Gwyn's Furniture

Over the summer I decided I was going to get Gwyn some new furniture. So my awesome hubby found some on Craigslist and I picked out the colors. (Although I was talked into a darker grey than I wanted, I still like how it looks.)

It was a bit of work. First we sanded off as much of the original paint (well, what was painted on when we bought it) and then made sure all surfaces were smooth. The old pulls on the drawers were 3 1/4 in. apart. But I could not find any pulls that were not hideous set at the same distance. So we had to fill in, putty and sand the old holes. It was just delaying what I was excited about - painting!

Then we painted, and painted, and painted. There are 3 coats of primer, 3 coats of paint (at least), and 2-3 coats of protectant. (I still have not finished the bed. I just focused on the stuff she will use now.) My idea was to have a light grey (nearly white) with a touch darker for the drawers.I was told the two colors would be too close, but that was the idea. I am not a fan of the drawers, but I do love that her bed will be the dark grey. I think that will look nice, and different than white ones. At some point, we will add purple things to her room. And hopefully the furniture can make it through high school.

Gwyn loved that we were working on things for her. She loved to see it in the garage. Everytime we would pull in she would mention it.

Here are some pictures.

I can not stand the pulls! And the fake key holes in the top drawers. The color I can stand more than those things.

The couple we bought this from offered extra paint to Kevin. They looked hurt when he told them I had my own plans for the paint. Notice the top is the light blue. Yuck.

Twin bed being primed.

This was our garage for a while.

Gwyn was very excited about being a ballerina, having her new furniture, and getting her picture taken. It was heaven. I think I like the two colors on the mirror the best.

She is posing. She had to be in every picture.

I was only able to get a picture without her after she was tricked into leaving the room. For now, the mirror is somewhere she can stand in front of.

We brought this one up after the other pictures were taken.

Thoughts?

A Wedding In New York

Last weekend Kevin and I flew to Poughkeepsie, NY. His co-worker (and our friend) got married. Both Brian and Jess are from New York, but they moved to StL for his job at Boeing. If you have never been to New York outside of the city, I recommend it. It was beautiful! Here is the view from the train ride from the city to Poughkeepsie.

 

I tried to get pictures with Brian and Jess, but none of them turned out well. But here is the church, and a picture of the reception hall. I was a bit obsessed with how much I liked this town.

 Us at the wedding.

One of my favorite things about traveling for this trip was the train ride. Here is the (real!) train station in Poughkeepsie.

Since neither Kevin nor I have ever been to New York City, we stayed one extra day to explore the city. After we arrived at Penn Station, we dropped our things off and then started walking. We started in Times Square, which neither of us liked at all, but at least we can say we have seen it now. We first headed to the Brown Building. I wanted to see the building from the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Kevin didn't care about that. He wanted to see that building from movies and tv. It was the same building, luckily. After that, we just kept walking south(ish). We walked through Midtown, Flatiron District, Lower Manahttan, Tribeca, Noho, and a few other neighborhoods that I don't remember. It was a straight shot, but it was still interesting to see the different neighborhoods. We both knew that we would only get to see a very limited amount of the city, so we didn't set up goals for things we wanted to see. We just went with it. (Much to Kevin's dismay, and my enjoyment.) This walk took about 2.5 hours, so we took the train back to the hotel.

Afterward, we headed to dinner at an Irish pub.

The next morning, we only had until 2:00 to do anything. We went to the American Museum of Natural History, and only paid for the two hours we were there, thanks to Brian! (Not the one who just got married. We know two Brian's from New York.) My favorites were the Hall of Human Origins (We saw the real Lucy!) and the Cape York Meteorite. It was amazing!

We got a big kick out of the dinosaur exhibit that needed updating. (Do dinos still walk like that?) 

And good thing they let us know the T Rex was extinct. (It is a bit scary that that detail was needed.)

 

After that we headed to the airport and flew home. We were both very happy to get to see the kids before bedtime. 

A big THANK YOU to Downtown Grandma and Aunt Pat for watching the kids!

Halloween 2013

Sorry this blog took so long to get written and posted. We have been pretty busy with a marathon, Halloween, and wedding in New York, and Kevin's birthday.

This year for Halloween Gwyn was a horse, Colin was a ninja, and Kevin was Harry Potter. I was so excited to find a horse costume. She loves horses, galloping around saying "giddy up giddy up." Since she had yet to actually wear a costume without screaming in terror, I thought this would be her year. She even asked aunt Pat for days leading up to Halloween if she could put her costume on.

And then Halloween evening came. It was rainy and windy. Gwyn made it up to the first house, carrying her umbrella, and before getting candy, she asked to go home. I convinced her to go to 3 more houses, but she was more than happy to spend the rest of the evening in the house snuggling.

