More House Stuff...and a Cruise!

Here is the mannequin that Grammie T brought Kalee. Kalee picked out a dress for it, as soon as we put it in her room! She loves it!

Here is a picture collage of Kalee with her cousins. She was so excited to put it on the wall in her room!I have been looking for a large photo frame for the entry way. My mom and I found this one last night at Home Goods...and then I stayed up until 1:30 this morning picking out what pictures I wanted to have 5x7's made of. I didn't realize when I picked the frame out that I would need so many 5x7's, but the fun part was going through 7 years of pictures to pick out just the right ones. I just have to say...my kid is so beautiful! I can't believe she is 7 already!Here's the frame, hanging in the entry way...Then entry table came out pretty good...the "distressing" of it was a little more work than I expected, but I like it! Oh, and I LOVE the globe! :)

Here is my new mirror...it took FOREVER to find, but I really like it! The mantle decor still needs a little work, though...

In other fun news...we are going on a cruise with Donnie & Luv-Ann (and 2 other couples that are also friends with Donnie and Luv) on Sept 11th!! We are super excited, now that we have decided to go (actually Rich was always excited...I was the more indecisive one)! It was a hard decision for a few reasons...one is that we aren't taking Kalee. She has already missed a couple days of school this year, so we didn't think it was wise to take her out 2 more days, but UGH...she loves to cruise and watching her on the cruise would have been a joy. Another reason is that the cruise leaves out of Port Canaveral...so we are driving all the way home, but won't be able to see all of our friends and family - since the cruise leaves on Friday and returns on Monday, when everyone will be at work. We haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with Donnie & Luv the last couple times we went home, so it will be great to catch up - maybe even play some poker! Only 20 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

West Virginia Weekend!

We went to West Virginia last weekend for my cousin Jeremy's wedding. We had a great time! I really enjoyed spending a little time with my cousins and their families!

On the way up we stopped at the New River Gorge State Park. When I was a kid we made a lot of trips to WV to see family - the gorge was one of my favorite parts of the ride, so it was neat to share that with Rich and Kalee. Besides the views of the mountains, my other favorite part was the tunnels - taking us through a mountain. Kalee was equally impressed, I think! It was a fun trip!

The view while we were driving over the bridge...

Halfway down to the bridge overlook...

At the overlook. It was so pretty...and I was a little relieved that there were only 166 steps! Sure seemed like a LOT more when I was a kid!

Grammie T came over from Maryland, on her way (or out of her way) to PA. She brought Kalee a wrought iron mannequin that she found for her. Kalee was thrilled and surprised to see Grammie T!

My cousin's wife, Lauren and their smiley baby Madison! Madison is such a cute baby...and got her ears pierced while in WV. Way to go, Lauren!

My cousin Matt & his wife Meg

I'm holding my cousin Stacey's baby, Charlotte...precious baby!

Stacey and Andy

We played Joker every spare minute we had, at the hotel. Kalee swam in the pool - everyone was happy!My beautiful girl! Kalee took a picture of momma and daddy!

The bride and groom...Jeremy and Brianna

Kalee danced the night away with Drea...enjoy the video below! :)

Kalee with Jeremy...

Dancin' with Daddy

Getting a little Madison time!

We kept putting off leaving on Sunday - we were just having such a good time! We stayed just long enough to give Kalee a little time to swim with Drea.

Meg brought her little puppy, Mia. Kalee loved her and is ready to trade Midnight in! (not really, but she still thinks Meg is going to ship Mia to her for a week!)

The boys played horseshoe's

Finally...on the road to home! Kalee fell asleep within the first hour. We were all tired! We got back at midnight. Sure made getting up at the crack of dawn the next day a little hard (and really fun, since neither Kalee or I are morning people!)

First Day of 2nd Grade!!!

Kalee had a great first day! She made 2 new friends and said her teacher was really nice. She actually said "I don't think anyone will get in trouble all year because Mr. Bill is so nice!"

Kalee wanted me to include a picture of the "frog king" in this post! He's our new garden friend!

Finally...some decorating!

Shellie helped me get a lot of decorating done while she was here...we needed another week, at least! The first picture shows some of the new things we picked up at HomeGoods & another local store called Real Deals. We had a fun day of shopping!

I found this rooster after Shellie left...I'm normally not a fan of rooster's, but I loved this one and couldn't pass it up!The rooster, in his home! The basket, on top of the cabinets, was another find. It's not in it's final resting place - yet!I LOVE this picture...It says "Friends...A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails." REALLY makes me miss my friends - sure wish you guys were closer!My favorite "old" pictures that we had in our house in FL. I love them!

I love the clock, too...I used this piece of furniture in our house in FL, as an island. I needed a table for the foyer, so I decided to paint it and distress it a little. It's not perfect yet, but it's a start...

And...Kalee's room...of course! Shellie and I re-arranged it a little - and it gave Kalee a LOT more room on the floor. I have done pretty good at not buying more stuff for Kalee's room, but caved when I found this chair. I love it (shocker, huh?)

I finally hung up Kalee's mirror and her "name", today. I still have a couple shelves and picture frames to hang up - and Grammie T has a cool suprise for Kalee's room. Once we place all that stuff her room will be DONE! SPOILED!