Bathroom makeover!

I gave our old... very original bathroom a little makeover this week! It was fun, and a much needed makeover. The plan is to gut it in a couple years, improve the layout and get rid of that beautiful flooring... :)

I thought I'd try and work with the yellow and black tile and maybe distract from the flooring! Love how it came together. And my funny little 3.5 year old is just lovin this makeover, I guess you can tell she's my daughter. She would wake up in the morning to see the new bath mat, or vase and flowers and coming running to me so excited to tell me how much she likes it!

She has been telling all her friends and anyone else this week about our bathroom makeover... haha, its hard to explain to a 3.5 year old that... most kids don't care too much about bathroom makeover! But I'm glad she does ;)

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

After - This is my favourite little corner, just makes me happy :)

 

Me - clearly satisfied with my quick little makeover! haha.

The things that went into this makeover:
- New paint color... I know! Hard to tell from the pictures, but it is quite different. It was quite a creamy brown taupe, now it is quite grey
- Took the ugly verticals down that we never use anyways, since its a high window
- Painted the cupboards yellow. I used the leftover paint from Avery's room. It was much to light, so I tinted it with my paints... quite happy with the yellow I came up with... now for a silly paint name!
- New shower curtain, bath mat, accessories, art work above the toilet
- New hardware on the cupboards

Pretty simple and took me about a day! Grand total: $185! Most expense was the shipping for the shower curtain (wayfair.com - thanks for the tip to my pal Tara), and anthropology knobs... hehe, $10 each! But who can resist!

Choose the Right! Primary 2012 Board

Like I said in my prior post, I do not blog about something that does take up some of my time over the last 2 years. That being my responsibility right now in our Church which is over seeing the Primary (Children ages 3-11.)

We have a theme each year from the leaders of our Church, this year it is CTR - Choose the Right. I've really enjoyed this year thus far, and our board came together really nicely too! When we were planning it in December all our ideas just meshed together as a presidency and came out with this!
We came up with this thing we call our "CTR check in." We have our awesome teachers as the kids each week what they have done to Choose the Right. Then they pass it along to our secretary. We then feature a child from junior and senior Primary each Sunday. We read there CTR moment and they get a sucker. Then we write there CTR moment in the speech bubble beside there face!


A friend of mine that does vinyl lettering helped made up the black part of the CTR shield and the speech bubbles.

Every month we have a sub-theme to our CTR theme. The shield around the CTR shield has the title of each monthly theme. We started in January at the blue puzzle piece titled "Agency." We then with the help of our teachers have the children memorize the monthly scripture that goes along with the theme. Its amazing, we have little sunbeams that memorize the scripture! The puzzle pieces in the middle get added each month. Once a child has memorized the monthly scripture and passed it off to there teacher, they get to put a sticker on that months puzzle piece.

This was the funnest part, drawing little stick bodies to the children's head! Way too much fun!

I just had to include a close up of this weirdo child in the middle with the bow on her head... oh... that's my child! haha! Love you Primary kids!!!

April showers... or snow, bring... FUN!

We have had a fun / busy month! Hence lack of blogging... but yea know what! This seems to be the trend with me lately... 1 post a month... so I'll stop using the "busy card" as my excuse. I'll try and stay in touch through blogging with those who do grace this page, but again... no promises :)

After 10 years of dancing as a youngin... I have entered the dancing world again! A few friends from Church have joined this adult tap class last year and loved it. I have always wanted to get back at tap since that was my favourite growing up, so I did! We have such a fun group and have a lot of fun laughing and tappin! We have 2 competition this year, and had our first one last weekend. Great fun (aside from the old ladies that beat us out when we were so obviously better... no really!)

By the way... we hate our costumes! They looked much cuter in the picture. We have 10 ladies in our group (3 missing from the picture above). Our class (and Avery's little ballet class) is at this great little dance school right down the road from us called "Dance Experience." Such a great little school, everyone is from the community and its a really family fun environment.

Me, Jenn (she is 8 months pregnant!), Kristin and Trina (Mormon squad!)

I often think I never blog about a major part of my life, my calling in our Church as Primary president. I've done this calling for the past 2 years, and just love it! Our theme this year is Choose the Right. We had a party this past weekend. We did "The Choice is Right" and did a bunch of games teaching the kids how to Choose the Right, and the games had a "Price is Right" spin on it.

It was a lot of fun. My awesome presidency ran a game each, so the kids rotated around in 3 groups and played these games. And then I did the "Showcase showdown" at the end which was a series of situational questions with multiple choice answer to which is the best choice.

We have the best Primary, about 70 kids, love them to death! I'll do another post of our board that we did for Primary, it was a fun board to do!

Our little family with our bunny after her dance

One thing that Dance Experience does which is great is "Talent Day." They have a show run all day at McNally high school. You can come and go as you please, so just watch your dancer and its nice for these little ones to practise performing before the year end show. Avery did so great! One thing I learned about Avery recently (that I didn't expect) is that she is very serious when it comes to performing! At home shes a funny crazy girl when were dancing to music etc. But when it came to performing she was all business! Not a crack of a smile... all concentration about the moves and of course staying in place ;) Very fun to watch.

