PAINT!

Finally!  We've been able to start painting the house.  I say "finally" like we've been waiting an eternity.  It's only been 3 weeks I think since we bought it, but I haven't been able to help at all and finally have a chance to get to work on something in the house.

First I took the kids to pick out colors for their rooms.  Of course, the girls got pink.  Chantilly Lace to be exact.  Cade picked green.  Since he is color deficient (color blind - he sees colors differently than the rest of us), I let him pick out every single green sample card he liked, then I narrowed it down to the top 4 I'd be OK with, then let him pick out the final color.  He went with Safari Green.  Mainly because he knew with a name like that, it must be perfect for an animal-themed room.

My AWESOME grandma flew out for two days to help me get started.

She did all the trim to save me from having to bend over and climb so much.  She also kept me company, helped round up children and babysat while Tyler and I ran to Lowe's and Home Depot several times without having to load up the van full of children.

I just love Eliza's picture smile.  :)

We wrote their names on the floor so that one day far, far, far into the future if carpet needs to be ripped out and replaced, we can see them and smile.

This is how the kids looked most of the week.  Actually, she looks pretty good in this picture.  Their faces were covered in a combination of dirt, juice and other sticky messes that I'm unsure of how they came about.  Not to mention snot (and dirt) running out of noses, plus a nice scrape on the face from one tumble too many down the oh-so-awesome concrete ramp we have out the front door.

 So thank you, Mems for coming out and helping SO MUCH. Love you!

Remember that black entryway?  And the nice '70s wood paneling?  Here we are all primered and ready for paint!  Isn't it amazing?!  Actually, I do have all this painted now, but I haven't taken my camera back up to the house for some pictures.  Soon, I promise.

So, for two days I had some help painting from my grandma and was able to get the kids' rooms done.  Then, the last 4 days I've been able to do the master bedroom and bathroom, the hallway, the kitchen and dining room and the living room.  I'm pretty thrilled considering I'm 7 and a half months pregnant.

OH!  I almost forgot.  In all the excitement, Cade has been working on a few of his loose teeth and we finally got one out!  Thank goodness for Aunt Lorrie the dental hygienist who enjoys doing that kind of thing.

New House Update

I know you're all dying to know how the house is coming along.  We were able to close 2 weeks earlier than expected and so work has begun!

We are so blessed to have such awesome friends and family who have come up to help a ton.  I kind of feel useless because I can't do anything right now in the house, but we should be painting sometime this week, and then I can actually contribute something.

Here are some shots of the house after demolition and before primer.

Standing at the front door looking in.  Where the paneling is is where the kitchen is.

Standing by the fireplace looking back at the front door.

One of the bedrooms

Master bedroom looking in from hallway

Standing in master bedroom, looking at bathroom, closet, door to hallway

Looking back down the hallway

A few trees down in the backyard just around the house.  We have to clear out a bunch to get gutters up.

A few more trees down.  :)

Kids entertaining themselves in the front yard.  They don't usually play on the dumpster. 

Now for some after shots:

The same red bedroom pictured above, only this time with Kilz from ceiling to floor.

Master bedroom

Master room again looking at closet and door to hall

Looking down the hall to the bedrooms.  What a difference it makes to get rid of all that red!

I know Tyler appreciates me posting this, but I just want to say how lucky I am to have such a hard-working husband.  After using the paint sprayer it looked like he was wearing white mascara.  Not to mention all the paint everywhere else.

But, seriously, he has been stopping at the house every night until 10 or 11 to work on it and all day both Saturdays since we bought it.  I can't believe how much work is done.  Thank you so much to everyone who has come to help.  Especially my father-in-law who has been driving up and staying in his camper to help my wonderful husband get our house ready for us.  I really married into a fantastic family!

More to come soon!

Halloween

Here's a quick run-down of our Halloween festivities.

First, we picked out a pumpkin and did some school-related activities with it.  Then it was time to carve.  All the kids picked their own tool to help them get the goo out.

Including ladles 

and a garlic press.

Ali has always enjoyed this part.  She just digs right in there while Cade asks, "Is there any way I can help do that without getting dirty?"  He has issues with texture.  Sorry, bud.  Sometimes we just have to get down and dirty.

Unfortunately I didn't take a single picture of the finished pumpkin.  What kind of crazy mom am I?  One that is pregnant and missing some brain cells I guess.

Then it was time to dress up and go trick or treating.  We had a little lion, an Indian (with real feathers from our turkey) and a princess.

She LOVED wearing the hood on this costume.  That made me happy.  :)

Yes, Mom.  This was my Halloween costume from about 20 years ago.  Don't look closely at it, because it's pretty worn in some places, but Ali was thrilled to wear it!

Can you see the eyelashes on this girl?  I know I'm a little biased, but I think we have a future knock-out for a daughter.

Here's Cade displaying his awesome bow and arrow skills.  Without the arrow.  Because I told him that was not a good idea.  He is good at shooting them, though.

I didn't get any pictures of all the cousins together because my battery on my camera died right after I took the kids' pictures.  And my back-up was dead, too.  Again, I'll blame it on pregnancy.