365Project.2015 | Weeks 6–8

It has been a whirlwind around here. We've been going pretty much non-stop for the last two months, with the last three weeks being particularly intense. BUT ... the Lord has been good. So good. He has given strength and grace, and in His mercy, He has kept all of us healthy. We are thankful. Tired. But thankful. :)  So, enjoy the ride of the last few weeks ... our pictures very much reflect what has been filling our days. And nights. :)

Day 32. This face. Love it. ♥

Day 33. Do you remember using the round pretzels as rings for your fingers? :) It's just as much fun in 2015 as it was in 19(cough, cough ...) something or other ...

At Mommy's encouragement, Daddy purged a significant quantity of his college textbooks. This was a very. big. deal. Daddy is a keeper. Mommy ... not so much. ;) Let's just say that these tendencies have been somewhat highlighted in recent days. :) But we're still talking, so it's all good. :)

Day 34. Ready for Grandpa's arrival!

Day 35. And he's gone! It was a whirlwind trip for him, too. He was here about 18 hours. Total. And I didn't get one picture of him or the friends who came to help us pack! But, it was a huge blessing. We loaded his trailer to the max ... it fit even more than we expected it to, which has made it much easier to do the work we needed to do in the laundry/storage room.

Day 36. After all of the packing, it was so much fun to enjoy a very special evening together at Wicked ... Thanks for the Christmas gift, Grandma and Grandpa!!! We loved the show ... probably my personal favorite of all the Broadway musicals I've seen.

Day 37. Another respite before we launched into the next phase ... an evening with friends. :)  The kids were off exploring or playing and Abby was napping ... :)

Day 38. And with the excess of storage cleared out, the laundry room renovations began. It was actually a fun project for Chris and me ... it's been a while since we've been able to actively work on an extended project together. I covered cleaning and paint while Chris did drywall, plumbing, and electrical. :)

Yay for paint! :)

Day 39. I started a new scarf ... three times. :) Too wide the first time, too narrow the second, and now it's just right. :) It was in the too wide stage at this point, but I hadn't decided that yet. ;)

Day 40. Everybody enjoyed an arts and crafts school day creating Valentine's cards :) As I looked through Pinterest for ideas, there were at least a couple that made me wish I hadn't purged quite so much of my decorative paper, but then we found ideas for making animals out of heart shaped construction paper and had lots of fun with it. I don't even remember what the other ideas were now, and I'm definitely glad to have one less box to pack and store. :)

Day 41. Back in the laundry room ... moving the water heater to the workshop has been part of the long-term plan since we moved in. Chris really enjoyed being able to get it DONE. In the process he got all of the plumbing cleaned up and looking good. :)

I continued making progress with my paint brush ...

And the kids enjoyed a movie night in the den. They have honestly been doing really well. It's been a long couple of weeks for them, too.

Day 42. We took advantage of a beautiful day and worked on sprucing up the flower beds. They looked so nice. Before the 30+ mph winds that stole all of our pretty pine straw three nights later. :( Sigh. And what wasn't stolen was matted down by the ice storm the next week. Ah well.

At least the wind and ice didn't mess up the fresh white paint around our front door. :)

And Abby enjoyed some of her first solid food ... bananas! :)

Day 43. Welcome to the chaos that is my living room every school morning. :) In the midst of all of the house prep, school (mostly) marches on.

Abby likes yarn.

And loves her big sister. ♥

While Mommy and Daddy worked, the big kids pulled out the games. :)

Day 44. We had fun following some friends who sent us a Glympse link that allowed us to follow their position on a cross-country trip. :) Technology can be so much fun!

But smiles are much more so! :)

Hannah and I had fun creating Valentine's treats for her piano friends. Once again, Pinterest to the rescue! We had to think outside the box since our cookie cutters and food coloring were already in NY. I didn't actually purge (most) of those ... just packed them. :)

We had to taste test the goods ...

Some of us really get into our s'mores! ♥

Late night progress ... it's a little thing, but I personally think the new box for the light switches and the cover for the wires makes it look SO much nicer! It's one of those things people won't really notice because they expect it to be that way ... but it's been otherwise for a long time, so I appreciate it. :) So thankful for my handy hubby!! For the record, there's a LOT of cutting in that has to happen around cabinets. :)

Day 45. A happy breakfast! :)

Love wielded a paint brush ... with a new coffee mug this Valentine's Day. :) In the midst of all of the craziness, I was very much blessed by Chris remembering this day over a week earlier and making provision to have a special gift for me. ♥ Hot "go-juice" is a very important part of this complete house prep process. :)

And this little girl continues to get better at sitting up. She's also rolling around and over and scooting and stretching towards out-of-reach toys. :) Oh! And notice what's on the wall behind her ... closet doors!!!

 Now you see it ...

 Now you don't. :)

So. How long did it take you to spot what's missing? :)

The walls are done!! I was literally down to the very. last. drops. of paint. I actually went back to the plastic wrap with which we had covered the paint tray the night before to get one of my last rolls of paint! BUT ... we did not have to buy any more wall paint and everything was covered! :)

But after going back and forth, back and forth, we finally decided to buy floor paint. While Chris finished installing the water heater in the workshop, I cleaned and painted the floor where the washer and dryer would be sitting so that it could dry overnight before moving it back so that we could paint the rest of the floor. ;)

Day 46. I don't remember why, but the subject of domino toppling competitions came up over lunch. Afterwards we watched some YouTube videos of some record-breaking setups, and then the kids had fun building some of their own. :)

Still pressing onward. We try very hard to keep Sunday as a day of rest, but we were expecting house photos on Wednesday morning and decided that we needed to get the painting parts of the laundry room finished up before bed so that Mommy could focus on staging other areas ...

 Before ...

 After ...

 I think it's one of the most dramatic transformations I've ever seen with nothing more than soap, water, and paint. 

And while I painted floors, my hubby painted the cabinet doors. :) I can paint, but he can really paint. :)

Day 47. Some parts of staging are simply fun. :)

Day 48. We had a mild ice storm Monday evening into Tuesday. We didn't lose power, and it happily managed to keep my husband home due to icy roads and delay our house photos by a week. A win-win all around in my book. :)

The kids had fun playing in the snice ... :)

I had fun staging some more rooms ...

Abby had fun playing with tags ...

Day 49. And speaking of Abby ... Mommy had a mini photoshoot with our little lady in front of the pretty pillows that Grandma loaned to us for staging/house showings. In the midst of all of the craziness, I'm so glad I captured these. ♥

Day 50. Speaking of craziness, Daddy had his wisdom teeth removed today. Yep.

Day 51. Mommy was tired. I was glad to find something relaxing to do which still crossed an item off my list. :)

Day 52. We're thinking of taking down the rope swing before showings ... Whether we do or we don't, we wanted to get a picture of the kids in front of it. They have had SO much fun playing with that rope!!

Matthew enjoyed having a mirror right at his eye level for a while. :) We bought it to hang over the living room couch since we took down our family pictures and the wall was a bit bare. :) Thank you, Craigslist. :)

Peter got in on the painting! :)

And here's the grand finale of our laundry room project! :) 

What a difference! :)

And such be life in these parts. :) Thanks to all who have cheered us on through comments when I've posted various pictures on Facebook. It really is a blessing and an encouragement. When you're staying up late and working really, really hard, it's super encouraging to have friends cheering you on with your progress. :) So thanks. :) The finish line is in sight. Pictures were rescheduled for Tuesday morning ...