Around the House

So we've been trying to get some random unfinished things done..and I have to say, we've done pretty well :).  I feel like we have a never-ending list of things that need painted, but we are slowly able to check things off the list.  I don't mind painting, but I hate cleaning the brushes.  I know its silly, but its true.  And, I am so relieved that all of the kitchen cabinets are done.  After the kitchen cabinets were finished, I felt like I could enjoy the painting more again.

Anyway, on to the pictures!  First up, the baby's room!  A while back I realized that if I ever stop liking turquoise, we are going to have several rooms that will need re-done.  We had considered doing the baby's room in a really light shade of Tiffany Blue but I didn't want anything else with turquoise in it.  Sooo, we decided on a really different color - light blue with no shade of green in it.  Here are some pictures during our painting:

 

Here is the finished room with the quilt so you can see the color combo of the room!  We like it so much!!  I'll tell you more about the quilt later but isn't it so cute?!?! The paint color is Innocence by Benjamin Moore: 

Next, the dresser.  We found this dresser at a flea market for about $55 and we're planning on using it as a changing table as well as a dresser in the baby's room.  You can see the nasty knobs that looked like they were from the '70's:

We painted most of the dresser Simply White by Benjamin Moore and then painted the top and some new wooden knobs Woodland something by Valspar (we were able to get a free paint sample from Lowe's - more than enough paint to do the top and the knobs):

I'm a little unsure of the yellow color because it turned out slightly more baby-ish than I was expecting.  However, I think we like it :).

Moving on from the baby's room...  We found this rocking chair at a garage sale this summer for $3.  The lady we bought it from told me it used to belong to nuns.  Interesting huh:

Part of me wants to paint the wood a bright mustard yellow or white or turquoise but for now we've decided to leave it wood - I don't want to regret painting every piece of wood.  We decided on a turquoise chevron print that coordinates with our walls on the main floor.  Right now the chair stays in Clay's office but we pull it in for extra seating in our family room when needed:

We added a new cushion on top of the original one as it was pretty springy to sit in and then covered it with a thin layer of white fabric followed by the duckcloth.  We had to buy tacks and a tackhammer so overall I would say our total cost is around $20.  If (when!) we do this again, we won't have the cost of the hammer or tacks.  Even though we did a very unprofessional job at reuphostering, I still like the chair so much more!  I won't be embarassed to pull it out for extra seating anymore!

Finally, the coffeetable.  Sadly, we had some friends recently move from Syracuse to Chicago.  Although we miss them and would enjoy their company here in Syracuse, we did benefit by being the proud new owners of their coffee table!  Here is the before picture when the table was black:

We quickly painted the table a new color - yes you guessed it - turquoise.  I used leftover kitchen paint; this was rather thrifty of me except that wall paint is an eggshell finish and furniture should really be a glossier finish than that.  This is especially true when your husband likes to put his dirty feet up on the table and leave foot smudges.  Oh well.  Eventually we may go over it with some sort of polyurethane:

Whew!  That was a lot of paint we just went through!  Not to mention we are slowly painting all new doors for our upstairs.  We'll show you those some other time.  I'll leave you with this picture.  Clay is so clever sometimes - I didn't let him park here but he insisted we take a picture:

Check back soon!! :)



Addison Grace

We welcomed our first little niece into the world on August 14th!  Addison Grace Lindner :).  Thankfully Clay and I were able to go down and see her just three days after she was born:

Addison was 9 pounds 14 ounces..a big bundle of love!  We love every bit of her to pieces!  Congratulations Nick and Kristin!!!

Kitchen Renovation Part 2

My sister Kari has been patiently awaiting pictures of our updated ktichen - and I am finally posting them!!!  We are thrilled with the progress that has been made and are excited for October when we hope to have it all complete!

You can see that we didn't paint the inside of the cabinets.  I'm not regretting it so far but it would look super clean and fresh if even the insides were painted.  We got kind of used to operating in the kitchen without any doors:

We found this rug at TJ Maxx and it couldn't be better colors for our kitchen!  As we finish the kitchen, I'm planning on incorporating more of the mustard yellow color!  Right now I pretty much only have kitchen towels with the yellow color so I was so happy to find a rug that had turquoise and yellow:

We get a little bummed out that our appliances don't coordinate with our new kitchen, but we probably won't be replacing them right away.  Also, I think I found a ceiling fan at Lowe's that will work well in here; it's flush mounted and a little smaller than this one:

We're still very pleased with our countertops!  You can see that somehow one cabinet door got a little off schedule compared to the other ones:

And finally, what we refer to as our new cabinets!  Crazy to think about the closet that used to be here..  Clay was able to find the same hardware for these doors as the others.  Also, we are planning on putting beadboard over the side of the cabinets and two open shelves on this wall:

That's our updated kitchen!  Feel free to say nice things..I don't think we're ready to hear critcism yet :)!!

