for one or ask me if the 2 minutes was up yet. At the end of 2 minutes, if she didn't mention the peep I would give one to her.

She failed in under a minute. So we had to start over again. The second time she made it the whole 2 minutes without asking or mentioning the game and she was rewarded with her precious peep. I think this might be our new car game. She is always wanting something in the car ...a song, a toy, a snack and it's the perfect time to practice patience.

Next time I tell her to be patient, I think she'll have a better idea of what I'm expecting her to do! Let's hope.

I pretty much adore everything about this picture...

Hair"cute"

It was time to get Will looking sharp for his big birthday. So he got his first REAL haircut. He was not a fan of the whole experience, but he didn't have a melt down. He held it together for the most part and look at what a handsome little man he is!

William Ryland Chatterton 3/10/11

It's been a year since this precious boy joined our family.

What a sweet year it's been.

Getting ready for ONE

Will is getting really excited about turning one. He's been practicing lots of grown up tricks in preparation for his big day. He's been reading a few books. He's been practicing his walking. He decided that chores are really his thing. He loves to help me load and unload the dishwasher. And of course... in true boy fashion...he tries to scare me to death by climbing up the stairs. He also says two words now "Dada" and "Chrish."

I've got to share the story behind "Chrish" just so I don't forget. 

Christian had just gotten home from school and I went upstairs to get Will up from his nap. I was carrying Will down the stairs talking to him about how Christian was home and he could go play with Christian. Will spotted Christian in the playroom and I pointed to him and said "Do you see Christian?" and Will said "Chrish." I about fell over. So I repeated "Christian" and he said "Chrish." And we did that over and over again. Christian was so thrilled!!!  Will has also started to mimic different sounds. If you quack like a duck, most of the time he will do it too. This is such a fun age...except for the biting. I've never had a biter before, but I sure do right now.

My Baby

In less than 48 hours my baby is going to be 1. 

What a sweet year it's been.

I am so in love with this adorable little person that the Lord blessed our family with.

It's hard for me to remember what life was like before Will.

He has been the best thing that's ever happened to our family.

We're gearing up for an all "Will Weekend" around here. All the Brinkley cousins are coming to town. 

That's right...all of them. 

What a treat!

I feel so blessed that they love Will enough to make the trip to come celebrate with us.

Stay tuned!