Cady's Ballet Award

Back in March, Cady participated in her very first Royal Academy of Dance exam.  Their ballet class had been working on it for a long time and it was a very big deal! Her instructor is accredited through the Royal Academy of Dance and the annual exams help her keep her accreditation.  Here she is in her ballet uniform, ready for her test:

 This past Tuesday, her class received their class awards for a job well done and also did a little performance for the parents.  Here is the Verdi Academy of Dance Primary Class:

 She did such a great job!  I love to watch her dance.  She really enjoys it and it is the only thing I've seen her do where she keeps a smile on her face the entire time - a genuine smile, not fake and cheesy like some!

 Here she is with her good friend, Emma, after they got their Primary medals:

 And here she is with Ms. Veronica - her amazing instructor:

Now that the test is over, they are gearing up for their big Spring Recital which is on the 1st and 2nd of June.  The theme this year is Sleeping Beauty and Cady is very excited about her Blue Fairy costume and performance!

Phase 16: Wood Stove

The wood stove is complete!  This was the area that caused Colin the most stress in our entire house building adventure!  First, there was the choice between wood or pellet stove.  We did choose to go with a wood stove for two reasons:  doesn't need to be plugged in like a pellet stove and we like the smell of the wood!  Second, most people who get a wood stove installed, put it out in the open on a hearth of some sort.  I really, really wanted a mantel - we've had a mantel in every place we have lived, and I just couldn't imagine not having one for pictures and stockings!  Colin decided to set our wood stove in an "alcove" with a mantel, kind of like a built-in fireplace.  We had seen this done before, yet, we had a hard time getting people, including those at the stove place to understand what we were doing!  It all worked out nicely, though, and everyone just loves it! 

 

Below is the step-by-step pictorial of the building of our wood stove "alcove":

 

The alcove was formed using a special fire resistant sheetrock.  Then, our tile guy used flagstone we had picked out to make the hearth:

 We picked out some of the faux-rock decorative stone.  Here is the inside of the "alcove":

 

 Our mantel is a simple wood beam that we had sandblasted to bring out the grain of the wood, then stained.  Here it is after sandblasting and pre-staining:

 The corbels were done the same way:

 Here they are stained and ready to be mounted:

 The faux-rock getting done:

 Rockwork complete - we loved how it turned out:

 Last week, the wood stove was finally installed:

 Chimney:

The completed project:

 It is definitely the focal piece of the living room!  Only bad thing is, we are past the cold weather, so we have to wait until late fall to use it!

A Birthday Surprise for Gramma Suzy!

I could not ask for better parents to me, in laws to Colin and grandparents to Colton and Cady.  They always come through for us and make sure we feel loved.  Numerous times they have driven here to Cruces (a two-hour drive) to celebrate one of our birthdays and then driven back home that same day or the very next morning.  I have wanted to do something like that for them on their birthdays for a long time! Late last year, when I was working on the annual family calendars I give my mom, mother in law and grandma each Christmas, I noticed my mom's birthday was on a Friday. So, I decided then and there that we were going to keep that Friday open so that we could give her a great birthday surprise - ourselves!!  After visiting with Dad and making sure it was going to work, I planned a small family surprise party for her.  Jeff and Tammi were trying to figure out a way to go, too, but they had opening soccer games the next day for the kids and Jeff is the coach, so they weren't able to make it, unfortunately.

 

The kids and I left immediately after school that day, picked up Gramma Mary and headed out of town. Colin had a lot to do at the new house, unfortunately, and had to miss the festivities, which my mom understood.  We pulled into their driveway at 5:15 and went into the house with flowers, birthday cake and gifts.  It couldn't have worked out any better!  Mom and Dad were both upstairs and Mom came down, totally unsuspecting, to see us all standing there with her goodies as we are all yelling "Happy Birthday!"   We got her good! She was so surprised and very excited to have us there!!

 

Dad put a lasagna in the oven for dinner and I had brought salad and bread to go with it.  Then, she opened her gifts, and we sang Happy Birthday to her and ate her yummy cake!  Colton helped Papa light the candles:

 After cake, we played her new game, Apples to Apples, for a couple of hours and had a lot of fun! 

