So, How is the House Coming?

That has got to be the most frequently asked question. I guess it's better than talking about the weather, but, it does get a little old. I say this not because I don't like talking about the house, but because I/we thought we would be done by now. When you think about it, June will be three years since the flood. That is a looooong time to be living the way we have, without a house. Granted, lots has happened in these past three years, some good, some great and some not so great. Regardless, we're not in our house yet and I really have no idea when we will be. I am hoping before the kids get out of school, but even that might be a stretch.
As you all know, Brad is doing this pretty much by himself, nights and weekends while working full time. It hasn't been easy, I know that's an understatement. Which brings me to the second most frequently asked question, "It will all be worth it." Well, yes and no. While trying to stay positive, I'll just comment on the "yes" part. Yes, we will have a nicer house than we had ever imagined. Yes, we will have a ton of equity in our home. Yes, it is completely custom to our needs. Yes, we can say we built it ourselves. The part that's hard is trying to remember that on a day to day basis when we're still living out of totes, don't have our home done yet and still have so much left to do.
One thing that keeps Brad going, besides the obvious, is the continual moral support we have received from our friends and family. He thrives on the compliments and encouragement. He needs to know that he's being validated by the decisions he has made. I can tell him and I do, but hearing it from others helps him to know he's not totally crazy for doing this the way we have. For that reason, and in response to "frequently asked questions" I continue to post updates, pictures, etc. And because a blog post can be a little boring without pictures, here are a few of what we've been working on lately.

We are trying to get the island mapped out for size and placement. The fine piece of equipment on the end is my wine fridge. I'm currently accepting donations~

Brad marked the rest of the kitchen out to make sure we have the placement correct for the cabinets we have. All this has to be done before he starts the electric, which hopefully will be in the next week or two.

My cooktop - nuf said!

Lighting for above the island. I think we may darken the metal just a little to match the color of the other lights, but the style on all the lights is the same.

The back side of the island, if you were looking from the garage door.This will be a two-tiered island and I'm hoping we can fit six chairs around it. The facing on the bottom and other side will all be stone to match the surround of the stove.

Brad bought this machine from one of his customers probably two years ago. It has sat in the garage and I figured, why not put it at the house? I don't have much candy in it yet, but it's enough to keep the kids asking for quarters.

So, that's my update. If I knew how to add this to the Block House tab at the top, I would. Until then, you'll have to look for the updates on the main page. And please do keep asking about the house. I might not have much for an update, but Brad is still there every night and on the weekends. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by, he'd love to tell you all about the house and I'm sure it would be a welcome distraction.

~ Misty

Happy Birthday Piper!

 My littlest child has now turned ONE! I can't believe how much time has passed. She is a true joy for all of us. I'm particularly glad that I did the photo blog last year. I have so many more pictures of her first year than any of the other kids. I love every little thing about her. I have found that I'm so much more patient with her than I was before. I'm not sure if it's my age or just the fact that I've done all this before. Either way, it's definitely a good thing. Much love to my little girl!

Of course, I have to put in a few pictures of her first birthday cake. For the record, she didn't like it at all! Everyone else did though, so I know it wasn't my cooking. I don't think it will be long before she figures out about all the yummy goodness that comes with cake!

~ Misty

Hailey's Party

We celebrated Hailey's 10th birthday with her friends on Tuesday night. Although it was a week early, having it during Spring Break was the easiest way to get all of her friends there. I rented a room at Comfort Suites and Hailey invited five of her friends to spend the night. The girls all had a great time swimming and doing typical 4th grade girl things. I love listening to them talk. They even played truth or dare - I so remember doing that!


Annaliese was able to come swim too!



All the girls enjoying their Scratch cupcakes - Yum!



To Blog or not to Blog?

