Some Catching Up For Majorly Slacking Bloggers

Allllrighty.  So we've been home for a while now.  Things are going well!  Also, busy.  Who knew!?

Ephraim has been growing, and seems to be getting a lot stronger.  He has a lot more stamina than at first, tho he has yet to take his first steps.  He can stand up from  seated position, but just wobbles for a second and then plops back down.  He has a lot of encouragers, tho.  I don't think it'll be too long.  :)

He had gained 4 pounds last we had him checked out (which doesn't sound like much, but it's about 25% of his original body weight, so we'll say that's a pretty good gain for 4 months or so!  He has also mastered going up stairs, and later figured out how to get down them as well.  He signs Please, and More and will wave Hi and Bye and give Fives, but his only consistent word thus far is Uh-Oh!

Ephraim had his 2nd birthday in March.  He did seem to like the cake... at least smashing it.  He didn't really eat any to speak of.  But it was sure fun to make a mess!

Eli's birthday was in May.  He was very excited and counted down the days for quite some time.  He loves school and baseball and running and generally anything that is outside and active and loud.

We moved in April to a place with more acreage, and as of today have an accepted offer on our old house!

 We LOVE our new house, and our commutes are about the same.  We have baby chicks now and will soon have a coop ready for them to live in.  They all have wonderful names, compliments of various children.  This has been a bit of transition for all of us, and I was especially worried about Ephraim as new as it all was already, but he seems to be just fine.

Raya has, unsurprisingly, had the hardest transition in all of this.  She was always pretty sassy, but seems very emotionally delicate these days.  Basically her regular Raya-tude self, but magnified.  She LOVES her baby brother... most of the time, but I think has struggled some with the loss of her "baby" status and has to sneak in her snuggles when she can.

Both of the big boys now ride their bikes without training wheels.  Isaac aced it shortly after we moved to our new house, which has a wonderful driveway for biking on, and once Isaac got it, Eli was determined that he was not going to be left behind.  Within a couple weeks, he was very proud to show me his new skills as well.

Isaac finished first grade, and is out for the summer.  He is also playing baseball, and we have some other fun things planned.  Vacation with John's family, and hopefully some visitors.  I'm sure it'll go fast.  I can't believe it's June already!

The *Revised and Now Officially* Official Unveiling of the Kitchen.

I am so pleased to introduce to you... The New and Improved Kitchen! (Now without dead fruit!)

(Click on a picture to see it bigger.)

Before:


And After:


Before:


And After:


Also note the unbelievable cuteness of my curtains!

(The others across the room are the same, but with yellow as the under-color. You can see them each in their original habitat in the above pictures if you look closely.)

And my favorite (and currently only) piece of decor!


As seen here on the otherwise naked walls:

Sneak Peek

Can you guess what we have been up to lately?

In Which I am Great Stripper

I'm talking wallpaper, of course. Don't be ridiculous.


And all the wallpaper (and backing) is down!


And just for effect, here is a "before" shot:


Now, if only I could decide for sure about a paint color...

In Which All Good Things Must Come to An End

Notice anything different?



That's right! No more dead fruit wallpaper!
Out with you I say...
Rubbish! Filth! Slime! Muck! Booooooo!
(We got the top layer all off tonight. It still needs stripped the rest of the way, but has been coming off fairly easily with just water. Just a lot of cupboards, cabinets, windows, doors and corners and such.)



And no more stripes either. Tho I wasn't quite so vehemently opposed to the stripes. I can't wait to see it painted tho! If you are desperately in want to come and help us, then stop right in!

In Which the Living Room Becometh Less Naked

So we wanted to do the living room with an African theme. And while we could just wait and get authentic remnants from Africa when we go to pick up the babe, there are a couple of drawbacks to this plan:
1. That could be a long time from now, and meanwhile, the LR stands empty, barren, and lonely.
2. We'd have to carry it all back somewhere in our luggage, along with a frightened baby/toddler, ourselves, and all the supplies that that entails.
So, I figgered up a plan. Let's just put some un-authentic stuff around, and then we can get authentic stuff when we are there in whatever quantity we can fit.

