What you've been waiting for.

I feel like I've won a home makeover/having the Nanny come in and re-organize my whole life except without the cameras. Steena really did an amazing detailed job!!!
--------------
OK let's start with the downstairs.

The hall closet: This was so over stuffed with stuff that the door couldn't even close.
---

The Laundry area:
One door was already broken off, so I removed the other door so that I could move the dryer over and put a laundry basket there. There were clothes hanging (probably for years). And stuff piled high on the dryer.
-----


The Living Room: This room was used as my scrapbook/ sewing/craft room. I think you can probably imagine what it looked like. See that yellow chest it was FILLED with scrapbook stuff. I didn't have any idea Steena would go into it. But check out these drawers: (imagine every drawer in the house being organized!)

----
The cleaning supplies are all in one place now.
----


The School room:








----

The Kitchen:

My pots and pans were overflowing.

These 2 drawers were junk drawers.

-----

The Family Room: (AKA- The toy room) The adult videos are alphabetized behind the kid videos.

-----


Now onto the upstairs:








Ashley's Room- Steena added a bookshelf.
---


The boys' room: They also got a small bookshelf (not shown).
---


Our bedroom:

Our bathroom: This was the dumping ground for everything!
-----













And (drum roll please) the office/scrapbook room:
Everything has a place! Every eyelet, every paper clip, every marker, pen, crayon, paper, tool, you name it, it has a place.

To let you know just how detailed she was. My buttons are color coordinated (well I started that) but she put them in a place where the light shines on them so I know exactly what color I am picking up. YES! She is THAT detailed.

Not only did Steena organize the entire house, but she trained us in how to keep things up. She implemented a marble system for the kids. Each kid decorated their jar. (Don't worry their name is on the top) They don't get a marble EVERY time they clean, but they do get a few marbles every day. If they clean with happy faces and energy then they can get a marble. If they clean with grumpy attitudes they don't get a marble (even if they clean). If they don't clean/ or don't obey they have to bring me a marble. When the marbles reach the top then they get a prize (which I haven't decided on yet.)

Their attitudes have already started changing for the better!

----

Now onto the contest:

Since all of you guessed too low, I'm going to give you another chance to guess. Here is a clue: These pictures are from the first run to Goodwill.

I'll let you know how many tomorrow evening probably around the same time (10PM-11PM). So let the guessing re-begin!

Before pictures and a contest

Alrighty- Since I can't find my photo loader and since I haven't finished taking pictures of all the rooms lets play a game.

I was in a humongous rush to get everything done before our vacation that I was only able to take pictures of a couple of rooms. These are before pictures of Ashley's room:

And these are before pictures of the office/junk room (these pictures were actually taken a little bit "after" we started working on it.)

OK so now onto the game. Guess how many big black garbagebags/big items were taken to Goodwill over this weekend.

Whoever gets the closest will win a sweet undetermined prize. So go ahead and guess!

home

I'm home! I'm alive! My house is fabulous! I just got into my office/scrapbook room tonight and it is AMAZING! I don't have time to post pictures though tonight. I will definitely post them tomorrow! I have been falling asleep for the last 1 1/2 hours, but I keep doing more sorting with Steena. So I have to go to bed now b/c things aren't making sense anymore.

Independance day

Today I got to go to the J C Penney Outlet and buy some much needed clothes.

We are celebrating Independence Day today. I am really looking forward to tonight where we will go out on the boat and see the fireworks. This is what I look forward each time we get to come here.

Austin didn't want to co-operate with the pictures today. He had just lost a game and he was in a bad mood!

Mason took this picture of us. I tried to fix it on Greg's computer but the coloring was off so it was hard to fix. OK I am having no luck placing these pictures where I want them to go. I am using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. ( It makes a difference.)

We also played dress up with Ashley. I'll take pictures tonight for a blog entry tomorrow.

Build a Bear and Train Ride

Yesterday it rained all day, but that was just fine. It was still beautiful and the only thing we needed to do was go to Build a Bear. We prayed for a beautiful day for today because we had plans we couldn't change and it was a wonderful day!!! Thank you God!!!!

Here are some pictures from Build a Bear.

Mason got a dinosaur. He calls him Dino Charge. It really is cute! He dressed it up in a scrapbooking outfit and cleats. (LOL)

Aussie got this bear, which he calls Sparkly. He saw this fairy outfit and said it was PERFECT! Then he looked around for pretty sparkly shoes.

Ashley got this heart bear. Her name is Polka. She looked and looked to find just the right outfit. She had a hard time, but finally picked out this Sleeping Beauty outfit.

