The family that paints together.....gets dirty!

Afton learns that the paint goes on the wall...not her mouth!

Nathaniel contributes his painting skills!
Preparing to paint more PINK!
Gideon shows that he can paint the wall without even looking!!
Claire carefully works on her area of the wall in the girl's bedroom.
Afton shows that there's still dust on the floor.
.....but she's cute!
Kids + paint brushes = fun!  ...and mess.
Kid's bathroom before painting.
A view of the kitchen (and just a bit of the laundry room) in progress...

new(er) house pictures

March and April stuff -

our new door to the sunroom:

these frames will be walls on either side of our island - looking toward the dining room:
new windows in our master bedroom:
skylights in the living room!:
framed out kitchen - island will be in front; a row of refrigerator, sink, dishwasher, stove along the back (R to L); and the door in the back left is to the laundry room/pantry:
MUCH has been done since these pictures - I have more to post soon!

More Random...

I know it's been awhile - and I DO have more house pictures, I promise - but to tide y'all over, here are some more random cutesy pictures...

Gideon - 5 year old watch-me-grow picture
Claire - ballet recital!
Nathaniel (sorry - I should have shifted this one) - brand new cast
Gabriel - watch out, Major Leagues, here we come!  PITCHER!
And Afton - SHE'S going to HOLLYWOOD!  Our little diva...

Lots has been done on the house, and I will post some pictures of all that when I download the pictures from our camera ... sometime...

:)

joanna

Random Cutesy-ness

SNOW!!

So Huntsville finally got a dusting of snow this winter - for a few hours, anyway.  In typical Alabama fashion, however, a week later finds us with gorgeous 70 degree, sunny, dry days!

The kids had a good time for about 20 minutes, then scurried inside for hot chocolate.  We have no endurance at all!!  :)  Poor Gabriel was too sick to go outside at all, so he missed it.  

Afton was pretty uninterested in the whole thing.  As far as she was concerned, this white stuff just made it hard to walk - VERY confusing!  And getting it on her hands?  Um, no.  When can we go back inside, Mama?? 

Nathaniel enjoys being outside, no matter WHAT the weather, but prefers to do it without all the hats and mittens and mess.  Claire, Gideon, and Nathaniel had a big ole time jumping on the snow on the trampoline, though.  For a few minutes, anyway.
And the poor daffodils ... it was pretty ironic - snow on the daffodils.  And amazingly - it didn't even phase them!   They are as pretty as ever now!

New Pictures (Finally!!)

Sorry it has been so long since we put new pictures up - but here are some from last week.  Hopefully we will get by this weekend to take some more!  More has been done even since these!!

Above is Gabriel in the new master bedroom, in front of our set of 3 windows side by side.

This is the walls and plumbing in the guest powder room.

And Afton in HER new room!  :)  (At least until #6 comes in October!)
And PART of the new roof and walls.  There is more to the roof that is on now.  

Enjoy!

Tour of the House

By the time we get ready to post pictures, they've made a ton of progress beyond what we show. The floor of the addition (top level) is already on by now!









This is our hallway that will lead to the upstairs master bedroom. There were two closets here....not anymore!
















This is our new kitchen! It's like a dream come true!! Just move in the appliances and we're good to go!











If you come to visit, you can check out our new guest bathroom. That's custom decorating at its finest!

More Afton

Afton is also getting to be aware of the limits we set for her.  She will reach out to touch something, then look back at us as if to say "is this ok?", or even "maybe they aren't looking...".  She has also figured out a definite "yes" nod, and uses it appropriately.  "Do you want a banana, Afton?" - big "YES" nod.   The other day, this got her into trouble.  At the doctor's office, she was toddling around and when she got to the door, she looked back to see if I was going to object to that.  I did, and when she took a step out anyway, she got a small swat for it.  That didn't bother her too much, and later she tried it again.  This time, when she looked back at the door, I said "No, Afton", again, and she gave me a long, calculating look, and very deliberately nodded "YES", and proceeded to dash as fast as she could down the hall!  I gave her another, harder swat, and she stayed put after that, but I had a hard time not laughing in the poor girl's face!  Wow, that defiance starts early!! 

Bricks Gone!

Well, they have removed the brick in preparation for the addition!  We swung by verrryyy briefly today to see the progress - I was afraid that if we stayed too long, I'd end up with a passel of sandy, muddy kids - and a yard full of construction mess.  But it was exciting to see the piles of concrete blocks and sand!  I THINK that they put some concrete down in the trench, too.  (see top picture)

Afton's Birthday

Sweet little Afton turned a whole year old on Saturday.  It's hard to believe she is so big!  It was a pretty low-key day, just dinner out at Logan's, then cake and presents at home afterward.  Her sweet smile lights up our life, though.  She has been walking for about 2 1/2 months now, and goes all over the place.  She is good at entertaining herself, but lights up when one of the bigger kids stops and plays with her.  She watches everything they do, and thinks she is big stuff when she pulls off something like them!  She especially enjoys turning the TV on and off, and opening the DVD player and game cube...   Music in any form is just about her favorite thing in the world, and always produces a HUGE grin, and swaying back and forth.   Afton is our little diva, and has a trick of throwing back her head and crinkling her eyes nearly shut with a grin or a hugely dramatic cry.  She's a little thing (compared to our others, anyway), not quite hitting 20 lbs. at one year.  She has 2 bottom teeth all the way in, and 2 more coming up top.  The bottom ones, though, have one missing between them, and that makes her smile so cute and crooked.  Ultimately she's my little Mama's girl, and loves curling up on my lap for a snuggle.  

We love you, Afton!

   

Day Two - Digging the Footings for the Foundation

Here Gabriel shows you just how big the dirt pile is in our front yard!












Here we are standing in Grandaddy and Nana's bedroom....or what will eventually be their bedroom.

All Right, All Right, We Have A Blog!

Are you happy now?  :)  

As instructed, here is a new blog so interested parties can watch our house being renovated.  And maybe more, but I'm not promising anything.

Anyway, today we went and watched a BULLDOZER - at OUR HOUSE!   The kids were sooo excited to see one up close!  There was a hole in the wall to get the big machines in, most of the fence on that side had been taken down, and some trees had gotten the cut.  And there was a HUGE pile of dirt in the front yard!    So it has officially begun ...  Yeah!