Our new nest

It's official!  We moved in today.  First day of summer (June 21, 2014) marks the first page in our new book!  Home sweet home!  

New chapter

We finally closed today on our new home!  We are so excited to start the newest chapter in our family's life.  We won't move in for a couple weeks as the house needs some TLC.  But what's the rush - this is our forever home!

We snuck over tonight to celebrate!  Took some pics to capture the excitement.

Welcome summer

Memorial weekend is here!  We are so ready for summer!  Our favorite time of the year!

 If this weekend is any indication on how summer is going to unfold - I am excited! We are due for some fun!

It's been a long winter/spring with unfortunate stress.  We can't wait to just cut loose and play in the sun and play with our friends!

Blue skies ahead!

And hopefully soon we will be calling this place our home...

We envision lots of memories ahead in this house!  We can't wait to get in and start living them!

We've already started a few memories here as I joined the neighborhood tennis team and Olivia joined the neighborhood swim team.  And Justin's enjoying the backyard golf course.  And our boys are enjoying the pool and playground here.  

Everyone is excited and happy. 

Looking ahead at the future is making life in the apartment more tolerable!

Dear Thistle Lane,



 



Dear Thistle Lane,

I've been dreading this post for a week now.  Trying to come up with the right words to say good bye is tough.  I know to some you are just a house - but that's not true for us.  You are so much more.  You mark an era of our family.  An era that I will never forget.

Let me explain..

When we first moved into this house in August of 2009 it seemed so overwhelming huge and so overwlehming far away.  Our daughter was just a baby (13 months old) and I was expecting again.  The 2nd pregnancy is what prompted the move. 

We left our old two bedroom house in Oakley for the suburbs.  We wanted to have a yard to play in.  Bedrooms for all the kids to grow into.  And most importantly we wanted to be close to Justin's office as our family was so young and we needed him close by.  That was such a blessing.  He came home for lunches most days and his evening commute was so short.  That was invaluable for us.

 

 

Almost 5 years later I had no idea how much the house would become our HOME.  Home sweet home.  When we moved here, we had just one baby playing in the moving boxes.  Now, as we leave here we have two more babies playing in the moving boxes....

 

We grew to a family of 5 in this house.  The heart and bulk of our marriage took place in this house.  Lots of growing pains in this house. 

 

Our home holds so many memories.  (Bringing home Jack from the hospital, Olivia starting preschool here, Jack learning to walk, building the swingset in our backyard, bringing home Grant from the hospital, birthday parties, Jack starting school, Olivia learning to ride a two wheeler, losing a first tooth, Grant saying a first word, starting kindergarten, ect.)

 

The list could go on and on.  THIS is why I am so sad.  I had no idea the heartstrings would be so tugged at right now.  Yesterday was tough.  It hit me hard.  For some reason I feel like we are making a mistake moving and I want to pull the plug.  But, I also know this is the time to move.  We want to be closer to our kids school and we are ready for a change.  But saying good bye is tough.  My kids keep asking why mommy is crying.  I try to explain they are tears of joy.  I trying to convince myself of that too.

 

 

Good bye Thistle Lane.

 

Thank you for all the great memories.  I will never EVER forget this place.  I feel like I will share stories for years to come that all take place here.

 

Team Work

My friend, Jamie knows that I have been dreaming of a blue/grey/green kitchen for some time now.  I always have been so drawn to them - in my Better Homes and Garden Magazine, Pinterest, home blog sites, ect.  I just love the look and feel.  Fresh.  Cool.  Crisp.  Southern.  So with some nudging, Jamie helped me pull the trigger on my OWN kitchen.  The two of us (with 6 kids at my house) painted my entire kitchen.  That's what you call a good friend, huh?  Anyways, it was such a drastic change at first I kept thinking I was making a mistake.  But, it turns out I really like it.  It feels good to have a change in there.  It was just such a shock as it was a safe, warm, khaki/green color for more than 3 years.  And now its a cool color.  Changes the entire feel of the room.  Here are some pics.  I went with Sherwin Williams Silvermist is case you like it!

Before:

After:

Sorry for all the pics, if I've bored you - but this type of stuff makes me so happy!  And the fact that I did it myself makes me feel accomplished!

I also painted and re-did my office (where I am blogging from now...)  I love it the results.

We painted our dining room a bold color which actually inspired my kitchen...

And lastly, we painted our foyer and put up some wood work.  Makes a nice upgrade....

Ok, time to move now.  Just teasing...

