Sitting Up!

Did I say she wasn't sitting up? Now she is! A lot can change in a few days. Now, she is sitting up all by herself, and we haven't been "coaching" her at all. I guess she decided she was tired of all that laying down, and figured it out on her own. In the course of a week, she has gone from just learning to mastering the technique!

Jackson County Fair

Yesterday our family went to the "Jackson County Fair," and we had a blast!

Ethan, Katie Belle & Lance floated in bubbles. Too many good times, not enough photos!

Esther, 5 1/2 Months

It has been nearly 6 months. What a blur these six months have been!! This sweet girl is such a joy. She is my constant companion and I love being around her. She is my earliest crawler ever! She can't fully pick up her belly to crawl, but she works those arms for an army crawl to get wherever she wants to go. Unbelievable! She is not sitting up on her own yet, but I'm sure she's close. Jewell at 5 months, and then at 6 months.

Loft

Look what awaits our kids! We still need a ladder...and maybe one day a flower box. I hope it's not one of those things that the kids think is cool for just one day. Get this: Our neighbor planed & dried that wood himself, and was getting rid of it. I had no idea that people just planed wood for fun. But I'm glad he did. It sure is pretty wood!

How High?

Have you ever thought much about how high your knobs should be? What do you like? Corner placement?

a little lower?

a little lower still?

or how about way down there?

Choosing Hardware

So, I'm trying to sort out my whole kitchen hardware situation. Have you ever thought about what hardware you would use, if you could choose? Right when most people are getting rid of their brass knobs, I'm wanting to buy them for my house! I bought some of these guys off craigslist. Have you ever used craigslist? I got some great finds off craigslist for our new house! Lighting, Hardware, Construction Materials, Sinks, Faucets and more!!! Who doesn't like a great deal?

Since we are building (essentially) from scratch, I get to pick out hardware for all the vanities & cabinets throughout the house. So I can try out several looks! But what finish? Polished Nickel? Oil Rubbed Bronze? Antique Brass? So many choices. Here are some from pinterest that I like. Do you think this is pretty, or is it just me?

Hmm...This is pretty too. I wonder what it's like to open those upper cabinets? Looks like a bit of a pain.

But wouldn't this look great on my reclaimed wood island? I found some super old drawer pulls at a local junk shop that will look kind of like this.

And some fat wooden knobs like this in my laundry room will be pretty (and super-duper-cheap!)

Comparison

When people ask who Esther looks like, I can't even tell anymore. They all look so much alike, but also so different. And all that hair!!

But usually, I think she looks a lot like Katie Belle did.

Here's Jewell at the same age.

What do you think?

Barn Wood Island

Things are really coming together!!! I cannot wait to be done with minutia. Running around searching for bun feet for my vanity, searching craigslist for newel posts, reviewing 100 grout colors to find the perfect one. Does that sound like complaining? If so, I don't mean to. I am so grateful every day that we are able to build this home. But I mean, the amount of decisions that have to be made is astounding. But we should be moved in ONE MONTH! YAHOO!! A little photo to share: This pile of barn wood looked like this one month ago...

And this week, it's our island, just waiting for a countertop! Have you ever sweated a decision? REALLY sweated it? That was me, waiting for this guy to be completed. I know barn wood isn't everybody's "thing", but I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out.

I'm not planning to do much posting about our house, but our cabinet maker is awesome. I had to share!!!

My Morning Routine

I begin almost every morning with a bowl of steel cut oats and a cup of coffee. My darling Jewell begins every morning with several bowls of cheerios ("Ree-O's"). And then nearly every morning, my darling Jewell tries to steal what's left of my breakfast. What a little stinker!

