2010 Year in Review....

I had so much fun going through  my posts of 2010 and review the year for Rhoda's top project party at Southern Hospitality and Kim's party at Savvy Southern Style. Wow! It was a busy one. The year starts out in our old house and in January of last year we didn't envision moving....dreamed it, but didn't think it would happen. Thank you to all of you who have been by our sides and supported us 100%.....your friendship, words of encouragement and support has carried us through some difficult times during the selling and moving period....Thank you.

The year started with new appliances. Do you remember how Tony and the Lowe's guys couldn't get the Refrigerator in? Wait...I think we had the same trouble getting it out!

Next we moved onto the Stairs makeover. This was one of my favorite changes in the old house.

Then I acquired the cute cabinet from my brothers cottage and gave it a fun Cabinet Makeover.

 Oh my...the wall paper in the Dinning Room needed to go. This was probably my second favorite change in the old house. 

Then we thought we might be expecting.

Do you remember when I was just wondering? This is when I realized how amazing you guys are. You answered my question honestly and understood 100% what it means to have a dream.

And we are today chasing a dream and turning it into reality. Something I never thought would happen.

But before we could sell, our old house it needed a little bit of a face lift.

Then we Moved......

Since moving the biggest changes are the outside changes. There are still many changes to be done to the outside, but you know Rome wasn't built in a day...or at least that is what I keep telling myself!

And the garage

Inside I tackled the kitchen table makeover.

And together Tony and I made some changes to  the red room.

Which brings us to the end of the year and that means today is Miss Sarah's birthday...

9yrs old..how does that happen?

I do know our  three beautiful children are the biggest gift God has given us and our most important project!

There it is in a nutshell....A Relatively Unique journal of our little story....

  We hope you stick around in 2011, because we truly enjoy your company!

We have big plans (dreams) for 2011! Crossing our fingers they come true!

Hidden treaures....

Two posts in one day! Couldn't help myself. I am enjoying being on vacation this week and having more time to take pictures.  Today we explored a park which is only 5 minutes from our new home. It is amazing how you can move only 10 minutes away and still discover new places. 

Who knew this was tucked in the woods. I see picnics and exploring this summer. The sign said that there are trail guides at the library. We will be visiting the library tomorrow for sure!

As we started down the trail we stumbled upon this boat and joked about taking it ice fishing! Ha Ha joke was on us, when we turned the corner we were greeted by an ice fisherman.

I am not this trust worthy of the ice. It's been cold here, but not sure if it is that cold. They were out pretty far on the ice. I did tell you I am a worrier? Now, the kids thought this was awesome. That is were I interjected fear...do you know what would happen if the ice cracked. Is this bad? To interject fear? It is one of my biggest fears with our pond.  Lets move on, shall we.....

We headed in the opposite direction of the fisherman. And discovered natures hidden treasure....

Big rocks and little streams means lets try to get across without falling in. We love when we find these types of discoveries.

Of course Lily is going to skip the rocks and use it as an excuse to swim.

Blue and I choose to use the bridge....

If we could read Blue's mind right now, I think he is saying,

"You got to be kidding me!"

Lily ran out on the ice and we discovered we could see bottom....

I am okay with standing on ice if one can see the bottom....

As we were leaving and loading into the car I happen to glance across the street and spied a porch like we are envisioning for the back and side of the house.  Sweet!

And the front....

Arriving home we were greeted by Mr. Heron, who has decided to take a walk on our pond. I am still amazed that he has stayed and not flow south. Do you think he'll make it through the winter?

Hope your day was filled with some hidden treasures and a little adventure!

Wrapping it up...

We've been a bit lazy here at Relatively Unique....

Lazy, might not be the right word....we are slowing it down a bit.  Relaxing, staying in our P.J.'s a little bit longer, playing games, going for walks and having fun not having a schedule to the day!

Yesterday, I decided to start reclaiming the family room. Decorating for Christmas is fun, but I must say I enjoy taking it down too. It is a time for me to rearrange and play with the furniture. I have always enjoyed moving my furniture around and hoping to find some new arrangement. Do you do this?

Before Xmas gets to far behind us and all the tinsel is taken down, I wanted to recap a little bit of Xmas.  Our kids enjoying reading our family posts.....I love how the blog has become an online photo album for them!  I would love to make last years posts into a book, has anyone done this? Any advice?

They are patiently waiting on the couch for their presents. My parents use to work in slow motion on Christmas morning and it drove my brother and I crazy. We've decided to carry on that tradition!

