Around the House

This place is becoming a little more like home everyday.  The first few weeks I would always go the wrong way and attempt to make my way back to the old house after dropping the boys off at school.  Hopefully that habit is almost kicked.

Here’s a little bit more of my favorite room in the house.  It’s basically they only space that is “finished enough.”

I would love to get my hands on some white linen slipcovers over those wingbacks.  But I know I’ll never get around to it.  Plus, the floral and velvet are growing on me.   

I’m loving me some spring.

It’s so fun to see what surprises are popping up in the yard.  Although I have to admit I am a little ticked at Cash for plucking quite of few of the daffodils.   

Here is one of the boys’ favorite spots.  It is prime real estate for superheroes and pirates to get caught in Spidy’s web. 

While I was away on my trip and the boys were with the grandparents for a week, Grant went ahead and demolished the main bathroom.  He is putting in a new floor, tile, vanity, toilet, fixtures, you name it, basically.  So far it’s been out of commission for two weeks, and Lord willing it will just take one more.  Famous last words, though, right?

After that, next on his list is a little half bath attached to the boys bedroom.  That one shouldn’t take nearly as long, since it just needs a new floor and vanity and fixtures. 

And then it’s kitchen time!  We don’t know exactly what we are going to do to it yet, but I am looking forward to it. 

My responsibility during all this has been removing the wallpaper.  Oh, glorious wallpaper.  Hopefully some updated pics will come soon.     

Honduras

The trip was awesome and I am so thankful that I was able to go.  I seriously loved my time there and am sad that it couldn’t have been longer.

This is our group along with some staff from Predisan.  Predisan is a Christian Mission that provides healthcare, community development, and spiritual outreach to the mountainous regions of Honduras. 

Our time was specifically spent in the schools, building latrines for households that did not yet have them, and visiting in homes.  We were able to share our faith on many levels.   

The community was soooo grateful.  But really, we were the ones that were blessed with the experience. 

We got to see Christ in the eyes of the children. 

And in the brotherly love of the community. 

We got to witness their reliance on God, and bring that back home with us.

And what does the Lord require of you?                                                                                             

         To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

                                                                                                                            Micah 6:8

I pray I don’t easily forget the lessons learned here. 

So Here’s Some Random Stuff

I really want to share more progress on the house, but there hasn’t really been any. 

So that would be hard to share. 

So I won’t. 

I guess we’ve been focusing on other things around here.  I can’t think of those particular things at the moment, but I am sure they exist. 

Anyway, tomorrow is a big day for me.  I am headed to Honduras with the youth group from church for a week.  I am excited.  And nervous.  But mainly excited, I think.  Actually, I am just praying that this will be a great opportunity for all involved.  And honestly, for myself, I am hoping I will realize how blessed I am and that I need to start doing more.  More of what? I am not exactly sure.  But if this is going to be a swift kick in the butt, I’m ready.  I think.  Maybe.  No, I am.  I’m ready. 

Speaking of doing more, have you read Crazy Love?  I randomly picked it up yesterday to read on my plane rides tomorrow.  But then I accidently read the whole thing already.  Seriously, it will light a fire in you.  Hopefully I will be able to process that and write more about it later. 

In other awesome do-good news, my niece is coming home soon!  This has been a long journey for my sister and her husband, and I couldn’t be more thrilled for them and their new family.  If you haven’t caught this video yet on FB, watch it.  It makes me ridiculously happy. 

A video my brother-in-law made of the journey to meet their daughter.

Moving and Stuff

Goodbye house.  We’ll miss you!  You’ve been good to us.

But now we’re gone.  And, ugh.  Moving is so hard.  Me no likey. 

It was stressful, and I am soooo glad it’s over!

And now we are in the new house, and life feels chaotic.  We’re slowly settling.  But sometimes we look around and just feel overwhelmed.  I shouldn’t be on the computer right now, but it’s a nice distraction. 

I wanted to be able to share some before & after pics, but it what I currently have to share is more like before & during-the-chaos pics. 

This room, formerly the den, is now our master bedroom.  It has seen the biggest transformation. 

It is a lot more room than I am used to.  And I am loving it.    But obviously we’ve got more tweaking to do. Like inserting dresser drawers and other crazy awesome design stuff like that.   

The sunroom will be serving as our dining room, and it is by far my most favorite space in the house. 

Because of the views.  And our visitors. 

We love that we live right in the middle of town, and these guys still visit us everyday!  We usually see about 4-5 at a time, a few times a day, but we have seen up to 16 playing in our backyard.  And of course Grant wants to keep them around, hence the big pile of corn they are munching on. 

