Changes, Additions, and Upgrades

So many things have been happening around here, I can't keep up-- blog-wise. So here are some snap shots of our life and all of the changes, additions, and upgrades.

For Matt's 31st birthday (holy cow, Batman, he's OLD) I baked him a strawberry shortcake cake. It was two layers of spongecake (no mix-- old fashioned way), strawberry jam on the bottom layer and homemade strawberry mousse in between the layers and all around. It was delummy (delicious + yummy).
We received a BB and B gift certificate for a housewarming party and used it with a 20% off coupon to buy this wonderful addition to our den! It's hanging just above our TV.
Matt decided to put together the first "assembly required" baby toy... a jumper. Though he decided to do it like all the dads before him... without instructions-- if you look closely, you can see them in the background in the corner, closed. That's where they landed when he tossed them over his shoulder and said, "who needs these, I can look at the picture on the box!"
Apparently, he did need them (they are still behind him, but open). He got to the end and had a lot of parts left over. He had to look them up in the directions to find out what they were for.
But he finished the jumper-- and we also hung curtains in the baby's room too!

We also hung curtains in the large guest room that's just off of our bedroom. This room has undergone some changes... when we bought a new memory foam mattress for ourselves, we moved our old king mattress into this guestroom, but a new headboard for it from a hotel furniture liquidator, and moved the queen bed that was in here to the smallest room...
.... which is now another guestroom. Just in time for our October guests! Even though the room is small-- with a bed and two side tables we bought from the same hotel furniture liquidator, it doesn't look as small any more. It's still small. It just doesn't feel as small as it did without furniture.
Here you can see the small guestroom through the bathroom into the baby's room (gotta love Jack and Jill baths). We have a changing table!!You could kid of see the bathroom in the last picture, but this is what Matt did this Labor Day weekend...
He painted the Jack and Jill bath lime green. Eventually I will put up a shower curtain and them it out in frogs I think. We'll see how far he lets me go!

We also spent a good part of this past weekend excited about college football! We were given Ga Tech home opener tickets by a friend and were thrilled when it stayed overcast for 90% of the game, with a few sprinkles. By the way... Tech won! It was a good day. It was a good weekend!

Thank You Susan!

[Leela was curious about the new addition]

When Matt and I began registering for baby things, a crib was one of the first things on our list. Though after looking at a long list of them we found that most of the new cribs these days don't have a drop front rail, making picking up a baby very hard, especially when the mattress lowers to accommodate a growing baby.

Anyway, we registered for an old classic... the Jenny Lind style crib. This is the same crib that I had, my cousins had, and my sister's kids had. Apparently, it is still a very popular crib because this crib has been back ordered indefinitely at Babies R Us and Target.

Luckily, Aunt Susan came to the rescue! She still had my cousin Alan's old crib... a Jenny Lind. Thank you Aunt Susan! Matt, with some help from the internet, put the crib together last night, so now our boy has a place to sleep!

My Classroom

There are many people who haven't seen my new classroom (including Matt)... and I understand since it's sooooo far away, but here it is. My new "art" classroom-- it's really a chemistry lab, but what a great room to convert. I have a BUNCH of sinks and 6 paper towel dispensers!!!This is the front of my class...
I HAVE STANDARDS!! They are posted with essential questions!This is the view from my deskThe back counter is where students turn in papers and where I put graded papers to be passed back... it's the poor woman's filing systemThe other side of the counter has their portfolios... where they keep their work... stacked by period.
Rule #1
Rule #2Rule #3
Rule #4
COMMON SENSE!

LET THERE BE LIGHT

We have had so many "little" projects around the house, but most recently has been our lighting....There was only one light fixture in the kitchen... a boobie light to be exact (the dome lights that have a finial in the center to give the illusion of a nipple... now you will always see boobies hanging from the ceiling). Needless to say, the fixture did not actually provide much light, so we bought a bendy track light system at Home Depot.
Now we have light over the island, sink, stove, dishwasher, fridge, and pantry. The track system is also on a dimmer-- hence the soft light in the picture (it gets MUCH brighter)
Next came the deck lights... I suggested tacking rope lights up to the ceiling... then I suggested that Matt do the instillation!What a lovely place at night!
Even though we have indoor cats, we have allowed them outdoor access on the deck... they love it! Tungsten was so interested in what Matt was doing. What a cute cat!