Birthday Wrap Up

Clay turned 26 at the end of July!  I warned him that 26 wasn't the greatest feeling for me - you officially enter into your late 20's!  :)  We celebrated by having a few friends over one night, and then Clay and I headed to a state park on his actual birthday.

What's a birthday party without birthday cake?!  Clay chose chocolate cake with an ice-cream center.  I made this for him two years ago and I have to say  - this year's turned out a whole lot better! 

Singing Happy Birthday to the birthday boy out on the deck (so very thankful to have deck furniture!):

 Look at the cute birthday boy!

Clay and Lolo - she still gives me the stink eye on a regular basis:

Us :)

I tried to be creative and made chocolate dipped fruit.  The apples actually turned out well and they surprisingly didn't brown!  However, I learned for next time to make sure the sprinkles only get on the chocolate:

The chocolate and peanut butter covered banana bites, however, did not turn out as well.  They were still eaten and tasted pretty good but were not very pretty :(.  We also had chips and salsa and crackers with cheese and beef:

In case you haven't seen the inside of our house in a while..  I'm taking suggestions for what kind of curtains to do in here.  It's tough because the couch goes in front of the window.  We have yet to put up wall decorations..I guess it's about time to get on that.  This is also most of the people that came over:

I wanted to include this one for Mom - the O'Briens were pretty intense on finding everything in the Find It game.  I don't remember what the game is actually called:



We had a really nice evening and enjoyed getting to host a small group of people.  Clay's actual birthday fell on a Saturday which worked out well to head to the park.  We drove a couple hours west to Letchworth State Park.  Letchworth is known as the Grand Canyon of the East.  I'm not sure if there is anywhere else that boasts that slogan as well, but it was pretty neat and we enjoyed our time walking along the gorges:

 I wish I wasn't in this to block your view, but it's a neat picture from the top of the waterfall:

 My studly husband:

 If you look closely, you can see a train crossing the bridge:

Clay got creative in his picture taking:

Letchworth was beautful and we really could have spent much longer there as there are miles of trails.  However, we had a really nice trip over and it was fun going somewhere new for Clay's birthday! 

A Trip to the Bluffs

We took a quick half day trip to some nearby landmarks - Chimney Bluff State Park and Sodus Bay.  During the summer, I get half day Friday's every other week.  These half days have generally been used for housework but this time we took a break!

The park and bay were about an hour and a half away and we took the "scenic route" to get there.  It was actually really nice driving through small towns rather than on the thru-way.  I have to admit I fell asleep on the way but Clay was kind enough to let me snooze :).

The bluffs are located right along Lake Ontario, and there is an easy hiking trail that lets you look out over the bluffs and over the lake:

Sodus Bay is about 25 minutes away from the state park and is just a small little summer town.  We visited on a Friday afternoon in mid-July and the place was so active - lots of people out on the lake, walking through town, getting ice cream, and just being outside.  There is some sort of historical lighthouse that we walked out to.  In the picture below, you can just barely see the bluffs out in the distance.  This is my "I conquered you" stance:

Clay conquered them as well but he was friendlier about it:

I wasn't going to include this picture, but I realized it has the lighthouse in it:



Just to include a couple other things..we had our usual staff dinner at the end of June.  Clay and I decided to compare our growing bellies:

Also in early July, we helped out with VBS at our church.  I have to admit, I was dreading VBS week.  Clay is awesome with the kids from the neighborhood (and many of the little boys love him!!!), but I struggle to feel comfortable with them.  Almost everything I've known to be normal when working with kids at church or school does not hold true for the kids from our church neighborhood. 

Because I waited so long to volunteer, the only non-floater spot left open was with games.  Yes, games.  Of course the Lord would have me work with games :).  Overall the week went well and I'm happy that I helped out.  Clay was a group leader, and the VBS organizers specifically gave him and his team leader the rowdy or difficult kids.  I so enjoyed watching him interact with the kids and just showing them love.  It may not have been the most organized VBS, but it means so so much to these specific kids to have adults that love on them and give them attention.

Below is a (blurry) picture of Mr. Clay, his fellow team leader Mr. Nick, and several of the kids from his Blue group:

Thanks for checking in on our summer!  A new kitchen renovation post will come soon!

and then there were three..

Well, in case you haven't seen the pictures of our little baby that will be joining us in December, here you go! 

Our little peanut at about 9 to 10 weeks:

It's incredible that there are already little arm and leg bumps! 

 The little baby at about 20 weeks:

His or her two feet that we think look rather large/thick - so we affectionately refer to them as bear cub paws:

A sweet, sweet little face:

And now what the little baby is looking like from the outside!

9 weeks:

15 weeks:

16 weeks:

18 weeks:

It was in between 18 and 20 weeks that I started feeling the baby move!   

20 weeks:

 
We are feeling so very blessed!  I have been feeling really good and our baby reports have all been good so far!  Please continue to pray for a safe and healthy baby and mom and that Clay and I would prepare to become parents (however you do that...).