Projects and our Rental. AND moving AGAIN!!!!

Well, it's about time that I post these pictures.  My sister-in-law Nickie asked me to post pictures WAAAAY back when we moved into our rental almost 10 months ago!  Well, wouldn't you know it!?  We're moving AGAIN, so now that we're boxing up I thought, now or never!!! (I'll be posting more about our move later, but just for those of you who are curious- we're staying in this area- we just found a rental that will save us more dinero!!!)

This is the house from the front.  It is a cute house but badly needs new siding and was in much need of some landscaping TLC.  The first few days that we moved in my parents were out visiting so, {lucky them}they got to help me dig, weed, mow, mulch and plant!!!

I didn't take and AFTER pictures...but just picture clean lines, nice mulch and bright, cheery flowers!

   

For an older tiny little home, our Landlords did a great job of making this a cute place inside.  I tried to decorate on a very CHEAP budget.  We found the red furniture on Craigslist and bought the armoire in the family room with the TV for $50.00!!

THE LIVING ROOM:

               (excuse the dark picture)

                           

                            

                          

THE MASTER BEDROOM:

OLIVIA & ZACH'S ROOM:

                                          

THE MAIN BATHROOM:

                                       

For some reason I don't have any pictures of the kitchen.  Oh well, that's already packed up so too late now!  However; this was our children's ART wall going down the stairs to the family room:

First view of the FAMILY ROOM:

I thought that I would love having a family room after only having one living space in all of the other places we've lived; however, I decided that I DO NOT like having a basement family room.  Although it is cool during the summer it is FREEZING during the winter and the kids don't like being down there by themselves.  We almost never use the basement at all actually which is part of the reason we decided to go ahead and move too- just a waste of space that we're paying to heat!

In the future, I'd love to have a family room off of the kitchen/eating area like a great room and then a more formal living room away from that.  I've decided that I like having bedrooms upstairs and the living on the main floor...


The family room also doubled as the office...part of the reason why I haven't kept up as well with blogging, bills etc.  Out of sight, out of mind.  And it's just not convenient.




GUEST ROOM:

I was excited to have the guest room when my mom came and stayed with us for 6 weeks when Zach was born.  Other than that is had hardly been used!  It doubles as the sewing/craft room and has some natural light, although no scenery as you look out into the window well!!

BRADY'S ROOM:  (Until about 2 months ago...all three kids in one room now, another reason why we decided to move...more about that later!)

Brady's ART wall:

He created this artwork to hang on his wall too.  He has a loosely-based theme of space so we went to the library and checked out some books with pictures he liked.  He then drew those pictures for his wall!  I thought he did an excellent job!!!  6 years old!

I made these planets from some styrofoam board and scrapbooking paper.  I decided on this after hours of searching for the right mobiles to buy or make without any luck...

I spray-painted this shelf we already had and mod podged some paper to the back that matches his pennant banner.  The top is where he displayed his creations!  

I already had the red totes and found these other ones on sale at JoAnns.  I tried chalk initially, but of course it wore off.  So, I bought a white paint pen and wrote in on.  I figure if it doesn't come off easily then I can just paint over it with chalkboard paint I already have...

There is also a storage room/laundry room and a 3/4 bath in the basement.  No pictures...

The backyard, AFTER we weeded and planted our beans...

I will say that I will miss this wheat field and the beautiful open sky!

First Spring Picnic.

Back at the first of March we enjoyed a warm, sunny day and some great company as well!  Grammie and Grandpa Graf came up for the afternoon to join us for a picnic on the greenbelt!

We ate some yummy sandwiches on Grammie's homemade bread, enjoyed the crisp spring air and fed the ducks!!!

Brady's first sport....BASKETBALL!!!

Brady played a session of basketball this winter and had a great time!  This was his first sport and it was so fun to watch him develop, learn skills and learn about the game!  Chris enjoyed coaching Brady with tips and practicing.  By the end of the season Brady had become really good on defense and made several baskets in each game!  Olivia can't wait to play when she's old enough too!

Blast-Off!!!

A while back Brady had a day off from school so we met up with our neighbor friends at Blast-off, and had A BLAST ourselves!  All the kiddos (minus Zach) in the ball pit!  Brady, Liv, Aiden, Lydia and Wyatt

Guys' Night

Brady went through a hard time at nights before he moved back upstairs into Liv's room.  Chris tried to help him be brave one night by having a sleepover!  It was so cute- they played Legos, sang songs, watched a movie and funny videos and told stories!  I snuck in after they fell asleep to take these pics!

Kiss Me (i'm part) Irish!!!

Way overdue as usual...I just can't keep up with this blog!!!  The kiddos and I had fun making this St. Patrick's Day poster using a recycled piece of paper from Brady's school and lots of magazine scraps.  The kids found all the strips of color and then cut them into chunks, then we pasted them into a rainbow.  Olivia had one half of the page to color and Brady had the other!  

We also made up a bunch of Shamrock cards to give to friends and family along with some zucchini bread (still using that zucchini from the summer that I shredded and froze!)

We had our New England boiled dinner a few days early since I was actually having my wisdom teeth removed on St. Patrick's {OUCH!!!  Just NOW feeling better...}

I tried to be creative for Brady's lunch on Friday morning.  I really wanted to eat one of these cute cheeses but I was on my way to surgery in a half hour...no food for me!!!

Green utensils, pistachio pudding, and grapes and kiwi

I surprised everyone with their own green bowls for a LUCKY CHARM cereal treat...we never have sugar cereals around here.  Also a tricky little leprechaun dyed our milk green and littered the table with glittery shamrocks!!!

Hope you all have a happy St. Patrick's Day too!!!