Finishing up May

Lots of pictures today folks but I'm determined to finish up May today.  The trench for our cable line is being dug on Friday that means that we should have internet at the house by sometime next week.  Hooray!!
Back at the Hide-a-way things were moving quickly.  My counter tops went in.  Much drama over counter tops.  I cried way too much over these counter tops.  I'm blaming it on the stress of moving and having a daughter graduate in the same week but all I know is I was a big fat cry baby.  My poor husband. 

My sink went in too.  I have always wanted a farmhouse sink.  I have drooled over this baby every time I made a trip to Ikea.  It was a happy day when it could finally come home with me.  And I must say it has not disappointed.  It is just the right size and depth and cleans up nicely The faucet makes me smile too because John and my mom picked it out together.  Just the two of them. 

I will be eternally grateful to our friends and family that pitched in and helped us get everything done that needed to be done so we could move before Holly's party.  Edie put in many hours helping me pack and cleaning at the new house.  She is a rock star.

Of course my Mom is pretty awesome too.  She washed a lot of windows.  Windows with a lot of panes in them.  She must truly love me.

We had all the trim painted.

And the doors too.  We had to buy one door otherwise we re-used most of the existing ones.  By the way, if you are considering painting your trim yourself.  Don't do it. Call me. I got a guy.  Worth every penny.

Just in case your wondering what Holly did with all her free time once exams were over...

She also gave her senior presentation.  So, all the seniors have to write and present a 10-12 minute speech that reflects back on their high school career.  They give the speech to a group of teachers and staff and then have the opportunity to present it publically and invite their friends and family.  Holly had a lot of people there.

So neat to have so many people who she loves come and support her.   She was truly touched. 

They have to use a visual aid as part of their speech so my ice-cream loving girl used different ice cream flavors to describe her time in high school.  It was awesome.  If you'd like to read her speech, let her know and she'd be happy to e-mail it to you.  We thought it would be fun to serve ice cream to the audience so her brother and sister helped hand it out.

This was the only picture I got of her presenting.  I was too busy trying not to cry.  I know, that's shocking.  I did really well until the end when everyone came up to hug her. 

After Holly's speech, we got to listen to this handsome guy and a couple of her girlfriends too.  It was a fun night.  It's such a neat way for the seniors to say good-bye to an important part of their life...I couldn't helped feeling relieved that I never had to do it though!

We moved on May 28th, Katie's 7th birthday.  She was a big help.

I took this picture when we started and then never took another one.  It was a busy day! 

When I was going through the house for one final look, I found this written in Holly's closet.  It says: "This was Holly's room.  I loved it so much.  It was frequently my hiding place, stage, safe zone, and dance floor.  Enjoy it, be kind to it, and never paint it a gross color."

 Empty houses are kind of sad.

We made a lot of big memories in this little house! 

Our first meal in our new place.  One of our new neighbors brought it all over...complete with sparkling cider and champagne glasses to toast with!

 We did go to Edaleens afterwards to celebrate our birthday girl!

Our first Sunday at the new house.  We all found good clothes and we weren't even late!

I think we're going to make lots of good memories in the Hide-a-way too!

Still catching up...

Ugh.  I hate being so behind.  Good news though, we have a scheduled date for Comcast to start our installation process....after seven months of phone calls.
Just in case your wondering, I'm at the end of May here.  Could be worse I guess. 
My sister sent me this pic.  I think I need this t-shirt.  Any other wooden spoon survivors out there? Just so you know, my sister rarely got spankings because I always took the blame for her.  Yep, I'm a giver.

One day we made hobo dinners over the fire.  We leaned a lot in the process and I'm anxious to try them again.  Unfortunately a burn ban went into place here about the third week in June so we haven't been able to have a fire since then. 

Here I am attempting to get a picture after church one morning.

Not too bad.

Mom and I painted the master bedroom.  It wasn't officially on our list of things to do since we are redoing this part of the house in a couple years anyway but we had leftover paint so she talked me into it.  She's a smart lady.  It just feels so much fresher and cleaner in there and it got rid of the "old lady smell"...yes, there is such a thing.  See that little closet that you can only use 3/4 of since the dumbwaiter is in there?  It's John's.  We were used to a pretty large walk-in closet and even though he has more clothes that need to be hung up than me, he took this closet and left me the larger one.  He's a good guy.

