New Home!

Reason #3 why I've been a blog slacker:

Rowen was very helpful during the moving process!

Actually, he got to play with Nana while the rest of us moved.  Thank you thank you thank you to Lindsi, Trevor, & Brit (my siblings,) Tim, the Reid's, BJ, Matt & Kristi

for helping us move, Kristi for helping me unpack and organize my kitchen, Mom, Lindsi, and Kathleen for helping to paint Rowen's room, Jered for helping prime the apartment, and all the little people that helped make this day possible.  lol.  Seriously, we were so blessed with lots of help and we LOVE you guys!

Oh No! Don't pack me, Momma!"

here's a little "tour" curtosy of Matt- the place is a disaster, but it IS less than 24 hours since we moved in.  It looks much better now of course, but we still have a ways to go!  Can't wait to hae everyone over :o) 

Memorial Day Move!

I wanted to write a fun & witty blog about moving next saturday, but time is running away from me in a full sprint!  So- consider yourself updated: we're moving!  We found a cute little rental in 'downtown' beaverton- about 6 blocks from the library.  We are really looking forward to moving out of this cave we call an apartment and into something a little more homey with a back yard!  BBQ's ensue!  Oh, and of course, if you don't already have riveting plans- come on over for a free workout and meal to-boot! ;)

Nursery Walls

I did a little painting this weekend :) What do you think? Matt & I picked out this scripture for him- it's Psalm 25:4,5 which reads (in case you can't read it in the picture...) "Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord; point out the right road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you." Seemed like a pretty good life verse for all of us.

Two of my favorite children's books are The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Okay, I have a lot of favorite children's books- but these two are stories about little boys so I couldn't resist :) I also threw in a little cow jumping over the moon, although the rest of his buddies from "hey diddle diddle" are no where to be seen.
I have one more spot above the changing table where I thought about putting peter pan- another great story about a little boy- but there's so many wonderful classic books out there I thought I'd poll you guys and see if anyone had a better idea. (I'm not attached to Peter Pan like the Giving Tree or Wild Things.) So leave a comment and tell me some of your all time favorite children's tales!!


Now for the rest of the room...... oh boy.

Duvet & Skirt

Over the past few weeks I've been slowly putting together Rowen's crib skirt and duvet out of some fabric that Matt and I picked out together at JoAnns. The fabric came "quilted" looking, little squares of white fuzzy, green, blue & green striped, & green plaid all sewn together. So that part I didn't do :) (cheater!) But I did put together the duvet (someone gave us a fantastic down comforter from pottery barn kids!)
Rusty was very helpful during the whole process, of course.and cut out little "things that go" shapes (car, airplane, sailboat) and sewed them onto a crib skirt that the same couple had given us. (It previously had circles on it, which didn't match the room, so I took them off with my handy-dandy seam ripper to make it just a plain cream colored skirt.) It's really hard to see them in the picture, guess I should have taken a picture before putting it on the bed :) But Matt had the camera and was gone for the weekend! :-P You can click on the image to enlarge it if you want to see :)

Yay!! One more thing DONE in the nursery :) One step closer to feeling "prepared" for our little bundle to arrive...

Fertilizer #1

Who knows how true it is, but I read that tomato plants love a little egg-shell fertilizer. The calcium is supposed to help prevent blossom end rot, and makes them taste fabulous by helping the plants handle un-even watering. Well- we'll see!

To make your own egg-shell fertilizer:

1. Dry out several egg shells for a few days.
2. grind them up in a blender or food processor
to a fine powdery dust!

3. clean up the mess you made in the kitchen from the flying egg shells... don't forget to clean out the dog's bowl. (sorry, Rusty!)



4. Spoon a little around the base of the plant
5. dig it into the soil a bit
6. and water your sweet little tomato!

I have two cherry tomato varieties. I don't remember what they are right now- but I guess I will when they start producing fruit. I got them pretty late in the season (just last week!) so hopefully they'll do okay and we'll have a few juicy fruits for salads and such. Someday I'd love to have a big old vegetable garden with tons of big tomato plants, but for now, this will have to do on my little apartment porch :)

A blessing in cabinetry!

My mom designs closet systems for Closets to Go. She rocks, by the way. We had such a mess in the kitchen... we've been living out of boxes for the past month because there's no where else to put anything. So she whipped up a little something for us:
I don't have a great "before" picture because I thought about it after we had moved everything from the kitchen floor to the living room floor and dining room. So, here's an idea of the accumulation of junk:

before......

during.......

after!!

Isn't it beautiful?? I am so excited, I can't even tell you. It made me so happy to put everything away! Thanks, mom!!!

A Tagging We Will Go...

I've been tagged by Kristy!!!

The rules...10 photos, take them right away,

NO CLEANING UP FIRST,

tag 5 friends.

1.) Dream vacation-
Perhaps another cruise...? I don't think it would matter- anywhere with my husband, sunshine, good food and wine, and a comfy bed!
We are going to a B&B at the coast this weekend for our "babymoon" - I don't think it qualifies as "dream vacation" but I've really been looking forward to it!!

2.) Self portrait-

I
am
huge

3.) What my kids are doing right now- He's havin' a party in there! Guess he likes frosted mini wheats!

4.) My closet- yeah...... exciting.

