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The finished product!

Ok.. well I went and picked up the last piece from my mom last night... so today.... I did this! Her room looks so cute now! Here are the before and afters. (except in the picture "shepherd" is misspelled. I already fixed it... don't worry... unless you want to worry about how much of a dummy I am!)

Inspiration Update

here is what I did after I finished the dresser.

Inspiration

After being inspired by Elizabeth emailing me a link to Thrifty Decor Chic's paint party '09 I went on a search to find a dresser for my youngest daughter. I had been looking to buy a new dresser for her room for some time and the thought had never occurred to me to 're-use' an old piece of furniture. I went to goodwill and found one that came with a mirror for $50. My husband said not just then and to keep looking. Upon a visit to my grandmother and explaining what I was searching for she showed me down to the very back of her basement where there was an old dresser that had been sitting there for probably about 18 years. Free was definitely in my budget so I loaded her up and took her home excited about the possibility of my first furniture make-over.
That night I sanded her down and painted the first coat. (Spray Paint of course!) I thought I might make the drawer fronts green to match her room, but after the first coat decided that I didn't like that look, although I have seen it done here and loved the outcome! It wasn't the look I was going for this time. I re-sanded and re-painted this morning and then went to Hobby Lobby in search of drawer pulls and some sort of lettering. On my way I was talking to Elizabeth on the phone (seriously I don't have a creative bone in my body) when she told me that I could just get some wooden door pulls and paint them and then get the vinyl sheets that go in my Cricut and cut the letters out myself.... hmm.. that sounds good... and cheap. So...after 24 hours, about $45 and a lot of work/fun here is the final product.(I also had to paint the shelf on the wall... it was white).

Emma Rides Again

This weekend we had an unexpected occurance in the Danley Family. After my recent desiscion to spend more time with my kids and NOT on the computer I went outside on Friday afternoon to enjoy the rest of what was a gorgeous afternoon and wait on our firned Luke and Jamie and Micah to arrive for dinner. Mason, our 6 year old neighbo, was also outside showing Emma all his cool new tricks he can do on his bike (riding blind was one… slightly scary). I saw a look of curiosity on her face and asked her if she wanted to try riding on my sister’s old bike from 1994. She agreed and we were off. This bike is pretty big so although she did well at balancing right away I continued to run next to her becasue if she were to fall then I’m pretty sure we would be going to see Dr. Yalif (Plastic Surgeon and new BFF) with my eldest daughter. Mason was excited about the prospect of having someone to ride with soon and let Emma ride his bike. She did great! She was good at balancing, but not so much with the turning or the stopping. After a while of this our friends got there so she took up playing football with the boys instead of riding.

However, on Saturday morning she was at it again. We took the training wheels off her LITTLE dora bike that Kelly gave her when she turned three and although it is still pretty small for her we set off for the park and a more level riding field. Once she had the space it was all she needed. She became a riding genius. I am so proud of her effort this weekend. I love Emma, but she is somewhat of a quitter. Once things get tough she normally likes to bow out if I don’t push her. But this was all her. She must have fallen 100 times over the past 2 days but she kept getting right back on. In the bathtub tonight her little body is riddled with bruises (I’m worried about yet another call to DFCS) but she did it. In some ways it was just like you see on tv with the parent holding on to the back of the bike and then letting go only to watch them fall… yet eventually get it. Very Surreal, very special and very emotional. Excited and proud mom says, “I was able to teach my daughter to ride a bike!” Emotional Mom who thinks time is going by WAY too fast says, “AHHHHHHH My baby knows how to ride a bike!” I’m sure it was jsut the first of MANY MANY times in which I am going to have to let her go and do it on her own. My only solace is the fact that I know that although I have to let her go, I know that God never will. He will be the one that holds her tight when I have to let her grow up.

