The Yellow Sweater

One day out shopping with Dobbie after Peanut had been born, she stumbled on this GORGEOUS Hanna Anderson sweater and couldn't resist getting it for Peanut. (Don't worry it was on clearance!) Oh, how I loved that sweater. I loved it so much that I remember jumping the gun and putting it on Peanut when she was only 2 months old and rolling the sleeves up. It was precious. She wore it lots and I took special care to keep it clean so I wouldn't have to wash it much.

Well the other day I was digging out the next bin of clothes for Pumpkin as she has gotten so much bigger and there was the sweater and wouldn't you just know it....fall was in the air making it a perfect day for a sweater. Oh, she looked so sweet, just as Peanut did. I still love that sweater. It will definitely be an item of clothing that I keep forever!





The pics on the left are of Pumpkin just 2 days shy of 6 months. The pics on the right are of Peanut almost 2 months. You can tell that one is swimming in the sweater and one is not going to be in it for long. :) So cute!

-Mama

Sights and Sounds of Vegas

Here are more of the sights and sounds of Vegas that I loved and captured on camera. I took an insane amount of photos so I foresee a lot of Wordless Wednesday Posts featuring my favorite finds in Vegas.

The Volcano show at Treasure Island was so hot! Hot meaning, so cool!

I loved the water show at Bellagio. We watched it from both angles, in the day and at night. I love it! They played "Proud to Be an American" for one of the shows and I had goosebumps all over.

The difference between the shows in the night and day. It was not "night and day" though, both were equally fabu!

Never been to Paris so this was pretty cool for me. Of course the designer in me loves the architecture and can't imagine building this work of art!

Happy Wordless Wednesday,

~MB
http://www.addressingspaces.com/
Bringing new life to your decor and more
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Hot Tip Tuesday - Try it on for size

Photo courtesy of Shaw Floors

Just a quick decorating tip that I wanted to pass along. Did you know you could try a rug in your space before you buy it? No, that doesn't mean going to the store, buying it, trying it and then having to go back to return it if you don't like it. I just found that Shaw Floors has a very cool application where you can upload a photo of your room and virtually "try on the floor". So cool! It has area rugs, hardwood, ceramic, etc. So, give it a whirl and try it on. It really helps to take out the guesswork, especially for those who need a visual.

This is another cool example of modern day technology at its finest. I love techies! Now, I just wish someone comes up with a virtual "Try On A Bathing Suit" application because that is one of my least favorite things to do in the world!!! (And I know I am not alone on that one!) Can any techies out there help me out??

Happy Tuesday,

~MB
www.addressingspaces.com
Bringing new life to your decor and more
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America Florida Miami - You Decide

Conversations:
Noah- "Isaac Isaac Isaac - we are in America!" (at landing)
Isaac- "Uh, no actually we are in Florida, Miami."

Isaac- "I cannot wait to see all the beautiful things in America."

Pilot- "We are on our way into Miami, landing in 10 minutes."
Noah- "Can we call it MY-ami instead?"

When we were in the air -
Noah- "This is where God lives."

Isaac, looking at a AA sign advertising Hawaii.
Isaac- "Mom, American Airlines goes to Hawaii too? How do they know where everything in the world is?!?"
Me- "I guess they have a lot of maps buddy."
Isaac- "Who in the world makes all those maps?"

Noah proclaimed loudly as we came into Miami- "I CAN SEE THE WHOLE CITY OF AMERICA!!!"

We're laughing not stop at our silly boys. In all of 2008 and up until today, 2009, Isaac was in the USA about eight days total. It shows. :)

In other excitement Troy used this proverb (spoke it in Kreyol) in line when Haitians were fighting over who was there and who was cutting in line - "We have been here since the little cucumber fought with the eggplant." (Kreyol translation not currently available in accurate form.) They laughed and asked him where he learned Kreyol? He said, Bondye (God) to which they wondered if God could help them learn English.

Earlier on the way up the escalator a husky Haitian woman was saved from falling backward down the steps by a shoulder in her butt forcing her to stay upright. She had no idea that you should not grab an affixed railing while on a moving escalator. Crisis averted, we could not stop laughing. Troy actually said, "Catch her Tara" when he saw what was happening first. John McHoul only comes to America to watch the escalator show. He missed one of the best ones I have ever seen.