After all the gifts were opened the dogs claimed their corners! I guess gift opening exhausted them.

Aww....to have a dogs life.



Grandmom cooks a 5pm dinner on Christmas day. I love that we eat a late dinner. It means we can spend most of the day in our PJ.s and play with our new toys.

Opening gifts with our cousins.

Our annual picture on the steps.

If you noticed Miss Sarah is missing from our annual picture this year.

She missed out on the festivities at Grandmom and P-pa's this year. Poor Sarah had the flu on Christmas day. Thank goodness it was a 24 hour bug and she is back to her normal energetic self. 

This is our neighbors Christmas lights. There house is about 500 yards from our home, but from across the field at night it looks as if the boat is sitting by the pond.  We still have 2 family Xmas parties to attend this week and one birthday party. Hope you are enjoying a relaxing week and your Christmas was all you hoped and wished for!

Embrace.....

One of my daily reads is Ann @ A Holy Experience.  Ann shared this beautiful video and it touched my heart....



May you find the spirit of Christ in your Holidays.
From our family to yours.....Happy Holiday's!

A Sunday Drive...

We've been a little preoccupied here! It all started last week when I was washing some baby items and it sparked the "should we have another baby" conversation. Of course all 5 of us knew that we would not be adding another baby to our family. (Mom, you can breath now) Although I should add....unless it is God's plan. I have to say that because we all know surprises happen! So, that lead us to the talk of a pet....horse, cow, pig, goat, sheep, chickens or a dog. Thank goodness we all agreed on a dog!

One Sunday drive an hour away and we meet this adorable 8 week old bassett hound.

Could you say no to that face?

Next on the family to do list was decide on a name.

No easy task when you are having the input of 5 family members!

Some of the contenders were:

Buddy, Marshell, Elliot, Flash, Rosco, Shaky, Taco, Joey, Bolt....

And the winner was

Blue.

If I don't post as much for awhile please understand....

I am moving the lower Christmas Ornaments up higher

On Pee and Poop patrol

Sleepless nights

puppy proofing the house

and

Loving every minute!

Happy Holidays!

Starting to feel like Christmas...

Hello friends. I wasn't sure if this post was going to make it this year. I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner and my to do list is still growing! This year I wanted our decorations to be simple and due to limited storage space the decorations can't take up a lot of space when packed away.  Ribbon has become one of my favorite decorating tools this year and doesn't hurt the budget.  Come on in.....

Most guests use the side entrance. When they walk through the door they enter the laundry room, which on some days can look like a disaster! Today I am avoiding laundry, taking photo's seemed like more fun.

The kitchen has a few touches of Christmas.

Added white ribbon to our tin pots.

A little green to the top of the cabinets for my feathered friends.

Kitchen table center piece. The white platter is from Marshall's,

Lanterns from Ikea and some  Xmas ornaments.

The kids loved making their own gingerbread houses this year. We bought the kits at Walmart.

Everything we needed was included. For those of you who know my kids,

I'll let you guess who's is who!!

This is one of my favorite photo's.

Looking from the Den into the family room.

One of our three tree's.

The other two trees are upstairs, one at each end of the hallway.

The top of the tree gave me trouble this year. Usually a copper angel from SL at Home adorned the top of the tree, but I felt like it was clashing with the tree. Decided to use ribbon and silver twigs from Kmart.

I told you Tony and I went crazy over the Lanterns from Ikea.

The plan is to use them outside this summer,

but I am having so much fun decorating with them inside, too!

I wouldn't mind going back to get some more!

Here is my SL at Home Angel tree topper. She is too pretty to pack away.

An end table from Ikea with a little bit of Xmas.

Coffee table with a little fake snow.

This is the first floor bathroom.

You remember what this cabinet looked like when

I got it from my brother's cottage?

Tony reminded me I forgot to share the photo's of the garage.

And the pond decorated by mother nature....

Do you spy the 2 cardinal's in the picture?

Just saw them as I was posting this picture.

There is the first floor as it looked today! One never knows what I might change around tomorrow. This is one of those crazy weeks. Are you feeling the same? Our cookie exchange is Friday, book drive for babies and Nutcracker Ballet is on Saturday, sprinkle in a few other Holiday parties and that will wrap up the week!

We are joining these fun parties...

The Newlywoodward's

Savvy Southern Style

Metamorphosis Monday

The Nester

Kelly's Korner

and find some mantle inspiration with Kelly here.