Girls Bedroom Makeover

This is a familiar picture around the house these days...

Lots and lots of painting, trim painting, nail pop patching, etc...

Good thing we have an excellent painter in the house and a not so great helper ;)  I try though.  

Over the course of the weekend, we removed everything from the girls room (I organized and cleaned out a TON), sold the old bed and dresser, primed the walls, painted the trim, fixed nail pops, painted the walls, put up bunk beds that were given to us that did not end up working, took those down, bought new bunk beds and assembled them, picked out new curtains, brought everything back into the room... only thing left?  Carpet. That will get done when we do the other bedrooms.

Someone having too much fun with bunk bed assembly 

This is what we did to our hair while the beds were getting built

So cute! 

The night before we got the bunk beds, the girls were determined to sleep in their freshly painted room.  Marley joined them in the tent, but unfortunately neither one of them slept through the night and they both ended up in the guest bedroom.  

Finished product!   I got the bedding and lamp at Target months ago once we decided the room would be lavender.   Jeff and I made the girls play in the living room until we had beds made, curtains and pictures hung, and everything in its place.  They were going crazy not being able to see the room until it was finished.

I also framed some scrapbook paper a few months ago to go in the new room.  For now we are keeping the old nightstand and dressers that were supposed to go with the old bunk beds.  Hopefully we can switch them out at some point, but they are working just fine for now.

The girls agreed to switch from top and bottom bunk each night so that there will be no arguments.  If only one girl is at the house then she will sleep on the bottom.  Easy enough! 

The first night in the bunks was a late one!  They could not contain their excitement and kept talking about their new room. I'd say they are quite happy with it!

Father's Day Part 2

We rounded out Father's Day weekend celebrating with my dad.  We had a yummy lunch at Greenleaf and Becky was able to make it over the mountain to join us.  Of course Dad had to hand out lottery tickets even though it was his special day!  I won quite a bit of money. :)  

Dad got a outfitted in a some lobster shirts, got two new fishing poles, a tackle box and plenty of lures!  Now we just need to find some time and decent weather to go fishing!  

Mom, Dad, and Mike

These two

Cheese!

Happy Father's day, Jeff!

Us

Silly selfie

Dad and I

Dad and Becky

Mike and Dad

Mom and Dad

Hailey was out of town and missed lunch for Father's Day, but she was able to make it back for dinner at Orbital Grill.  She had a huge plate of chicken fingers and mac n cheese.  Mike got a crazy burger that had doughnuts as the bun!

Mac n Cheese!  

Hailey and Daddy

Father's Day Part 1

We continued our Father's Day celebration on Saturday with a trip to Jeff's parents house.  After talking and laughing over a hysterical Father's Day card, we went to Sal's for dinner.  Sal's always brings back memories of soccer games and high school. :)  

These two

Tickle monsters 

Here are some old photos in honor of Father's Day!

Me and Dad

Cutting fire wood

Me and Grandaddy Mac

Me and Mutton

Father's Day Golf

Emily and I surprised Jeff with a new Nike golf bag and a round of golf at Swananoa Friday morning for Father's Day.  The weather was gorgeous, actually a bit chilly at first!  We got to the course at 7:30 am when no one else was there, so it was perfect.   

It was the first time we've played in quite a while, years for me!  Even being rusty, it was tons of fun and I managed not to get too frustrated with my game.  Emily was a trooper and played all 18 holes.  She hit from my spots most of the day and did great!  Jeff out golfed the girls, but that was to be expected.  Hopefully we will have more time out on the course and catch up with him this summer. ;) 

One of the few times that Emily wasn't driving

Little golfer

Our best player

Teeing off

Yep, his go that far

Driving is not my strength

Putting one in 

Growing like crazy

Sugar Snap Peas

Zuchini

Tomato

Peas

Blueberries

Happy 39th Birthday....

To this guy...

This post is a little late, which doesn't make him any younger. ;)  We celebrated with delicious Cobb salads from Stella, Bella, and Lucy's.  My parents had to pick them up for me since SBL is only open for lunch.  Of course smarty pants had already figured out my dinner surprise, but we still enjoyed the salads.  

The salads were followed by an unconventional birthday dessert, tiramisu. I'm sure that this wasn't much of a surprise either, but it had been quite a while since I made him some.  I hear that this batch was the best yet, so I must be doing something right.  Someone finished this off in two days, not too shabby.

Yummy Tiramisu 

Ingredients:

• Packaged ladyfingers (this time I used Biscoff cookies)
• 3 egg whites
• 6 egg yolks
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 8 oz tub of mascarpone cheese (room temp.)
• 3 tbsp amaretto
• 1 cup fresh expresso (room temp.)
• Cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Whip 3 egg whites with 3 tbsp sugar to stiff peaks.
2. Whip 6 egg yolks with 3 tbsp sugar until frothy. 
3. Add 1 tbsp amaretto and tub of room temperature mascarpone cheese to egg yolks and mix.
4. Add stiff egg whites to yolk mixture, gently fold in from center. 
5. Mix 1 cup of fresh expresso (I got 6 shots from Starbucks and added these to fresh brewed coffee) with 2 tbsp amaretto. 
6. Dunk ladyfingers in expresso and then layer on the bottom of glass dish.  Then add a layer of cream, followed by another layer of ladyfingers.  
7. Put in fridge for 6-8 hours
8. Dust with cocoa powder

Garden progress

It is safe to say that the garden has taken off!  We have swiss chard for days, sugar snap peas and green beans coming in, squash and zucchini flowering, and our first ripe tomato.  I also figured out what has been destroying our strawberries-- a sneaky squirrel!  He comes in through both fences while the dogs are inside, munches on the ripe strawberries, and then runs off.  He doesn't even steal the entire thing, just ruins it for the rest of us.   The blueberries are also starting to ripen this week so I'm guessing we will need to get a net to keep the birds from stealing those as well! 

Snap peas are climbing high

Lots and lots of blueberries coming in.

School is out for Summer!

With one day left of school, I finally made it across the street to have lunch with Emily at Brownsville. Next year she will be on the other side of the mountain, so I won't have the opportunity to visit.  She was very surprised to see me in the cafeteria and could barely contain her excitement as she rounded up a couple of friends to come outside and eat with us.  We had a nice lunch and then it was back to school to finish up my last classes of the year. 

Although I had to finish out the week at school working on professional development activities, Emily got to spend some quality time with her dad at home.  They went to the gym, bought a new bike, power-washed the screened porch, and built a new doggie door for the porch!  Don't worry, pictures of all the hard work will be coming soon.  I've been painting the porch rails, Jeff is going to work on painting the floor, and we purchased a new table and chairs. :)

Cauliflower Power

Check out these beasts... :) 

I did a little experiment after reading some gardening articles and tied up the leaves of one of the cauliflower heads so that they protected the head.  The result was a much whiter, crisper head of cauliflower.  The other plants were still good, but this is the way to go next year.  We've made a couple of batches of mashed cauliflower, following Paula Deen's recipe which is really good.  

Mashed Cauliflower Recipe from Paula Deen

Ingredients:

• 1 medium head cauliflower
• 1/3 cup chicken broth, warmed
• 2 tablespoons reduced fat sour cream
• salt
• pepper
• fresh chives, thinly sliced, for garnish

Preparation:

Place the cauliflower florets in a microwave-safe bowl with 1/4 cup water, cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 3 to 5 minutes, or until completely tender.

Place the cooked cauliflower in a food processor. Add chicken broth, sour cream, salt and pepper; puree until smooth. Serve garnished with sliced chives.