8/9/11

Just a few pics of the kids enjoying the new swings Ben put up for them.
Ben's friend, Jon came over with his little boy to play for the afternoon.look how she's enjoying that swing! :)We all had to play several rounds of "guardian". Kara's been wanting to play it with daddy forever.It took the longest time to get all the balls past Ben. He was a pretty good guardian with those long monkey arms.Evie is fighting her nap lately. Yesterday I just could not get her down for her morning nap. So when i put her in the highchair of lunch, she was asleep after the first bite. Not the preferable way to get her down for a nap, but lately this is one of the few places she's falling asleep.a little stowaway. She thought it was so funny to be all zipped up in this bag.

bedrooms and bathrooms

Kiersten now shares a room with Evie. This is Kiersten's side of the room. The walls are a pale green, it didn't show up too well in the pictures. So We let her pick out a few things to make it feel more girly for her. We got those pink bins under her bed at ikea. They work perfectly for the items that were homeless, when she lost the drawers on Kara's bed, that she had in our old house. We also put the tea party table in here, so it wouldn't be taking up half of the play area. to the left of the window is a small little mermaid painting Ben ordered for her. She loves the little mermaid. Ariel is by far her favorite princess.
This is Evie's side of the room. We turned her crib into a daybed, but then we added the cinderella panel to keep her in there better. That flower on the wall is a nightlight, except it's a little too bright to leave on all night, so she still has a plug in night light. Evie is sleeping in here every night for at least part of the night. Sometimes she stays in here all night, but most nights she wakes up and comes in bed with us. just another view of the room.
Kara was upset when she saw that her room had blue walls. But she soon decided she could girly it up with decor. That star is a nightlight, but not as bright as Kiersten and Evie's. The painting on the wall is a Kinkaide Cinderella painting that Ben ordered for her. It's cooler than I realized. It is very detailed and has some hidden characters, such as Peter Pan, Pinocchio, and Snow White. It's more impressive in person. She loves her own room. I put a toddler lock on the door, so when she wants her privacy, she can close the door, and Kiersten and Evie can't get in. She loves that, though Kiersten is not too happy about it. We gave her the cd tower Kerry made for Ben. She is so cute keeping her cd's on there, and inviting her sisters in to have dance parties.
We also gave her this white bookshelf that was in the playroom. She had it all decorated before I got the chance to fill the shelves. There are still a few things I will probably change. To the right of the bookshelf is a 3D Cinderella sculpture and some decals Ben put up for her.
another angle in Kara's room. She gets to keep the dvd's in here. We gave her this dresser that used to be in our walk-in closet. So now she has more than enough space for all of her things. I had the drawers all set up how I wanted them, and she already took it upon herself to do some rearranging. I thought that was kind of funny. She put all her pajamas in a seperate drawer from her nightgowns, and seperated her pants and shorts, and also seperated long sleeved shirts from short sleeved shirts. She's a funny, particular girl.
This is the girls' bathroom. They don't keep it very clean, which is bad, because this is also the main bathroom on the upper level. So I've really been getting after them to clean up after themselves. Kiersten still gets toothpaste EVERYWHERE, but I really want her to brush her own teeth, so she can learn.
another view of their bathroom. the bathtub is to the left, just out of the picture.
We have a much smaller master bedroom, but we worked it out to fit all our stuff. I did regret having so many clothes at first, but I just had to start putting things in drawers that I used to hang. I love being able to sleep by Ben again, now that Evie doesn't sleep with me all night.
another view. This is the tv that used to be in our livingroom. We still haven't got curtains in here, but there are blinds, so that works for now.
The master bathroom. It only has 1 sink, but we've gotten used to that. The only thing I don't like, is that there is only 1 outlet in the entire bathroom. That door you can kind of see to the right is a huge linen closet. The floor has a laundry shoot, which has been nice to be able to dump the laundry down all at once, instead of making several trips up and down with baskets. I didn't get a picture of the laundry room, but I LOVE having a large laundry room again. There is even a nook in there which I am using as a scrapbook area. Ben hung a shelf and bought a light to hang for me. The bad part about the laundry shoot; the other day, Ben found Kiersten dangling her legs down there, because Kara had told her to go down the hole. It was SO scary. So the girls have been banned from opening that door. I think we succesfully scared her from ever trying that again.
This is the downstairs bathroom. I hate the curtain, so that will be getting replaced eventually, probably with some sort of roman shade. The jetted tub has been nice.

taking the tour

We are finally unpacked enough, that I felt comfortable taking pictures of our new house. This is the familyroom, which has 4 functions; tv room, playroom, office, and sewing room. This angle shows the tv area, and to the left, you can see some chairs. That is my sewing area, which I didn't really get a picture of. Our glass table is there in the corner with my sewing machine, and bow making stuff.
This is our office/computer area. We just got that desk and the bookshelf on the left at ikea when we moved in. Ben has been great about putting things together every weekend since we moved in.

The play area is on the other side of the bookshelf, and behind the couch. I was nervous about losing our playroom, and having to have all the toys out, but the girls have been doing a good job of keeping everything straightened up.

we went from having a walk-in pantry, to no pantry, and fewer cupboards. So some things are in the garage, but we also bought this cabinet to keep some pantry items in the kitchen. There is also a broom closet outside of the kitchen, with a shelf that we are using as a pantry as well.

The kitchen is a good size, and is working out really well. Ben and I have disagreed about the placement of a few things, but I get the last word, since I'm the one using the kitchen several times a day. Some of the cupboards and shelves are high up, and hard to access, so we found that stool at sam's club.

