Abram in Action

Some very fun pictures of Abram that Sheryl took while she and her family visited us last weekend.

I absolutely love these two pictures of Abram with the water. They capture so much of his two-year old personality.

And, thanks to Sheryl, we have a new family picture. Yay! (You'll have to look at our blog page to see it if you are on Google Reader).

The House Tour: Craft Room

The final room of the house tour. I suppose it is more of a closet but because we took the door off, it feels like an an extension of the back room.View to the right of the room. The fabulous table was at this house when we bought it. I LOVE IT! It was left downstairs but it is the perfect fit for this space. It is the perfect height to stand at to do projects but also for little girls to sit on stools at and craft it up (as Mya and Sydney love to do)!
This space has all of my gift-wrapping and card-making supplies, along with other officey items (like paper clips, rubber bands, a three-hole punch, etc.). The peg board was already there - I just painted it a fun color. The fabulous grey organizer-thing (I have no idea what you call it) on the table was given to me (thanks Angie C) but it originally came from the ISU surplus sale, of course!

The card stash.

Card-buying is not in the budget so I usually buy packs of general cards on clearance. My should-be-professional-card-making-sister inspires me to try making my own cards. Now that all of my supplies are easy to find and I have a place to work on cards, I am beginning to try to make some. I will never be like Kate, but it is fun to see what you can make out of old cards that have been given to you. :)

Office supplies. The little glass and silver containers were less than a dollar at Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off. The round metal containers I bought in Thailand when I lived there more than a decade ago!

Random supplies in Target dollar bin containers (middle shelf). Gift wrapping supplies in square Target clearance containers and plastic (look like glass) containers from Hobby Lobby (50% off of course).
Organized writing utensils. (I am quite aware that this room could also be called my OCD room!)

Gift wrapping supplies.

I have to do a little promo for the best glue gun ever. My sister and my mom have sworn by glue guns for years - they use them to fix and make everything. I have never really thought they were that necessary . . . until recently. Kate got me one this year for my birthday. But, not just any glue gun . . . this thing is awesome! It has its own stand which means you don't have to find something to catch the dripping glue.
Also, it also easily comes off the stand for you to take anywhere in your house to use for a little bit. Finally, you can leave it plugged in and just turn it on and off with the switch. I had previously not cared that much about a glue gun but I use this thing all the time! Ironically, I just bought Kate one for her birthday this month. They are at Hobby Lobby and if you print off a 40% coupon online, they only cost about $12.
Here is the left side of the room/closet.
The floor is left-over bamboo flooring from our old house (7 years later). We had a few boxe left over so we brought it with us and my brother installed it here to cover up the old linoleum. I love it!

Very left: Storage for Bibles, fabric, sewing kit, project-y stuff and extra craft supplies. Underneath is our filing cabinet.
Lots of foam and felt letters/things in the buckets on top, electronics/batteries/CDs in the black photo boxes and more crafty storage in the middle. I personally would rather organize craft supplies than make things with the supplies, but one of the primary ways I plan to spend time and bond with my older adopted daughters is to do crafty-stuff. Therefore, all the craft supplies (which were largely donated to us!).
The home school storage shelf!

I honestly don't know what to do with half the stuff on this shelf - but I'm okay with that. Since our girls are 7 and 8 years old, they will have to be officially registered in home school. But, fortunately (for me!) home school is going to be very, very simple the first several months. Lots of me reading to them, practice drawing letters and just learning English in the every day things we will do. That will be school. We will be focusing way more on bonding and attachment than school, but doing simple school stuff will be a great way for me to spend time with them.

Lastly, pictures of my nieces and nephews when they were each one year old. They will forever be like my first babies so I can't part with having these pictures somewhere in my house!

P.S. I'm pretty sure MandyBee Photography took at least three of these adorable pictures!

The House Tour: The Back Room

Or, as I like to call it, the secret weapon room!

Without this room we would not have bought this house. It adds an incredible amount of space for our soon-to-be family of six.

Here is the view from the garage entrance BEFORE:

NOW:

The story - as we have learned from different neighbors - is that this was an addition put on two owners ago by an artist/art professor at Iowa State. This was his art studio which explains all the (wonderful) windows and sky light. The first thing we did was to get rid of the three six foot long fluorescent lights. We replaced them with a ceiling fan and two sets of track lighting.

Here is a view going clock-wise around the room from the back.

This room is our play room/home school room. I got the table and chairs super cheap on Craigslist. My mom helped me cover those huge bulletin boards (from the ISU surplus sale, of course - $3 each) in fabric.

Here is the BEFORE of this space:
And NOW:
I painted this room "Mysterious Ocean Fog" (a Walmart color I had matched at Lowes). This is my current favorite color in the world. The space above is my office space. We took the door off of the closet behind my desk to create more space in this corner. The closet space is my home school/craft/gift wrap/etc. storage room. It will have its own post next!

I had to post my favorite quote (author unknown) that I have where I can see it daily. Because one of my greatest struggles is the sin I'll call "timeaholicism" - always wanting more time to accomplish more tasks - I need this reminder daily!

It is extremely liberating to recognize that God gives us enough time to finish everything to which he has actually called us. Here are some of those things: devotional time with God, relationships and service in your family, church and community; and matters of stewardship over your material goods. If any of these areas are suffering because of the amount of time you spend doing other things, take a closer look . . .

On with the tour . . .

Jason wanted this room to be as open as possible so that the kids can run around and play. I agreed. Jason and Abram are having "batting practice" as I type this! But, I also wanted a small area that was more "comfy" for the kids to be able to sit and read. We were able to accomplish that with a cheap, small futon from K-mart and a rug we already had. The futon folds into a bed which is also very helpful since we don't have a guest room.

Here is the view from the back of the room looking towards the front of the house. The door on the left is to the garage and the door on the right is to the kitchen. Having an entrance straight from the garage is another huge blessing of this house.
The previous owners (when they "flipped" the house) put an old kitchen cabinet and sink in this space. The reason they put a sink there was because there was plumbing there from the the closet on the other side. The former artist owner made the closet into a dark room and it still had the big trough sink for developing pictures.

While this was a unique idea, the sink had to go. With four kids we needed a place for coats, hats, shoes, bags, etc. So we turned this space into a "mud room"/entry area.

I had half of the white hooks (Walmart) from our old house. They circle hooks were Hobby Lobby clearance. I got the Ikea shelves for half the Ikea price on Craigslist. I love that the horizontal shelf makes its own bench for the kids.
And this is Jason's area for keys, sunglasses, wallet, etc.