Monday in the Making

OK, so today is a post that isn't 100% made yet, so it is still in the "making". I am in phase 2. I am refinishing an old wood trunk and a dresser. Since I wanted to do the same finish, I decided to do a production line and work on both at the same time. I have a third piece to do but thought since my hubby was out of town I shouldn't move the big ole buffet table to my garage all by myself. Smart move, right? Well, I often get yelled at for moving big pieces of furniture that I have no business moving by myself. Lesson learned.

Here is the old trunk. It was forest green and yucky.



Here is the dresser. It weighs a ton! I love the shape and little molding details on the top corners (oops you can't see them in this photo, will be sure to include them in the "big reveal". After some sanding, it appears to have been painted a couple of times before.


Anyway, I have sanded, cleaned and painted the base coat. I painted it a dark truffle brown by Behr. It is the paint and primer in one. It works great. I had to do two coats, but I probably would have had to do 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint if I just used regular stuff. I will dry brush and glaze two different shades of gray from Sherwin Williams called Backdrop and Functional Gray.

This is a new faux finish for me so we shall see how it turns out. I will try it on the trunk first so my technique will be perfected for the dresser. Stay tuned and wish me luck...

So, this is just a sneak peak of what I am working on. I will post the finished pieces next Monday.

~MB
www.addressingspaces.com
Bringing new life to your decor and more
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Thank Yous

We're off to Minnesota tomorrow, I think we're mostly ready to head out, we have been feeling much better with a few residual "things" that we're praying will end in the next two minutes or so. Noah and Isaac could not be more excited. Paige and Troy and I are glad to be going but couldn't possibly match the excitement of the boys.

(Photo of Renald and Karis Howerton taken Friday. Renald LOVED her.)

T & T are looking forward to a few random things in no particular order...

• sleeping without deet all over us
• sleeping with covers/blankets
• cuddling (or even just touching in bed)
• Honeycrisp apples
  
• family & friends
• hot showers
  
• campfires (someone - have one please!)
• really good pizza (as opposed to the pizza here - which is not really good)
• food choices galore
• stress free driving
  

Britt and Chris get to MN on Thursday night. We're all very excited to see them. The first few days in MN are full of appointments and meetings, but I will update the Medika Mamba Marathon totals on Friday night from Minnesota. The race starts at 8am on Sunday. The countdown clock must be Greenwich Mean Time ... not Central Time - so I guess we should ignore it. :)

Troy plans to be the "tweet-master" during our entire trip and especially during the race. Jen and Tess have a plan that allows Troy and the kids to find us at five points along the marathon route -- that will be a huge encouragement, Isaac's giant grin is guaranteed to boost our spirits.

I feel crazy relief to have the training done. I did not count on all this stupid illness. The month of September might be my least favorite month ever. I hope to stay coherent and upright for all 26.2 miles - praying the factors that have been kicking my butt will be miraculously gone by Sunday.

God is good and has shown up over and over. I am very thankful to all of you who have prayed and encouraged and given gifts to support this cause. I had a sense way back in May that this was a "God thing" (certainly an idea not just my own) and the last four months that has been proven over and over again. I could easily burst into tears each time I think about how much so many have given. I wish I could thank each and every one of you face to face - I really do.

Not to take anything away from each person who has prayed and given, but I want to especially thank a few really important people:


To Beth:
Thank you Beth for being an terrific friend and always getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to run with me on Fridays. Your pep talks are the best ... you're the original Haiti marathoner. I love and admire you and you make working in this city about 200 times more fun than it would be alone. You are also the only reason I ever even got the courage to run in Port-au-Prince. Thank you for being so awesome and supportive and strong.

Thank you to Shannon Hoffman for running along with me in CA each week. A virtual running (and prayer) partner turned out to be a very fun and helpful thing.

Thank you to Angie from IN for being the number one stat lover, encourager, and internet backer. Angie bought shirts for race-day for Tina and I that say "Running for Haiti's hungry kids" on the back.

Thank you to Troy for all the extra poopy diapers he had to handle at 6am because I was trying to get out the door. Thank you for the pep-talks and the patience and the water you delivered and the love you showed. I love you so much honey.

