Hubby's New Hobby

Ok, so being a volunteer fire fighter isn't exactly a "hobby".  My husband joined the nearby fire company about a year ago.  His father was a volunteer fire fighter for his entire adult life and now Charlie is following in his dad's footsteps and carrying on the tradition.  I'm so proud of him and proud to tell people my husband is a fire fighter.  Plus, he's super cute in all his gear :)

Charlie's gone through several training classes and in this picture he's participating "MVC" (Motor Vehicle Crash) training.  Learning how to use the Jaws of Life, how to cut the windshield out of a vehicle, how to break windows to get access to passengers trapped in the vehicle and so on.  The instructor allowed me to be there to photograph the training.

I actually learned a lot while observing and taking pictures.  Even though it was only a training session at the firehouse when anyone was using any equipment all joking was put aside and they were focused on the task at hand with the mindset that someone was in the vehicle needing rescuing.    

Going From Caged Animal To Free Roaming

 

The picture on the top is the only one I got before the renovations really got started in my kitchen.  As you can see the counter top has been removed.  My kitchen and dinning room used to be divided by that ugly paneled cabinet and when I cooked I felt very disconnected from the rest of the house and in turn, disconnected from my family and friends.

The photo on the bottom right is my new kitchen layout with the cabinet and new counter top rotated and now running along the kitchen wall rather than jutting out from the wall.

The photo on the bottom left is my new view of the dinning room.  No longer am I cut off from the rest of the house while I'm preparing meals and the space is wide open for family and friends to actually join me in the kitchen and socialize comfortably without feeling cramped.

In the 4 weeks husband and I worked on our living room, kitchen and dinning room, I think my "new" kitchen/dinning room is my absolute favorite update.  It went from dingy yellow, baby blue counter tops, laminate wood flooring in the dinning room and linoleum in the kitchen and clutter on the walls to a welcoming wide open space of blue heaven, neutral counter tops (even a new set of cabinets along one wall making a nice 'buffet' style feel with extra storage in the cabinets for all my nifty kitchen gadgets and equipment), laminate wood flooring throughout the whole space, crown molding, framing out the entryway to the living room and beautiful wainscoting.

It was a grueling 4 weeks between limited hours after husband got home from work in the evenings, keeping up with getting kids on and off the bus for school, checking homework, cooking, attempted cleaning, running my regular errands along with countless trips for supplies to Lowe's and so on.  I know 4 weeks is NOT a long time for ALL the work we put into the house updating and renovating, but, throwing the day to day of life with a family it seemed like a very long time.  I wouldn't go back and change anything about it, though.  It was WELL worth the blood, sweat and tears and our house now feels like a home and I look forward to having family and friends come for visits and meals to share together with us.

Making Some Changes

So.  It's been over a year since my last post.  Not that I haven't had anything to post about.  I mean, come on, I have 3 children, a husband, wonderful family and awesome friends.  There's ALWAYS something to post about.  Anywho.  Instead of going back and trying to remember details of so many fun things my family and I did since my last post I'll just start from the big project my husband and I completed in this new year.  The picture on the left is the "Before" picture of our living room.  The picture on the right is the "After".

In the span of 4 hectic, messy, dusty, late night, debris filled weeks Charlie and I were able to soften up the look and feel of our living room.  Going from bold and in your face "Fabulous Red", a tiled corner (where a wood stove used to be), laminate wood flooring and a large area rug to a warmer and more neutral wall color, crown molding and carpeting.  We DID use some of the old laminate flooring for the entry of our house as a place to take off shoes and not muck up the new carpet as quickly.

I'm THRILLED with the new look and our friends and family who've been over and remember the "old" look have been very complimentary about the 'new' look.  It really feels like we've got a new house.  We also renovated our kitchen in the same 4 weeks we redid our living room, but, that's the next post :)

Tiger Gets Her Diploma

Today my sister graduated high school.  It seems like just yesterday I myself was in high school and she was the adorable baby on the school bus everyone loved so much.

Bethany has plans to attend college in the fall for a criminal justice degree of some sort and when she's old enough she wants to join the police academy and become a police officer.

I didn't have any set career plans when I graduated and Bethany has known for sure what she wants to do for several years now.  I'm so proud of the young woman she's becoming and seeing what the Lord has in store for the next chapter in her life.  I'm glad to have her as my sister :) 

Day Trip To DC

Today I kept the kids out of school, packed them in the Tacoma and headed to Washington DC for the day.  Tabytha, John and Jessi had been looking forward to this day for weeks.  Last night I packed bag lunches, Capri sun drinks and bottled water for a picnic lunch on the mall.  We met up with my friend, Jen, and her kids at the metro station in New Carollton.  We got our metro passes and waited for our other friend, Drea, and her kids to arrive.

