Less than perfect....sometimes gets you perfect.

Today, armed with determination I drug the kiddos outside to take their pictures. I REALLY need to get my Christmas cards in the mail tomorrow. I have been putting off this task because I knew it would be a miracle if I actually got one shot I could use on our Christmas card of the two of them. Lately, we have had many less than perfect attempts with photos. Doesn't matter what the occasion, it is just not something they are interested in if they can't make a silly face. So I knew going into this, I had my work cut out for me.

BUT, for some strange reason, today went really well. I mean we have a few moments, but in the end, I ended up with several Christmas card approved shots. I have to laugh though, as I was scrolling through my shots, I came across several laugh-out-loud-moments that at the time I was taking the pictures, they were more like pull-my-hair-out-moments.

In this photo Braden is having a meltdown over something Brynn said to him.  He's been overly sensitive lately, but you can see by her face, she's not really all that sorry.

Here she's trying to put a smile on his face.  And, it is starting to work....

Which leads us to this....Braden still fighting the smile, but I will take it!

Then we have my personal favorite.....

Which got me this one....

And then, they just about had enough.....as Braden is trying to escape the picture.

When Brynn pulled him back and we got this....

Finally they were both done, so I let them play in the leaves....

Now I am the best mom ever and got my favorite shot of the day (and they had no clue).....

Now that's how I like it!

Making Progress..The Breakfast Nook

My last post gave you an idea of what the house looked like when we moved in and in the next few posts I plan to bring you up to date on what the house looks like today. At this point, we do not have one room in our house I would call finished. I have to laugh about this because when we first moved in we agreed to take it one-room-at-a-time and since then we have quickly learned we are not one-room-at-a-time people, so that plan has officially been thrown out the window.

Our new focus...get the inside of the house painted a neutral color and go from there.   I wish we had done this from the beginning; it would have saved a lot of time, paint and money.  And our breakfast nook is the prefect example of shoulda, woulda, coulda lessons learned.

Remember this room? I was so turned off by the wallpaper that within a week of being in our house, this room became one of our very first projects.  

With my persistence on removing the vintage floral wallpaper, we decided to rent a steamer from our local hardware store, which was supposed to make the wallpaper removal "easy".  It might have, but the steamer we rented broke an hour into the project and since we rented it late in the day, we were unable to get a new one which left us to using home remedies.  (The secret weapon, fabric softener mixed with hot water and it actually did a pretty good job.)

Several hours later we had the majority of the wallpaper off the wall and decided to paint what was left with an oil-based primer to be able to move on to the next step; texturing the wall.  

I will not even go into this disaster, but take my advice and never trust your local home improvement clerk when he tells you to purchase texture flakes and add to your paint...I knew it sounded too easy. This disaster was resolved with the purchase of a texture sprayer.

(I don't have a picture of this step, at this point I was not in any mood for photos.)

After Danny completing the texturing, I began the painting and with my step-dad's help we started working on a large part of my vision for the room...the wainscoting. I was especially excited about this part and my step-dad gets HUGE kudos for making all the precise cuts to fit perfect around the window moldings and helping us attach everything to the wall.  We worked to the wee hours of the night.

The next day my mom and Jerry left to head back home and I started immediately where we left off from the night before. One the list to complete at this point; caulking, paint the wainscoting, baseboards and chair railing. Oh and try to get used to the very bright color on the wall, which was the hardest part. I wasn't loving it at all.

And a few days later is looked like this:

And today it looks like this....

Yes. I changed the wall color. Initially I wanted something bright and different from what I would normally have chosen, but today I realize that is just not me. I do plan to repaint the walls when I find *that* color I love, but for now we are happily living with cream.

The room is coming together little by little and slowly as we find items to compliment it. From day one, I envisioned a round table in with wicker chairs and it is nice to see the vision falling into place. We lucked out, found the table at a thrift store for a steal, and refinished it ourselves. It is solid wood and very heavy, the style is something you wood have seen in the 70s. The chairs I agonized over for months due to the price, but finally bit the bullet three weeks ago and purchased them. I figured we saved big time on the table, so I could splurge on the chairs and I am so glad I did. I feel like they warm up the space and they are very comfortable (which you wouldn't normally expect from wicker).

