pretty pretty rug

this rug:

is going in our dining room, under the table.

actually it's coming in a 7'10" round, so it'll look nice under our round table.

it's an indoor/ outdoor rug, so it should be easy to clean.

(everly throws her food to the ground when she decides she's finished eating, so that's a must)

from rugstudio.com

adventures in moving

our things were stored at T's parent's house while we were between houses. they live on a lake out in the woods. some of our things were in the house, like couches and beds. many other things were stored in their "guesthouse", or shed.

i like to call it the spider house.

i was never a fan of this idea, nor did i have any idea which things were stored out there, since it was all kind of a hodgepodge.

this is definitely one of the scariest things i've encountered in a while.

snake skin! inside a drawer!

that means a snake was living in there! i don't even know what to do at this point, since i'm feeling kind of nauseous. T thinks they ate the mice that were also living in some of our boxes (and i honestly feel like throwing up thinking about it. for real.). he likes to remind me that we saved $100/month by not having to rent a storage locker.

i don't think that makes me feel any better.

to rest our bums whilst putting on shoes.

i just picked up this antique bench for my new house (only $20! score!) and need to figure out what color to paint it. this is the entryway/ atrium area by the front door, so it's where we'll be putting shoes in baskets and hanging up coats (obviously).

the bench legs are black and i can keep them that way, or i can paint the whole thing. our house colors are grey, teal/turquoise and lime/apple green. i'd love to add in some more color but could also stick with this color palate for now. what do you think? i need some ideas!

moving out of the basement

after a year and a half of living in my parent's basement, we're moving out! we just had our offer accepted on a house near the "downtown" part of our city.

the good parts: 4400 3600 sq ft

(the appraisal shows the listing was wrong)

extremely affordable

newly renovated

in a good elementary district

within (supervised) walking distance of a huge park

the not as good parts:

no garage

no fence (we'll put one up as soon as we can)

electric stove (i'd rather have a gas oven)

a slightly sketchy block

this renovation was part of a neighborhood revitalization project, aimed at raising up the level of the area. there are some blocks of this street that are completely fixed up and have lots of curb appeal and others that are in need of some tlc. it's really random and there's not much rhyme or reason to which blocks are great and which ones aren't. but we'll make our yard as cute as possible!

so much cuteness.

i have so many pictures of everly to catch up on! she is growing up so fast and is getting bigger every day.

she had a couple of different halloween costumes this year:
for the ward Trunk or Treat we dressed her up in a cute tutu and some fun babylegs and she was some kind of punky ballerina.

and evvie was a flower for the actual halloween night.

brother and sister

8 months, with some gorgeous blue eyes!

sad girl! i think she was propped up against the door, looking out, and fell. still so cute, even when she's crying!

i hope it's not just a guest appearance

I really miss the show Veronica Mars. I actually didn't even watch it while it was still on the air, but i watched all three seasons through netflix and fell in love with the show. Kristen Bell's character was witty, smart, adorable, and super intuitive and i pretty much wanted (or still want) to be her. I also loved her on again/ off again boyfriend, Logan. He vacillated between the best guy in the world and the biggest d-bag in existence, but I couldn't help but hope they ended up together. The show ended abruptly after 3 seasons, even though a 4th was already filmed. Sadness. It actually made my heart hurt.


But a teeny happy thing has occurred! I record this show called Ringer, with Sarah Michelle Gellar (and i now realize what a terrible actress she is, which is disappointing because i started watching the show because of her), and the actor who played Logan just showed up on the show! Jason Dohring is his name. His presence makes the show worth watching.

get in mah belleh!

since we're still living with my parents (the house-buying thing has been put on hold for awhile, since we aren't sure if we'll still be in this town after T finishes his master's) and both my parents work, i'm the one who does most of the cooking! it's extra nice to be cooking for everyone since my mom and dad are quite complimentary of my cooking, unlike my kids who usually say "i don't like this!" and my husband, who likes to smother everything in cheese until no other flavors can be detected.

one of our favorite things so far comes from the cooking blog just cook already,
it's called "sweet pork tacos and cilantro ranch dressing". i serve them with some cilantro rice and the tortillas from costco that you buy uncooked (in the refrigerated section). they're fantastic.

now i will share the magic with you all.

ingredients:

2-3 pounds pork

3 cans coke {not diet}

1/4 cup brown sugar

dash of garlic salt

1/4 cup water

1 can sliced green chilies

3/4 can enchilada sauce

1 cup brown sugar

directions:

put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 cup brown sugar. marinade for a few hours or overnight.

drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for 3-4 hours {or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get too dry}. remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. shred pork.

in a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar {about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste}. if it looks too thick, add more coke little by little.

