6 gallons of paint later...

And our house looks GREAT! Our walls in the living room, kitchen, entry way, hallway, and one wall in the dining room have been off white since we moved in. I have done all the other rooms myself but this amount of space and the high ceilings was just too much for me to take on myself. So I hired Jose, a painter recommended to me by three of my friends. He did a great job and was VERY reasonable. I even did the prep work myself, like taping off around the moldings (I never want to see a roll of blue tape AGAIN!!) but it was worth it cause it saved me $100. Jose and his two helpers were able to get the whole house done on Saturday. Now our white moldings really look white and "pop" from the warm khaki walls.

Here are some pictures...




Our moldings and doors look so white now!





And when Jose was painting the walls around our stairs, I snapped a picture...

Balancing a ladder on stairs and reaching to where the wall meets 16 ft celing....no thanks.

Ole for Jose!!!

The fireplace project

Last Friday night, I had a burst of energy and decided to take on a little project I had been wanting to do for awhile now....painting our fireplace mantel. It is not a real wood mantel but rather the builder just built the wall out and shaped it to look like one. I have always felt that the items on my mantel just look like they are "floating" since the mantel is the same color as the walls...off white. So I headed to Lowe's for a can of paint and a sponge brush.

Here's what $11 and a couple hours look like....

BEFORE


AFTER

WOW! What a difference, huh? Now it looks like I have a mantel. It really makes the fireplace "pop"! As you know, one thing leads to another, so this Saturday I have decided to paint the walls. It will be a nice khaki color, not too dark, but just enough color to warm up the room. Check the blog after the weekend to see the finished project!

New pics of the boys!

A few weeks ago, I had the boys pictures taken at Bedfords.
(and yes, I have the rights to use these photos on my blog.)

I had really been wanting good pictures of them together because I really only had a couple. I wanted some taken outside but it has just been too hot. So I thought we would try the studio at Bedfords...for only $29.95 even if the pics did not turn out, I would feel like I did not waste that much money. Well, I thought the pics turned out great!
Here are some of my favorites!

Love my cute boys!!!

First Day of First Grade!

Thursday was the first day of first grade for Christian! Unbelievable! Kindergarten went by WAY too fast for me, so if this is how fast the years fly by, then he will be in college before I know it!

The day before school started, we ended the summer with a snow cone!


It was Christian's first snow cone! I don't think I have had one since the days of Craig Shelley's snow cone trailer in the old Safeway parking lot in VB. ;)
YUMMY!

Open House was this past Tuesday. We went to his school to see his classroom and meet his teacher.


Christian was excited to be heading back to school!

He looks so big!

It seemed like just yesterday you were heading to your first day of preschool....

Heading to Tiny Tots preschool in 2008

Christian had a great first day of school! There are a couple kiddos from his kindergarten class in his first grade class, so that's nice. Plus, he saw some of his old friends on the playground.
He has already had homework and seems to be doing fine getting back in the swing of things!
So far, so good!
Now, Andrew struggled the first day when we dropped Christian off at school. He started crying as soon as Christian got out of the car. But when we got home, we played and he was distracted...

Andrew walking around with a pair of my shorts on his head. He looks like a little nun. ;)

No worries little Andrew! Big brother will be home every afternoon to play with you!!!

Pinnacle Promenade Art Mural

Back in the Spring, we made tiles for a fundraiser for the Seven Hills Homeless Shelter. These tiles were collected and displayed as a mural in the Pinnacle Hills Promenade food court.

Christian standing by his tile (right above his head) with his name and green hand print.

In the picture above, you can see Christian's green hand print and Andrew's blue handprint.
How neat that as they get older, we can stop by this mural and see how their little hands have grown!

Andrew is 16 months old!

Andrew turned 16 months this past Friday! I can't believe how big he is getting!
He is so busy and learning new things every day!

He weighs 22 lbs and has gotten taller recently, he can now touch his feet to
the floor when he is on his toy airplane! He dropped his morning nap this past month and is sleeping about 2 hours in the afternoon. He goes to bed at 6pm and wakes around 6:30am.

He is saying several words already...
Mama, Dada, uh-oh, nak (snack), ook (book), dis (this) and dat (that)
and he jabbers and jabbers some other things we can't quite make out yet. ;)

When you ask him to point to his nose, eyes and mouth---he can! He waves "hi" and "byebye" and give Jim a high five every morning when he leaves for work.
When we say, "Let's go change your diaper" he walks into his room and sit on the floor. When we say, "Time to go to bed and read a book" he walks to his room. What a smart little boy!

He is still a handful at times--cutting his last two teeth (Thank the Lord!) and refuses to eat several things I try to feed him. He turns his head and wrinkles his nose. Stinkpot. ;)

He loves to give hugs and kisses, especially to his big brother!

