Weekend Recap

Another weekend just flew by. What a surprise! The summer is flying by as well.
We got some things checked off our to do list and were very productive.
While D was enjoying staying with Grandma and Grandpa M for the entire weekend R and I got down and dirty with my parents and brother in law.
D went to the pool on Saturday and the zoo on Sunday.

We have been waiting for our stone to arrive for our fireplace and it finally did. I laid the stone out on the floor since my brother in law (BIL) ordered me to put the layout together before he got there to do the work. So I slaved to make it look nice, I measured twice and slaved over the right colors that should go in each spot.
My BIL and his apprentice got to work
After all day Saturday working on it (NOT following the pattern on the floor at all) and a few hours on Sunday here is the finished product.
Before:
AFTER:
We also got our doors and vents up
Now our floors in the family room need to be done, we need to paint it, install the vanity and paint the half bath and we should be 90% there for now.

R and I went to our first farmer's market in town on Sunday and stocked up on organic fruit and veggies.With our last strength we put D's house together. He hasn't seen it for an entire year and after moving twice it finally emerged.
He got home late and it was raining so early this morning while I enjoyed the sunrise he cooked me pancakes and they were "mmmm dssssscccc (delicious)" according to him. And they sure were.

10 Friendy Fireflies

With summer here and lightning bugs making our backyard their home every night, we went out to see them tonight when it was past D's bed time. We got the idea from my friend Laura who got the idea from her friend. The world of blogging is small.
One of D's favorite books to read is Ten Friendly Fireflies. Each firefly lights up in the book when you press the button.
I figured it was time to let him see the real thing. So with the book in hand we ventured out to find our friendly friends of the night.
Even with some distractions from planes above D saw them right away and was very amused when the fireflies' "butts" would light up.He was so amazed that he lost his shoe.
Look, there they are!
Getting a better look with daddy.
Who doesn't love summer fireflies...EXCEPT when there are mosquitoes among them trying to suck your blood. After 15 minutes we ran inside.
Happy Summer!

4th of July weekend

A long weekend has ended and we have new memories of this holiday in our new home. We started off the weekend with blowing some bubbles in our driveway.
We continued with some tricycle fun in the driveway.
After working our butts off on Saturday putting up doors (that we somehow forgot to mark from which room they were!), grouting our new tile downstairs and spending over an hour at our local Home Depot picking up things we did not end up needing we decided we would do NOTHING on the house on Sunday and Monday.
We headed out to the pool but because our timing was off with D's nap, Mr. Cranky was not himself and wanted nothing to do with the water. He was clinging to daddy the entire time. We cut the trip short as clouds rolled in and it started to rain. We walked home in the rain and that will be something I will never forget.
A good Popsicle made him feel better
When the clouds cleared we headed to the park but of course as we were enjoying some swinging time the clouds rolled in again and this time it didn't just rain it poured. As we raced towards the house mama realized how out of shape she was. We got home and D just said "more" as he was laughing the entire run back home comfy in his stroller as the rain washed his little piggies.
We didn't see the fireworks as Ry and I both decided 9:30pm for fireworks would have us going nuts with a sleepy baby who was getting bit by mosquitos.
Today we relaxed and went for a BBQ at my sister's. It took us an entire 3 minutes to walk there. We celebrated my nephew's 10th birthday with some delicious ice cream cake that D waited so patiently for salivating.
After that we enjoyed sitting on a blanket in the backyard as the guys played "bags" and D ran around with the dog.
Hope you enjoyed your long weekend!

Alive!

Yes, I'm still alive and proud to say we survived the move. Since my last post, we painted both bathrooms, gave all the bedrooms a second coat and cleaned like crazy. Saturday arrived and we moved like mad people. I mean moved people...my body is sore, my arms are tired and I'm just exhausted. We are slowly unpacking. I'm taking my time as I tend to be one of those people if pressured, I end up doing a crappy job so I would rather take my time.

This week I threw out so many clothes in our closets I could clothe a small village. It felt good, it will feel even better to drop it off at the Salvation Army.