House Tour, Part 2



Here are the stairs leading to the second floor.  These stairs were my biggest concern when we first moved in this house as they are pretty steep and are straight down.  I was nervous about the kids tumbling down them in the middle of the night, but it turns out I am just a paranoid mama. 

I love these ledges at the top of the stairs and cannot wait to add some decor here.

There is a short little hallway at the top of the stairs leading to the kids bathroom. 

Other than being dated, this bathroom looks as if it was hardly used.  The previous owner's did put new tile in here and replaced the old baseboards.

The mint green is going real soon. 

Back down the hairway at the top of the stairs is the guest/playroom.  It is actually the largest room upstairs and since it was already painted pink, I thought Brynn would want it as her room.  The deal-breaker is the walk in attic door in here which she is having no part of. 

Another picture of the playroom. 

Brynn actually choose the blue room with the great big window. 

And last but not least, is Braden's room.  His room also has a walk-in attic door which he thinks is totally cool.  We are looking into a key-lock for this door as he thinks it it a cool place to hide. 

Another picture of Braden's room.

Well, there you have it, the bare bones of what we started with. Our list of things we want to do is long, very long and with the reality of our busy life's we have accepted it will probably take several years to complete.  Some projects on the list are quite large, like gutting the master bath, redoing the kitchen, putting in new floors and replacing all the windows throughout the house. Others are tedious, like painting walls, trim and baseboards, which feels like a never-ending task right now.  Some days are really frustrating and at times I wish we would have choose new construction, but when I can take a step outside and sit under our huge shade trees in the backyard, I know we made the right choice!

House Tour

To this day, I remember getting the call from Danny telling me he found *the* house. The kids and I were visiting family in New Mexico at the time, but I could hear the excitement in his voice when he gave me the MLS# to look it up on-line. I have to admit after viewing the few photos on-line I was not the least bit impressed, but I did agree to see it in person when we returned home.

As it turns out it was the house for us, but it definitely had to grow on me. It took several showings, (I am sure the original owners were sick of us by the time we finally made an offer) before I began to see a vision. At first, it was hard for me to get past the work I felt the house needed to reflect our style, but today I am excited about this new adventure.  

I wanted to share with you some of the pictures I took the day we closed on our house.  (I have decided to split the house photos in two posts because the are so many, so today will be photos of the first floor).  I hope that this will give you a better idea of where we began and what we are working with. So get comfortable, this post is photo heavy.

This is looking at the front door while standing the the formal dining/living room.  The double-doors on the left lead into my office (Yea! I finally got my our room!)

Behind the double-doors we have my office.  I am super happy about this room and I am even happier it has a walk-in closet!

When you open the front door this is the view.  You are standing in the formal dining/living room. 

Here is the other side of the room. As of right now, we are not sure what we are going to do with this space. We have thrown around the idea of putting up a wall and dividing the two rooms, but we are not sure. Right now, it is a catchall room, which is probably not the best idea since it is the first room you see upon entering the house.

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If you keep walking towards the back of the house, you will find yourself in the family room.  These large windows were a selling point for me. 

And here is the view of the family room from the kitchen area.

And this is the breakfast nook (another selling point for me). 

This is the breakfast nook's hideous wallpaper, but I sure do love those windows!

This is the kitchen.  It is not original to the house, the previous home oweners remodeled it in 2002.  One of my favorite things they did is the pull-out drawers in the cabinets. 

Another kitchen photo.

Our laundry room is off the kitchen as you go into the garage. I love the location, but I must say this was a HUGE sacrifice on my part.  I really wanted a larger laundry room and this one is nothing to write home about. 

Our master bedroom is off the kitchen as well. At first, I thought it was a strange location, but it is growing on me. This room and the master bathroom by far require the most updating. We pretty much want to gut the entire area and start fresh. The pluses in our bedroom are the three very large windows and nice shelving systems in the closets, but otherwise we have our work cut out for us here. 

Here is the shelving system I mentioned above, the color of the closets however....well it speaks for itself.  There's nothing like a purple hue casted on your clothing when your trying to find an outfit.

