Paint, Paint and More Paint, Plus a Table

We bought our house from a real estate company.  All the "improvements" done around here were done for the short term goal of flipping it.  It isn't all bad, we got decent tile and carpet out of the deal however to cover up the imperfections in the drywall work they used flat paint through out the entire house.  Its horrible!  

Flat paint not only seems to absorb everything that touches it, its next to impossible to clean, as it comes off the walls when wiped.  This does not work in a house filled with little boys!  

So we're slowly but surely repainting.  We started in our half bath (which I don't have any pictures of right now) with a semi gloss grey.  Its so nice to be able to wipe little finger prints off the walls in there!  

Next we tackled our dining room. Originally this wasn't high on our painting priority list, however our short family had grown weary of climbing our bar height dining room table so we began looking for something less vertically challenging.  We were browsing when we found something that we not only love but is very practical for our expanding family (we can fit all four little boys on one bench with plenty of wiggle room).  We hadn't planned to buy so soon but right after we found our new table it went on sale for 50% off!  We couldn't even find a better deal on craigslist so we jumped on it!  

This purchase inspired Jed to paint an accent wall behind it.  The color makes me happy!

Jed was on a painting roll so he went ahead and painted the kitchen which desperately needed it!  The walls behind the oven and sink were spattered with grease.  Oh how I love glossy paint!    

This weekend Jed tackled the living room accent wall with a lovely green.  I didn't think we'd get to this project quite yet, as I assumed that we'd have a newborn, at this point. This is now, my longest pregnancy and unlike her big brothers, Isla doesn't seem at all anxious to leave her cozy home!  At least while we're waiting on her we're getting stuff done!  
Eventually, we plan to do all the non accent walls in a neutral color we've chosen but with our high ceilings and open floor plan that is going to be quite the extended project!  Eventually.  

A Tour (As requested by my mom)

Since our family lives so far away the only way they'll see our new home anytime soon is via pictures posted here.  So I thought I'd take you on a little tour.

  I started with the upstairs.    

This is the view from the top of the stairs into the great room. We're using it as the playroom for now. 

 The hallway to the boys rooms. 

 Evan and Seth's room.  Bare bones for now, eventually we'll jazz it up.  Kane's room is identical and right next door, I didn't take a picture of it b/c his bed is still in pieces and we have lots to figure out in his room.  But it looks a lot like this but with a toddler mattress on the floor. :) 

 Upstairs bath, this is the vanity area, which is very narrow but I love having two sinks!  Oh and a five month pregnant, pre-shower, me.  

Toilet/bath area with a pocket door.  Very nice so if one of the boys is showering or using the potty the others can still get ready using the mirror and sinks!   

 Fordster's room, aka, the catch all room.  We're still trying to figure out how we fit into our new home and we don't have an attic or basement so a lot of stuff ends up here for now.  Eventually this will be "baby girl's" room and Ford will move in with Kane.

This is what the boys are capable of doing when I'm distracted with, well, anything for 30 seconds or more.

Now back downstairs. 

The stairs and tv. 

Living room and the boys watching tv. 

This hallway leads to the garage, laundry room, the half bath and our bedroom.  I would have taken a picture of our room but it needs a lot of work still and I'd rather wait until its ready!  

My cluttered kitchen, there is no doubt that we live in our home!  The enormous pantry is to the left there.  

The dining room.  Jed just put in the ceiling fan a week ago and we can finally have dinner at the table (previously there wasn't a light in that part of the room and it was too dark)!   

The backyard.  To the left and off in the distance is the community playground and swimming pool.  

And to give you a little perspective on how close our neighbors are, there's their back porch! 

There you have it!  Now someone come and visit so we have a reason to get the bedrooms ready for guests! :) 

I Wish We Had Elves

Unpacking is going SLOW!  This weekend we finally unpacked enough to make our house functional!  Quite the feat!  We still own our old house and need to get it ready to rent which takes the focus away from getting things set up here. Poor Jed has a laundry list a mile long of handyman projects to do both here and there!  I'm so thankful for such a capable and hard working husband, he's awesome!  

So forget Christmas elves I need some moving/unpacking/project doing/organizational, elves!  Instead I have these guys,

 "Mom, let me help you unpack!"

"I know the perfect place for this spice packet!"

"See!" 

Maybe Ford will be more helpful? 

"Who me? I was actually looking for something to make a mess with but, I guess, I could help."

"I know the perfect place for this package of shredded coconut."

 "Oh yeah, on my head!" 

 And its all fun and game until you get a chip clip stuck in your fro.  

Not exactly elves but entertaining none the less. 

Pregnancy and Moving

They don't go together!

After spending all afternoon Thursday cleaning I woke up yesterday sore and feeling almost as tired as when I went to bed the night before.  This is pathetic!  

I had hoped to get everything done but the kitchen was dirtier than I realized (Grease is disgusting!) and Ford was determined to traverse the stairs (my baby gate is currently buried behind a mountain of boxes in the garage).  

Most of the first floor has been cleaned and santized, I did end up throwing in the towel on the kitchen though.  I need something more powerful to cut through the grease. 

Evan vacuumed the upstairs while I took a breather.  I'm still waiting for my second trimester burst of energy to kick in...  so much for my dreams of painting before we moved our stuff in.

Even so we have a lot of work do this weekend if we want to be moved in by Monday morning and I really want to be moved in by Monday!  Goodbye 40 minute drive to and from school every morning and afternoon!

The kitchen.

The view of the backyard from our master bedroom.  We have a pond!  We're going to have a fence put up for safety reasons as soon as we can get someone out to do it.

The "mommy tub" as the boys call it.  This may or may not be what sold me on the house. 

My helpers!

A New Home

With how unstable the real estate world is these days we've waited to announce that, we're moving!


The last time we tried to buy a house, 2 years ago, our lender backed out 2 days before closing because of something in the inspection therefore the apprehension in talking about it.

Anyway, around the time we found out that I was pregnant, we started house hunting.  Seven people in a 3 bedroom (tiny rooms at that) house is not ideal... doable, yes, sanity preserving, not so much.

The whole thing has been a roller coaster ride, first in finding a house that met our criteria, in our price range, then finding one that didn't already have multiple, above asking price, offers on it, having our offer accepted (we were rejected on the first house we put an offer on) and finally dealing with the real estate company that owned the house and the lenders.

The house we chose is a 4 bedroom, that's much closer to the boys school, with a good size yard!  We don't have a pool anymore but there is a community pool in our neighborhood and Jed's more than happy to turn over his pool boy duties to someone else!

 We closed on it this week!  Well, at least, we did our part in closing, we're still waiting on the owners to do their part.  They have been anything but prompt and professional in the whole ordeal, among other things, we only finally had a fully signed contract a little over a week before the agreed upon closing date.

However as long as nothing goes wrong on their part, and we don't have any reason to believe it will at this point, we will begin to move in tomorrow!  We're super excited!  I'm heading over there this afternoon to clean, if I have time I'll take pictures.