Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Trip to Maine in Pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see we all had a fantastic time visiting my family in Maine. The trip was short and sweet and went by way too fast. I hate that my sister and family will be gone for another year. We on both ends miss out on so much. The next time we visit her it will be July of 2012. Everyone will be a year older. Oliver will be talking and walking and turning almost 2. Ezme will almost 3 and leaving her toddler days behind her.

We managed to visit friends, go kayaking at Jerry Pond, play with bubbles in my parents backyard, bounce our hearts out in the dinosaur bounce house and sleep the days away in the camper. Lots of fun, just wish it hadn't gone by so quickly.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Has It Been....?

A week since I last posted. We just got back from Maine with my family. Bitter sweet really. My sister leaves next week to fly back to Korea for another year. Totally sucks. But at least it was a good visit. The kids had a blast playing together. I hated to have the week come to an end. I was sad that our two week week trip turned into a 6 day adventure. Blah. I will post pictures later on our trip up there though. I got a lot of nice photos too!!

On another note, we have been home exactly 24 hours. Already the house looks like we have been home for 2 weeks. I have at least 2 loads of laundry to do. Dishes are piled up in the sink, mess on the floor EVERYWHERE. Yup, its already a disaster. However, I have been to excited to really care about the current status of my home, because today I started "KILEY'S HOME MAKEOVER" YOUR CRAZY EDITION!!

I decided that it was time to just get our house *FINISHED* so to speak. Its clear we wont be leaving in the next 3-5 years, (of course I hope for sooner everyday) so if I have to stay here, I want to enjoy it. And painting costs me nothing!! So for the next 5 weeks I will be painting woodwork, the kids beds, dressers, the closet shelves. Going over walls, trim, spots here and there that need a touch up. Everything I have just left alone for the last year, or all together for the past 6. Its time. Some of the wood in our house was never finished so its getting dirty and ruined. Especially the kids beds and book shelve. Something that is used ALL THE TIME!

I am also doing some work outside too. Painting our shed, the trim on the house. Little things to just add a *NEW* life too it. From what I have gathered from my neighbors, our house has been the same color for the last 20 years or more. Time for a new do don't you think? I am also in the process of building a patio in our backyard as well as some raised planters. Should be interesting to say the least. Jason and I are hoping to accomplish this adventure this weekend. We shall see how it goes.

My list is long, VERY LONG! But I am happy to know by September things will be done. All the little things that have been bugging me. Making curtains for the bathroom, or fixing curtain rods upstairs. The biggest thing will still be the cellar and I am thinking that is a project better saved for next year. I have no motivation for that thing. And I am thinking the only way I will is if we have help. And help isn't cheap.

The painting this week and next week will take a good chuck of the day. Plus the things I want to build over the next few weekends will keep me busy as well. Lets not forget too that I have a CRAFT SHOW coming up the end of September and I need to get a move on with that as well. Busy as always, but I am looking forward to the end results. Stay tuned.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Still Here

I was hoping with Jason home all week with us that I would have some time to update here on what is going on. Sadly, no. Though we really didn't do much around the house, it was just nice to do exactly that. Nothing. I sewed a few orders, cleaned and organized the upstairs and most of the downstairs. Did laundry. I got stuck working on Ezme and Oliver's birthday stuff so that kept me busy straight through part of the week. I don't want to let things linger and then the week before their birthday I am in a mad dash to get everything finished up. My goal the week before is to do a massive overhaul on my house. Why you ask? Well because many of the people who are coming have not ever been to my house or have only been once. So of course I want it to shine!!!

This weekend is spend getting ready so we can head to Maine on Monday to see family. Hoping to finish up the rest of the house, including laundry and pack. Vacuum out the car and make sure everything is ready to go on Sunday night so we can leave early Monday morning. The backyard and front yard could use a little bit of "love" on our parts. Trees from our neighbors yard need to be trimmed, lawn needs to be mowed, flowers and garden need some weeding. If time is on my side I would even like to start painting the shed and front door. I am hoping that in the evenings I can put together birthday invitations and have them in the mail before we leave. I hate to have that linger for a week while we are gone. It will depend though if hubby can get what I need finished and printed off. We will see.

We also have a few "drop in" parties to attend this weekend as well. One is a summer party at Emma's friends' house, the other a graduation party for Jason's cousin. Should be fun!!

Time to get a move on with my list of "To Do's" Enjoy your weekend everyone!!

Friday, July 8, 2011

4th of July

This was our 2nd year heading to the parade in Cumberland. Even though we managed to arrive just 5 minutes before the parade was "intended" to start, we still managed to find our favorite spot to sit while getting the kids settled. AWESOME!! As always, the kids had a great time. Except for when they shot off the gun powdered guns. They could have done without that noise for sure.

Our family photo. Hard to believe that time last year I was pregnant with Oliver and Ezme was Ollie's age. Weird! Notice our "theme" Daddy is "Red" the kiddos are "White" and I am "Blue" They kids even made their T-Shirts!
 

Olivia and Owen looking to see if the parade has started yet
 

The gang all excited because the parade was finally under way. Ezme was right into it up until the loud noise from the firetrucks
 

Our 4th of July firecrackers! Olivia (8) Emma-James (5) Owen (3) Ezme (21 months) Oliver (10 months)
 

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Do You Drink These.......?

 


I need as many as I can collect by August 1st for a project I am working on. I am also collecting all RED or YELLOW caps from milk jugs. So if you have any, live near me or are in Maine, I can pick them up from you whenever you are ready. So save save save!! I will let you know when I have all the ones I need.

