We've been outside and it's been so nice.

Our new old house

Okay, so I finally "really" cleaned the kitchen today and decided it was a good day to take some pictures. We have been in the house for less than two months so there is still lots to do. When it's all said and done, we will have re-done everything in the house except the bones of the kitchen cabinets and the bathtubs. Whew! Today, the kitchen/ den are mostly done...a few more pictures to hang...so I'll show these two rooms first.

So we looked at many houses but when I walked in this house, through the back door, and into the kitchen, I knew this was the house for us.

This is the first thing I saw...

Kitchen Before:

Blue cabinet doors, dated appliances, linoleum floors - everything I was looking for!

So from here, you can see into the den which the previous owners used as their dining room (hence the chandelier). The other doorway looks into the front room (a large room we use as a dining/play area) which a beautiful triple window that looks out onto the front yard.

This is the work in progress...the overhanging cabinets were removed and a large, cased opening cut in the wall between the den and the front room. So it really opened up the two rooms and really let the light in.

I must mention here that I did not live in this house during the work. In fact, I didn't live in the same state during this time. My dear husband did. For the three months after we bought the house, he worked all day and then came to this house and worked for several hours at night. He was amazing! He didn't try to conquer all the big stuff though...we did have some tremendous help. As for me, I got to envision and imagine what the house was going to look like... picking out everything from floors to fixtures, helping with small projects Brad brought home, and daily answering questions over the phone with Brad about a house I was in only three times before we moved. We worked as a great team and really had a lot of fun (most of the time). We are very happy with how it all turned out and proud of our hard work.

Kitchen After:

So here's the other side of the kitchen, the den.

Den Before:

This angle is looking into the den (stove is to my right and fireplace is on left side of the picture). I really debated on getting rid of the mauve carpet that was in every room of the house except the kitchen. I debated it for about 5 seconds.

Most of these before pics were taken before we bought the house. In this one, I'm backed up against the wall that we cut the cased opening...

Once the opening was cut, light from the big window in the front room flooded the den - so much better!

Our very handy man Randy

Den After:

To our dear Decatur friends - we placed the painting where we would see it all day everyday and think of you!

This is looking into the cased opening into the front room and the foyer to the left (that's the front door) More pics of it to come!

BIG little girls

My girls are getting so big.

Everyday, it's something new...a new talent, a new phrase, a new word, a new look, a new memory. I wish I could capture them all, remember them all, treasure them all forever because this precious time is going by so fast.

Here are a few examples:

Lillianna is getting big enough to draw portraits...

This one is of "Mommy when she blows her hair."

They are both big enough to enjoy a special treat of suckers...
it just seems impossible that my little ones are big enough for moments like this.

Ellenie is big enough to...

find herself a snack.

Lillianna is big enough to use scissors...

and cut out the family coupons.

Ellenie is big enough to play hide-and-seek...

and she won this night!

So big.

I love this little Gold digger

Same stuff, different day, much love

These are long days

full of funny moments and not so funny moments,

full of hours that last for days

and naptimes that are gone in a flash.

Days full of the same ol' routine

but with much effort,

days full of tiny adventures, "special treats" and

unexpected moments to be treasured.

These are un-chartered days for us...

days in a new house in a new town in a new state,

days with few places to go and fewer people to go with.

These days won't last forever I know.

Winter will soon (Oh please!) be over

and we'll be outside, in the sun, with a new perspective.

It can't come too soon.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Can you blame her? I wouldn't want to wear that hat either.

She's so wise beyond her years.

L: This is much more my style Mom.

We've been trying to get a little Valentine-y around here...

The goodie bags for school, the left-over stash for Mom and Dad, the Feb. calendar, and even heart-shaped petals on the flower. It's true. Take a closer look...

Can you see them? I prmoise the little leaves on the tall weed are truly tiny heart. Lillianna found it last weekend on a walk along the river. It just goes to show that God thought of everything first.

Oh and Ellenie has a question...

Will you be my Valentine?

yuck.

Brad, Ellenie and I have had the worst stomach bug. The kind where I promised myself I would never, ever eat again. ever. The kind where you think this will never, ever end. ever.

But then it all does and I actually ate some soup tonight.

The past 48 hours havn't been pretty or funny but this was pretty funny:

Paci Soup anyone? I was sick, Ellenie had just gotten sick, and Brad was up with her (not sick yet) and decided to sterilize the pacis. He then went back to bed. I'm not sure if it was a dream about the house burning down or just the smell of melting plastic that woke him

but thank goodness it did.

I think we can still use them though. ha.

Thank goodness Lillianna has not been sick. At all.

In fact, she has been entertaining us all with her running, jumping, twirling, and dancing she's been doing around our heads as we lay on the bed, floor, or couch.

Thank you Ellenie for summing up how we have felt.
I promise, baby girl, you'll feel better tomorrow.

A-ha! Moments

I love when I get to be there when one of my girls has a moment. A moment where they "get it" or see it or realize it for the first time. A moment where they've just grown up a little more...

Taking pictures of Ellenie with this hood on...when I would take it off she couldn't figure out where it went...and when I'd put it on she couldn't figure out what it was or where it came from. Then she turned around and saw reflection in the oven door.

Lately, Lillianna really wants to write her letters and her name. I wrote it for her first and then she did underneath. She was so proud! And so was I!

Ellenie is our curious one. Our curious crawler and climber. She wanted to crawl under the bar stools but then stood up and realized...hey wait, i'm stuck.
E: Don't take a picture mom! Get me out of here.

fun & friendships

We had our first friends come to visit!

We were so excited and honored that the Pylants took a special roadtrip

to come see us last week. It was so nice to see them and so special to get to share our new Columbus life with some Decatur friends. It was especially nice of them to come after they hit a large piece of metal on the highway on their way here and had to spend almost 2 hours getting their tire fixed!

It's always something, right?!

We had so much fun....

We jumped on the bed....took a road tour of Columbus...got ice cream...and

laughed and laughed and

laughed!

The Pylants are so very special to us and it made us all so happy to see them.

It has, however, seemed to have made Lillianna and Bibby realize their distance from eachother. They both have been having a more difficult time in the past week. On our end, sweet Lillianna will break out in tears and then sobs saying,"I miss Bibby. I miss our house, our neighbors. Decatur is so far away. I miss everyone in Decatur. It's going to be so long before anyone comes to our house again." It really is heartbreaking but part of the process. We talk lots about our feelings these days and about our many blessings we have to be thankful for.

It seems to help us all.

We also talk about how special it is that we get to keep our old friends while we make new ones! AND we get to make new memories with our old friends too! Just like we did with the Pylants.

So who's coming to visit next?