Playroom redo!

I have been wanting to redo the playroom for sometime, it was just NOT conducive to play the way it was. Unfortunately, I forgot to take before pictures. As usual. :( There was a huge armoir in one corner with things tucked in laundry baskets for organization. Then a big self unit on the wall the toy box is on. It was hard to play, little space and just plain ugly. The boys got quite a bit of money for Christmas and birthday's so it went to this. I love it! Let me know what you think in the comments!

I have the idea that where the cushions will be can also be a stage. It can serve many options the way it is or we can always add more storage later and "build" up.

Thank you to Papa and Grandpa Merchant for helping us make this happen!

PILA Month day 15

Day 15 - what you like about your house.

That it's MINE!

That's right!! We officially and for sure get to keep it. (knock on wood... *doing a please-keep-the-fire-hurricanes-earthquakes-etc-away dance*) We have signed everything on the dotted lines and completed our modification. Woohoo!

Thank you to everyone who sent out prayers, warm thoughts, and IRL/virtual hugs along the way! It totally helped!!

Beyond that obvious point, I really love my neighbors. I wish one hadn't moved away, ahem! It's not too late to move back... but aside from that we really do have a great neighborhood of people. I also like the set up and way it's layed out. It flows well for us.

Now if it just came with a housekeeper, it's smidge too big.

What to do?

What to do?

With ALL THAT artwork my son makes?!

I recently set up an art center in our family room.

I found the cubes on the side of the road one day with a free sign. :) They spoke to me and so in the car they went! There is 3 more in my entry closet with shoes and such in them.

Grayson loves that he has access to "all" of his art supplies and can get them and put them away easily. Mommy loves that he doesn't have access to "all" of his art supplies just a few of all of the kinds I have hidden away in the locked cabinet in the playroom and that he can get them and put them away him self. I love that he is very independent.

Preschool has only helped to reaffirm how independent he is. He loves showing off his drawings and projects and using different mediums to create. I have a stack of lovely photos to prove it. I obviously can't keep everything. I try to take photos of all of my favorites so I can keep them forever, just digitally. And today I cut up some 12 x12 card stock from the long ago forgotten art of scrapbooking and then cut up his works of art and made cards. If you give a gift in the next year (or 5) you may be getting a Thank you card like these.

For those who want to know exactly how: I cut the card stock in 3 (folded in half they were 4 x 6) then cut the art work 3 3/4" x 5 3/4" used a glue stick and stick it on. I tried to cut out the best bits and saved any larger white bits for use later.

OH! And a nice little pat on my back... I was asked yesterday if I would be okay being on the substitute teach list for the "just in case" event that the teacher can't teach our class one day. They pick three. Usually it is people who have been in the school for a year or two. I almost peed a little with anxiety of leading 18 3-5 year old for 3 hours but I agreed, on the condition that I be called LAST until I settle in a bit better! Anyway, YAY me!

My dirty little secret...

well, I guess it's my 'clean' little secret.

Meet Laundry Mountain. Who is usually accompanied by Sock Hill. But that would require sorting, which has not been done in 2 weeks. This photo does not do it justice. It is close to 4' tall and about 6' long.

maybe this one.
nope not really doing it either... just know I am afraid.
Very afraid!

Goodbye dear friends.

Sometimes people come into your lives and they leave such a mark on your heart it's as if they take a piece of you with them when they leave. This family has done that to us. Jamie and her family lived next door until yesterday morning. Many memories made, many pantry staples shared and many hugs exchanged in the last 2.5 years. You will be deeply missed friends and my heart already breaks as I look at your empty house next door. :(

I wish you many wonderful blessings on your new adventure and hope that you love your new home and neighbors. (not as much as me though. hehe) Thank you for being there when I needed you most (when I found out about Jonathan) and for all the little things too. Love you dearly friend and pray the best for you!

Oh! And you spell your name wrong. :)

(The house next door is for sale: 4 bedrooms, office, bonus room, 3 full baths, 2500 sqr feet. granite counters, stainless appliances. upgrades and custom moldings galore. If you are interested, I promise I won't compare you to them... please email me for more info)

House update and such.

We got the paperwork the next day for the home loan modification. We sent everything in by the deadline (5 days), though we did not delay and sent it in the day after we got it. Everything looks good. As long as we make the probationary payments for 3 months, it will get rewritten as our new loan. Yay! So happy to have that weight off our chests. :)

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This last Thursday marked 27 weeks into this pregnancy. It is officially longer than I was pregnant with Jonathan.

It was a bit of a mixed blessing day. I think I may be MORE anxious now than I was before that date. (if that is possible) I have learned first hand there are no guarantee's in life and until I hold this little boy in my arms I will not breath easy. If I don't feel him for a few hours, I panic. still. Even though I know he likes to sleep (I am SO hoping that carries over into his life with us)

I have another apt tomorrow, along with the gestational diabetes screen. Joy.
It is nice to have the heartbeat as confirmation.

I have finally started to work on the nursery for "hotdog." I went to a baby resale event at the fair grounds last weekend and found this

bumper. It was only $5!! I didn't find the quilt though, kind of a bummer. I am hoping it will pop up on ebay for cheap at some point. Zack put me on a spending freeze until we make sure we are ok for the mortgage though so while I pine for the quilt, I'm told it has to wait. :)
(insert sarcasm here- I know I have to wait, just whining!)
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I has been lovely how many doors have opened back up since the phone call about the house. Not only can I now work on the baby's room (cause he has one!), I can finish Grayson's mural and add all the animals that have been on hold until we knew more. We can work on the house and finish paint that has been on hold as well. So many things I am excited for again! Its a little hard to think about it all because we put it out of our minds for so long and mentally detached from the house so long ago. Its amazing how much and how little 4 walls can mean to a person.

I for one am very thankful for the life we have. No matter the ups and downs we have faced in life and in the last few years, I know we will always end up okay.

Amazing!

Have you ever had a day where one phone call changed your entire life? I have. A few.
And today was another. I left my phone in the car when I went to a friends for a play date and when I got back in I checked messages.

2 texts from Zack:
1. no need to pack
2. we get to keep the house.


I immediately called, because UM WHO SAYS THAT OVER TEXT?!
He said Wells Fargo called today and while nothing is signed yet and for sure... it looks like
we GOT THE MODIFICATION!

YES that is me screaming! I am so excited!!!
Its a payment that we can afford, not easily and it will be tight for a while, but who cares!
Apparently, they dropped the interest rate (from 6% to 2%) and extended it to 40 years and forgave a large chunk of the loan.

So thank you Wells Fargo.
I am very Thankful for the light at the end of the tunnel of this long long road we have been on.
I am very appreciative of all the love and moral support we have received from those around us. We could not have gone through the last 2 years without you all.

And as quickly as my life was turned upside down by a phone call, it was restored by one.
Full circle.

Clean freak? Not so much...

How sad is it (and telling?!) that I just had to forbid my child from taking the couch cushions off my sofa even one more time because its so GROSS in there? I think today is vacuum the sofa day. *sigh*

TVG- Photo of the Day

Alright Village Green girls- here is my POD!

The rest of you. A group of my friends all challenged each other to photograph our house as if it were to be put in a magazine. Any magazine we choose.

I choose Home.
Home is where the heart is.

Above my kitchen sink. It makes me happy to look at these plants every day.