On Our Anniversary

8 years ago today I married my best friend. In that time we've laughed together, cried together and grown together. In 8 short years of marriage we've gone through more than I would have imagined both wonderful and painful. Though I wouldn't have seen some of the turns this life of ours has taken and though some I would not have chosen- I would not have wanted to walk through them with anyone else.

Tony you've been more than my best friend. You're my rock, my constant. I know that no matter what the situation you are there to support me- and to hold my feet to the fire when need be. I love knowing that I can come to you with anything and come back with an honest answer. You are my compass.

I have such admiration for how hard you work to provide for us and allow me to stay home with our girls. I never take for granted the sacrifices you make so that our kids can be raised at home. When we were married 8 years ago being a stay at home mom and homemaker was the last thing on my mind, how things changed when that little red haired blue eyed girl came into our lives! I will always appreciate you doing whatever you could to ensure I didn't miss a moment of our kids' lives.

I still love the touch of your hand on my skin and the strength of your arms holding me brings comfort like nothing else. Even though you're gone frequently I never get used to going to bed alone and miss you every time. Its hackneyed and cliche, but you really do complete me. I can't imagine this life without you.

I'm so thankful and blessed by the time we've shared and everything you've given me. All I can ask for is more time to spend by your side. I love you.

First phase of house remodel...

So the house is nearly finished and I'm just getting around to posting pictures of the process - or what I have. I thought I had taken more pictures but I guess with the monstrous first trimester I had, I wasn't picking up the camera as often - or as soon- as I thought. I didn't think I had pictures even of pre-demo but I found some in the deep recesses of my laptops picture files (Tony gets angry when he sees how many pictures are on here. What does he expect...hello photography...)

This is the house the day after Christmas. It has asbestos siding and roofing on it here... not nice.



This was the closed in porch area. It gets torn off to make way for a 2 story addition.

I love the original staircase. Something charming about it so we kept it. Its covered in layers and layers of lead paint. You would not believe how thick this stuff is. That has to come off. We're still in the process. Its mahogany underneath. Hopefully we'll get it restored with no damage to the underlying wood. If not we'll just repaint it similar to how it is. I kind of like that look anyway- goes with the house.

I forgot to mention earlier- this was Tony's great grandfathers house on his farm. We had the option of tearing it down and restarting but being a history buff and the fact that it was family, we decided restoring it would be much more rewarding.

The floors are hardwood through most of it and we decided to refinish them as well to retain that authenticity. They won't be pristine brand new wood floors but they'll still look nice and have character.




Tearing down the ugly side porch. They've also torn off the shingles and some siding.







The shingles are off and new addition is on you can tell the difference by looking at the roof. There is more house here lol.


New roof is on and the siding is coming off. I was so happy to see that gone!!


Just the wood shed out back. I just love the dark wood for picture backdrops. Very rustic.
We've had new bathtubs at the house for quite some time. Much easier getting them through with no walls...As you can obviously see in this picture- the house was gutted entirely. This however is in the new addition part of the house- hence no outside walls at this point.

Bathtubs in what will be my dining room....

Gutted room. and I think part of the upstairs addition?? Not sure :S I want to say its taken from the master bedroom into the new addition upstairs...

Ella's bedroom. The only way to Laci's room was through Ella's at this point. It will be closed off and their closets will be on the same wall seperating their rooms. There will be a little foyer type area at the top of the steps into the new addition where you can go up the rest of the stairs to the master bedroom and Ella's or the other direction to the wash room, bathroom and to the right to Laci's room. Tony and I have access to the bathroom also through our room.

Laci's room taken from Ella's I believe...Her room originally had a small staircase that led down into the kitchen. It was taken out. Tony told her they were putting in a fireman's pole and ladder for entrance to her room. (this was when they only way through to hers was through Ella's). She was excited. Her best friend Mia wants to move in with us and I'm fairly certain it was the fireman pole feature that piqued her interest.

Stairway banister...

Dining room again. It has a beautiful view of the barn and pasture. Ella already stands at the door and window (obviously not shown here) and watches the cows. HER cows.

Project Life Weeks 29 and 30

Week 30 : July 4-10


Here is my blue living room! You can't see the streakiness in the pictures but the painter had to redo it. It was pretty funny because the day before we were up there to help and he would not leave Tony alone as he tried to paint the ceiling. Every stroke he took he got nagged about uneveness and runs. Well we left and the painter guy did the living room himself . When we came back I couldn't believe it! Had it just been friends fine but the pro very picky painter had runs and streaks everywhere. It looks great now though. I love the blue I picked with the wood work. The floors will be hardwood in that room as well.

My friend in AZ decided to start making children's clothes and asked me to do the photography of her pieces for her website. I LOVE them. Tenderfeet Stitches. click the link to check out her great clothes. This is the Apron Knot dress. I love it, like all her other pieces. The close up shot on the bottom is after Ella was climbing the bails and managed to find a hole to follow all the way down through and disappeared into the hay. It was too funny, she just disappeared!

