Tuesday, September 30, 2008

A Work In Progress...

Kate's Room



The Entry


Hayden's room


The Den
Dining area


Sarah & Rachel's room


The Craft Room

The Living room



Okay, I know it's been a while. I have been super busy unpacking and trying to get everything where I want it. I think having more space can be a bit harder. When you are shoved into an 1800 square foot house with 6 people, you just make everything fit as best you can. Here, I find myself thinking, "should it go here, or should it go there?".


We have got most of our stuff. We received 2 different shipments a week apart. Makes unpacking fun when you have stuff, but no dressers to put your stuff in. We are settling in and enjoying our new home. We still have projects to do, but it is kind of fun doing things that you know you'll enjoy for more than just 2 years. We still have not painted our entry, because we are planning on hanging French doors for Sarah and Rachel's room and the living room. We have finished painting everything else though. We still have pictures to hang and things to move from one spot to another, but it feels pretty good so far. I know, for those of you that are not military, it seems impossible to unpack this quickly, but when you do it every two years, you get a lot of experience. You also get rid of things you don't need. This time, we realized after getting here that we didn't need a few more things than we thought, so we are planning a big yard sale!



The kids are doing GREAT in school. We are very happy about the Canyon schools. They are also loving the neighborhood. We have become Kid Central in the neighborhood. We love that, because then we know where they are and what they are doing.



We have had some fun things going on the past couple of weeks, so I will try to post those things as soon as I can.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Wallpaper and primer and paint, oh my!

3110 Conner Dr. Canyon, TX 79015

The day we closed, we started tearing it down.

From bad to worse!

We're sure glad the kids like to help.

I gave Hayden a paint brush and let him go to town with the primer. It lasted about 5 minutes.

Kate helped texture Hayden's wall.

Ah, the start of something new. The cocoa colored Media room.


Well, we closed on our house and we are officially home owners! We have been busy painting while the house is empty. We are not expecting our stuff until September 11, so I have plenty of time to get everything painted. We have removed wallpaper from 4 rooms and advise any of you thinking of wallpaper to reconsider. It is a mess to remove. We started in Hayden's room and pulled down the gold velvet wallpaper. Underneath it, another layer of wallpaper-Ugh! We found the same thing in the formal living, formal dining and the entry way. We tried steaming down the second layers of wallpaper and they wouldn't budge. Solution, we are priming and painting over it. I have textured Hayden's room and will sand it and prime it tomorrow. I finished the media room today and got Rachel and Sarah's room done too. They have lime green walls with a blue ceiling. It looks really cute. We will be painting the entry, our room and Kate's room. We are painting every room except the large living area and kitchen. Yes, I have been dreaming of painting and removing wallpaper. If you need any painting tips, let me know; I could probably write a book.

The kids have been great. We are still in the hotel in Amarillo and drive to Canyon everyday to take them to school. I drop them off and go paint. I try to be done and then go back to the hotel after school. It's not working the way I planned. Even though I have good intentions, I paint until 3 o'clock and then hurry and leave to go pick the kids up and then we have to go back to the house to clean up my mess. We can't wait to be in the house and drive 3 minutes to school every morning instead of 25 minutes.

God has already brought some new friends into our lives even though we are still displaced. (Believe me, staying in a hotel for a month without your things is not the lap of luxury as most of you military wives already know.) John's sister Erin has a lady that goes to her church that just moved to Canyon also. She and her husband have two daughters Abbey and Emma. They are Sarah and Rachel's ages. They actually knew our last name and were told to keep their ears open. Abbey walked up to Sarah the 2nd day of school and asked if she had an aunt named Erin. The next day, Emma did the same thing to Rachel. Instant friends! We went to the park with them today after school.