Spring

Spring is my favorite time of the year and since we always seem to move in the fall the following spring is always fun watching and waiting to see what come up. I did plant a lot of bulbs in the fall but I am so happy that I have lots of surprises coming up.

Update

I know I have not been blogging much since the move. I just can't seem to get back on top of things.  But here is a short update and I will post more with pictures soon. Harrison's 5th birthday is in two days so we are in full birthday mode. We have some dear friends from our former town coming in to visit tomorrow for a couple of nights. Then the end of the week I have a childhood friend, and cousin and their kiddos are coming and Harrison's birthday party.

But I think Harrison is settling in to our new house and town. He is playing soccer, taking swimming lessons, and enjoying school. We have not yet found a place for him to ride but thought would give him some team activities so he could meet some friends. He has fit in with him team mates well, and we are starting to set up play dates etc which Harrison and Mommy enjoy.

We are settled into the house even though I keep wanting to change things around :) Once I get curtains up it will feel more like home I think. I could not put my figure on what was missing and I think the windows just need some help. There is not a curtain or rod one in the house so that will be next on the to do list.

We have pulled out all the landscaping and have replaced the front yard, and working on getting the back yard planted now. I would never have thought to look but john found all of our new plants on craigslists... We enjoy doing the yard work but I am glad things are starting to pull together. Now if we can just get some grass to grow in the back yard.

This past week we also took Harrison to his first football game. He LOVED it... even a year ago he would not have been able to handle the crowd or noise level but he did great. Here is a picture (not great just from my phone) I will post more later.

craft room

 So I am so glad that we were able to bring  these shelves and cabinets with us. We were not for sure if we be able to bring them but since we did not have a buyer come moving day we took them off the walls. So this is kinda a a catch all room but it works. It is a craft area for me, with the small table we use for school type work. and the new bunk beds are in this room to have a second guest room. It is not the prettiest room in the house but other than the kicthen it may be the most used room.

 This was the last room to get done, we keep putting off hanging these shelves, but now that they are up the fun can begin.... and birthday prep for a carnival party is in full swing.

Locks

I am so thankful that the new house has locks on the bathroom, which the old house did not have. I can lock the door even if the dog and kid wait at the door for me they are at least not in there with me :)

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Random Pic from my phone over the past week or so

 The Random cell phone that feel out from our couch when we went to move it.... We have no idea who's it is.

 Harrison's get up his first night in the new house.

 boxes boxes boxes everywhere so glad they are about all gone... the garage still needs keep but the house is coming together.

and I came across a bunch of old pictures and I just don't remember us looking this young... I guess we are just getting old. This picture was from when we took a cruise a few months after we got married.

Play time

This is the reason we gave Harrison the bonus room for his room, and the reason why we did not not put the saggy carpet upstairs..... The reason Harrison was excited about the move was the fact that he got the biggest room in the house and could build and leave up BIG train tracks. At the old house we would make big tracks in the sunroom but they could only stay a day or two. He is super excited now if we can just find a playmate. There at lots of kids on our street but I think they are all girls and older than Harrison

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New kitchen

I LOVE my new kitchen, really it is the reason we bought this house. The first thing we fixed in our new kitchen was rice krispie treats, gluten free of course. We may need to make another batch today :)

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Moving day has come and gone

We were at the KY house August 2nd And heading out of town about 7 pm. And our last day there we got an OFFER on the house!!!!! What great timing God has. And the family has two small boys that will be able to enjoy the play barn we left behind. We are already missing our dear friends but are looking forward to this new season in out lives too.

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Harrison's new room

 I know these are just awful pictures but they are of the bonus room of the new house. This will be Harrison's room.

sorry can't get it to turn it is from my phone

We are going to paint it blue and put white on the bottom like in the pictures below. Right now we will just be painting the bottom white and adding the wood detail after we are settled. I don't know how much I want the white to go up any suggestions.

Do the white all the way up to there the walls meet the angled ceiling, or just to the top of the small attic doors? The white will also extent to the the ends of the room with the high walls.

random thoughts

I sat down to download to fourth of July pics..... would have been a bit easier if I had remembered to put the card back in the camera before taking the pics..... no pictures for this year

We are SO grateful for all the traffic coming through our house but is is SO NOT FUN keeping a house ready to show everyday with a 4 year old boy and a 6 month old puppy.... just saying




Harrison is NOT happy about having people coming to look at the house AT ALL... He can't pull out toys to play, I can't play with him because I am always cleaning since it seems we have had  a showing everyday. We REALLY need a contract on our house by this SATURDAY so say a little prayer for us.