So I go shopping around. I found some cute stuff, including but not limited to the following items:

And I was looking on Amazon, and found these wall hanging things, and I thought they would be just lovely for my African Inspired Decor,

but they wanted lots of money. So, being a practiced cheapskate, I thought to myself, "Self, you can make those for lots less money than that. You shall now learn to carve wood." So I skedaddled over Hobby Lobby, and found myself some worthy utensils, and here you go:

So, I altered a couple of the designs from the original, but this is my finished product(s):

Could be I'm biased, but I like them. :)

How Does Your Garden Grow

So I was admiring my garden the other day, thinking how it seemed to be growing nicely, (at least some of the veggies I planted are growing) and I could see actual rows of foliage from my back porch. (although you can't really see them here... really people, it does actually bear some semblance to a real live garden, complete with actual plant life, if you see it in person)

and then I happened to look over and notice that the neighbor's garden was even oh-so-much wonderful-er, complete with bigger and greener plants, sure to give more numerous, juicier, and more lovely fruits this summer. Blast.

And just to clarify, this is not the neighbor who has hitherto been known as the Lawn Nazi. This is the neighbor on the other side. Double blast. The Lawn Nazi's lawn, of course, actually looks like this:

Keeping in mind, of course, that this is the back part of said lawn. Yeah. The part no one else can even see.

Oh Beautiful Springtime

First off, last week was Hospital Week, and they gave us a coupon for some free flowers from the local greenhouse. Yay! Here are my selections:



Also, John finally got the garden tilled, (Good job, John!) and then I planted my baby planties, and they are very happy now. Do they look happy?



Finally, as you may recall, this little plant had been looking pretty dead, but take a look at it now! It appears it surviveth afterall!



All in all, a successful day.

I Rest My Case

So the LN* was out today. Just trying to make us look bad. (I'm sure that's his true intent.) And on a Sunday, to boot. Tsk, tsk.

I guess he does sort of look just the teensiest bit amusing in his chemistry-laiden backpack.

Also, I saw some birdies. Here's a cute one.


*Lawn Nazi

I Should Have Known Better

than to move next door to people like "these." I should have run away when they mentioned that they had their back yard featured in some sort of Lawn and Garden publication, and that they were the co-presidents of the Regional Beautifulest Backyard Anonymous group. But did I? No. Of course not. I went ahead and signed on he dotted line, making me officially neighbors to the Lawn Nazis.

So now... can you guess where my yard stops, and their yard starts?
(note: this picture does not do justice to the abrupt and obvious difference in our respective yards, but it's the best I've got for ya. It looks a little better if you zoom in.)



In other news... I do have a pretty white flower tree!

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

This is how my garden grows... when I am gone. :) Really, tho, I'm pretty sure they were glad to see me.

In Which I have a Greenish Thumb

I planted a baby garden in my house, so that someday when spring decides to come here and stay, I will plant them outdoors, and later on, I will have lots of yummy things to eat. (And some very lovely flowers, which I have no idea where I am going to put yet, but I will find somewhere..)

In Which I was Never that Pleased and Decide to Redecorate the Dining Room Already

When we painted and decorated the dining room after we moved in, it looked really great in my head, but slightly less great in reality, so then, I would look at it and consistently be less than satisfied in my own OCD perfectionist way of pumping something something up in my head until there is no earthly way I would ever actually be that impressed. Nevertheless, I decided that what would be more perfect is this:



Which formerly, and much inferiorly, looked like this:


That which you were hitherto beholding were sconces, whereas now, as you are currently beholding, there is none other than my own awe-inspiring photography, featured in sepia, which I do believe I like much better than the sconces, which now reside on yonder wall where you can't see them in this picture. Also, you can note our beautiful new table, and the fact that we no longer have boxes sitting there from when we moved. Perfectionism assuaged.

Next up: The Master Bath. (And let me tell you, it looks really great in my head.)

Finishing Touches

The room is now officially done, decorationwise. (Well, except we are going to put his name in wooden letters on the wall... when he has a name...) We got the rest of the puppies,

and they are now hanging jollily on the wall, awaiting the eventually impending arrival of the Babykins.

Take a gander:


And: posing as the cherry on top... if you'll note, there in the doorway...


The results of this cute little "put some words on the wall" kit.

And I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

Go ahead and stand in awe for a minute. It'll be ok.

(Scroll down for more pics in case you missed them the first time around.)

In Which There is Room at the Inn

We have been working on Little One's room these days... which will serve to further torture us with the fact that he is not here to see it. Nevertheless... Here are it was before (as it existed when we moved in, only with some of our furniture):


And After:

Ok, we actually don't have the stars painted yet, nor do we have enough of the stars or the doggies to go the rest of the way around the room at this point, tho I do have them ordered online. (They are wooden cutout sort of things, currently taped up there just so we could see what it'll look like.)


Closer up of the doggies and stars.


I made this curtain; therefore, it is awesome.


The other side of the room, where one wall is brown.

Also, we have this cute little cubby thing for toys and books and such (ie, the library). I think it is very cute.


Wouldn't it be funny if we got a girl?!