ch...ch...changes

We've been enjoying walks in the evening...one night it was reallly cold so Essie was bundled up nice and tight.

We've also had one major change in our house in that Essie has been sleeping in her bedroom for the first time in over a year. She was ready and we were MORE than ready. I have to sit by her and hold her hand to get her to fall asleep. It took 2 hours the first night and has gotten less since. 

This week at school they had a "teddy bear tea party" and she brought her Tangled Monkey...these were the pics they took and put on her facebook page. I thought she looked adorable.

Saturday morning we took her to YaYa so she could spend the night. They had a blast together.

While E was gone we worked our booties off on the house. We have the house completely cleaned, organized, etc except our spare bedroom which is about halfway done. We do still have a garage full of junk to go through but things are finally coming together. We've bought new furniture, completed projects, etc.

Saturday night we went on a double date with my friend/co-worker Brittany and her new boyfriend Tyler.  We ate at my favorite Juanitas...it was a fabulous diet-cheat night. Afterwards we went to a burlesque show that a guy Travis works with manages. It was definitly a different experience...a fun night however.

Beauty and the Beast

Essie has been DYING to go to the movies to see "Beauty and the Beast" since she saw the poster awhile back when we went to see Chipwrecked.  The commercials all over TV have been adding to the excitement daily. Finally today was the day. This was our first 3D movie..she wasn't sure about the glasses at first but did better towards the end.  She danced in the row for the most part! Her favorite was the Tangled short at the beginning...it was so cute I wish they had made it full length! I'd love a Tangled 2!

Our lil' Gymnast!

We went ahead and signed up for gymnastics...Essie loved it and has begged everyday to go back.  She was a TOTAL TURKEY the first class...running around like crazy, throwing fits, screaming, not listening.  We were very unsure about going back but after several SERIOUS talks about her behavior Essie assured us she would "listen to mommy and daddy".  She woke up this morning and said "'nastics today? Essie no run away. No scream. Sit on dot. Listen mommy/daddy".  So we gave it a second chance and she did AMAZING...200x better than last time. She sat on her dot perfectly, listened to the teacher, tried new things, and only threw a fit when it was time to leave. 

She did a backflip, several forward rolls, and walked across the balance beam all on her own! We were just bursting with pride.  She even went to the front of the class to do her forward roll...she got a little stuck and needed a little help getting over though. :) 

Two and a HALF!

Essie you are TWO and a HALF??? Are you kidding me. It's not possible.  We are loving you at this age. You are such a big girl and can hold conversations with us. You make us laugh constantly at your matter of fact ways and your literal-ness that you get from your Uncle Ryan. 

You are still Disney Princess obsessed. Majorly. You are already planning your Tangled birthday party.

When we tell you about something we are going to do you say "Oh I EXCITED!!!". This is my favorite right now.

You love our new house and want to invite everyone you know over to play in your new yellow room.

You are doing pretty good on potty training...you go all day at school without accidents but it's a different story at home.

You love school but never want to go. Every day you say "No school, okay?" but then you are fine once you get there. You love your teachers and tell us you have "best friends". This makes my heart smile.

You started gymnastics and L.O.V.E. it!

You say "I lover" for "I love you".

You still say "I wanna hold you" when you want us to pick you up. I hope this doesn't change anytime soon.

You give a variety of different kisses...princess kisses, tinkerbell kisses, toodles kisses. They are all the best.

You ask to go to Branson alot...I guess you had fun when we went at Christmas.

You spell your name "E.S.E". but you tell everyone you are "Essie Care House". You know your mommy and daddy's real names and love to yell "Travis  House" at your daddy to get his attention.

You are TERRIFIED of anyone in costume.

We cannot believe you will be 3 in 6 months! It's pure craziness how fast you are growing and changing.  We love you more than anything...more and more each day!

How the GOALS are going...

I feel we've been doing fairly well on our '12 goals.  We had hoped to spend the weekend knocking out the house but we've slacked more than anything. We watched the HOGS win the Cotton Bowl on Friday night and we are watching the RedWolves (our Alma Mater) play in the GoDaddy Bowl right now. We did get about 6 boxes unpacked Saturday night along with Essie's room organized somewhat. 

