Dunbar Family Christmas Tour

Jamy and I bought this big old home a little over three years ago. Since that day we have had this dream of making it a welcoming, beautiful place for the holidays. Each year our Christmas display gets a bit bigger. This year we were asked to be on the Christmas homes tour. I have attached a video of the house and the Christmas display. Enjoy!!

Hannah Montana's got nothing on this boy.

Mr. Weston has become quite the rocker lately. He gets his guitar, sets up his "stage lights", and makes us all sit on the floor of his room for concerts. Here is some footage from his most recent concert. Funny boy!

Yeah, they are 2 and 4

Happy Anniversary, Jamy!

Happy Anniversary, Baby! I love you.

The video isn't perfect yet, but I was running out of time. I will probably change the font as I think it is a bit hard to read and I need to crop a few pictures. I also would like to put some effects in it, but you get the idea!

First days of school

Friday and today brought the first day of school for Abby and then Weston. I will post details and photos soon. For now though here are Skylar's words of advice to Weston today as we were walking to the truck to take him to school. Skylar looks at Weston and says, "Remember, no fighting and no bad words at school!"

Pretty solid advice, don't ya think?

Why my daughter is never getting married.

Every night I spend several minutes snuggling each one of the kids in their own bed just me and them. We read. We pray. We sing. We also talk. This is my favorite part. I really feel like it is important that each kid has this one-on-one time with me to rehash their day. I tell them how much they mean to me and how proud I am of them. We talk about what we did during the day and what we want to do the next day. Sometimes we talk about things that bother them or things that make them happy. Last night I was snuggling Abby and we were giggling like a couple of teenagers about some silly thing. Those moments are so precious to me. I know they are just silly moments to her now, but I hope one day she will look back and remember and the memory will be precious to her as well.

Let me rehash last night's conversation after the giggling.

Me: "What are you wondering about, honey?"

Abby: "Not much." Short pause here. "What are you wondering about Mommy?"

Me: "Oh I wonder about a lot of things."

Abby: "Like what?"

Me: "Like what makes you happy and what makes you sad. What you like and what you don't like. Who you will be when you grow up. Who you will marry."

Abby cuts me off very abruptly here.

Abby: "I NOT getting married. I really love Logan, but I am not going to get married."

Me (suppressing a giggle): "Really? But don't you think it is special when someone picks you as the person they love and want to spend their life with?"

Abby: "Well, yeah."

Me: "So why don't you want to get married?"

Abby: "Because I don't want to have to pick up the kid's rooms."

Me (no longer able to keep from laughing out loud): "What?"

Abby: "Well, when you get married you have to pick up the kid's rooms and I don't think I should have to pick up after them. I think I am going to just spank their little butts instead."

Me (now really laughing): "Well, is that what you think I should do?"

Abby:"No, Mommy! I really like your way for us kids. I just think I'll do it different and just spank their little butts"


The kid has a point!

A vision

When we bought our house all of the walls were the same boring neutral very light color. The color is okay, but EVERY wall? Drives me crazy. I love to experiment with decorating, but usually wait until an inspiration hits me.

For awhile now, I have had an idea for our kitchen. I always wanted a red kitchen, but with the woodwork being so dark in there I just could make myself paint the whole kitchen red. We have some wineglasses that are red with some gold accents. Made me think "Hmmmmm...........". We went to the store and found a metallic paint that is actually gold. It is way out there and not a color I would normally have choosen, but I thought, "what the heck, it's just paint."

After the first coat, I was sure I had a made a mistake. It looked awful. A friend came over and convinced me to finish it and see then what I thought. So I did. The results are in and I really like it. I thought I would share some pictures with you all. There are a couple of before pictures so you can see what it was like before. Sorry, but this silly site keeps putting the before pictures in the middle instead of at the start of the pics. I think you will be able to tell the difference though. :)

Of course, now that room is so bright and colorful the rest of the house looks so boring. I guess we better not put those brushes away just yet.

