catching up

Here it is! All done -- minus a towel rack and curtains. It's my new favorite room in the house. I find myself walking by several times a day just to sneak a peek.

Last weekend we found this great schoolhouse light in an antique/thrift store marked down to $35. I had been eying one at The Home Depot but it was $70.

I can't get over the change in this room!

In other news...we have a busy, but fun couple of weeks ahead of us. 

It looks like one of our ewes will deliver a set of twins during the night or maybe sometime tomorrow.

Our garden is bursting at the seams. It's so fun to head out there in the morning with my cup of coffee and my little basket for fresh veggies.

This Thursday afternoon, dear friends of mine from Spokane will drive through town on their way to a wedding in California. They'll stop by to stretch their legs and have dinner with us.

Thursday evening my sister will arrive to stay for the weekend. So far all we have planned is to buy a box of the Mint Chocolate Chip It's-Its that I spotted today in Target. We love those things. Both of us were born in San Francisco, so it's not a stretch to say it's in our blood to love them so.

Saturday night, Phil's sister and her girls (whom my kids lovingly refer to as "the cousins") will fly up to see us for the week. They're excited to do lots of blackberry picking and wii playing. 

This past week both of my boys expressed a desire to be baptized, so we'll do that this Sunday while their 2 aunts and cousins are in town. We're so blessed to have these 2 sweet boys who want to live their lives for Jesus.

Just today I talked with another friend from Spokane who will be at a wedding a few hours north of us next weekend. They're going to drive down to see us next Sunday and spend the night!

And isn't school supposed to start soon???

saturday

It was so hot today! Maybe the hottest day of the year. It reached a scorching 109 degrees -- the same as Phoenix, AZ. How could this be? I live in the state of Oregon! We spent the day working in the bathrooms, of course. Lily told me this morning that she wanted to make little blackberry salads with nasturtium petals. She went out to the garden to gather her supplies and when I walked into the house shortly after her, this is what was sitting on the kitchen counter. Aren't they lovely? They were super yummy, too!

 I was able to get the downstairs bathroom painted this afternoon. Phil has been working on grouting the tile this evening. And look what he did upstairs...

Our downstairs bathroom had only a shower and no tub. The upstairs bathroom had a tub but no shower. Now we'll have the claw foot tub in the downstairs bathroom and he added a shower to the tub upstairs.

This is what the upstairs bathroom looked like when we first moved in -- minus the green and yellow shag carpet.

lemonade stand and progress

 perfect hit-the-spot treat for a hot summer afternoon

Gracie set up a little lemonade stand this afternoon. At first she charged 1 cent per cup, then she raised the price to 10 cents per cup. She also mentioned to the family that she doesn't make change. I love her!

The guys have been plugging away in the bathrooms. They got so much done today. Actually, they've gotten a lot done every day this week, but much of what has been done has been behind-the-scenes, or behind the walls. Most of the electrical and the plumbing has been moved around. It's all too technical for me. All I know is that the hole in the upstairs bathroom floor has been taken care of.

 I can't wait to see the new tub in here on this beautiful tile.

bathroom remodel and an anniversary

Do you remember what you did for your 13th wedding anniversary? Here's what we did for ours. We're remodeling both of our bathrooms this week. I was a little leery about doing both at once, but Phil is determined and he took the week off of work. I can't complain, because I love having him home!

I was leery because we have 4 children, and I think it's safe to say that we need to have a least one bathroom in working order. And we do, except if you sit on that working toilet, there's a hole in the floor and the people working in the bathroom downstairs can look right up at you and wave. You can't even have them step out of the room and shut the door to give you a moment of privacy, because they removed that bathroom door.

Wait til you see the picture at the end of this post...I'm so, so, so excited about this feature!!!

 

Before

 During

We've had fun determining the original design of this bathroom. It was updated in recent years to include a shower stall built as a "closet" around the chimney that used to be a part of the kitchen. That step on the right side of this picture is the step up into the shower. We found holes in the floor and think there was a bathtub on left side of the bathroom.

 We decided to remove the drop ceiling.

And we decided to remove the wallpaper. :) As with most of the house, there was more than one layer to remove. Behind the sink and cabinet, we found this velvety wallpaper. I don't understand why someone would want velvet wallpaper in a bathroom. ???

 

Here it is!!! Look what Phil found on Craigslist!!! It looks perfect in this bathroom. 

The flooring will be a black and white hexagonal tile, which we're hoping to lay sometime later this week.

home again

home again to our little corner of the world

What a busy summer we've had so far...3 trips down to California and one week in Iowa and Minnesota. My kids and I spent last week  in California for "Cousin Camp." Phil had to work, so he stayed behind. We arrived home last night and it felt so good to pull into our driveway. Little did I know, he was very busy while we were away. I was shocked when I saw this:

Phil put black shutters up around the downstairs windows, painted the front door black and painted the trim around the upstairs windows. Wow! I had no idea he had done this!

Here's a "before" picture. The door (which is open in this picture) used to be white.

merry christmas and a kitchen preview

We had such a great Christmas this year in our new home! I think we're finally starting to feel settled. Little by little we're getting things unpacked and put away. I laughed this morning when I thought about adding Christmas presents to the mix. And next week we have a birthday with a certain young man turning 9. It just never ends! Boxes, boxes and more boxes.

One of the things we love about our home is the amount of company we've had since we've moved. It seems we're on the way to and from everywhere and lots of people have stopped by en route. Yesterday we had friends stop by on their way home to Idaho. This evening, some good friends of ours from Spokane will spend the night on their way down to Southern California. Sometime tomorrow Phil's aunt and uncle will stop by on their way home from Portland, and this weekend his cousin will stop by on her way home from Salem.

