Front Door transformation!

Our front door was boring and ugly. You can see that here...  

So, I was cruising Pinterest and came up with the idea to paint it. I used this blog as my inspiration. I wanted green (a nice sage light green). Kris was having none of that. So, then I suggested black. Nope again. He wanted red. Now, we have had a lot of red in our house over the years. Our kitchen was red. Our appliances (the Kitchenaid mixer/toaster over) all red. We were really on a red kick. I absolutely didn't want red. It wasn't my 1st choice, or 2nd, or even 3rd. 

Well, we took the plunge with red. Why? Because we are in a marriage and compromise is part of that, but secretly it was to get what I wanted. Haha! I wanted the ugly storm door gone, Kris didn't. He said if we painted the door red, we could get rid of the storm door. SOLD! So, it's red. Here it is: 

I must admit that I rather like the color after all. I made SUCH a big deal about it at 1st NOT being red, that I'm so embarrassed to admit this. We used the same color that the lady did in the blog I linked. It's perfect! Our shutters will be this color as well (if I ever get around to it). 

The stairs are coming around too. I am *almost* ready to stain and paint. Sanding has proven to be very difficult with 2 little ones. Either I sand while they are awake and Luke screams the.whole.time because he's afraid or I sand while they are napping and wake them up (which is literally a crime in this household, why would you ever wake a napping child?). So, I did small spurts of sanding while they were awake. Took me about a week to get it almost done. I just have some finishing sanding to do. Right now I'm putting in the floor boards for the landing since it was an ugly plywood floor. It's going to look awesome and only cost $50! Can't wait to finish those stairs. The kids' party is in 1 week and 1 day. Can I finish it by then? Hmmm... well, I can try! 

Then? On to the biggest project I have been waiting for! Ripping out the front driveway and putting in a front lawn! See here? 

See how the focal point of our house is the front driveway? I HATE IT! And those freakin' rhododendrons blocking our house and those planters that are falling apart. Well, gone, soon! That whole front driveways is being ripped out. Only where my car is parked (the while car by garage) will remain. We will move the rhododendrons forward towards the road and put in grass and we are making railings on the front porch and adding wide stairs. I can't wait. We will start that after Kris gets home from India mid-September. Can't wait!  

Our recent renovations

We have been doing lots of work on our current house. Kris and I have come to the decision (read: the market has force us) to stay in our home instead of selling. It's hard, since this house has SO much we hate. We've decided to go ahead and fix all the things that drive us bonkers. Needless to say, that hasn't been easy. Here's where we started. The kitchen/dining room. It never really made sense. It was boxed in, small looking. Here:

So, we decided to get rid of that counter with the seating area. We never used it anyway. Progress pics:

7/

We bought a new dining room table:

Changed the paint colors. Our "new" kitchen. We got rid of those awful red globes in the chandelier:

Old:

and got soft frosted ones instead.

Changed the red paint to a sage green. Opened up the wall from the kitchen into the living room.

And whala, our new dining room (almost done, Kris just has to finish spackling). We changed the room from gray color to a nice cream color. Bought a new table, and I feel like it opened up the space so much, even though we added more furniture to the room.

Here's what renovating with 2 babies looks like.

Grace "helping" daddy...

Now, onto our living room. It just wasn't working for us. Seemed dark, boxed in. Something was wrong. See:

So we changed the paint color in here too. Bought a new couch, got rid of that dangerous coffee table and got an ottoman. Rearranged a little and:

Love our new living room!

Now for the backyard. I think this where most of the changes have occurred. The before:

We decided to take out that ugly deck in the back (which was too small to do anything with anyway) and put in a patio. The during:

And our new patio. Almost finished (actually we have done even more work out here and I will get those updated pictures).

And our biggest project was a fence! Love the new fence. Again, the before:

And the after:

Not a great picture but you get the point. We also put up a swing set for the kids. It was actually my swing set from when I was a kid. They love it. Again, I will get some better pictures today when we go out and play.

