House Update...

God will never give you more than you can handle...

It could always be worse...

This too shall pass...

God, family, friends and all these sayings are what have kept my sanity intact through this house building process.  There has been a time or two or three or four that I may have asked myself why we didn't just buy a house that was already built!  The beginning phase was so exciting and I was on cloud nine.  Literally I was running around the house like a maniac when they dug out the foundation and pored gravel for the driveway...  It progressively got more and more exciting as the foundation was poured and in the blink of an eye the walls were up!  Even the middle phase was fun, windows, siding, sheetrock.  Then we had to do our part-paint the thing.  That sucked a substantial amount of the enthusiasm out of me.  But when we finished the inside a sense of accomplishment welled up in me and I was back on track.  Now we are in the "final phase".  The phase of it being so close to complete and yet it feels so far!  The great news is that I realize what a support system we have around us in our family and friends, my husband is such a hard worker who will stoo at nothing to provide for his family. Oh and I have yet to experience a mental break down from all this craziness. And we will be in by Halloween, right?  ;) Move in day is going to be epic...  

Siding goes up!

Some concrete is poured...

Thor and Morgan get an official tour.

Hardware is installed on the doors.

Doorbell!

Hot/cold faucet outside the mud room!!!

Getting ready to paint the outside.

Josh only got stuck in the bucket once :-)

Up goes the shed/mini barn!

Our daredevil climbing all the way to the top by herself!

Then there is my conservative climber...

Insulation!  Fireplace!

Master bedroom fire place

Painting the inside...  Good times lol!

 

Windows trimmed out!

Bathroom lights

Entry

The biggest heartache of all...  My black doors... 

They only needed re sanded and painted 4 times...

But don't the look great!  I LOVE them!!!

We still have a few more to paint.

Kitchen

Cabinet delivery

Flooring delivery...

 

Appliances arrive!

 

Sinks and toilets!!!

  

Lincoln's 4th Birthday

This year's underlying birthday theme was flexibility...  Lincoln's actual birthday fell mid-week and he wanted to go to Lime Berry (his new favorite place).  He loves their raspberry pomegranate sorbet.  That's what he gets every time we go.  He adds only gummy bears, peach rings, and gummy worms.  Little did we know they had recently switched out their raspberry pomegranate...  I thought the flood gates were going to spring open, but after some sweet talking by dad he settled on chocolate with gummy bears and peach rings.  Mr. OCD even decided to add Sweedish Fish to his yogurt!  It was a small gathering, just my parents and Kelly.  Danette, unfortunately was out of town for work.  He opened a couple presents at Lime Berry then on the way home he opened presents from us at the new house.  

 

 

The actual party was schedule to be at Lattin's Cider Mill.  We debated on having it at our new house, but decided we shouldn't risk it being unfinished...  Guess what?  It's still not finished!  

Lincoln was ecstatic about his party.  He was mildly disappointed that two of his best buds weren't able to come. None the less the morning of the big day he kept insisting that it was time to go and that he did not want to miss his party.  We showed up early and took the kids around to see the animals before everyone else arrived.  As we ventured into the green house we came to find that it had been reclaimed by famished bees...  My dad at one point was traipsing around with a broom taking batting practice.  Despite his valiant effort we gave in and made the command decision to move the party to my parents house.  

Thank goodness I have such an awesome family!  Though it drizzled for a bit, the kids had a blast and Lincoln had a great day!  And now my boy is 4...  Strange!   

 

Fun in July

Once a gain as it does every year, summer is flying by too quickly!  Tomorrow is August 1st?!  We have been keeping busy playing and working.  I am literally exhausted so this post will be short...  The pictures can do the talking and I promise I will be eloquent in my next post...  Hahaha!  Visiting parks in the area with friends, enjoying Lake Fair, attending the Riddell Family Reunion, Uncle Aaron's birthday, and my personal favorite, going on many walks to get my butt into shape are a few of the many things we've been up to this month! 

We visited Percival Landing Park in Olympia and Brooklyn swung on the bid kids swing by herself! 

My mom and I went for a walk around Capital Lake and up to the market with the kids during Lakefair.  It was beautiful! 

The Riddell Family Reunion was in Auburn at Uncle Bob's.  The kids had a blast, especially Lincoln he was assistant rock salesman.  This is the second Riddell Reunion (well recent reunion) and I realize that I really don't know very many people on my dad's side! Better get to studying that family tree he has! 

The Rock Salesmen hard at work!

Brooklyn and Grandma Bev :-)

I have been doing a lot of walking this summer and it feels soooo good to get my butt back into shape!!!  I am really going to miss the opportunity to walk nearly every day when school starts up again.  This walk was at Millersylvania with the kids, my mom, grandma, and aunt.  It's a beautiful place to walk and it is just a few minutes down the road from my new house! 

 

My brother turned 26 and we celebrated with lunch at Red Robin.  It was great to see him as I don't see him enough!!!  

For the past few summers a group of co-workers and myself get together and walk on Wednesday mornings.  This is what inspired me to get my butt in gear!  This was our crew last week.  We were down in our adult numbers, but as you can see the kid numbers were up!