Out with the old

 

We spent our Labor Day weekend upping the curb appeal of our home. Big, BIG thanks to my mom and dad who gave the whole weekend to help us paint and to Tom and Susie who helped by watching the kiddos for a day and half (I felt lost all day—I was able to just make myself a meal and sit down. I love those squirts, but it was glorious!) Lucky for me, I broke my toe on Tuesday before the painting weekend. So whenever I got tired of painting I’d just say, “Need to put my foot up…”

The kiddos did a little helping once they got home, too.

The Before:

Although the before at the time of painting was really much worse…chipped paint everywhere. We were a real eyesore to the whole neighborhood.

And the After!

I Love how the shutters came out. We also went very thrifty and just spray painted our awful light fixture and mailbox and saved a good 50+ bucks. (And you may notice the superhero pictures on two of the windows, thanks to our artist-in-residence, Dominic.)

Our landscaping and yard still needs some work. Of course, the projects will always be there!

Neighborly

I’ve mentioned Jill plenty of times, but the rest of her family is equally awesome. Kim watches the kiddos every Wednesday for a bit and they are always willing to come over when I just need to run to the store to buy a gallon of milk. They also have a super fun trampoline that has provided plenty of fun and opportunities for fights…

Their dogs Cody and Jessie are loved by the kiddos. Sometimes I’ll find the boys crawling around the house pretending to be the Gillespie’s dogs.

After a few pictures, Luke asked “Do you think people think its weird that you take your camera everywhere?” Which, I assume means, “I think it’s weird that you take your camera everywhere.” Probably not going to be cutting down on picture taking time any time soon, though…

Spoiled

 

Another wonderful weekend with two beautiful, inspiring women. I always just feel happier after being in their presence for a few days…

 

Rockstars

One weekday morning, the kiddos spent about 2 hours readying our basement for a big concert. They put up homemade signs all over the house with arrows pointing to the basement and then set up chairs with their stuffed animals filling all of them except the one left for me. They LOVE playing songs with their guitars, drums, keyboards and awesome voices.

And Leo mostly just likes to cause problems join in the fun!