Zoe’s Bathroom

Posted on March 17, 2007 by Abbie

Last weekend, we started our end of “renovation” by redoing the kids/guest bathroom and making it into Zoe’s bathroom. We had three very good friends come over and help, and unfortunately, caught up in playing hostess, chasing three preschoolers, and helping paint, I did nto get any pictures of our friends so I’ll just send out big hugs and say thanks to Bill, Alvin, and Annette!

Zoe’s bathroom before. We had a “lighthouse” motif. Very neutral. I thought it was very nice and pretty but I also thought it would be very special for Zoe to get her own bathroom with her own pretty colors!

“Pearl Violet” on the walls.

And the finished room. My mom painted this window and when she found it, it had the purple sill already painted. I was going to try and put it in our bedroom but when we were talking about a “girls’ bathroom,” we realized that the window would work great in her bathroom. As it goes, without even thinking much about it, Zoe and I picked out a beautiful shower curtain that has butterflies on it. All the colors matched perfectly. This window and towel rack are on the opposite wall of the vanity.

The pretty shower curtain and new hand towel rack and all the pretty colors. I wish I could have had my own bathroom growing up! Lucky girl 🙂 Of course, she has to share this bathroom with the boys for a little bit longer!

Here are our 15 minutes!

Posted on March 15, 2007 by Abbie

Here is the famous picture that created such a stir one day last month. This is the picture and the snipit of the article about Spring cleaning that appeared in the Augusta Family Magazine for this month. Yes, my name is completely misspelled…but hey, what are you gonna do?! At least my kids look really cute.

Family Update

Posted on March 14, 2007 by Abbie

It looks like Liam still has the ear infection from two weeks previous. At a hunch and because I knew that the pediatrician would not be in today, I took him in yesterday. He’s on augmentin now. Hopefully, this stronger antibiotic will kill this persistent bacteria. He’s been running a low grade fever since Sunday and he had just finished up his amoxicillin on Saturday…tadum! My very healthy child has now been to the doctor twice in less than a month. He’ll go in in two weeks for his 15 mth well check and she’ll check his ears then.

Our afternoon yesterday was spent out and about as we went to speech, Target, the doctor, drop off a prescription at Wal-Mart and then to ballet…Mark met us at ballet to take the kids home and I left for Wal-Mart to pick up the prescription and necessities (milk etc) and then back home to eat real quick and then out again to Bible Study…phew! We were all zonked.

Ace ran a low grade temp early this morning and I think it’s climbing again. So everyone has a cold! This cold has seemed to only give Zoe congestion (she was the one who started it this time). Mark is pretty congested. I’m a little congested but mostly I believe due to pregnancy. I’m sure I’ll pick up the cold eventually though.

So, for right now, we’re quarantined to the house. I’m planning on going to church to eat tonight and then taking the two most sick kids home to get in bed while Mark and Zoe stay for church stuff.

I’m working diligently at getting items priced for consignment sale and washing up Liam’s clothes (found a whole summer wardrobe for him…that gives him two!), and Josiah’s (still doesn’t really need clothes…having two older brothers will help keep him clothed). Knowing that finding good condition boys’ clothes at consignment is a hard task, I’ve been trying to buy when I find things on sale. Liam’s got a good stash which adds to his good stash from Ace. Ace, however, is very hard to buy for at his age! I’m planning on attending a consignment sale this week and then going to the consignment sale I attend every fall and spring (plus I’ve got a ton I’m consigning this year). I still haven’t gone through my maternity wardrobe for the summer but believe I’ll need to purchase a few things. A lot of what I had maternity wise was purchased or given to me, second-hand, so those are going back into consignment. They’ve seen a lot of wear and tear through three pregnancies. I was hoping to be like my sister-in-law and find a lot of long skirts at Goodwill that could be worn during and after pregnancy and would be cool and comfortable…no luck! Oh well!

Please Pray!!!

Posted on March 13, 2007 by Abbie

Our friend, Kennis, is back in the hospital finishing up surgery to remove a mass on her brain. She was diagnosed a year ago with PNET, a type of brian tumor, that was quickly removed. She’s been going through cancer treatment (chemotherapy and radiation) for the past year. While they thought they would be done and she would head to remission, they found another mass on her brain during a scan two weeks ago. Two more scans have confirmed it is there. The Lord has decided that He would use the surgeons to remove the mass. She is at Children’s Hopsital and we should get an update soon. Please pray for her and her family. I’m just not sure what this is going to entail for her treatments yet. You can check in on Kennis and sign her guestbook (which she LOVES to read) at www.kennisnix.org

Tea Time

Posted on March 6, 2007 by Abbie

This weekend, we had a Ladies’ Tea at our church. We had several tables set up (like 20) and each table hostess brought her china, etc, to set the table. It was a wonderful tea and over 100 ladies were there. I volunteered as a table hostess and was able to bring my china and set the table. Of course, I forgot to bring my camera before everyone came so I only have one picture of the table. I’ll try and do better next time. I was so excited to use my china.

