Turning a House into a Home (on a Budget)...Part 1

So, we've lived in this house for 21 months....and it FINALLY feels like HOME! :)  Anyone that has been to our house, knows that I'm not too sure what the person that designed this house was thinking when they designed this floor plan....the front room has been a thorn in my side.  Never quite sure how to use this space effectively....until NOW!  We have turned this room into our living room and I am in love with it!  The couch we inherited from my brother (who inherited it from my mother....yes this is the couch we had when I was in elementary school....we won't go into how old this couch is...but its still in excellent shape) is a little big for this room, but I think its going to work.  

Now for the budget part (in case anyone cares).....we did this entire room makeover for $20!!  Yup, that includes paint, curtains and anything else we bought to decorate with (although we only bought 2 things to decorate with, everything else  is re-purposed stuff around the house!)

Anyway...here are some pictures!

Before...right side of the room

Before....A view of the stairs, looking down towards the kitchen

Before....A view of the left side of the room

Before....our front door

During....our kids and the neighbor's kids all wanted to help

After...right side of the room/stairs

After....left side of the room

After...front door

After....the view from the stairs

After...another view of the right side of the room

Stay tuned....we're on a mission to redo our entire house...ON A BUDGET!

Starting Off Summer Right

Our Summer Bucket List has been great at helping up come up with things to do during the day.   I am making it a goal of mine to keep my camera on me so that I can get more pictures, because unfortunately I don't have pictures of everything we've done thus far.  But, at least we're doing it.  So, here are the things we can mark off our list:

3. Go on a Family Date to Sweet Frog - This we actually did on the girls last day of school.  John was off that day so we picked them up and all went to celebrate the official start of summer.  We decided on that day that we would like to make it a tradition to go out for ice cream on the last day of school each year.  Someone help me remember that next year, ok?

6. Go see Josiah and Joella - Actually, they came to see us....but none the less we got to hang out with the Waters family.  They came to our neighborhood and went swimming with us.  It was GREAT fun!!  We are definitely aiming to achieve this item again this summer!!

Eating a picnic lunch at the pool with Josiah and Joella

8. Play on the Slip N Slide - Our friends the Hambrick family came over to help us with this one.  And we made it a bit more interesting by putting a slide at the front.  The girls all played on it for 10 minutes and then were bored, but Jeremiah and Eli had a GREAT time! 

16. Bake a Cake and Decorate It - For my birthday last month my mom gave me a cake decorating class.  So far I've had 2 lessons and have really enjoyed myself!  Thanks to this class, I have already decorated 2 cakes! :)

33. Read 112 New Books - We are 13 books into this one.  So far we've read: 

1. Fancy Nancy and the Too Loose Tooth

2. If I built a car

3. 1001 Bugs to spot

4. Human Muscles

5. Amelia Bedila's family album

6. Tools we Use: Doctors

7. Amelia Bedila Under Construction

8. Nurses at Work

9. Amelia Bedila

10. The Rules

11.  Potty

12. Merry Christmas Curious George

13. Old Hat, New Hat

35. Catch Lightning Bugs - I tried to get a picture of this, but they just turned out so dark :(  But they have had a great time doing this, we've done it 3 or 4 times now! :)

37. Feed Some Ducks - We only had 3 ducks show up for lunch, but the kids had a great time!  Now we know where to go and its really close by, so we hope to go again soon!!  Jeremiah says he would have had much more fun if the ducks had gotten out of the water and eaten straight out of his hand....but I'm betting if they had gotten out of the water he would have run off screaming!

Stay tuned for more bucket list fun......

Good Bye Pre-School

Dear Kathryn and Kimberly,

This week we have said goodbye to pre-school.  Your Daddy keeps saying "Its the end of an era" and I guess he's right.  Last summer, we decided that we were going to homeschool you for pre-school to see how it went and decide if we wanted to homeschool you for kindergarten.  But, then at the last minute you were accepted into the NC Pre-K program at the Children's Campus, so thats where you went.

On the first day you were super excited and didn't appear to be nervous at all.  I think you guys are pretty lucky to be twins, because you were able to take your sister with you on this journey.  You had a great first day and a fantastic year.  Your teachers and even the director of the school said they loved having you there.

You both learned so much this year, I'm so glad we ended up choosing to let you go to pre-school.  I have seen you both come out of your shells and really start to develop your own personalities this year.

Kimberly, you have always been (and I believe always will be) a very tenderhearted person.  You always want to make sure everyone is happy and everyone is included.  You love arts and crafts, and you love it even more when you get to make something to give to someone.  You love to wear dresses and leggings, and you love to have your hair done in new ways.  You are a sweet, loving, giving person and I pray you will stay that way forever!

Kathryn, you are a very independent person!  You love to figure things out for yourself and you love learning new things.  You are also one of the most helpful people I have ever met!  Whenever I need help with something, I know I can count on you to help.  When I asked you what you loved most about pre-school, you told me when the teachers let you help set up lunch.  You love to wear t-shirts and shorts and you'd prefer to just brush your hair and leave it down.  You are a loving, helpful, determined person and I pray you will stay that way forever.

I am so PROUD of you girls!  Not just for what you learned and accomplished this year....but because you gave your best effort!  Its not always the end product that counts, but the effort you give and the lessons you learn along the way that is important!  No matter where you go in life, I will always be proud of you for giving your best efforts!

Always remember that I love you!  I will ALWAYS love you!!
Mommy

P.S. In case you ever forget all the fun we had celebrating your preschool graduation, here are some pictures for you.

