Demolition!!

We are making progress!
The demolition stage is just about complete.
This shows the kitchen, part of the new living room once that wall is gone. The ugly cabinets are history and so is the old carpet!

This is the old wall that's coming down to open up what will be our new living room!

What will be the dinning room from the foyer.

From the kitchen looking in to the old dinning room, what will be part of the new living room. Lucky is in this one, he likes the new house.

The kitchen without the old cabinets, new cabinets are being delivered this week!

The master bath, minus the old ugly over sized vanity, part of the shower, green tile and toilet.

The master bedroom, with all the junk from the bathroom.

The basement, some of the paneling has come down and all of the smelly pink carpet is gone!

So far we have worked very hard, more has been done since these pictures were taken. The old deck was torn down, and replaced with a new one. The wall in the living room has come down and a support beam was installed so the roof wont collapse, all the red paint was primed over, and every stinking bit of wall paper has been scraped off the walls! We have had our share of injures along with our handyman work. Andrew sliced his finger open cutting up carpet, and had to get three stitches. Pam slipped down the slippery old deck stairs. Ben stepped on a nail while tearing down the old deck. Then while I was leaving one night, I missed the two bottom stairs and ate the concrete.

We will muddle through, even though it seems so far away, there is an end to this madness!

Ill keep you updated.

Our new house.

We recently purchased a foreclosure about a block from where we live now. We outgrew our current home about 6 months after we moved in. Anyway this was such a steal we couldn't pass it up. So these are the "before" pictures, don't judge yet, because when were finished you wont even recognize it!!

Front view of the house.

View from the back yard, looking at the deck which will be replaced and some sort of wooden dog area I guess, that will come down as well.

This is what wont be the living room anymore. Its long and oddly shaped. Were knocking down part of the wall on the right.

This is from what wont be the dinning room any more once the wall is gone, looking into the kitchen, I hate that opening it doesn't fit and looks pretty crappy in my opinion.

This is one shot of the old kitchen, All of the cabinets are coming out, new ones to be delivered next week!! That flooring is coming up as well, new tile in the kitchen, and hardwood in the living and dinning rooms.

Above is two shots of the old dated cabinets that will be coming out.

This is the first bedroom, the "red room" this room I despise, it was the first thing I changed. No more Mickey Mouse wall paper and red paint. What you cant see from the picture is the trim and base boards. The trim is painted blue, black and gold. The bottom half of the base boards are gold while the top half and bottom inch of the wall are black. Wow, what were they thinking?

Second bedroom, Lily's future room. This one wasn't in that bad of shape, cleanest carpet in the whole house which of course has been ripped up.

The master bedroom, with an orange wall. What more can I say?

Hall bath with carpet.... gross. New vanities and sinks will be installed. Tile in the vanity area and on into the tub area and of course mirrors.

The master bath, my little headache. This will have to be completely gutted down to the studs and rebuilt. It is awful! Painted tile on the sink, green tile floor, poorly installed shower which led to sheet rock and some flooring damage.

This is the "finished" area in the basement. Paneling that's not installed properly will be replaced with sheet rock. A new drop ceiling will come after the wiring is brought up to code. New flooring to cover the concrete, and a few new walls and doors will make it so when you come down the stairs your in the finished area and we will have a den/play room/ storage place for exercise equipment which never gets used (but now we will have a place for).





So the past week has already made me sore, a lot of late nights starting demolition. Good bye wall paper.... and nasty carpet. All the cabinets are gone and most of the wall has been torn down. Ill be posting "progress" pictures soon hopefully. Of course the "after" pictures will be the ones I'm most proud of.

We are excited, so if you want to come hang out and paint or lay tile or scrape wall paper by all means the more the merrier :)

Pray for us that we make it through renovation, that our current home sells and that our new home will be as blessed as this one and as filled with love, laughter, family and friends as much, if not more.

So while Lily was off on spring break we took a trip down to visit my dad in Holiday, FL. near Orlando. We had a great time my only wish is that we could have stayed longer.

We went to "the happiest place on earth" and it was pretty happy, Lily really enjoyed everything they had to offer. I couldn't ride any more rides after the teacups for fear of losing my lunch and it was hot and my feet hurt. That's part of the experience I guess. What made it all worth while was the look of pure excitement on my child's face around every corner. One day isn't near long enough to have at Disney World, and I cant wait to go back for a longer visit.

We also went over to Clearwater and spent the day on the beautiful beach, it was great! Theres no humidity down there so what I'm used to as hot is nothing like down there, it was fantastic.

All in all we had a great trip and hope to return

soon my dad and Sue were great and we cant wait to see them again.

Lily's 7th Birthday

Yes, I'm aware that it has taken me 21 days to post this and so now I've got a lot to update the blogging world on.




Lily's Birthday.... still can't believe my baby is 7, she amazes me everyday at how smart she is and how fast she is growing up.




She had a fantastic b-day weekend. First was the party for the fam at Memaw's, everybody came and we had pizza and cookie cake and of course she received way too many gifts. She had fun and thats the point.
























That Saturday was her party with friends at the YMCA pool. I think the kids had a great time, I'm sure they were all exhausted they swam for over and hour and a half.
Lily had a great time and was glad that all of her friends came to swim with her.

Winter Storm 09

I didn't believe it would actually happen, but when Lily woke up this morning at 6:30 it was a winter wonderland. Of course it was all melting away by 12:00 and the yard was a muddy mess. However we had a great morning going around the neighborhood throwing snowballs, making snow men and women, and sledding down the hills on an air mattress.

Lucky had so much fun playing in the snow, the ball would get lost under the snow and he would dig and dig to find it.

Lily making a snow ball.

Andrew and the air mattress.

Lily, Brady, Madelyn and their snow people.

Lily was having fun laughing at the sledders.

Lily and Beth sledding...

Beth heading back up the hill for another ride.

Liz and Jacob going down the hill.

Jacob...

Sweet Liz...