The house is getting a second coat of paint today and the electricians are finally coming tomorrow to cover up the canned lights and all the outlets. Watching a 2 year old stare at the exposed wiring was scaring me to death.

Some pics of my life right now include...

An office that hasn't been touched.

A boy without cable watching shows that have been Tivo'd forever over and over again on our bed (actually just the mattress, we can't find the screws for our sleigh bed, HA!)

D's bedroom with no window treatments (except for some temporary shades that don't fit). His closet is the only closet that is semi organized (although the doors are not up ANYWHERE!)

D's playroom that needs major toy removal and some paint touch up.

Our new stairs! The back of them are getting some paint on them soon.Tons of unpacking still left to do.

On a lighter note because Ry's commute has been cut in half we've been enjoying our new backyard. Ry and D have been mastering t-ball. After some testing daddy determined D is a righty, (much to grandpa's disappointment since Ry was a lefty and supposedly a pro, I don't see a hefty check from MLB but I'll take the newspaper clippings of daddy's famous games as proof).



I almost forgot, here is a picture of our living room fiasco. This is only with one coat of paint so today this will look muchhhhhhh better. Oh and also, for the first time in who knows how long the three of us had dinner at 6pm!!!! That was a first and felt great. We love having daddy come home to eat dinner like we Europeans like to do as a family. I just get a weird look from Ry when I tell him "this is how it should be, my family always ate together at the table". All he says is "it ain't the American way". Well, I'm about to throw down a can of Polish whoop as@ if someone isn't at the table to eat with us. Daddy is still in training. I think it's so important to eat together because I can see D grabbing his plate in a few years and plopping in front of the TV and never saying a word about his day, kinda like someone "American" I know, ha ha!In this picture you can see D playing with a new garbage truck he got from his sitter as a house warming present. Every week on garbage day they walk the streets following the trucks and waving to the garbage men. It's the highlight of his week, really.

I'll have more pics as we make progress on the house. Since we have no cable, Internet or phone (due to the incompetence of people at Comcast) I had to wait this long to update.

Final push

Tomorrow begins our 2 day race to the finish before our move in day, Saturday.

Our rental looks like a disaster and there is tons of stuff to pack.

The floors at the house are complete and the stairs as well. We saw them yesterday and it looks great. The final coat of polyurethane went on today so tomorrow we'll tackle painting 2 bathrooms so we don't destroy the floors.
Friday, the plan is to put on the second coat of paint on our bedroom and the play room. Everything we've been bringing to the house is crammed in the garage and basement. There are so many things that are not finished, but I know it will come together with a little effort over the weekends.
Today, I started looking at decorations to transition D from his baby blue bedroom to look more like a toddler room. I have to do this since the star decals didn't survive the 2 moves we made since his original bedroom.

His old nursery.

To make it look a little older and not so babyish here are some wall decorations I've been looking at. They have to go with a sports themed bedding since my sister gave me my nephews toddler bedding that he never used as he climbed into bed with them till he was like 7. It's in great shape, but that won't be put into the room till D graduates into a big boy bed, probably around August.

Here are some ideas I have once he gets into a big boy bed.

I started to like vintage wall art when I was preggo but the $100+ price tag on it made me go with the cheap star decals. What was I thinking? Now Land of Knod and every other place has copied my great idea and are selling the prints below for like $120 a piece. Anyone know of a cheap place that has these let me know.
He needs to learn his states sometime.

My in-laws have a vintage baseball glove they bought for Ry when he was small at a flea market that they will give D to put into his room.

We gotta incorporate some baseball into his room. Every boy needs a growth chart.

These are still ideas but I think it will look cute and will grow with him until he tells us he hates sports and wants to race cars for a living.

We've planned for that as well...

For the playroom we're thinking of going with a car theme, vintage also. Aren't these adorable for the walls to add a little color?

These ideas will get me through the next few days. I'll have a full post after the move next week with pictures of the new place for sure.