Update Overload 1!

Whew!  The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind!  When I plugged in my camera, I found even more pictures of all the work I did last week.  Although I'm sure you have already seen enough pictures of painted doorframes on last week's posts, I am proudly going to post some more.  (Don't worry, the next post will be cute kid updates).  This took a lot of HARD work!

                                          Before                                                          After

                                          Before                                                           After

Beautiful! (I spent like 5 hrs painting these...)

 

                                          Before                                                       After 1st coat

 

                                        Dusted/Cleaned Walls           Hideous Door Painted

 

         Door Before Orange Oil             Door After Orange Oil





                                               Sunroom Floor                         Painted!!!                          

MORE Painted Baseboards

                               To-Do List Disappearing               No Leaves Under the Carport

                                  Kids' Room Before                            After Packing up 75% of Toys

                                        Kids' Room After                     Clean Driveway + Flowers

                                          

 

 

Fresh Pinestraw...

 

 

As for the Open House?  No offers, but a good turnout and some serious interest.  Open House or not, the house is looking much, much better than it did before.  The boys haven't even complained about 75% of their toys being gone (to storage!) although Michael keeps pointing out things missing when he realizes they're gone.  He was happy enough with the leftover Mylar balloons from the Open House signs (9 of them)!

 

Praying everyday that God has a buyer in mind for our home!

 

<>< Stacy

 

Updates

Tuesday lunch break - updating Casey on progress. 

3 hours of paiting so far today..............

BEFORE

AFTER 

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER (planning on another coat...)

<>< Stacy

Okay God, I'm listening!

Have you ever felt God went out of his way to get your attention? 

I have.

First of all, Sunday's church service included 2 special songs:
1)  Because He Lives (see my blog post Because He Lives! from last April to find out why this is a special hymn to me. Of course, we never actually sing the verse that I love because it is verse 2 and somehow verse 2's get skipped a lot in Baptist churches).

and

2)  Blessings by Laura Story (This song came out while Christopher was in the PICU - it helped me find strength and encouragement through our trials.  Her inspiration for this song is inspiring - she was by her husband's side as he fought a brain tumor.)

My Blessing

The choir also sang a touching song - Be Still -  it was equally thought provoking. 

I'm not sure how these particular songs ended up in the same service, but they did. 

Just for me.

Fast forward to me painting today.  What song was stuck on my head?  Blessings. 

Fast forward to me laying pinestraw.  What song was stuck in my head?  Blessings.

It was literally stuck in my head for hours. 

I thanked God over and over for my blessings -

even though things seem hard right now. 

Fast forward again - to painting round 2 - I decide to turn on Pandora. 

What song comes on FIRST? 

Blessings.

Okay God, I'm listening.  I hear you.

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy

And what if trials of this life

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are Your mercies in disguise







God has been trying to get my attention...and He did!

I am so blessed.  Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed.

Take a moment to look past your trials - big or small -  or your selfish desires - to realize that God has filled your life with Blessings.  Then thank Him.

God, I'm listening!

 

<>< Stacy

Not my usual Monday...

I've missed blogging! 
(and believe me, I have some extremely cute stories and pictures right now...)

But for now...
Here's my craziest Monday in a long, long time....and I'm sure I left a few things out...

7:30 am Woke up
Enjoyed a few minutes of peace and quiet (enter 2 kids waking up)
Fed me, boys, and animals
Put clean dishes up
Cleaned up kitchen
Opened all the blinds and made the beds
Got myself and the boys dressed
PACKED for the kids to go to Grandma and Grandpas
Straightened up the house (in case of showing...as usual)
11:00 Visited with family and left the boys with Grandma and Grandpa
12:00 Ate lunch with an awesome friend (saw her new school, too!)
Stopped at Babies-r-us - used a great $5 coupon to score a nearly free baby item or 2  ;)
Explored the SCAIHS homeschool bookstore (yikes! so much stuff!)
5:00 Painted baseboards in the kitchen
Painted doorframes
Ate dinner at crazy fast speed
Put out pinestraw
Put out an Open House sign
Painted more baseboards
Painted more doorframes and doors
Midnight - Blogged (mainly so Casey can see pics...)

Productive, much ??? 
Not to mention, 18 weeks pregnant!  Geesh!

Special Thanks to my parents for taking the kids for a few days!  I will be able to get SO much painting done!  I know they'll have a great time too.  AND Casey gets to see them.  :)

Just finished the pinestraw as the sun went down.

Open House Sunday!

 WHITE baseboards?

More white baseboards and doorframe.

Doorframes take FOREVER to paint

The boys' doorframe is improving :)

NOW can you tell how badly I am ready to move ???  I have been weeding for hours, putting out pinestraw, and painting !?!  I hope it pays off someday soon.  God's timing is always perfect...

<>< Stacy

1st Dentist trip!

Last week, Christopher jumped off of a bed, busted his lip, and pushed a tooth out of place.  That prompted our first trip to the dentist (I know, I know, Michael is 4!  But he is so difficult with doctors!).  So today, Christopher had his first teeth cleaning and x-ray of the damaged tooth.  Luckily - no damage to permanent tooth.  We go back in a month to clean Michael's teeth and x-ray Christopher's again to make sure there isn't any infection or reason to extract the tooth.  We can expect some discoloration which may be a bad sign or may just go away.

