New house

Well, we're in our new house y'all. The move was quite a challenge with 3 kids and a working husband but thankfully it is over. Most of the boxes are undone and items put away. Of course we still have tons of work to do but we're not in a mad rush to do it.

The house had a thick layer of dust on just about everything so the first part of the week was spent deep cleaning blinds, windows, etc. Friday, I had someone coming to go back over the bathrooms as they were needing a scrub and I was out of time. 

We are LOVING the house. We are all  mostly feeling better and allergies getting back to normal. Sweet Hudson managed to pick up HFMD at his pneumonia recheck even though we didn't know what virus he picked up until earlier last  week.  I took him in for an ear check earlier last week because of fever over weekend and back to feeling crummy. We decided on just a random virus he picked up at doctor. Poor guy woke up at 5 Thursday morning covered in blisters. Hands, mouth and feet. His bottom had spots for a few days but looked like a rash from antibiotics (pneumonia). Such a horrible and painful experience for those who haven't been through it. He lived on Popsicles and liquids as his mouth and throat were covered.  Friday,  as the blisters were popping up in his mouth, he would cry out in pain with his hands in his mouth.  Poor baby, I wish I could make it all disappear.   BUT.....he wasn't contagious anymore and Harper, the one everyone stresses out about catching stuff, has already had a mild case when younger.  

Back to the house......slowly but surely, we will settle nicely in our new house. It already feels like a home. We're looking for a few prints or canvases for various rooms, a quilt, etc.  Things that we might still be looking for in the months to come. Here is a quick look for now of what it currently 

Everything needs a lock.  Hudson is in the phase of getting into everything. 

Harper wanted a mirror for her PINK room so we threw this together pretty quickly. The white mirror was $5 at Walmart, the flowers from the Dollar Tree.

I love this print my Aunt bought years ago and was thrilled to still have a place for it.

Our backyard is one of the highlights of the house.  We spend hours out there.

Slowly working on the Master bedroom.  We're in the market for a new bed and mattress.  I'll work with the dressers and night stands.

Kids bath.

We had the painter frame out the mirror and it was the best decision.

HG's mirrors still are not up and her bed still isn't on the rails yet.
See, we do have some work to do.

Now pictures on the walls in either rooms.  Harper is still missing one of her curtains. We are going to put a quilt on her bed to tone down the room pink.

I love a long hallway.

Downstairs, you can see everything except the office.  This is awesome when all the kids are doing different things.

We would like to take out the carpet downstairs and replace with wood.

Love a good mud room.

Basement bathroom

Basement

Basement bed

Curtains are going up.

Stairs down to basement.

We love how the dining room turned out.

Frozen ice cream party

We celebrated an early birthday party for Hailey Grace with a few of her close friends this afternoon. This was a last minute decision but turned out to be an awesome party. 

20 kids, 2 of them being the only boys, all had a great time. We built Olaf out of marshmallows, had an ice cream bar, cupcakes, Olaf cheese sticks and popcorn. We colored Elsa pictures where everyone got their own makers. The kids played in the basement, did the birthday celebration events and played at the park across the street. All the kids were fantastic.

Princess HG got a Pedicure set so naturally we did nails tonight.

Hudson would swing his life away.

Such fun at the park.

My girls love these boys.

Part of the group. 

Cake time.  We went with white cake, white butter cream icing with pearls on top.

Our cupcake stand isn't really ideal, they always crash so we trashed it and made due with cake stands.

Olaf cheese sticks.

Picture perfect Hudson. He wasn't sure what was going on but loved all the kids. He would climb right in the middle of the group.

I am so thankful for all the wonderful friends Hailey Grace has up here. 

Fourth of July weekend

We had a busy but low key weekend up here. Does that even make sense?  We spent all weekend unboxing and putting away. Thursday evening was the first chance we had to begin unpacking so we've been flying through boxes. Now that the house is just about done, I'm guessing we will dirty it back up with everything from the garage. The house had a thick layer of dust on everything from windows to cabinets to blinds and appliances. All five of us are stuffy or having allergy issues from the boxes and all the dust we are trying to rid.  In another day or two, we should have everything dusted and items put away for the most part. A house cleaner is coming later this week to help out with bathrooms and cleaning.

Our movers didn't put boxes in the correct places. Sure, the boxes labeled master belong in the garage right? It has been like a scavenger hunt looking for items. But it will be so worth t in the long run.

This year wasn't our typical Fourth of July but the girls were not letting us miss fireworks. They love them! Random times through out the year or when we are at the cabin, we will bring out the sparklers and simple fire crackers.  It stays light so late up here that we began popping them until the big shows began. It was a great time, so thankful for OFF. The Mosquitos were horrible.

Harper pours her heart into everything.

Hudson thought the fireworks were over rated. He loves watching them and jumps when it goes boom but 10:15 was just too late for this little dude.  He has had a rough week sleeping and adjusting to the new house. The girls were a different story......

Chris popped some awesome ones.  Our new back yard is great and we could see various fireworks without fighting crowds. 

Sweet babies.

Hudson is in that stage where he wants to act out or run in the pictures. 

Redoing furniture

Of course, so many tasks come your way when moving. We feel that is normal to feel the weight of the world on your shoulders when moving. Moving every year or two has become our norm. Do we enjoy it? No but it is part of the husband's career. Do we long for the opportunity to move and be there for 10+ years? Absolutely! 

Instead of running out and buying super nice furniture for the kids each time they need something new, I've started repurposing furniture. Moving does terrible things to furniture.  HG currently has a great bed that we will put in basement for guest. That left her needing a new bed. While she really wanted bunk beds, there was a precious 3 year old who passed away while his parents slept in the room next to him. He strangled himself on the ladder he climbed daily. It wasn't one of those stories you read online, this hit home as a good friend emailed me about it. Plus, her husband is an ER doctor so when she was telling me about it, I vowed to do everything extra I could to keep them safe.....So having small children for a few more years,  I just couldn't buy that bunk just yet. 

Harper needed a dresser and a bed. She so gracefully used her previous antique bed to swing on and her dresser, let's just say it is waiting to fall apart.  I wanted something I could secure to the wall in her room until she and Hudson are out of the climbing stages. I did not want to spend the $400-$500 on dressers we loved or another $300 on a headboard. I began looking through what we had been toting around for years and not using. Thankfully, we quickly came up with an idea that will hopefully work out perfectly. 

Harper's new dresser. 

HG's mirrors 

HG's headboard

HG's massive dresser

We bought HG's new furniture for $100. It just needed to be cleaned and redone. 

Harper's headboard and a table. 

I have to admire that HG's stuff took a lot of work...maybe more time than work?

For now, we are incredibly pleased with the finished project. HG's was done in chalk paint, which is a big pricier than regular paint.