Table re-do

 I had this great idea back in August to look for a round table and chairs that Chris and I could re-finish for our home.  I found this beauty at the Salvation Army store for $60 and thought I got a steal of a deal.  It expands with a leaf and you can comfortably seat 6 people at this table.  I perused blog after blog trying to find the most time efficient way to refinish wood furniture.  I even e-mailed a few people and we decide to go with the suggestion of getting a really good primer that sticks to anything and not sanding or stripping anything.  Well...we did this and were at the final stages and I HATED the feel of it and the look...I was so unhappy and so was Chris.  So back to the drawing board.  We ended up stripping all of the paint and the original finish (not a fun job at ALL!) then sanding it all down to the original wood.  We primed and painted the table and after many many many long weeks it was finally finished on the 23rd of December.  When Chris came home and saw that it was completely done he said, "I feel like we have closed a huge chapter in our home-improvements-book."  It is so true.  This project has dominated our lives and has been the most FRUSTRATING of projects EVER!  Yet, I am ready to tackle another one (and we did with the piano.)  We have learned that short cuts don't make us happy and to just do it right the first time and everyone wins.  We are so HAPPY with the table now.  My goal this next month or so is to make a runner for it.  Tell us what you think!

Yes...I really did buy this ultra-70's ugly table...but I thought it had a lot of character and with the right love it could be perfect for us!

Our new table and chairs...doesn't it look way  better?

I thought it would be appropriate to show how it looks in our home...now all that is left is finding new rugs to occupy this space.  We will see...I have a few ideas.  Oh and we are going to get some cream parson chairs to put at the ends...it should be pretty cute.  But it's definitely progress!

Birthday Celebration at....

LUKE'S

 So, when I had Tracen some friends got me addicted to watching Gilmore Girls and it has spun out of control since.  My Mom, Sister and Myself all own the complete sets of all 7 seasons.  Ha!  Well, the girls of Hershey are Gilmore Lovers too...so how perfect to have my birthday party at Luke's (a little diner) and to pig out on all things junk food.  It was pretty awesome.  

Since I am blogging about Gilmore Girls I also have to make a confession...Logan is named after a TV character.  AHHH!!!  It is true and Chris knows it.  Ha!  I totally believed that my kids would come out as little clones so when I got pregnant and found out I was having a boy, I couldn't resist.  I just knew this cute little face.... (I think I have to include some pictures of our little Tracen...ahh!  Do you remember that curly hair?)

  Would grow up looking similar to this...

and be as cute...if not cuter than the Logan on Gilmore Girls...but it is all a bit irrelevant now since we produced a mini Chris.  But we love our Logan all the same :)

But I digress so now back to the party...

 looking from inside of Luke's...check out who wishes he could be at the party...sorry Kirk...no boys allowed

I even got to sit next to Rory at breakfast...awesome!

Now back to reality...the ladies who made it all happen...

 

Leslie, Danielle, Linsy, Beau, Sara, Sarah, Adrienne, Linsy, Janna

Beau Beau...the little man

Pretty awesome picture..right...LOL...but I wanted you to see the tower of donuts, soda, hot chocolate, french fries & candies...awesome night...and you know you love the birthday crown!

Thanks ladies!  Awesome birthday/girls night!

Before the party I stumbled onto a blog that teaches you how to do fast and simple hairdo's...mine is definitely not nearly as good as hers...but I think it was pretty cute  (oh and I definitely shouldn't take profile pictures..ha!)

Random...but a few weekends ago, Chris and I went to the Orthopedics Christmas party with our friends Sarah and Eddie Sirlin.  They took these pictures of us..it was a super fun night filled with good food, good friends, fun dancing and what?  NO KIDS!  Awesome!

More Christmas...

for Mom & Dad
Living so far away isn't always easy to send gifts off...so we got a lot of cash, which we were happy about.  Chris will be changing to Rheumatology aka Rheuma-holiday for the month of January and we have a list of home improvements we want to work on!  So thank you thank you to everyone!

Utah gear from Maree!  We love it!  

 A back massage pillow and shoe from Grandma Barbara & Grandpa Fred

In my normal style, I went a little overboard...I just like it so much so here is Chris' gift from me!

 In case you can't tell what it is, I got our family tickets to go see UConn vs Villanova in Philly in February!  I also decided that if we were going we needed to go in style so we all got UConn shirts!  I thought I was pretty clever with my "Congratulations from Huskywear.com" but it didn't fool Chris.  Ohwell, I think he likes it, even if it was a bit more than my budget!

Merry Christmas!

Way too many presents...and with living so far away from everyone...I feel like we need to make a shout out of thank yous so no one get left out...so here it goes!

One other thing...Christmas morning...we let the boys open their stocking and one gift from Amanda & Chad then they got their Santa gifts.  We then had breakfast of monkey bread and sausage and Tracen and I headed to church while Chris and Logan got some much needed rest.  After church we all got back into our jammies for the remainder of the day and Logan was feeling much much better!

Smurfs & Nike Sweatsuits from Grandma Barbara & Grandpa Fred

Book of Mormons videos for both boys from Grandma Maree

Iron man for Logan and a cool RC car for Tracen from Gigi & Papa Jay

Clothes and Shark Race Car track for Tracen & Clothes and a Pirate Ship for Logan from Grandma Debbie & Grandpa Steve

A train lamp that really runs from Papa Craig

Star Wars guys and lunch boxes from Morgan, Jace, Kim & Rick

New Jazz Jerseys from Miles, Tyson, Jordyn, Jessica & Jason

Lots & Lots of games from  Kent & Christin

Two Target gift cards from Ally, Zack, Scott & Stacey

Funny story:  I was going to save these for a little down the road when the boys were sick of their toys and wanting something more...but my plan failed.  We were headed to Target and Tracen started asking if he could get something so I told him that Ally & Zack had given him money that he could buy something with.  So when I gave him the gift card he got all mad and bugged that I hadn't given him cold hard cash.  So I continued to explain to him that it was like a credit card and it had $15 on it so he could find something that was $15.  He cheered right up.  So we already spent our money...LOL  Tracen got...more cars and Logan got more guys...I was surprised by Tracen's choice, but definitely not Logans.

The boys also got some cool Monster Sock Puppets that they love to chase each other around with from Kathy.  (Chris has that picture on his phone...so we will update soon)

Thank you to everyone for all the Christmas gifts and helping to make the boys Christmas dreams come true.  We all had a great day and even though we were so far away from our family we still felt the joy of the holiday and the spirit of Christmas.