Now, to the master bathroom.  Ugh!  I don't even know where to begin here, but it is all going!  Someday.  And if I have it my way, it will be sooner than later! 

Well there you have it, the first floor.  In a few days, I will post Part 2.

A Family Update

This month marks our three-month anniversary in our new house. Over the last several months, our focus on the house has shifted as our daily lives have become busier. We did manage to complete several projects as well as change our minds on numerous others. I started out in a hurry-up-and-get-it-done mode when I was repetitively hearing the phrase "you have to live in the house for awhile to know what you really want" from multiple friends and family. Today I am living that statement and taking a "time-out" from house projects, after all we plan to be here awhile, right?

With that said, I figured I would give an update on what else has been going on with us since our move. So, grab your favorite drink and a snack and I'll catch you up.

Brynn started first grade in August at a new school. She had a bit of a rough start missing her old friends, but within weeks, she was talking about her new BFF. She will tell you her favorite thing about school (besides seeing her friends) is reading and art class. Homework has not been an issue with her and I can only pray this continues through the years, she is always eager to learn and we love that about her. In fact, Danny and I just attended our first parent-teacher conference and her teacher referred to Brynn as "the perfect student and a rule follower to the tee". We couldn't be more proud of her.

Brynn also began her second year as a Daisy Girl Scout this year and since we moved, we choose to find a new troop so she could meet new girls in our area. When we attended the Girl Scout Rally, we found the established troops at her school were already full, but there was enough interest to start a new troop. The only problem, they needed a Troop Leader. After a half hour of awkward questioning of "Who wants to take on this role?" going around the table of mom's who were in attendance and Brynn whispering in my ear, "you can do it, mom" I folded. Yep, I am now the proud leader of a Girl Scout troop.

We are two full months in and I love this new adventure. I had no idea what it meant to be a Girl Scout, much less a Girl Scout Troop Leader and it is a lot more work than I ever imagined. The training, the paperwork, the background checks and the organization needed is crazy, but in a very good way. The best part is the girls; I had no idea how these eight little girls were going to change my life. They are great girls and we have lots of fun together. In addition, hearing Brynn tell me how happy she is to have me as her troop leader seals the deal for me.

Braden is attending a Mother's Day Out program two days a week at a new school as well. He is doing amazing there. He LOVES his teachers and he tickles them to death with his questions and insights. He is making great progress and counting the days until he goes to kindergarten.

At home, he is keeping busy playing with his trains, Lego's and puzzles. He builds train tracks I cannot even fathom building and he can put together 100-piece puzzle in the time it takes me to make lunch (he actually did this one day). He also loves to ride his bike and practically gives us a heart attack at least once a week while doing so. Thank God for helmets! We are actually considering full-body armor for him, Lol!

Work for Danny has slowed down the last few months, which has been nice with the move, and all. It has allowed us to be able to work on some house projects together, which is nice. It reminds me of the "olden days" before we had kids and we would work on house stuff together all the time. We know this schedule won't last forever, so we are making the most of it while we can.

We are also leading a small group in our home for church on Friday nights. (Now if the Girl Scout Troop Leader didn't surprise some of you I know this will.) It has been a good thing for us and to be able to do it together has made it even better. We are having a great time and have met some wonderful families through this experience.

As for me, I started a part-time job as an HR Consultant for a start-up staffing agency. I was not looking for a job, but when approached by a friend from church regarding this opportunity, I knew I could not say no. I work in the office one day a week and spend the rest of the time working from home. It is the perfect balance for our family life.

Then there is the house...we started out strong, but like I said with life becoming busier and having more commitments, progress is slowing down and is now at a more reasonable pace. I have several projects I will share with you in future posts to bring my documenting process up to date. We are planning to resume projects after the first of the year when I holidays have passed. 

Well that about wraps it up. We hope everyone is doing well!

Welcome!

*So* I have taken a leap of faith and decided to start a new blog.  With our recent move, I have been itching for a clean slate to begin documenting our lives in our new home as well as the house transformation.  I am super excited about this journey, as it will provide a place for me to share our family stories, my passion for interior decorating and photography.   Stay turned for updates from the first three months in our new home.