Mmmmmm...goodness

Way back in the day....circa 1993-ish, Erica F and I were on a competition dance team. Several times a year we travelled for competitions and would often room together in hotels in exotic locations around Ohio, Indianapolis, Pigeon Forge, Niagara Falls, etc...our STAPLE meal on these trips included a GIGANTIC Cinnamon Bun from Cinnabon. (those huge, gooey cinnamon buns that you find at malls and airports that pack about 4000 calories per bun!). So, I haven't had one for about 10 years, but when Erica F was here a few weeks ago she introduced me to the greatest ice cream ever- Ben and Jerry's CINNAMON BUNN!!! It is the closest thing to the real cinnamon buns you can imagine and I loved every bite of the pint she brought. So, when my sister-in-law Amanda was here, I passed on the new knowledge to her...but we didn't eat any. Here's a link to her blog that just made mention of the same yummy goodness that Erica F re-introduced into my life. Apparently she liked it, too! (ok, I don't know how to do the active-link thing, so cut and paste from this or just follow the link to Amanda's blog from our main page....
http://amandahmoseley.blogspot.com/2008/08/cinnamon-bunn-ice-cream.html

More potty humor...

I'm sure most of you are sick of hearing about potty-training, but Elise cracked me up (once again!) just moments ago. I was putting her in her highchair for lunch and did a quick potty check:

"Elise, do you need to use the potty before lunch?"
"No, mommy, I good"
"Ok, are you sure? You don't need to go tinkle?"
"No, mommy, my wittle bottom all empty."

7 YEARS...

Wow....7 years ago RIGHT NOW (3:15pm), I was hanging out at St. Barnabas Church in Cincinnati with my best girl friends, getting dressed, giggling a lot, fighting off a little nervousness, and waiting for MY WEDDING to begin! Unreal how that sometimes seems like that was yesterday and sometimes it seems like FIFTEEN YEARS ago...in a good way, of course! right!?! Seriously, I couldn't ask for anyone better to share my life with and I LOVE seeing where God has led us over the past 2,555 days. We NEVER would've planned our first few years of marriage to take us from Ohio to Florida, then ACROSS THE WORLD and back, 2 kids, a dog, 2 houses, 14 months of separation, and now together in another "new house" and celebrating our first anniversary in three years TOGETHER in the SAME COUNTRY! I love it. What an adventure...and, with Amanda here visiting last week, we had our second date in 6 months! She kept the girls on Friday and we hit a dirty little Mexican joint for dinner and then saw the new Batman movie. It was so fun to get out for a few hours totally 'kid free' and see a cool (but super creepy! ) movie. Here's to the next 2,555 days! =)

"Aunt Manda"

lots of books were shared
The newly decorated Fairy Wings!
Ainsley seemed happy to meet Amanda for the first time!
Adam and his sister with Elise- showing off her Big-girl panties!

Last week, Adam's sister Amanda visited us for 5 days and it was soooo fun to have her around! Adam had to travel for work for a couple of those days, so it was perfect to have Amanda here to help with the girls, too. Amanda arrived with a TRUNKLOAD of presents for her nieces, so Elise warmed up to her aunt immediately! The gifts included books, clothes, a Care Bear, a set of decorate-your-own fairy wings, Play-Doh, several pairs of 'big girl panties', etc...it was like Christmas! Elise really loved Amanda, played HOURS of Hide-n-Seek, read tons of books together, took a shopping trip together to Target, and shared many more activities in the five days together. =) It's so fun for me to see Elise enjoy all the visitors we've had lately and to share our little family with other people we love. Ainsley also did well with Aunt Manda around- she took two bottles from her, which was so nice for me, too! Here are a couple pics...

