If the walls of 905 Brynwood Dr. could talk I know they would tell a lot about the years we spent there as our little family.
When I look at these empty rooms and walls, I see, hear, feel the love, laughter, tears, and words we all conjured up during our days here.
The living room shouts about the exciting tag races Garyn led around through here. And the cheers of the many Wii games played with Gman. But then there is also the many presents opened a Christmas and multiple birthday parties that took place within these 4 walls.
Thinking about the dining portion of the room, I think of the beginning of our family time around the table praying, eating and talking about our days.
The playroom speaks even more about the Trouble, Connect 4, puzzles, Legos and Cars played with in here. Along with the many tickle and wrestling escapades atop the carpet. My fondest memories are the first steps taken holding onto the fireplace surround.
Next door, the kitchen would tell about the cooking lessons, spilled milk, and many conversations and many freezer cooking days. Both of my children stood on the dishwasher door around 1 year of age countless times while I emptied or filled it. I also see the small wooden chairs that were their stepping stool and were constantly lined around the counters. Oh and another favorite, is the wooden board which was more like a plate just low enough for their little hands to reach and get a taste of whatever I was cutting.
Ansley's light purple walls echo the lullaby's and coos that I hear when in her room. She will not remember it of course but it will be forever ingrained as her nursery in my mind.
Garyn's room has changed a lot starting as a nursery and then turning into a little boys room with a cowboy theme. I automatically think of all the time spent trying to get him to sleep. He needed rocking as a baby and then cuddle time complete with humming and back rubs. He has just started spending more alone play time in this room. I know he will miss it.
The hallway bath makes me think of many bath times as well as the sweat equity spent redoing this space. I think they would probably thank us for updating this entire room!
Ohhh, the master. I immediately think of the many tickle wars held between all 4 of us. Mommy and Daddy's bed has always been a play spot. I also chuckle thinking about falling in the floor at 9 months pregnant.
Our home is now another's home. The walls will start a new chapter with a different set of characters. And as Garyn continually reminds me, our house can't talk, much to my dismay. Perspective is what needs to be changed on my part. I feel I held myself together throughout the move and closing. The walls knew how I really felt, though. I just know it!
Well, as you know we put our house up for sale back in May....
And this past week we got an offer and after countering back and forth a bit, we now have it under contract! I am so excited yet so sad. We bought this house knowing we would eventually move. We have always wanted a larger area for the kids to play freely and hoped to be in a better school zone. However, I still have a lot of sentimental connections to this house since we have brought both kids home to it.
We feel very blessed though that it did sell in about 2 months and we aren't losing money. I know the economy has hurt sellers so we weren't sure how we would do. Now we aren't making money but we aren't really losing anything either. God's perfect plan, I tell you!
(No I didn't just buy a bunch of diapers...:) )
We are closing around the 14th of September. Although its not set in stone yet, I have started packing the last couple days. It is going to be a long process since Ansley unpacks things as I pack. Wish me luck!
I tend to concentrate on the kids a lot in my blog posts. They are the biggest part of my life (and take up the most time, too) so that's to be expected I suppose. But there are 2 other people in this family and you might often be wondering "What's new with you?"
If not, I'm gonna tell you anyway, hahaha! Plus, I have worked 3 nights this week therefore I am being a night owl lately. I get in the "zone" about the time everyone has gone to bed. Even though, I myself, have slept only 3 1/2 hours out of the last 40. Which leads me to my first update.....
We have spent the last few weeks finishing our house to have it ready to sell. I know this is something I haven't really talked about, mainly because it seems to be up in the air as far as the details go. It still is really. Living for God is kinda like that I am finding as I surrender more and more to Him. We feel God moving us in a different direction and we still aren't sure where to yet.
Many doors have opened and shut lately, with some still remaining open. Every since we moved into this house we have discussed where to send our kids to school. We aren't zoned for bad schools necessarily but we just don't have a great/perfect elementary around us that we feel warm and fuzzy about. Moving to a different area has always been in the books for that reason. To add, Nana and Poppa bought some property in a great school area and offered to let us build on it. Still the same county, just in Sale Creek near Dayton. So that lead to the idea of building and sending them there. And for now that is the plan. Like I said, other doors have opened and some of them have already shut since that thought but for now we feel that is the path God is directing us towards. In order to build, though, we have to sell our house first. Which means, in the in between, we will be renting most likely. Where, we don't know! When, we have no clue! It all depends on when this house sells and where we find most suitable.