Home stretch

Here I am, at almost 35 weeks pregnant!  I am officially in the homestretch!  My appointments are every week now - and they will continue to check my cervix to see if labor is around the corner.  I am a bag of mixed emotions still.  Mostly excited, but still find myself anxious about labor and delivery, and most importantly, about bringing the baby home.  Justin keeps reminding me that I can do this with my eyes closed as I've done it twice before.  But truth be told, because I KNOW what to expect - I am the most nervous this time around.  I remember everything that is involved at the hospital and I remember just how much work newborns are.  But, I also remember how sweet their newborn heads smell, how often they peacefully sleep, and just how special it is to have my sleeping baby lay on my chest while I feel their sweet breath under my chin.  I am also so very excited to walk in our front door and introduce Olivia and Jack to their newest sibling for the first time when we come home from the hospital.  We are very excited to meet our son and have our family feel even more complete. 

Below is a profile pic of the baby from our last ultrasound.  I know, kind of hard to make out.  The good news - he is head down and ready for delivery.  He is also measuring in at almost 6 lbs already when he was anticipated to be about 4 lbs.  The doctor was shocked - especially since this ultrasound was scheduled because my belly  was measuring a few weeks behind.  The tech also made mention of seeing hair on his little head.  Curious to see if that hair will be red at birth like the other two.

And, below are pictures of the nursery!  I am so very pleased with the way his room turned out.  So light, fresh and soothing.  I can't wait to rock him in that glidder.  Soon enough....

Oh, and the kids are awfully excited!  Jack is so fascinated with my ever-expanding belly.  He always wants me to lift up my shirt so he can rub it....and sometimes smack my belly.  Here he is showing us his baby belly.

And Miss Liv is all smiles when you bring up the arrival of HER baby...  She tells me all the time that she can't wait to hold him.  On the couch, though!

Well, here was the latest new baby update. Next post about him - will be us introducing him to you....

It's finished...

Introducing my new and improved kitchen!

We are thrilled with the results. I talked Justin into replacing our counter tops with granite. It made a huge difference and really "lightened up" this kitchen. Replacing the old green counters made a huge impact (even bigger than we anticipated!) Justin, himself, designed and installed our tile back splash. It looks fabulous. If you remember from previous posts, he also added the woodwork around our island so we could do away with the faux wood panelling. We have a new under mounted chocolate brown ceramic sink, replaced the hardware on the cabinets, and I took pleasure in replacing the bar stools and area rugs in there. I am so happy with the new and improved kitchen. It is so very inviting now. And I have to say, my homemade dinners have increased in frequency.  Everyone's a winner :)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a picture of our old kitchen:

Nursery Inspiration...

I am excited to design our new son's nursery.  I went ahead and purchased this adorable Nautical/Whale bedding for him.  I love it.... it reminds me of Hilton Head.  Jack's room is also a nautical theme - so we have lots of sailboats and navy blue accents to pass on down.  Justin is also going to nail up some board and batten similar to this room.  I am so excited to have a vision for the room.  I am even MORE excited to welcome our newest addition.   Getting our baby boy's room and clothes together makes me feel connected to him.  I am enjoying that with this third pregnancy - as we went the surprise route with the first two.  We are also in the process of converting Jack's room into a Big Boy room so the new baby can have his nursery furniture.  Lots of fun winter projects ahead!  Feeling very excited!  Very!

Here I am at 20 weeks along.  Feeling great!  Exceptional actually!  I am enjoying feeling the baby kick and move around a lot.  Waiting to feel hiccups soon.  I love that.  This is the phase of pregnancy where I think, yeah, I could do this again....  I guess thats why they refer to this stage as the "honeymoon trimester."  Feeling very happy at the moment.  My heart is full.

I cannot stop thinking about.....

GRANITE COUNTER TOPS.  I really can't.  I've tried.  I know we don't need them.  I know it's a huge expense.  But, when I have my heart set on something - it's so hard to get it off my mind.  The green counter tops are corion.  They are nice.  They aren't my taste though.  I want something lighter and brighter in there.  I am thinking of, I mean dreaming of, Santa Cecilia Granite.  I feel so selfish wanting this.  I know it's silly when we have so much to save for.  But, I do know this - we will thoroughly enjoy them, and it will help our house sell one day.  Decisions like this are tough.  But, I do have to say, the kitchen is the heart of our home.  We spend most of our time in there.  We spend most of our time entertaining in there.  And I want it to look spectacular.  The jury is still out on this decision.  If it were me, they'd be installed already.

Just for fun, I found this picture below of what my dream kitchen would look like.  One can dream, right?  I've always been so drawn to an all white kitchen.  It's so fresh, so clean, and so timeless.  One day, I hope to have one.  But, I think that will just be a pipe dream for now.

