The Elm Street House

Before I go on with August, I thought I'd do a post about our new house.  Our main goal was to get a 4 bedroom house with more space for our family.  We loved our former house but the bedrooms, bathrooms, and closets were very tiny.  The living space was great but lack of storage was our biggest issue.  It was also in a neighborhood that was in transition and not really in a good way.  When we moved to Mimosa Dr., it was mostly older families who had lived there since the houses were built in the 1960s.  But, as those sweet neighbors passed or moved away, the houses were being bought up by investment groups.  They were quickly becoming rentals with new renters moving in and out often.  We wanted to find a neighborhood with lots of kids and families like us who were likely to stay a long time:)

We looked at everything that remotely fit our criteria. The Elm Street house was one of the first we looked at.  It was in our absolutely favorite neighborhood and had lots of good space.  We even put a contingent offer on it, but pulled it later, deciding it was really too expensive.  After we accepted the offer on our Mimosa house, we had 3 months to decide on a house.  We fell in love with an older character home (I can't find a picture anymore) but it sold before we could sell our house:(  In the end, God was good because it had a lack of storage and bathroom space.  We just loved the character and were ignoring the practical points of the house too.

There was also the house on Cedar St.

It met a lot of our requirements but had some renovations that were not done very well.  The bathrooms needed a lot of work and we didn't love the layout quite as much as others we had seen.

Then here was the Oak St. house.

It was not actually on the market yet.  It was a nice house but not in quite as nice of a neighborhood.  We were hoping for a 2 car garage and it only had a carport.  It also needed some work in the bathrooms too.

There was the Main St. house that was a true fixer upper in our favorite neighborhood (couldn't find a picture).  I finally said that, considering all of the changes we were about to experience, it was not something else we needed to take on!

Just when we were starting to get worried we wouldn't find a house, our Realtor sent us a text asking if we were still interested in the Elm St. house.  We said it was too expensive and she said the owner was desperate to sell and was willing to accept a much lower offer.  We stuck to our budget and got a great house for a great price!  Here are some pictures from when it was listed:

Here is the main bath (there are 3 bathrooms!)  All 3 bathrooms had been renovated very well.

 One of the 3 secondary bedrooms.  We liked the character of the windows.  This is to be Mallory's room.

 The dining room.  We decided to change things around and make this our upstairs living room though.

 The kitchen.  They did a good job renovating this room.  It has plenty of storage space, a pantry, and a island with bar stools.

 The living room.  This room is what we decided to use as the dining room/Nathan's office area.

 The master bedroom.  It's a nice size with two closets.  The bathroom was done nicely and was a much better option than our previous tiny bathroom.

 Here is the front.  We don't love the street appeal but we don't hate it either:)  We also had to come to terms with the fact that it is a split level with stairs right in the entry way.  There are 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, and living room upstairs.  There is one bedroom, one bathroom, laundry, and a huge playroom downstairs.  It will be a great home for our family for a very long time, I hope!

July 2013

 We were still in Spokane when July started.  It finally started to warm up too.  We took the kids to a small water park one day with our Spokane friends, Sharon and Trevor.  Will was pretty tentative about things and just kind of stuck to the shallow pool in the kiddie area.  Madeline and Trevor went on every slide possible and had the best time.  Mallory looked so cute in her new swimsuit and hat.  She liked the water too:)

 We also did some fun indoor stuff.  We went to a big bounce house place and took the kids to see Monsters University.  They loved the movie and Will became obsessed with everything involving Monsters Inc.

 We had the best time in Spokane and were so thankful for the time spent with my parents and the fun they provided!  Nana and Pawpaw are awesome!

