The Kitchen

So there is a post below this one with pictures from the upstairs kids' rooms. Now I'm going to post the kitchen/dining area. We still need to get light fixtures, paint the ceiling....I'm still working on organization, so some things are sitting out on counters that I don't want there, etc. etc. (I tried removing alot of it for the pictures :) But for the most part this area is done with the exceptions of those few things and hanging some things on the wall. I do have to say, I LOVE my kitchen! It's the biggest one I've ever had! Of course I don't have a big island.......but maybe down the road we can add that, but for now it's very functional with so much more room! And I had wanted white cabinets and these were a little darker than I thought the "antique white" would be, but I have grown to really like them as well. And I love the paint color---silver sage from Restoration Hardware! I loved it so much we painted in our bedroom too!

So here are the pictures......

This 2nd picture is from our eating area looking through the kitchen into what was the old dining (we are still in process of painting it right now, and it needs a light fixture as well). We have another table and box of art supplies in it....so it serves as art, playdough, puzzle, etc. table. And I think I mentioned before 'could' turn into possible school room in a couple years if that is the path we feel lead too.
Our table/eating area....that doorway goes into the hallway towards our bedroom

Doorway down to the big family/play room

So that is it for now! We are working this weekend on the family room---paint, lighting, etc. Stairs to be carpeted next week....so hopefully I can post those pictures later next week. And of our course our front living room is still a wreck and for now will contain all Casey's office things (until we can finish some space in the basement)--and it so desperately needs organized!!! And our bedroom (and all 3 baths--we haven't touched--except for what we've done in 1/2 bath upstairs)...our still in progress as well. So as we get to these I'll post more pictures!

Finally! Some Afters!!

Ok so I know quite of few of you have just been in such suspense over these pictures--ha, ha!

So I was wanting all the "little things" finished before taking these pictures....but then I realized that is just going to take time so we will get there eventually but for now this is where we are in a somewhat finished form!

So picture #1--is our refinished hardwood floors---aren't they wonderful! We had them sanded & stained a darker shade. We are loving them! But some of us are a little "nervous" about certain little people scratching them.......oh my....we'll do the best we can to "preserve" them.

Picture #2 is upstairs--Reed & Emery-Claire's room......for now they are sharing still til Mary Etta is a little bigger, when at that time I will have the girls share. EC did get a "big girl bed" upon our move--she had been climbing out of the crib for several months, so we knew it was just time. I just have some sheets and a random blanket on her bed for now....I think closer to both girls birthdays this summer we'll get their matching bedding then, so for now this works.

Picture #3--looking into Reed & EC room from hallway

Picture #4--Reed's side of the room

Picture #5--looking out the door of their room towards Mary Etta's room. In between their rooms is a half bath....that isn't completely finished (it had to be gutted since all knew dry wall had to be put in upstairs) so we are waiting on our plumber to come back and hook up sink and toilet. And the hallway still needs a light fixture and painting finished so I can hang up pictures down through the stairway (and Monday we will have the stairs carpeted...they are a pretty steep set of stairs!)

Picture #6--New big girl bed!

Picture #7--looking into Mary Etta's Room: the green I picked turned out brighter than I wanted....but with the white trim and furniture and pictures up, I think it's not as bad as I initially thought. But we can always repaint if I decide I can't take it anymore!

Picture #8--looking out doorway of Mary Etta's room

Before Pictures

So here it is (for my sister who keeps asking for pictures).....I'll post some of the "before" and try to actually take pictures of the "afters" to upload in the next day or so. Problem is some things aren't completely "finished" so it's hard to post something in the half finished form!

So here is the outside with our driveway.....we park & typically enter into the side door under the carport--yay no stairs to climb!

These are are family/play room--unfortunately I didn't really get "true" before pics, I started taking them more when the house was in demolition mode--oh well, at least it's still before to some degree. Notice the very hideous carpet on the stairs that go up into the kitchen from this room, this was all over this room. Tile has been put down and we are still in process of trying to paint, add lighting, etc. in here. We had some water damage so we had to replace studs & drywall on the bottom half of the wall around the room. And back in the corner is a full bath that will be the kids bathroom---we still have to paint & probably will eventually update some, but for now it works & we'll use it as is when we get some tools out of it this weekend! Oh & the best part---see the closet in the back--there are 2 sets of them, the one on the far left has our washer/dryer--yay! No basement to trek down with loads and loads of clothes! I'll take that anyday over having to do laundry in basements the past 6 years!

