Randomness

Marlie finished her 2 week course in swim lessons. She did great - but the kid has a fear of going under water . . . it's just not her scene . . . but she tried every day and of course, the teachers loved her :)

And Samantha enjoyed going to hang out by the pool and watch her sister during lessons!


My big task this weekend was rearranging our house a little. In Knoxville we had a large eat in kitchen plus a large formal dining room. I LOVE to have people over (I don't say entertain, because I don't really do anything very entertaining), especially our family at the holidays! So after about a year in that house I decided to start getting some seating and ended up with a 6 seater kitchen table and 8 seater dining room table - both counter height (what can I say, all those years spent on a barstool, it seems more natural to us than a low table!).

Well . . . in our current house, the eat in kitchen is just not built for my large table - the dining room is the same size and a perfect fit though. So after 4 months of stumbling around that table with only 4 chairs and butted up against the windows, I had enough! Off it went to a happy purchaser from craigslist . . . and we got back almost the same amount put into it.

So this is what the eat in area of our kitchen looks like now . . . .

AND I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!!!!!!!!!!!

The girls have their own space for snacks and crafts - and since it's in the kitchen I have super easy cleanup!!! And the best part of it all . . . our dining room is off the other side of our kitchen, so no one can see the television at dinner!!!!!! Plus it's more fun to eat in the dining room for meals - it just feels more grown up than the kitchen :)

On another random note . . . I just purchased 2 of these from the Land of Nod

It is my hope upon hopes that if I stick enough cool stuff in the pockets of these and slap them over the carseats that the girls will be entertained enough to make it 811 miles :) hahaha We have a portable DVD player that we got as a gift when Marlie was 6 months old - we have NEVER used it - however, we have several sets of friends with kids that have borrowed it for trips and raved about it. I just feel like we survived as kids without it - this is only 200 miles longer than the beach (only 200 miles! HA!) . . . and I just don't want to set myself up for the question of watching a movie every time we run to Target! But I ALWAYS pack the DVD player and movies . . . and every time I'm ready to bust it out, I tell myself that I can do something else and just see how it goes for one more hour . . . . meanwhile Mr. Crandall sits oblivious to the world with an I-Pod earphone in one ear occasionally blurting out a Wu Tang or 311 lyric and slapping his hands on the steering wheel . . . oh to be the driver . . . .

Plus, we have the pro/con that both girls have car sickness issues . . . the con is that we have to give them Dramamine . . . the pro is that the Dramamine puts them to sleep for a chunk of time on each trip :)

At least I know it won't be a boring trip . . . .

Have a great week!