Here are some pictures and link to a video of her riding (I know.. I’m insane).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVs4Q9BP1yw

Payton Vs. Dr. Yalif

Well, as stated in my last post, Payton was slated to go see the plastic surgeon this morning because he wasn’t happy with the closure he did on Sunday at the hospital. He was planning on giving her a little “fun air” and putting her to sleep. However, the anesthesiologist said that putting her to sleep for a few stitches was a bit of “overkill”. HA. He doesn’t know Payton! He said that instead he would giver her something to drink that would make her act a bit drunk but subdue her enough for them to put in the stitches and it would also cause her not to be able to remember anything. I obliged and as I have no clue about medicinal practices deferred to what the doctors thought was best. Unfortunately, they made this decision right before Payton decided to throw up all over me and herself. Fun Morning. Luckily we had only given her water and a little apple juice. It was enough for them to have to delay the procedure for two hours so we just sat there for a while and then we went in search of a Target for some new clothes but couldn’t find one. Oh well…

When we got back to the office they had mixed her drink and they also put the topical numbing stuff on her nose. She did not want to drink the potion.. and after tasting it… I can tell you she was right. It was NASTY. It filled up about half of a sprite can and she FINALLY drank it all after we played all sorts of games and feeding all the stuffed animals they had for sale in the lobby. “Tiger takes a drink, Payton takes a drink” She told me she wanted to take the tiger home to “daaaaaaaaaddy” (She was also slurring a bit by now). I promised her we could until I saw the FIFTY DOLLAR price tag on the tiger… but oh well this medicine wouldn’t let her remember right? When they got her back to the room she was quite loopy. Not so different from her usual self. Very happy and funny but stumbling all over the place… ok so really not so different from her normal self. They started to clean off the glue from yesterday and she got very sleepy. She was awake but just laying there looking up at the ceiling. When Dr. Alif came in to put in the stitches she looked like she wouldn’t move for anything… until he poked her with a needle. Unfortunately she had taken too longwith the drinking and the topical was wearing off, so they had to put four different shots oflocal anesthesia into her nose. But that time it was taking two nurses and my to hold her down. With all her moving and screaming and the fact they had taken the glue off her wound she was now starting to bleed quite a bit again. There was no one left to mop it up so it just ran down her face while he tried to get her stitched up. Dr. Alif FINALLY got the stitches in through the blood, the squirming and the screaming of “LET ME GO RIGHT NOW!” over and over again. I looked at the doctor and asked him where is that anesthesiologist and his “overkill” now. He stated through clenched teeth that he would be sure to let him know how it all worked out and apologized profusely for having to put BOTH of us through that.

As we left Payton caught sight of her Tiger and she most certainly did remember that she was taking him home. I bit my lip and bought him as she started throwing the first of two very big and very un-Payton like temper tantrums. She began to kick and scream at the top of her lungs that she wanted both tigers. People were staring. It was mortifying. Once in the car she acted like nothing had happened and began singing a cute little song to her ONE fifty-dollar tiger.

At McDonalds the second of the temper tantrums occurred. She was kicking me this time and screaming at the top of her lungs. By this point all I could do was laugh and I was very tempted to say to her as all the parents looked on with mouths wide open, “Do you want another bloody nose? Keep it up and you will have it!” However, I decided that might not be the best way to go about things. I’m sure by the looks of her they already thought that was what had happened the first time.

Right now she is sleeping and hopefully Satan and the loopy liquid is exiting her little body and all I will be left with is my very beat-up looking precious little Payton. Here is a picture from today. She tried to smile… so pathetic. her eyes are much more purple today and I have been told they will only worsen. So Sad.

Payton Turns 3

I figured while I was updating I would also let you know that Payton has such a fun tome at her Curious George party and also got her ears peirced for her 3rd Birthday. On a side note.. she also decided to giver herself bangs for her birthday. I had the thrill of finding her hair on Emma’s floor yesterday. Luckily she did a good job and only needed a little bit of a touch up from me.

Here are some of the pictures from the events of the past few weeks!