I have been trying to figure out how to do my blog now that I'm done with my 365 project. I had a lot of fun doing it, but it was very challenging and time consuming. There's no doubt I have plenty of subject material, what with the house, the kids, life in general that never stops moving. Although, as blog design goes, I'm pretty clueless. Everytime I start trying to do my own research, I get sidetracked by someone's blog and I lose another hour of "research". So, I'm waiting for some ideas to just magically appear or someone to say, "Hey! You should do it this way!" Unless this happens, I have a feeling it's going to be a painful process trying to figure out how to do this and it not look so elementary. I guess at least I am finally posting again, it's only been four months since my last one.

Now that I got that whole discussion out there, here's what else is going on. Piper is one on Friday! I know, I can hardly believe it. The kids are all on spring break this week, Hailey's friend birthday party is tomorrow and she turns 10 on the 22nd. Michelle and Dustin will be here for the weekend to celebrate both of their birthdays.

I haven't taken any pictures lately, funny how I have needed these past couple months to recoup from the last year. This picture was taken in February, I have it posted on the fireplace at our house to remind us of how quickly we need to get things done. It's great motivation for Brad.

New Posts Coming Soon...!

I promise I will have new posts soon! I know it's been ages, but honestly, doing two blogs at once, well, three really, proved to be too much for me to handle. Actually, I think it was doing the daily blog that did me in. All my energy has been in doing the photoblog for the last year. I'm finally down to the last month or so and I'm looking forward to getting back to this one. In the meantime, here's a pic of Piper:

"That's what she said!"

Jack's Seven!

Jackson turned 7 years old on December 17th. We celebrated with family the weekend before his birthday and his friend party the day before his birthday.

Future golfer or snowmobiler, not sure which yet....

That's one big birthday sundae!!!

I'm not sure why I agreed to go to Chuck E. Cheese with five boys, but it didn't turn out as bad as I thought it was going to be. They all had a lot of fun and the place was practically empty while we were there. They went through all their tokens way before we were done, but they managed to entertain themselves. On his actual birthday he lost another tooth. There was a lot of whining until it came out and then he completely focused on the tooth fairy coming that night - kind of a cool way to celebrate.

All his friends- Drew, Jeremiah, Jase and Clayton

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken for the Orchard Hill Church directory. The end result turned out much better than I had expected. It will be our last picture before we add another block baby. The kids did relatively well considering the difficulty that we always face in getting all the kids to smile at the same time.  I can't imagine what it will be like the next time we do this!

Christmas Cards and Christmas Trees

I tried to get a good picture of the kids for the annual Christmas card and as usual, it proved to be next to impossible. The kids were a mixture of laughing, talking and smiling. It's an authentic Block picture to be sure. The end result was the first picture, coupled with a smaller picture of Brad and I on our cruise. Brad said it's his favorite card so far.

You can see the baby bump now

We went to get a tree from Kris Kringle's Christmas Tree Farm the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We always try to go that weekend and I am glad we did, it wasn't near as cold as it is now. The first tree we were about ready to cut down (that I liked the best) had another tree growing up right next to the stump and it had a nest in the branches, so we got the second best one we could find.

Flip House Update #1

While we were on our cruise, we had someone come in and finish the drywall, mud, tape and texture the walls and ceiling. It was so nice to come home and have that done. We then primed and painted all the walls and have since completed almost all of the trim, installed the wood floors, installed all bathroom fixtures, tiled the bathroom floor,installed all the lighting, assembled kitchen cabinets etc. These pictures show some of the progress. We do have it listed by owner right now and have had some bites on it.  Keeping our fingers crossed that the right person will come along and it will work for them. By the end of the weekend, we should have the bathroom completly done, all the trim with final painting done, the cabinets all hung in the kitchen and possibly have the carpet installed. Again, keeping fingers crossed for that too...

Not too exciting to see fresh concrete, but this was a major step of progress in getting the house ready. We paved the garage and the sidewalk, we will gravel the driveway prior to selling.

Another major step was getting all the lighting in, this is the kitchen and dining room area. Our mascot, Buz, taking it easy on the blanket.

