Empty House

Everything has been moved out, boarded up in crates and hauled away! Our house is officially EMPTY - besides a few odd ends and some living room furniture we are selling to our renters!! It's so strange to see the house we occupied for 4 1/2 years be bare and boring in a space that used to be filled with laughter and crying, the smell of cooking or baking, doors being opened and shut all day long, children playing and having fun. We are sad to be leaving our Fredericksburg home for a different place on the other side of the world but we know we'll enjoy and love our new home as well. This move has been especially hard on Andrew. He's very sad and misses his home while we've been staying at the hotel for the past two nights. Poor little guy! The girls will miss it very much too; I'm almost positive tears will be shed once we roll away. I still think Andrew's going to have it the hardest.

Today we woke up and ate breakfast and got ready to go swimming with our family friend, Sabine, at her community pool. Knowing that all of the kids were again sick with their colds, I sort of tossed around the idea to go or not but decided in the end that it would be good for them. For all of us! :) We stayed for two hours. My friend and her daughter, who happens to also be Jocelyn's best friend, joined us as well. We sat and talked while watching the children play and have fun in the kiddie pool after slathering them with a bunch of sunblock. We snapped some pictures, ate some yummy food together for lunch and then retreated back to the hotel for some rest. We had such a fun afternoon! Aubrey even spent some time in the adult sized pool and tried to recall how to swim. (It's been quite a few years since she took basic lessons.) She hopped between that pool and coming over to play with Andrew and Jocelyn. Such a great sister! I did start to wonder though, on our way back inside the hotel, why it was taking Andrew such a long time to walk and keep up with us. I noticed as I watched him that he was avoiding stepping on the cracks along the sidewalk. Apparently his sister Jocelyn told him that if he steps on a crack, he would fall through. Nice!! No matter how many different ways I tried telling and showing him that that wouldn't happen, he still insisted on not stepping on the cracks. And that seems to be his new way of walking at the moment as he did it again when we went to the house. He really does make me laugh! The only way Andrew was even comfortable with the idea of taking a nap was to have me lay by him after an hour or being back in our room. It was four in the afternoon at this point and I ended up falling asleep next to him with Landon sleeping on my chest. For that hour nap, the girls huddled on the bed side by side and watched a Disney show. No complaints for free entertainment. :) Once quiet time was over, I let the girls walk to the front desk and get themselves (and Andrew and I) a cookie. Otis Spunkmeyer cookies anytime you please? Dangerous! Good thing we've only gotten one once in the two days we've been here! :)

During this move process, John and I committed to keeping dinner time as a family still and tonight was Mexican food. John went and picked up some food at Chipotle for us and our friends who are so generously helping us paint our home and I swung by Taco Bell and got Jocelyn and Andrew each a burrito and a little nacho on the way over to the house to eat. We ate in the backyard at the picnic table - one of our last meals at the house. And can I just say WOW! The whole upstairs is now completely painted with a nice shiny coat of white. Very clean looking. As the kids and I were leaving, they went back to work painting the hallway and downstairs bathroom. I felt bad for them to have no music to listen to while they worked away so I drive back to the hotel and grabbed the laptop and took another trip back to the house to bring it to them. It was 8:30pm so we hurried back to the hotel, I got the kids showered, changed and ready for bed, stories read, teeth brushed, songs sung, prayers said and they were finally out, all three snuggled on a queen sized bed, around 10pm. Meanwhile, I fed Landon, read him Goodnight Moon and cuddled with him a bit longer than I normally do at night to try and somehow make up for all the craziness before I put him down for sleep. It was a long day, but thankfully not as long and tiring like yesterday.

John could probably debate that comment in regards to his day...he and our friends have been working so hard and doing so much back at the house. But I'm very thankful. Being a single mom at the moment has been a bit challenging and stressful too but it's also been good for our kids to be entertained and not at the house while the moving has taken place. They do miss their daddy dearly and we all can't wait for Saturday to come - when we hit the road for our trip while we wave goodbye to Virginia. Thankfully for only three years. We have really grown to love this state and all of our amazing friends and ward family!

Backyard Project: Pergola

Another backyard task completed! The pergola is UP! Here are some pictures from start to finish.

{Right before I took this photo, Andrew wedged himself between me and the sliding glass door and tossed one of his books onto the back patio. Stinker! Trying to find any way he can to get out there and be with his daddy while hard at work! :)}

{"Ohhh Daddy...what's this?"}

{"Do you need it?"}

{"Never mind. It may come in handy while I play in the dirt!"}

{A view from the backyard.}

John has done such an amazing job! I'm very pleased with how great it all looks. Just a few more things to do and the backyard will be usable again - and looking better than ever!