Nana and Grandpa Pizzey with Avery after her number

Uncle Chris and Auntie Kelli with Avery

Avery performing her "Little Peter Rabbit"

Avery pre-show

We can almost never get a normal picture of Avery, all poses now!

And then a fun event! My mom got Avery and Talia (and there mommas) tickets to BUSY TOWN! You know those Richard Scarry books, well they have a show that Avery likes watching on CBC in the morning. Avery loved seeing all her favourite characters and would get so excited when they entered the stage. It was a fun little show!

Fun month, I'm happy for May to calm down a little! I'm going to give our bathroom a little temporary face lift until we gut it in a couple years! My brother Blake is getting married in June, so me and my soon to be sister-in-law have some wedding decor madness ahead of us... muuhhhaaha! Loving it! And gearing up for this rain to GO AWAY and start enjoying the outdoors with my girls!

Update on Marli, she is doing great! She is sitting on her own very well! She has shown no interest in crawling since she is not a fan of her tummy, but she has done a couple little bum scootches! haha, Avery was a bum scoother as well (and she didn't have the excuse of wearing a brace) so maybe my girls just butt scootch! We have a follow up for Marli's hip June. 11. Right now she wears the brace about 22 hrs a day. It is to help her hip socket develop a little further. If the socket continues to develop I'm hoping that she will be down to wearing the brace for just naps and night time... here's hoping!

Cast removal day... And my birthday!

My 27th year on this earth was a big one! Not because I am now in my late 20's instead of mid 20's (which is kind weird)! But because my sweet little Marli shed this beast of a cast!
Here is how the day went (please ignore how the pictures are all out of order. I uploaded them on my I-phone using the blogger app... and well... they just aren't in order, sorry!)

So after dropping Avery off at her friends house (thanks again Kristen) and picking up Jordan from work we showed up a bit early at our Orthopedic Surgeon's office ready to go. They got us in right away and got right down to business!

It took about a half hour to remove the cast, the guys doing it were great! Super calm and efficient! I was so glad Jordan could come because he was able help hold Marli down and clam her, well as much as she could be calmed! She was quite upset... but who could blame her! She did wear the ear muffs pretty good that they provide, but the saw is still quite loud and they have to maneuver her around... not too pleasant. The fibre glass around her thighs was so thick! They really had to work through that.

After the cast came off, we cleaned her up and bit, and headed down the hall for an x-ray. This clinic at the Stollery is so great and efficient! We have been so happy with everyone!

This is an inside shot of the cast... just thought you would all enjoy an inside shot of the poop and urine stains... nice hey! ;)

Above: Me and my girls enjoying some cupcakes Jordan picked up from a bakery downtown.

Below: Just after the cast removal and x-ray. She was quite worked up for a while, the bottle helped clam her down a bit. And her cast beside us, love this picture! My sister kamry had a funny comment. Avery (my 3 year old) has a imaginary friend named Noga, Kamry said to tell Avery that Noga needed the cast and that was her in the cast! haha!

We decided not to keep.. the cast! Pictures are enough memories from that thing, but glad we got some pictures before it hit the trash can.

Marli before the cast was removed quite amused with the ear muffs... they looked more like a tasty toy that had to make it to her mouth!

Cast removal, so sad!

Finally smiling after cast removal!

Hanging out after her x-ray and waiting for Dr. Dulai to come talk with us. She keeps her legs in that position all the time. She kicks and moves a bit more today, but yesterday they were pretty much in that position the whole time.

More eating the ear muffs...

Her first real bath in 12.5 weeks! The first 10 minutes she was not a fan, cried quite a bit. But then (with the help of her sister playing with her) she decided it was kind of nice. You cannot imagine how nice it was to give her a proper bath! Her skin condition was actually quite good! The guys who removed her cast said it was really good for most of the spica cast kid they have seen!

Her knees were calloused in the creases, and behind her knees is red and rashy. Her upper thighs have a bit of a red rash on them, partly where some poop snuck too... gross I know! But not too much. After her bath and a good strategic lotion job, her skin is almost good as new today!

So once we met with Dr. Dulai she informed us of the results. She was pretty happy with them. The right hip was great, and has never really been too much of a problem. Her left hip in the beginning was completltye dislocated and the hip socket needed to be formed more. The x-ray yesterday told us that the hip was in the proper position , and the left socket had also formed more, but still have a little bit more forming to do.

Because of that she has prescribed a "Ilfeld" brace. We have an appointment Thursday with the Orthodox clinic to fit her for that brace. She will need to wear it for roughly 22 hours a day. She will have her clothes underneath it. We can take it off her for baths and to go swimming and play for a bit or short car rides! So that is better than I expected. Also the Ilfeld brace looks better than I expected as well.

