Wall Transformation

For someone who doesn't like change, I sure do change my wall decor A LOT! I never have been able to get it just how I love it, so I will continue to change I am sure! We have lived here since August 2009....just see how many times it has changed.



This is a few days after we moved in. I am about 5 months pregnant with Blake here. I think my hold up with the wall here was that it was too expected.




Nice face from Alex huh? Blake is just a wee one here. This is the only one I could find. The thing I like about this one is that the frames are simple, but again too expected.




I liked this painting (from a famous artist named Christi Tucker) but it was a little too small for the wall.




I have had this up for about 2 months now and just last week added some more frames.


I got the gold frames from a friend for free and spray painted them from wood finish to gold and sanded them down a bit. I also sprayed the mats with white spray paint. This is a picture taken from and old story book from when my mom was little. I wanted a vintage picture and what was more vintage than a picture from a book from when my mom was a kid? (sorry mamma, I just had to)



These are pictures from my Grandmother of family members of mine.

My new project for this wall is to find an old letter "T", for Tucker.

Graduation Pictures

At school today Nathan had cap and gown pictures. I guess now a days graduating from preschool merits a cap and gown....who knew? Anyway, he had to be stylin. I got this tie from the Jcrew outlet for $5. It is really good quality and will hopefully last forever. I was really excited to find it. I had to go on You tube to learn how to tie a tie (all the ties we have had up until now have been the kind you don't have to tie). While I re-tied the tie probably five times, Nathan told me he was getting sweaty and anxious because it was taking so long, but he was very patient with the whole process. If you can't tell in the pictures, he knows he looks cute. He is flipping a coin because he said he was going to be two-face today. And of course Blake had to get in on the coin flipping action and be just like his big brother.

Fun Saturday: Part 2

Last saturday we went to the WNC Nature Center and had a great time.
This week was CRAZY! We had an issue with Nathan telling a lie and that was hard on us all. The next day Nathan came down with the flu. The worst part was the fever. The fever peaked at 104.6. Yikes....was that scary or what?!?! The doc put us all on some meds and Nathan is good to go and feeling much better.
Excited for a hopefully sick free week ahead!

A Fun Saturday: Part 1

Nathan had a St. Patrick's Day party at school on Friday and I made pot o' gold chex mix for his class snack. Then, Friday night we had a babysitter for the boys and went out with some close friends who are moving...sigh...but we had a great time!




Saturday morning Nathan had t-ball practice...o ya...Nathan is in T-ball. The other night he prayed for dinner and in his prayer asked for a home run. We had some explaining to do after that one!



We then went to downtown Asheville for lunch to the Early GIrl Eatery. It is a great "Asheville" type restaurant. Asheville type restaurants usually include the following: locally grown food, vegan/vegetarian options, waiters/waitresses are hipsters, someone playing some kind of musical instrument outside, fun loving experience. I got the Vegan Bean Burger and blast it all I forgot to take a picture of it, but oooo man was it good! The boys got homemade mac and cheese, fresh green beans, and homemade applesauce. Alex was boring and got an omelet. He is a little obsessed with omelets, he gets them wherever we go and I think it is "lame", but he loves them, so I can't "blame".
Oh, and this is a picture of Nathan doing a St. Patrick's Day coloring. We had a team effort of drawing a rainbow with a pot of gold at the end.




The day in Asheville wouldn't be complete without seeing someone dressed crazy. It was the luck of the Irish that I got a picture of this guy!



Nothing to do with Saturday, but today Blake was saying so funny stuff. At dinner he kept saying, "You're funny" over and over. Then, in the car, Nathan would say, "Strike one" and then Blake would say in a deep very clear voice, "You're out", and then Nathan would say, "Strike Two" and then Blake would say, "you're out" and on and on.

The Day of the Copy Cat

I have been a total copycat today! I don't know what my deal is, but hey if it works, it works right? I was browsing the Jcrew catalog and saw this outfit and loved it. I have been eyeing these pumps at Jcrew for a while, but they are toooo expensive ($198). When I realized I could find them at the outlet warehouse in Asheville I was "pumped". They were still a little pricey for me ($70), but my birthday is coming up. Besides some girls at the store told me that it was a sign that I should get them because they had been there 3 different times in my size. Anyway, to off set the expensive shoes I found this shirt at goodwill. It wasn't the same color as the shirt from Jcrew but I really liked it anyway. O, and by the way, this shirt is really really old, I can tell by the tag. I love old clothes because of the quality.
The funny thing was that I walked out into the living room after getting ready and Blake pointed at me and said "Orange". I am glad he is learning his colors!






A few weeks ago we went to Carabba's because we had a gift card. I got the penne franco because I have been trying to eat less meat and less dairy. It was very good and while I ate it I thought, "I could totally make this". So today I made it and it tasted just as good. Here is the recipe:


Penne Franco

1 box of pasta (I used rotini, Carraba's uses penne)
About 4 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 pack of mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup Kalamata olives
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh italian flat leaf parsley, minced very fine
Cook pasta and drain.
Add olive oil to skillet and sautee garlic for about 2 minutes on medium heat. Add mushrooms, tomatoes, olives, and artichoke hearts to skillet and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
On a serving dish place pasta, then parmesan, then vegetables.
If you don't like one of the items like olives or mushrooms, the dish would still taste great without them. I picked out the mushrooms and olives for my family and I ate everything.

I can't wait!

I can't wait for the day when I don't feel guilty buying stuff from Goodwill! I know lately I have been on a real thrifting binge, but dang it I keep finding good stuff! I repurposed the turquoise frame with spray paint and a drawing by Nathan and the other three frames/painting I found at Goodwill. I literally couldn't force myself not to buy them. So, I bought them.
I also found this throw and I can never ever ever resist anything turquoise that is $3. So, I bought it too.
I also went again today and bought two shirts....now that is when I really felt guilty, but I loved them and gosh they were only $3!






Today I had a meeting at my house. Towards the end of the meeting I looked over at Blake and he had his shirt off. After everyone left, Blake decided to put his lightsaber on and ride his motorcycle around the house. O and the nose....yes...he spent the weekend at Grandma's. Need I say more?

The Rasta Imposta

Crazy hat day=Nathan wearing dreads





For Dr. Seuss's birthday the kids dressed up as their favorite Dr. Seuss character. Nathan and Abigail were obviously Thing 1 and Thing 2.