Vivien has a housemate now. Megan Haug has moved to work with Heartline and is living with Vivien at the WWV Guesthouse. It is great to have them there to watch over things but also great for them to have each other. They are talented and fun girls to have around. Paige has loved having friends just a couple houses down. The blessing of these ladies is big to the Livesay family.

Thank you to any and all who are willing to pray for the peeps we leave behind in Haiti. Megan and Vivien are now parents to five little ones and also co-workers of four Haitians. We hope that they can do charades to communicate when Kreyol/English fails them. They are also in charge of two houses -- praying that EDH shows them love and that the kids are all healthy and perfectly well behaved while we're gone.
Vivien is planning to potty-train Phoebe and we are planning to give her anything she wants if she does. Hope actually seems excited to stay with the "big girls" and has shown no sign of sadness as we've been packing and getting ready.

We'll find you after we get to the USA.

With love and deep gratitude,
Troy and Tara and Tribe

Trail of Courage

Since our trip back home was delayed due to the car issue, we got to do some more fun things with Gigi and his special friend. On Sunday we went to the Trail of Courage. It was such a fun afternoon.

This is a really neat festival type atmosphere but a definite step back in time. There were teepees, wigwams, historic camps set-up, people dressed in frontier clothing, food cooked over wood fires. It is a replication of the Chippeway Village of 1832. We were able to hear and see frontier music and dance. We watched a bit of a muzzleloading shooting contest and tomahawk throwing. We certainly made some great memories. I told Daddy that we will be putting this on our planner for next year and doing everything possible to go again. It was that neat! Here are some pictures from our afternoon....

We got to ride the tram back to the activities.


Peanut was NOT fond of the muskets being shot! She kept her ears plugged for probably an hour or so. She even used our lunch napkins to help block out the loud sound. (We had a yummy lunch of Sassafras tea, homemade, out of this world chicken and noodles, and apple dumplings. Yum!)


The noise didn't bother Pumpkin!


Peanut and I got to make a candle together. (Do you notice how she has her pressed up against my arm? We had to walk like this around and around that circle making that candle. Silly girl!)


She really liked the teepee and wigwams. She thought they were cozy!


She got to partake in a frontier dance to "Skip to my Lou". We were so proud of her. She kept right up with those big kids and adults.


We got to meet Johnny Appleseed! Pumpkin really like the beads on his walking stick.


Our day ended by watching the bagpipe and Fife and Drum Corp. perform the closing ceremony.


It really blew my mind that we had never gone to this before. I was so impressed with how authentic everything was. The girls really enjoyed it also.

On Monday, Gigi, the girls and I put some new flowers on Mimi's grave. Peanut had alot of questions this time visiting her headstone. She thought we were going to see Mimi and get to talk to her. She got a bit teary-eyed when I explained that we wouldn't see her but it helped her to know that her Mimi is watching over her everyday!





It is so hard to believe that in just a few weeks she will have been gone a year. I still miss her so much!
-Mama

Milestone Party

On Saturday night Uncle Jim & Aunt Betsie had their "Milestone Party." They were celebrating Jim's 60th birthday. Betsie's 55th birthday, and 34 years of marriage. The party was at their house in their back yard and barn. The weather was perfect and fun was had by all!!



Their yard was the perfect place to take a few family pictures. Too bad the boys would not cooperate. Jack would not even smile.



Ask Jack to take a picture with Uncle Ben and he is all smiles!





Our attempt at getting a picture of all the children





















Silly Guys!!

Holy TV Batman!

OK, check out this technology! I had not seen or heard of this until my recent trip to Vegas. I went to use my hotel restroom and wondered what the heck the square shadow was on my mirror. After some trial and error and fumbling around, I found a touchscreen panel and low and behold... it was a TV screen. Whoa! If at first you don't see it, try, try again.



So, this just had to be my Featured Friday Favorite. Isn't modern technology grand?

Happy Friday,
~MB
www.addressingspaces.com
Bringing new life to your decor and more
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Louisa's 2nd Birthday

Happy Birthday Louisa!



Jack & Bryce had tons of fun at cousin Louisa'a Birthday Party. The boys and I drove to West Linn,Oregon, a suburb of Portland. We made it just in time to party with Louisa. We loved staying over-night at The Stark's house after the party. The cousins had so much fun together!



New bug outfit





Yummy Cupcakes Casey!!









CHEERS!!