Randoms

We got a lot done this past week. We got the living room and family room painted, the remainder of our lights that were on back-order were installed, our shutters were installed, and RD and I built a retaining wall at the front of the house. He's going to start on the retaining wall in the backyard today, and I should hopefully get started on painting our bonus room sometime in the next week. I'm slowly getting pieces here and there to fill up some of the space. I'm wanting to hold off on hanging pictures until I know where all the furniture and stuff will be arranged once we're done. I ordered this really beautiful mirror from Crate and Barrel. I think it will look great over the fireplace.

The kids have been so good lately. We went through a really tough week, and the only thing different we could think of was that we had moved them to one nap instead of two. I keep thinking they should be ready, but obviously they're not, so I don't want to push it. I think AR is fine with one, but the boys seem to need much more sleep than she does. They are doing so many cute things! AR is such a girl. She loves putting things on her wrist to wear as a bracelet (even strange things like sandals, etc.), she likes to walk around in our shoes, loves for me to cut her nails, loves to *try* to brush her hair, and she's always picking up and wiping the floor with clothes or towels...or whatever she can get her hands on (where do you think she got that from? ha!). SA - we joke that he's the hall monitor. He is a mere 18 months, but is already tattling on everybody. Funny thing is...he's our most mischievous one! He'll stand and jump on the couch while yelling, "Get Down! Get Down!" (I think I might've posted about this before, but humor me...my memory's not what it used to be!). Sweet SJ - I've posted before about him being the more high-maintenance of the three...okay...the whiniest of the three. He's been much better. His tantrums are still the longest and loudest of the three, but he has been so much fun lately. He has the sweetest and most gentle personality. Sensitive, yes, but I wouldn't change a thing. He's so precious.

I am really loving it here. We moved to a city we swore we would never move to. I don't know what our big hang up was. I guess it seemed like too big of a hike from where we were from...too something...just different than what we were used to. I am loving it. We both are. The people here are wonderful. Everyone is so nice. There are so many young families - so many kids. Yesterday, AR would not nap, so I finally gave up and got her up, took her out on the deck and saw there were a couple moms with their kids playing in the yard behind us, so I took her over there and let her play for a bit. It's been so dang hot this Summer, I haven't been outside much, so I haven't had a chance to really get to know many people, but with the cooler temperatures we have ahead of us, that should hopefully change.

It's snack time, so I gotta run. Hope everyone's week is going well!

Tacky to Some - Resourceful to Others

I'm downstairs and couldn't find anything to put my hair up. Heaven forbid I walk upstairs to get something - that's just too much trouble.

What do I do?

Dig through the gadget drawer in the kitchen and pull out a potato chip bag clip. Works wonders!

My hair's off my neck and my kids think I'm quite stylin'!

So much for that

In an effort to give myself a boost in the morning, I decided to wake up early to go for a morning walk.

I've been exhausted lately, mentally and physically, and I thought some time alone to clear my head and get a jump on the day might do be some good.

Did it work? Well...so far my ass is as tired as the rest of me and I feel like I lost an hour's sleep.

Let's see if it works better tomorrow.

9 O'Clock...Let There Be Rest

It's wonderful having a bigger house now. More room for the kids to roam around...more room to play...more room to get away from each other when we want to...more room for guests...MORE TO CLEAN. Wait...what was that last part? The cleaning never stops!


I'm one of those anal people that likes to have everything "just so" at all times. I obviously had to make some adjustments when the kids came - there's no "just so" when there's kids around - but you could bet by the end of the day when I'd retire to bed for the night, the house would be perfect. I love starting the day off with everything spotless. A fresh slate you might say. Though time-consuming, it was definitely do-able in our last house. Now our house has tripled in size and I could be picking up and cleaning into the wee hours if I kept at the same rate I did before. It's just not possible. I was spending every waking hour (that wasn't spent with the kids of course) cleaning.

We talked about getting a cleaning service. But I really don't know that it would help much. Though the deep cleaning is a pain in the *ss, it's the day-to-day cleaning that is keeping me running. Not to mention I'm so picky about how I want things done, I'd be hard pressed to find someone that would do a job to my liking. I know...you're probably rolling your eyes right now!
So what do we do? I finally set a cut-off time for myself each night - and RD has decided to do the same. By 9 p.m. each evening, I am done. Whether or not all the "chores" are done by 9 p.m., I am. The kids go to bed at 8 p.m. and that will give me an hour to wrap up what I didn't get done during the day. It will be so nice to actually sit down for an hour or two and just do nothing. I could read...watch some t.v....imagine the possibilities!