Fall Ready

We are thoroughly enjoying this weekend's fruit of our labor.  We woke up Sunday morning and decided to mulch our beds.  We borrowed our neighbors trailer and picked up nearly 60 bags of mulch. (we're both so sore today) That just covered the front yard.  Nothing like fresh mulch to give your house some curb appeal.  Everything looks great, especially our grass thanks to Mother Nature's rain last week.  It doesn't look like the same yard from 2 weeks ago.  It was brown and border line dead.  It actually felt like straw.  Anyways, I was so excited to enhance the curb appeal that I went ahead and put up my fall decorations on the front porch.  A haystack, a few mums, and a homemade fall wreath.  Pretty soon we'll have our pumpkins on that haystack!  I love Fall - it is our favorite season!

Before and After

My Formal Living room before:

And my Formal Living Room now:

It went from, what we called, the Livie Room to our Living Room.  Now that Jack is old enough to play independently, we moved all the toys to the basement. We still have a few puzzles and blocks in there for the kids to play with.   I was finally able to put big girl furniture in here.  I am really pleased with the way the room turned out (on such a budget.)  Most of the pieces we had all ready stored in the basement, or I re purposed old furniture.  Example:  I painted Justin's old college desk an antique white and changed out the hardware - and now it looks brand new.  We painted the room and it's my new favorite color in the whole house.  It's called Perfect Greige by Sherwinn Williams.  I put up window treatments finally - and it made a huge impact on the room.  Lots of trips to HomeGoods, Pottery Barn, Ballard Design, and Target to pull the room together.  (looking ahead we are going to put a Christmas Tree in the window this Season!)

I guess it's safe to say I am already in "nesting mode!"  It feels good to make my house feel more and more like our home!  I've done a lot of projects that I can share, and I have a lot more on the back burner - poor Justin!

What I'm Loving.....

For starters - I am loving summer!  It is by far my favorite season.  So much to do and so much to celebrate.  Olivia's birthday, my birthday and our anniversary all in July.  The pool, vacation, the park, longer days and spending time outside in our yard make me very happy.  Here are a few of my summer time favorites around here...

This adorable chalk-board flower pot my friend, Kristen made me.  I love it.  I write a new message on there after every rain fall washes the previous one away.  It's fun.   I also love pink impatiens.  They are by far my favorite annual. 

Next up - fresh mulch!  I finally got around to mulching.  It's amazing when planning an upcoming outdoor party can do to your landscape ambition.  I didn't do the whole yard.  It needed 12 yards of mulch and a good weekend's worth of work.  So I just did around the patio (for now).  I also am loving my new patio seat cushions and pillows.  It's amazing how new pillows can really freshen up an old patio set.

This kids' picnic table is also a backyard favorite.  It came with the swingset we installed last summer.  I decided to paint the picnic table so we wouldn't have to worry the wood fading and looking old.  I had left over paint from our kitchen and got to work.  The wood literally drank the paint, so it needed a few coats.  I also spray painted number stencils on the seats to give it a more personalized look.   I am pretty pleased with it and am happy with how much use it gets :) 

Last up - these adorable little adirondack chairs.  How cute are these!?!  I found them at the end of last summer at Lowe's for $5 a piece.  They were bright yellow, very shinny, and looked very plastic.  So, I spray painted them recently and now (to me) anyways,  they look like actual wood chairs.  Thinking of putting their initials on the backs of them....  But for now, they are just antique white.

On a personal note - I am still LOVING photography.  I mean, really, really loving it. One day, I plan on pursuing it.  Until then, I have two gorgeous children to photograph and keep me busy.

Bridal Shower

We celebrated our dear friend, Kristen's upcoming nuptials with a bridal shower/bacholorette party this past weekend.  It was so much fun planning this beach themed shower.  Kristen and Mike are tying the knot June 11th, in Hilton Head Island.  (one of my favorite places in the world!)  Justin and I will be traveling down there (sans kids) to take part in the big day.  The shower turned out to be a fabulous day.  A day and night spent with my oldest and closest friends.  It doesn't get much better than that!  It was so good for the soul.  We can't wait to spend the weekend all together in Hilton Head.

Master bedroom make-over

After nearly 6 years of marriage, we decided to give our Master Bedroom some much deserved attention.  We had been using Justin's parents old furniture (circa 1986) for the time being.  Luckily, we had the brass hardware replaced and painted the oak wood black to make it "do-able."  We had grown so used to it and kept putting off splurging on our room until we had the rest of the house furnished, ect.   There was always an excuse..

Well - the time has come and we are thrilled with the results.  Take a look....

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We have been working on this for weeks.  We bought a new bed and upgraded to a King, have a new mattress, changed out the white ceiling fan, replaced the window panels, replaced the bedside lamps, bought a new dresser, and (my personal favorite) bought new bedding.  I really like the contrast of the white and pale blue soft bedding against the very masculine furniture. 

We are thrilled with our new room and the kids are thrilled with the king sized bed!