This was award's night.  Holly was really surprised when she received female orchestra student of the year.  She was pretty excited because this means her name will be on a plaque in the orchestra room for eternity.  There was a gift certificate to Dairy Queen tucked in with the award, her teacher knows her pretty well!

After all the awards were handed out, the new National Honor Society members were inducted in or something like that.  It involves the de-heading of chickens, tribal chants, and melted wax.  Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration but it is a very weird ceremony.

Back to the Hide-a-way....the wood covering for our beam arrived.

It went in a lot easier than the steel beam did!

 Eventually it was sanded and clear-coated.  I still have to do some touch-up paint around it.

Our finishing carpenter started putting up the posts for the railings.  This made my mom happy.  She did not like going up the stairs without rails!  That built-in bookcase is up in the loft.  I love it!

Our cabinet guy made those and also small versions to go in the upstairs bedrooms.

Holly also got a built-in dresser in her room.

This is the tile in my laundry room/ mudroom.  I really wanted those vintage looking hexagon white tiles but John talked me out of it.  I'm so glad he did.  This room is ALWAYS a mess but the floor cleans up really nicely.  There's a half bath through that door.  I love having a place where we can take off our shoes before we get into the house.  It's kind of a funky picture because I took it through the screen door.  John tried to talk to out of the screen door too but I held firm on that one.  I think he thinks it's pretty cool now too.

We got hardware on the cabinets.

In the midst of all the busyness, I took the afternoon off and went and had lunch with my baby girl at Hovander Park.  She was on her end-of-the-year field trip there. 

It was a beautiful day!  We played on the tire swing...

and climbed the look-out tower.

When I got to the park, Katie was just walking back from their walk around the lake.  When she saw me, she dropped her buddies hand and ran to me for a big hug.  She was so happy to see me.  It was such a good reminder that I needed to keep my priorities straight even when life gets crazy busy. 

Mom and Dad come (PTL) and some other stuff.

One would think that when you reach the age of 44, you shouldn't need your parents to rescue you anymore.  I did.  The last couple weeks before our move-in date and Holly's graduation party were completely crazy.  There was so much to be done and so little time to get it all done.  I would not advise moving into a house and having a graduation party less than a week later.  But we did it!  Thanks Mom and Dad....we truly could not have done it without you. 
Before my parents came, the floors were done...or so we thought.



 

Sam got his Penny Book done.  The Penny Book is a 5th grade parent's worse nightmare.  It's a scrapbook of your child's life thus far.  Since your child has no idea what happened in quite a few of those years, it ends up being a parent project.  I was very pregnant with Katie when Holly's was due and now the house and a graduation party were looming over me for Sam's Penny Book.  We got it done though...and on time too!  He really did most of it completely on his own.  I would just talk about each year of his life and he took notes.  He typed it all up and added some pictures.  It turned out great.  So proud of my boy!

I got this text from my mom and I was so happy.  I don't think they've ever made the drive to Washington so fast before.  She knew I was desperate.

My cabinets got installed.

I love them.

And my appliances were delivered.

Gramma and Grampa made it!  We celebrated with ice cream.

And then I immediately put them to work.
First up was painting the floor of Sam's room.  Sam had really, really ugly green shag carpeting in his room.  Unfortunately for him, the carpet in the rest of the upstairs was actually okay so until we replace the rest of the upstairs, he gets a painted floor. 

We used a slate grey porch paint.  I think it turned out really good.

My Dad got busy outside scraping and repainting the porch columns.  This probably wasn't necessary for us moving in but it sure looked nice for Holly's party.

After much, much, much deliberation (and paint samples) Holly decided on a really pretty blue for her room.  It's called Old Pick-up Truck.  I love it.  It's my favorite color in the house.

Her room is on the North side of the house and gets very little natural light so it really brightened it up in there.

I'll end today with a Samism for you.  This just occurred a half hour ago.  I want to get it in print before I forget.
We are in the bank drive-though.
Katie: "Do you think the bank lady will give us suckers?"
Me: "I don't know.  I guess it depends if she can see you guys."
Sam: "Oh, she can't miss my handsomeness." 
Yep, they got suckers.