Studs

Studs. Studs are all the wood that frame your house under the walls that you are not supposed to see. Studs are really all I have seen since moving in over the summer. Guess what though? The studs are disappearing. Walls down. Walls moved. Walls drywalled in. Hallelujah. 

And Im thankful for the biggest stud of all- my Tim. I laugh at how in the WORLD we have seriously done this and 13 years later.... that man and I were just made for each other. No explanation. 

Well clearly blogging is the first thing to get crossed off my list when I hit "over capacity." And I don't mind that. I feel confident I can catch up! 

Oh, and I am healed- for real, the good Lord and physical therapy has made me stronger than ever so watch out house- you will not take me down. 

So, my only other excuse is that I was converted over to a Mac Book and am still trying to figure this thing out.... also Tim wants me to use our nice camera to take pics of the house renovation and bless his heart, that just hasn't happened!

I am educating myself and hope to make it happen! WE FINISHED THE ADDITION!!

I don't even know if you remember, but there was a crazy huge addition built onto the house and never finished.... it had sliding glass doors in the middle of the house and there was no HVAC- also the old front door used to be to the right of the bookshelves. Things have happened crazy fast- we are ON BUDGET, have done everything ourselves minus the drywall- all the shopping, paint mixing, hauling, labor, ect... whew I am tired again now! Through these seasons we just don't get a lot of sleep, there are no secrets, just no sleep. And I'm not really kidding.

This renovation has seemed like such a blurr- behind the wall is our kitchen, it was taken down to the studs, we just got drywall in over the weekend.... and we are weeks away from being pretty much "finished"- we use that term loosely.

The hard part is that balancing a house renovation in the middle of your life/ raising a family is REALLY un-natural. There is no normal- so we always err on the side of putting the house last. Which would make a lot of people crazy living in the mess, but my kids, family, friends, and church are just more important. You have to know that up front before starting a project. There are just more important things and a house falls far on the list sometimes. We are dying to finish though and be able to entertain and host and do what we do! We like people. Lots of people. And we like them in our home.

So, more details to follow on the blog, but here is our new cozy family room. We are in love. I am digging to get all my before, lots of during, and my fancy after shots together. Just be patient with this near insane mommy of small children :)

David's kindergarten Valentines Party- my superman David

Cooking in the hallway because we ripped our kitchen out. Breakfast burritos.

Tim still ripping pieces of the kitchen out. This is real life.

Loving on my sweet, sweet 6.5 year old

Mackenzie and her preschool buddies valentines party

Mackenzie and Daddy on the Daddy-Daughter Valentines Dance

You better believe I sold every. last. thing. that we ripped out of that kitchen. Oh yes I did.

Down to the used garbage disposal and all baby. Buyers on craigslist are something.

Weekly moms Bible Study on James. Loving this.

Working with Mackenzie while she is home with me!

Blue Man group with Timmy on my birthday

Worked another fun event at Chickfila Corporate and their kitchen makes me so happy.

And you better bet we have gotten deals on every last thing we are putting in this house!

My Trader Joes shopping buddy while Daves at school

Lots of friends birthday parties on the weekends...

Holy crap. Found this picture from when I was pregnant with David. 23. Wow is all.

We have a little fire pit we bought for outside here. Something so fun about it.

Did I post these already? Santa came this year

Everyone was pretty happy about that

Santa even got my ring re-dipped. First time in 10 years.

And Tim got me these awesome trunks that I am in love with. Story later.

And we surprised the kids with a Legoland trip.

I will never regret pushing deadlines, delaying projects, and moving slower to spend time with my people..... I am so glad. I think in some crazy way God has equipped us to live for the now in the midst of literal walls coming down. Hey thanks for that God :)
I love that our kids get to be apart of watching some of their parents dreams come true. I love that they are even little passionate real estate people. David has already asked when the next house we are buying or what walls we will be taking down to which I quickly reply, "SHUSH IT!" Not really. I say, "No more houses baby and no more walls coming down. We are going to keep those up now. Daddy is a crazy man." Ha! I don't say that either. No one dares to ask me those questions in my fragile state.

We are almost done. And I feel like we have overcome so much.
Gratitude fills our home and dreams really do come true.