What we have been up to.

Just about every spare minute that Doug has had lately have been spent working on our renovations. Here is a glimpse of some of his hard work. (Putting the pictures on here mixed them up, so the after pictures are first).

AFTER
Doug refinished the oak, put on new cabinet doors and hardware on the doors, new counter top, etc. Left to do is the flooring and a back splash.

BEFORE

AFTER

We made space for a dishwasher (my first ever!) and added a bank of drawers.

BEFORE

AFTER

We took out the half wall by the table and are turning the closet into a pantry with pullouts (need to put on the doors yet). We also dry walled and painted the oak beam.


BEFORE

I'm really excited about how things are turning out. I'll post more pictures once we have the flooring in and do some decorating.

Words to Live by.

Cameron's words of wisdom, "All dogs are boys and all cats are girls. Cats are just girl dogs."
Also, "Poppies help you remember everything!"

Anson's prayer, "Thank you God for giving us this world to live in. If we didn't have this world then we would have to walk around in space, so I thank you for this world. Amen."

Basement Camping

For his birthday from Grandpa and Grandma, Cameron received a Rider tent. Since it is a long time (forever for a five year old) until camping season, Doug said that he would go camping with them in the basement. He is such a great dad!

Doug rented a movie for the evening. He hooked up our portable DVD player to a TV in the basement so they could watch it down there. Brandon was pretty excited about it and thought that he would join them.

Comfy inside the tent. I don't know what Brandon was more excited about, the tent or the gummy worms. Anson showing with his finger that the Riders are number one.

Brandon did go to bed after a few minutes and the my other three boys settled down for the evening with popcorn and the movie. Doug stayed down there with them until they were asleep and then came up for a bit. He did join them again for the night.

I enjoyed a quiet evening to myself watching Supernanny.

Cameron is 4....I mean 5!

Celebrating Cameron's birthday was a lot of fun this year. We had two parties, one with family and one with friends. Pictured above is Anson bringing Cameron his cake, I remembered to put five candles on at this party.

Here Cameron is opening one of his presents and preaching to everyone that you have to open the card first.

Playing games....the kids all did great, it was a very enjoyable party and time went by quickly. Doug thought that I was crazy planning a two and a half hour party with that age group (2 to 5 year old). I think that it helped to have the party in our church basement and the kids had room to run around.

Eating the cupcakes.....when I brought out the cupcakes with the candles, Cameron informed me that I had only put four candles on instead of 5. Oops, time sure does go by quickly.

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY CAMERON. I LOVE YOU!

The Rider Game

On Sunday we took Anson and Cameron to their first Rider game. Brandon got to have his first sleepover at Grandpa and Grandma's house. (He did awesome for them. He slept 12 hours without waking up)The day before the game we drove by the stadium and met this really interesting, Christian man who lives near it. He takes care of 90 parking spots in the neighborhood on game day and the money he makes from it he uses to build houses in Guatemala. The picture above is us parked in one of 'his' spots (someones front yard) on game day. This is the picture Doug took of the stadium the day before the game. We sat way up in the nose bleed section, but surprisingly enough the view of the game was still pretty good.
Getting ready to go in. The boys were pretty excited by the whole experience.

Overall the experience was great, even though is was a bit cold and windy. It was a very memorable weekend for all. Oh ya, the Riders won....that was the icing on the cake.

Need Decorating Advice

OK so we are in the middle of doing a bunch of renovations to our house, so these are kind of the before pictures. I would really appreciate input from other people on how to make our home a welcoming, and cozy place. I like casual, traditional design. Anyway some specific questions I have are; what do I hang on the walls of a long, narrow hallway?...hang stuff on one, or both walls?
We have our computer desk in the living room, what would make that area more appealing? Also what do I put on the wall beside the window? Window treatment?(For the two windows in the living room, and the one above the sink)
Also how would you rearrange the furniture in the living room, it is long and narrow and open to the kitchen. I want to get rid of the entertainment stand and either get a smaller corner one or just get a piano. I also wanted to buy slipcovers for the couch and love seat, but apparently that is a no-no, custom made is the way to go. For more info visit designwithchristine.com
We have already refaced our cabinets and put on new white doors, next we are going to replace the counter top and put in new flooring. I'm excited that things are getting done, but like my husband I look forward to our home being a sanctuary, not a project. Any advice on how to make that happen would be greatly appreciated. I'll post after pictures when I'm done.

Still Searching

Yes, I'm still searching for a job. I had an interview with an accountant last week who was looking for someone to help her. Out of all the jobs that I applied for this is the one that I would have loved to get, it was totally something that I would enjoy doing. During the interview she mentioned that she thought that she would need a full time person and today she called to let me know that someone else got the job, but that she would keep my resume on file. I was disappointed, but yet at the same time I'm thinking that maybe this was not God's timing yet. It's hard to trust God sometimes and to be patient.

Not only am I searching for a job, but I feel like I am searching to find who God created me to be, which is scary and exciting at the same time. So for now I think that I'll focus on getting my life in order so that when the right job does come along, I'll be ready.