So as you walk up the stairs you enter into the kitchen--again full demolition mode. All of this was ripped out and floor ripped up, so very brand new kitchen! I never thought that was possible. But it's been so wonderful indeed! We still have some lighting to work out in here but basically this room is done! Looking straight ahead at the fridge is the "old dining" area, it's small so we wanted to use the other side that was more open. So the "old dining" (which still needs painted is going to be craft room---and could serve as a school room in a few years if that is the route we feel led to : )

Formal living room in the front of the house. Right now is painted--I love it! But at this time we don't have much furniture, so we did put all our furniture in the back family room. Currently this room has a collection of all our "other things"---so hopefully this weekend we will get it cleared out and will probably set up Casey's office in here til we can put it elsewhere in the house and/or get more furniture to use it as another living room--great for get togethers or bible studies, etc.

This is one of the 2 bedrooms of the kids upstairs---basically both look the same with the awful wallpaper. There was also some water damage upstairs as well, so once the wallpaper was down we had to have the walls all re-dry walled....so it's like new up there! And there is a half bath in between the 2 rooms--again it was all ripped out b/c of water damage & the dry wall redone. It's almost finished, but not quite ready to use. This picture doesn't do it justice but these rooms are probably 3 times bigger than the 2 tiny rooms we had at our rental house---so great for them to have so much more room to play in and spread out! But on the flip side our master is downstairs and is probably on smallest room yet of all 5 houses we've lived in. Our furniture fits so that is all that matters. As I found in our last house with the gigantic bedroom it just became a breeding zone to collect piles and piles of stuff, that was so unorganized! So I'm hoping the less space for us the better--as there is no extra room to put anything that doesn't belong in there! So below here is our room---also had to remove wallpaper and has now been painted. Trying to figure out how to dress the windows still......

More to come soon!

Luke 2

So all of December we worked on memorizing the passage of Luke 2: 1-14. Over the past year we've worked on memorizing longer passages of scripture, as Reed has raced through the single verses I had very quickly! Last Christmas I saw another blog where this was done with young children, so I knew I wanted to try for us to do it this year, since we've been doing longer passages the past several months already. He did so good! I know this video doesn't quite do it justice because he was very silly and I had to help him-- as he was saying it very fast---but he basically got all 14 verses; so I'm finally now just posting! And I know this is really exciting for grandparents---probably not so interesting to anyone else : ) FYI: And for some reason I've uploaded multiple times & it still is not in sync with audio & video??!! Does anyone else have this problem with videos?? What am I doing wrong? I made with our photobooth & for some reason it keeps doing this. So no one may really want to watch this except grandparents!

Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year!

A little out of order....but here are some of our many pictures from last week! Today is Casey's birthday! As you can see from the picture above--he is 34! He likes to remind me that I am still older as he is just now turning 34 and in October I already turned 35......ha, ha, funny isn't it

So we celebrated with a some decorations, a big meal tonight, and a cake.....Emery-Claire kept saying all day "happy birthday to me!" When I constantly reminded her "no it's Daddy's birthday." She didn't really seem to care much except for asking me for the cake! So here's to our New Year's birthday......we love you & are so thankful for you! As all day he has been working nonstop on getting our house ready to move into next weekend! Yes, next weekend we are moving it all in! I can't believe it's coming up so quickly....Wednesday my mom is meeting me to keep the kids for a few days so I can actually be productive in taking things over there. I can't wait to begin to post more pictures as it has come such a long way!

Christmas day--since we stayed put this year due to our big upcoming move! We had some dear friends also in town....so we all ate together that afternoon. Here is Reed with his big buddy, Deacon!

Emery-Claire thinks Deacon is one of her best friends too!

Christmas morning.....Mary Etta in her new chair
Reed with his new Georgia football---almost every picture I took that morning looks like this--same expression just different gift! So cute, he was just so excited!
Our one attempt at a family photo of all 5 of us........best one we got
Waking up to the presents.....so we don't make a huge deal about presents (we don't do Santa--so they know their presents are from us); the kids only get 3 each & and I had a family one (movie & game). But with Reed only being 4 and the oldest, it obviously just didn't register that this "morning" is a little different than other mornings. So they woke up at their usual time, come to me asking for breakfast, and then as we all walk out to the living room it was so cute as their eyes got so big and Reed kept saying "What!!", "What is this?!!!"--then there was laughing & giggling & running; they were so excited & full of energy! It was so cute & fun!
Some Christmas Eve pictures after our church service
Does anyone else's pictures usually end up looking like the above one?
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!! We are so thankful for all the Lord has done in our family this past year, and look forward to this new year ahead of us! What many blessings He has bestowed upon our family. May we bring Him all the glory and honor due His name--as we grow in knowing Him more & making Him known!