Working, working

Lately I've been a-working. You know, on this new house of ours.

I am like an artist creating a masterpiece on a canvas.

Or I am merely a Mom trying to get a house decorated and painted.  But the artist one feels more magical.

And it is a slow-moving project.

And a very time-consuming one at that.

Eventually, I got to this:

 

Have I mentioned that I got my lovely hubby to build me this ginormously huge shelf? It must be true love, baby.

I'm not quite finished styling the shelf (I have my eye on the perfect clock for the end right there).

I'm slowly repainting the entire house (well, almost the entire house) this gorgeous Revere Pewter color.  There are, of course accent walls.  Actually, have you seen my chevron wall?  If you are super-cool and follow me on Instagram, you would have seen it.  If not, here's a pic for your viewing pleasure.

Please ignore that little extra blue spot on the white that isn't supposed to be there.

So wish me luck on my painting endeavors.  I am not quite finished with the main floor, and I still have the upstairs.

So, so many bathrooms to go.

Finishing Up Christmas

Here's a quick recap of our Christmas Eve and Morning:

And, to be honest, I am putting no effort into this.  I am merely posting it so I won't look back next year and regret not doing it.

We had our traditional Christmas Morning breakfast on Christmas Eve since OP had to be to work super stinking early in the morning (Boo!).

 Not everyone appreciated having their picture taken while eating their Christmas Omelet.

 This year it was Miss Adi's turn to be the family Santa and hand out the few gifts that we open on Christmas Eve.  Namely: Jammies (and a book!) and our family gifts.

Watching Wy-Fi open gifts this year was a hoot. He really got into tearing off the paper.

We drew names this year, and instead of our usual Dollar Store trip where OP and I let the kiddos choose a few things and we pay for it, we prepped the kids back in October by telling them that they were responsible for purchasing their own gift this year.

OP got Porter a hard hat and a head lamp (holy hannah, did that kid go nuts).

Porter and I worked together and got the girls cups from Justice.

Adi bought me a purty new rug for my new house.

Wy-Fi got Orrin a wet/dry vac for cleaning out his truck (ok, ok... I got that one ;), and Pipes bought Wyatt a little Zou Zou puppy.  Which we all thought he would love.  But he ended up being terrified of it.  Go figure.

The kiddos set out Santa's plate,

 And I tried to get a picture of all four of them in their jammies.

That didn't happen.  Then they were tucked snuggly into bed to await the Big Guy's arrival.

In the morning, the kiddos got to open their over-stuffed stockings and their Santa gifts without Dad being there to watch (we saved everything else for when he got home at 10).

 I did tell you that the stockings were overflowing.

Over to Nana's and Papa's for fried mush and scones!  (No pictures)

And then, about ten seconds after OP got home from work early...

we moved!

A Sneaky-Peek

I suppose that if I tell you that we moved recently, you wouldn't be surprised...

Seeing as how I've been using the move as an excuse for everything that I've fallen behind in.

Anyway, before we actually did the moving, we brought the kiddos to the house to run wild and free while OP and I did our final look-over of the house (in case we found something so detrimentally horrible that we wanted to back out).

The kiddos broke in the house with cartwheels, jumping, yelling ("It echos, Mom!"), and generally running a muck. 

Same old, same old.

Have I mentioned that this house was a foreclosure and has a few rough edges?  'Cause it was... and it does. 

But we're still all very much in love with it.

One can escape a screaming toddler in the kitchen,

cartwheel in the front room area,

pose awkwardly in this little round-a-bout thingy,

scale the pantry shelves while pretending they are the Cliffs of Insanity,

...did I mention the stairs?  The kids are so excited over the stinking stairs.  They make it a point to tell everyone that their new house has stairs.  And everyone has tripped down (or up) them at least twice already.

Back to the possibilities of this new abode:

Once can do even more cartwheels in the loft,

try to show off your new room, but since there are no light fixtures in there, you stand sweetly in the doorway while your sister photo bombs you,

(Wyatt doesn't seem too be too excited over his room)

gaze longing out of your new bedroom window (poor girlies are still sharing a room),

but don't feel too bad for them.  They have a little suite with it's own bathroom.  Spoiled brats.

One can even pose uncomfortably in Mom and Dad's shelves in their closet.

At the end of the day, we all felt like this:

And we still do :)