I Love This Old House

Every squeak of the stairs, every china cabinet, every old molding, the banister, all of it. There are certainly some things about an old house that you just can't find in a brand spankin new one! But she sure does require a lot of TLC! Good think I have a very handy husband who was willing to take off two weeks to work non stop on it! She's gonna be such a beauty... soon! Tonight we (and by we I mean he) has to remove the toilets off of the hard wood and out of the bathrooms, take out the sinks, finish the bedroom painting, and and a bunch of other things... oh boy... what a week this has been!



Tomorrow the sanding men come... I don't know if I'll sleep. And in about four days we'll have shiny new hard wood floors... giddy I tell you... giddy.

Of course I shouldn't be typing because there's still so much to do before I crash on a mattress on the floor with nothing else in the room! Ha!

But something about keeping up with all of this feels so good, doesn't it?



In the midst of the chaos in our house my little one lost her third tooth right after bath!





And I found that our new light blue wall are a beautiful backdrop to photos! We get such pretty light in our bedroom... if only we could leave it empty and I could use it as a studio.. now that would be fun!



And a girls gotta have her toes painted in all of this while daddy is painting the house!



Thinking I'll be having sandy dreams...

The Mess Gets Bigger Before It Gets Better, right?

Abigail... that is exactly how I'm feeling right now!

We are living right now in a huge mess.  Our summer house projects have taken over and as always with this kind of thing it's more than we thought.  Even Scott who calms me down about this stuff said, "our house is a disaster."  And Anna wrote to a pen pal saying, "our house looks like a junkyard nailed to the floor and walls."  Oh well...



But it'll be so worth it.



I can't wait for clean, organized, and shiny again.  Where bedroom castle tables aren't in my dining room.



Scott is working non stop and I am starting to take things down for the floors to start to be sanded on Monday morning.  All my sweet dishes, cups and mugs are going to the living room in a corner.

Together Scott and I moved all of our (very heavy) bedroom furniture into Anna and Abigail's room for the next week or so.   So the girls are camping out in the playroom which is summer fun for them!



We chose a pretty light blue for our bedroom (my all time favorite color) and I'm looking forward to changing over the golds and coffee colors for all crisp whites.  Ahhhh...



So living in the mess right now will have a silver lining... and I'm counting the days.





One of (and there are millions) great things about children is that they just keep living life.  They don't seem to care what is going on around them.  It's summer and they are enjoying it... all of it!

Especially this one in the early morning.  I love when she comes outside in her nightgown and pink cowgirl boots to find me watering the grass and flowers.  It's sweet time.  (on this day she got all dressed first) 

This might be my favorite summer photo!

This Girl

This girl with a banged up esophagus, medicines, hospital stays, furrows, allergies, and such.. we love her so! And we are so grateful for the twinkle in her eyes that God gave her. And her genuine love for others... all others. She never hesitates to give her whole heart to other kids, teachers, adults. She hugs like no one I know and can not survive a day without a full cuddle!

She's happy to have EoE, this digestive disease that is a part of her life. She knows that it makes her stronger, more empathetic and lots of times 'it's just no big deal'.



Which is why Scott and I were beyond THRILLED to hear that Abigail won second place in the national EoE poster contest.



Design a poster with a title "Living With EoE" And she did. Living with EoE means smiling.



Even when you're in a hospital bed and about to be 'put to sleep' for a biopsy to be taken.

It means loving your doctor who wishes he could change the outcome of each endoscopy.

Today we had a 'planning' meeting with her gastroenterologist. No needles, no nurses, just making up a plan to try to get her off a medication that might be inhibiting her growth. (good idea.. she's wearing a size 4T dress and she's 7)

She gave her doctor a framed smaller copy of the poster and he loved it.



The border is "Be Brave... Be Brave" all the way around. (inspired by her EoE theme song)

Rock on Abigail.  You are so brave and we have learned so very much from you!

Simple Things

Happy Summer friends!  We have such messes in our house right now.  I didn't think you'd believe me so I thought I'd give you a tour...


My sweet little mud room looks like this constantly with Scott doing so many house projects.



Cherries in a blue strainer just because red and light blue are my kitchen colors.



Planting... still



Carpet Removing... see that big bag of yuck?  Would you believe that I dust and sweep around it.  Scott laughs at me telling me to just wait until all the mess is gone!



Getting all of those staples out is a lot of work!



The backyard at dusk is my favorite time of day. I'm looking out the girls bathroom window where I give them a bath each night.



Big trees and pretty sunsets make me smile



Real life photos, not staged... will always have a hose in them this time of year and another flat of annuals waiting...



My regular summer decorations are not up this year because of all of the projects... but in a few weeks when the dust has settled. But I must have at least one banner.



But everything is coming along so pretty now.  The flowers this year are so pretty!



And my arbor is such a delight to see from the kitchen window!



Cold and winter seem like a lifetime away. We are so enjoying (even through the working) this glorious time of year!

Painting the Fence

We have some huge house projects going on this summer ... have I mentioned that yet?  Not big money... but big on time and some serious elbow grease from all of us.  (okay, all Scott... I'm just the picture taker and the meal cooker, and the laundry folder, and with the girls.... I have the better end of the deal for sure!)

With Scott working from sun up to past sun down using this vacation days we decided to put the girls to work on painting the arbor of our fence.  And how they did love it!

"Girls, go put on some clothes that you can now call your painting clothes.  Clothes that the paint will not wash out."

Well, when Abigail came down with these painting overalls on I knew I needed to grab my camera.  (I adore those pink overalls and sad that they're now painting clothes... but how cute she is in them sure makes up for it)

(fair skin coated in sun screen... don't worry) 




Do you know the musical Tom Sawyer? One of my favorites that my Dad has directed and produced for middle school children over and over...



And ya get that deep down, inside, satisfaction... gratifying... satisfac...





Ya call this work, well aint that funny... we aint doin this for money. Heck it a regular privilege to be occupied, it's a source of pride.

Graduation Part 2

This is the 'drop off circle' and this is the last time they will ever be here together. Daddy had to take the day off just to that I could snap this. (and try not to cry)



Last Day of school "crossing over" ceremony (graduation part one is here)



Symbolically walking to middle school





And since it was an all school assembly I got to see this little cutie go from a first grader to a second grader.



She only smiles that big for daddy!



We had already had her graduation night but this was such a moving ceremony for all of us. Scott and I were sitting watching all of the teachers walk their classes in and saw all of her past teachers come in one at a time. I don't know if it was the music playing or just seeing them one after another but I adore those teachers and I couldn't hold those tears back any longer. I just love this little school and all of the people in it.



We met the new 'middle schoolers' in the gym after the crossing over ceremony and I love the way Anna jumped right up into her daddys arms. (so un~middleschool.. and we like that!)



Beaming with pride



Sweet friends that asked for a picture with Anna (because she certainly wouldn't have asked)





A few hours later and we were back to hear the bell ring for the last time this school year. And this little one run out of the building screaming "daddy!!!!"















That's it... they did it.. and we couldn't be more proud.



Anna came home to this graduation present as a surprise.

(she's ALWAYS wanted a 'real' music stand that was pretty and wasn't her fold up metal one and this year in particular we just felt like she fell in love with her viola and needed one... perfect graduation present) 




And Abigail was happy with her little my little pony swim goggles.



Why are those super happy days so exhausting? Oh but they are wonderful...

Scott surprised me with a bouquet of flowers for getting Anna through Elementary school. But her smiles, her own pride, her success was all the gift I needed. "thank you for your daughter..." I'll always remember the love.