New Floors In The Playroom

Our most exciting event in January happened at the very end of the month...we finally got new floors in the playroom! Woooooooo!!! When we first moved into this house, the playroom was the only room that had carpet. Originally, I loved it, because it gave the kids a soft surface to play on. BUT. We moved into the house in March, which means the kids were outside all the time, and tracking dirt back and forth as the went in and out. Within a few months of moving, the floor was disgusting. We rented carpet cleaners, tried scrubbing it by hand, I even attempted all of the natural recipes on Pinterest - nothing helped. There were deep stains from mud and food that just weren't coming out. 

When we decided for sure that we were going to homeschool, the floors were at the top of my wishlist. One of Steve's friends from work, Gus, wanted to install floors in his own house, so he came over to help and "practice". Added bonus: he brought all of the very expensive and very specific tools that you need to install your own flooring!

The night before Gus came over, Steve and I ripped out all of the old carpet and swept everything up. A word of advice: do not wait until the night before to do this. No one wants to rip up carpet at 9:00 PM. I'm just sayin'

Henry really wanted to help with the process...

Bella was at school during most of it, but Evelyn and Henry wanted a front-row seat to watching Daddy and Gus do it all. 

The guys did a great job! It was just the two of them, but they took care of all the measuring and cutting, and there were no major mistakes! 

Look how pretty! 

When Steve's dad came a few weeks later, he laid all of the quarter rounds in the room to finish it off. Not sure what we'd do without having our dads as "Handy Men"!

It has become our new favorite room in the house! It's so bright in here now, and with the new tables for homeschooling, we frequently end up eating or just hanging out in here. 

I'll post some pictures of the completed "homeschool-ready" room once I've caught us up!

January Wrap-Up

When I was younger (even throughout college), January seemed to drag by. Once adulthood hits, that pretty much flies out the window. Whether it's multiple kids or a full-time job, I don't think any month goes by slowly anymore. 

Here's what we did in January...

We played in the snow!

Bella and Evelyn caught snowflakes...

Henry snuggled...

Bella lost her second tooth on top, and started to look like a little old man...

Evelyn lost her mind in the middle of errands...

We went out to lunch after church and discovered a teenage doing balloon animals...

Steve left me a note on my desk at work...

Evelyn practiced her cosmetology skills...

Henry got in the driver's seat...

Bella designed her own Play-Doh unicorns...

Evelyn and Henry destroyed the house while I put together our desks for homeschooling...

We celebrated our friends at a Japanese Hibachi Grill...

And we discovered that Evelyn is allergic to amoxicillin.

Happy New Year! (-ish)

We're going to have to stretch the imagination for a little bit and just pretend it's early January. I don't remember any of the resolutions that I told Steve, but mine are usually pretty standard. 

We had no intention of actually staying up until midnight, so we showed the girls a video on YouTube of the ball dropping last year, and yelled out, "Happy New Year!" Clearly, we are party animals. 

Henry had other plans, because I was nursing him in the middle of the night, and was able to screenshot my phone at midnight. I whispered a quiet "happy new year" to Steve, who was passed out cold, put Henry back to bed, and I was asleep again by 12:10. 

Instagram does a fun thing where they tell you your most popular posts of the previous year. I loved the "Top Nine" idea, because it let's you look back and remember all of your fun posts throughout the year!

Christmas 2015

This really isn't a newsflash, but I love Christmas! I usually start listening to Christmas carols in the middle of Summer. 

Henry got a hammer toy to work on his "gentle banging" skills.

Bella loved this horse! It was full-size that she could ride inside of, but she could also color and decorate the whole thing! She's had so much fun with this.

The five of us on Christmas morning...a little disheveled and a little sloppy, but smiling!

Daddy and Evelyn, exploring her new Doc McStuffins doctor kit.

Being silly while dinner was cooking

Dad getting ready to slice the roast.

Steve and Mom made Yorkshire Pudding

About two weeks after his surgery, and his eyes are already looking stronger!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

December Happenings

Since the last "seasonal" post I wrote was about our visit to Santa, I wanted to catch up on a little more before posting our Christmas pictures. December was fun! I love all of the anticipation that happens this month - there's always something fun to do as we count down to Christmas!

This was our Sunday School class' Tacky Sweater Progressive Dinner Christmas Party. It was a blast! Mel and I forgot to plan ahead, but luckily, it worked out pretty great to pin Steve and I's weird, childhood Christmas ornaments to my sweater and call it a day. 

Bella has finally gotten too old for Breakfast at Bethlehem. She was a little sad about missing the animals, but Evelyn was thrilled to be a "big kid" this year and score a special date with Daddy. Also, how weird is her smile here? She looks like she had an allergic reaction to something and can't close her lips! I miss her natural, baby smile just a little bit. 

Papa, Mimi, and Rachel showed up the week before Christmas, and we had so much fun, baking cookies, shopping, playing, and reading the girls their Christmas books. 

Oh, and we played games, wrote letters to Santa, wrestled with Papa, and watched our favorite Christmas movies. 

The Christmas Eve service at our church has become one of my favorite traditions. You get to get dressed up, and I love that all of the kids get to be included in the service.

The days of getting all five of us to look at the camera at the same time - while smiling - are apparently over. This is the best we could do. 

Oh my goodness! Another incredibly cute tradition is Christmas PJ's. Grandma buys them each year, and there's just nothing cuter than kids in footie pj's.

Christmas PJ's mean we're all ready for Christmas morning!

Henry's Surgery

After weeks of waiting and wondering, Henry had his eye surgery in mid-December. It was a typical surgery, so he wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything for 12 hours before the surgery. For a one-year old who was still nursing and had no idea what was going on, this was super difficult. 

He was tired and hungry, and it was so hard to just hold him while he whimpered. The surgery was an hour and a half later than it was scheduled, and I wasn't allowed to nurse him. 

Steve and I did a lot of hand-off's and pacing. 

The actual surgery was probably the easiest part for Steve and I. Dr. Berland had done such a great job of telling us exactly what to expect. It was brutal watching Henry fall asleep o the table and then having to walk away, but once I was back in the room, Steve and I had a chance to breathe and relax. 

The nurses had made a special note of the fact that Henry sucks his left thumb, so that they could put the IV in the other hand. Once they were in the room, though, his veins on his right hand weren't large enough. When the surgery was over and he started waking up, it was miserable when he started reaching for his thumb and couldn't get it. 

When they finally cut the tape off and he could get to his thumb, he immediately fell asleep on my chest.

Back in the car and very groggy. It was hard not to giggle a little at his expression on the car ride home. 

 Once the anesthesia wore off, Little Man was a champ! He was all smiles and back to his normal self. His eyes looked rough with their "bloody tears" thing they had going on, but he didn't seem bothered by it at all.

And this is how he spent the next few days...lots of snuggles from Mommy and Daddy! 

His post-op appointments have been great, and Dr. Berland doesn't think he's going to need further surgery. 

We were so thankful for our friends and family who had been praying over every aspect of this day!

An Unintentional Hiatus

It wasn't on purpose, but it just kind of happened. 

My last post was in the beginning of December, which means it's been seven months since I talked about our family on here. I've written about a dozen posts in my head, but anytime I think about taking the mental energy to sit down and catch up on everything, this happens...

So, not a lot of actual typing. 

My goal this week is to sit down and catch up. There will be a lot of "mass wrap-up" posts where I summarize an entire month in one post, but I'm going to use this week to bring us up-to-date to July, because I really want to be able to post about homeschooling starting in August!

To my little humans: when you look back at these last six months, your memories are just going to have to be in very, quick flashes. :)