Time for an Update!

Goodness has life been crazy in the last week. Not only did we get home from our vacation in Las Vegas, but we also finished painting the house, started renovating and even added a new member to the family. But more on that later. First and foremost, I have pictures of painting!

This first picture is of my brother-in-law, James, painting the guest bedroom. I decided to do lighter, more neutral colors that would go well with a variety of decorations while still creating the homey feeling. Therefore, both bedrooms are a light grey color and the living room, hallway and bathroom are a tan.

This next picture is of me painting a wall of the kitchen. This particular wall is where some cupboards, the microwave and the oven are placed. We decided to make it the focal point of the kitchen by painting it into a giant chalkboard. Although I have wanted a chalkboard wall for awhile, my husband came up with the amazing idea to make it our "blessings" wall ... or a way to document everything that Christ has blessed us with. I can't wait to get it completed!!!

This picture is my mom and sister helping out with the chalkboard wall. Noah and I are very blessed to be surrounded by an extremely supportive family. Through the help of both my parents, my sister and her husband, and my brother-in-law and his wife, we were able to paint the entire house in a single Sunday afternoon!

Since finishing painting we have mainly been focusing on unpacking ... or at least attempting to. Noah and I have always lived in tiny 1 bedroom apartments, therefore we've never had to unpack an entire house while renovating at the same time. Although it's exciting, it's a little stressful for a clean freak like me who has no clue where to put everything yet. As for renovations we have decided to start with the kitchen. So far we have purchased a new microwave, gas oven and stove, an island with pop-up breakfast bars, and Noah and my dad replaced some old cabinets with newer, more spacious ones. We are still debating on what we want to do with the walls of the kitchen (other than the chalkboard wall of course). I am dying for some white-washed or pickled finished wood paneling, while Noah is opting for a simple paint job. We'll see who wins that fight :)

Tomorrow I am planning on finishing unpacking and hoping to start tackling the horribly overgrown yard. We also need to tend to a plumbing issue ... the first major setback or our new home. Every time we do a load of laundry in the washing machine the bathtub fills up with water, soil and little rocks. I guess these things should be expected with an older home!

Onto the new addition of the family ... which actually came about because of Kirby! During the two months while waiting for the house to close, Noah, Kirby and I were blessed to have a room at my parents. My parents have two shih-tzus, Katie and Kolby, and my mom runs Katie's Rose Cottage from home. Kirby LOVED living at my parents house. With 24 hour access to a human to love on, puppies to play with and a pool to jump in .. he was pretty much in heaven. The minute we moved into the new home we instantly began to see a change in him. He grew very depressed and refused to play or eat. My sister was kind enough to let us steal her puppy for a few days to keep him entertained, but when it was time for her to go home Kirby once again grew depressed. If you know me you quickly learn that my dog is my baby, therefore it broke my heart to see him so sad. So Friday after work I decided to devote a day to making him happy. I took him for a walk to my sisters house so he could get out of the house and play with some friends. When he refused to play I began to grow worried ... so I took him to the pet store to go on a toy shopping spree. Still he wasn't happy. In fact he was very skittish and walked around with his tail between his little legs. This is when I began to really get scared since Kirby is always happy ... and I mean always! His nickname is even the "Disney Dog" because he's so animated and joyful. When I got home I attempted to open one of his new toys. Since I couldn't find where I had packed the scissors I decided to use a kitchen knife to cut open the package. Bad idea! I sliced my finger extremely deep ...

Since I am extremely stubborn and refused to go to the doctor and get stitches in time ... I now get to have this beautiful bum thumb for the next week to guarantee the bleeding stops and my finger begins to heal. Anyway ... back to the important part. Noah and I had been talking for several months that once we got a house and a yard we would really enjoy getting a large dog that I could take for runs in the park and that would be a companion for Kirby. We couldn't handle Kirby's depression any longer so Friday we jumped in the car and drove an hour to Weatherford to pick up our beautiful new baby, Jack!

Jack is a 7 week old golden retriever. He is by far the best little puppy I've ever met! In fact this picture was taken as he took a little nap at the vet's office while they poked and prodded him during his first check-up. Most importantly ... him and Kirby adore each other and Kirbs is back to his old happy self :)

Until next time!

Stephanie