Come take the tour ...

Come on in .... Welcome!

Foyer


Moms/Spare Room

Boys/Spare Bathroom

Living/Great Room

Dining

Laundry (LOVE my new W/D!)

Part 1 Master Bath

Part 2 Master Bath

In Great Room looking at Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Boys Bedroom Upstairs

Bonus/Play/Theatre Room upstairs (Nate built that built-in)

Looking downstairs.

Ta-Da! The boys have been gone all week to Grandma Sherrill's and Papa's in Myrtle Point. They had a blast, but I am excited to go pick them up. Leaving right now! Enjoy ...

In 3 more days ...

...THIS will be our new home. As I sit and write this, it was brought to my attention that some might view this as bragging. If that is the case for some of you, I truly hope you don't think that. Nathan and I have worked very hard to get to where we're at. I worked my rear end off in Nursing School while Nate was in the Army (and fighting in the war!) and Nathan studied his way through college with many sleepless nights (with a brand new baby crying at night) to get to where he's at. So. Bragging? No. Proud? Yes.

The only hitch so far in this process is that our furniture has now been back ordered for the THIRD time now. I was told today that our furniture (which accounts for 4 of our rooms of the house) will not be here until the middle of July. Many of you that know me can probably guess how well this went over and as of now they're scrambling to come up with floor models to deliver next week until our new furniture arrives.

I am ready for the changes this house represents. I'm really going to be working about not bringing bad habits with me to this new house and create better ones. I am excited about this being not only a fresh new house physically but the emotional, spiritual freshness that comes with it as well.

A decade ago ...

... I married my best friend. How cliche, I know. I didn't realize back then just how "best" my best friend was going to be. When you marry someone you know you love them. But as the years go on, the trials you face only make that bond stronger. People say "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger". That is true in relationships. Are there days I'm amazed Nate is still alive? Sure. Are there days I'm amazed he hasn't killed me!? Sure. But together, we've supported one another's hopes and dreams ... and gratefully I can say that right now we're living them. I am doing what I love which is being a nurse and raising two wonderful boys. Nathan fought hard in the military, then through school and is now doing something he's always dreamed and excelling in it! We are building a brand new home that we've always wanted. I don't mean to seem like it's a dream because believe me we've had our trials and hard times. But we've fought through them together. So, here's to you, honey, for sticking with me and honoring our vows we made to one another ten years ago. I can't wait to see where life takes us in the next 50! I love you, my inspiration. (Ok, go puke now ... hehe).

voting begins

The following are just a few of the pics I was able to get on my little boy/momma time this morning on our drive around town. To view the whole shoot (or the best ones), click here. My purpose behind todays little shoot was to get some updated shots of the boys to frame and have around the new house. Please let me know which one/ones are your favorite so I can get other's opinions about which to print.

getting there

Poop Foam.

Saturday morning a few weeks ago. 7:42am. Nate and I are dead asleep. We are awakened by a shrieking 2yr old streaking through the bedroom, naked from the waist down, wielding this stick covered in ....something. Following close behind was an antagonistic 5yr old brother yelling, "Mom! Dad! You gotta come see this!" We were led, sleepy eyed, into the living room. Aroma hit me in the face as I rounded the corner. Griffin has this new phase where if he poops, he has to take his diaper off. And ... he had pooped this morning. So, you know what that means.

Let me back up so I can include one intricate part of this story: for Xmas, we got the boys these sticks that if you turned it upside down it'd make a funny noise while a stopper from inside the tube slid down - and visa versa when you turned it the other way. He had gotten this infamous stick out and proceeded to beat his crap with this stick ... and my couch ... love seat ... floor (white carpet) ... chairs. You get the picture. So, before we're even fully awake, we're hit with this atrocity.

I will paint the picture of what I saw when I turned around to see Nate's reaction: Fully naked man, hair afro'd out, swollen eyes with bags under them, beard starting to form. with that Where-Am-I? look on his face as I hear only 2 words, "Goooooood Lorrrrrd."

Griffin had attempted to clean up this mess on his own, you see. We have the 298 gallon Costco size vat of Dawn dish soap with the actual "handle". He had carried it to a certain poop spot, however you could see the Dawn drip-trail all the way through the living room.

So, not only do we have poo to clean up, now we have magic blue soap to clean up too. Out came the carpet cleaner, Nate's eyes still glassed over. After a bit, as I'm trying to get Griffin dressed I hear "Oh God, you've got to come help me!!!!" I go down the hall, round the corner ... and can you guess what happens with super concentrated Dawn dishsoap, warm water, and major agitation?

BLUE POOP FOAM EVERYWHERE .... Yeah. The neighbors loved watching this mysterious bluefish-brown foam be emptied out of our carpet cleaner along the side of the house ...we had to hose it down ... it took about 2hrs to clean up.

Next story? Fish Tank Fishing, Mase!

Little Bit of Nate

I'm so proud of Nate. With the help of a wonderful friend, Scott Woodland, Nate completed this custom built-in for our new home. It was a vision of ours back in March and it is now complete and installed! It is the new toy cabinet - 15 baskets were measured and boxes made custom for each basket. Of course there are extra boxes to hold random things such as movies, pictures, etc. He worked from 4pm - 11pm last night getting it finished and ready to install today for our deadline. I am humbled at the work he has put into this, and excited that this will be a permanent fixture in our custom home.

Stories & Floating Legos.

Going back to work on a regular basis has been refreshing. I don't know how long it will last, as I'm basically filling in (along with a few others who have rearranged their schedules) for a triage nurse that's been out since November. One thing that's been fun about going back is visiting with my old pals who frequently ask about the boys and what they've been up to. As life gets more and more hectic I, at times, forget about some of the outrageous things they come up with and do; however, when I tell people at work these things that seem to be "every day" for me, they laugh hysterically at the comics life seems to bring to me. I thought that it might be a good idea to start journaling some of my stories. So, I will start with a few of the most recent. Stay tuned as I try and keep up ...

Floating Legos
A few weeks ago, I worked my short day until 11:30am. Maysen doesn't have school on Fridays so they were both home. I wanted to veg for just a bit, so out came the Legos. Immediately I had Legos strung across every inch of my living room floor. "Whatever," I thought as I decided I'd better fold the load of towels that was waiting for me. As I was on towel #28, I see a flash dart by ... a naked flash.

"Maysen? Why are you naked?" ... silence. That's usually my cue to investigate. I round the corner as he stands there not only naked, but wet. "Why are you wet?" .... "I'm floating my Legos." ... "Why are you floating your Legos?" .... (with a sarcastic "duh mom" voice) "Becauuuuse. I made a boat...". Off he went 100mph. I realized he was going to my bathroom, which has a huge soaker tub surrounded by tile. Before Maysen can reach the bathroom, I hear squeels of joy which can only mean one thing: Griffin. I start my jaunt into my bathroom and I hear water running. I bust open the door and step in water.

Not only was the water running, but had been for some time now and was at the brim of my tub. Griffin looks at me as he stands up on the tile staring with wide eyes at the tub. "MOM! WATSH"! I look up in horror as Maysen completely cannon-balls into the bathtub, water flowing over like a tsunami. Good thing I washed towels ...

No ... the story doesn't stop there. I glance up at my iHome (which houses our iPod) and there's no iPod. "Maysen? Where's my iPod?" ... "Oh. You mean Griffin's phone?" .... (uh oh) "Nooooooo. My iPod." ... "He had it in the toilet" ... and that's where I found it. Floating at the bottom of the toilet.

I'll tell you about the poop foam tomorrow .... Yes. I said "Poop Foam." MmmHmm.

April 11, 2010

Upstairs