A couple house pictures...

So finally, the house feels in order enough to post some pictures. Keep in mind that there is still A LOT to do/buy/finish/arrange, etc - so this is still a work in progress. But this is where we are today...

Here is the TV room before we moved in...yes we scored with the HUGE flat screen TV!

Here is after we painted - the first time. We had a REALLY hard time with paint in this room - we originally wanted to go blue in here but couldn't find one we liked, so we settled on a green because we were running out of time and HAD to get it done. Greg hated it from the start and after about a month we repainted. Here is the after! We LOVE it. It is so much brighter in the room and less in-your-face than the green. We discovered that this room stays pretty dark throughout the day because there is a beautiful dogwood right outside the window...so we needed a much lighter color. Depending on the light, this color go towards green or blue.
Here is the kitchen with the first green (this is the other end of the TV room, so they are the same color).

And after! This room is impossible to photograph...

This is the living room about 2 weeks after we moved in. We didn't have any furniture for this room, so everything that didn't have a home went there. :)

And after! We finally found a blue that we are IN LOVE with. This room stays very bright most of the time, so it can handle the darker color. This is our new furniture that we bought for the TV room and decided it was too big (like ridiculously huge) for the room - so we moved it in here and eventually decided we don't like it in here either. We ordered a new set and will take this back when the new comes in!

The other end of the living room is the dining room. Here it is before...
And after! The plan is to paint all the walls in here with the same blue, but the long wall on the left is VERY tall, so we decided to just do the ends for now. I am actually liking how it widens the room just having the ends painted, so we may end up leaving it afterall!
And the office. This desk (and another desk and shelving unit) were here when we moved in. It was SO HUGE that it made the room feel tiny (it is pretty small, less than 10x10), but the dark color and heavy (literally) furniture made it feel cramped.
I didn't get a picture of the in-between, which was the dark purple on the bottom and a neutral tan (that really looked more pink) on the top...but this is what we ended up with and I LOVE it!
This is the "play" side of the room. The end of the worktable shown is Maren's little area to craft while I am working (and now that it is summer, Joel will join her for projects!)
This is the same side of the room, but the other corner...my crafting area. It is actually a really big space, but it is hard to tell from the photo.
And here is the "work" side of the room. My work computer and our home computer are both on this side, which makes it all feel organized and clean. Oh! And the best part is the chair rail that Greg put up! He did SUCH a great job and I absolutely love this room. Between working and crafting, I spend a lot of time in here, so it is nice to have it feel like me. It was really fun to figure out how to make this little room feel big and multifunctional and organized. Now I need to get some stuff on the walls (this just got finished as of last weekend...)
And here is the sunroom...we haven't done much in here, but I have re-arranged the furniture a bit.
Eventually, when we get a new dining room table, our current one (with the benches) will come out here (and replace the one above) for a little breakfast nook.

So the upstairs will have to wait for another day...it was not presentable for photographing today! :)

June

And...here's a little peek at our very busy month of June! House pictures next, I promise!

Family pictures on the swing...

and monkeys in the tree :)

We went to Portland to see Jocelyn dedicated. This is the ONLY picture I got :( Maren definitely loves holding her littlest cousin.

Girl time...

We had a semi-warm day (almost 70?) and the kids wanted to get wet. We set up the slip n' slide and they had a blast!

We went to Reno for a long weekend to celebrate greg's parent's 50th anniversary! This was the kids' first time on a plane, that they can remember, and they were SO excited. We had a disappointing start as we got to the airport on Thursday evening only to find out our flight was cancelled and we would have to wait until Friday morning! But when we finally were on our way, it was very fun.

Here are the kids watching the planes land and take off while having a little Starbucks treat (what could be better!).
"Flying" to the gate
Waiting some more...

And FINALLY on the plane!
They loved being on the plane and looking out the window. It was not a full flight, so we took up two whole rows and both kids got to sit by a window.
This is what Maren and I saw out our window - Mt Rainier! Joel and Greg got glimpses of the olympics and Mt St Helens. It was a beautiful day and we were happy to be above the clouds and see some sunshine!

Maren helping Grandpa with the bags :)
Ahhh...warmth
Maren and cousin Cassie from Florida

Cassie has two little sisters (one Maren's age) who couldn't come, so they had a great time together doing nails and taking lots of pictures!
We had a very windy weekend so Greg went and got some kites for the kids to fly (see the gray sky?? What the heck?? We had one sunny, warm day and then clouds and wind. Sigh.)

JOEL TURNED SEVEN!!
Joel's birthday was on a Friday, so we went to his school for lunch and brought popsicles for his class. It was {almost} warm enough to eat outside, so the kids had a great time having a picnic and trying to cram all 24 of them on the 1 little blanket I had brought!

His shy face during the singing of "happy birthday"
Joel was also recognized during a school assembly for being in 2nd place for all of the 1st grade classes for a reading program they do. We are so incredibly proud of him. This spring his reading has really taken off and he is reading SO MUCH! He also got an award for being in 3rd place for the WHOLE YEAR for all of 1st grade. This was a fun thing to have happen on his birthday!

AND, his soccer team had a pizza party and they got awards and trophys...it was a day of celebration (and yes, very busy!). Mimi came up for the day, and I didn't even get a picture of her!
The whole team.
Maren got a medal after her last game on Saturday. She had a great first season of soccer and is looking forward to playing again!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Truly the best dad I could ever imagine for my kids. We got him a fire bowl for our backyard.
We had fun building a fire and roasting marshmallows after dinner.


Whew, what a busy month...and it's not over yet! We are having a fun summer so far!