I was hoping Christopher's appointment would be a good experience for Michael so he will feel better at his own appointment.  It definitely was!  He came home saying, "I had lots of fun at the dentist".  Yup.  Played with toys, saw fish, watched cartoons, got a prize even though he didn't get the x-ray, played video games, watched them work on brother, played with his new Disney Princess Ring (not sure why they chose rings as their prize), got a sticker - again, Disney princess was his choice, and got his own goody bag with toothbrush and Buzz Lightyear flossers even though he didn't technically see the dentist.  He was pretty excited about everything.  I let him watch Beauty and the Beast this afternoon since all of his 'goodies' had Belle on them and he seemed quite interested.  Now he is going around talking about sleeping in a cabinet (like the tea cup - chip) and fighting off 'beasts'. 

Christopher was pretty good for a 2 year old.  He keeps talking about how they brushed his teeth and how it 'tickles'.  Oh, and every worker stopped at least once to tell me how cute they were.  The boys really hammed it up.  Christopher was happy once he saw the life-size pirate painted on the wall.  It all seemed 'worth it' to take them to a pediatric dentist!!!!

Not to mention...the boys were begging me to brush and floss tonight.  Yes, to FLOSS too.

Christopher playing with his prize (a Beauty and the Beast ring)
while Michael watches the video games.

Watching Beauty and the Beast from a tent.

Dinner!!

The kids ate up this tilapia (it's frozen - I take no credit) and the fiesta lime rice complimented it well (no scallions or cilantro on-hand, but that's probably better for the boys anyway).

Fiesta Lime Rice and Tortilla Crusted Chipotle Lime Tilapia.

I can't believe tomorrow is Wednesday already!

Busy weeks pass by faster!

<>< Stacy

Weekend Updates

I get mega behind on blogging over the weekends

because I spend every moment with Casey and the boys.

I get mega, mega behind on blogging when I go to Spartanburg for the weekend

because I get to see Casey, the boys, and more family for even longer.

So here are a few quick updates!

Nothing brings more excitement to Michael than letting him do something he isn't usually allowed to do.  Our recent fun moments include:  staying up later than Christopher (to watch Olympics of course), eating a brownie after brother went to bed, eating a brownie on the COUCH, and playing in the RAIN!  It was so much fun to watch the boys play in the rain :)

Playing in the Rain

After the rain

Friday, Casey and I had a much needed date night! 

We ate some yummy Thai food. 

I love how everything tastes even better when you're pregnant!!

I carried Grandma Serio's clutch (Casey's Great-Grandma).

We also stopped and got our wedding rings cleaned. :)

I sure do miss our 'old' life together,

but I know this is just a detour on the way to a bright, bright future.

 We clean up pretty well when we have time (and babysitters - thanks Grandma!)

Thai food is yummy, yummy, yummy!!

When we were packing for Grandma's house, Michael was quite insistent that he take all of his animal friends.  Considering how much time he spends with them, I figured tossing them all in a pillowcase for a weekend trip would be harmless.  He loved it.  And the animals enjoyed playing at Grandma's house too!  :)

Michael and his stuffed animals....

I felt a little spoiled on my birthday... and it felt good!

Every single gift was perfect.

Nothing we 'needed' for the house, the kids, or anything other than just ME.

I think 27 is going to be a GREAT Year :) 

Some of my fun birthday gifts!

We went to the park, but it was too wet so Casey taught Michael (and me) how to play frisbee golf instead. We got muddy, saw a lot of millipedes, and had tons of fun! We ended it by hosing down 2 muddy naked boys in Grandma's backyard. They loved it!!

Having fun exploring at the park!

Everyone claimed a frisbee!

 These are special moments :)

* Sparklers *
While doing a coupon deal at Walgreens

(for free BIC Pens if you were wondering...)

I picked up some sparklers at 50% off to make our evening a memorable one.

And it sure was memorable! 

Uncle Steven and Michael played with fire when we ran out of sparklers!

Michael is wearing his 'future boy scout' shirt.  :)

Christopher went through the sparklers faster than Michael!

When the sparklers are gone...just experiment with fire!

A family picture to end the weekend!

<>< Stacy





Birthday Week

Monday

The Olympic Rings made an appearance again on our Broccoli/Rice Casserole, but Michael was not impressed.  He said they were definitely squares, not rings.  Man-oh-man!  So critical! At least it tasted yummy!

We watch the Olympics a lot!  Michael always looks for the rings and was most enthused to find them "in the water".  Christopher just wants to watch the swimming.  He walks by the tv saying "I wanna watch water" ALL THE TIME!  He is our water child.  Loves water.

We also enjoyed the milder temperatures by playing outside for an hour after dinner.

(Apparently those nuts are a lot of fun to play with...)

Tuesday - Birthday!

We started the day by making muffins together :)

Then, after a rather uneventful day (aside from reading 100+ birthday messages on facebook - thank you friends!), I ended the evening with a yummy birthday dinner at my sister's house and cuddling with my poor little injured Christopher.

Christopher fell (or jumped?) off of a very low bed, but he somehow bumped a tooth pretty badly and ended up with a nasty busted lip.  Lots of blood.  Lots of  Mommy worrying until we got a professional opinion on Wednesday.  He has a dentist appointment next week, but is just fine! He complains less than a grown adult would :)

Wednesday

I am either the worst mom ever or the most awesome mom ever ----

The boys had Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes for dinner! 

They LOVED them!  and the cheesy eggs too....

I vote the most awesome mom ever

because sometimes you just need

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes for dinner!

I opted for Banana Blueberry Pancakes using the

fresh blueberries one of my students picked for me!

Thursday

Thursday is my busiest teaching day!

After lessons, we will eat dinner and begin packing for Spartanburg!

Friday

Heading to Spartanburg as fast as possible!

Spending the weekend with my hubby!

Celebrating my birthday (for real) with family!

Swimming with friends!

Painting a little picture of what life will be like "on the other side"......

<>< Stacy