I LOVE swings and have wanted a swing set for the past year being in our new home. I finally talked Dallas into getting one. (He wasn't as excited about the idea... Soon enough he'll see why it was such a good idea!) He and I (mostly him) set it up on Saturday. It took all afternoon to get it put together and we finally got it standing late that night. So, after letting the kids swing in the dark that night, they finally got to enjoy the swings in daylight on Sunday afternoon...
If you have already seen our house...
If you have no desire to see our house...
If looking at several photos in a long post bores you...
Bear with me.
Or don't feel obligated to stick around.
I won't be offended :)
Here is our new house! We have almost been in our new home for two months and we love it. We have tons to do...
Paint white walls and eventually the tan walls too...
Replace brass hardware, doorknobs and light fixtures and anything else that happens to be brass
Update oak cabinets... paint, paint and more paint
New carpet in some of the rooms
Knock out the half wall in the kitchen/family room
New tile in back entry/laundry and possibly some to extend our dining room
So here are the "before" pictures before we get started...
When it came to taking pictures in the past month it was for my photography clients and not my family. I hardly took any photos of our going on's this past month, but we've been busy. This month just flew by... which is kind of a relief. When July ended I couldn't wait for August to be over as well. I think mainly because of the heat, but it turned out to be a nice month and not as awful as July. So all in all this month wasn't as hard and long as I thought it would be.
On Saturday I did my last two photo shoots of the year. Both shoots were so fun! I am glad I ended on such a good note. Now I just have lots of editing to do, but thankfully my pregnant body can handle that a little bit more than walking, bending, getting down on the ground... etc. I am very excited to do pictures again next year... when I'm not pregnant!
Dallas and I have been organizing the house and trying to make it livable for the next (hopefully) two years. Since we decided not to buy a house we decided that it is best that we make due with a 2 bedroom home for a couple years (so we don't have to move and so we can save for a house). We've been dejunking the house, rearranging closets, and we even bought two shelves... one for the garage and one for our storage closet. It has been nice to organize and now we are starting to believe that we can fit in our 2 bedroom duplex for a couple more years.
The kids have been good. Since I started to feel better (and actually been able to make it through the morning without having to lay down) we've been able to get out more and do more things. Evan especially was starting to act bored all the time. I started to worry about him and the decision I made not to put him in preschool this year. I started looking for other activities that he could do to fill his time... and really, just started to stress myself out. I guess my prego self was just trying to find something to stress over. He is okay now, and not so bored. As long as I give him the attention he is needing.
I've come up with a weekly routine to keep the kids entertained this fall. It may not include a pre-K for Evan, Joy School for Kiah, dance, piano lessons, gymnastics, soccer and all the other things I thought I needed to do for the kids. But I think it will work for this fall. Here is my plan.... home school for the kids on Monday and Wednesday mornings, playgroup on Tuesday mornings, A preschool group with friends on Thursday mornings, and an art class on Thursday afternoons. I am getting really excited to get started!
I decided to do a home school for the kids earlier in the summer. Just a time that is specifically for the kids to be with me... with no other distractions (such as photography, internet, reading... and other things that I like to fill my time with). I was going to start it next week, but Evan kept asking me to play school with him this morning so we did! We did an hour or so of singing, art, numbers and letters and the kids loved it! It made me happy that this is something I can do with the kids, even though I can't afford to put them in preschool.
A group of my friends also invited me to join their preschool group on Thursday mornings. It's going to be a little more laid back than Joy School was last year, but still a time for the kids to learn with their friends. All the kids in the group are 2 and 3... and then Evan is also going to be joining in as well :) It will be a fun time for them to be with their friends.
I also signed the kids up for a six week art class. I am so excited for them to start! They have both been obsessed with paper, crayons, markers, tape, scissors and paint all through the summer. I seriously have to bribe them to go play outside and leave the art supplies alone.
Well, I hope that didn't bore you. If you made it through all that, thanks for listening!
I have been busy, busy, busy... I really should blog more often though. Here are the happenings from this month so far. I am sure you are sitting on the edge of your seat just waiting for this... or maybe not.
I feel like I have been so silent on this blog lately. I have much to tell, but I wasn't so sure about what to write on the blog. I mentioned a few posts down that life has been crazy and it has. Crazy but good. Ever since we moved to this duplex Dallas and I have been considering the option to buy a home. The idea came and went so often that we finally decided that we needed to just look into it and see if it was right for us.
So that is what we've been doing... talking to lenders, budgeting, searching online at real estate, talking to Realtors, builders, looking at homes and model homes, sorting through floor plans, the works. Fun stuff. Stressful stuff. Crazy stuff. For awhile there we were feeling really good about the decision and we started talking more and more about it. Then this past week we just started getting frustrated with the idea. It was still exciting to think about, but I started getting doubts about a few things.
So. I have a really neat Dad. He is my go to guy for just about EVERYTHING. He knows when I call and ask for him that I am needing advice about one thing or another. The really cool thing about my Dad is that he will give advice that fits your needs... not just his. In other words, he won't tell me what to do and he won't give his opinion on what he thinks I should do. He will just put everything in perspective, weigh the pros and cons for the decision at hand and then he will leave it up to me to decide for myself. I love that. Thanks Dad.
I was on the web cam with my family yesterday (Happy Birthday Mom!!) and I ended up talking to my Dad about housing. I told him my concerns and he worked his magic and gave me the advice that I needed to hear. Basically it came down to the fact that, yes Dallas and I could buy a home. We could make it work. And we would probably be happy. BUT (there is always a but, right?) we would be happier if we waited. We could pay off our student loans within the year, continue to save for a home, save for a car, and have time to find the neighborhood and home that is just right for us. It makes perfect sense. For us at least. For some it would make more sense to just buy. But for us.... we feel SOOO good about waiting! I can't tell you how good it felt yesterday when Dallas and I made our decision. Relief.
