Today's Progress

Marcos had to do some work out of town today and I wanted to surprise him with a completed shed. We have wanted a storage shed for quite a while and completing the room over the garage forced us to find a place to store all of the "stuff" that was stored up there. The shed has also enabled us to gain some much needed space in our garage. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to park my car in there one day. Marcos built the entire shed himself and it has been sitting there for over a month waiting to be painted. I don't have any progress shots, but here is what the shed looked like when I started painting yesterday.

I painted the door black and hung a red star that I stole from Max's cowboy room on the door--this led to a huge melt-down. Max hates change and there is no reasoning with him--I offered him a Popsicle and reminded him that we are going to redecorate his room. My little bribe didn't work--he...wants...the...star...back! He's not getting it back!

Marcos is not home yet, but I think he will be excited. Now he just needs to add the roof and the light and this will be one project that we can mark off the list.

This shed is going to solve more than one problem...

I love my husband and I am proud of his business, however, I do not love the mess that comes along with his chosen trade. There are pipes and back flow stuff and he also has an issue with collecting wood. For a year all of this has been up against the back of my house. Thanks to the shed it will be gone:-)

The space between the back of the shed and the fence will serve as storage for all of his crap, I mean stuff. I think he should put brick or pavers down to cut down on weeds and bugs.

He will also install trellis so that all of this stuff is finally out of view! I will be sure to keep you updated on his progress.

Labor Day Plans

No, we're not headed to the beach or to the mountains for the weekend. However, we do have big plans. We started painting the shed tonight and I will finish it tomorrow. I also plan to paint my swing, stain the porches and plant some fall flowers in my window boxes. Fall is my favorite season and is the one time of the year that I can enjoy being outside without sneezing my head off. I hope to get all of my little outside projects completed this weekend. I hope to have progress to share tomorrow night.

Image courtesy of Southern Living

Coming Up for Air & Maxs' Haircuts

After an entire summer full of surgeries, hospital visits, a birth, a wedding and a lot of home improvement projects, I am taking a moment to come up for air. I still have a lot on the "to do" list, but I can finally feel things returning to "normal". I have missed blogging and hope to find time to update more frequently.

I have many events from the past few months to catch you up on. The event that tops the list is Max's haircut. Before I get into the events that lead to my four year old having a buzz cut, let's take a look back at my baby and his beautiful hair.

When Max was born he had a head full of black hair...

It quickly turned a lot lighter (at times appearing blond)

We couldn't believe that we had a blue-eyed, blond-haired little boy...

We had it cut a few times...

but we always liked it best when it was long!

We were living in "long haired bliss" until about three weeks ago...

At about five o'clock in the morning on my first day back to work Max crawled into bed with us. I woke up and got in the shower about an hour later. Marcos put Max in the car and they left before I got to see Max (this never happens--I always say good bye). I walked into the hallway and saw locks of Max's beautiful hair on the floor. I frantically called Marcos. When I finally got in touch with him he said that Max had cut the front of his hair. I was upset, but thought "we will just get it fixed when I get home." I was thinking that we would just get him a nice "little boy haircut"--you know, the kind where they use scissors NOT the evil clippers. I was on my way home and Marcos sent me a text message that had a picture of Max's new haircut. I literally almost wreaked my car. Marcos' solution was to take him to the barber and have it "buzzed". I was devastated and threw the first of many fits.

This is what I came home to:

This is the only "good" picture I have of his hair cut from that day. I was too devastated to take any others. I did, however, try to figure out a way to hide the "buzz".

First I tried the stocking hat...

This was not a lasting solution because it is August in Charleston.

So I found a baseball cap for the wedding...

it did the trick and he looked adorable.

However, I began to feel bad when he wouldn't take the hat off for people to see his new haircut. He was embarrassed and it was my fault (Bad Mommy!). This helped me to see that I needed to stop trying to cover it up and come up with a better solution.

Molding wax to the rescue!

We use molding wax to "spike up" the front of his hair and make him look way cool!

Although we were all happy with the solution, Max let his jealousy and hair envy get the best of him. He took the very same scissors that cut his hair and cut off the yellow yarn hair of "Max", his stuffed cowboy.

I hid those scissors because I don't want to be next!

Back to School!

Getting Max ready to go back to school was no small feat! It all started Tuesday night with "Meet the Teacher". He was happy to be back, but there were a lot of people who didn't recognize him with his new "do". (If you haven't heard the about the haircut I will fill you in later--it is still too painful to talk about!)



On Wednesday, I put the patches on Max's new book bag and lunch box. The superhero patches are from Etsy. They are supposed to iron on, but it wasn't working for me so I used fabric glue and it worked great.

Then I had to fix his lunch...

get school supplies together...

and lay out his clothes.

We even go a book for Mrs. McGorty--Max's new teacher.

Max enjoyed it...

and we thought his teacher would too. Unfortunately, he gave it to his teacher from last year. I guess when I told him to give it to his teacher he thought that I meant Mrs. Barbara.

And this is what happens when you let your husband get those all important first day pictures...

He enjoyed his first day and is looking forward to a great year with his new teacher!

Just Checking In

After several weeks of preparation and excitement, the wedding was a success! It was a blast, but now things must return to normal. I am exhausted and school starts tomorrow, however, I am kind of excited to return to a routine. Hopefully I can pace myself and wait a while before I start any new projects!



Over the next few weeks I hope to do a lot of blogging (there is much to catch you up on) and I also plan to start riding my bike again. For now I must go get ready for tomorrow and hopefully the Negreiros family will be in bed early tonight!

Mani & Pedi, Spray Tan & Bachelorette Party

OK, so I don't get out much, but when I do go out I like to do it up right! I've never been much of a partier, but I enjoy those rare nights out with the girls as much as the next! Melissa and I joke that the only time we get to go out is when someone gets married--so thanks, Courtney and Berg, for giving us this opportunity to celebrate!

Today we will be celebrating Berg and Courtney's wedding by throwing them a shower...Tonight we will be initiating Courtney into the "Brazilian Wives Club"! To prepare myself I got my very first spray tan and the first pedicure I've had in over a year (the girl said they were going to charge me double). I also got a new outfit so I can feel sassy. I decided that even moms need to spend some time on themselves--we are still girls after all! I hope to have some great pictures and stories to share tomorrow!

What's Going on with Me...

I had so many plans for the summer...I was going to get my house organized, a lot of school work completed, exercise daily and spend my days soaking in the sun and playing in the water with Max. One of my many weaknesses it that I always think that I can accomplish more in a specific time period than is possible. Once again, I have come to the end of the summer and I have more "to do's" left on my list than check marks...

I have tons of paperwork to do for school...

My mom has been in the hospital, but is doing much better and will be moving into a rehab center soon...

I also have a very messy house and a lot of cleaning to do before the wedding...

I CAN DO IT! I think...

I'm just going to try to do all that I can and be okay with the things that don't get competed.

I am looking forward to Courtney's shower, bachelorette party and wedding!

With all of this going on I should have some good blogging material...