When we got back, Will had a food trial scheduled to see if he would have a reaction if he ingested peanuts.  He had already passed milk and eggs.  This face shows you the result.  No more peanut allergy and no food allergies at all anymore!!!!!  We are so happy!  This will make life so much easier for our Will:)

 We started packing and getting ready to move while still enjoying our summer break.
Mallory discovered a love for spaghetti:

 She also had her first day of daycare while Nathan and I had to go to some professional development and work in our classrooms.  I'm not going to lie, it was hard on me.  I wanted to change my mind about going back to work so badly:(  But, Nathan is a great leader of our family and patiently reminded me of the reasons we made our choice.  I'm thankful for his calm and reasonable personality!
We eased her in with a few half days and then a few full days a week.  She adjusted very well!  She really seemed to love going which helped the transition for everyone:)  Here she is on her first day with her backpack and lunchbox;

 On July 27, we celebrated Will's 6th birthday!  Because we were about to move, we decided to delay having a birthday party with friends until we were settled.  So, we celebrated as a family with cake, presents, and a trip to the bowling alley.  It was a lot of fun!

 Will is such a blessing to our family!  We have been so proud of his progress in school this year and how well he has handled the news of our decision to have him stay in kindergarten another year.  He is so loving, kind, gentle, and creative.  I can't wait to see what all he learns and accomplishes in this next year!

Here is a cute snapshot of the girls one morning before church.  It shows just how much Mallory has grown!  I also love the next picture of Madeline.  Her face has changed a lot this year.  She is turning into such a beautiful young lady, inside and out:)

July was such a nice month but we were honestly holding our breath and dreading August.  We had some issues with our mortgage broker while trying to finish all the paperwork to close on the new house.  She had forgotten to turn things in and it was a very stressful time.  That coupled with trying to find time to get ready for a new school year and the whole adjustment to being a 2 parent working family again was overwhelming, at times.  I'm not sure I always handled the changes well, but sometimes I did.  It was truly the grace of God that would get us through the next few months and beyond.

June 2013

June 2013 was a nice time of enjoying playing at home, packing slowly but surely, and preparing for our big trip to see Nana and Pawpaw in Spokane, WA.

Not long before we left for Spokane, Mallory decided to add some excitement to our home by taking her first steps by herself.  Madeline didn't walk until 15 months and Will was 17 months, so we didn't quite know what to do with an early walker, lol!

The next day, we headed to Little Rock to help Lucy celebrate her 1st birthday!  It was such a cute and fun party with a watermelon theme.  We had such a great time visiting with our family and celebrating Lucy.

Madeline and Emma are always thrilled when they get to spend time together:) 

Will loves anything involving cupcakes!

Mallory and Lucy are so cute together.  There was music playing and they both just started dancing.  I love that they are only 10 days apart.  I can't wait to see them interact with each other more and more.

I offered to make some of my cookies for the party.  Here are my watermelons.  They turned out super cute, I think!

The week of our trip, Madeline participated in Ferncliff's day camp at the Presbyterian church with her friend Miriam.  They had a great time.  Miriam came to spend the night before their last day.  Summer sleepovers are the best!  Miriam also loved playing with and carrying Mallory around.  Mallory loved being with the "big girls."

 The next day, we flew to Spokane.  It was our first big trip as a family of 5 and it went pretty well.  We had a long layover in Denver but we tried to find fun where we could and the kids all did really well.

It was a lot colder than in Arkansas.  Luckily we packed for the weather:)  It seems weird to see Mallory in leggings and a jacket in mid June!  We had to go buy Will jeans at first, lol!  The kids loved being at Nana and Pawpaw's house for sure.  They had planned so many fun things for us to do.

This is Mallory getting ready to do some serious shopping!  We live in a small town and get so excited when we go somewhere with good shopping!

 My kids have never been to Build a Bear, so that was up first!  Madeline made a cute panda bear.  She named it Oreo.

 Will built a cute bear and fell in love with the police man outfit.  He named him Officer Bacon:)

 I didn't get a shot of Mallory's, but she made a little dog and named it Brownie.

That Sunday was Mallory's first birthday!  We went to mass that morning and my dad took a great family shot of us all dressed up.  I sure love my family of 5!

 Here's the birthday girl in her cute apple dress.

 After church and a nap, Mallory was ready to open presents.  Nana and Pawpaw got her first baby doll.  It's name is "Baby Jenna."  You can see how excited she was about it here!

 It was love at first sight!  This little girl sure loves babies.

After presents, it was time for cake!  She wasn't sure about the candle and Will and I had to help her out.

