Living Room

On our first walk-through of our new home, the living room totally made me shudder. Two navy blue walls, and 2 pale yellow ones. Paired with faded blue carpet and crumbling blinds, it was not a room you'd want to spend much time in!!

{Before Shots}

After closing on the house, a group of dear ladies and friends from church came to help paint. By the end of the day, the room was already transformed so much, and we had only done walls & ceilings!

{In-Between Shots}

 Then came new carpets, cleaning day, and move-in day. And while I have plenty of finishing touches to add {such as window treatments, an up-dated light fixture!, and hanging wall-items}, this is already one of my favorite "transformations" in the house. 

{Completed Shots}

What do you think?

Ten for Ten

My oldest child turned ten last week. I cannot hardly fathom how I went from a newlywed to a mother of a 10-year old in such a short time! But as I watch him grow into such a young man that I can be so proud of, I have to admit that he is quickly leaving childhood in the dust. Don't get me wrong .... we do still have those moments when I roll my eyes and wonder if anything I ever taught him will sink in. But those moments are fading out and  I only have the mercies of God to thank that my son is growing in wisdom.

Anyways, Josiah wanted a party. A boy's party! And boy, did we have BOYS. Ten of them! He invited 8 of his best friends {plus 2 more that couldn't come. Maybe the Lord knew how many I could corral at once} for an overnight camp-out. They all arrived mid-afternoon and launched straight into an air-soft gun war. Do not even ask me why. I do not understand the mind of a male in this area. But they all thought in was tremendously fun, even the Dad. And this new property of ours has no lack of excellent war zones.

Then I packed up their picnic supper into a basket, we got them started with a campfire, and they were on their own. They loved that part, by the way. Man against the wild, I guess.

They all slept in the hay mow on beds of hay. Oh, how many memories I have of doing the same thing!! And they were all back in my kitchen bright and early in the morning for breakfast.

            {waiting for breakfast; arm wrestling}

I made 3 huge batches of pancakes, 2 boxes of sausages, and 2 jugs of juice. They all seemed mighty impressed. I am learning here! Boys + Food = a happy combo!!

As soon as breakfast was cleaned up, we headed off to a water park just 5 minutes up the road from us. This particular event had been the point of MUCH anticipation for months in advance. And they were not disappointed! Hours of fun in whirlpools, slides that left them gasping with the speeds, and huge buckets that randomly dumped on their heads. Again, boy heaven!

{the littlest boy loved it too!}

After swimming, I took the tribe to Arby's for lunch, and then returned them all to their own homes. Josiah told me over & over how pleased and delighted he was with his party. Such simple things, really, yet it's so special when they are done just for you! That evening for supper, we had chicken & veggie stir-fry over rice, Jo's request. And cake & ice cream, of course.

And after supper, the long-awaited birthday present! I caught his first expression on camera as Daddy walked through the door ....

His very own real, non-toy, guitar & amp.

Happy 10th Birthday, Josiah!

The Huge Nursery

God must have a sense of humor. Giving me first armloads of babies, and now a huge nursery to put them all in! lol The nursery room at the old house was just so big enough to hold 1 crib, a changing table, and a baby. This new house has two bedrooms downstairs; the master bedroom, and another room of equal proportions right across from it. What else could it be but a sewing room, craft room, school room, nursery? I am very pleased with this room AND it's location in the house. Plenty of room for several cribs, several changing tables, a rocking chair, and of course, the humongous closet! Who ever heard of 9 1/2 foot closets? I am NOT complaining, mind you, but buying shelves and rods for these things are about the break the bank. lol  When the new baby comes along, I think Taylor will still have plenty of time and space to hang out there for a while.


When we first walked into the house, the room looked like this:

And the after {still needing the finishing touches}

And the little man himself, who has taken quite seriously after his father's great affection for cats. That trait most certainly does *not* come from his mother's side.

Good night for now. I am exhausted after hosting 10 boys here for Josiah's 10th birthday today! It was a ball of fun, but I have to say, I'm glad I'm not a mother to 10 boys.