As I was originally saying, we have been busy doing finishing touches and repairs in order to sell our house. After many to-do lists and lots of sweat (mainly on Tyler's part), we got the house on the market today! I am excited yet sad. We have a lot of memories in this house bringing both our babies home to it. I think the business of getting it ready has masked the idea of actually leaving it until today when we actually put the sign up.
In other news, ITS SUMMER! Garyn is really excited about it this year. He is able to understand that school is out for him and daddy. He also gets that its hot outside and that's when we spend more time in the water. We have a busy summer ahead of us and I just hope it doesn't go too fast! The beginning starts with the best trip of all, too! DISNEY! We leave in a little over 24 hours and I am actually supposed to be packing right now. But aren't you glad I'm not?! :)
Garyn still has no idea. I can't believe we have made it this long without slipping up. We have said a few things in front of him thinking, "Oh, no!" but he hasn't asked or said anything about it. Our plan is to let him know once there or almost there. We are leaving in the middle of the night to make the drive go faster since Ansley hates the car! I.CAN'T.WAIT!
Back to house things.....I am notorious for killing plants! lol! My husband and father n' law always rag me about the dead plants that sit around our house until I finally throw them out. I am out to prove them wrong though! But before I do I must pay homage to some of my victims....
This was my longest living plant actually. I bought this African violet to put in our first house when we put it on the market, ironically. I had even thought about that just days before killing it. It had gotten so big that I had to transplant it into this larger pot. I felt I could do no harm to this one being that it had made it through droughts and neglect over the last 5 years. But for some reason, I got the crazy idea to set it out on the deck. I even knew it couldn't stay out there forever since it isn't a full sun plant. However, it had been a little gloomy its last few weeks of life and I thought maybe it needed more sun. Two days later, I remembered and saw that I had scorched the poor thing! I brought it back to its home, the kitchen windowsill, to die in peace. And now my father n' law actually has it. Not sure if he thinks he can revive it but I'll be grateful (and surprised) if so.
This is a grave site for another plant I had, a Peace Lily. There have been several of them in this pot actually over the last few years.....maybe its the pot???? Or maybe its just me, the plant killer. Anyway, this pot has sat in the foyer for the last few months like this. I was trying to give it's remains peace, I guess. But not anymore!
I bought and planted this today, as well as a couple other plants. I am out to prove the boys wrong! I have got to keep these plants alive or I will never live it down. We were making bets when leaving Lowe's today as to how long they would live. Garyn gave me a month. (Yes, even he knows how bad I am.) But Tyler said he must not know me too well because they wouldn't even last that long! My goal is to make it waaayy past a month! So I will keep you posted on how they are doing!
And I can't do this update without mentioning that my baby girl turned 13 months yesterday. I am bummed knowing the monthly updates are dwindling since she won't be going to the doc as much, probably will grow a little less fast, and her age will now be referred to in years and not months. But I intend to still update because she has changed in this last month and... well...... it is my blog! :)
One of her biggest changes has been in her eating. As you can see in this picture, she loves to feed herself....anything and everything. I didn't realize there were Hershey kisses in this bucket until I found her sitting here having a snack and making a mess!
She is eating mostly table food and less baby food. She has most recently tried macaroni and cheese. I have found she isn't too fond of fruits yet. Which is exact opposite of Garyn. I don't think she can chew them well yet, though, so I will keep trying. She will eat some banana. She has become quite the beggar, too, wanting whatever you are eating. Garyn thinks it's funny when she makes grunting noises at you and points to your plate. Grilled chicken, cheese toasts and crackers are her favorites. She is also drinking better from her sippy cups getting more milk down. But she still nurses in the morning and at night right now.
Speaking of chewing, she just today got her second tooth! She also has another that is so close to busting through. So she has her bottom right and top right teeth now to hopefully chew things up better. Although, you would never know she didn't have teeth in that she tries to eat chips,crackers and other hard stuff. Some times she can mash them and other times she just spits it out if it isn't working out for her.
Her vocabulary has expanded some in the last month. She now says "pee pye" when playing peek a boo. And she seems to say "EI EI O" when we sing Old McDonald. She also puts "Hi" with names sometimes. Like "Hi Nana" She uses all the words appropriately now, too. Her favorite thing is "uh oh". I laughed the other day when we were out on a walk. She kept saying "uh oh" and I didn't think much about it. Then I noticed her looking for something to realize she had dropped her pacifier a ways back! Guess I'll listen more often now. Other times, we feel she is just jabbering as if she knows exactly what we are saying to her and she is answering us back. Its too funny to carry on a conversation with her little expressions and such.