My latest project has been the stairs going to the upstairs. With carpet original to the house, an ugly banister and just blah. The before:

Please excuse the mess, it was laundry day.

So, I painted the railing. Added a warm color to the stairwell.

Then I decided I would rip up that fuggly carpet. The before:

The during:

Mommy's helpers...

And the "after"

Not done yet, 1000xs better than the carpet. The fronts of the stairs will be painted white and the tops stained. They will look like http://pinterest.com/pin/46513808622388448/

So that's progress for now. We have a ton more planned, so watch out!

Grace is 2!!

I can't believe it! She's 2. This just hit me hard today. How is it possible that 2 years ago today I was in the hospital ready to have her, and now she's this person? Walking, talking, yelling, hugging and just lighting up our lives every day!

Newborn Grace:

And here's the birthday girl. 

We had such fun today. This morning started out normal, except when I got her from her crib this morning I sang her "Happy Birthday." She LOVED it! Danced until I was done, then clapped. She kept saying "burth-day?" So cute!! Then after nap Meemi was here, hurray!! We went and got her an Elmo (La-la) balloon and a burth-day balloon. So friggin' cute. She was so excited (and so was Luke). Then daddy got home early from work, Nan (my grandmother) came over and Meemi stayed for dinner. We put together the wagon that Grandmama (Kris' mom) got her (WHAT A PROJECT!!) and she got her awesome baby set from my mom. She loved all her gifts, didn't know where to start.

The best thing... she blew out her OWN CANDLE! We were so proud. It almost made me tear up since she just seemed so old when she did that. How is my baby 2? Gosh... I don't feel like I missed anything, but it still feels surreal that I have a 2 year old. It doesn't seem too fast in the least, but 2? Holy cow! I love this girl more than anything.

Where's Grace at these days? Well, talking... and doesn't stop! I love it! Everyday something new comes out. Currently she calls Elmo (La La), she knows Abbeeeey from Sesame Street. She knows banana, blueberries, strawberries, and lots of other food. She can say pizza, cookie, milk, water, ice, and a million other foods. Luke is still "Uke" but now she adds an "ie" on the end since I tend to call him Lukey a lot. I guess I should stop. She also calls him "Uke... A" since I call him Luca sometimes too. We are working on please and thank you currently. She says "peeeeaaaase" more often than "tank you" but it's still only when prompted. We are working on it.

Temper tantrums and sibling rivalry are in full swing over here. It's a slow learning process since I wasn't expecting this. I thought we had escaped this! Luke can't do anything without Grace getting mad at her. He can't play with a toy across the room from her, he can't touch mommy when she wants to, he can't even look at her sometimes. Other times he is such a buster and she's so patient with her. I just don't get it. He is a ball buster though. So smart and knows what buttons to push. I fear the future!! Now that he's almost walking, we are even more in crazy land. I thought the beginnings of 2 under 2 were hard, but this has a whole new level of hard (and fun!!!).

Grace's latest obsession (well for the past year) is babies. Her baby doll (usually undressed) comes everywhere with us, sleeps with her and is her best friend. My mom got her a whole baby set with a stroller, highchair and pack n play. She's in heaven! Loves it! It's so sweet watching her imagination run while when she's playing with her babies!

Favorite books: 10 Apples up on Top, Green Eggs and Ham, Rock, Rock, Rock (The Going to Bed Book), and Blue Hat, Green Hat.
Favorite work: more
Favorite show/movie: The 3 Bears and a New Baby (if I see this movie 1 more time I may kill myself!). She has to watch "Baby" 3 times a day. It's a fight when I say no. Haha!
Favorite toy: her 4ft teddy bear, but I have a feeling some of her birthday presents will be in this list.
Favorite activity: coloring, swing set, pool.

This girl is amazing! I am so blessed to have her. I have no idea what I did to deserve such a special little girl, but I thank God everyday he chose Kris and me to parent her. We love you Grace, more than you will ever know!