Payton Vs. Swing

Well… I was planning on updating the blog this week anyway to highlight my little Payton turning 3 years old! She has had such a fun month with getting her ears peirced having a family birthday party the weekend before her birthday, celebrating with friends this past weekend at her Curious George Birthday Party and celebrating Poppa’s birthday today! However, the events of today trump all that. While all the adults were inside watching a movie, Emma came in screaming “Mommy, Payton is bleeding!” I jump up because Emma seemed a little more upset than normal and as I rushed outside I see Payton walking toward the house absolutely covered in blood. I have never before been more in shock. I scoop her up and rush her inside where I started washing her face off. At first I thought it was just a very bloody and swollen nose but quickly realized she had a sizable gash right between her eyes. I knew immediately she would need stitches so my mother and I whisked her off to the hospital. On the very bumpy and jerky ride there I was most afraid because all she wanted to do was go to sleep. I of course am thinking… “ok.. she has a head wound and she wants to fall asleep.. not good” So I’m freaking out and trying to keep her awake by asking her all sorts of questions. when we finally reached the hospital she was alert enough yet still bleeding. They saw us in triage and sent us back to wait in the waiting room. I think it was then that I realized this wouldn’t be too serious.. but I did feel awkward sitting in the watiting room with my daughter covered in blood, still bleeding and by this time asleep in my arms. They finally called us back to “Rapid Treatment” (whatever). Where they looked at her and decided she did in deed need stitches and most likely had a broken nose. When Eric got there he decided that HIS daughter would not have a PA do her stitches but deservred a plastic surgeon. I decided that if we were going to follow through with her modeling career then we should go with that. They called the on-call surgeon, who was VERY nice. He tried to Dermabond her because he felt that would be less traumatic than watching a needle go back and forth between her eyes. Unfortunately, Payton kept moving and he was unhappy with the job he did. I am all for less scarring so even though he said what he did would work, he really felt that he could do better in his office. So tomorrow mornign we are headed there to have Payton sedated so that he can put in a few stitches.

So… the realistic story is that in a few days Payton with have two big black eyes and what they tell us will be all sorts of ungodly discoloring on her face. Not to mention her stitched up nose and the fact that at any time her nose could start bleeding again. (Right now there is gauze taped to her face because it had still not stopped bleeding when she went to bed tonight.

Through it all she was such a trooper though. I am so proud of her and so blessed that God took such good care of her. I know that it could always be worse and if this is the worst I have to go through with her then that is fine with me.

Please say a prayer for her though. I am sure by tomorrow she will be feeling more pain than she was today. here are some pics!

A Merry Danley Christmas

Posted in Uncategorized at 2:59 pm by ldanley

Tonight was Emma’s very first school Christmas pageant. I know that I will attend at least 14 (Payton’s included) more of these, but this being her and my first one, it was some what special.. and stressful.
About 3 weeks ago the headmaster at Dominion asked me to be in charge of costuming. The K4 and K5 classes combined were going to be acting our a nativity scene. Very cute in theory…
I was so excited about the possibility of Emma being a little angel. White costume, wings, halo… all very perfect. It would make my Christmas scene ideal…. until I got the cast list and found my little angel had been cast as a… sheep. It could be worse… she could have been a bale of hay!

So there I was with the task of creating 4 angels, 3 sheep, 3 wisemen, 2 shepherds, a donkey, a virgin mother, a carpenter and a star. What did I do first… called my sister in law. She was in charge of a wise-man so I figured she could help. She really was my lifesaver. She found the pattern and got all the material for most of te costumes. We finally got them completed and I FINALLY found white pants in December for the sheep and we were set.

Night of the performance: I was one the phone when I left the house (KELLY) and totally forgot the safety pins, the bobby pins and the last two halo’s for the angels. Eric had to rush home and made it as the kids were about to march in… I quickly got the kids costumed and sat down right before they all walked in. The K5 and K4 were only on the stage at the end so they had to sit through the first 25 or so minutes.
As they walked on the risers my heart sank as half of the halo’s were lopsided, the angels wings were crooked, the wise-men’s robes were falling off, the shepherds looked like they were going to hit each other, and the star…. well that’s a story I will let Lane tell. My ideal nativity scene was suddenly replaced with this….this….. perfect rendition of the chaos that must have been going on the night that Jesus was born. I mean, let’s think about it. The shepherds were awoken by a heavenly host… not your most likely alarm clock, the Wisemen had just traveled many miles toward a star they didn’t even know the meaning of, and Mary had just given birth… alone…. in a stable. As a mother I know I didn’t look that good with 5 nurses a doctor and a cushy hospital room.
It is amazing how God can take our ‘ideal’ situations and change them all around and make them perfect.
I know you are all wondering how the sheep fared! She was great. There was a time not so long ago that I would have been grief stricken with worry that my child would be the one causing a scene and goofing off causing me utter embarrassment…. and a little bit of pride. But my little Emma has grown up a lot in the past few months. She sang her song and sat perfectly still in the nativity scene. Who is this girl!

