welcome home - back entryway

i thought it was about time to invite you over ;)
come on in. this is where we enter the house by way of the back porch.
we hardly ever use the front door. i think the ups man is the only one who does.

this is one of the three rooms we didn't really change the structure of. it did get "new" windows. we used the old windows from the side of the house that got added on to. and we moved the old front door to the back.

the doorway over there to the right heads into our office. the yellow door leads to a pantry...hahaha just kidding! it still leads to our cruddy side of the basement. the black cabinet is ikea. i got that idea here.

the boys hang their bookbags and coats and the ever-important pool bag here. i love these hooks. (home depot)

 

the state map is from hobby lobby along with the little red bins. there's one for each boy to put his shoes in. 

the little abc plaque, we found in the wall of the kitchen when we ripped it down to the studs. the little wooden family, i painted at my niece's birthday party.  mushrooms are pier 1.

 

the letter holder is for homework folders and papers that have to go back to school. and the white frame has small clothes pins that can hold pictures. -i just haven't gotten that far yet...

the welcome sign is from joss & main. rugs are target -where else?- the cute rugs that is. the brown rug is just a necessity when you have boys. the little yellow table to the right, i built. and the basket holds all our baseball gloves and balls.

so there you have it! the first stop on my little home tour. i really love this little room. it's so nice to have a spot to keep all the shoes and coats instead of dragging them clear through the house.

kitchen progress

I know I haven't even shared the rest of the house with you, but I'm so flipping excited about the kitchen that I cannot wait any longer!

Here's the before...ugh.

The kitchen started off as 12x12 room that had 3 door ways and one wall of cabinets. That door opening (on left of below pic) used to go through to the living room but we opened up the other door way leading in to it so we could have more room for cabinets and appliances.

 

It was two rooms just a short while ago. The door way pictured below is the same spot the above picture was taken from. Matt and I did most of the demo. We did have lots of help from our friend Matt too. This closet was the only closet in the entire house. We did use this room as our bedroom when we first moved in but it was soon turned into our office since it's in the front of the house.

 Here's the view from the other side of the room above. That chimney there with the brick has had to stay as it's not a fireplace chimney but it does have vents for other needed things (ie the furnace) running through it. I was a little disappointed about that but we did get our hopes up when we saw the brick. But my hopes were dashed when the previous owners put plaster directly on the other sides of it. And that stuff was not coming off with out ruining the brick.

There is the bigger opening into the living room. It's covered up to keep the dust and dirt out of the new side. You also get an awesome view of nasty wallpaper too! We ended up taking the plaster and lath off of all the walls and totally redrywalling the whole space.

And what a difference that makes! We widened the other entry too. And installed new tile, thanks again to our friend Matt and his wife Jenn!

I am so thankful for willing friends and a clean kitchen! 

I will have more updates and details soon! 

who do you love

I helped the boys out with their valentines this week. They were a little more excited about them this year than they have been before. Maybe it's because we used their favorite candy?

the owl will be for another blog post :)

 Airheads make me sick. No really, I think they are gross. But when I found this little download, I was excited! I knew they would love them! Plus they were cheap {woohoo}, well, the cost of the candy anyway.

I just printed them out on cardstock and cut them up.

In the download directions, she used double stick tape but I didn't have any. We just used gift tape (left over from Christmas). Rolled it up oldschool and stuck them together.

 
 They liked them so much, they didn't even care if they had the same valentines!

Happy Valentines Day!

it's time....

time....so precious but yet I waste so much of it.

It's time to dust off the old blog, I think. I have to admit, it's hard for me to want to keep up with it. But when I hear my friends are starting new blogs (hi, Evie!), and friends are telling me they miss mine, I get an itch to start again.

But then the itch goes away with a quick pic on instagram or a post on facebook.

I've been busy with the house though. We started at the end of the summer with this:

Then there was a lot of this:

And today it looks like this:

But don't judge me yet on the outside! There is a ton of stuff to do and garbage to pick up. But it's been really cold or really rainy. Except for that pic today...guess I could go out there. I will post more about the outside when we get to work on it this spring.

There will be more pics to come of the inside soon!

my newest little relative

My sister had her baby! If you visited with us at the Spoon River Drive, she's the one that was sitting with me the first weekend. 

I'm so in love with my new little niece! 

Meet Eva Marie.

Did I tell you Marie is my middle name? It's my mom's middle name too. And my other niece, Maggie's too. Eva gets to join in on the fun too:)

another house update

Some of you have been asking....how's the house? well, the house is fine. It's me that will end up with an(other) ulcer by the time it's all done. I can't seem to make a flipping decision on what I want! Which is really ridiculous! 

First, they cant put the sconces in the bathroom where I want, something about the cold air return on the furnace being in the way. 

Then I have contractors in my "old" house while I'm not there. Still mad about that one. I mean really mad. 

The stairs need widened a little because we have to add more insulation to the outside walls there. 

It has rained every week since we dug the hole. We even survived the hurricane (well, the remnants of one) that came through. The hillside to the basement is so muddy, you can't get in the house that way. 

that plywood is where the contractors enter the house.

Oh, and now my house is full of mice. We have caught 5 in the last three days. This makes me sad and mad all in one.

BUT that sounds like a lot of complaining!

I am thankful we have a house to live in right now. At least we didn't have to move out while they work. 

I'm so excited to have a new bathroom and bedroom for myself. And that the boys get to sleep across the hall from me. 

It is fun to pick out what I want, even if I cant decide. I read this post from the Nester today that put it in perspective for me. If you haven't read the Nester, I really like her and her style.

