Picture Happy

Now that my kids, and I  are back to "normal",  I decided to get the camera out and take some pics today.  Yes, I got a little picture happy, so sorry if this bores you.   It is so nice to feel like a human being again :)!

 Above was my attempt at making a human shaped "A", it didn't work to good did it? 

*Note the overalls Amelia is wearing were Aaron's when he was a baby.*

Dear Sleep

Dear Sleep,

I am writing to you to tell you how much I miss you.  It's not that I don't want to be with you, but for some reason for the last week and a half my 3 little ones have wanted to keep me apart from you.  I am beginning to get a little resentful towards them for it.  I mean really, why can't they take care of themselves when they are sick ;)?  I feel like they have gotten together as a  team and came up with this plan:  "I'll get up an hour after mommy goes to sleep, then you get up 2 hours after that, and then baby Amelia will get up 2 hours after that, and we'll continue doing that every 2 hours until it's morning time, and then we can be whiny, and crabby for her all day long.  That's a good plan to make her go crazy, don't you think?"  

AGH!!  I am just not the same without you sleep.  I can't function very well, and I become very whiny, and crabby also.  Oh, how I need you again!   I long to feel all the good things that come from being with you.  I know we will meet again, I just hope it is soon!  But, until then, know that I miss you dearly!!

Yours truly,
Sarah

Before and After: The kid's bedrooms

This will be my last before and after post for a while.  We still need to finish "fixing-up" a few more rooms like our bedroom, and the dining room before we are done with the first 2 levels of our house.  The next big project after that will be re-finishing the basement, but who knows when that will be.  

As anxious as I get to want to get everything done on the house NOW, I have to remember "Just one thing at a time."  Thanks for letting me share all the before and after pics of the house thus far.  I am now done with the photo book that I made for the contractor and painter, and I hope they will be able to get some extra business from it. 

I'm ending with the before/After pics of the kid's bedrooms.

Avery's room:

Amelia's room before (I was so happy to get rid of those shutters too!):

 

Amelia's room after:

*Bonus pics*

Notice the little doors in Avery and Deacon's room above.  Those little doors lead into attic space.  My parents (who are the best) finished them off and made them into little playrooms for the kid's birthdays this last year.  The kids absolutely love their little "hide-outs", and spend many hours playing in them. Thank you, thank you, thank you mom and dad!

Before and After: The great room

Recently we have done a little work on the great room.

I finally decorated the mantle (with the help of my friend Stacey), and we updated the brassy doors on the fireplace by spray painting them with black heat resistant paint (something I saw on HGTV).

See the doorway leading out to the deck?  The door was all rotted out, and pointless, because it was never used.  So, this last week we tore the door out and made it into a wall (well, we had our contractor do it).  Now, we have a place to hang our tv, and I was able to get rid of those nasty shutters, those things have bugged me for the last 2 1/2 years!

Before

After

Valentine Inspiration

There is this good friend of mine that is such an inspiration to me.  She works full time, is a mother of two, and is always making the cutest darn things!  I don't know how she has the time to do it all, she just never ceases to amaze me.

So, after seeing her love is in the air post, I got inspired to try my hand at making something creative for the kids valentine's this year.  I cut out 6" strips of fleece, and cut fringes on the ends to make scarves, and then embroidered each kids initials on them.

I know, I know, it's not much, and I don't even know if it's that cute, but I tried, and I felt good for doing so.  Thank you Tammy for inspiring me, Love you! 

Hannah, and Avery modeling their scarves.  Of course they had to have matching ones.

And here is Deacon with his monster truck scarf.  Don't you love that little hat of his?  My friend Stacey's mother-in-law makes those.

Before and After: The Bathrooms

The kitchen and bathrooms were the first things we renovated.  I wish I would've been able to get better before pics, it just doesn't do it justice.   And again I wish you could have smelt and felt the filth in these rooms.  We are talking layers, and layers of nicotine.   

 Here are pics of our Master Bathroom.  
Before:
(Look at the mirror behind the tub, who would want to watch themselves in the bathtub? Ew!!)

After

Avery and Amelia's bathroom before

After

Half bath before

After

Deacon's bath before

After

Before and After: The Kitchen

Two and a half years ago we bought a 25 year-old fixer upper house.   It reaked of smoke and filthiness, and was definitely in need of some TLC, but sat on 3 acres in a quiet subdivision close to town.  It was the house for us, we just knew it.  Our friends thought we we were crazy when we decided to buy it, but we saw the potential the house had, and are slowly transforming it into the house we invisioned. 

This last week we had our contractor and painter come back to do a small project in our house.  They were the 2 main people that have helped transform the house thus far.  I know this is a little late, but as a thank you to them, I am working on a before and after photo book for them.  I thought they could have it to show potential clients all the work they did on the house, and hopefully get more business out of it.  I am starting with the kitchen, and have included some of the pics to post on my blog.

I wish you all would have been able to smell the inside of the house when we first moved in.  It would've made you sick to your stomach!



Here are some before pics of the kitchen

Here are the after pics of the kitchen

and here is the big overall pic of the kitchen