Do more of what makes you HAPPY!

Yes, We have been still doing lots of work on the house, BUT we have gotten out and done a few things. Me and the "babies" (aka two youngest girls in the house) have had so much fun doing a few things here or there during the week. Last week we made our inaugural trip to the mall. Oh what fun!!! Our first stop was Barnes and Noble. Gigi and I had fun looking at all the books and found a little nook in the store to read a few. Lil Miss layed in her stroller and listened along. She had such a hard time picking just ONE book to read, there were SOOOOO many. I told her we would be back to read more.

We even found a Dora section. She was in heaven!!! Dora is still her favorite thing in the whole wide world. Someday I hope she grows out of it, but then we have a little girl right behind her that will probley be into it then! UGH!

This girl makes me smile! I had seen this hat on gymboree's website for possible Christmas outfits... now after seeing the hat on her, how can I not get it? It makes it tough when the kids look so adorable in EVERYTHING!!!
We also have been spending quality time going out to eat once in awhile. I have to make sure we don't do it very often because there is a certain other girl who gets EXTREMELY jealous, but once in a week me and the girls find a day to go out. Gigi always brings her purse wherever we go. Sometimes we even forget it at places and mommy has to drive back and get it. I can laugh now, but was upset when she realized it! :-) Last week Gigi got to pick the restaurant and she wanted pancakes. So IHOP it was! She is growing up to be quite the lady.

On Sunday we visited the local family museum. It was a fun family time. The kids were able to explore different areas and each of them had their favorite things to do. Outside they had a playground and a watertable area. Lil miss liked the water area and splashed away in the puddles.

Big sister assisted in filling up the tables to splash in.

Dad, the engineer, had to see how it all worked. maybe he took notes and we can get one of these in the backyard next year..... or we can just visit the family museum again and again. LOL

One of the things that made me really happy last week was to find a hidden gem! Me and the girls found a cute park right on the Mississippi River. You can see it in the background. It was all fun, until gigi had to go potty and we had to leave reluctantly. I took lots of pictures of the girls with my camera. Pictures to come soon!

Rosie had her first birthday party this past weekend -- Mommy took her to target to pick out a gift and a card. Seriously the card picking out took FOREVER!! That is why I had enough time to take a pic because we were literally reading every card in the girl aisle 2/3 times! But she wanted the perfect card for her friend Cassie. Buying the gift was even harder because she didn't want to give Cassie anything that she wanted. I would point out a gift and she would say "but mom that is what I want for MY birthday." NO matter how much mommy tried to explain that just because you give it to Cassie doesn't mean that you won't get it for your birthday. I also tried to get her to comprehend that she is NOT going to get everything that she wants... because her wish list is a mile long... and that is not joking.

Saturday afternoon was when we started tearing out the kitchen cabinets in anticipation of my pantry cabinet coming soon. We also started painting the two last areas of the house that we are going to do for awhile... the kitchen and the 1/2 bath. Lil miss was a big help. hee hee Someday we will have all the construction/housework done so she can roam around this house. Someday...... After working so hard, daddy wanted to treat the kids for being so good and took us to Olive Garden. It was delicious.

Here is daddy showing Rosie the proper way to cut broccoli. Our kids are pretty lucky to be eating at a fancy restaurant and we thought we would TRY to show them some etiquette. Trying to eat everything with your fingers is probley not the best way to eat here. Lil miss just found some reading material to occupy her time.

Here is the kitchen.... in process. As you can see the diamond backsplash is getting painted over. This makes momma VERY HAPPY!

Two coats on the walls.... waiting for outlet covers.

Now it is time for me to get off the computer and get one more area tackled before my babies wake up from nap. OR stay on the computer and get sucked into Facebook and Pinterest. Which would be more fun?????

Home sweet Home

We moved! I took a hiatus from the blog in the frantic time of the move, but I am BACK!! We are settled and its feeling more like home everyday. Some rooms are farther than others but I see more progress everyday. Here is what has been going on around here. {The truck ready to move with some of our stuff loaded}
The kids were excited to move and sad at the same time. R was most excited to get her own room!!

Can you say Ornery?!?

We all worked very hard. Nate's parents were here for a week helping out a ton. We couldn't do have the stuff we did without them.

{All the work wore us ALL out... even the littlest one!}

All of us pitched in ... the cleaning, the painting, the making a house a home!

{this is lil miss in her pack n play, where she was content to play and hang out while we were all working}
We found a park close by that the kids just loved to play at. It was a fun little excursion.

The crew

{our little first grader}
The craziest part was starting school again, 10 days after the "first" first day of school. The kdis took it just fine, mommy would have rather not bought two sets of school supplies which were nothing the same!

{One very Happy kindergartener}

{Grandma and R on her first day of school}

It was a special treat that grandma and grandpa was here to celebrate their first day of school! The kids were super excited and mommy was so nervous.

I am in love with our new house. It has everything we wanted in a house... bigger, a play room with a door that shuts, nice backyard to play, swingset already in the backyard, not alot of work to have it how we wanted it, and great location!

{After -- the kitchen}

Okay we haven't painted this room... so don't let it fool you that I would make it look like this! We painted almost every room and ceiling in the house but not this one. The backsplash is paint.. thank goodness! We just ordered the new countertops, so we are working on it! If you look above the microwave you can see the color in the colander that will accent the kitchen. That is more my style ... NOT the diamond walls.

{My bathroom.... the selling point for me}
{Before -- master bedroom}

This room is HUGE.... 24 x 28 ... lots of space for a reading area and elliptical!{After -- the window seat in Master Bedroom}

My first reupholstery project... not bad at all, I think.
{Before -- master bedroom}

{After -- Master Bedroom}

{After -- elliptical area}
{After -- dining room}

{Before -- R's room, just a little change in this room to make it just what R wanted. She had big ideas for her room.... yellow walls, crazy sheets, blue desk.... lots of ideas! Oh and most all she wanted a canopy over her bed. Thank goodness mommy found a canopy on clearance at target that was PERFECT!!! }
{Before -- X's room with stripes the whole way around the room}
Pam worked very hard sanding and making the stripes go away. Then I go and put stripes back up onthe wall.... oops! LOL
{X's room}
{The bathroom Nate will be cleaning... LOL}

{Before -- Family Room} {After -- Family room}
Our couch was delivered last saturday... and boy it was sooooo comfortable to finally sit down and relax! i can see many family movie nights in our future down here.

The couch came just in time to cheer on the Buckeyes. Even Lil girl was cheering!
{Before -- the Bar}

{After -- the Bar turned into an OSU area!! }

{Before -- storage and sewing area}
{After -- Toy Closet and crafting area}

Lil girl is enjoying the new house. She has her own areas where she can play to her heart's content. it will be nice when there isn't drills, picture frames, etc on the floor so she can have the run of the house. That will all come with time.

Yesterday we headed to the local zoo. Nate's work had a special day at the zoo with lunch, bounce houses, free feeding the giraffes, and lots of extras. We enjoyed it very much!
Checking out the monkeys at the zoo.
Petting zoos are our favorite! X especially loves touching and feeding the animals.
Lil miss had her first carousel ride at the zoo -- so cute and looking like such a big girl.

Daddy and baby girl
The kids were really ready to do something other than paint/clean/fix up the house. The zoo was just what we needed.

There will be more house pictures to come I am sure but for now, I just wanted to get a blog wrote and out there.... now off to get more done! Can you believe I have every box empty! The moving company picked up the empty boxes last week already. I feel so accomplished. Now not everything is put away but I am getting there. Til next time....