 She did really love the cake though!

I'm so glad I made a point to take her picture every month for her first year.  It is so fun to see how much she grew and changed.  I also love that we had to give up on the crib shots the last three months, lol!

That evening, my dad and Nathan took the 2 big kids to a Spokane minor league baseball game while the birthday girl stayed home and rested with Nana and Mama.
 This will always be remembered because my dad and Nathan let Madeline eat a ton of kettle corn.  Then, they won coupons for free tacos from Jack in the Box and fed them that for dinner.  Poor Madeline got sick in the middle of the night after that, bless her heart.  She no longer likes Kettle Corn, lol!

 On June 29, Nathan and I celebrated our 11 wedding anniversary!  My parents surprised us with a one night stay in a nice resort in Cor d' Lane Idaho.  It was such a beautiful place on a lake with an amazing restaurant.  We had the best time together, just the two of us.  I think this may be our first official "selfie"  We are so grateful that our parents kept our kids so that we could have this time together.  Now that we don't have any family in the same town as us, this is very rare.  It was wonderful!

May 2013

May is always a busy month with all of the school year activities ending.  It was an even busier month for us because I was offered a job teaching kindergarten in the fall and we finally got a good offer on our house!  The only catch was that the couple couldn't close until the beginning of August, so much for the convenience of moving during summer break!

Last PRE class for the year.  These buddies had a good time together:)  Nathan and I are sad that this will be our last night teaching PRE for a few years.  Now that I am going back to work, it's not going to be possible for us to teach next year:(

Madeline went to Miriam and Hope's birthday party at the Painter's cottage and had a great time!

Madeline continued to do well in gym.  So well in fact, that she was asked to perform in the gym recital performance this year!  The girls have to be performing their back hand spring and round off back hand spring well enough to be asked.  Madeline almost made it last year, but it was a piece of cake this year!

Mallory discovered Will's toys and loves them!  Will, however, is not enjoying this new phase, lol!

She also discovered Go-go Squeeze applesauce and is a big fan!  This mom is happy for a convenient and healthy snack:)

Madeline's last Northwest Choir performance of the year:

Will has the amazing ability to make just about anything out of paper.  He made a basketball goal complete with the metal structure to attach it to the ceiling of a gym.  I think we have a future engineer on our hands for sure!

Field Day!  It was pretty drizzly in the morning, but luckily it cleared up and they had a great time.

Dance Recital weekend!  Madeline spent lots of time over those 2 days with her hair in rollers:)

Her gym performance outfit.  She did so well in this.  Her tumbling looked so good up there with the big girls and she was just thrilled to be a part of it:)

Hip hop outfit.  This was a cute dance that she enjoyed.  All of the hip hop classes got to perform the finale this year, so she got to do some extra performing.

Posing with friends:

Jazz:  this was my favorite dance of hers this year.  She really danced well and I was so impressed with her skill level and how well she performs!

Ballet:  This was a beautiful dance to an operatic version of a night time prayer and I loved it!  I really appreciate how much her dance teachers use Christian music in the recital.

Two of Madeline's best friends were in her class this year and that made it even more fun for her.  She sure loves Miriam and Sydney!

Last day of 2nd grade!  

Last day for Will too!  We have decided to hold Will back next year.  He has done very well academically but his maturity has lagged both socially and emotionally behind his peers and we feel that he is not quite ready for 1st grade just yet.  He was the youngest in his class by far and we felt that the extra year would give him a chance to mature and become more comfortable at school.  We are so proud of him!

End of year awards assembly.  Madeline with her GT teacher, Mrs. Woods:

With her buddy Miriam:

Now it is officially summer and we have time to do fun things like experiment with new hair styles,

Paint cute baby toenails,

build Lego firetrucks with no help from a grownup,

play in the wading pools,

 be a sweet big sister who shares Frigid Frog snow cones with her baby sister,

and play around with Instagram by taking great pictures of this handsome boy!

We hated that we couldn't close on our house, and thereby couldn't move into our new house, until summer was over.  But, we were excited that we could just settle in and enjoy our summer together!