"After" Our closet

As you can see the closet looks much better! I found these red and cream damask print baskets at TJ Max and the photo boxes at JC Penny's. The neat thing is they look like they all go together. After we de-cluttered, we put wood shelves in(after Mario measured and cut each shelf), painted the entire closet to match our study, and hot glued trim to the front of each shelf just to add a little style. Oh and hung a tassel to use to turn light on. I got the whole idea from this months Country Living magazine. The kids really enjoy being able to "actually" find their games! We are calling it our hobby closet. I can store all my sewing projects and ideas and Mario has all his guitar stuff along with his record collection! Now our bookcase in our study is strictly for books. I walk in the room and open the door and just look at it in amazement! I can't wait to do all of our closets! Luckily for us they won't need as much attention. We hope you all have a safe and happy New Year's! And good luck with your New Year's resolutions! :) ~Amy

Our closet "Before"

Ok, I can promise you Mario and I like our house clean but yes we do have a catch all closet. It has really gotten out of hand the last few months as you can tell! In our defense this closet is very small. But we are making some changes one closet at a time! My New Year's resolution is to get all draws and closets clean and organized. I think we waste a lot of our time looking for things! And please don't ask why I have one baby hanger hanging or look at all the dust that has collected on the floor. This closet is never used but to store clutter!

Our Bathroom "Before" and "After"

"After"

"Before"

Our downstairs bathroom is on our wish list to remodel. The tile isn’t the prettiest. But there are many other things that will have to come before we can ever even think about retiling it. So for now new paint, light fixture, and accessories will have to do. At least we were able to get the awful flower wallpaper off! We had to use a razor blade to get it off. And we had to redo the plaster walls. The old broken white shutter had to go and we put up a chocolate roman shade. I’m not usually a big roman shade fan but it works really nice since the window is so big right by the toilet. I was just walking through TJ Max and found this zebra print bath mat. I had been looking for one for a while so I was excited to get it for just under 10 dollars. I found these towels at Target that have the exact Sherwin Williams green we painted the walls. So our bathroom is done for now. I know it isn't the most glamorous bathroom but all the fixtures are original to the house which to us is pretty neat. Someday I want to redo all the tile work but for now I’m happy with it. :)

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2: 9-11

Merry Christmas!

~ The Andreani Family

Christmas is just around the corner.

I bought this neat little tray at a shop called Mockingbird Manor in OKC. I put it on top of my armoire. When we lived there it was a fun shop to antique at. I thought the tray was a bargain at 12 dollars. I need to put a picture in my new frame next to it. I think after Christmas I'm going to have the kids pictures made professionally. And I have yet another Joe Spencer character to add to my collection. He's very whimsical. Have a good week we are staying inside! ~Amy

Our new Christmas ornaments...

Everything is wrapped, which feels very good especially since I have been working so much these past few weeks. We are waiting for a few things we ordered on line for family in OKC so we can mail them but other than that it's just waiting. This weekend we are hosting a potluck dinner. Our food theme is Mexican. We have 3 families coming over so each family is bringing a dish. I think it will be fun. We have started some traditions with Ethan and Emma since we live out of state and don't get to spend Christmas with our family. I'll share our traditions as it gets closer to Christmas. We bought these snowman ornaments this past weekend on sale! I was very excited because I had seen them in OKC but just couldn't justify the price. They are very cute. Our tree is accumulating a lot of snowmen, Ethan's favorite.

We got 6 inches of snow today!!!

When we woke up this morning all the snow we had from last week melted and our grass was actually still green frozen but green since it is a cold weather grass. But by 5:00 we had added 6 inches on the ground and is still snowing. Poor Mario had to snow shovel it. But it is beautiful to look at.

Our rug find...

We have been wanting a rug to put under our table since we bought our house 2 years ago. We had our eyes on this rug at Lowe's but wanted to wait until it went on sale. And our wait is over. We bought our living room rug at Lowe's too on clearance, so if you wait long enough they always do go on clearance! Ethan thinks it's very soft too.

Emma's letters...

I have been wanting to try to make some letters that spell Emma's name for a long time but was afraid I would just mess up and disappoint her. I bought the letters at Hobby Lobby back in OKC a few weeks ago. I found some scrap book paper at Michael's on sale. My total investment in the project is 7 dollars. So I just decided to give it a try and I am excited to say I like the way they turned out. And Emma loves them, so that is all that matters to me!

