The Paint is ON!!

This past weekend we decided to jump feet first into the home remodeling/makeover.  Now is just a good of time as any.  We really worked hard.  We had to do so much prep work, but it was totally worth it.

Here are some before pictures:

Here are our after photos:

This photo probably depicts the teal color the best.  It isn't as bright as the other photos make it seem.

In the middle of all of our caulking, painting, and re-wiring switches and plugs, we managed to make it out to Caitlyn's school Saturday afternoon for a little Bunny Bingo!  It was a nice time.  We played bingo for a couple of hours, saw the cheerleaders perform, saw the Easter Bunny, and entered into way too many raffles!  Caitlyn had fun at Bunny Bingo and even got into the painting a little bit.  She helped me paint the blue wall and one of the gray walls.  I have to say, she may have a future in painting! :)

Love y'all,

Cara, Martin, and Caitlyn

One day at a time....

Well, I have to say that it is not the moving that is bad, but it is the UNPACKING!!!  I am about 85% through all of the boxes (with the exception of the garage) and things are, how should I put this, a MESS!!  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.  Remember though, we haven't even been in this house 3 weeks, so I think we are making great progress.  We have plans this weekend to paint the dining room and put it together since it is the first room you see in the house.  We are going a little more modern in this house as far as colors go, so it should be exciting to see how everything turns out.  I mean, it's just paint, right??  I can always change it.

On the home front, Caitlyn is adjusting well to her new school and Martin and I are getting back into the swing of making lunches and cooking dinners.  We are still learning about our new town and finding our way around, but overall, it is going well.

Dining Room

Living Room

Kitchen

Guest Room

Laundry

Miss C's room

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Our own backyard paradise

Eating area and back "den"

Moving on Up...

So, as you may or may not know, we have been transferred to Louisianna for Martin's career with State Farm Insurance.  Martin will now be overseeing all of the auto claim litigation for State Farm in the State of Louisianna.  Nice big promotion, however, we had to move.  Oh well.  Don't feel sorry for us!  We are living right outside of New Orleans in Metairie, LA.  It is a nice neighborhood and house.  After getting over the sticker shock (we came from Texas where you can buy a mini mansion with a small fortune), we decided to buy a house close enough to the action, but far enough out to still be a family friendly suburb.  Caitlyn also had big changes in her life.  Due to the less than stellar public school systems in the area, we decided the best choice for Caitlyn was a private school.  She is now a student at St. Clement of Rome.  Today was her first day and she had a pretty good day!  She said all of the kids crowded around her at recess because they all wanted to be her friend and get to know her! 

The unpacking is taking some time.  Martin and I only took off a couple of days to unpack and organize the house.  Needless to say, in those two days, we were only able to unpack Caitlyn's room, our master closet and bathroom and about 80% of the kitchen.  The rest of our time was consumed with shopping for school uniforms, black tennis shoes, a backpack that rolls, school supplies, etc.

Luckily, everything is going about as smooth as you could hope.  We have given ourselves a deadline of 30 days to have all of the boxes unpacked.  After that, we will start the painting, and all of the cosmetic changes to the house.  Hopefully we can make decent progress on these items before it heats up too much and I loose my chief remodeler to the pool.  Did I mention the house has a pool?  Yeah, it does.  Yes, I plan on spending my weekends out there.  Yes, I plan on also drinking margaritas at the same time.  Life is good!

Love ya'll,

Cara and family

Happy New Year!

Well, here I am again! I haven't posted hardly at all this year, but each year I am getting a little bit better :) So, I joined the Pinterest craze. Found lots of cute stuff over there. www.pinterest.com
So, let's see if I can sum up the year we just finished. Ok, Caitlyn finished Kindergarten. We are very proud of her. She started first grade in August. She has a pretty busy schedule. She participates in the kids church choir, Girl Scouts, and plays on a winter basketball team. Now, you can add in guitar lessons since she received a real acoustic guitar from Santa. Can't wait to see what she learns to play!

Martin is still with State Farm and is currently a project assistant for two vice presidents. He is enjoying this different aspect of the insurance business.

I am still with Clifton Gunderson. We are undergoing a merger that will take place on January 2nd. We will now be a top 10 accounting firm and our name will be CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA). Looking forward to see what changes (if any) it brings.

We are still involved with our church a great deal of time, Trinity Presbyterian in McKinney. Martin was asked to be a Deacon this year, so we are busy with meetings, etc. I volunteer at Caitlyn's school doing teacher appreciation once a month. It is nice to give back. Martin is also the Lead Watch D.O.G at her school (Dad's of Great Students).

Let's hope we find time to slow down in the new year and enjoy some of this stuff!! :)

Love,
Cara

Happy New Year!!

OK, I love the New Year, I just hate that it seems to be coming around so quickly these days!!Ha ha. This past year was a good year filled with a lot of memories. To recap we took a wonderful vacation with the family to Walt Disney World, Caitlyn started Kindergarten, and we got two new family pets, a fish named Lilly and a cat named Rhett. In the coming year we look forward with anticipation to Caitlyn finishing her first year in school, watching her basketball team play, good health, and new adventures! Happy New Year to family friends!

Here is a recap of our year in photos!

Snow storm, January 2010

Caitlyn's PJ's that I made her for her preschool Valentine party!

Martin took Caitlyn to the zoo in March.

Easter at Grandma's house in Corpus Christi.

Our vacation in May to Walt Disney World

Caitlyn graduating from preschool in June.

Caitlyn at Vacation Bible School in July.

Caitlyn's first day of Kindergarten in August.

Caitlyn at Halloween as a cute witch.

Caitlyn's school Thanksgiving.

Disney Photo's

Ok, so I know that we went to Disney months ago, but I am just now getting around to putting some photos up. Enjoy!

Field Day Fun

Today was Caitlyn's first ever Field Day at school. They started at about 8:00 am and didn't end until 10:45 am. Martin was a volunteer and manned the 50 yard dash. I sat this one out and was only an observer. I took lot's of pictures and followed Caitlyn's class around a lot.

This is her doing the plunger run. They had to balance a ball on a plunger and run to a cone, turn around and go back. She had excellent balance!


This is Caitlyn doing another relay where they had to fill up a sponge with water and then run to a chair with an empty bottle and squeeze out the bottle and fill up the bottle. Her line won!

This little cutie here is Jude, our next door neighbor's little boy. They are at our house on the weekends because their other son, Vaughn, is best friends with Caitlyn. Jude and I hung out a lot today because his mom was volunteering at the bean bag toss, so he walked with me and helped me take pictures of the kids.

Look at Caitlyn's class doing the tug o war. How cute! That is her teacher, Mrs. Sullivan. She is very sweet and patient with the kids. We really like her.

This is Caitlyn doing the bean bag toss, well, not really, this is her retrieving the bean bags after tossing them no where near the bean bag toss board. Oh well, you can't be good at everything!
Caitlyn is running through on obstacle course. They had lots of fun racing their friends!
Last, but not least, this is Caitlyn's best friend Vaughn. He isn't in her class, but they see each other every weekend and play, swim, and have fun!

Take Care - Cara