3 Weeks Ago

I never did post pictures from downstate. For anyone interested. ;)

On one of the hot, hot evenings, Granny Molly was knitting away on a dishcloth or something and it soon turned into a group finger-knitting craze.Even her boyfriend Paul decided to try it out.

Actually, now that I think about it, he was the one that started it all.

My mother-in-law planned a surprise 50th birthday party for my father-in-law. The guys took him fishing that day to get him out of the house and that morning the girls went to a bridal shower for Jeff's aunt, Kathy.

There are about 15 paper plate fans missing from this picture. It was in the 90's and no. air. In fact, when we first arrived, the power was out so we didn't even have fans. The chocolate covered strawberries were good even if they were melting.

Luckily, it cooled down for the party that afternoon. And it was a total surprise! I love when that happens, it's so much more fun with the surprise is a success.

There was food stashed in Katie's closet and at one point, at my mom and dad's. Jeff's dad was on his way home from work and was planning to pull something out of the downstairs freezer to cook for dinner. No one was home so Jeff had to run over and pull the pork out of the freezer before he got home. Whew. It all worked out in the end. Maybe a little too well...their neighbor is an awesome baker/cook and offered to make cupcakes for the party. I'm avoiding wheat and I had 2. And I wanted another. They were amazing!

In other news, Adrian learned to swim with arm floaties. (Water wings? are we the only one that call them floaties?)

And Isaac couldn't figure out what was tickling his neck.

Little Schemer

So sweet, going to give me a kiss.

Scheming to lick me. Stinker.

Tumble Dry on Low Heat

Maybe it's just the coffee from this morning getting me all excited yet not quite anxious, but I feel like a little kid right now. Both boys are sleeping, the house is quiet. I should be sewing!! Or packing! Or cleaning! Or doing laundry! But I feel kind of free right now. And I'm pretty sure that one cup of coffee (and the rest of the chocolate...) is making me all giddy and excited.

 I quit coffee about a year ago because I was drinking way too much (and by way too much--don't laugh--I meant several cups a day) and it makes my blood sugar go crazy and gives me anxiety and heart palpitations. I thought that after avoiding it for this long I wouldn't even like it. Yet, every time I smell it, I crave it.

For the first few days in our new house, Jeff was riding his bike to the gas station (2 blocks away) and buying coffee so I figured I would be saving us money to just buy the good stuff and make it ourselves. Except, I had to try it. And now I'm having a hard time sticking to just 1 cup a day. Yum. And now I remember why I love it so much. Maybe it's just a mental game but sipping on coffee makes me feel like I can conquer anything. Or at least clean the house or implement a really cool design idea. Perhaps that explains my crazed need to paint, paint, PAINT! (No painting has occurred yet.)

Anyways, my sister Kaitlin stopped by yesterday with her boyfriend, Aaron. She said she was glad she was able to see the house before I did anything to it. Most of my sisters have told me they can't wait to see what I do with the place. Oh my goodness, as if I wasn't impatient enough, now I have the added pressure of all of them waiting to see what I do. Luckily, Jeff is basically letting me have free range and do what I want. He said he'll stop me if it gets too crazy.

Darn coffee. If I didn't have summer vacation plans coming up I could rip out the carpeting on the stairs.

Poolside

So dramatic.

Life is rough.

Happy Birthday to My Mom and Me

Jeff called me on his way home from work on Friday to ask if I wanted to go out to eat for my birthday. Good little housewife that I am, carnitas were already well on their way to deliciousness. I decided to go anyways and then the next night's supper would be easy peasy. (Let's just forget about the fact that they sat out all.night.long. Wah!) I chose to go to Sweet Water Cafe. They have a lot of gluten-free options and use mostly local and organic products. Everything is made from scratch.

We've been there once before as a family about a year ago and Jeff was NOT IMPRESSED. He ordered a burger (grass-fed on locally made organic bread) and said it was really greasy and didn't taste very good. (Grass-fed beef does have a different taste so maybe he would have liked it better now after having grass-fed beef.) I had ordered a dijon chicken sandwich which I thought was awesome, I definitely wanted to go back. Just not too terribly often because it is kind of expensive which is directly related to the organic and local food.