The roof is on and the windows are in! I love the look of the steel roof. Some have said that the roof might be loud. Well, I have now heard it rain on it and I cannot hear it in the old part at all. Still can in the new but there is no insulation or anything in the new part yet.

 

mud slide

fixing the steps.

I'll be back with more of what I'm picking out. Matt says to not buy anything until we can move it in. Which is a good thing! We have no where to store it!

Kayla & Luke ~ Engaged!

Meet Kayla and Luke!

It's really a small world because I went to school with Kayla. She's a bit younger than I am but when you go to a really small school, we were around each other quite a bit. Luke is my neighbor's son. His mom Diana, was one of my mentor moms at MOPS. She lead the crafts while she was there until I took it over. 

These are two that are just to good to not make big:)

The whole night was a great night to take pics! 

Hope the best for the two of them!

You can check out all their pics over on the photography page!

house progress

We are getting there! If you ask Matt though, we are a long ways off. I like to stay positive!


Wall are up and the sheeting is on them. You can actually see what it's going to look like.

They did deliver the trusses today. But not until after lunch. So they didn't get started on them today. I blame Christopher Columbus and his holiday....but whatever.





I took some inside pics but they are kinda hard to see because that actual walls aren't up, just the studs. I drew on them too so you can see:) and here's a pic of the floor plan.




All the dark lines are the new parts. Heres a pic from just coming up the steps...




If you take a left up there, you are in the hall...




Then you can check out my bathroom and my walk in shower! I'm so excited about my bathroom, I can't hardly stand it!





Here's the basement. I love that we will be able to use it and it has a huge ceiling. With the walk out, it should feel pretty spacious.





Hopefully, next week, I'll have more to show you! I gotta get shopping:)

monday, monday

So thanks for being excited with me on the new house! I felt like I was going to explode not telling anyone for awhile! But it'd be even worse to tell everyone then have to take it back! oh the disappointment!

Today the contractors are here working on the "wood" part of the house. That's what I call it, since the basement is done. Slone asked me last night if he could have heat in his new room. Oh you read that right. The poor boys only have a space heater in the attic room that they share now. You should've seen his face when I told him there would be air conditioning too!

If you follow me on pinterest at all, you probably noticed the onslaught of home decor ideas lately.

I love me some pinterest and it's really helped bring my ideas together! Matt has looked at my pinterest boards and all he see is "this is gonna cost me a lot of money." I really don't see my boards like that. Everything on there is a jumping off point. I really don't have to have everything in the picture of just like the picture.

For instance, take this picture...

Source: bhg.com via Heather on Pinterest

I love this porch. I love the doors on this porch. But the doors do not necessarily make sense on my house. But my house does have the three columns on the front like this, which I love. And I love the look of the wood floor and the extra wide steps. I also think I'm digging the no railing.

How about this picture?

Source: google.ca via Heather on Pinterest

Be still my heart.  I love everything about this. But I won't have glass doors on my shower. And I am thinking the tile on the wall behind the vanity might be too expensive. But I love the hex tiles in marble and I love the wood vanity with all the white and grey. 

See what I mean on the pins just being jumping off points? Not exactly what I want, but I never want exactly what someone else has anyway. 

So I've been scouring magazine and website, looking for what I want. I've found a couple that I'm gonna share with you.

Joss and Main. Usually, about once a week I find a collection that I want to buy one of everything! If you join, they give me $15. So please join here: http://www.jossandmain.com/invite/moreygirl

Design Mom has a great series call "Living with Kids" and has a ton of great ideas to incorporate design while, you got it, living with kids. And while my boys seem to destroy just about everything in their paths, I've been taking notes.

The Modern Cottage Co. I love everything that this girl does! I wish she wasn't in Washington! Lots of her ideas are just what I would think of.

Inspiration for Decoration. This blog is just a design dump, but I love almost everyone that she posts. She always has the links so check them out!

Don't worry though! I'll be sharing what we are doing once the fun things start. Block basement walls aren't really that fun to think about right now when I've got much bigger plans in the works!

exciting news

For the longest time, I have wanted a new house. Maybe not necessarily a new house but a bigger one. It's not that my house is junky, (well it's just old) we were out of space! 

We sleep in a 8x12 foot room. 

The boys sleep in the attic. 

We have one closet, just one, in the entire house. 

And it's in the room we use as an office. 

But Matt decided this was the year to do something about it, so we went from this... 

...to this! 

I told Matt that I wasn't telling anyone about any of it until there was concrete in the hole. I was so scared that it really wouldn't happen that I need something as solid as concrete to be sure that I was actually getting a bigger house!

Of course, we have had a drought all summer until we dug the hole. We have had rain every week since. Check out all the water in that bottom hole.

Plans have been drawn...and erased...and argued over...and redrawn. We both are pretty happy with what we have now. We picked out our doors and windows last Saturday. Going with a craftsman/cottage-y look. I'm super excited to show you our progress as we go along! 

The basement floor goes in this week, as well as the contractors starting the end of this week too!

Kenzie's Senior Pics

I remember when this girl was born. 

I remember when this girl's mom wasn't even married yet! 

I cannot believe she's a senior! 

 She's just as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside!

I had a great time hanging out with her for these pics! 

first day again

First day is back again! 

I feel like that mom on the staples commercial jumping around singing 

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" :) 

 I have to admit...I was sad to see them go. 

Bo is in kindergarten this year. Full day. 

So far...so good.

I cried...a little. 

My baby is growing up.

So stinking cute.

Slone is in second grade. 

He's a good kid.

I don't worry about him much.

Second day on the bus though, I get a phone call that he gave a kid a bloody nose.

Geesh.

It was an accident.

Thank goodness.

 

First day in though and Slone says "I miss summer." Oh, buddy, you got a long ways to go!