Here is a little snippet of her saying ball. And I want to say that I totally know she looks unsafe in half this video! I don't typically leave the side of the buggy when she is standing in it. As you can tell, she is still a climber and will climb everything to get to what she wants. I put her in the seat of the buggy only to have her climb out quickly so putting her in the bigger part is how I get by! Don't judge!
Alright, I think I have updated on every member of the household now. And I really need to get busy so I can go to bed soon!
The title was the first thought I had when thinking about writing this post. I remember raisin' the roof in high school at dances when the rap song was popular.
During fall break, we literally raised a roof or more like laid a roof. If you remember back in April during the storm we only had roof damage from the tornado. It was really small damage, too, just some missing shingles and hail damage. There were no leaks. After getting multiple estimates, Tyler couldn't stomach the thought of paying the outrageous prices when he is so handy.
Tyler, Garrett and Philip tearing the old roof off
I was having a hard time stomaching the monstrosity of a job it would entail! But it was an amazing week, God was definitely in the works bringing together all the details. From the weather to the extra help to the safety......He had it all in his hands and it worked out beautifully.
Carter and Jack repairing a weak spot Jack's foot found :)
We had a couple experienced helpers that we had not originally planned on helping. Their help, though, made us both feel that the work was just as good as a professional. Tyler also got several football players, a lot of family and friends from church to help. We were blessed at how many showed up working for food only! It was also a great fellowship time for everyone.
Tyler, Jack and Myles laying shingles
More help laying shingles
I spent a lot of time running and getting water, powerades and food! Tyler had to worry about all the supplies, a dumpster and keeping everyone safe. It was a busy few days for sure juggling all the details.
Dinner at Tyler's parents one of the nights
Dinner with most of the help the night after they finished
It was worth it all though! They finished after 3 days of work and just hours before a rain storm hit!
Like I said, God was truly involved in the details! Now, we have a beautiful new roof!
Well, I finally have everything to a satisfactory point in order to post pictures. We have had a lot of moving around going on it seems like. I was glad to get it done because I am beginning to get tired fast. Only 2 weeks until her due date!
First, we had taken the window out, if you remember, of the den/ playroom. Tyler and some baseball players put the french door in and then Tyler had to sheet rock around it.
(Tyler preparing to take out the window. I was soooo worried about it breaking!)
(It got out and to the truck without breaking...whew... then they started framing for the door)
(Door and sheet rock in, and painted!)
(Garyn in his playroom. We had to rearrange the room some.)
(Next we just have to figure out what to do with this fireplace. Suggestions welcome! We are thinking of painting, tiling, or even sheet rocking over some of the brick.....)
Well I am glad that all got done before she comes, it was stressing me to have unfinished walls and toys covered with sheets because of the dust. The lighting and view is different but the access to a deck and yard is going to make such a difference. We still need to do base board and the deck is not done, but isn't that the way it goes..? You get parts of it done at a time and then months later the rest will get done!
When we started on Ansley's room, it meant the things had to come out of her room including a twin bed that matched Garyn's bed. We had been given these beds before Garyn was even born and thought they made bunk beds but couldn't really remember. Well, Tyler finally figured it out. Garyn is loving the fact he has bunk beds. Although, we don't have the ladder and rail that it is supposed to go with it. Tyler is going to make one. Right now we are happy he can't get up there on his own. Although, we put his toddler rail there so that he could play up there when supervised and in case anyone does need to sleep up there.
I also had to move his room around a little since the rocking chair went to Ansley's room and that table came out of the playroom. So all 3 rooms had furniture switching from room to room!
Lastly, the nursery! The room had been used as a guest room (and junk room) and was already a lavendar color. My favorite color is purple so I was looking for bedding to match and didn't want to repaint the room.
Well, that was a lot harder than I thought! Or else I was just picky about the bedding. I didn't want anything to frilly, princessy, or expensive. I finally found something I liked on Target's website in the clearance section. Ordered it and it was back ordered.....then I was told it was not going to come...oh about a month ago. So I had to start from scratch just a month ago! Thankfully, I quickly found an alternative at a consignment sale. I admit it is not my absolute favorite, but I really like it and have started liking it more since getting it all pulled together.
(The bed was mine when I was a baby and the changing table I got at Goodwill. Both are freshly painted. And I painted her name on the wall.)
(The dresser came from a yard sale and was also painted white. I really struggled with the layout because the room quickly shrunk as we started putting things in.)
(The walls almost look white in these pictures, but they are a light purple)
This is the name sign I made for her. Can't wait to fill it in!
Well there is the room changes we have been busy on! Hope you like them!
