Ten Weeks of Summer

So we had ten weeks off from school this summer. That goes for Ely and I anyway... Philly was only able to take off a couple of days. With in those ten weeks we sure accomplished a ton of wonderful things!! Some of those things left bigger messes and some really moved us closer to our goal.

Week #1- Cleaning week. Like a crazy person, I washed every detail of laundry that I could get my hands on and cleaned every room as fast as I could. Then I prepared for the 1st yard sale (we had two) of the summer. That's a lot of work in it's self. It sure was worth it though!

Week #2- #5- Ely's bedroom was transformed! This brought so much relief to all of us. This room was a serious color of peach before we got a hold of it.

We wanted to do something that was really fun for an ever growing, high energy, ten year old boy but, we really desired that the room also fit him in five years. So here is what we came up with... 

Look at the expression on that face! That is Ely's "Woooooow face."

Brown and tan walls, camo curtains and bedding, a huge bulletin board for pictures of family and friends, and some jungle masks themed decor left Ely feeling right at home.

Did I mention the loft bed??? No kidding! Philly whipped this creation out in two days. One day of planning and purchasing material and one day of construction. We surprised Ely with this one while he was out of the house for the weekend. The icing on the cake... a peg board in the fort area underneath to hang all of his army and nerf weapons.

In the middle of the the bedroom redo, I needed a rest so I took a couple days off to spend with Ely. We took a much needed day trip to Kenray Lake. Along for this trip was my friend Michelle's four kids, Gavin, Scout, Jacob, and Joshua. The next day Ely and I had a Mother/son day full of watching movies and reading together.

Two days was all I could handle because my pregnancy brain kicked in and forced me up to work....
Week #5 through present day. (Work in progress. When complete we will update with fresh photos.)

                                                         THE BABY'S ROOM
This is the room that has shocked everyone from the beginning. Absolutely the most overwhelming room in the house!! From the begin of our life here, just walking passed this room made me exhausted and frustrated. Needless to say, it is great to get this project out of the way.
This room was pasted with pink flower wall paper from ceiling to baseboards. I am serious! The CEILING was wallpapered people!! So... many hours of removing sticky paste and finally we were able to begin priming. UGH! We do not ever want to go through that again.

We primed and we primed and we thought it would never end. But boy did it feel great to see that pink disappear!
And finally....

....we were able to put color on those walls! We know how to pick'em too. This room hasn't seen a dull day.

On to the floors. Philly pulled some really nasty carpet out of this room and uncovered beautiful hardwood. So he rented a sander and did as much as possible on his own with several phone calls to a best friend, Tim Ryan. (Thanks for answering all of Phil's phone calls Timmy:) Sanding hardwood is very tedious if you do not have really good equipment so now we are calling in professionals to finish up.




Powder Room floor.

 And on to the powder room...

When Phil removed the wallpaper in the Baby's powder room, the wall crumbled. Several layers of mud later and it is as smooth as a baby's bottom. Hehe, no pun intended.

In the mist of it all we had two nephews down from Logansport. Nick and Luke got to spend an entire week with us! Gavin, Justiam and Jewls got to stay a couple of days too.

Nerf wars, our pool table, ice cream, a journey to Kenray Lake, a morning at the theatre, and a trip to the bowling alley made this week one to remember.

Week #7- There once was a driveway that ran through our back yard, oh where, oh where could it be?

They brought in equipment, cut and busted it up, and drove it away can't you see...
Ok, the real story.... On the hottest weekend in July (106 degrees to be exact) Phil and Landon rented a concert saw and cut through river stone that was 8 inches deep in some spots. Landon hauled off 7 or more loads of our driveway. All of this for the purpose of putting in a swimming pool. Our back yard was in real need of a overhaul. Hopefully the pool will be installed this fall and the deck project will begin in the spring. Things just take longer than expected sometimes. It will all be worth it in the end.

To end the driveway saga right, Philly and Ely got to play in the mud!

Last but not least, the gigantic (3 feet in diameter) stump got mulched up!!! Our second week in our new home a crazy weather storm came through and we lost a huge tree. The stump was in the way of our pool so we hired someone to chip it away for us.That left Phil hauling an enormous truck load of mulch off to the dump.
We have lived here for seven and a half months now and we are finally moved in. These ten weeks of summer where much needed to help us prepare our family for Baby. I think we needed school to start to force us back into a routine and slow us down a bit.
Until next time,
Jen, Philly, Ely, and Baby

6 months and showing- I mean growing!

For the few people that didn't think I was showing.... I am now! No denying this pregnant belly. The transition from month five to six sure did take the baby bump to a whole new level.
I feel great! We will see what the next couple months bring.
The baby is moving a lot and I can just about tell you a timed schedule of baby activity. Seems to be a very predictible child at this stage. This pregnancy has been completely different from carrying Ely, not many similarities.
Though I still crave fruits and veggies, my mind starts screaming for ice cream every night after eight o'clock. Ice cream with frozen berries or with bananas and almonds, sometimes recese cups crumbled on top. It's ridiculous the combinations I can come up with. It's one of  those things that I hate to admit (though calcium is a good thing.)
So we are around three months away from meeting our new family member! The excitment is building and we are rushing to complete as many projects as we can before due day.
If it is possible to begin nesting in the fifth month, I did so. I just can't stop moving.
More pics coming very soon, Jen

August 9th, 2012



Speechless, breath taking, unbelievable!

How do you put into words the feelings of seeing your baby before actually 'seeing your baby'? The ultrasounds today are unbelievable. Just look at that little face. Baby sure will change a lot before the day we get to meet but, it is so nice to see and hear that everything is growing just the way it should! Big brother Ely came along for this appointment. He tried talking us into finding out if he had a brother on the way but, we resisted the temptation.
Sweet baby, we love you more than words can express.

