Brown Belt

Harper tested for her Brown Belt on Saturday.  She was supposed to test back in December, but she had the flu on the day of the testing.  She was heartbroken that she wasn't able to test. So needless to say, she was ready and well prepared this time around.

It is so fun to watch her.  Sometimes it amazes me how far she has come since she was a white belt. She broke both of these boards on the first try.

There were 19 kids that tested and she was the only one to get an outstanding testing award. I might be a little biased, but she definitely earned it.

I am so proud of you Harper!!

Close Enough

We have slowly put the house back together again.  There are still pictures to be hung and a few random projects we want to do, but for the most part we are done remodeling for awhile.  The goal now is to save up as much money as we can so that we can finish off our garage into a bonus room for the kids.  

So the rooms don't look exactly like we want them to yet, but they are close enough to show you some pictures.

The first thing Mitch worked on over Christmas Break was a new media console.  He mounted the TV on the wall so he wanted something smaller and more modern for this space.  I love how it turned out.

So the next thing we did was painted the piece of furniture that was there and moved it to the playroom.  We had to remove the old entertainment center first, which was quite the chore.  Let's just say I am glad that is behind us.  The room feels so much more open now.

We moved the table to where the computer was and moved the computer into the left hand corner.  As you can tell the table is being primarily used for Lego construction right now.   I told you we still need to hang some pictures.

Here you can see the computer.  Mitch wants to build a desk, but for now this is working.

The bench that was in the laundry room got moved to the foyer.  We discovered that we did not really use all the bins when they were out in the laundry room.  I am hoping they get utilized more now.  I just cleaned up the bookshelf on the left.

Here's another look at the other side of the media console. We would like to get a big comfy chair to put in the corner. 

It feels so good to have our house back together again.  Hopefully I am done moving furniture around for a few weeks.  

Balance

Hey everyone!!!  I am still alive.  Although I have written about a dozen blog posts in my head, getting them actually posted has been really hard for me.  I think the biggest problem is my lack of photos.  I just have found that I am constantly forgetting my camera and so many things have been going undocumented.  We have been working like crazy on the house, so hopefully I can find time to pick up my camera and take some photos to show you guys.  

I have decided that instead of resolutions this year I would choose a word that symbolizes what I plan to accomplish this year.  I think balance sums it up.  I am really can to try to find balance in all areas of my life this year.

My Sweet Niece

 

My sweet niece, Eden, was born on Saturday.  Isn't she the most precious thing ever?
 

 

Harper is very smitten with her.
 

So are her brother and sister.



 

Welcome to the world sweet girl.

Elfie and a Christmas Parade

Well, Elfie is back again this year.  

 

 

Harper has decided she has some very important questions that need to be answered.

 

 

 

 

 

We also participated in the local Christmas Parade on Saturday with Harper's brownie troop.  It was a perfect day.  Can you tell from the red faces that it was in the 70's.  The girls (and Miller) had a blast.

 

Neverending Projects

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We took full advantage of the long weekend.  I have been horrible about remembering my camera lately, so I have no photos to show.  I am not sure what is wrong with me lately.  I think that is a big reason I have not been blogging very much.  I don't have any photos to share.

 

Anyway, I thought I would show you what we have been up to in regards to the house.  Mitch built us a nice dining room table last week.  He was able to reuse the legs from our old craft table so he only had to buy the wood for the top of the table.  He is still in the process of sealing it.  I think he has at least one more coat to go. 

 

Mitch originally made the table below that we were using as a craft table and then a computer desk. Before the kids were born we had one whole room dedicated to a dining room, which is why the table was so big.  Now with our limited space it just doesn't make sense any more.   The plan is to make a built in computer area with shelves, so we decided to take this table apart and use the legs for our new table.

 

 

We also felt like the round table that we had did not fit the space very well. So the plan was to put the new table in the corner where the round table is in the photo below.  Now we aren't too sure.  We may make an eating area in the playroom/study. I really liked the openness after removing the round table, so I am not sure about adding a table back in there now.  Who knows what we will end up doing.  Mitch and I like to change our minds and rearrange furniture every couple of weeks. 

 

 

The last time I showed you our living room it looked like this.

 

 

A few weeks ago we bought a new couch that fits the space a little better. We searched and searched to find a sectional to fit our strange space.  We finally settled on the one below.  It's from American Signature.  We are loving it so far.  It's nice that we can all sit on the couch comfortably and it fits the space perfectly.  It always cracks me up when I upload my photos and see Bailey photobombing my photos. 

 

 

Eventhough our house is still very much a work in progress, every little project brings us closer to having the house put back together just the way we want it.   Maybe one day I will have a final reveal to show you of all the rooms finished. 

 

Since we removed the craft table from the playroom, I was actually able to find a place for the Christmas tree.  Yeah!!  I borrowed a small desk from work for the computer so we still have a place for the computer until we can figure out what we are doing in this room.

 

 

 

Happy Tuesday everyone!!

Fall Fun

We raked up the last of our leaves yesterday.  Of course all the kids wanted to do was play in the leaves.  It did make for some nice photo opportunities though.  I have been horrible about taking photos, so it was fun to spend some time snapping photos of the kids.   Be prepared for photo overload.
 

 

 

 

Happy Monday everyone!!