His favorite toys are books, his stuffed animals and he is learning how to push little trains around like his big brother. And he LOVES bathtime!

I love this sweet little man!

Happy Birthday Jim!!!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, the best father and my best friend!
We love you!!!

Sunday afternoon, we surprised Jim with his birthday presents!

Christian helping his dad with all his gifts!

Andrew liked playing with the bows. When he wasn't paying attention, I stuck one of them to his bottom. He never knew it. ;)


I thought it made him look like a My Little Pony! haha!

Today for Jim's birthday, the boys and I met him for lunch at Famous Daves. Jim loves BBQ!

We are looking forward to celebrating with Jim's family in a few weeks when we take another road trip to Texas!

Happy Birthday Jim!!!

Christian singing to Baby Robert

Below is a quick video I took of Christian singing to Robert. It was so cute!
He says, "I love Robert, I love Robert
Yes, I do...Yes, I do!
I love baby Robert, I love baby Robert,
Yes, I do...Yes I do!!"

Christian singing to baby Robert from Angela Hopkins on Vimeo.

Going to Kansas City, Kansas City here we come!

Jim and I had been "itchin'" to take a mini vacay for a few days with the boys. We decided to head north to Kansas City! Pat and Stacy said we could stay with them for a couple of nights. So GAME ON! Sunday we hit the road!

Our first stop was for lunch at Fritz's Restaurant in Crown Center. Since Christian LOVES trains, I thought this would be the perfect place. The restaurant is set up like you are on a train and they have actual trains on tracks along the wall that bring the food to your table. How cool is that??!! When Christian saw it, he said, "MOM, I WANT TO LIVE HERE!" Haha!

Christian wearing his conductor hat!

You order your phone by picking up the phone at your table. Then the train delivers it!

There was a window next to each table that you could watch a train go by!

Andrew "in awe" of all the trains going by!


Here is a short video I took of our food being delivered by train! The boys LOVED it!

After lunch, we headed to Union Station where they had a model train exhibit! Perfect for my little train lovin' boys!

Christian next to a replica of an old steam locomotive, his favorite!

The Model Train Experience!

They even had the Island of Sodor! For you Thomas the Train fans, this is a big deal. Thomas, Percy and Henry were doing their jobs!

There were at least 10 different model train displays with really neat scenery and some of the trains had conductors that talked! Christian enjoyed the model train exhibit so much! He spent almost 2 hours in there!

After the trains, we went to Science City, also located in Union Station. It is a science museum for kids!

The music center had fun and different ways to make sounds...like hitting pipes with a flip flop?

Andrew liked it!


The place had so much to do! Three levels of interactive fun for the boys!

Lots of fun buttons to push!



Union Station is still a fully functioning train station. Amtrak runs a line to the station and we watched a few people loading and unloading.

Smoke machine!

An interactive water display that shows you how dams work!

Helicopter silmulator! Cool!

Jim had as much fun as the boys at Science City!

At the end of day one, we headed to Pat and Stacy's house and ordered Chinese food for dinner. It was yummy and the company was great! ;)

Monday, we headed to Crown Center for some shopping and fun activities for the boys!

They have a huge Crayola store!

Andrew liked the toy store and playing with silly hats!

We went to Kaleidoscope, an interactive art center sponsored by Crayola and the Hallmark Center. And it was FREE!


Christian made a rocket ship and painted it with water colors.

Then he put it through a big machine that dries the paint so you can take it with you right away!

Then he drew a picture of a train and put it through this machine and cuts it into puzzle pieces for a puzzle! Cool!

Andrew and Jim enjoyed just watching all the crazy activity!

After a busy morning, it was time for lunch. Christian REALLY wanted to go to Fritz's again so we did! Good and cheap burgers and the trains kept the boys entertained! WIN WIN!

After lunch, Andrew needed some running around time, so we went to the Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit and play area (also FREE!) and Andrew had a blast while Christian played train conductor.




As soon as we got in the car, Andrew fell asleep for his nap, so we drove to the Legends at Village West, a big outdoor shopping/dining area. But we looked at the temperature gauge and it read 102 degrees, we decided to not get out in the heat and walk around.
So we headed to the big Oak Park Mall in Overland Park.

They had a big double carousel that Christian wanted to ride!


And the boys got some play time too!

We went back to Pat and Stacy's house and got the boys cleaned up before dinner and ordered in pizza.

Tuesday, we packed up to head back home. We really enjoyed our visit with Pat and Stacy. Their new home in Overland Park is beautiful!

A quick "family of four" pic!

Before heading home, we made one last stop by Union Station so Christian could check out the model train exhibit one last time...

but I think Andrew likes them almost as much as his big brother! ;)

We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory on the Plaza before hitting the road home!

Strawberry cheesecake! YUM!

The boys were out before we even left the city limits. ;)

The first Hopkins Household "family of four" mini vacation was a success! Yeah for KC!