So, this time around, Jeff went with the special which happened to be a chicken burrito. When the waitress described the meal, bell peppers, beans, chicken etc in a whole wheat wrap, my initial thought was that it sounded bland, but then I figured there must be some kind of sauce. I debated getting it but ended up going with the ginger stir fry.

Poor Jeff.

The burrito had no sauce. I'm not even making that up. In fact, it came with a side of salsa and he only ate it after adding the whole cup. My stir-fry on the other hand, was delicious. I think I'll just go ahead and order for him if I can ever drag him in again! Actually, the creme brulee may have made up for the awful meal in the end. Yum!

Afterwards, we went to Lowe's and Adrian got burried in the cart with some shovels while I picked out paint colors.

Then we tested out some pools. For $3 more, this would have made lounging material, but alas, it would not have made it home in the 'bu.

So we settled for this little model. Easy installation, low maintenance, plenty of entertainment. We did not however, install the recommended fence or otherwise approved barrier around our new 3' round.

Giveaway!

My talented sisters are having a giveaway from Circle Boutique over on their facebook page. Be sure to check it out before 10am (Central) Monday. You can enter to win an item of your choice from their Etsy Shop. Click on the picture below to get to the giveaway!

Snapshots from the Week

 Moving in!

First full day in our house, Jeff fixes the washer. Yes, we still have paneling in the new place but it sure beats the dark, faux wood in our apartment living room. (This is the only paneling in the house.)

Isaac is learning to reach.

Alfalfa in the booster seat.

Eating chocolate chip black bean brownies on the deck. No, those chairs are not on my list of projects. Aren't they pretty? Just kidding but they are broken beyond repair so they will be replaced as soon as I find something suitable.

Football jammies!!

And the best for last; I need to hang this mirror but in the meantime, I propped it up against a chair and this little dude has been playing and talking to himself.

Oh and by the way, I'm halfway to 48 today. And Facebook is awesome.

Mowing his Own Lawn

Babies are magic. I just had a few paragraphs typed out and with one click of a button, Isaac deleted it all and then just like that, blogger auto-saved the blank page. Does anyone ever feel like typing again after that happens??

I'll try my best.

Here is the picture I had posted to go with the title:

The gist of the post was that after over 4 years of apartment living (both here and downstate) I am so thankful to have a house. And I'm so glad that Pinterest is around now so that I can really make our house look like, well, ours. And without putting us further into the debt that we are paying off.

I have so many plans for this house. Most of the immediate plans involve lots and lots of paint. Mom isn't so sure about the chartreuse entry way I have in mind. ;)

Interrupted to add: Why is it so funny that Adrian is walking around with his bee (butterfly) net on his head even when he is supposed to be taking a nap?? (Jeff is planning to raise bees starting next year for anyone not fortunate enough to have had a conversation with him recently.)

Adrian's room will be grey and the kitchen cabinets (now a very dark stain) will be teal. That's all that I know for sure right now, but I'll be sure to post pictures if I change so much as a piece of trim. If you look at my Home Sweet House board on Pinterest, you'll see exactly what my house will look like by next week.

I'm super impatient to get started but we do actually have a trip to the camp coming up and the whole trying-to-enjoy-summer-while-it's-here thing. Which is awesome by the way; the previous owners left a patio table (which will be getting some spray-paint treatment eventually) so we have been eating breakfast, lunch, and supper out on the deck with half the town as an audience.

Speaking of enjoying summer, Adrian is NOT taking any sort of rest whatsoever so we are heading to the outdoors. Peace out.

Lighter than Air

 Whew! We have been crazy busy lately, just like I said we would be. I don't think I even realized the amount of time to relax that we would not have. We successfully moved into our house on the hottest day of the summer. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but we don't see the 90's too terribly often in the U.P. We spent all of last week packing up our hot, hot apartment and with the help of few strong men, we were able to get everything moved after we closed on Thursday evening. I was so giddy that day, I can't believe we waited this long to get a house!

