Gundy Family Nativity 2010

Starring Sitota as baby Jesus, Choir Director and descant singer.

8 Things...

...I love about my 8-year-old:

1. Eve is an artist and loves to make herself look unique. She has always had outstanding taste in socks and just recently realized that I was serious when I said gravity would not allow her to style her hair the way she wants to.

2. Eve has an ear for music and loves to play the piano.

3. Eve is an incredible organizer and often gets after me because of the state of my junk drawer.

4. Eve is considerate of others and is always looking out for those who may be alone. She is a true friend.

5. Eve is a natural born nurturer. She often talks about the day she will be a mother of 30 children (yes, she really said 30 and I laughed thinking of the day she calls me in tears because 1 child is so much work, never mind 30).

6. Eve is a very hard worker and she does a good job. She is my best cleaner.

7. Eve loves to laugh.

8. Eve is my daughter! The day she was born I realized we have the kind of relationship only two females can have. I love my daughter.

Happy Birthday Eve!!

Bathroom Before and After

This was a really fun project because it involved more than just painting the walls. I first started working on this bathroom a year ago when I painted the ceiling white and refinished the cabinets. This week we finished the rest of the room. We added a recess light above the shower. I spray painted the light fixture and towel hooks with a rubbed bronze paint. Bret built a frame for the mirror and I painted and antiqued it. My favorite part...the new molding and board and batten walls (white boards on the walls). I've been wanting to do these for a long time. I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Thanksgiving

We have a few Thanksgiving traditions. One is our thankful leaf collage, most days in November we each write one thing we are thankful for on a leaf and hang it on a door in the kitchen. Another tradition is to walk the Utah Human Race 5K as a family. All proceeds from the race go to the Utah food bank. This year it was 9 degrees at 8 am when the race started--brrrrrr. I was really proud of the kids, there were almost no complaints. They are really tough kids!

We hosted dinner at our home with lots of family. Mindy brought over a turkey craft for the kids to do. This is a terrible picture but it's of my kiddos and nieces and nephews and I sure am thankful for them!

Happy Birthday Sitota!

Sitota turned one this month. She is walking (more like running) and talking. Oh, and she has mastered the art of throwing tantrums. She throws her body on the ground and does something similar to push ups while screeching at the top of her lungs. Funny and yet extremely annoying at the same time.

Now, I know a lot of you are thinking I must have bought this fancy cake. Surprise, I actually made this beauty. It is suppose to look like the Ethiopian flag only the colors of the flag are green, yellow and red--not green, yellow and pink. Hard to believe it but cake decorating is not really my thing.

Boy do we love this little girl! She has been such a blessing to our family!

When You're Two...

When you're two you can give yourself bangs without worrying about it looking like an amateur hack job. You can eat the chocolate mix right out of the hot chocolate bag before adding water without any thought to calorie content or mess. You can wear sunglasses to the breakfast table even if it's still dark outside. You can say it like you mean it, as loud as you want, "NO!!!"

Boo!

We had a fantastic Halloween this year. We went trick-or-treating at Adobe (Bret's work), a nursing home and in our neighborhood--the pouring rain didn't stop us from going out. We came home wet but happy (who can be unhappy when they're carrying a huge bag of chocolate?).

Dex, the T-Rex. Graham, the horse. Eve, the ballerina. Laura, the unicorn. Sitota, the bear. Bret, the agry villager (assigned costume for work). Kathleen, the beautiful babe in her 20's. Truman, the clown.

Gotta love recycled costumes. This horse is on his 2nd year and the dino--I think it's his 5th year ;)

Sunday Morning Shake

I had to blog this picture to prove that I do have THE CUTEST kids ever.

Hair

This is the first time I have put beads in Sitota's hair. It took me FOREVER to do. I hadn't been done for even 5 minutes before she pulled out two of the beads and put them in her mouth...kids!

Piano Recital

I am so proud of my piano players.

Dexter and Eve both played duets with Bret.

Truman has been playing for 5 years now and sounds so good.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a pumpkin patch with the trans racial adoption group we belong to--so much fun!

Laura was holding her pumpkin for a whole 30 seconds before she dropped it and the stem broke off.

Sitota had a great time walking around. She's been walking for almost a week now (still a beginner and oh so cute!).

Graham is at the age where he gets excited about everything. I love my four year old!!

Sisters

These two are the very best of friends.

This sister is no longer suppose to have a pacifier but if she's quick enough she can steal Sitota's through the bars of the crib. As you can see, the night this was taken she was fast enough and poor Sitota had to do without ;)

"Finish It" Friday

Every (OK, not every) Friday I try to finish something I've started. This week it was the girls' room. We picked up a few items when we were in Ethiopia and they have been hanging out in my closet while I have been...well, that's another story (six kids, you get the picture). Bret went to NY for work and I decided to surprise him by putting together an African Nursery. I did most of the work in the two days he was gone and finished the rest of it today.

Isn't this a beautiful painting? The perfect picture of an Ethiopian mother. I get emotional every time I look at it. (We brought this home from Ethiopia as well as the wooden animal carvings, the picture of a typical farmer's home and the bird mobile).

I made the cheetah print wall hangings out of MDF we had in the garage and fabric. I also sewed the zebra curtains. What was really exciting to me was that it only cost me $29 to finish off the project since all of the supplies I bought were on clearance.

You can see the girls love their room so much they don't want to take the nap they are suppose to be taking. Maybe if I got out of the room they'd go to sleep.

Before and After Pictures--Front of House

A long time ago a friend told me I should be blogging before and after pictures. So, here you go Christine ;)

Our neighbors think we've gone Goth with the black front door. Kind of funny how wierd they think it is. I LOVE it. We got new outside lights, painted the door and our house numbers and got rockers for the porch.