So that’s where we are right now.  Living with boxes all around, not able to find our belts or the laundry detergent, and watching the deer. 

The One Where Cash Puked in My Hands at Hy-Vee

Isn’t motherhood awesome? 

Yeah, he gagged on a fortune cookie, then began to puke.  It was awesome. 

And I decided to catch it all.  In my hands.  Even more awesome. 

Why did I feel like I needed to catch it in my hands?  Not sure.  I mean, is that a normal reaction?  I guess I just didn’t want there to be a big mess and have people be totally grossed out by me and my boy.  But, most likely I didn’t want it to splatter on my new boots.  My subconscious feels very strongly about boots.  It loves them.  Either way, I was left standing in aisle 12 with a double handful of puke. 

And I couldn’t go anywhere, my arms were useless, and I didn’t want to leave a trail.  I was paralyzed with my double handful of puke. 

There was an unassuming elderly man that witnessed the whole thing go down.  Or come out, rather.  He asked if he should go get some help.  Um, yes please.   

I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Still HOLDING THE PUKE.  Protecting Hy-Vee’s floor.  Protecting the boots. 

He later returned with A NAPKIN! And then he just placed it on top of my hands.  I could tell he wished his arms were longer and he didn’t have to get so close to me and my double handful of puke. 

But A SINGLE NAPKIN!?  Seriously!?  I was cupping a double handful of puke, and now there was a napkin gently resting on top of it.  How is this any better? 

The guy then turned and walked away super quickly.  I can’t blame him.  He didn’t want to help the strange lady that catches her kid’s puke.  He was just in the wrong aisle at the wrong time and felt obligated to help.  Even if it was just throwing a single napkin at me.

I could only laugh about how ridiculous I looked. 

Eventually an employee came to my rescue, and all was well.

Except for the fact that now, three hours later, after 10 handwashings, and a shower…. I still can’t get that puke smell off my hands.  

That’s just the awesomeness of motherhood, I guess. 

Trying to Move

We’re still trying to move, we thought today would be the day, but the beautiful snow ruined our plans.

  It was a light snow, but enough to get school canceled.   And I tend to be less productive when I have two little superheroes creating chaos all around.  So we’ll wait another day or two.  We needed the extra time to finish prepping the house anyway. 

Plus, when school gets cancelled, it’s tradition to have time for extra snuggles and a fancy breakfast. 

Snuggles beat moving boxes every time.  

We’ve pretty much finished painting every surface in the house, and I am quite pleased with how it has turned out.  In addition, we changed out most of the light fixtures, light switches, and outlets, so things look a lot fresher.  I’m anxious to get our things in there and show you some before and after pics.  Yippee, that’ll be fun. 

Doin’ Work

With every spare minute we have, we’re doin’ work. 

At the new house.  It’s exhausting.

 

We’ve packed up, donated, put in storage, cleaned up, and on and on. 

 

And now, we’re painting. 

A lot. 

Every square inch. 

Walls, trim, cabinets, ceilings, doors, and the glorious wood paneling.

Nothing will be left untouched. 

 

Hallelujah for our helpers.   

A Valentine For You

 

if you’re in Jagger’s class, that is. 

I 100% ripped this idea from someone else that was kind enough to share their creativity online.   Thank goodness for the interwebs. 

A Shout Out

Even though he can’t really read, I just want to give a shout out to my awesome helper.

  When I wanted to quit, he kept cheering me on.

 

The driveway is 2/3 clear.  And hopefully tomorrow morning , my (lack of) muscles will let me finish the job. 

And fingers are crossed that daddy gets to come home then too!

Tuesday Views

Hi there.  How was your weekend? 

We were all over the place for ours.  The boys spent quality time with their grandparents in Kansas.  Grant was on a ski getaway in Vail, and still is trapped there, actually.  And I got to be in the 75 degree heat of Austin, Texas with some awesome girlfriends.

It seems like the weekend greatness came to an abrupt stop now that I am stuck in the house, for what looks like the next three or four days. 

But I am stuck with two handsome little boys, and a stocked kitchen, so really there aren’t any complaints. 

 

Just lots of hot chocolate, and playing, and movies, and popcorn, and forts, and artwork, and world-wide-inter-webbing… all while staying in our pjs. 

 

Except for Cash.  He likes to change clothes every hour or so. 

 

And actually, I say there aren’t any complaints, but really it’s only been one day.  Day two and three may present a different story.