One Year Down

Remember this house? This is one year ago.

This house, and the family who lived in it, had seen some hard years. Here we are to love you, house!

One year. We've lived here for one year! It's been good, it's been crazy, it's been educational! 

We moved in with a remodel budget, lots of energy, and a little bit of vision. After two exhausting days of moving, we were ready to begin!

After a bit of Bat removal, that is. 

Good-bye neglected wintery yard.

Hello kid-loved summer yard!

Good-bye dingy (din·gy ˈdinjē adjective; gloomy and drab) walls, carpet, and vinyl lettering.

Hello lived in happy space!

New paint, base board, wood floors, crown moulding, etc.

I probably should have tidied up before taking these photos, but who am I to fool the world? We live here.  Ironing board in the living room? You bet. I'm making curtains. Cub Scout stuff in the chair, sunglasses and violins on the hutch. I don't show you these photos to prove that I am an interior designer - because I'm not. I show you to show myself that the last year of effort has actually created something!

 See? Sewing machine. In the living room. The library was nearly finished.... then I redesigned it. Which means new curtains.
Is it bad to redecorate before you finish decorating the first time? If so, I'm bad.

Good-bye 16 year old gray berber carpet. You were awesomely reminiscent of my childhood home, but my Mommy got rid of you in her house years ago. For a reason. Love you, bye. 

Not that berber is bad! It was the age issue. That's all. 

Hello still under construction hallway! The baseboards can't go up until the last strip of floor is laid, and that can't be laid until we start the kitchen. It's crazy how house things overlap and link together. But it's totes ok! Still fully functioning, doesn't bother me. That's a new front door, with side windows, installed by Caleb and his Papa. Those are Katie's new cabinets for her bathroom upstairs. Oh! Spoiler!!! Katie moved in!!! So much to tell you about that, and it's all awesome. It needs its own post, freals. 

Lets go upstairs. 

Good-bye even-scarier-than-gray-berber-carpet! Good-bye holes in the walls, and more vinyl lettering. Jonah, you stay. 

Good boy! Hello new carpet, repaired wall, fresh paint! Also tools in the middle of the floor downstairs. This is our life. 

Out went the carpet and pad, down went the KILZ paint, repair repair went the walls, flex flex went Caleb's muscles. 

 Girly heaven.

 Jonah's room looked exactly like the pre-girl-room shot. Dingy walls, yucky carpet. Not no mo!
Jonah! You forgot to make your bed!!

My bedroom isn't finished yet (structurally it is, furnishings are still being remodeled) but this photo shows you my favorite updates. Two tone blue walls and ceiling, with white trim. Crown moulding, a ceiling fan, and my curtain and mirror creations. This room shows me that I can think outside of the box, at least a little bit, and makes me want to do it more!

The back yard was crying. It had asthma and was dying a horrible and slow suffocating death.
Ew.

It still isn't perfect, but it's a whole lot better! No more sticky bushes, no more deadly swingset. Soft grass, playground, garden boxes, and a flock of happy kids! 

We still have a long way to go, but it's coming! And we don't have a deadline. That's lovely. 

We couldn't do any of it without the help of these worker kids;

 Claire,

Jonah,

Emmy,

and Amelia. 

Also Jojo. Also Papa and Lala and Katie and Tess and Cami and at least 50 other advisors and helpers. 

XOXO to all of you!

Looking ahead; we have a shop to build first and foremost. Then we'll head to the mudroom/laundry room project (it's going to be huge, man) then the kitchen, bathrooms, add a few windows, take out a door, build a deck, etc. This is not all going to happen this year, but it's the list!

Let year number two begin!

Here we are over there... (with a subtext by Jayne)

Caleb here.

Do you look over there and think, "Well, here we are?"