Laundry Room Makeover

One of the real joys of the new place here is a first-floor laundry area!! After stooping into a dank, wet, nasty basement for the past six years, I am beyond delighted to have my washer & dryer just 3 feet off of the kitchen! What was not so lovely however was the previous housekeeper's idea of decor. A hot aqua/blue, with a raw, unfinished trimwork {or lack thereof}, and an old shower stall as part of the inside wall.

                                                                    {Before}

And here is my "after" although we are still waiting for the white cabinets that go above the washer & dryer. And then across from them where we built the new wall, is plenty of space for a set of cabinets with a counter top, and maybe a deep sink. But in the meantime, I am already loving the new, fresher look!

                                                                     {After}

The Ultimate Before & After

You know how much I love before & afters? I have featured a couple of them here on my blog, and I follow plenty of other {better} blogs who feature jaw-dropping make-overs! I love it.

Well, owning a home has brought make-overs to a whole new level. Especially when said home is an unbelievable display of the most outlanding and unattractive color schemes one could imagine. And when said home has been refuge to someone's most beloved felines. Oh, double yuck!!

I am amazed at how much has been accomplished in the 5 weeks we have held the key to this house. We certainly have a long ways to go, but there are some fun before & after pictures coming up on this blog.

How about a hot pink master bathroom? Anyone?

{Before}

{After}

Still needs some finishing touches, but I am so happy with how this room has turned out. And am totally being spoiled with all the storage space!!!

Hello, linen closet! Nice to meet you! Are you serious? A whole closet just for sheets and towels?? I could really get used to this!

Anybody Home??

Literally. If you knocked on our door in Kalona tonight, there would not be anybody home. Yes, alot has happened in the past couple of weeks. And simultaneously, no one has been at home on this blog either. A-hem. Yeah, you had already figured that out, right?

In early May, we found a property online that kind of appealed to us. A little further west than we preferred, and the house looked a little ... crazy. But we set up an appointment to see it. Turned out that Jason went to see it himself since I was out yard saling with a friend and totally didn't get back home in time. Jason liked the place pretty much {he didn't remember much about the house, but the barns made a big impression on him}. So we put in an offer. Six hours later someone else put in an offer too, and the owners sold it to him within hours. Done deal. Okay then. God, we accept that.

Several weeks later our real estate agent contacted us and told us that the same place was coming up for sale again. Apparently the new owner simply needed to own the property for collateral for a few days {I so don't get this whole thing} and now he wanted to turn it around and sell quickly. So, we repeated our offer, and within hours, he had accepted and all of a sudden we were home owners! And I had not yet even seen the place! lol  Neat side note here: we paid less for the place than the other buyer did. AND he had to deal with bringing the sewer up to code. Fun!

So June 29th we signed about 473 papers and walked out of the bank with the keys to our very own {A-hem, bank-owned} property! Three acres, a 5-bedroom home, huge barns, sheds, and enough wild wooded areas to keep my boys totally enthralled for weeks. We were and are so, so, so excited.

The next 4 weeks was pretty much filled to the max with either A.) packing like a mad woman at the old house or B.) painting, cleaning, and re-modeling the new one. Every night I would fall into bed exhausted, thinking that I couldn't possibly be any more tired. And the next night I somehow was even more tired. Several {kind, thoughtful} friends advised us to slow it all down and just move in several months down the road. But the idea of forking out both rent and mortgage just went down pretty hard, so we kept at it. And on July 30, we moved. Yay for lots of friends and helpers, or I don't know where we would be!!

We've been in the new place for 1 week now. Today I was reflecting back over the past couple of weeks and the feelings of being so richly blessed  began to wash over me. God has been so incredibly good to us. The joy of having a place to call our own. Space to stretch and grow. The little blessings that fit our family like a glove. The freedoms to dream and plan and hope. Oh, Jesus, we love you and thank you!

~More pictures & details coming soon. I promise! =)