Brad starting on the kitchen floor. We found the best flooring (I am totally taking credit for it) and it looks great!

The after picture, it needs to be cleaned, but you get the idea.

We used the same flooring in the entryway and the hallway out to the garage, the living room and other hallway will be carpeted.

The before and after for the bathroom flooring. It has a whirlpool tub which I would like to try out at least once...

Random picture of the work table in the living room, soon this will all be put away.

I had the task of assembling all the kitchen cabinets. Truthfully, I was glad to be able to help in a significant way. It seems like 99% of this house stuff has fallen on Brad's shoulders. It's very hard for me to find time to get over to help at the house with all the kids and their schedules to manage. So, when I volunteered to do the cabinets, it wasn't such a bad thing. It did take me all day, but it's not like it's something I have to do everyday. The kids did wonderful with not getting into all the pieces. As soon as we have them hung, I will post a pic of the finished product. And although I was happy to help, I don't think I want to go into a career in cabinet assembly.

The Rest of Fall

Once again proving my inability to maintain my blog, I have to lump everything together in one post to get back on track. I really think if I could lose my addiction to Bejeweled, I would have time to work on this blog? (I guess that's just the competitive nature in me, wanting to be at the top of the "leader board".)  So, here we are, with my last post in mid-October and it's already into December with snow on the ground. You might think we just had nothing going on, but indeed we did, so maybe I can use that as an excuse that I was just soooo busy, but then we are back to the bejeweled thing... a vicious circle!

We celebrated a Halloween party with the Miller's and got all dressed up, it was in a way the dress rehearsal for Halloween which Brad and I missed. Glad we got to do it though and get some pictures of the kids.

Brad and I went on a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean at the end of October. We left on the 30th and returned a week later. Flying into Miami, we stayed there for a night and then took off on our cruise Saturday, October 31st. We had a great time and slept a lot. I think we were both so tired from everything that has happened in the last 18 months that we were worn out. Brad had a little motion sickness, but I was fine. Everyone kept asking how I was feeling, thinking I would have issues being pregnant, but it didn't bother me at all. Our favorite stop was in Grand Turks. The water was gorgeous, the weather was beautiful and we had the most fun on our Catamaran Sailing and Snorkeling expedition. I wish we would have stopped there first, but then the rest might have been a disappointment? At any rate, it was nice to get away and get rested. I figure it's the first time since we have had children that we have spent that much time together alone. I think next time we do something, we will pick a resort and just stay in one place, but now I can say I have been on a cruise.

The first day on the ship, Carnival Liberty

We rented a scooter when we arrived in the Bahamas. It was a Sunday and most of the shops were closed in the morning. We were able to drive all around the island and even went to Atlantis. It was a lot of fun and turned out to be the best place to rent one.

A view of the ship from a lookout in St. Thomas

On the catamaran in Grand Turks. My first time snorkeling and it was a little difficult to get used to. Once I got the hang of it though, it was pretty spectacular. The area we were at was next to a drop of over 8000 feet in the ocean floor. Brad managed to dive down and get a shell for me, no idea what it's called, but it's the one genuine souvenier I have from our trip that I liked the most.

A few days after we returned, we had our ultrasound to find out we were having a baby GIRL! Honestly, Brad or I did not mind either way. As you might imagine, the girls wanted a girl and the boys wanted a boy. We had all the kids with us in the room when we found out. That was a handful, they all wanted to watch the screen at the same time, but it worked out okay. As I was laying on the table, Anderson looked at me and said, "Mom, you doing okay?" It was so funny and sweet. I remember they all were pretty freaked out last time they saw me in the hospital after my back surgery, but they did well at this appointment. Now we need to think of names. I am welcome to any suggestions, but I have a few requirements, no common names, no names that start with "B", no names that are food, plants, or seasons, no unisex names - that sounds easy enough, right?