Freezing PBJs

All of the sudden, I'm the mama of a large family. In a million years, I never saw it coming. I always thought two seemed like the perfect number of kids. How wrong was I? I'm loving raising 4 little ones, but it is a lot of work to keep everyone clothed, fed, and to school on time! So, I've recently taken to freezing our peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I make a ton, and wrap them in saran wrap. Yes, not the best for the planet, and I use the cheap stuff (not the healthiest stuff) for the sandwiches. Because frankly, the "healthy" stuff isn't the best for the freezer. Anyway, it saves me tons of time and morning energy. 2 loaves of bread last my family like 3 days. Have you ever tried it? What do you think?

Building a House

Wow - taking another mini-break to update you on our house progress! Have you built a house or remodeled? If so, you know - it's a lot of work! And messy, too! Lance's shoes usually look something like this.

Building a house, plus raising 4 little babies who are home all summer long, even more work! But we're getting closer & closer to finishing up. And it's all starting to come together. All those drawers will be in place soon!

Right now, I really have no business blogging. I have about 4 loads of laundry to fold, 1 load to start, dinner & lunch to think about, paint colors to pick, faucets to buy, and a thousand other little things. So off I go!

Dancing Queens

A taste of what you've been missing. Sassy pants! Jewell is a little copy cat these days, wanting to do everything her big sister (and brother - notice the pj's!) are doing!

Goodbye Facebook, Hello Again, Blogger!

So I'm back! (Hooray!) I can't promise I'll blog regularly, but I've deleted my facebook account and I'm posting at least for today. Over the past few months, we've been hard at work building our house and surviving the summer heat. Are you still here with me?

1 Month

I blinked and now a month has passed! I keep meaning to post about so many things, but time is going by so quickly! Here is a picture of my fuzzy headed little baby. I hope soon to post about the progress on our new house. Hopefully that will happen. One day.

At 1 Week

I blinked and my baby is 3 weeks old already! Here are a few pictures that our friend Laurel Pankratz took of Esther when she was one week old. Laurel (Eilas photography) can be found here!

Esther Amelia

Have you been checking in on me? Esther is here!! She is adorable. Weighing in at 8 pounds and 8 ounces, she's a healthy little bundle of joy! When she was born, her face is a little bruised up from her journey. Poor thing!

Moving Dirt!

Have you ever built a house? Although ours is part build/part renovation, it pretty much falls under the "build" category. It's a MAJOR undertaking, completely gutting the house and regrading the yard, etc. I have a guy coming over this weekend with a metal detector. We've been told that the house behind us was once a plantation administrative house, and then a confederate headquarters. And our yard was a campground for the Confederates. So hopefully he'll find something besides bottle caps and nails. Much of the grass is gone and dirt is being moved around, so now is an ideal time! I love searching for treasures!
Speaking of treasures, here's one...My sweet Katie Belle and her bundle of dandilions!

My Family

Here's a sweet picture of my family - and everyone is happy!!! 2 weeks left until baby #4 gets here, and I'll have one more to add to the picture!

Building!

We're building a house!!! Well, renovating. But practically building, because we're gutting an old house & adding on. Why? Because having a 4th baby just wasn't enough for us. So we just completed the first arduous process of creating floor plans and drawings & getting approvals from our city board (it's a tough neighborhood to build in!) Here we are marking trees that have to come down. I've always wanted to spray paint trees! We want to keep as many as possible, but THAT's a LOT of trees. Right? I hope to update the blog on the process, but...who are we kidding? I'm having a 4th baby in a few weeks, just moved in with my parents, selling our house and building another. I'm tired just thinking about it all!

35 Weeks

Are you still reading? Astounding! I've been super-duper busy these days. The whole household has had it's round of sickness, plus...We bought a house! We're moving! We're completely gutting & renovating! Lots of changes around here. Pretty soon, we're moving in with my parents in order to show our house without going bonkers. I asked some friends who said how challenging it was to show a house with small children. Add a newborn, and it sounds like a MAJOR challenge. So we're moving out, boxing up stuff, and planning a renovation! I can't promise any regular updates, but I'll check in with the blog from time to time. Time to waddle back to my load of laundry!