Home renovations, kind of

I did a few small things around the house this summer, nothing major, just enough to add a few touches and utilize our space!

I bought some new towels for our bathroom for $1.38 from Kohls. About once a month Kohls sends a free $ 10 coupon and you can buy whatever you want and you only have to spend at least $10. So you know what I do. I spend exactly or slightly over the $10 and just get free items! It did take me 2 months to buy towels for our bathroom, but we really couldn't beat the price!

We bought an organizer from Home Depot with a gift card to put in the upstairs hallway since we were giving up our extra room for our roommate Hannah ( I will write about her soon, love her!)

I have been wanting curtains for our living room ever since we moved in 4 years ago! I just haven't found anything that I like...... until I found these at cost plus, also utilizing a $10 off coupon.



I also changed a few picture frames in our dining area

Our final project is what we call our "secret space." I do need an area to do my craft projects and since we no longer had our extra room available I really didn't want our master bedroom to become a craft mess.... so we utilized our crawl space! My wonderful handy man husband built me a custom craft table, put some wood and carpet down, added lighting and waahla!! our secret space!

It is filled with Mayas art and some old photos, nothing matches, and I don't have to keep it clean, which I love!


We told Maya we had a special surprise for her and we revealed the "secret space" to her and she absolutely loved it! We go down there together and do crafts, she colors and paints, and we just spend time together, I love the time with her!

Family Craziness

The month of August was family craziness month because beside my brother coming to visit, my parents came and Brett's brother, Travis and family came also. Wheee it was a whirlwind, but so much fun!! It was so exciting that is is how Maya was almost the entire time family was visiting


I love having my parents, they are just such a big help and it is so nice to have them enjoy life in Colorado with us.

My step-day Ed also did the marathon up & down Pikes Peak while he was here. Ok, seriously, who can do that??? I think that is one of the biggest accomplishments a marathon runner can have, to run up a 14,000 foot mountain! Maya was even so proud, she said "Grandpa go up Pikes Peak!" She even remember this several weeks later when we pointed to Pikes Peak she repeated that same phrase.

Travis and family arrived a few days after my parents and of course we had to spend sometime at the pool, because the weather was gorgeous!!!

love these girls!!

My parents always offer to let Brett and I go on a date night while they are visiting and this particular visit they got to watch all 3 girls while we went on a date night with Travis and Shanna to our favorite place Amandas Fonda


We like the the outdoor patio atmosphere at Amanda's Fonda more than anything, but a delicious Melon Margarita does help enhance the visit

When we got home from the date, we came home to this....... fun and chaos!!



On Saturday we went to Fox Run Park, probably my favorite park!! Imagine what the most beautiful day at the park is like..........and that was our day; perfect weather, picnic, family, playground, bubbles, it was so fun!






















We also had a BBQ at PaPa's house that evening. Yami (PaPa's girlfriend) also joined us for dinner. I am sure the girls agreed that the popsicles were the best part














We all went to Church on Sunday while Grandpa Ed did the Marathon up Pikes Peak. For dinner we went over the Bruce and Lynns (Mayas adopted grandparents) for another BBQ. I think it was one of the nicest nights outside ever!








































We had so much fun with all of the family, but farwell came too soon, especially for Travis and Family



We still weren't done enjoying the fun with my parents though, before they left we headed down to Manitou Springs (no we didn't do anything sinful) and went to the arcade, did some window shopping and ate chocolate.




I love spending time with family, miss them so much already....

Maya-isms

I have so much to talk about still from the month of August, but I really wanted to blog about some of the fun things Maya says and does at this age.

Maya is 29 months old (almost 2 1/2)

Maya is a joy!

She is all girl!
Her favorite color is pink and she loves her babies!

Her favorite thing to watch is a "Go Fish" DVD and this is also her favorite thing to listen too, everyday she says " mom i wanna watch gofish"

She loves loves loves the water, in fact she can kind of already swim. She will go underwater for long periods of time and hold her breath, and nothing scares her. Parents always act amazed when they see her at the pool, I am in fact amazed myself.

She is miss independent always saying " I do it myself" with everything!! The other day she was adamant that I not hold her while she went potty, so I let go, and SPLASH, she fell in!

Maya's hair is always a topic of conversation. I do love all of her hair, blond curls, so sweet and cute, it is one of my favorite things as a mother, to be able to do my daughters hair and put cute clippies in it!! However, sometimes it is very hard to do, lots of hair + snarls +a 2 year old = a big fit. Sometimes Maya will be running away from me crying as I try to brush her hair saying "no brush mommy, no brush" Brett actually does Maya's hair a lot, he blow dries it after bath time and I have to admit, he does a really good job.

Maya has actually never had her hair cut, not once.

Every night after Maya goes to bed I go check on her and watch her sleep, every night!! I don't think I have missed a day. I love watching her sleep.

Maya has so many fun quotes:

"my pants are falling down, I need a seat belt"
"mommy, is Taco Bell dog poop?"
" I gotta go poops"
" go away daddy"
" I don't like him, he's bad"
when I sneeze Maya says "bless you mommy"

when maya does something good sometimes she says " i get a lollipop?!" and sometimes she does..... :O)
I took Maya to her first gourmet cupcake shop and she had no hesitations


Maya is definitely a mommies girl, sometimes she won't even let daddy hand her something as simple as milk, she insists "no daddy, Mommy do that!!


But she is getting better and loving daddy more...

Maya is my happy girl, she loves life and people and she is God's gift!