The cows are never this close. They see us and head way out in the pasture.
I dont' know why because we never even get close to the fence. This day I parked by the barn
and they all stayed there. I guess they didn't expect me to get out.

I had to retake some of Laci in this tunic from the previous shoot. I think she looks so cute here.

Another day of photos for Tenderfeet Stitches. She was a little better at this time around.

For the fourth we were lucky enough to have Tony home for the day. We started with a patriotic lunch after church at a local Chinese buffet lol. After we all napped we headed up to a small lake and let the girls play for awhile. Ella shocked me with how brave she was for it being her first time there this year. She hopped in that Strawberry Shortcake floatie and just took off in the water. She kept going under because she was trying to do a little too much. We had to stay on top of her!
Then we headed up for fireworks. If you look at the upper right hand corner you'll see that is Ella covered up in a pink blanket. As soon as they started she put it over her head. I took her in the car and we watched them from there. The picture of her w/the fireworks was actually taken inside the car. I always hated the loud sounds too as a kid so I feel for her.

Week 29: June 27 - July 3

This was Laci's first shoot for Tenderfeet Stitches. I love the tunic she's wearing. I even wear it on Ella as a dress lol. Laci looks too grown up in some of these though!

My friend in AZ decided to start making children's clothes and asked me to do the photography of her pieces for her website. I LOVE them. The blue and green dress Ella is wearing is now the favorite dress I have for her. The little tank and bloomers outfit is adorable too. She loves it and calls it her Little Bo Peep outfit. She wants to wear it daily. This was our first day of many shoots for Tenderfeet Stitches. Click on the name to see her collection and get some for your princesses! They're timeless adorable outfits you just can't find anywhere nowadays.

We love the Pittsburgh Zoo. This was Ella's first trip though not her first zoo trip altogether. We had a great day and it wasn't too hot so the animals were out and about more than we're used to seeing. We even saw a peacock wandering around the zoo paths with us out of his habitat! Not sure if he was supposed to do that or not but he managed to get back where he was meant to be on his own. I got some shots of the girls with him.

My kids are normally so clean I can send them out in regular clothes to play. We've never really had "play" clothes- but we'll have to start. I don't know how well you can tell since its in collage form, but these girls are covered from head to toe in dirt after playing while Daddy worked up at the new house. Yes, Laci wore all white...

She was "napping" with Laci's eye mask. She's a big ham.

I finally cleaned out and put up their little splash pool. They had a lot of fun- till they found a bees nest under the slide...

Ella is big into dress up now. She went up for pajamas and came down in this...

Project Life week 26

This was another one of those weeks where I didn't necessarily take a picture every day but we had many days where there was more than one picture from the day that I'd want to use. I'd much rather use another cute picture from the same day than have mundane pictures just to fill it because I didn't take a shot Wednesday or Friday...

Tony giving the girls yet another "tour" of the house.

Ella at the top of the staircase. We're keeping the original because its so pretty. We're stripping
it though- mahogany underneath and just doing a natural stain.
Wanted to keep some original
things since the house
has been in the family- some history.

The view outside of Ella's window this day. They started
doing hay and had the hay wagon out. I
still find it funny I'm going to live on a farm.

These are the vents that allowed heat to flow through the house.
We're talking OLD farmhouse.
We're refinishing the original floors
and were going to take these out
but the floor guy thinks the patch
job won't look super so we're leaving them in.
We're going to sand them down and shine them up.
The contractor loves the house and is very happy
we're keeping an original detail like these.
At first I was not thrilled but I think they're
pretty cool now. More history.

Thursday we went to Idlewild Park and Storybook Forest with
Tony's family in visiting from Colorado.
Ashlyn and Old King Cole.
Wish I could have kept her here.
Ella really took to her, sometimes she was the only
one who could calm her.

Ella as one of the seven dwarves. Her little short
nose and petite features are quite
dwarf like lol.

Ella and Snow White. Look how happy.
Can't wait to take her to Disney next year!

Little pig Little pig Let me in!

Ella with the Old Woman who lived in a shoe. She didn't
like her. Had to have grandma sit with her.
The Old Woman was insistent Ella
come see her. Guess
she wanted another child to
stuff in the shoe.

Ella with the Old Woman's shoe. She kept
singing
"Stinky old shoe stinky old shoe"
as she ran through it.

Laci going on to the Goodship Lollipop.

Laci and Abby in front of
Humpty Dumpty.
I could be wrong but I think when I was
a kid he swayed back and forth.
He's kind of old now and just sits there.

In a big tractor.

She insisted on her outfit and it was so funny.
A swimsuit and pajama pants.
At least it matched.
She loves farm machinery.
Her motto is
"I like to wear fancy dresses and dig in the dirt"

Laci looks like a little farm girl with her hair and freckles.
Good luck getting her to do any work of any kind though.

I like the angle of this one.