Crazy Driver

I'm counting the "Potty Training basics" as being complete and a huge success in the Moseley household! It's been fun to see Elise do something new and challenging and to watch her TOTALLY rise to the occasion. She loves doing something that pleases us (constantly saying, "Mommy/Daddy/(another loved one) so proud of me on my potty".). It's adorable. One of our neighbors gave her a toy grocery cart as the big final potty present. She has been running around the house like an absolute mad-woman for a week now with the cart- let's just hope her 'driving' isn't a precursor for driving a car in 14 years! =) The poor baby doll gets thrown out the top all day long! What a joy. Also, Ainsley has really started to watch Elise's EVERY MOVE. She laughs, smiles, and just lights up as Elise runs past her over and over again. Elise stops to kiss her sister all the time and says, "Watch me, Ainsley baby!" =) This was Ainsley watching Elise zoom in and around with the Shopping cart!

10 Things...

So this is like one of those silly "10 ways to get to know us" emails or whatever...I got the idea from a friends' blog, I took the pictures, and here you go!

The Rules:
Take 10 pictures right away, NO CLEANING up first, and then "tag" three more friends:

1.Favorite Destination:
I honestly don't know...is that bad?! I love relaxing with friends/family and I don't really care where it is. I LOVED our time in Kyoto, Japan last year, so here's a picture of that:
2.Self-Portrait:
This was from the day last week that I painted one of the bathrooms..and apparently I bumped into the wall of wet paint...I didn't notice until HOURS later and elise woke up from her nap and told me I had blue hair!
3.What the kiddos are doing:
Both were taking a nap right then, but this was later in the day...


4.My Closet:
I love a great walk-in closet in this house. However, with no basement or attic, all closets are also storage rooms, so pretty cluttered. Any Miami girls...notice the top t-shirt? MU 1998 (?) Lax Spring Tournament... still wearing that!


5.Laundry Room:
Boring, but useful.


6.The Refrigerator:
The inside is a little empty today, so we'll take outside shot...

7.Favorite Room in the house:
The kitchen/living room is definitely the "hub" of the house and I love it! We play, read books, share meals, etc...all right here!

8.The Bathroom:
The newly painted kids/guest bathroom...I love it.

9.The Kitchen Sink:
It wasn't functional yet, so it was VERY clean.


10.Favorite Shoes:
I'm totally NOT a shoe person, so I go for comfort....my favorites are either REEF Flip flops, Chacos, or my current attire...running shoes.

Ok, so Casey, you're "tagged" (although Shannon Tagged you, too...)since you haven't done it yet, I'll encourage you also.
Also, Alicia and Julie...you're up!

Home Improvement, con't...

Never wanting to sit still, we (Ok, "I", Adam loves sitting still...) had new countertops installed this week, I did some MAJOR closet cleaning, and I painted two bathrooms...Here are a few Before/After shots of the kitchen. The counters are Silestone and such a KILLER deal that we really couldn't pass it up. They were just installed yesterday and Adam is still working on the sink/disposal hook-up, so we're dealing with no kitchen sink, but it's fine for a couple of days. The counters look very nice and upgrade the kitchen from the counters that I despised before. Now, of course, the 10 year old white appliances look dingy and outdated, but we'll get to them in a few months. Since they actually work fine, there's no real reason to upgrade that yet. Elise keeps looking at them and saying, "oooohh...so cool, mommy". She also loves the "dark purple" (it's periwinkle really, but that's fine, she's 2, bathrooms. It was a fun project to work on during naptimes all week. And, I don't like doing nothing...
BEFORE...they were a dingy khaki in color...

DURING...we saved a few hundred bucks by doing the demolition ourselves of the old stuff...that's the fun part, right!?


We did the Demo right before Trash Day and snuck the WAY OVERSTUFFED, Clampett-lookin' trashcans out the curb after dark so the neighbors wouldn't laugh at us...although our neighbors would love it. They're so great.
Now, AFTER...it's called "Ebony Pearl" and it's a gray/black with lots of variation of specks of gray/black/a few white....


Here's the upstairs Guest bathroom/ kids bathroom. It was a hideous faux-finish/sponge paint disaster with a floral wallpaper border left by previous owners...now, I love it.

P.S. In the midst of all this craziness and more, Elise is still being a Superstar with potty-training! 10 days and only a couple minor accidents! YAY!