St. Patty's Day Fun!

What a beautiful day, St. Patty's Day was!  Much different weather than last year, and I remember this well, because last year we were picking Chris up from the airport for his R&R from Iraq!  It was COLD!  Anyways, so happy he was here with us this year and we don't have to send him back in 2 weeks!   Enjoy our pictures of our fun day:

 Always running!

 The babies loved the change of scenery!

 Maddy found a rock-it was her "baby"

 Again, with her "baby"  

 Mason found some wood to build with

They rode their bikes all over the driveway!

 Maddy and her rock again

A football was the next "baby"

 She was "shushing" it.  So sweet!

 Riding her new pink birthday bike!!

And....when you play, play and play.....

you sleep!  yay!

Maddy's 1st pedicure!

We had so much fun at Maddy's 1st pedicure.  

Maddy getting ready to go!  She was so excited to be leaving the house.  Had her shoes on in no time flat!  :)  

 Picking out her color

Got it!

 Soaking her feet

 She loved it!

Deciding on which pedicure she wanted!  :)

It would be a lie if I told you she sat nicely the whole time!  

BUT, she did do REALLY good for an active 2 year old!

 This was so funny.....He brought her over there to paint her little nails and she plopped her foot up there!  

Getting ready to blow on them!

Big girl in the chair by herself with finished pretty toes!  (she chose purple!)

p.s. her little legs are scraped up from falling on the jungle gym.

I loved taking her with me and I'm looking forward to doing it many more times in the future!  Girls are so fun!  ;)  

Article about Chris!

  I wanted to share this article that was written and published in the Ft. Riley newspaper about Chris.  I'm happy his hard work hasn't gone unnoticed.  Love him!   (It had a cute picture with it, but I can't get it to download-so just imagine a cute picture of him, and you're set! ;) )




AFFAIRS
Being the first person in his Family to join the military since the Civil War, Staff Sgt.ChristopherCrotts, a Soldier with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion,
28th Infantry Regiment,4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, rose through the ranks in four years. Although the Marine Corps was his first choice, Crotts said he soon decided the Army was a better fit. “I always felt like it was in my blood,” said the Greensburg, Kan., native.
“I always did history reports about the military … soI knew it was something that I wanted to do. I felt like it was my calling.” Crotts said he quickly realized there was more to the Army. As a private, Crotts said he strove to meet and exceed the benchmark set by his first platoon sergeant, and he knew what was expected of him by watching the example his leadership lived by.
“To me, that is the epitome of a noncommissioned officer– striving for excellence inevery aspect,” he said. “Coming into the Army and seeing (that leadership) – that’s what I wanted to be.”
Realizing the Army has no gray area in excellence, Crotts said he soon pushed past his peers and became a leader himself. Within a short time, Crotts served in the positions of team leader, squad leader and now serves as the battalion
retention NCO. Crotts was nominated to become a Sgt. Audie Murphy Club member. The Sgt. Audie Murphy Club is home to the top 1 percent of all NCOs in the Army. To become a member,
the Soldier must be nominated by a member and compete at a tri-level board.
Utilizing his knowledge to help other Soldiers become members, Crotts with the help
of Staff Sgt. Jason Brannan, the staff operations NCO in charge of HHC, 1st. Bn., 28th
Inf. Regt., would have study sessions for nominees during their lunch hour. For this reason, while
Crotts juggled the responsibilities of being the battalion retention NCO, a group of his peers in the Sgt. Audie Murphy Club nominated him for a higher position.
“I was nominated as the president – that says a lot about my ability to adapt,” he
said. With all of the responsibilities on his plate, Crotts said he has never lost his desire to lead
Soldiers. “My career goal is to lead Soldiers into combat, complete our mission and bring everyone
home,” he said. ‘Black Lion’ NCO strives for excellence in military career





 Sgt. Gene A. Arnold | 4TH IBCT Staff Sgt. Christopher Crotts, retention NCO, HHC, 1st
Bn., 28th Inf. Regt., left, discusses possible retention
gifts with Capt. Daniel Hartman, assistant operations
officer, HHC, 1st Bn., 28th Inf. Regt., right.
By Stephanie Hoff

Madeline's Minnie Room Makeover!

I'm so excited to blog about Madeline's room.

I made a birthday banner for Maddy's birthday and fell in love with the zebra, polka dot and pink combination.   I was thinking about re-doing her room, but had decided against it.  After I seen the finished banner, I had to do this!

Yes, I redid her room when we moved into this house.  Problem was that I had her in a toddler bed, so her bedding was toddler sized.  Her walls were a yucky blue, but matched with the bedding so I decided to leave it.  My OCD kicked in and every time I looked at her walls, they drove me crazy.  Also, I had decorated with light pink and owls and while it was super cute, she isn't a light pink type of a little girl.   She is a hott pink, spunky, sassy, wild thing.  Her room just didn't fit her and she was outgrowing her toddler bed.   So- there are my reasons.  ;)  or at least that's what I'm telling myself  (and my husband!)

I'm in love with names in their rooms.  I ordered her name in a vinyl decal.  Spray painted a piece of thin wood black, applied the vinyl, and here ya go!  So simple!!

I love this.  I decided to frame it at the last minute with an old frame I had lying around.  I bought a piece of thicker construction board at hobby lobby, drew circles, added a "real" bow and was finished!  I will admit, I would have loved having the real mickey ears decal-but at $40 a piece, I don't think so.    Doesn't look quite as good as the real thing, but a 2 year old doesn't know that.  :)

Curtains!

I found this zebra valance on Ebay for $5 including shipping!  Steal!  I only hung the black curtains to block out sunlight, so the Minnie lover could sleep at naptime.   As for her name (again!) She had this set in her "old" room painted light pink.  I loved spraying over that boring little color.  ;)

Dresser!  Once again, spray paint!  It was originally white, then was spray painted by my wonderful husband light pink, and then again hot pink!  You would have loved the look on his face when I asked him to do it again.  Thankfully, he did it happily with only a little mumble or two!  

This was so fun, because I HAD TO buy new knobs for her dresser.  When we took them off to paint, a few didn't screw back in, like they were suppose to.  (give a round of applause for cheap furniture!  :) )  I was planning on just getting cheap, boring ones-but happened to be in Hobby Lobby and their hardware was 50% off!   I got these for $1.50 a piece-pretty much the same price as the boring ones!  Happy Lady!

This was another HAD TO buy!  The lighting in our house, well, sucks-for lack of better words.  I scored this sweet lampshade at Dollar General for $5 and the base for $7.  Spray paint saved the day again!  

Her banner from her birthday!  

The mickey ears also have a zebra bow.  ;)  

 Her bedding and rug!  

WILD room for a WILD girl!  

She loves it!