Blue Skies!

Blue skies is something we have not been able to enjoy much of lately! We were on our way to Emma's dance class and Ethan spotted this bird just starring down at us as we were getting in the car. Since it has been so cold here, 4 degrees right now to be exact, we don't see very many birds. So Ethan told me to take a picture of the bird because he thought it would be nice to post about on the blog. So this post is dedicated to you Ethan! :)

Happy 10th Anniversary, Mario!!!

Today is our 10th Wedding Anniversary. I am very blessed to not only be married to a great man, but also my best friend. We have grown and changed so much over the last 10 years together. I just wanted to thank you for being such a wonderful husband and father and I am so glad you came outside on my first day at Burger King almost 15 years ago to help me wash the windows.:) I love you.

~Amy

Snow!!! Ah, Ah!

We arrived back home late Sat. night and we woke up to this, snow on Sunday! Iowa welcomed us back home. Oh well, at least our chances of having a white Christmas are pretty good! Enjoy your week. ~Amy

Mario's grandmother's...

Not only did I get a Nativity from Paula but I also was given this by Mario's mom. It was Mario's late grandmother's. I love it!

Thank you Paula!

I posted before we left for OKC that I was going to buy a Nativity and my best friend Paula gave this to me for Christmas. I love it! Thank you!

Emma's new tutu for dance class!

Emma is really getting into her dance class! Every year when we visit OKC I stop in this fun dance shop and we pick out a new dance tutu and leotard. She wanted blue and chocolate! Very cute Emma!

Visiting my Aunt Kimi and cousin Cali!

Me, my Aunt Kimi, and Emma!

Emma and I had so much fun shopping and eating lunch with my Aunts, Uncle, and cousins at P.F.Chang's. I thought this picture of my cousin Cali and Emma turned out very cute. Kimi, I will be emailing these to you! :)

Eating at the Rainforest Cafe in Kansas City!!!

The kids look forward to this place everytime we go home for a visit. It has become a tradition! :)

Mario, his dad, and the kids at Ted's Mexican in OKC!!!

Emma eating a chip!!! Wow, we were some thirsty customers...

We were waiting to get our table and I snapped this picture. The food was great as usual. They serve up the best Mexican food... :)

Me, my dad, the kids, and Skeeter...

We had a good time visiting family! My dad has this very sweet dog(part poodle and chihuahua) and very well behaved! We took Chloe(our crazy dog) over to visit!

My Curious Sofa trip!!!

Mario was such a good sport when I asked him if we could stop by the Curious Sofa boutique in Kansas City on our way to OKC! I like to check out her blog so it was a real treat for me to get to actually walk in her shop! I felt like the kids do on the very special occasion that we treat them to a Toy's R Us visit! I bought this beautiful green glass pinecone that I put on my desk! I also bought the potpourri that smells like pine and many other delicious scents mixed together! Great shop! Amy

The Christmas Tree!

Here it is finally after some major problems Ethan and Emma are ready for Christmas. Every year we add a few more ornaments to our tree. You can see Spiderman hanging if you look very closely. This year I think Ethan wants to buy a Iron Man ornament and Emma wants a Barbie. I think our tree is still a little bare. A friend of mine found a post of a tree with a lamp in it! I somehow don't think Mario would ever go for that so I'll just stick to the traditional look. :) We are leaving for Oklahoma this Sat. to visit our family and friends so everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are so excited to take a little road trip! Wish us luck. We plan on stopping in Kansas City to do a little shopping and have a good lunch. The kids love the Rainforest Cafe. I'm planning on taking a lot of pictures. Happy Thanksgiving! ~Amy

More Christmas!

I really like to decorate with these Huge pine cones. I even put them on top of my candle sticks! And of course we had to get our Santa Claus out. I am planning on buying a nativity to add to our collection. Our nativity broke when we moved to Iowa. I looked last year but they are very expensive for a nice one. But this year I am determined I can find a good quality one at a good price. Wish me luck. Our mantle is my favorite with our stockings, pine cones, and garland. We have an extra stocking for our pets!!!