Words from God

Ok. So this morning Emma’s school had their Fall Festival. The kids at school have been talking all week about how Mr. Cain (the headmaster) will be in the dunk tank and how much fun it is going to be to see him get dunked in the water… nevermind it was like 35 degrees this morning. Well, Emma has not really enjoyed this particular conversation. She has been very worried about Mr. Cain and did NOT want to see him get dunked. When the time finally arrived for her to to experienc ethe dunk tank she wanted to have nothing to do with it. Every other kid in the school was lined up to have their throw, but Emma wanted no part in this queer form of torture.

She did finally realize that no real harm would come to mr. Cain and although would not participate was no longer worried about his well-being.

As we were leaving the Fall Festival she says to me. “Mom, I’m a bad woman.” In an extreme effort to hide my amusement I asked her why she thought such a thing. “Well,” she continues, “If God wants me to dunk Mr. Cain then I really should obey and help everyone dunk him. I don’t want to be scared if it’s what God wants me to do.”

Now I don’t really no how to respond to this nor do I have any clue why she felt it was God’s will to help dunk Mr. Cain in the tank but I just told her that it was too late to dunk Mr. Cain, but next time she felt that God was telling her to do something… she better listen!

Crazy Is as Crazy Does

What beautiful weather we are having!

My Two Beautiful Girls!

I just can’t help but write about it. This past weekend we visited a pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. We have never actually carved a pumpkin before, but Eric was so excited when I gave him the task he was ready to get right on it! The carving was basically uneventful, with the exception of my children running around with knives that Eric was using. We all escaped unharmed however.

Eric, the Girls and Harold!

Here are some pics of the girls and Eric carving and the finished product of Harold the Pumpkin.
Today we went out to lunch with our friends Elizabeth, Wreyeton and Kyler. The kids were all enjoying the free icecream you can get when you return your toy from the Chick-fil-A kids meal when Payton dropped hers on the floor. If you know Payton and her affinity for food you also know that this was no deterrent for her desire for ice-cream. She went right under the table and started licking it off the floor. So gross. I think that might be the grossest thing she has ever done and trust me she is the queen of gross. I promised her on her SECOND trip under the table for ice-cream that I would share this with everyone so here you go!

Fair Food and Hoppers

This past weekend we went to the Gwinnett County Fair…. Hayley was craving some fair food… which mainly consisted of boiled peanuts and cotton candy… Emma and Payton were excited about the rides…. well Payton was anyway. Emma was a little scared of most everything. We started down the aisle with all the kiddie rides and Payton jumped right on… no adult… and without her big sister. Emma had a few issues and constantly called on Hayley to ride with her. Hayley loved it… don’t let her tell you differently. We even got on the Ferris Wheel…after I convinced Emma that she had indeed ridden it before and was not scared. All in all we had a great time. Before we left we decided to go finish off our tickets and ride ONE last ride. The girls picked a ride called the “hopper.” This ride takes the kids up about 2 stories and starts dropping them down a little bit at a time. The girls hopped on and got ready to ride. Payton had watched with such enthusiasm she knew just what to do. Emma on the other hand decided she had not signed up for such foolery and ‘hopped’ right back up. No problem for Payton.. she has new found independence from her sister and decided to stay one. She was obviously the youngest one on the ride and as they lifted her up she flashed the thumbs up sign to Hayley and I with e huge smile. We cheered her on emphatically. Then came the moment we were waiting for… they started to ‘hop’ her down…. I can’t not describe to you the look of terror that crossed poor Payton’s face and sympathetic mother that I am… I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. She grabbed on to that bar so quickly and the look on her face was purely hysteria… for those on the ground too… people were passing by pointing out the “little girl in pink!” and laughing. The ride worker was really great. She kept Payton on all THREE times they went up and down. To Payton’s credit she never cried and kept her composure. I wish I had kept mine long enough to snap the picture of Payton on her ‘hop’. Pure hilarity.

