Our 2017 So Far - May

Stumbled across this field trip photo of my 2nd grade trip to the capitol. 

Chaperones: Mrs. Earl, Mrs. White, Mrs. Campbell

Back row: Holly Bell, Abi Hunt, Ginny Offi, Dawn Washburn, William Campbell, Shanna Holt

Front row: Little me, Mei Ling, Jared Moon, Greg White, Sarah Smith, Amy Reeves

A sweet letter I found that Grandma wrote to me when David and I first got married.  It's full of all kinds of wife tips. 

Now that we got the couch and other furniture out of the storage shed, David set up his desk so he could have a somewhat functional office.  Yes, in the storage shed.  Because we still have a tiny house. (Making it work.)

Some artwork by Rebekah

Bekah started working on this piece. And then I realized that it was an abstract version of Van Gogh's Starry Night!  How cool!

I was able to celebrate my friend, Kristy's birthday. 

Lydia went to the youth group school's-out luau.

Bekah made this cool door art for us from book pages. 

When we were getting photos of the girls, we grabbed a quick one with Thomas. 

And something that's been making us laugh. 

A few more home improvements

We've been able to make some home improvements over the last few weeks.  We had some storm damage to our roof, so we were able to get the roof replaced for the price of our deductible.  We went ahead and upgraded the gutters while we were at it. 

We also finally got rid of the van, which has been broken down for a while.  

And this tree that has completely overcome the side of the house (and clogged the gutters) is now no more. 

Kitchen Cabinet Reset - Before & After

 Before

After

Our Current Home Improvement Project

David's best friend, Shane, started working for a painter, and he and David got to talking about how easy it would be to repaint our kitchen cabinets.  

So we all pitched in a sanded the finish off the cabinet doors, Shane and David tackled the other parts of the cabinets. 

And in no time, we had a completely new kitchen!

I'll post before an after photos later!

 

Changes, Changes, Everywhere!

We've been making some changes around here.  We did a makeover of the living room.  We moved the furniture from David's office into the living room, and completely changed the look of the room!

Here are the before pictures: 

And here are the after photos!

We are excited about the new look!

Fixing Up the House

We've been doing some improvements around the house.  Here's some of what we did in Lydia's room.  We put up some of her artwork, and we added some artwork to the wall.

Next up, we've done some improvements in the kitchen.  David bought me some flooring for Christmas to replace the linoleum, but I thought we should probably go ahead and repaint the walls, since we were going to have to move everything out of the kitchen anyway.  And I didn't want to get any paint on the new floors. 

So while David was in Haiti, we decided to tackle the project.  Moving the bookshelf yielded this lovely find.  Yuck!

This was the most intimidating part...all the wires connect to the computer!!

We moved everything into the living room, and then taped off the kitchen for a fresh coat of paint.

Once we got the painting done, David put up this cool map in the kitchen.

And then it was time for the new flooring!  I love it!

Here are some before and after shots.

I love the new look!

Our 2016 So Far - September and October

 Lydia's been at it again with her art.  She's SO GOOD.  This is a Harry Potter piece she's not quite finished with yet.

 Lydia's bed and bookshelves arrived and David got them all put together in time for her birthday.  David altered the bed to make it a platform bed over the shelving unit on the bottom so Lydia has more storage.  And she has all the bookshelf space she could want as well. 

We also got some wall art to go on her wall as well.  We aren't finished with the room yet...still working on décor, but it's looking so good!

Little Julia Joy Ballard (daughter of my friend, Stephanie) made her debut into the world on August 27...9lbs, 1 oz, and 21 inches long!  Here she is sporting her hat and baby blanket in her newborn photo shoot. 

And I couldn't get through the month without showing off some photos of Jayden (who has learned how to SMILE)!

 

While we were in Atlanta, we took a trip to Plato's Closet - one of the girls' favorite shops, to look for some second-hand deals. 

This Facebook Funny is just a little glimpse into what it's like shopping for clothes with Lydia. 

Stephanie came into town and we got to meeting little Julia.  Unfortunately, though, we did not get any photos while they were here.  So, refer to the adorable photos above.  Ha ha!

Lydia and I remodeled the bathroom. We took the bookshelf out and put it in the shed.  We replaced it with this bakers wrack from the kitchen.

 

We also bought organizers to hang on the doors to hold all their hair gear.  We bought new towels and a new rug/toilet cover.  Just a few little things, but it looks so much better.  It feels like a new bathroom!

We lightened Lydia's hair a little.

David checked in with us from Myanmar (formerly Burma).  He's been having a heck of a time.  He started having kidney stone problems around Lydia's birthday. We confirmed the stones before he left, and got some medication to help him pass them on his own.  But it's been a doozy and he's been in some pain.  But just look at this face!  What a trooper!

We did Halloween at the Boyds and just loved their Hamilton pumpkin!

 

Things have been so crazy this year, we never got around to decorating pumpkins.  and while we were at the Boyds, we left some candy on the porch.  I was so happy to see it almost completely gone when we got home!