We were able to spend Christmas weekend in California with both of our families. The 5 siblings on my side of the family were together again after 4 years. The last time we were together was at my little sister's wedding back in 2007. It was fun to watch all the cousins play together.

Phil had to work Tuesday morning, so he and I left Monday afternoon. We've been kid-less for the past 2 days. :( Our kids stayed behind in Northern California with Phil's parents so they could play with their cousins who arrived from Southern California late the night before. My sister-in-law is driving my 4 and the cousins up to Oregon right now. They'll arrive this evening and stay through the weekend. Confusing? Let me interpret...f-u-n...and lots of it!!!

We miss our Spokane winters and all the snow, so instead we play in the leaf pile out front.

The kitchen is coming along nicely. I was able to unpack my dishes last week. No more washing plastic plates in the bathroom sink!!!

Hope your Christmas was wonderful, too.

upstairs bathroom

before

It's so fun to paint when you really enjoy the color you're working with. Here's the upstairs bathroom. We're not done yet. I still need to apply a second coat of paint and we're waiting on the flooring to come in. I picked out a black and white hexagonal tile.

down comes the wall...

All done! I LOVE this change. It really opens up the kitchen. Please ignore the mess and imagine a really great dining room back there. :)

in the girls' room

I found this corner hutch for the girls' room this week, and they decided to display their special tea sets from Papa (my Dad) on it along with a few of their American Girl accessories.

One of the things I love about this hutch is the knobs. I had these very same ones on my dresser drawers when I was their age.

the girls' room

I've been trying to find time to use the Internet since we've moved out of the hotel and into our house. Yesterday I found a few minutes but I couldn't get the pictures off of my camera. I have so many pictures to share, but for now I'll just post these two...a before and after picture of the girls' room.

We've had so much fun in their room! The color we chose was a soft pink called ballet slippers. We still need to paint the trim and the closet door white. The girls and I have been reading a story-a-day from a fairy tale book and yesterday we read The Elves and the Shoemaker. I told them that our house was built in 1925 for the shoemaker here in town. We tried to imagine where his little elves might have hidden. Gracie picked the attic, and Lily picked the chimney. :)

my hero

I love this man!
I tell you, there isn't much that he can't do.
Every time a problem arises, he's able to fix it.
Just like that.

Electrical? No problem.
Plumbing? He'll just move the pipes over, thank you.
Knock out this wall over here...
Raise that floor over there...
Pour cement to fill in this hole...

You name it? Done.

He's pretty amazing.

the boys' room

This picture was taken when we walked through with our realtor and the previous owner was still living in the house. It's my only "before" picture of this bedroom.

The first thing we did was pull up the carpet, then we tackled the wallpaper. Unlike the wallpaper in the girls' room which came down in sheets, this stuff had to be picked and scraped off. It took 3 days!

One of my little helpers

The night I started on this room, I immediately felt discouraged because the stuff was caked onto the wall. I sat there and asked God for help. About a half an hour later one of my boys came into the room, sat down and started to work alongside of me.

Then he asked, "Want me to sing to you?"

"Deep in the hundred acre wood

Where Christopher Robin plays..."

So we sat there together for almost 2 hours peeling wallpaper, talking, and singing "Winnie the Pooh."

When we stopped by the Home Depot to look at counter tops he found a paint color called Christopher Robin's Swing.

So here it is...the new and improved boys' bedroom in Christopher Robin's Swing.

becoming home

all done peeling the wallpaper in the boys' room--it only took me 3 days

Today was our big day!!! Phil rented a U-Haul to move our things from storage into our new house! The kids were overjoyed to see their things again. It felt like Christmas morning, for sure.

We still have a little ways to go, but things are coming along well enough. We'll probably be able to check out of the hotel within the next couple of days.

The kitchen floor is sanded and ready to be stained.

It was so good to see our things again! Seeing them in the new house certainly makes it feel like home.

kids, floors and more

I must say, I have the best kids! They've done so well this year with all of our craziness. As I was upstairs tonight peeling wallpaper, I could hear them playing together happily and I thought about all the transitions they've gone through so far this year...

we started packing in late June and they lived in a pretty toy-less house for the month of July

we drove down to Oregon, put our things in storage, stayed in a couple of hotels in order to look for a house, then went camping on the California Coast

we drove down to California to stay with family. During that time we flew down to Arizona for a family wedding and then Phil and I drove back up to Oregon for another house hunting trip

we moved up to Oregon and into our hotel room August 29 so the kids could start school and Phil could start work

they started a new school, which is really a big deal, because they started school--they've been homeschooled up until now

we've visited a few churches since our move, which means they have to try new classes every Sunday

we've taken 2 quick (5-hour drive) weekend trips down to California for family parties

and for the past week and a half, we've been to our new home daily to do repairs and renovations. The kids just explore and play while we work and then we hop back into the car to sleep at the hotel

They're great kids, I tell you! And I'm so proud of them.

Here's what's going on at the house...

We're plugging away in the kitchen. Phil is going to knock out this wall to open up the kitchen into the dining room.

The kitchen is basically gutted. I've sanded the cabinets and have started to paint them white.

Phil's sister is staying with us and she broke up all the floor tile and hauled it outside to our dump pile. Under the ceramic tile, she found 4 layers of linoleum flooring. Four layers, folks!

Once they stripped it down, look what they found...

Yep! That's hardwood flooring, and it matches the older hardwood in the rest of the house! A friend of ours from California is up this weekend and he's sanding the floor for us right now. I had a really great slate-colored tile picked out, but I'm hoping the hardwood cleans up nicely.