The previous owners were at the closing and they were telling us about the changes made to the house over the years (the women who owned it had lived here for 40-something years). It was so fun to find out why the bathroom is so big (it was once a small bedroom) and why the entry way is such a funny shape (part of it was once a bathroom). I wish I had remembered to ask what kind of floors are under the dining room carpet (we're using it as a living room, but you can tell there is another floor underneath). We also had a nice little surprise when they told us they left an a/c unit in the garage, I had assumed that we wouldn't be getting a/c for a few weeks if we had it at all this summer. Boy am I glad they left it! It has been in the 80's and 90's the last few days while we've been unpacking.

We still have a few boxes here and there, waiting to be unpacked, but for the most part, we are moved in. Let me tell you, moving with a 2-year-old and a baby is a total joke. I was ready to rip my hair out while we were packing (in our 85 degree apartment). If Adrian wasn't unpacking then Isaac was needing attention. And now, I feel like we're getting close to having everything in its place, but I keep getting interrupted by a 2-year-old that quickly discovered the joy of having a deck. And a yard! And space to ride his cars! Luckily, Jeff is switching schedules so he just happened to have 6 days off starting on the day we closed. By the time he goes back to work tomorrow, I'll be able to enjoy that yard as well.

Anyways, back to Thursday. What a crazy, wonderful day! Here is the best part as told by Jeff:

"Thursday, at 3:30, Heidi and I closed on our first house with our RE/MAX agent, Gina. After going to check out our newly purchased home we went back to our apartment to get cleaning supplies. I knew it was going to be a long night so I wanted some fresh-brewed Holiday gas station coffee; as I was there, I noticed a group of people standing outside and a Suburban with a wicker hot air balloon basket hanging off the back. Since I'm a Howell native (home of the Michigan Challenge Balloonfest) I asked them if they had ever flown at the balloonfest in Howell. They replied by saying, "Yes, we actually live in Howell," and they were actually in the U.P. vacationing and giving balloon rides. I told them that my wife and I grew up in Howell. They then invited us to launch a balloon at the football field across the highway. After going back to the apartment I told Heidi about our invitation. After getting to the balloon launch site and meeting the other people who were helping launch the balloon, I found out that several of them RE/MAX agents and the balloon was a RE/MAX balloon, the same company that helped me find my first home!"

It was quite the experience. Most definitely worth delaying house-cleaning! I was holding Isaac in the front pack so I missed out on the helping part, but I was able to get quite a few pictures. We just can't get over the crazy coincidence. Plus, Jeff said that helping launch a balloon was sort of on his bucket list so that's pretty sweet that he was able to fulfill that.

Funny that I never thought about how hot it would be standing next to one of these giants as it's filling up (they use a fan at first and once it's opened up enough they switch to the burner). Jeff said at certain times it felt like the ropes were going to melt.

 There was a boy with special needs at the launch and I had thought he was family member to one of the crew and that was the reason he was there. He was asking questions about everyone there and seemed kind of nervous but since I had just met him, I wasn't sure if that was his usual manner. As it happens, the balloon ride was for him! He went up with the pilot and his dad who was a RE/MAX agent. Just as they were about to lift off, they had to coax him into the basket. He was afraid the flames would burn him.

After they floated off I was honestly torn between cleaning our house or chasing the balloon. We ended up cleaning the house, but what a day!

Yesterday

Story to follow!

Check Out My Abs!

I Love the U.P.

I've been absent lately and I probably will be for a while yet. We spent a week and a half downstate with both of our families in crazy hot weather.  I think my lens was fogged up a little in this picture, it was so blasted humid. It was a fun time but it definitely made me appreciate the U.P. summers! I was so glad to step out of the car to a cool 64 degrees on Sunday evening.

This week, we're packing up and we should be sleeping in our new house by the weekend!!  Anyways, obviously super busy with kiddos to take care of in the meantime. I'm so thankful that my friend Kate offered to take Adrian tomorrow. While he's out having fun Isaac and I will be inside sweating and hopefully getting tons of shtuff packed away.

Until next time.