Roaming the Dome

Last weekend Matt and I were joined my my sister, Tracy, and her Cullom crew-- they roll 8 deep-- at the Falcons' annual "Roam the Dome." It's a free event where you can watch the Falcons practice and get up close and personal. They came out and ran some drills, tossed some balls in the stands, and then had a scrimmage. We didn't stay for the whole scrimmage since Sara started to get fussy, but we are assuming that they let kids on the field after the scrimmage to "run drills" also. It was a fun outing, none the less!Ryan was enjoying the shade laying on the grass outside of the Dome as we waited to go in.
Jake, however, chose to lean against a tree as he waited.Before we found our seats, Matt, carrying Mary Clare, took a picture with Laine, Luke and the Chick-Fil-A cow. Jake and Ryan were too cool to be in this picture!
Matt entertained Sara for a good bit... he's going to be a great Dad!
Ryan and Luke were having a blast watching how the pros do it... they were glued to the action as if they were watching TV!Luke even had time to pose with his sister in between plays.Of course not everyone was having a great time. Jake REALLY didn't want to be there. He never said as much, but actions speak louder than words. This is pretty much how he looked all day....or like this... In fact, I took so many pictures of his "unhappy, I'm too cool for my family, pre-teen, get me out of here" looks that Tracy joked she could make a scrapbook of them! Poor Jake, he's just transitioning into those middle school years (yuck)!We did manage to get a group shot of the Cullom Clan: (back) Jake, Lee, Sara, Tracy, (front) Mary Clare, Laine, Ryan, and LukeThen Tracy returned the favor and snapped a shot of me and Matt...... and another one with the baby belly!

Painting the Nursery

Before Matt and I drove to the doctor on Friday morning, while we were taking off electrical plates and taping off the baseboards, Matt asked, "So you really want to paint the room green if it's a girl?" [we were having a party the next day and Matt was going to paint the nursery Friday night to be ready for the party] I responded, "well, yeah. What were you thinking about?" Of course, I was shocked that he was bringing this up now since we had decided on green for a girl a while back. He said he wanted it to be something more girlie, like pink or purple... not lime green. After I told him, again, what I planed for the girl's nursery, he agreed, or rather, gave up.

Fast forward...

We were called back pretty fast and got situated on the table. The technician informed us that she was going to use this visit also to take some measurements and check for proper growth. As she moved from the head downwards, I saw the two legs and asked, "Is that what I think it is?" she confirmed, "yep, those are the testicles and a little penis. You're having a boy!"

One of Matt's first reactions was, "At least now we don't have to argue any more over a green nursery!" Though he, we, are still very excited about our baby boy.

Matt did come home from work Friday night and painted the nursery.... both coats, one night. He's a beast!He's such a proud dad-to-be painting his son's room.Love the blue! Since we now know what we're having, we promptly went out to Babies R Us and Target to register for future showers. What a whirlwind weekend!

Better Late Than Never

So our grand plans getting all of the plaster done last weekend fell through. Mostly because we didn't have enough newspaper. Let me explain.... Even though we have all the supports up for the river, track, tunnels, land, and roads, we still had to build up the topography by using "pillows" of newspapers. This means taking individual sheets of newspaper and turning it under on itself. Since we don't subscribe to the paper, we have had to rely on the occasional paper Matt bought at lunch. However, we were bound and determined to get it completely plastered (hahaha) before our party on Saturday.Before we could lay the plaster over everything, we had to tape the newspaper pillows in place. Then it gets a little heart stopping. We had to lay the plaster perfectly smooth over all of the track supports (so that the track would lay as smooth as possible-- otherwise the train may not run as well) and the areas that would be the road. But once that was done, we could start laying the plaster over the land forms. Talk about instant gratification! It doesn't look like newspaper "pillows" anymore! I know it's very white right now, but shortly it will start to take more shape. Tonight, God willing, we plan on getting all the track bed foam glued down.Voila! Completely plastered!