They just LOVE their furry friends and they are already talking about the next one they are going to get.

-----------------------------------

Today today today- What a wonderful day!

We got to take a train ride!

We drove to Cleveland to take a train ride. It was really cool! We took the train to see Stan Hewitt.

They had a beautiful butterfly house.

I LOVE this pitcure of Mason. He laid in the middle of this butterfly chair and said, "I'm a Butterfly!"

This is my parents. I think this is a beautiful picture.

This is at the end of the day with some pretty tired kiddos!

Here we are waiting for the train to come back and take us back.

Such FUN! And now I need to go put the kids to bed.

fishing and zip line

This is a picture of Mason wearing my brother, Mark's marine hat.

What a fun day! Today the kids learned how to fish and each of them caught at least 2 fish. I don't ever remember actually catching a fish when Iwas little. They were so excited. The boys really got into it, but Ashley was the first to catch a fish, then Mason then Aussie.

Austin pulled his fish out of the water and grabbed a hold of the line and just held his fish up so proud.

Ashley on the other hand didn't want to be anywhere near it. Here is a picture of her running away from it. We asked her to hold up the fish she caught and she said, NO WAY NO NADA!

Here Ashley and Gramma are sitting at the top of the hill watching the the boys fish. It was such a GORGEOUS day! The weather was just perfect!

We got to see a BIG groundhog. Dad trapped it and then took it up the road and let it go. Apparently, they are not very nice for yards.

We got to go on a boat ride today and go get some delicious ice cream! Each of the kids got to drive the boat a little.

Then when we got back home the kids got to open birthday presents. They got some littlest pet games and they love them. And Ashley got a Barbie horse. It actually eats the little plastic food, don't worry it doesn't come out in an awful way.

And then they got to go play at a nearby park. And their favorite thing was the zip line!!! All of them took turns on 2 lines and then another family came up to play and when they came the kids decided to go together on one.

Tomorrow we go to Build a Bear.

It was a long drive

We are here in Ohio! ( Long long 12 hour drive) We had numerous times we were asked when we we get there. My response: 3 more movies, etc.

Yesterday was an insane day!

We went to Target to get some last minute things and ate popcorn there. While we were eating, Mason's 2nd tooth fell out. And I mean literally just fell out in his hand. We were all excited for him. It's really cute to see the other kids get excited for him too.

So anyway, on top of frantically trying to get packed and ready to get up early and leave for vacation, I had to play tooth fairy again. I got the same picture off the internet and wrote another note. When he woke up he was so excited and announced the SAME tooth fairy came again. I don't know where they got the idea that there are several different tooth fairies, but I think it's sweet.

I was able to fix Ashley's dress so she can walk in it. She was being very stubborn in trying on the clothes for me, so I'm guessing (with a more educated guess) that it will fit the time. I also made her a purse to go with it. She loves the purse and wore it to Target. She wanted to buy a wallet for it.

I cleaned and I cleaned. And I put mounds of clean clothes away, packed for 4 people, fed them dinner, put them to bed (really late), stopped the mail, etc. etc! And I went to bed around 1:30. Then I actually got out of bed at 6:00 this morning.

The kids were SO excited about traveling today that they got up and got dressed on their own and was ready to go before Greg and I were. We actually left the house a few minutes before 8:00- That's pretty amazing!

So here are a few Aussie stories from today:

We just drove over the border and Aussie is looking out the window at the trees and he says, "It sure is beautiful in Kentucky."

--------------------
Aussie was talking about how some people drive other people crazy.
Aussie: Dad, does anyone drive you crazy?
Greg answers then asks him if anyone drives him crazy.
Aussie: Well, Mom does
Greg: Well give me an example of how Mom drives you crazy
Aussie: Well she messed up our room
Me: (Laughing and knowing what he was talking about) But I cleaned it up and your WHOLE room without any help.
Aussie: But you messed up our room. You should have asked us for permission.
Me: Well I kind of did. I just took off everything you had on the table so we could give it to that family who needed it. And I DID clean it up.
Aussie still going on and on about how I messed up his already messy room.
Greg: So does anyone else drive you crazy?
Aussie: (thinks more than a second) No- Just Mom!
___________________________

We stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch today. As we were walking into the restaurant Aussie says, "What do they speak in Kentucky?"
Me: Ummm...English

I told the server what he had said and he got a kick out of it. He said he was going to tell his wife that tonight. Then he asked where we from and I said Tennessee and he said he was from there too. So I told him that I would have to go back to the table and tell Aussie that he was from TN too and that's why he could understand me.

OK it's been a long day on little sleep so I'm going to bed! Goodnight catch you tomorrow.