On a side note...it's raining. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! We have new sod out front and seed and straw in the back, so yes, we've been doing rain dances everyday...BUT...we had 100-degree weather and no clouds in sight, so I spent the better half of the kids' nap watering the yard. I come inside...in come the clouds and down comes the rain. Oy-vay.

My daughter is giving me the sweetest hug and biggest smile...gotta run. :)

oops

Some of those pictures uploaded HUGE! Sorry 'bout that!

More pics

Foyer


Living Room (as you can see...in need of more furniture!)


Dining Room


Powder Room


Master Bedroom


New Patio Furniture (we're adding on to the deck - once we do, this will go up there)

I'll post more pictures as we get more rooms painted...and actually have pictures on the walls. It's a work in progress!

House Pics

Family Room


Family Room (the kids were wanting to climb into the fireplace, so until we get glass doors...there the play crib sits)


Kitchen (light above island is on back order)


Kitchen


Butler's Pantry

Let me see if I can upload some more...

Crybaby

"He's the crybaby, isn't he?"

That's what my grandma said lastnight at dinner about one of our sons. "Oh...he's teething," I said. I always have an excuse, "He's teething...he didn't nap well...he's just tired...etc." But, she's right. He is the crybaby. I don't know what to do. The other two have your normal little outbursts from time to time, but are overall very good, easygoing kids...the third on the other hand...

What to do? We try not to feed into his whining. Anytime something doesn't go his way, he cries. He whines or cries anytime he wants something. He throws himself down on the floor at the drop of a hat. How do we deal with this? We, for the most part, treat them all the same. Obviously he has a more high-maintenance personality, but how do I get things under control before they escalate? Can I?

Ugh...help.

Gulp!

Well....the bathroom's yellow all right. It's the kids' bathroom and the shower curtain has a lot of fun colors, so I think it looks great. It is a bit of a shocker at first glance though. RD's first words, just as I thought they'd be, were, "Wow...that's yellow."

I know it's strange that I've never painted before living in this house (always hubby's job), but I think I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself. Next project - guest bedroom. I'm more anxious to get the downstairs rooms done, but the ceilings are too high - I can't reach. So I'll be on RD's back for awhile to get those rooms going. :)

My dad and his wife are (finally!) coming over to see the house tonight. She is the most picky eater I've ever met, so it's always a challenge finding something to make that she won't pick apart. She seems to like the more traditional meals - nothing fancy, nothing green. I'm going to make meatloaf, mashed potatoes - and for us green-eating folks, some green beans.

Hope everyone's weekend's going well. I promise I'll get some pictures posted soon!

White walls be gone!

I'm loving living in a fresh, new house...everything is shiny and new! And the walls are all an awful white.

I love color. To see a white wall, I see there's something missing. We've got everything unpacked, but it just doesn't have that cozy-feels-like-home feeling yet. I don't know that it will until we slap some paint on the walls. Not to mention the very obvious lack of decorative accents everywhere you turn. We've taken on several very expensive projects right off the bat (e.g., shutters, expanding the deck *yes, ALREADY*, and silk shades in the kitchen), so it's not leaving a lot of breathing room in our bank account for fun knick knacks and much-needed lamps. RD painted our bedroom before we moved in, because we wanted it painted before the new furniture was moved in. Definitely one of our better decisions. I have no idea how those movers got it up the stairs. It turned out great - it's sort of a butterscotch color.

Being a novice at painting, I started with something much smaller - the powder room downstairs. Of course, I couldn't reach the ceiling to do the edging, so I needed RD's help afterall, but it turned out beautiful. I would call it cinnamon, but it's more of an orangish color. My next project is to paint the kids' bathroom upstairs - I'm thinking yellow. I've been nagging at RD to paint the kitchen next (olive green), so it's slowly looking like home.

I started walking around taking pictures today, so hopefully I'll have some time to download them tomorrow when they're napping.

Hmmm...smelling something funky. I think there's a poopy diaper or two waiting for me....

I'll be back later. Have a great weekend, all!

I SAID NOOOOO!!!!

I am so sick of correcting my kids. I know...I know...you veteran moms are saying, "Get used to it. This is only the beginning!" I feel like all I'm ever doing is barking out commands. I'm yelling out no every 10 seconds or removing a child from jumping on a piece of furniture.

My plea's for ordinance in this house have become such a common theme, SA has taken to barking them out himself. Anytime anyone - including me or RD - gets near the trash can, he yells out, "Na na na na na! (a.k.a. No no no no no!)" I know as soon as I hear him yelling out, "Giiiiiii daaaaa! (a.k.a. Get down!)," that means AR is jumping on the couch again. I swear I have a permanent scowl on my face lately.

For those with older kids...please tell me this gets easier. Lie to me if you have to. ha!