30 Going On 60!

Scott and my sister-in-law, Sabrina, joined forces to give me an extra fun birthday surprise. Sabrina painted an original watercolor of me:



It was such a wonderful surprise! Scott said he was amazed at how quickly Sabrina did it. If you'd like to see Sabrina's other works of art, which I think are brillant and amazing, visit her website here. She also has an Etsy store where you can buy originals, prints, and greeting cards.

Thanks Sabrina!

The Accountants' Kid

Who knew pencils were so awesome?

Gardening and Laundry!

We had a fun day last Saturday. Scott's parents came over for several hours. His dad helped us spruce up the planter box right by the front door, and his mom took care of Matthew. We forgot to take any "before" pictures, so I had to rely on a few random pictures that don't really show how dreary things were looking in there. Here's a picture how it looked when we bought the house about a year ago:


So there were several bushes in there and ivy growing through everything. There was also a bushy tree that was threatening to grow right into the roof. Last summer I cut back a lot of the bushes because it was getting out of control and there were lots of spiders living there and then wandering into the house. Yuck! So here's a picture from a month ago of how it looked without a lot of those bushes:



And here's how it looked after we finished planting on Saturday:

I'm excited to see the plants grow and fill in the planter!


Yesterday, I finally finished work in the laundry room. We had an issue with how the dryer was positioned when it was delivered but, once we got around to it, we were able to get all the little issues worked out! For comparitive purposes, here is how it looked before:




And here is how it looks now:




I love it!

We had a new addition to our family about a month ago: a piano! Scott and I love it! And Matthew enjoys it too. He likes to bounce along to the music, and he even got a chance to sit with daddy on the piano bench.



This next picture is included at my mom's request. She wants to see Matthew in the church outfit she gave him for Christmas.


This was Matthew "acting up" during FHE. He was making some silly faces!


And finally, Aunt Liz said that every baby needs some camo when she gave Matthew these pants for Christmas. I just realized Matthew would probably fit into them now, so he wore them for the first time today (and he does kind of blend in with the chair.5). Thanks Liz!