 A few pictures of Gramma Mary and I with her:

We then stayed up til almost 11, laughing and visiting.  It was a very fun evening and I am so thankful we did it! It was totally worth having to get up at 6 the following morning so we could leave by 7 and have Colton to his soccer game on time.  I would do it again in a heartbeat!  Love you Mom and hope you had a very Happy Birthday!

Phase 15: New Appliances!

One of the many perks of building a new house is getting new appliances!  These are only my second brand new stove, dishwasher and fridge since I have been an adult!  Appliances have come a long way, too!  We went with stainless steel, Maytag appliances for the kitchen.  Here is our nice fridge after it was delivered:

 Here it is in its place in the kitchen:

The inside of the fridge - lots of room:

 The dishwasher, inside and out:

 The microwave and my double-oven gas range that I am super excited to use:

 We also got a new washer and dryer to replace our current ones which are 16 years old and still working!!  Colin bought those right before we were married and they are the ones we have been using ever since.  So excited to use the new ones (laundry is the only household chore I will admit to liking!):

Saying Adios to the King

As many of you know, George Strait is currently on the first year of his two-year "Cowboy Rides Away" Tour.  I guess he will still be making music and appearances, but is done with the big tours.  We all love George and his music and Colin and I were blessed to see him in 1996, 2008 (Colton went, too at 6 years of age) and then this time.  Tickets went on sale last Fall and we decided that they would make a great Christmas gift for the kids. They were very excited - especially Cady who had never been to a big concert like that before!

 

The concert was this past Saturday and we went home after both kids' soccer games to "get our shine on" so we could meet Grammy and Grampa and the Hamricks for a pre-concert dinner at Chillitos.  Grammy and Grampa got tickets with us and the Hamricks went with some family friends. 

 

Here are the kids ready to bid farewell to King George:

 Cady and I went with boots and dresses instead of boots and jeans (look at those white legs - although the picture is really making mine look whiter than they are!!):

 My handsome little cowboy and I (he's going to be taller than me before long!):

 My other handsome cowboy and I:

 Grammy and Cady ready to eat at Chillitos:

 BFFs Cady and Kynz:

 Fed and ready to go see and hear some George:

In our seats at the concert:

Martina McBride is his touring partner and it was also my third time to see her (both previous times I was 17 and 18, so a while back!).  She opened and was WONDERFUL! That gal can sing!! She even got a very long and loud standing ovation that brought her to tears. 

Now, Cady is our little sleepy girl who will tell us when she is ready for bed when all the other kids try to stay up as long as possible.  It was 9 or so when Martina was finished and she was already fading! We worried about that, but what can you do?  She lasted for 3 of George's songs and was out like a light!  She only slept about 40 minutes, though and was awake (though not all the way) for the rest of the show.    Colton lasted the entire 3 1/2 hours, but looked like a zombie for the last 30 minutes.  However, he was still singing along with the King every time I looked at him!

The highlight of the show for me, was when Martina joined George on stage and they sang covers of "Jackson" by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash and "Golden Ring" by George Jones and Tammy Wynette.  Loved it!!  Here is a picture taken by my friend, Sharla of the two of them:

Have to say that there are many, many people who refuse to pay for tickets to a George Strait concert because he "just stands there and sings".  I have witnessed that in the past and agree that he is usually not interactive with the crowd or very personable, but he showed us differently on Saturday.  He sang many of his older hits and told us stories behind them and the guys who wrote them, cracked a few jokes and was more interactive than ever with the crowd.  He told us that it was his 16th trip to Las Cruces and the Pan Am Center!  On his encore, he even sang a cover of "Folsom Prison Blues" and he usually doesn't even do covers!  It was an awesome show and worth every penny!

I just had my phone with me for pictures and didn't get a lot of good ones, but I love this one of him leaving the stage with that famous smile of his:

The next night, we all watched him perform on the ACM's in Vegas and it was fun to see him and his band on television after seeing them all live the previous night!

It was a great night and we will always remember watching the Cowboy Ride Away!

Phase 14: Stucco!

The gray coat of the stucco was actually done a long time ago, but I didn't want to post until it was complete!  Here are pictures of the 'graycoating':

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I called it "ghetto gray" and even had a friend asked if that was going to be the final color!! ;-)

Last week, we finally had the final color put on - a medium brown that didn't have too much yellow or too much red:

 The trim is white to match the windows:

 

 Our painted also stained our garage doors a distressed brown to match the dark staining of the beams, front door, and porch ceilings.  I love them!!