By the end of today....

The playroom will no longer look like this.
And the dining room will no longer be the temporary playroom.
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I love the end result of painting a room, but the process is a disaster!

The Makeover (Kitchen and Family Room)

So do you want to see what I've been working on????

BEFORE (when the old owners owned the house)

AFTER

I'm still waiting on the rest of my drapes from my seamstress (aka...my mother). They should arrive today :)

I don't think the color is showing up right in this picture. Obviously, it's red, but it's not really the shade you see in this picture.

BEFORE: This picture was taken the first night we saw the house.
AFTER: We changed the cabinet hardware, which made a huge difference. I hardly even notice the green counter tops anymore (which we will not be changing for a long time). I think they almost "go" with the room at this point.

Another "after" picture!

What do you think?

I am Speed

I never dreamed when we got a Wii that I would have to limit Christian's time on it or that he would ever become a video game obssessed kid. I didn't think Christian would be able to play games on the Wii independently and we really didn't buy it for him, I bought it for Ryan. BUT I guess I was all wrong. I think it's safe to say that Christian has a slight obsession and I now have to carefully monitor just how much time he spends pretending he's Lightning McQueen.

Case in point:

Christian went to bed last night around 8:15pm. At 10:30 pm he came downstairs to talk to me because he had been thinking about something.

C: Mommy, when can I get a real car. Like the kind of car you can drive on the road?

Me: You have a real car. It's your Powerwheels Jeep.

C: No, I'm talking about a real car that you put gas in and you drive on the road. I want you to buy me one of those.

((And I'm thinking....am I seriously having this conversation with a four year old???))

Me: Well, it's against the law for kids to drive cars.

C: I would be a really good driver. I win in my Lightning McQueen game sometimes.

Me: We are not going to buy you a real car so stop thinking about it. The law says you can't drive until you're 16 and plus cars are too expensive.

C: Are race cars expensive because that's the kind of car I want when I'm 16!

OH great!

Have I mentioned....

...that we've had a little extra pink in our house lately??? We've been having the best time hanging out with "K & K" this past week and they'll be joining us every afternoon for the next couple of weeks. McKenna adores having two girls around to play with. The first words out of her mouth every morning are their names. She wants to know if they're here yet. Christian loves having other kids to play with and I hate to admit it, but I think I'm a better mom the more kids I have. Does that even make sense? For me, I just seem to get more accomplished with the more I have to do. And with a few extra kids around I do a much better job of purposefully reading books, doing crafts and playing games. It's terrible how I have gotten into the habit of letting my own kids sit and watch too much TV, but I would never let someone else's child do that. So it's been a positive change for all of us.

And wasn't it just glorious to have some warmer weather this past week? We were loving it!!! I've got lots of painting plans for this coming week. We'll see how much I actually get done. I have got to take some pictures to show you what I've already done. Painting is a lot of work, but the end result is so worth it!

See ya!

Encouraging missionaries in Haiti!

Want to send a little encouragement to some missionaries in Haiti??? It's so easy, thanks to blogging.

Check out THIS blog and THIS blog and leave them a note of encouragement. Thank them for serving Jesus! All of these families had the opportunity to leave and come back to the States, but they have chosen to stay. I think it would speak volumes to them to start getting hundreds of comments a day from people just telling them that they're praying for them!! And let me know if you find any other blogs of missionaries in Haiti.

Perspective

I definitely could have done without the water pouring out of my ceiling yesterday thanks to our whole house humidifier that we now know doesn't belong up in the attic in the first place.

And then there was the two inches of water I discovered under the sink today when I went to get something out while I was cleaning the stove (the last thing left to clean in this house).

And to add to all that frustration, there were muddy boots carelessly thrown on the floor. You know how it is when one little thing like that can set you over the edge just because of all the other things that have been doing wrong.

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And probably the most frustrating thing we've been dealing with is COMCAST. It's not so Comcastic around here. They've been to our house THREE times this week and our phone still doesn't work. I can call out (sometimes) but no one can call me. And our cell phone reception is sketchy at best and our internet seems to come and go. SO terribly annoying!!!

And then I see pictures like this. I've heard the cry of mothers on TV and I've seen the horrific pictures of dead people piled up in the streets. Oh God have mercy. Have mercy Jesus on these precious people! I've been thinking about them all day. Praying for them with my children. And I don't feel the slightest bit annoyed right now with the lack of phone service or the bill from the plumber or the newly discovered water under the sink. I'm just thankful that my boy with his muddy boots is safe and happy. And thank you Jesus that I live in this country! That I have clean water and that I don't have to feed my children mud just so that their bellies will feel full. Gratitude to the Lord has been pouring out of my heart all day, right along with my pleading prayers for the people of Haiti! THESE pictures will drive you to your knees.....lets pray and lets keep praying...

"The poor and the needy search for water, but there is none. Their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them. I will not forsake them." Isaiah 41:17

Jesus loves McKenna

La-dee-da....just a bunch of randomness!

Well, I know exactly what I've got to get McKenna for her birthday that is quickly approaching...dress up clothes! She loves to dress up and has no official dress up clothes. No cute shoes or hats or dresses. So instead she'll find a winter had, a sweater and one of Christian's Rescue Hero gloves and many times she'll have on one of Christian's crocs or one of my slippers and that's what she parades around the house in.
And her absolute favorite pastime is pushing her babies or stuffed animals in her baby doll stroller. Christian loves to line the strollers up and have stroller races with her. It gets pretty wild, but we finally have a circle in the house(you know what I mean?) that they can race around.

And here is one of Christian's creations that he made at his Handy Manny Tool Bench. It's a bird house and he did it all by himself.

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And just so you know...after this weekend, our house will look nothing like it does in these pictures. I've been painting! Can't wait to show you.