As for the boys, they had to stop by the house after an hour to dump out their candy. Because of the rain, there were very few kids out for the first 90 minutes or so. We only saw 3 other groups in the first hour. That means that EVERY HOUSE gave out handfuls of candy. They boys are very happy.

This is how upset Gwyn was to stay home and snuggle.

P.S.
The boys wants their names typed on the blog. Colin is the first. (<- br="" he="" made="" me="" that.="" type="">
Colin Stephen McGuire
Kevin John McGuire III

World Series 2013 Game 3

Kevin's parents have season tickets to the Cardinals, and since K1 was in Thailand and Kevin had a marathon the next day, I got to go to Saturday's game 3 with Louise.

I don't go to many games. It is something that Kevin does with his friends, or Louise and Kevin (1) do with the boys, but I normally do not go. I was just telling Kevin that I would like to go to a meaningful game, since I usually end up with tickets that others pass on. And then a few days later I was asked!

The game was.... crazy. If you have not heard (Where the heck have you been????) the game ended in the strangest, most bizarre way a WS game has ended ever. One word - obstruction. I won't go into it, since there is more than enough on the internet to explain it, but it was a game where I will be able to say "I was there!"

Before the game, but since I tried to spend my time watching the game instead of taking pictures, this is the best picture I have of the field.

Ozzie Smith threw out the first pitch!

This was the 7th inning when the Cards scored 2 runs. I didn't even think about the camera during the 9th inning.

Gwyn's Hair

Gwyn's hair is awesome. Sometimes she let's me braid it, twist it, and I have been able to put it in awesome pigtails since she was a few months old. But whenever I pull it up, the short hair on the sides falls out. She is (FINALLY! okay with headbands. But for now, she still reminds me of Judy, the girlfriend from Revenge of the Nerds. (Side note - excellent movie.)

Does anyone else see it?

UCDC Pumpkinland Visit 2013

Each year our preschool takes a visit to the farm down the road for Halloween/Fall. This year it was all about Gwyn and Joel. Joel is a boy in Gwyn's class, and his older brother Noah happens to be Colin's best friend from preschool. (They do not attend Kindergarten together.) You may remember Noah when Colin was learning to say his name when he was called No-no and the No-Ya. (They met when they were two.)

I love this trip since the pumpkin patch is kept open just for us. It normally closes at 5:30, but it stay open to at least 7:30. (That is when we leave, but we are never last.) It is so dark, you need a flashlight to walk around. I have wanted to walk through the maze that late, but I am not sure that would be a good idea. We lost 2 flashlights this year (Well, Colin did.) but at least we did not lose a wedding ring like last year. And Gwyn was so brave that she just went into the dark Tower of Terror on her own. I had to get in behind another family to just try to follow her. Nothing like the boys.

Here are some pictures!

A replay of American Ninja Warrior training.

Gwyn just had to do anything her brother did... until Joel showed up.

Chillin with the boyfriend.

Swinging with Noah.

Between all the activities, they held hands.

Last week, UCDC had a field trip to the Litzinger Road Ecology Center. (Sounds like a place Megan would like.) Aunt Cathy took Gwyn, and here a a few pictures from the trip. Joel is in most of them. I tried to get a picture of the holding hands at the pumpkin patch, but it was too dark. I am glad Cathy got one!

Pumpkin Patch 2013

This weekend we headed to Thies Farm's Pumpkinland. It is one of my favorite pumkin patches in St. Louis. (They have two locations, and we are going to the other one this Friday with Gwyn's school. They stay open late for us, and we are there when it is dark. I love it. You need a flashlight just to walk around.)

For a trip down memory lane, here are Halloween posts from yesteryear: 2010 Boo at the Zoo, Pumpkinland 2011, UCDC 2011, Halloween 2012, and an October 2012 McWeekend with the Kerr's. (To the best pumpkin patch ever!)

All 5 of us went up this year! Even Gwyn.

At the top. The boys were too interested in the "American Ninja Warrior" course to hang out for pictures.

She is actually smiling with her eyes open!

While the boys practiced being ninja warriors, Gwyn spent a lot of time on the horse. (She is going to be a horse for Halloween.)

The start of the "American Ninja Warrior" course. For everyone else at the pumpkin patch, it is just an obstacle course. Most of it is in the background of this picture.

Part of the ANW course.

A bit more. As the day got more crowded, they were not able to run through it, but they still had fun.

Gwyn enjoyed the slide of the ANW course.

A rare moment. I am not the one taking the picture!

Possibly, my favorite picture of the year. We are all looking at the camera, our eyes are open, we are smiling, and hair is not in our faces!

Gwyn chasing her brothers in the maze.

Kevin stopping for a snack.

The weather was beautiful! Coats came off after an hour.

 

Waiting to go down the slide.

She loves to be carried. I blame her father.

Overall, another successful trip!