Removal of Sharpie on Wood

"Removal of Sharpie on Wood Furniture".....is a phrase that I did not think I would have to "google" with a 6.5 year old in the house....maybe 4 years ago, but not today. He should know better, especially only 4 days after we just got the new kitchen table set. You would think he would know better and I wouldn't have to say "don't write on the new table" right?!?! Well, unfortunately, lesson learned...purchase new furniture, put it together by hand, and MAKE SURE to CLEARLY TELL Brayden NOT to write on it....regardless of his age, and regardless of the fact I thought he would know better. From now on, he will be told not to write on new furniture. This morning I came downstairs to see this nicely "set" table by Brayden...I was so impressed with his efforts. He got out the new Christmas placemats, plates, silverware and plastic cups.

Then I looked more closely and I spied...

I couldn't believe my eyes!! I asked him WHAT was on the table. He very innocently replied, "I wrote our initials for our assigned seats." On each of our place settings he wrote our initials...he wasn't sure if he should use our current initials or our new initials so everyone got both sets of initials and the phrase "don't no" because he didn't know which initial to use and a piece of gum for our dessert. I couldn't believe it! As I was in shock, I tried to stay calm and immediately went to swagbucks and searched "how to remove sharpie from wood". After reading a few results, rubbing alcohol was an ingredient that was mentioned a few times and I already had it so I grabbed my cotton balls and q-tips and got to work. THANKFULLY, it worked!! After A LOT of elbow grease, about 95% of the Sharpie is gone and our new table is back to normal!
So just a word of advice, if you ever find yourself in the same unfortunate predicament, Rubbing Alcohol DOES remove Sharpie/permanent marker from wood furniture. Hopefully you will NEVER have to experience this. :)

Our Special Someone Part 3

Well, it's just about time to change my blog name from Just the 2 of Us, to Just the 3 of Us. Friday night (11-11-11) I had the most AMAZING surprise visitor ring my doorbell around 10:30 in the evening. Already in my pjs laying in bed, my first thought was "who in the world is ringing my doorbell at this hour?!?" Since the mystery person rang the bell MULTIPLE times, I felt it must be some kind of emergency and worth me going downstairs to figure out what in the world was going on. My little "protector" (Brayden) followed me down, as I looked through the peep hole in the door. To my surprise, all I could see was....

I assumed it had to be a safe person if they were going to have a dozen roses in their hand, so I opened the door. To my surprise, Jason was standing there holding a dozen roses in one hand, and the other hand behind his back. I immediately asked him what he was doing here because we had already decided that this would be our "off" weekend where he would stay in Rogers, since he had just stayed the last week in Texas with us for his vacation. He stepped in the doorway and gave me the roses, then he started telling me how much he loved me and Brayden. I begun my state of shock as he continued to speak. Not sure exactly what all he said because I was so distracted at the fact he was getting down on one knee and brought his hand from behind his back and was holding a small box. He opened the box and I saw a bright SHINY ring. I was anticipating what he was about to say, so I started to say "are you serious?!?" He tried to continue his "prepared" speech, but I was in such shock, I didn't quite hear everything he was saying, but I did hear the magic words that I have been dying to hear for the last several months, "Christie, will you marry me?" After I said, "are you serious?!?!" about 100 more times and he kept reproposing to me, I finally said YES!!!!!!!!!! And he put the ring on my finger...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!!

We were so excited, we held each other super tight as Brayden cheered us on. After Brayden realized what had just happened his first reaction was "Let's get this wedding started!!"

So we are now in the process of planning a wedding. Before we set a date, we ideally would like for Jason to find a job in the area and get him moved down here. If you have any budget friendly wedding advice, we're all ears. :) Ideally, our dream wedding would entail a beachside ceremony, but we are looking at several others options. Stay tuned for updates. :)

Our Facebook Announcement to family and friends-

Back to Blogging

Recently we have had a few events in our life that have made me want to get back into blogging on a more consistent basis, rather than just a few times a year. I've asked Brayden and Jason to help make sure that I post at least once a week and to hold me to it. :)

A lot has happened since my last post---I can't believe I went a whole summer break without posting. I will fill you in on our summer in another post. Moving on to the school year, Brayden is now in first grade and LOVING it. I have switched to teaching third grade (from first) and although I was hesitant at first because I wanted to be in first grade with Brayden and my teaching buddies, I am really enjoying third grade. I have an AWESOME class and they definitely make coming to work each day a joy.

Here is Brayden at our Meet the Teacher Night with his first grade teacher/my friend...Mrs. Kendle.
He was really excited to see he had several of his friends from his kindergarten class in his first grade class too. Here is a pic of Brayden and I on our first day....


Brayden on the first day of school putting his backpack in his locker. Getting him to take a backpack this year was a big deal because last year he didn't like using a backpack...probably because his backpack was practically bigger than he was, but this year with all of his things he needs to carry his own.

In first grade he has met a lot of new friends and is starting to become more responsible. After school, I work an extra hour for the academic portion of our afterschool care and I work with the first graders, so Brayden gets to spend more time with a few of his friends working on homework and studying for his spelling tests. Overall, he is really enjoying it and I can't wait to see the growth he makes at the end of the school year!