This is the livingroom. My favorite part is how nice and bright it is. Our old house doesn't have a window in the front room, so it was always dark. Ben's least favorite part is the windows. I open them as soon as he leaves for work, and he closes them as soon as he gets home. our old computer desk is in the left corner, and to the right is the new tv Ben decided we needed for this room. I don't love the baby swing there, but we probably wont be using it much longer.

We sold our dining set when we moved, so this is the new one we got. It came in 5 boxes, and said it would take 2 adults 2.5 hours to assemble. Ben did it all himself in that amount of time. My contribution was keeping the kids downstairs and out of the way. and I also organized some of the screws for him:)

This is the mess that was left behind after he was done! I was reminded why wal-mart always had one person whose job was to follow Ben around cleaning up. He is quick, but messy. It took me over an hour to break down all this cardboard, and haul it all down to the recycle bin. I was covered from head to toe in little cardboard crumbs. But it was worth it for a brand new dining set!

Here it is in the diningroom. I've wanted to get a counter height set for a while now, but we kept putting it off. We had said around the end of the year we would get one, so I was thrilled when Ben decided to get this table the other day!

this is the view of the diningroom from the kitchen.

Here we are enjoying the new table. We don't need the 8 chairs on a daily basis, but it will be nice when we have guests over. The leaf folds down into the table, so we can just have a square table if we'd like as well. and it's nice not to have to worry about storing the leaf anywhere.

There is a little deck outside the diningroom. There are no stairs, though, so you can't get down into the backyard. The landlord came over and put that piece of wood around the bottom, so we don't have to worry about the kids falling off. We carried the grill upstairs, and then it wouldn't fit through the door. So Ben had to remove the door and put it back afterward.

He bought some wood and built a frame to put this tent on top of the clubhouse. we still might paint it, but that's something that can wait til later. He also swept and cleaned it out really nicely for the girls.

I cleaned the slide with bleach, but you can see it didn't come fully clean. but it looks much better. Ben attatched that, and we bought these new swings with plastic over the chains, so the girls don't get their hands pinched. you can kind of see the baby swing we got for Evie. Kara wanted a tire swing, but the plastic tire was $60! so we may try to find a cheaper tire later, or let her ask for it for christmas. We didn't realize swings cost so much. They've been having so much fun out here. I can't wait til all the wood is gone, because I don't want them climbing on it.

I will do another post with pictures of the bedrooms/bathrooms, as this one is getting long.

Girls' pictures

we had these pictures done back in June. But they were one of the first things packed and one of the last things unpacked. So I thought it was time to share them here. I loved Evie's adorable Easter dress, so I had to have her wear that for the pictures. I usually don't go for the super fancy outfits in their pictures, but she just HAD to wear this dress again!


you wouldn't know from the pictures that she was SUPER cranky in the studio. The photographer was really great with her.The photographer didn't seem to even like this one, but I just loved that innocent little expression on her face. She wont be so baby-ish too much longer:(

Kiersten did a great job in the studio, except she kept trying to look pretty by blinking her eyes super fast.

She was so excited to tell everyone in the studio that she was 3 years old.

She was really funny in the car, trying to lean forward to protect her precious curls. I should curl her hair more often, but it's a lot of time and work for something that doesn't usually last very long. She loves seeing her picture with the curls by her room.

Kara got her picture taken at school back in february. I don't know if I'll have them get theirs taken this year. There are only a few packages to choose from, and the photographer only takes one shot of each child, and that's what you get. I just wish they could have coaxed a more real smile from her. She was smiling like this for a while after some kids at school were laughing about the gap in her front teeth, and calling them "bunny teeth". It took a few times of telling her how beautiful her smile is, and assuring her that the gap wont always be there, but now she has started smiling normal again. Beautiful as she is, seeing this picture makes me a little sad, because I remember her coming home from school upset about her teeth.

playing in the yard

Here are a few pictures of our new backyard. There is a play structure which the girls were so excited to see. But they weren't able to play out there at first, because of all the cut logs stored down there, and also, I wanted to get it cleaned up first, and make sure it was safe. The landlords cut down 2 80ft trees back here before we moved in, so there is tons of wood. They are selling it on craigslist, but Ben finally just decided to move some of it so the girls could play. they were asking every day when they'd be able to play out there.


We also sprayed the whole yard for bugs. This gate was covered in spider webs. But I think Ben got most of them. We haven't encountered any since.


finally swinging. We have since bought new swings, and fixed up the clubhouse a bit, and cleaned and put the slide back up, so I'll have to take another picture to show the difference.

this is just a view from the playground to see the back of the house.Evie loves playing outside. But I have to be following her closely, as she keeps trying to get down to the playground by going down the hill side, instead of the stairs. Also, there is a non working fountain back there, with some standing water. She hasn't been too curious about it yet, but I still wouldn't want her falling down there.

Kiersten on her trike.

Kara loves playing "guardian". which is either a game she made up, or learned at school, I'm not sure. It's basically like soccer, but with 7 or 8 balls, instead of 1.Evie honestly thinks the trike belongs to her. Kiersten can't ride it too long, without having to let Evie on, and then push her around. She's a good sister.

She can scoot it along by herself a little bit when Kiersten gets tired of pushing her.

I'll get a few pictures of the playground with the changes Ben made to fix it up, and also post a few pictures of the house. The girls' rooms aren't quite finished, and we are getting our new dining table tonight, so it should be all finished by the end of the week.