The glass drink containers I need about 60 as well as 30 RED Caps and 30 YELLOW Caps!!

Thanks so much!!!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Heartache

If you have kept up with my postings on facebook then you would know that Friday evening our kitty had not yet come back home from being outside all day. We really didn't think anything of it. He tends to stay outside all night sleeping under the van or at our neighbors house on the porch. Sadly though, he still hadn't come home by breakfast time on Saturday morning. Which for Boo is not like him at all. We continued to call him through Saturday and he still hadn't turned up.

Jason and I are beside ourselves. We truly feel (though many of you might feel differently) that their is a cloud of doom I guess you could say over our heads these last few years. We are truly heartbroken over the loss of Boo. I haven't slept much since Friday and I am trying hard to keep it "together" while around the kids. I miss him. He was the first pet Jason and I got together as a family. We found him by accident after Jason's mom died. A friend for Olivia to enjoy before Anabelle's arrival. Little did we know just how much Boo would do for *US* throughout the years. I really hope he is just stranded in someone's garage and will turn up after the holiday. Chances are though, he is gone for good.

I am just heartbroken. Life is so unfair and this just seems to be the ultimate for us these days. When will it end?

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Weekend To Do:

TODAY'S CHALLENGE:

Car and Inside of House

*Clean inside of car: vacuum, dust and steam clean rugs(did it myself)
*steam clean couch and love seat
*wash bedding
*fix all screen windows/doors (girls bedroom, babies room, our room, sliding glass door)
*fix front of fireplace
*clean cellar stairs
*put up molding in bathroom
*fix curtain rod in master bedroom
*organize shed!
*tidy up backyard

When Life Gives You Lemons

Jason and I got to talking last night about "making the best with what we have" Its clear to us that a bigger house is NOT in our immediate future. It doesn't mean we are giving up, it just means we are going to look into making what we have work for us. This past week I spend every waking moment organizing, throwing, donating, packing away. Items that were no longer a necessity in our immediate living space found a more appropriate home. I packed up all of the kids out-grown clothes, the baby toys...some we kept while the rest was donated. I organized all of the children's books. We kept everything we could and left it to one book shelf while the ones that were falling apart were thrown-away and others were donated.

I washed down walls, trim, ceiling fans. I cleaned out closets, drawers, and crawl spaces. I even cleaned out the drawers from our bed. Lets just say, I have a rather "LARGE" collection of sheets. Why? I am not sure.

Any-who, long story short, I ended up donating two garbage size bags, boxed 5 boxes of clothes and toys, and put about 3 bags of trash out. It feels so good to purge. Sadly the "HIGH" of cleaning and organizing didn't last long. I was hoping that if I put more action into my words and stopped complaining about living here things would feel lighter in the house. I would feel better about living here. Lets be honest though no matter how much I organize and clean, this house just isn't equip to handle a family of 7.

In the end, Jason and I have decided to put a small addition onto our house. Ideally this is *NOT* what we want to do. Putting more money into a home that is already a sinking ship makes no sense to us. But buying a bigger home is completely out of the question for at least the next two years. The addition will not give us an extra bathroom like we need, nor an extra bedroom. However, it will give us an extra 230 sq. feet of living space. The space we are taking about is our porch. It will be hard to loose this space in the summer time, but its really our only option. We cannot add "UP" nor can we remodel our cellar. So this is really it for us.

This room will be a place for the kids to play, draw, learn. A place that Jason and I can entertain during the evening while the kids are asleep. A place I can sew while not bothering them while they sleep. A place I can have girl scouts and not feel like we are on top of each other in my living room/dining room. Though the space is not *HUGE* it will help relive some much needed "stress" for all of us. We can finally keep our upstairs for sleeping only, which will help me when it comes to cleaning :-)

Of course, the idea is wonderful. The money situation is what is keeping us from starting this project. We are cutting corners in all ways possible. But it still is over budget. It sucks that whatever way we turn, we are hit by a huge road block. So for now, just pray we can figure out what to do. That we can hopefully add on sooner then later and the money situation will resolve itself. Until then....we wait...

Friday, July 1, 2011

Challenge Day (5)

This is my last "official" day for my 5 day challenge. This was honestly the best week ever. I feel so free of the clutter that has managed to accumulate in my house. Clothes that didn't have a home, toys that needed to be packed away, thrown away, given away. "STUFF" that just didn't feel it belonged here anymore.

Now that everything is put away, labeled, cleaned up, thrown-out just gives me this "free" feeling. Though I am not quiet finished yet. I am thinking that if all goes well, I might extend my challenge into this weekend and all of next week. And give myself another 5 day challenge. This time instead of cleaning, it involves PAINTING! I love to paint, so for me its not so much a "choir" as it is relaxing. I would like to get the furniture in the kids bedrooms painted, the bathroom needs to be finished (the painters that we hired never finished the job!!) Go around touching up spots. Though I promise myself to take Tuesday off because I am going out with the mom's from Emma's Pre-K. We are having a play-date at the Zoo!!! Until then, here is my last full days worth of challenges.

TODAY'S CHALLENGE:

Car and Inside of House

*Clean inside of car: vacuum, dust and steam clean rugs
*steam clean couch and love seat
*wash bedding
*fix all screen windows/doors (girls bedroom, babies room, our room, sliding glass door)
*fix front of fireplace
*clean cellar stairs
*put up molding in bathroom
*fix curtain rod in master bedroom
*organize shed!
*tidy up backyard