On Tuesday night we had cupcakes and did sparklers with the kids on our cul-d-sac:

Kathryn 

Kimberly

WOO HOO!  We're Graduating!!!!

The morning of your graduation.  Kathryn in polka dots and Kimberly in purple.

Standing with your class

Singing songs

Kathryn receiving her diploma

Kimberly receiving her diploma

Congrats to the graduate!

Ms. Thelma

One Proud Mommy!

Our Family

Your friend Ella who came with us

Granny K

Summer 2012

So, the girls are graduating preschool in 3 days!  (Thats a whole post in itself...I can't believe its happening!  They are growing up too fast!)  Anyway....in anticipation of Summer, we sat down as a family and created a bucket list of things we want to do this summer.  Mommy and Daddy helped with some suggestions, but for the most part these are straight from the kids!  I'm hoping to keep a digital journal of our accomplishments right here on this blog.  As the kids keep saying..."We're going to be super busy this summer!" 

Summer 2012 Bucket List

1. Go Swimming....LOTS

2. Have a cookout at Jordan Lake

3. Go on a Family Date to Sweet Frog

4. Make Homemade Ice Cream

5. Go Fishing

6. Go see Josiah and Joella

7. Visit 3 new parks in the area

8. Play on the Slip N Slide

9. Bake cookies and share with all our neighbors on our cul-d-sac

10. Visit a nursing home

11. Take Mama to Lunch

12. Go to the NC Zoo

13. Have a water balloon fight

14. Eat a sno-cone

15. Find a free outdoor music concert

16. Bake and decorate a cake 

17. Pick out a new recipe and try it

18. Have a family race

19. Make an obstacle course in our yard

20. Go to an outdoor movie

21. Go Bowling

22. Watch fireworks

23. Family picnic at the airport

24. Build a tower

25. Go on a hike

26. Go on a Family Bike Ride

27. Take a Family Walk

28. Visit all 3 sets of Grandparents

29. Sleep in the tent in our back yard

30. Catch 5 different bugs and learn everything we can about each one

31. Watch 3 new movies

32. Take Ms. Carla out for ice cram

33. Read 112 new books

34. Memorize 10 new Bible verses as a family

35. Catch lightening bugs

36. Visit a farm and feed some horses

37. Feed  some ducks

38. Lay in the grass and observe the clouds

39. Visit the free museums in downtown Raleigh

40. Grow something from seeds

41. Take a walk in downtown Raleigh

42. Learn 5 new songs

43. Read the Bible every morning

44. Have a doughnut breakfast picnic at the park

45. Have 3 families over for dinner

46. Sing songs before bed

47. Host a mother/daughter tea/talent show with friends

48. Have a dance party

49. Have a parade with the kids on our cul-d-sac

50. Send a letter to 20 people

Remembering the firsts...thinking about eternity

Maybe its because we've been doing a lot of talk about kindergarten lately, or maybe because I know too many people having babies...but I've been doing a lot of thinking about my BABIES! So, I thought we would take a little picture journey through some important "firsts" for our family....

The first time I held Kathryn. She was roughly 4ish hours old here.

Holding Kimberly for the first time. Due to some breathing issues I didn't get to hold her for 24 hours....I was so happy to finally have her in my arms.

The first picture of the girls together....I wish I could remember my thoughts at this moment...

Our first family of 4 picture (wow I look rough...but it is our first family picture)

My first kisses to Jeremiah. I got to hold him like this for all of like 30 seconds until they whisked him away and then I had to wait another 5 days to pick him up and hold him. Man was that hard!

Daddy holds Jeremiah for the first time

Kimberly holding Jeremiah for the first time (Kimberly is 1 day shy of being 2 years old in this picture)

Kathryn holds Jeremiah for the first time (Kathryn is also 1 day shy of turning 2 in this picture)

Our first picture as a family of 5! :)

Its fun to walk down memory lane and think about all these moments of firsts that have created our family. It also makes me think about how quickly time passes...it feels like just yesterday...

Which makes me think about how our time here on earth is such a short blip on the timeline of eternity. Although, I have to admit that thought is actually one of comfort to me...because I know it won't be long before I see my Savior face to face and get to spend eternity in His presence.

Which leads me to think about the people in my life that DON'T know Jesus and thus won't spend eternity with Him. It reminds me of the importance of bringing my children up in the WORD...it reminds me of the importance of living so that God's love is spread...it reminds me the importance of stepping outside of my comfort zone so that others may be reached.

May today be a another day of firsts...a first for someone to meet Jesus!

Ordinary Days...Extraordinary Moments

Sometimes the most "ordinary" of days, bring about the extraordinary moments that become memories over the years. Today was one of those days for us. We started the day at an open house for a possible school next year, then spent a good part of the rest of the day outside. We even went to the park in our neighborhood for awhile...

The girls have discovered how to climb on top of the monkey bars

And aren't they cute? Reminds me of when they were little and I had a billion pictures of them together...I'm thankful to have captured one of them today! :)

Jeremiah is trying to be as tall as his sisters, instead ended up kissing the bar...(if he's sick in a few days at least I'll know why ;) )

Jeremiah can't climb on top of the monkey bars, but he can do the big ladder.

And he even takes a second to pause and say hey to Mommy!

Kimberly has even discovered how to do the big girl monkey bars

Look...Kathryn can do it too!

And look we can even do it together...

Kimberly did get a bit impatient waiting on Kathryn to finish

And just in case you wanted to see it in action

One day they'll be too big for the monkey bars...but for today its a memory it the making.

What extraordinary moments did you have in your ordinary day?