P.S. And here's motivation to get it done FAST so we can use it! :)

Backyard Project: Patio

Our backyard is, little by little, getting done and looking how we want it. John has spent many long hours (some Saturdays as long at 14 hours) on our backyard renovation and I must say it's looking so much better than when we bought the place! Right after the fence was put up, the guys spent a few more hours trying to break up the concrete patio slab - until it started to down poor with thunder and lightning. Needless to say, they got a lot done regardless of the not so favorable weather. I think much of the motivation to get it done was the hefty cost of the 1 day rental tool! And then the following weekend catches us up to speed to bring us to this Saturday as John spent the day with a co-worker digging out the perimeter of the new patio. It was miserable - another hot and humid day out. I haven't seen so many empty water and Gatorade bottles in a LONG time! But they did awesome! Without further ado, here are the "hard-at-work" pictures:

Patio (PART ONE):

{They originally started with a sledge hammer. The jack hammer ended up working better AND faster! Don't mind his look...I have to take pictures of the project, right? :)}

{The re-bar was very hard for them to pull up. Here's the beginning of digging out the dirt and rock to prepare for the pavers to be set.}

{Andrew watching Daddy hard at work - and probably wishing he was out there with him! :)}

{"Good-bye jack hammer. It was nice working with you! (Minus the cost of course!)"}

{All ready and prepped for the new patio}

Patio (PART TWO):

{Rock and gravel packed down}

{Sand packed down}

{Pavers going in}

{Daughter #1 relieving me to help transport pavers while I took some photos}

{John and I agreed on the "running bond" design. I like the multi-colors!}

{And the patio is IN! Just a little cutting to fit around beams and air conditioning and it's complete!}

Next up: The Pergola

I can't WAIT to have a BBQ when our backyard is DONE! :)

Backyard Project: Fence

I am happy to report that we now have a backyard fence!! :)

 It has been on our to-do list for a few years and we can finally move on to other projects. Yay! Earlier in the week, John bought all of the fence posts and materials needed so when the time came, he was ready to get it done. It's been kind of tricky here though. Lightning and thunderstorms sort of control when we can get stuff done outside. Anytime it was clear, he was out there doing something.

Us and our neighbors decided to do this backyard fence project at the same time. John was graciously able to get military discount through Lowes on all of the material so it was a good deal! It has definitely been a team effort - John, his good friend, and our neighbor put in many hours of labor. And I put in many hours of labor tending to our kids while he was hard at work. Today being Memorial Day, all of them had the day off and were able to get the job finished. They did an awesome job!

Up next: the backyard patio.

Stay tuned!

But before I go, here are some pictures of the backyard fence project...

Curb Appeal

Since the day we moved in, now three and a half years ago, we knew that we had many projects to tackle with our home - especially the yard! These bushes in front of our dining room window bloom pretty pink flowers every spring, but they are a major pain to maintain and they hide our window much of the time. So it was time to pay some much needed attention to our front yard. It has been a work in progress for the past few weekends, let me tell you.

John started the project by cutting the bushes out and then digging out all three stubs. Sounds easy to do, right? Those bushes were planted in the clay soil pretty well!!

Then the mulch was laid out.

And finally, we have some pretty flowers planted and mulch finally spread out all the way across.

Next, we need to kill the weeds that have taken over the grass area completely and either throw down some sod or grass seed and then edge the flower garden with rocks.

So far, I think everything has turned out really nice and looks a TON better than before! A big hand to my hubby for all of his awesome hard work! :) I hope to be able to dig in more with our backyard projects.

Speaking of which, backyard projects coming soon!

Wall Art

As one of my family's new years traditions, I started making silhouettes. I took everyone's picture back in January, started assembling them in April (along with tracing the picture onto nice thick black card stock, cutting them out and then used spray adhesive to place them onto decorative paper...and last but not least, framing them!)

And then in May, I finally got around to hanging them!

I took my wall art to my trusty and handy husband to help me get them hung straight, and because well - I needed a taller person to get them up that high! :)

Andrew decided he'd give it a try...

but that wasn't working out so well with him on the ladder so he stayed to the side with his mommy!

And here is the finished look! (sorry for the glare from the window)

I LOVE how our family's silhouettes turned out and are now displayed on our wall. Now we just need to get a nice fresh coat of some paint splashed up there to add some color to the room and it will look complete. (Trust me, it's on the list of things to do! And hopefully I can get that done in the near future.)

I can't wait to make these every year so I can see the changes in my children as they grow - and have some pretty art on the wall too. :)

This Week In Pictures (11/9-11/15)

Our family was sick most of the week so naturally not a whole lot of pictures were taken. I thought that I would have lucked out and not have gotten sick like John and the girls but my luck ran out as of yesterday. Darn! Hopefully I'll have more energy this coming week to take a lot more photos, including Aubrey, that will be added in next weeks post. Here are a few I captured though from last week:

{John had Veteran's Day off of work. He spent the morning (with Jocelyn's help) rehanging some shelves in the living room. They not only look better on the wall now but are also safely hung on studs and not dry wall. Otherwise, accident just waiting to happen!}

{Jocelyn playing on the step ladder - with our supervision of course!}

{I love her ringlets! Jocelyn has had curls in her hair for the longest time but her hair is now finally getting to the length that you can really tell. The girls are scheduled to get their hair cuts soon so I figured I'd take a picture of her hair "just in case" they didn't grow back.}

{You must know by now how much she LOVES reading books}

{Smiling at something mama said. Love her smile...reminds me a little of how Aubrey smiled at this age.}