We live in a ranch style home built in the late 50's, I believe, early 60's maybe......?
But having small closets and a small master bath are typical for these homes. Our master was not as bad as the peach/pink tiled hallway bath but was not great either!
Before:
Very tight fit around the shower door and sink area as you can see in the last picture. Plus, another one of those wall heaters! The tile is a concrete gray and black with a more natural gray mix on the floor. I really wish they had gone with the natural grays throughout the shower. So we were originally trying to work with that theme and do some black/white/gray items. As you could see, by the first picture, it still looked pretty bland.
So we got a smaller sink/cabinet set that was a honey maple wood stain and I actually thought about painting it black to begin with. And I found some gray paints (2 separate quarts) in the "oops" paint selection over the last 6 months or so for $1 each. We decided to mix them together to make sure we had enough since they were very similar in color and the same brand.
Tyler began this project during the snow week that he was off from work. Earlier than we had expected to start it but it was the one inside-only job we had most of the materials for and could use his time off wisely!
(The round device on the ceiling was a heater/fan that did not work, very old school!)
SO anyway........paint, wainscoting, new sink/cabinet, lighting and different towel fixtures lead us to this finished project:
We decided to paint the shower tile once again (we left the floor the natural gray tones), because it looked even more like jail-house-gray after painting the rich gray on the walls. And I really liked the cabinet and didn't want to mess it up by painting it, so the black trim tiles didn't go with it either. The floor was left the same linoleum to save time and money. It is gray grid lines and small blue diamonds. The walls sometimes have a blue tone to them so the floor works nicely with the color scheme!
I still want to change the mirror to something nicer and am unsure on the towel rack.....I love the style of it but when you put a large towel on it it really sticks out over the toilet and this is the best place to have a towel bar.....any suggestions would be great!
However, I love the overall sleekness of the room and the extra room at the sink. The counter space is limited but we are trying to keep only the items we use on a daily basis out.
Glad we have one more project complete (although there are a couple things Tyler still has to do, as always)
We have begun the next project........
See this big hole?? My stress for weeks was the fact that a large window was being removed and then Tyler was going to have to refill the hole.......but you'll have to wait to see how it all went down!
So remember this post? Our bathroom has been mostly done for a few weeks. And I L-O-V-E it!
We feel so accomplished and Tyler is ready to move to the next job. I, on the other hand, want a little break for the holidays. Plus, the next project involves taking out a huge window to put in a french door. But on to the finished project!
New white shower/tub and curtain.....
New toilet, wainscoting, and towel/toilet roll holders.......
New tile with this detailed area in front of shower.....
New counter top, sink, faucet and redone cabinets.....
New lighting around mirror and also a fan-light above shower.......
I wish I had a good picture of the before, but it was that peach tub/shower tile, toilet, sink and counter with laminated flooring. It was outdated to say the least!
Tyler is such a good handy man. He tiled the floor with help of his dad, painted the tub and shower tile, put up the wainscoting with hand rail and redid our previous cabinet. The cabinet before was two separate pieces that had an opening in the middle under the sink. They were exactly the same: two drawers above two doors. Tyler cut one in half and made it the 4 drawers. Then to make it long enough for the counter top, he added the open shelves, that I choose, making them from the other half he cut. Meanwhile, he sanded it all and re stained it darker (it was a yellow-pine-looking color before). Also, he added some decorative trim around the doors and had to make the faux drawer panels under the sink. I just love him!
I did a little painting and staining. Since I am pregnant and had a broken foot at that time, there wasn't too much I could do. I supervised A LOT and had to keep Garyn company most of the time!
We are redoing our bathroom and I could not be more excited to see the change! When we bought the house, we had this lovely 70s peach bathroom in the main hallway.
This is the bath tub and shower tile (and a cute little G-man at about 7 mos. taking a bath)
The toilet and sink were the same color, as you can see in the first picture. Once Tyler took them out, we went a day looking like rednecks! (no offense to any rednecks :) ) We had the ripped-out-linoleum in the front yard, too.
Tyler painted the tub and shower tile with tile paint. Excuse his goofiness.........and yes he is in his boxers
The paint worked well. He started this a couple weekends ago and then yesterday started the flooring.
We also took out the cabinets and are going to take out that wall heater you see. Tyler is going to have to work on the cabinets to fit our new granite counter top! So excited.....
Today, Tyler and his dad started tiling the floor today....
Daddy let Garyn help some.....
The tile is down, Tyler and Garyn are napping, and I am resting my foot. I wish I could have helped more cause I love this type of stuff. Can't wait to show more!