5.) My favorite room-
okay, I can't say that I have a "favorite" room yet, but this is too entertaining not to share with you all. This is the "nursery/office/storage/craft room/ironing space/linen closet/instrument/exercise equipment" room
oh boy. Hopefully I can get it situated before September!

6.) My favorite shoes- YOU WOULD SERIOUSLY MAKE ME CHOOSE???? Okay, so I also love my nikes and wear them almost daily, I wouldn't say they make me excited to put them on. haha. I love shoes :) And well, my crocs aren't all the exciting either but I must admit they are surprisingly comfortable for how ugly they are! And the nike flip flops -also not exciting- but are the best flip flops EVER- so squishy- even after two years.

7.) The laundry room- laundry "room" -hahahahaha
Well I must say I am super grateful to have a W/D in unit!! Going to a laundromat with cloth diapers would be a nightmare!

8.) The toilet- um... this one's a bit strange. Is this a game to see how tidy your friends' houses are? lol- no-frills john here!

9.) The kitchen sink-

Good thing I already cleaned up the mess from dinner. haha.

10.) The fridge-It's pretty dinky, but we're getting used to it! It's hard to only go to the grocery store twice a month when you don't have enough room for everything. And we're hoping to buy a freezer for the garage soon...

I tag: Kristi C, Bethany, Jamie, Carol & Tracy!

Now go do it & have fun!!!

=)

Loveseat SOLD

SOLD!! Thank goodness now I can organize my garage without having to work around the couch.

There is totally not enough room in our new apartment for this. We bought it about three years ago from Wickes for a little over $500 with a sofa & ottoman (which thankfully DO fit.) It's in great condition and comfy- soft, microsuede fabric (good for pets!) We just don't want to store it in the garage for a year or two (or who knows?) so we'd rather sell it. I have it on craigs list for $270 but we'll go down to $200. Know anyone who might be interested? We'd LOVE to get it off our hands! Thanks for helpin' :)

Painting!

Memorial Day Weekend was spent painting the new apartment! We busted it out in two days- we're practically professionals by now. ;) Here's some pictures to give you an idea!
Matt's getting started trimming the living room...

here's the living room all done & tape-free, even! Rusty's hanging out on the patio- it's nice and sunny here next to the basil!

Here I am painting Rowen's room! yay for nesting :)
Rowen's room is almost done- Rusty's pooped. It's been a long day.

Master bedroom...Dining room- same color as the living room

Phew! we took a break for our first "dinner on the floor" in our new home. Tortilla soup- yum!

Sale Pending

...I'm not even sure where to begin.

Well, maybe at the beginning.
When we first decided to buy a house, we didn't think we'd be able to find anything we could afford and also love. We called the Realtors that everyone in my family has used and just left it up to the Lord. There's no harm in looking, right? The first day we went out looking, Al & Barb (the Realtors) showed us a little condo that was not yet on the market and was going to go for a really great price- the owners wanted it gone ASAP. Well, it was perfect for us, and we were able to get into our first home! Lickety split- just like that. It was such a huge blessing in many ways.
Now that our next huge (yet little!) blessing is on the way - we decided to sell our lovely little home and simplify as we adjust to life on a single income. We've been told by many who "know," that the market for "first time homes" (i.e. as inexpensive as they come) is much better than the general market lately. So we had our hopes up that it wouldn't be too difficult to sell before the baby gets here. (September!) However, we weren't really mentally prepared for what happened this week.

We put the condo on the market on Friday.
Two couples came by to view it on Sunday.
They both made offers.



Serious.




Last night, five days after putting the house up for sale, we finished the final negotiations with couple number two and signed the papers. a.k.a. we sold it.





!!!




For exactly what we wanted to sell it for, too. They want to close June 9th, so that gives us a nice 7 weeks to figure out what we want to do now.


We are so humbled by the Lord's favor- we just sat at the table last night staring at each other saying, "what did we do to deserve this?" The question is of course rhetorical- we did nothing. We deserve nothing. We are so dumbfounded that He would continue to show us blessing after blessing that there really are no words to describe it properly. We both confessed that we've been "waiting" for the bomb to drop one of these days- you know- for something terribly horrible to happen because life isn't supposed to be this easy. Just to have Him, each other, food & shelter would be a very blessed life indeed- but to be surrounded in loving families, to have an incredible marriage, a fantastic & thriving church family, a beautiful home, great jobs, to have gotten pregnant so easily, and now to have sold our home with such ease..... it just doesn't all add up. So we are humbled, grateful, and blessed almost to the point of disbelief. Almost. :)

To the rest of you out there in the home-selling process: know that we have been & will continue to be praying for you! It'll happen!!

For Sale By Owner

Ready or not, here we go!

Matt posted the house for sale on the internet this morning. Please be praying for us!! We're okay with whatever God wants for us- it'll just be a matter of finding out what that is. :)
Coming in June, Matt will be the sole provider for our soon-to-be-expanding family and we'd like to make the most financially wise decisions possible as our budget goes under a drastic over-haul! I'm so excited and nervous and... well... exhausted just thinking about it. :)

Here's some pictures we took last night to make the "take-ones" - it was dark before we got to the front of the house and the camera battery died. Maybe better luck today :)