I have lost 7 pounds since Jan. 1st and accidentally started a Biggest Loser competition at my school. I casually mentioned it during lunch one day and that turned into an afterschool meeting with 26 people signing up! We have a pot of $520 at stake right now! Our first weigh in is Monday to establish our base weight and we will weigh in every Friday following that until Spring Break.

We've had 3 no spend days so far. I think that's pretty good. It's alot harder than we anticipated. We have to communicate on when to buy gas, when Travis' buys lunch or packs it, etc. 

Just for fun...here are a few pics of our week. It's been so warm we enjoyed some chalk time outside.

I made my first Pinterest project at our new house...I love him....he is just adorable!

"NASTICS" and those hogs

Last night we took Essie to a free preview class at our local gymnastics place. She was beyond excited. She did "okay". She wanted to do only one thing...jump on the trampoline. She would NOT do anything else AT ALL. I'm thinking we are going ahead and signing up and hoping she gets over the newness and will participate more. She sure misses kindermusik and hopefully this will give her something to look forward to each week.

We (like all other Arkansans) are gearing up for the Cotton Bowl. We all wore our HOGS gear to school/work today.

it's buttah!

We sold a lot of our furniture when we moved into the apartment because we wanted a fresh start and we didn't want to move it all.  Travis and I spent Monday furniture shopping...we have looked on and off the past few weeks but without much luck. We were able to find a new dining table/chairs. We bought some of Paula Deen's furniture...yes we did. I loved the chunkiness and the mix and match aspect. 

We bought this table in the tabacco color...

and these chairs in the linen color.

We also found a media cabinet to put our big tv on since our fireplace won't hold it and we've pretty much decided on a couch too.

We have no idea what we are going to do in the back room yet but we will need a few pieces for there too!

We {heart} Craftsman!

One thing we noticed while looking at the thousand houses over the past six months was that we LOVE Craftsman style homes. Love. Love. Love. We even looked at some really old homes that were craftsman. When we saw this house we knew instantly...

this was our new home. It was only a matter of days and we had a contract on it! We got a fabulous deal on it as well since it's been on the market for so long! Even though it is 6 years old it looks brand new and has so many unique qualities about it.

We are far from ready to reveal it but here is a few sneaky peeks!

This is our mantle in the main living room...it has these lovely stained sconces on either side...love. The fireplace is see-thru to the back room so we have another mantle back there as well. 

This is one of my favorite rooms in the whole house...our half bath. I love the color, beadboards, tile floor, and ceiling.  Such cute details!

12 Goals for 2012...

I am determined to make 2012 a good year for us...so here are my 12 goals for 2012!

1. Get settled. We've been unsettled for pretty much 2 years. I want to get our new house together, get rid of all our old junk, start fresh....

2. I saw this one over on Allison's blog...love it! Have 100 NO SPEND days where we spend absolutely nothing on those days! I'm going to make a little chart to put somewhere to keep up with this one for us. I'm very curious to see if we can do it!

3. Complete the potty training process with Essie...she does much better at school so I know it's our fault. We are honestly being lazy about it and we need to go full force and get her out of those pull ups.

4. Be a better friend.

5.  Read at least 3 books. The first one is sitting on my nightstand ready to go.."The Hunger Games". Yes I am late coming to the Hunger Games party but I am determined to get caught up before the movie comes out!

6. Find a church home.

7. Get caught up on Essie's photo books...create a blog book too!

8. Start new family traditions...Friday night movie night, Family Game night, etc.

9. Keep my car clean. It's always a mess-inside and out.

10. Do something nice/unexpected for/with my students more often. I have such a wonderful opportunity as a Kindergarten teacher to set them on the right path in education!

11. Get my wisdom teeth out...rediculous I know but I've been putting it off for years!

12. Get healthy. So cliche but I'm wanting to add onto our family in the near future and I need to be in better health to do it.

Those are my goals...I would love to accomplish them all...let's see how this year goes!