Baby weighs = 10oz.
Fluids were visible in stomach and bladder. Both kidneys were located.
Loved watching and hearing baby's heart working = 149 beats per minute.
Fingers, toes, spine, legs, brain, etc. all perfect!
Everything with Mommy is going great as well! Such a relief. No restrictions. Feeling more than blessed these days.
We are ready to start on the baby's room.
Love,
   Jen, Philly, Ely, and Baby

Goodbye May... Hello June!

May has always proved to be one of the busiest months of the year for our household. Here are some of the highlights of May 2012.

Ely preformed with his break dance class in his first recital. 

We made it to two of Amaya's games in Avon, IN. So glad we got to see our girl play right field, short stop, center field, and pitcher.

Philly coached Ely's baseball team this year! Coach Richason and Elyjah Houston.

We hit our 16 week mark in this pregnancy journey. I'm feeling great!

We took a day off from cleaning, unpacking, ball practice, and from town to have some fun at Kenray Lake.

While we were swimming this crazy looking lake monster emerged from the water!

And this mermaid was found sitting on our deck.

Watermelon...

roasted marshmallows...

and silly smiles made this day just what we all needed. Family filled fun.

Goodness, I guess we wore this one out!

We made it to couple graduation parties. One for Phil's niece Casey Robertson and another for my dear friend Darcy's son, Maxwell Randolph (Bedford North Lawrence High School.) I guess I was caught up in the moment and didn't remember to snap some photos.

Welcome June!

I am off work for the summer! I am super excited to spend time with the kids before the new little one comes along. 

Phil has been very busy removing bushes from the perimeter of our house. Now the stumps have to be removed.

Much better! He cut down around 20 bushes...probably more.

We are preparing to have a pool installed, our porch restored, and our gutter redone. Huge undertakings for one summer but this is what we have been waiting for and no better time to create a "home!" We just can't wait to see the end results.

We are still busy organizing and shifting things around from room to room. I can't believe that we have been in our new home for five and a half months already. We are loving every minute of it. I have to admit that I can get a bit overwhelmed thinking about adding a baby to it but I would trade or change any of this. Some people refer to their life situations as their 'luck'. We prefer to say that we are very blessed! And we count our blessing each and every day.

And we have reach the half way point of growing baby!! YIPPEE!

5 months along now.

Our ultrasound is scheduled for Thursday, June 21st at 9:30am. We still are not planning to find out if baby is a boy or a girl. If we change our minds we will inform all of you right away!

Next post? After ultrasound. We will put our sweet little one's photos up for you to view ASAP after the appointment Thursday.

Until then,

Love and laughter,

Jen

A sneak peek!

Tomorrow evening Ely will be preforming in his first dance recital. He has been taking a break dance class at Kat's Performing Arts. He truly enjoys it.
I popped in for a few action pics.

Ely's famous head spin. I'm sure most of you have heard him talk about this move!

Head stands, walking on hands, whats next?

Who said boys can't dance? After all, don't some professional football players take ballet?



Break a leg Ely (but please not literally),

Mom

Fun Filled Weekend

Friday, May 11th
Philly, Angel, and Chelsea

I was so pleased to get a phone call from Angel stating that she and Chelsea would be in

Bloomington on Friday. They were interviewing IU and touring the campus to see if it is the right school for Chelsea. I say "interviewing" because Chelsea is a very intelligent (and very beautiful) student whom will have colleges competing for her. It is clearly Chelsea's choice of where to attend college. Lucky for us, we may have another niece at IU.
They drove a bit futher south to visit us. We were so glad that they did.
Angel and Chelsea got to meet some of my childcare children and Angel made a new friend.

Friday evening we had some friends over for Amaya's 12th birthday and boy did we get her good!
SURPRISE!
Everyone hid behind the couch and popped up at the perfect moment to pull off a surprise birthday party. Amaya didn't have a clue that a party was waiting on her back home.
Philly turned on some Beatles music ("They Say It's Your Birthday") and the party was kicked off to a great start.
With dancing....

Cake.....

...cake...

And more cake... (Meet Milina. My cousin Angel's daughter. An Angel in both of our families.)

...and party horns, this night was a hit!
This is Scout, one of best friends, Michelle's, 21 month old sweet girl, who also happens to be one of my childcare kids. She absolutely adores Philly.

On Saturday we had another special guest visit. This guest spend the night with and join in our Mother's Day celebration!

She also got to ride on Philly's shoulders after a trip and fall accident while out on our neighborhood walk.

Chloe Marie... another childcare kiddo. I have known her mommy for years, (Angelique) another BFF!

She absolutely adores Philly! (Did I already say that earlier?;)

And I think she kinda likes me too. Philly doesn't have to discipline the children all of the time so he is much more fun.

At the very last minute I decided that we would rearrange our schedule so that we could all go to Logansport for a quick Mother's Day trip. So on Sunday we got up early and headed up to visit family.

See a familiar face? There is Angel...twice in one weekend in two different towns...yippee!

Chloe was thrilled to see a familiar face. It didn't even take her long to warm up to the unfamiliar faces.



Amaya was happy to see these three beautiful sisters (nieces), Casey, Sarah, and Emily.

Two good looking young men, Tanner (nephew) and Austin (cousin.) Notice the bunny ears?

 and Ely...get'em Austin!

A couple sweet cousins Maddie and Katey.

Nick and Ely worked in some pitching practice.

And the whole purpose of our very quick trip up to Logansport and back (in one day)... Jinner, Philly's Mom! Sweet, kind, and absolutely hilarious! Got to love this women!
We hope everyone had a fabulous, family filled Mother's Day!
It just gets better every year!

Take care,

Jen, Phil, Amaya, Ely, and (of course) Baby