Payton rides alone!

Emma and Hayley!

Mom and Pay at the top of the Ferris Wheel!

Best Buds!

Getting on the Hopper!

Emma is getting a little nervous...

Payton is ready to go!

Sooooo excited!

Soccer Phenom and Color Wars

This past Saturday… perfect Soccer weather btw.. Emma had her 3rd soccer game. We picked her up from my parents house where her and Pay spent the night. My dad informed me that he asked Emma if she actually liked soccer or if she as just doing it to please her mother, to which she promptly replied that she was indeed just playing to placate me. However that may be something has changed in our little scared soccer player as she scored 3 goals for her team leading the ‘Pink Princesses’ to a 6-3 win over the ‘Soccer Balls’! Not that we keep score or anything.

Payton on the other hand is fighting her own battles… learning her colors. Unfortunately she is a victim of second child syndrome. i know Emma had her colors memorized by this age mostly because I am psycho mom who used every possible moment to educate her child… I guess I have let that continue and left poor Payton by the wayside… this was pointed out to me this weekend when we visited good friends who have a daughter a month younger than Payton who already knows all her colors…. in SPANISH! Not surprising really her mom is a teacher too… and she is a first child.

I also have to say that I am really enjoying getting to know Payton without Emma around. That may sound harsh, but Emma has such a dominant personality that Payton tends to get overshadowed and I feel so blessed to get to know this shy, imaginative little ball of humor.

Either way… we have been tackling red, pink and purple this week… we’ll move to the blues and greens as time goes on!

Biblical Wisdom From Emma

It is amazing how the truth of the Bible has withstood thousands of years… and then Emma gets a hold of it. On our way home from Awana tonight Emma began to tell me the story of Adam and Eve. Here are her words: “Mom, Adam and Eve ate a vegetable off of the tree and God told them, [read with emphasis] ‘GO, GO, Get out of the forest now!’ He told them not to eat and they didn’t obey the first time, so they had to leave the forest.” What a sad tale. Now that isn’t exactly how I remembered the story… I know that we aren’t sure that it was a fruit on the tree… but that is the basic telling… and I don’t remember a forest being involved… but hey, maybe they are just trying to get the kids to stay out of forests.. who am I to say! At least she got the basic gist of the story.

Georgia's Newest Dawgs

Saturday was momentous for our two little girls. They participated in a new Danley tradition that we hope to continue for a long time. They enjoyed their first UGA game day experience. WE dressed them up appropriately and traveled to Athens to induct the girls into the Bulldog Nation…. of course they just wanted to see the cheerleaders.

If you know my side of the family you know that this is an act of treachery. I was raised a Tech fan and I have a feeling that when my father sees these pictures I may be cut from the will and uninvited to Christmas, but… I digress.

On the way we passed many cars that had flags or magnets with the UGA logo on the side. Emma kept pointing them out and and at one point I answered “Well Emma… everyone loves the dawgs!” I swear this child must have a sixth sense because she promptly asked “Does Papa love the Dawgs?” Um… that would be an emphatic “NO!” “Does Grammy love the dawgs?” Let me rephrase here…. “Well…. a lot of people like the Dawgs Emma… but Grammy and Papa definitely aren’t two of them.”

When we finally rached Athens it was a true Georgia game day. Lots of red and black. Tons of tailgating! The girls were very excited. Payton learned to say, “Goooooooo Dawgs! ‘Sic ‘em! Woof woof woof!” Too funny. They enjoyed our tailgating experience and were so excited to see REAL Georgia Cheerleaders! (Of course we do not have pictures with Hairy Dawg considering Emma’s fear of masked beings).

As the game began the girls and Kyler were so excited. They were all cheering and holding up signs… we were ready for a game.

First Quarter: Georgia had quick touchdown, scoring in the first 5 minutes of the game. As the crowd roared with excitement Emma asked what happened! Wryeton quickly told her that the Dawgs had won the game! They both cheered with excitement! As the crowd settled down Emma turned to me and asked when we would be leaving. Oh well. All in all the kids did great. We left shortly after half-time and played outside the stadium while we waited for Eric and Michael to finish the game. We had a great time!

Enjoy!