House... a little before and after

I know that some of you have been unable to visit our new house and have been hoping to see it.  While we aren't totally finished decorating (is that even possible?!?!) we have made some progress to add a little bit of color to our house and turn it into our home.  When we moved in the entire house was some sort of tan except for some outdated sponge-paining so we are trying to add a pop of color here and there to warm up the space.  Here are some before and after pictures. Make sure you read until the end!

Here was the space when we purchased the house... essentially a blank slate on the main level. 

All some variation of tan except for some random sponge paint in the guest bathrooms and bedroom.

Now we can't take credit for all of the work here.  We did most of the furniture shopping and/or already owned the rest but Jessica Stout helped us pull this mainly open concept first floor together.  You can check out her work on her blog.

Jesse and I also have gotten involved... Remember that red sponge paint?!?!  It now looks like this...

And the other sponge paint which just wasn't our style is now more of a calm retreat for our guests (as much as you can get when you're staying next to Carolyn :))

We also added some color to the media room in the basement and picked out the sectional and accessories for Jesse's "man cave" area

And one last guest bathroom that is no longer sponge painted. 

We are getting to work on our next projects... the living room, turning C's room into a big girl room, and also getting a new room ready for this little nugget arriving in July!  See,  I have had a good excuse for being so absent in my blogging!  This little nugget has made me just as sick as his or her big sister. 

But it's cold outside...

Hello all,
Sorry for the long absence in writing. I have a good excuse.  I promise! Carolyn will be two in less than a week so I thought that I should update the blog before her second birthday while I had a free moment to do so.   So here is a quick recap of the last few months.

We had a very busy and family-filled Thanksgiving. We were able to have all of Jesse's immediate family from Arizona travel to Indiana for the weekend.  This is included: Carolyn's grandparents, great-grandma Anne, Uncle Michael and Aunt Kristie, and cousins Alisa and Kaylie.  We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time at our house which also included Auntie Erica and Noni and Elpa.  I bought a big turkey from the farmer that I buy a lot of meat from at the Farmer's market and prepared it by using a brine.  I debated for a long time whether or not to brine it.  In fact, I called my parents so many times asking their opinion that my dad finally told me to stop calling because they had no more advice for me :)  In my humble opinion it all turned out pretty darn good.  We had a busy, crazy, hectic weekend and one that we are sure not to forget anytime soon.  As usual, the day and weekend flew by without many pictures being taken but here is a picture of the turkey and C helping buy the extra pillows, etc. for the large number of house guests that we were so happy to host!

In early December Carolyn had her school Holiday program and she was by far the star of her class.  (No, I am not just saying this because she is my child! We were actually worried about how she would do with the crowd.  Remember her first birthday party last year with the cake?!?!) Anyway...  we were shocked and impressed when she was the first one up on the stage from her class and kept waving and saying hi to the crowd as they got assembled.  Once the song started she was even more impressive.  She rocked those jingle bells the whole first song through and at the end of the song threw her bells down and led the crowd in the round of applause and yelled "Yeah" into the microphone.  The second song brought more of the same except for about a 20 second stint where she zoned out and seemed to be doing "some business" in front of 200 people. Surprisingly, she had not.  It was adorable to watch and wish we had the video in a small enough format to upload it here.


Christmas was very low key this year.  My sister had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so we literally stayed in our pajamas all day long at my parents which was a first for us.  (Hence why there aren't really any pictures).  Our plan to celebrate on the day after was cut short by the impending snow storm that was set to hit the day after Christmas.  We got up really early and opened gifts and then Jesse, Jeffy, and I headed back to Carmel just as the snow was starting while Carolyn stayed up in Ft. Wayne for a few extra days with Noni, Elpa, Antie Erica, and Uncle Nicky.  While it was a Christmas different from any other we have had, it was nice to relax and not have anywhere to rush to after Christmas Eve church or on Christmas morning. This Christmas Carolyn got gifts related to her new or going interest in trains, blocks, music, stars and the moon, and zoo and farm animals.

A fort fun tradition.... 

 

 Really early Christmas morning.

 We actually ate in my parent's dining room... A Christmas miracle!

Fun in the Sun Snow
Carolyn was really excited to play in the snow.  Here are a few snapshots of her first time really getting to play in the snow. (Jesse has some better pictures on his phone I will try to upload later)

 Our driveway and back porch when we got home.

 Out our front and back door

In other news from the holiday season, I almost successfully pulled off a surprise party for Jesse for his birthday.  Who expects a big birthday bash for your 31st birthday?!?!  I had it all planned to perfection until Jesse came home early when people were arriving.  But he was surprised and had a great time anyway.  Qdoba did a great job cooking and I owe a huge thanks to Nick and Lexi for helping me pull it off.

That was our holiday season in a nutshell!

It's Christmas Time....

I promise to have a real post up soon but I am out of my "free" picture data so I need to just buy more at some point soon.  In the meantime, check out these awesome pictures from our favorite new photographers Nathan and Ashley Siner!

~ Alicia 

 Christmas Shoot

Fall into fun

Every day I say today is the day that I am going to take a few moments and update the blog and alas each day comes and goes and it remains staring there at me on the "to do" list.  So here is a quick review of how we have fallen into fun this season.

Carolyn continues to amaze us with how much she is like a real kid instead of the baby we sometimes like to think she still is. She is stringing words together, making connections, and doing things we can NOT believe she is big enough to be doing.  We love her for the firecracker that she is but we are also learning how stubborn and picky our little girl is going to be.

We had our first pumpkin carving party at our new house and we were so blessed that so many family and friends were able to come over and help us celebrate our first get together in our new house.   We moved it to the evening time and next year we will know to start our carving a little earlier so that we are not carving by candle/spotlight.

A packed house 

Our attempt at a group shot of all of the kiddos 

Halloween Pumpkin Carving

C was all about the pumpkin guts

A "MEOW" (C's favorite)

Daddy, Carolyn, and Mommy's hands

One of the things I love about day care is that Carolyn learns things that I wouldn't even think to teach her.  When we had the lights out and the pumpkins lit we started hearing C dance to some music.  We turned the light on and caught her singing and dancing along to this toddler tune favorite. 

Carolyn was a bumblebee for Halloween.  We think it's only fitting that a girl as busy and active as she is be a buzzzzzzz'ing around.  (Plus it was $10 at Target)

Buzzing around the candy bowl

Some other odds and ends from this fall:

First snow fall in the new house

Her newest obsession is "COOKIE" (monster)

Helping mom in her classroom

Buying more pillows for our Thanksgiving guests

Too cool for shoes?!?!  It was literally 28 degrees when we went to pick up our Thanksgiving Turkey from the Farmer's Market and she would not keep her hat, gloves, or shoes on. 

Farmer's Market Dance Party