The other part about waiting that makes me happy (Dallas claims that it is my only reason... but it isn't :)), is that if a year or two passes and we decide that we are ready for a change... we could pick up and move and not have to sell a home. That would be a relief as well :)
I am so glad that we considered buying a home. We have learned so much about the process and we understand it all so much better. Next time we jump into the process again we will be much more prepared and we will have a better idea of what to look for.
So that's our life. For now. Thanks for listening :)
We moved to a new rental last Saturday :) So far we are loving it. It was certainly a long week (or longer I guess) of packing, cleaning, moving, unpacking and now we are finally settled. We don't have internet yet so no pictures yet. I get to hang out at the library for now. We were supposed to have our internet up yesterday but you know how that goes... after a few phone calls (and more to come) we are getting things worked out. Apparently the first person I talked to about our address change never processed our order... now we get to wait till Monday. Oh well, I guess it is good for me... I haven't had time for blogging anyway. So if any of you need to get a hold of me call instead of email... it might be awhile till I can reply!
Tomorrow we get to celebrate Kiah's 2nd birthday :) She is really excited and she loves her "Happy Birthday" banner I put up. She tries to sing the Happy Birthday song... but then Evan cuts her off. He is in desperate need for attention right now. My kids have been quite the pair this past week.... more on that later....
I thought I'd take some time to let you all know how things are going around here. Both of the kids are asleep so I thought I would take advantage of the time :) It actually has been kinda boring lately, the kids and I have been sick for over a week and now Dallas has it. It started out as a cold and then I got a sore throat. The kids were not doing well on Saturday so we took them to the doctor. It turns out Makiah has croup and Evan needed antibiotics before he got an ear infection. So the past few days have been lazy days... the only time I left the house was to pick up Dallas, who got on the wrong bus last night. I think I am going crazy in here! I hope to go over to our new apartment today and clean up a little. We have been moving some stuff over to get started on the move and we need to do some organizing. I also get to go play volleyball tonight at the church with some girls from the stake, it will be so nice to get out of the house for once.
We are getting a washer and dryer today for our new apartment and I am so excited! Now I don't have to go down to the creepy basement to do laundry! (You know your getting old when you get excited over such silly things, or maybe it's just a mom thing, I don't know!)
The warm weather is gone :( now we have the heat on instead of the AC, oh the sadness... I am already excited for spring. Oh yeah, I have to put up this music video! this is for my little sister, Bethany, who got to meet One Republic after their concert on Friday night...I wish I would have been there!
Here I am sitting at home, sick, it's November and I have the AC running! Its 80 degrees in here! Evan must be hot too because he is stripping off his diaper even as I speak (or write). He is either hot or he just reached that stage where he can't stay dressed for love or money. A funny thing, Dallas thought we should send this story into huggies, I was trying to change Evan's diaper but he didn't want the generic diaper that I was putting on him. So he whined and ran off to get a huggies diaper that I use at night time. He was a lot happier with the huggies diaper, does he just like Micky and Minnie or does he really feel a difference? Anyway back to before, why is it so hot??? Two weeks ago I had the heat going and now this? I guess I should just enjoy it, I don't like the cold.
Well we have some good news, WERE MOVING!!! We really did luck out, the waiting list at this complex usually takes about eight months to get to the top, but it took us less than two! I am so excited, we're going over tomorrow to sign the lease and get the keys, and we'll be moved in by the end of this month!
We finally got a dresser and also a new bed! (Well, new to us) We've been living out of a box for 2 months now so it's nice to have a place to put our clothes :) Our bed is super comfy and we love it! A girl in our stake sold us both for $40, it was a really good deal so we are happy. Here are some pictures of our new stuff.
I thought it would be really fun to refinish the furniture, but I think Dallas thinks I'm crazy. I'm always telling him I want to paint everything black, I love black furniture, so he thinks I'm just obsessed (and maybe I am). We might be moving into a town home in the next few months so I thought that would be a fun project for next summer when we have some space outside to do that kind of thing.
Speaking of moving, I just can't wait to get outta here! We have had problem after problem! We are on a waiting list for the town home and we are number five now on the list! Hopefully we don't have to wait too much longer. Everytime I relax and start enjoying our apartment something else happens. Earlier in the week we had brown water coming out of the tub facet, on thursday night we couldn't sleep because of our drunk neighbors upstairs partying, then the next night my ipod got stolen out of the car, then today we noticed the pipes under the sink leeking. Not to mention our stairwell is constantly filled up with cigarette smoke. And this is just some of the problems here, so you can see why I just can't wait to get our new apartment!!!
Okay, I am done venting! I also wanted to show off my cute kids. Here are some more movies mom, I'll try and get some more so you can see the kids. Also here are some pictures of Evan's new PJ's that I got for 2 bucks! He is a cutie.
Here is our little home in Indiana! I have been wanting to show you all some pictures of our place. We actually don't know how long we are going to be here, we've had some big concerns so we hopefully we will be moving soon. That makes us kinda sad, packing and moving is such a pain and its the last thing we want to do, but we feel like we don't have a choice. We found mold in our bathroom and we're worried about our kids. Evan has already been sick once(not to say that was the reason, but its a good chance and I'm not taking anymore chances). We were finally getting adjusted here so it's to bad this all had to happen. Anyway here is our little place we sure had fun decorating and all that. I personally think it looks better in person, you can't see the whole thing in these pictures (obviously).
This is our living room, we got that cute lamp when we moved in!
Here is our kitchen and dining room :)
Dallas' and my room (and I guess its kiah's too!)
Evan's room
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