But for now we have her with no brace, its so strange! I never thought I would say this, (but aside from loving snuggling her little body and putting on cute clothes that she hasn't been able to wear until now) I'm actually looking forward to the brace! She is so floppy and has not learned like most 7.5 month old to support her back and sit up etc. She needs a lot of support and we need to be careful to keep her legs out at that angle too. It is hard to put her anywhere that I'm used to putting her (like her feeding chair at the table or chair Jordan built her) for her to play or when I need to get things done. Hopefully the brace with give her some security and support that I think we both need her to have.

She is to wear her brace for 3 months and then we have another follow up with Dr. Dulai. I have a feeling that is things continue to progress she will be down to naps and nights with the brace... or maybe nothing! But I'm not going to get my hopes high!

Jordan also made sure the day was very special with all my favourite treats, some lovely perfume and HUGE surprise... Lady Antebellum tickets for Saturday! I was totally surprised, for sure they are my favourite band! Cannot wait to go with my sweetheart this weekend!

For now I'm enjoying this sweetie pie in her normal clothes and holding her real close! Thank you all for your love, support and prayers!

We've had some fun lately... for real!

The last three weeks or so have been a lot of fun in the Heavenor home. The week before Marli's cast change where I averaged... 3-4 hours of sleep a night (because she had grown so much in her cast and was so tight in it that she was practically loosing circulation in her feet and so uncomfortable that she could barely sleep) I was... well putting it lightly... about to blown my brains out!

So here came Nana Kerri to the rescue! Of course I have lots of support from my family here in town and wonderful friends and ward family, but Jordan's mom decided to come and stay for just over 2 weeks. After Marli got her cast changed Feb. 1, everything was WAY better! She was happy again, and sleeping good again, so things were much better! But what a wonderful help to have Kerri around to help! She was such a welcomed pleasure into our home!

The main thing that is difficult is getting out to do errands or really anything! I try and do as much of that in the evenings, but its very hard because Jordan is right in the middle of his CMA and is often so busy after work with assignments or studying. It was so great having Kerri with me and the girls all day. Wow! I cannot even express, I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful mother-in-law that put her life on hold to come help me with mine! The bad thing is I got so used to it! haha, this week was adjustment week! But me and the girls will always look back on this fun time with Nana Kerri and cherish it. Avery and Nana really bonded, and Marli totally got to know Kerri as the other face she knows (aside from me, Jordan and Avery.)

These are some of the highlights from February.

The girls most likely watching a Baby Einstein. Not sure who put the blanket on Marli's head... probably her big sister! Those 2 just adore eachother!

Me and my girls before Church. I love these 2 more than I can imagine, I think I squeeze there cheek and kiss them like 50 times a day... at least!

Nana Kerri with the girls before Church. Oh you'll also notice... its hard to get a nice picture of Avery... she likes to do these weird faces which are quite commical, but seems to have forgotten how to smile nice...

Prime example of Avery's face's... this was on Valentines Day. Avery embraces every holiday, like goes nuts and appreciates any little effort made on these days! So funny, she's already physced for Easter since thats next!

Then Jordans brother Cole and his wife Megan came up from Calgary to spend the weekend. We had so much fun with them! We first met at West Ed and Marli and her cousin Tyson (3 weeks younger than Marli) rode the rides for the first time, so fun! Of course they had Avery to show them the ropes and her fav rides.

And then we ate lots of good food and had lots of fun just hanging out together! Heres Tyson trying out Marlis chair, turns out you dont have to have a spica cast to enjoy it! Such a cutie this smiley guy!

Auntie Kelli being a good sport and playing Barbies with Avery.

Hanging with Auntie Megan

Avery... classic Avery pose... and her pretty pink shoes she picked out from H&M

One last picture with Nana before we drop her off at the airport... *tear*

These pics below are not in order, I did not upload these in a orderly fashion apparently...

First my sweet Marli girl with her first clip in her hair! Both my girls get a good amount of hair as babies, obviously there are kids that have more and are born with a mop on there heads, and then there are the bald babies. My girls are somewhere in between. By the time Avery was 1 I was having to do a little side pony tail to keep the hair out of her eyes. Marli already has more hair than Avery, and its a darker sort of auburn brown color... kind of bronzy gold, I just love it!

Marli's pony from Valentines Day, in her chair that she LOVES!

Avery at our trip to West Ed in the Disney Store. Have you been to that new Disney store on the lower level??? Really fun, we could have stayed in there the whole time!

And guess what... March. 12 (aka. my birthday!) CAST COMES OFF!!! 10 days left, wow! I can't believe we are at the end of this journey. We are not totally in the clear, there will be some form of a brace afterwards for a while. But anything is better than this cast!

Marli has just been amazing though, she is such a happy easy going baby! Everyone always comments on how happy she is, and how she doesn't seem to mind the cast. She smiles at everyone, and when I say smile... I mean this HUGE teethless smile with this crease across her nose which is infectious. Love her!