Before and After

Here's a before of the hallway. What you can't see is that all around the edges, the carpet was permanently discolored. I think I have a better picture of that in one of the bedrooms.

And here's the hallway with the new hardwood.

We think it looks a lot better. It's kind of a dark hallway. Someday in the very distant future, I think sky tubes would be cool up there. We are planning on painting the hallway some kind of light tan, too.

We also replaced the carpet in three of the bedrooms. Here's what I was talking about with the dark edges.

It never really looked clean, plus there were a lot of stains. So here's a shot of the guest room after all was said and done.

Man, it looks so much better than it did! I actually painted this room a few months ago and surprised Dan with it. I also made over this little dresser that's been in the family for a long time. It has previously been olive green and bright yellow. Now it's a pale green.

I also made the two decorative pillows a while back. I'm thinking, after looking at these pictures, that I should make a bedskirt. I'd also like to put up some curtains in there. And maybe a headboard one day... Anyhow, we love the new carpet! Everything just looks newer and warmer.

Afton has never had a haircut in her 3.5 years of life. Eventually her scraggly ends were too much to handle. She kept refusing to get it cut, but I finally realized that she didn't want it cut because she thought it would be cut like Sam's.  Once I assured her that I would just trim it, she agreed.

Here's her before photo shoot. She had to make this face from every angle.

So classy, right? I was pretty nervous to cut her hair but I watched a YouTube video that made it look pretty easy. I went for it. Here's the after. Her hair is slightly wavy, so it's hard to really get a good feel, but I cut off two or three inches. I didn't want to try something too short and mess it up so I kept it simple.

This week

Tuesday we got new hardwood floors in the upstairs hallway. I took a few "before" pictures, but I'll wait to put those up until I get the "after" picture. To commemorate this event, Sam and I filmed a video.

Oh, the joy of "jack and jill" bathrooms.

He is such a good kid. He was sick last week and he said a lot of prayers to feel better. He's got faith in the power of prayer. The other day he prayed that the DVD he was watching would stop skipping. (And it did.) 

Yesterday Afton's tummy was hurting and Sam deduced that she had gas. He offered to say a prayer for her. He prayed that "Afton's tummy would stop hurting and that her gas would go away. And also that no one else in the family would get her gas." Ha! Her tummy felt better shortly after and Sam said that it was because Heavenly Father heard our prayer. Then Afton, who doesn't really like to pray, said, "No! It wasn't the prayer. It was MAGIC."

Today we've got some guys installing new carpet in the upstairs bedrooms. They are pounding away up there. I really hope they look nice. Pictures once everything is put back in its place!

Is it spring yet?

We have been hanging out at home a lot lately. We are ready for spring! It's been in the 60s the last two days and it's amazing.

Not much going on around here. Most days we get ready and I take Sam to school. Then Afton and I run errands, head home for lunch, she naps while I try (but usually fail) to be productive. I wake her up to go and pick up Sam and then we head to the gym. We get home to fix dinner, eat, play/read, and then it's bedtime. I'm sure that's the story with most of you guys, too.

Here are a few pics of life lately. We got a decent amount of snow on the 13th.

 Dan has been reading "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" to the kids. They've got three chapters left. Sam is really into it.

 Afton not so much.

 Dan built some Amish snowmen who are shunning one of their own. Psych. That's just how it worked out.

 She loves to stick our her tongue in pictures.

 Cuteness.

A few projects

Some of you may remember that Dan built this coffee table a while ago - probably 2 years ago? I can't remember when. Anyway, he kept it unfinished for a long time. Recently he came across an interesting way to stain furniture and he wanted to try it. First you rub it all down with some tea so that it soaks in. It's supposed to bring out the grain more or something. Then you make a concoction of cider vinegar and steel wool and let that sit for a few days. For Dan it was more like a month. Anyway, you use that as the stain. Then clear coat it. He gave it a rustic look and I think it looks great!

Next we painted the "study." Dan likes to call it the study even though there aren't any books in there. It was hard to pick paint colors because the first floor is really open and we want the rooms to gel. We decided on "smoky slate" by Olympic and had it color matched to Behr because we like Behr paint more.

In the future this room needs curtains, a new rug, and something tall in the corner to add more height - it's a tall room.

We also painted the dining room. This color was called "rainwashed" by Sherwin-Williams which we also had color matched to Behr.

I couldn't quite get the camera to give an accurate picture, but it's a pretty blue. Any ideas on what should go on that empty wall? In the future we're looking to replace the chandelier, reupholster the chairs, maybe paint the recessed ceiling a nice darker shade, and move the desk out of there. As well as put up some curtains. I've been on the hunt for fabric that we like for both rooms but so far I'm coming up short. Those are the project updates for now!

MLK Jr. Day

Dan had MLK Day off of work, which was awesome. We watched the famous "I Have a Dream" speech the night before and talked to Sam a little bit about the Civil Rights Movement. He learned about it some at school, too.

Monday the weather was pretty nice so we went to a park nearby and took a nature walk. This girl wears a skirt or dress EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

 Here she's pretending to be a bird for some reason.

 Cute.

 "Mom, take a picture of me by this sign."

 After our walk we hit the park.

 Have you seen these cup things at the park? They can twirl really fast. Makes me sick just watching him go around.

 We also went to Home Depot that day and picked out paint for the living room. We wrapped that up on Thursday. I'll post pictures of our latest projects soon.

Tuesday was a snow day, but it didn't start snowing until 4:30 or something. A pretty bluebird hung out on our deck for a while.

Sam had the rest of the week off of school. We got about 3 inches Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. It is so cold here!! Sam heads back to school tomorrow.

Rock Rainbow Bridge

A few weeks ago we went to visit my parents for the day. One of the things we like to do while there is take a walk on their street to a point recently christened "Rock Rainbow Bridge." There is neither a rock rainbow nor a bridge here, but that's what Sam dubbed it so that's what it shall be known as from henceforth.

When my parents' street was re-paved over the summer, a lot of tiny little rocks were left over on the sides of the road. There's one spot with a guardrail and a drop off on the side so the kids grab handfuls of pebbles and throw them over the guardrail - making a rock rainbow. So the last time we went, I took some pictures.

 Saying hello to Mr. Tree Face

 Gathering the rocks.

 A more common face...

Just wanted to write about it before I forgot.

Girls trip

A few months ago, maybe like six, actually, I emailed my former roommates about the possibility of getting together for a roomie reunion sometime in the near future. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for multiple reasons. (But if any of you roomies are reading this, I'm still up for it!)

In the meantime, I decided that it would be fun to at least get together with a few of them who live on the East coast with me. Katrina is 2 hours north in McLean, Virginia and Destiny is 2.5 hours south in Durham. Although it was short, we got together for a fun visit this past weekend.

Katrina drove down to my house, and then I drove us down to Destiny's. We got there around 1 on Saturday and mostly spent our time talking. We drove around a little bit and went out to a local BBQ joint. We stayed up late (well, late for me!) visiting and it was so great. I've seen Katrina a few times since being back and I hadn't seen Destiny in 5 years.

 Katrina and I were unintentionally matching (red coat to red shoes, scarf to coat, and turquoise underneath).

 Sunday we went to church and then came back to Destiny's for lunch and more chatting until it was time to go. Thanks so much, girls! It was fun to catch up on life and also reminisce about all the stupid things that we (mostly I, really) did back in the day. Glad I've grown up a little bit since then! I had such a great time.

And thank you to Dan for watching the kids!