Team Dunbar Takes on Tball

Abby and Weston had their first Tball game last night. How cute are little kids playing Tball? Here is a little video of the night. Sorry it isn't that great, but I just wanted to get it done quick.

Enjoy!

Being a good granddaughter

Yes, yes we are still here. Sorry to have not updated for so long. We are out and about enjoying the beautiful weather and each other. But, Grammy is missing the stories and photos of the kiddos so here is an update.

So much has happened in the last month. That is probably part of the reason why I haven't had time to sit down and update the blog. Why is it that when time gets busy doing the things you would love to share you have so little time to sit down and share those things? Anywho...........we have had a graduation, a birthday, visits with friends and family, t-ball starting, picnics, days at the lake, and lots of other fun summer fun going on around here.

Let me start with a funny story. Those of you who have been to our house know that we have a nice big lot for the kids to play on. One of their favorite activities is riding their bikes on the sidewalk in front of the house. We sit on the corner so we have a street to one side of the house and a street in front of the house. Because the lot is big the kids can get up a pretty good head of steam riding along. They know that they have to stop and turn around before they get to the street and at the driveway on the other side. I was having trouble with them last year cutting it a little too close to the street when they turned around in the driveway so I spray painted an orange line on the driveway for them as a visual of when they needed to turn. All three kids know they are not to cross the orange line and they are overall very good about obeying. Over the winter the line faded, so the other day I got out the spray paint and repainted it. While I was at it I decided to put one on the other side of the lot where they needed to turn around before getting to the street. I guess Abby didn't see me paint that one.

Here is the funny part. She was out front riding her bike and I was inside folding laundry watching her through the window. I saw her riding just as fast as she could down the sidewalk. I could see that she was getting ready to brake in time to not get in the street but there was no way she would stop before the orange line. Just about the time I realized she didn't know I put it there she slammed on her brakes so hard that her back tire came off the ground. Next thing you know, I hear her say, "Well, shit! When did she put that there?" Dad was here that day and we laughed so hard I thought we would both pee. Matter-of-fact, as I am writing this I am giggling. Don't ask me where she learned such language. I am sure I don't know.

So here are some pictures to show you what we have been doing.


First, Weston caught some frogs and of course then they had to go for a ride on the radio controlled semi. Poor froggies! Also, Abby had field day at school and so there are a few pics of that as well.







Next are a couple of shots of Miss Abby graduating kindergarten. It turned out to be a very exciting day. Daddy had to be gone for her graduation, but we had several other family and friends surprise her and come down for the big event. A big thank you to you all. It meant a lot to her and to Jamy and I to have you there. That was only the second time that Jamy has had to miss something of the kids and we both struggled with it. Having other people there who love Abby made Daddy being gone easier.









Let's see, next came Weston's birthday. Of course he wanted trains on his cake. We practiced on the cupcakes he took to school. I think they came out cute. Well, for his actual party he wanted a whole train made of cake. No problem! I found a really cute one and showed him the picture. He carried that picture around for over a month. Five days before the party he says, "Mommy, I think probably about I want....a Polar Express train instead." You want a WHAT???? So because I am bound and determined to get that Mommy of the Year award I scrapped the old idea and designed a new cake. It was all worth it when he came downstairs on the morning of his party and saw his cake. I would move a mountain just to see that smile. In this case, I actually built one. Here are some photos.








And some pictures from the party....








Most of you know by now that my son has a SERIOUS obsession with all things train. If you ask him what he is going to be when he grows up the answer is always a train conductor.








And some random fun....









Okay, enough for now. I hope you are all out having as much fun enjoying the people that you love as we are. Happy Summertime!

More pics....

Here are some more pics. These are from a picnic at the park the other day. The kids and I have a favorite park by the lake. It is in the woods and is a terrific place to play. We had a great time!













And finally, a couple of Mr. Handsome before his spring program. I will try to put video of that up this weekend.