Paint With Me Thursday

Hooray! I made it!

Last night I worked on my next card for ::here::

A sneak peek at some of the possible color choices

I have been so tired with this pregnancy. After a day of cleaning up the house (a never ending battle around here) & then getting the kids into bed I am ready to go to bed myself. I'm glad to have this challenge to be a part of. A good friend of mine is an amazing artist. He commented on Facebook yesterday how he had gone to work all day long & a list of other things he worked on in the afternoon at home with his family. At the end of his status update he said how he was heading to his studio to work on art. It gave me that jolt of creative energy I needed. I sometimes forget I'm not the only parent/artist who works and helps out all day only to find myself ready to sleep at the end of the day. Surrounding myself with other creative people is a huge motivator. His little reminder gave me the nudge I needed to get something accomplished. I should be self motivated however sometimes I think it's okay to gather that extra bit of creative energy from other until you are back in the game again.

Although I won't be able to show you the finished card until next month, I take comfort in the fact that I worked on art last night. Can't wait to work on the card tonight. Look forward to seeing what everyone else has done for their

Paint with me Thursday.

Hopeful!

Our new home?

We got the call today that the bank counter offered & we counter offered back. They accepted our counter offer!!!!!! Now we are waiting for the next step in this process. It should take about 10 days. The bank will have to sign a whole bunch of papers and then make sure their are no liens on the property. If everything checks out okay we can move on to the next step, the inspection. It's not officially our home but the whole process is moving in the right direction from what our agent tells me. I am so very excited.

I will show more photos once we know for sure but I thought I'd give you an idea of how cute this home is. Yes it has a 3 car garage. That 4th garage that has been added on the the house has rocks for flooring. Dean already told me that if we get the house he will pour a concrete floor in there, insulate and add drywall, texture & paint,

IT WILL BECOME MY STUDIO!!!!!!!!!

The garage is as deep as the house. He also said he would frame in a small area at the front of the space so I could store all of my Rubbermaid containers of decorations & such. There is enough room for me to set up a space for sewing & painting & then some. I could work on projects and leave them unfinished for a day if I needed. I wouldn't have to worry about cleaning them up so we could eat at the dining room table. Nope just close a door & come back to it when able. I envision a whole lot of art getting accomplished in that little studio.

The 3 car garage is perfect for all of Deans tools & projects. He joked that all someone had to say is the house had a 3 car garage & he was sold....didn't matter what the rest of the house looked like ;) What guy doesn't want a large garage?

I'm so hopeful!

27 weeks & Running out of Room

A big mess!

Have I mentioned we are running out of room? Bursting at the seams? That this new baby WILL be sleeping in a dresser drawer if we don't find a larger home very soon? If I seem redundant I apologize. I am so very excited that we have wonderful in laws whom are willing to help us get into a bigger home. The process of looking for said home has proven to be a bittersweet one. We have only been looking for a few months but the process has been a little frustrating. None of the houses we have looked at are really what we want. There is always something major that would need to be fixed or changed to make the house livable. Sometimes the houses are too small or in the wrong neighborhood. One home was really old, but huge and we could have made it work (with a good scrubbing and huge remodel). It looked like a good deal until Dean crawled under the house only to discover fire damage that had been covered up and repaired in a very shady way. That one was out of the question. We've put three offers on three different homes and two of the three have been rejected. The last one we haven't heard back on yet, however there are 54 other offers ahead of ours and it doesn't look promising.

Well last night we went and looked at a home & let me tell you it's perfect. It has all the things Dean & I both want in a home for our little growing family. I am trying not to get my hopes up on this one, but we put an offer in on the home this morning. This is the only home we walked through & neither of us mentioned::

major remodel

don't touch anything girls this house is disgusting

the bathroom will have to be remodeled before the children take a bath in it

this will need to be removed

this will need to be rewired......

Seriously the list goes on. None of those things were mentioned. In fact I could envision having parties on the back porch, and family dinners out in the cool summer night. I could see our kids enjoying the huge back yard & the garden Dean would plant as soon as we moved in. I saw just how perfectly our furniture would fit. I loved the new kitchen and the huge dinning room. The list goes on of positives for this home. Really in truly I'm very hopeful & praying that if this is the right home for us that we will be able to call it "our home" in the near future.

While I am on the topic of running out of room, I'm officially 27 weeks. Although I'm extremely excited about a home birth there is always a little fear of the unknown. My sister in law gave me this book for Christmas & I am so grateful she did. I find it very comforting to read. I love the many birth stories that are included. This will be my 4th birth and I really do feel I can trust my body to do what it needs to do when it comes to birth. Sloan was my longest & hardest birth. My water broke around 3pm and I delivered her sunny side up the next day around 11:15 in the morning. Zoe came really fast, 7 hours from start to finish. Aris came even faster, about 5 hours from start to finish. I am guessing this birth has a good chance of going even more quickly if history repeats itself. Dean's biggest fear is that the baby will come too quickly & he will have to deliver him. I am worried about the same thing. Dean is one of the toughest guys I know. He can crush his foot against a rock riding a dirt bike, ride 30 miles back to camp bloody & swollen & then wrap his foot and go to work the next day no problem. However the dude can't handle blood on anyone else. If the baby came before the midwife I would be delivering him myself & checking to make sure Dean hadn't hurt himself after passing out. My midwife assured me that she would be there as soon as I feel I'm in labor. I felt so relieved to know this. There will be no messing around this time. No cleaning the house until the contractions are super close together for this girl. Nope! Aris was delivered at 7cm dilated. I'm not taking any chances with this little guy, lol! Can you tell I'm getting excited about the big day even though its weeks away? So much going on right now. The unknown is both exciting & a little unnerving at times. Only time will tell how life takes it's course. We shall see!

Hope you all enjoy this beautiful Monday!

Newest Card

March's Card

You can download this card for ::free:: at Simply Sweet Marriage. You can also find other sweet things to add some spice to your marriage ;)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. It was rainy and cold all day yesterday. Last night it snowed & although it's in the 30's here today the sun is shining. It almost feels like a cold spring day. Sunny days have been scarce around here lately so I am soaking it in.

Dean turned 33 yesterday. The girls are going to a dear friends home to play for a few hours so we go out for lunch today. I'm looking forward to some one on one time. We don't get to go out (kid free) very often so I'm sure it will be fun.

What are you doing this weekend?

Early Morning Painters

Mommy can I paint?

Is always met with such hesitation & joy.

Hesitation because I know just how much fun they will have making a mess, I mean art. They are both covered in paint. My bathroom sink is also.

Joy because they love it so much. Because I love the look of determination on their faces as they mix paint. I love the way their chubby little hands take such care in each brushstroke. I guess a little part of me hopes that one day they will love art just as much as I do. In the end it's worth it. Always is & always will be.