Best Parts of New House

I am not easy when it comes to buying a house. John and I have lived in 4 homes since when have been married, an apartment, a condo, and 2 houses, and getting ready for move  #5. I guess it is a good thing we like to move since we will be doing it A LOT For the next 20-25 years but experience does not make the process easier or quicker for me.

On our list for a new list were in this order

1. big yard (fence would be great if not we would have to put one in)

2. big kitchen with Granite or other hard surface

3. large master bath (ours is TINY now and we so miss a big bath)

4. walk in Attic access (this has been a MAJOR issue in our current house)

5. at least 2 living areas.

 other nice things, 3 car garage (so maybe a car maybe get to park in the garage), 4 bed rooms, 2 bed rooms on ground floor, etc

While the new house does not have EVERYTHING Is has most of the things on our list. The first item on the list is a BIG YARD.... this was a tough one, most of the houses we looked at had tiny yards, Harrison spends hours a day outside and in his barn, which can't be moved :(. If it is above freezing he is outside most of the day. These pictures are of our current yard and We LOVE IT.... so we had HIGH STANDARDS.

While our yard is what we will miss the most about our current yard the new house actually has a great sized yard, the lot is a little over half of our current lot but with a smaller front yard the back is almost as big. Here are a few Pictures, It needs A LOT of work but you know we LOVE yard work so it will be in shape in no time. The new yard has a FENCE mature trees (which we just don't know how to live without), a place for a garden, and even pear and peach trees :)

The next thing on the list was the KITCHEN and no washer and dryer in Kitchen and this house has an AWESOME KITCHEN.... really a WOW factor. Since I COOK A LOT my current small kitchen has been interesting. Here is the current kitchen and yes I only have about 2 feet of counter space.

And THIS is the NEW kitchen, I can't wait to get in it and do some cooking.

So the top 2 things on the list we found. The only things on our wish list that we could not get were a 3 car garage, the Master is the only bedroom on the first floor so some company may stay in our rooms if the stairs could be an issues,  and we will have 2 living areas, but the one is very small since we are making the bonus room Harrison's room so we will have two guest rooms.

Changes

I know I have not been blogging very much over the past month or two. The reason is due to some big changes in our lives. John started a NEW JOB on July 1st. He has done worked VERY hard as a State Farm Agent and his office produced exceptional results. So over the past couple years State Farm has been looking at us and we have been prayerfully considering the oportunity to going in LEADERSHIP for State Farm.

John has passed his office over to another agent, which has been  VERY BITTERSWEET, since he built this business from NOTHING, but thankfully his team has been able to remain with the office. Now he will be helping other new agents as they get their offices up and going. We are very excited and can't wait to see what this next phase has in store for us. I am so PROUD of John and I know he will continue to do an exceptional job in this new role.

Not only has John started a new job but the new job is in TENNESSEE... so our house (and yes the condo too)  is on the market and we will be moving in a couple of weeks. John will be traveling some, working from home some, and we will be visiting our new town some while we wait to close on our new home. So we have been VERY BUSY getting the office ready for this transition along with getting our house ready, and looking for a new house and all the excitement that goes along with it all.

So will will be saying Good-bye to this house, friends, church, and town.

and HELLO to this house, and all the new adventures to come.

Flowers

I lOVE having fresh flowers from the garden. Makes it really feel like summer :)

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I think Spring is FINALLY here

 New ferns are plated, the grass is green.

 175 bags of mulch spread in the yard

 Garden is planted and we are SO excited that SPRING IS HERE

 And grilling dinner while playing out side, does not get much better than this

Chores

Harrison is getting old enough now that he can help with the chores. Yes it is easier to do it myself but he enjoys it and more importantly he is learning how to do things around the house. He LOVES to help me cook but there are other things he can do alone, like sort the dirty clothes. He also helps me empty the dishwasher (silverware, and his dishes, which are plastic). He can also go out and feed the rabbits alone now while I watch from the warmth of the house :). He also helps with clean up and making his bed (although  I still do the bed most days, just because I don't like a messy bed).

how many lamps???

How many lamps can one little boy break? Harrison has broke at least 7 lamps in the living room and his room. These usually get broke because he is climbing on the the back of a chair, running, etc. One table next to the couch I have given up on having anything on and the table in the above picture I am still trying a lamp because I really like having the light while sitting in my chair. So Garden Ridge likes to see us coming because we are always needing a new lamp or lampshade. 

Something Craftastical: Alphabet Print

Get this  print here  Something Craftastical: Alphabet Print:

I LOVE all this word prints that you find online right now. It makes a cheap easy change in any room or for any season or holiday. I just made picture order this week and it included several of these type of prints to change out around the house.