We got on the metro and made our way to DC.  It was nearly noon when we arrived so we all decided to sit in a grassy area and have lunch before we went to the Museum of Natural History.  When we were done with lunch we gathered up all the kids.  11 kids between me, Jen and Drea, 10 of which were between the ages of 9 months and 5 yrs old.

During the last few steps before getting into the museum itself, Jessi started dragging and fussing and I realized I over estimated her ability to be able to handle all the walking we were going to do and SHOULD have brought the umbrella stroller for her.  As luck would have it, just inside the building, after going through the metal detectors, I spotted a wheelchair by the information desk.  I snatched it and put Jessi in it to keep her quiet for a bit.  It was big enough to have 2-3 kids in it at one time, so, I rotated all the little ones throughout the day so they each had a turn to rest their legs and have a ride.  It worked out perfectly and I firmly believe it alleviated any potential meltdowns we may have had with any of the little ones (remember, 10 children age 5 and under!!!)

Drea, Me and Jen and our kids

We did a LOT of walking and to be honest, all the kids were great while we were in the museum.  Although, with that many children we were constantly counting and recounting to make sure we had all 11 kids at all times.  We got a lot of looks throughout the day that's for sure.  I mean, come on, 3 women with 11 kids.  Jen pushing a double stroller with 2 kids in it, one baby on her chest and a child on her shoulders, Drea had an umbrella stroller holding the hand of another child and me pushing a wheelchair with 2-3 kids in it at any given time and a couple kids walking.  We certainly were a sight.

Two other friends of ours were coming from PA to meet up with us, but, a late start to their day and traffic prevented them from getting there to walk the Natural History Museum with us.  When the day was winding down Jen had to head back and Drea and I waited around for our other 2 friends to make it so we could at least see them and chat for a bit before we, too, had to leave and get back to our homes.

Me, Drea, Allyson and Bree with all our kids

Around 3pm our friends, Bree with her 3 kids and Ally with her 2 kids, finally made it to where we were.  We only had about half an hour with them before we had to go, but, it really was a treat to finally be able to meet these two women who I've built a friendship with through our mommy group on facebook over the past several years.

The day was drawing to an end and some of the little ones were spent and getting fussy so Drea and I said goodbye to our friends, gathered up the kids we came with and headed back to the metro station.  One or two kids dozed off on the metro.  Getting back to the parking garage Drea and I said our goodbyes and my kids and I headed back home.

It was a fantastic day.  John is looking forward to telling his teachers and classmates all about seeing the dinosaur bones.  I know this will be a day the kids are going to remember for a very long time.  I hope we'll be able to get back to DC this summer when Charlie can come and experience the fun with us :)

Easter 2012

This year we spent Easter Sunday at my mother-in-law's house with Charlie's side of the family.  Charlie's mom, sister and I each brought a dish for dinner.  Mother-in-law made a ham and macaroni & cheese, sister-in-law made pineapple fluff and a cheesecake and I made homemade dinner rolls and cupcakes.


A few days ahead of time I also made Easter ornaments for a painting craft for the kids to do before dinner.  I brought paints, paint brushes and the ornaments.  I set up a folding table in the backyard, laid out newspaper and gave each kid a paint brush and some paint.  They went to town decorating the ornaments.  After all the decorations were painted they played around.  Sister-in-laws husband brought a small moon bounce for the kids to jump around in and my mother-in-laws neighbor had her grandkids visiting for the day and brought over some things to play with.


When dinner was ready we said goodbye to the neighbor and made our way inside, cleaned up the kids, said grace and enjoyed a delicious meal together.  After dinner sister-in-law hid some plastic easter eggs in the front yard and the kids had fun with a little easter egg hunt.  All in all, it was a wonderful day

Friends And Fellowship

This weekend I had the opportunity to go on a Women's Retreat to the Skycroft Conference Center with one of my dearest friends, Drea.  A mutual friend of ours from a mommy group we're both in on Facebook flew in from Michigan to come, too.  Drea also invited her cousin, Anna, and another friend, Milbia.  The 5 of us carpooled to the retreat.

Friday morning I kissed Charlie and the kids goodbye and made my way over the bay bridge to meet up with Drea and Carol.  We didn't have to be at the conference center until the evening.  We picked up Anna and headed to DC to show Carol some of the sights.

After DC we picked up Milbia and made our way to the conference center.  Got our room keys and our whole group had dinner and started meeting other women there for the retreat as well.  The whole weekend was wonderful.  The weather was great and we were tucked away in the mountains.  Each session began with some fun 'getting to know you' games and praise music.  Our speaker was amazing.  I learned more than I anticipated and thoroughly enjoyed every minute I was there.  Getting to know other women in the church, spending the evenings after session with Drea, Carol and Anna and even getting in some quiet time of my own during our 'free time' Saturday afternoon.

I came home refreshed, recharged and closer to the Lord.  It was wonderful.