When Mark and I were registering for wedding gifts we kept in mind that he was still in college and I had no money so our apartment was going to be small…one bedroom and very very small. Therefore, we didn’t register for any china or flatware, etc. However, I also knew that mom was going to give me her fine china from her wedding eventually. Two years later, my parents moved, and she passed down her beautiful china to me. I feel very blessed to have it. It’s not that cream or white china that everyone has. It’s a beautiful china with a black border and roses etched into the border with a silver lining. I absolutely love it! And this was really my first chance to use it in any real setting. This year, our immediate family and whoever wants to come will be celebrating Thanksgiving in our home, and I will use the china then. I’m excited about that time.

So, here are the pictures from the tea:

Kay Harmon, our pastor’s wife and a great, godly example of Christ and being a woman, mother, and wife, spoke at the tea.

Sadly, this is not a very good picture :(. However, this are two ladies in our church who play “flamboyant” characters every now and then for sermon dramas. Very funny! One of them is a MOPS volunteer and we would be lost without her love for our kids!

Construction Update

Posted on March 6, 2007 by Abbie

We met with Mr. Bill, our contractor, last night. He drew up a rough sketch of the plans. We took off two feet on closet to save some money and because the extra two feet gave us an enormously large amount of space to walk around in which we didn’t need…unless we gain an unsightly amount of weight. Anyway, I’m very happy with everything. My compromise for not having a separate shower and tub is a soaker tub which will be about twenty inches deep and very long…yummmy! We’ll have a shower/tub combo. He also suggested we get the “comfort” height on the toilet which is two inches taller…he said we’d love it but I just thought it was really funny! After going over all the plans, it looks like our new space will be 10X14. A very good size I think but definitely not too large. He’s doing everything he can to cut costs for us, including asking for help from people that go to our church. We are very blessed to have such a good contractor and one who understands that we need the space on very little budget.

After we went over all the plans, we showed him our bathtub (which will be the boys tub/shower). Hehehe, needless to say, he was disgusted by it, as were we. He said he would check into prices to “re-bath” it and also to take it out and cover it. When Mark told him we needed to replace it (this was over the phone), he said he would look at it but that if it wasn’t bad, then we didn’t need to replace it…which we agree with. But, unfortunately, our mauve tub from 1972 has seen it’s day…it needs to be laid to rest and we all agreed. Plus, mauve in a boys bathroom sounds really icky!

So, he’s taking the plans to someone who will draw up “real” plans and then we’ll start laying the foundation, etc. Yippee! Of course, to me, this means about another month before construction begins. His company is very busy right now and unfortunately, we are not big money makers for him so priority wise we are very low. He said we would at least have it started before the baby gets here. Please pray that it is at least finished before the baby gets here. Having to recover from childbirth and listen to people banging outside my room doesn’t not sound very appealing. Not to mention the sleep depravation that goes along with nursing a newborn!

This weekend is a big paint day. We invited several friends to come over and paint but it looks like only one will come. We’ll be painting the boys room and Zoe’s bathroom. I would ideally like to get Zoe’s room done, but I don’t think that will happen this weekend (maybe next weekend Mark and I can knock that out). I’m praying it goes good and that the kids are cooperative about painting. I’ll post before and after pictures next week!

And finally…

Posted on March 5, 2007 by Abbie

Here are some great pictures of the kids…

Saturday evening while waiting on supper, Liam and Zoe sat at the fridge and played with our fridge magnets (they sing the ABCs and do phonics sounds).

Of course, when Ace saw the camera he had to join in!

Yippee! Josiah has his first real baby item that will not be handed down from Zoe, Ace, or Liam. This will probably be one of very few…not counting his diapers (clothe ones, that I still have to order soon). I ordered this blanket from ladies at our church that have started an embroidery business. It’s going to be a nice size blanket and light weight enough to use with nursing during the summer. I think it’s beautiful!

Some Cute Liam Pics

Posted on March 5, 2007 by Abbie

A favorite of all our kids is being thrown by Daddy. Here is Liam in action!

Looks like we have another bookworm in the making. I love his face in these shots. He’s not eating anything, just the way he looks when he’s really thinking about something.

Here is Liam doing something that he enjoys the “mostest!” Climbing on the highest point possibel and standing up!

Pillow Diving

Posted on March 5, 2007 by Abbie

One of our favorite activities is Pillow Diving. Zoe and Ace get pillows from all over the house and pile them in the floor of our playroom. The jump is very minimal as there are only two steps down to our playroom. But the jumping is a bunch of fun. This is from our recent pillow diving adventure this past weekend.

Waiting for a signal from the judges to begin jumping!

Zoe jumping in!

Ace’s descent into the pillow pile.

Liam’s pillow diving consisted of jumping from the playroom floor and falling face first into a pile of pillows. He did just step off into the pillows once and, when Mark and I laughed, looked at us like we were the crazy ones!