Me either. ( Haha! What?! )

 So this was one of those camping trips over there. ( Yes, true, dear. Then what? )

 Right here. Over there. ( At Current Creek Reservoir. Last weekend )

 We caught fish. ( "we" being Caleb )

 Played in streams. The same one that we caught fish from. That one. ( That one right here over there )

 We also went sledding out here.  ( Because who doesn't love sledding in June? )

 Spiderman came from over there. ( He was in the neighborhood, so why not? )

 Emmy showed up over here as well. ( Hi Emmy! )

Our family loves the snow. In June we don't usually have any, so we went out there, to find snow in here, and played out side inside it. ( Yeah, what he said )

 With the exception of our Claire. She stayed in there because it was a bit chilly out here.  ( Plus she was sleepy )

Millie, on the other hand, loved every minute of it. Every second of it. Except maybe that one moment when she didn't. ( She got over it )

Back to camping. We found a great place by a lake. We set up camp by a tree. We built a fire. See dog run. Go dog go. The cow says Moo. (That one is for you Camille) ( Uh... you lost me on that one. Camille? )

 We were joined by the ever lovely family of Charles and Tess Abbott family. ( We like them! Lots! )

The picture above describes camp so well. Tess, with child. Charles doing stuff, Jayne cooking stuff. Myself nowhere to be seen, and children everywhere. Thanks Abbott's for coming. We enjoy you. ( Hmmm.... that does sum us up pretty well)

Millie enjoys everything. It got chilly as the sun set out there. So we piled everyone on one sled for one last run. ( Because sledding in June wasn't adventure enough )

Jayne is crazy. Crazy I tell you. Believe me, I know. You may think you know, but you don't. At all. Quit trying. In the end you'll fail anyway. Then you have to buy a shirt that says "I failed and Caleb knows it, I should have listened to him and quit while I had a chance. Now I have to live with my failure. How sad." The truth is, that is sad and that you do know it. Good riddance. Go to bed. Nope, don't, the toilet just overflowed. Is the refrigerator running? Better go catch it. (By the way, Jayne is a good crazy, crazy about life, perfectly fun crazy.) (Not the bad crazy that you thought I was thinking) (Wow you're harsh) ( Love you too, babe )

We made it down and Aunt Katie was there to document our glorious finish. Now you know what happens to our family out here. Camping and sledding and stuff. Fun stuff. Jayne will come edit this in a moment so the grammar and what not are correct. In the meantime watch the video below.  ( Uh, nope! Didn't edit a thing. That's pure Caleb for you )

I made this super sick edit just for you.  

The Big Day (part 3)

I'm not done blogging yet!

After the ceremony we took a few more photos, like this beauty;

which shows that apparently we're too many people to get all the faces smiling and perfect. But it's still great!

Then we headed to the tent!

We had some time to mingle and socialize and check out the delicious jam display.

Then we ate! And ate and ate and ate.

 And drank delicious fruity sparkly lemonade beverages.

And took selfies!

Selfies were happening all over the place. 

Hi, Aunt Sue! 

We checked out the cake multiple times. Jonah was stoked purely on the fact that it was cake. Claire was enthralled by the color. Emmy was mesmerized by the floral frosting creations. 

The girls played with the other flower girl, who was too little to actually toss petals but was adorable just the same.

And the sun began to be sleepy and slide down the sky and cast it's evening rays of happiness all over everything.

But we weren't getting sleepy! There was still plenty of party going on.

Evening light is so cozy, isn't it?

Good food, great company, and a seriously happy occasion. 

The tent was alive with happy voices, clinking dishes, and general joy.

Claire decided that wearing her petticoats on the outside of her dress made a much better effect when spinning. We had to agree!

When the dancing began these kids were the first ones out on the floor.

Jonah was dancing with any lady who would have him - and I guarantee he didn't get turned down once.

I love the way kids move to music. I wish I could! 

My dancing is only acceptable because I'm always with a child, and that makes anything acceptable. 

Cutest Papa ever.

Jonah met a new cousin, and they had a great time playing. Boys playing is the best.

And he taught Claire some sweet new moves. I don't know who taught them to him, but I assume it was no one. 

This photo sums itself up. Lurve.

 The evening became night, and still the candles burned and the music played and the happiness went on and on.

If Jonah wasn't on the dance floor, he was right here. Just making sure the cake was still there. And patiently waiting to consume it.  

Which eventually we did!

We stayed past the kid's bedtimes, and after Amelia had already fallen asleep twice. They trudged sleepily to the car and we headed back to the lake, full of food and music and happy memories.

Levi and Lauren, well done. And thank you so, so many times for inviting us to share your happy day.