House: Year One

It has been an entire year of home owning in Michigan! There has been good there has been bad and a little bit of ugly. But here we remain, more or less happy that we bit the bullet and bought.

In honor of the year I thought I'd highlight the good things that we've done here.

I finally organized that awkward kitchen desk space.

The dinig room got painted red (thanks Katie!), new curtains, curtain rods sans duct tape, and Jon put up our candle wall sconces.

Here's the before picture. I'll probably put those curtains back up for summer.

Does this look boring to you? Well, that's actually what I was going for. This back of the house area was CRAZY with weeds and allowed for an open-door policy to ants to head into the kitchen. Yuck.

Also, next month they'll be an air conditioner sitting on those cement slabs so we wont have to sweat it out this summer.

So after a whole year I think yes, I would do it again.

Spring Break 2012

My spring break came to a close this morning at 6:10a when I finally rolled out of bed, brushed out my tangle of hair, brushed my teeth, got dressed and collected little HP who had been singing in his crib for at least 10 minutes by that point. We hustled downstairs to find coffee made and Jon ready to go. Because I had not prepared my lunch I was forced to grab a yogurt, a container of grape tomatoes and the last grapefruit. Quite literally all that lived in our fridge that would be edible.

After dropping Jon at work we ventured on to Cindy's. H was happy to see Cindy again and waved, hugged and kissed me goodbye. I turned the car back toward work and got there with 5 minutes to spare. Ample time to wolf down my McD's oatmeal and grab a second cup of lounge coffee and head down to my office.

Eight hours later I was at soccer practice. I had changed into my running pants, t-shirt and...had forgotten my cleats. So with no alternative I stood on the pitch for an hour and half in my heels. Once the clock hit 4:45 I jumped into the car, picked up little H, then Jon, made dinner, bathed the baby (while getting soaked from his tide pool antics), sang to him and put him down. Now here I sit with tea and laptop.

And this will be life for the next 11 weeks until school lets out for a blessed 6-week vacation. Busy busy. But at the same time, fun fun. A whole lot to look forward to. And believe it or not but we are actually accomplishing a whole bunch of our to-dos and my List of 28, this is a really big deal for me!

Also, I got the camera to work!

Our new light fixture in the little bathroom, and the painting has been finished! 

Tiny baby bathroom that it is, it took a long time to complete!

Easter Sunday at Mom and Dad's 

 

Family Easter 2012                                Family Easter 2011

At Westminster Church, almost 4 years after Jon

and I got married here we finally made it back. 

That boy is very very loved. 

An Update on March

The number one reason why I haven't posted a blog update is the sever lack of pictures. Its not that the camera has died, its this computer! It wont recognize my input cord, so thus no cute pictures. And who really wants to read just words?! I don't really want to even type just words, but here I go.

I'll start with an update on the list of 28:

I have regularly volunteered at the adult ESL Thursday night gig. Even though it makes for a reallllllly long day (work+soccer+making dinner+volunteer) I find that it might actually be a good thing to keep around. I must admit I never knew we had such a large refugee and immigrant community here. I think its due to the fact they are still quite closed off and tend to visit each other at home. But I have a thought in the back of my head...why not do outings with them? Meet at a bus stop, navigate to a fun location together and practice our English? I feel like this would be great for all my group, who is mostly stay-at-home moms. These are the people who really need some fresh air! :)

I have kept up with my physical activity and have lost a total of 6.5lbs. Sweet. Feeling good and happy to be under my pre-pregnancy weight again.

I have decided on a 100 mile bike ride. I'll participate with my Dad in the Holland 100 on July 21st. Now that the bikes are all tuned up and ready to go, I should get moving!

I am in the midst of creating the backyard garden. I played lumberjack yesterday and chopped down 2 offending tree/shrubs that were in the way. Took out the moldering logs, and now am ready to till the garden area. I'm planning on planting late April.

We are almost (finally) done painting the teeny tiny downstairs bathroom. Even though my mother said its smaller than an airplane bathroom it has taken us like 3 months to finish. Ridiculous. We. Hate. Painting.

Last month we said hello to our tax return to quickly say goodbye to it as we are closer to paying off that car. October is the big month when I'll finally stop making those annoying monthly payments!

I threw a Saint Patty's brunch and it was yum. Katie even made an awesome cheesecake while Jon made amazing Corned Beef hash. Next party will be Baby H's 2nd bday.

Oh, and for those of you who are still wondering if I'll ever be certified in MI as a qualified teacher....the answer is almost certainly not. I have ONCE again had my hopes up, then dashed by another talking head at the MDE. Blargh.

Because it's Spring Break 2012! lets leave on a happy note from sweet HP-

brought to you by photo booth :)