put the shredded pork and sauce in crock pot and cook on low for 2 hours.

these tacos are really good drizzled in a cilantro ranch dressing.
(i usually double it so there's lots for leftovers)

ingredients:

1 cup salsa verde

1 package buttermilk ranch

1/3 cup cilantro

1/3 cup mayo

1/3 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/8 cup sugar (the original calls for 1/4 but i think that's too sweet)

directions:

blend in blender till smooth

you'll thank me for this after you try it.

ooh, and then the next day everything can be used for sweet pork salad!

multiple days of deliciousness!

everly's half birthday.

my little Evvie girl is 6 months old!

she is growing up so fast and is such a sweet girl. i wish she'd sleep a little better at night (she still wakes up every couple of hours) but during the day she's a happy baby.

she loves to be sung to and loves pattycake and peek a boo.

she's not so crazy about eating baby food and would rather have whatever we're eating. her favorite things are fresh cooked tortillas (which she'll suck on till they're all mushy), apple slices, and orange slices.

her dislikes include being left to entertain herself and spending too much time on her tummy.

evvie will have her 6 month appointment today so we'll see how much she's grown!

ashton and wyatt love their little sister so much. maybe a little too much!

they're always trying to make her laugh and smile using whatever means possible.

i've had to tell ashton to stop kissing her because her face ends up smelling like his (stinky) breath. it's gross. wyatt talks to her using his version of baby talk, which kind of means yelling in her face! so we've had to work on that too.

i like this one.

we're house-hunting again! we're a bit pressed for time because we'd like to enroll ashton in school in the elementary district that the house we buy is in, but we're still looking for something great. one thing that will be different about this time around is that we'll only be using cash money to fix it up, rather than that evil fake money. :) so i can't look at a house that would need major changes immediately and think that we'd be able to do it right away. i am getting excited about things like staining and refinishing wood floors; painting walls, cabinets, and doors; and finally having a place to call home again.
there's a house we looked at today that we are really interested in. it's much bigger on the inside than we expected and has a fantastic yard, is on a quiet street and in a great school district. it definitely needs some updating but nothing major. well, nothing major other than that it doesn't have a dishwasher, but we've taken care of that before. we'll be talking with the bank on monday to see if this is something we can go for!

very mary kate

there's a whole youtube channel devoted to mary kate olsen satire. i love this girl's facial expressions.
start here with her college presentations and enjoy!

like a duck tail.

more cuteness!

sometimes her hair dries sticking up like this after her bath at night.

this girl lights up my life!

just because it's june

i guess once a month is what i can get around to, so i might as well accept it!

updates:

ashton finally lost one of his front teeth! here is his gap-toothed smile.

wyatt loves cheesing for the camera.

these are his uncle temkai's fake glasses that T now uses for his motorcycle rides.

i guess they're big enough to block out all the wind.

he's also really into skateboarding. he says he wants to be like Tony Hawk.

and evvie is 4 months old today!

i can't believe how fast it's going. i wish i could just hit a pause button and keep her little for awhile. she loves bathtime, diaper changes, and being wrapped in her miracle blanket for bedtime. and she hates being in the car!

oh well.

looks like the new (old) house isn't going to work out. something about T's student loans being in forebearance rather than deferment caused our debt:income ratio to be too high. it's like the 5th roadblock we've had in getting this house so we're taking it as a sign that it's just not meant to be.
we'll continue paying down debt and saving up cash and looking for something else.
our new home wishlist:
good area
basement
4 bedrooms
yard (preferably fenced)
more than one bathroom

of course, i'd love things like hardwood floors, updated appliances, etc, but in our price range i don't expect them in every house. we're definitely in the "fixer-upper" range.

in other news, evvie is 3 months old! and yep, it's been forever since i posted, so we missed one and two months.

here she is looking super cute in a spring/summer outfit that was passed on to her by a friend,

paired with her own black babylegs.

love the matching hat!

raiding the easter basket

the good:
jelly belly jelly beans
(except top banana, buttered popcorn, bubble gum, strawberry cheesecake, and tutti frutti. yick.)
rolos
twix
butterfinger eggs



the bad:
fun dip
pop rocks
fruit flavored tootsie rolls

homeless-ish.

our house is SOLD! after almost 10 months on the market, and after knocking abour $15k off the asking price. bleh. but at least we don't have to pay for a house we aren't living in anymore! i hope the new owners will love our house and our neighbors as much as we did.

we had planned to take a couple months to save some money before looking for a new house, but it hasn't worked out quite that way. we have an offer accepted on a house one street away from T's work (and happens to be right next door to some of our best buds). we're waiting to see if the financing will work out. if so, and if it passes inspection, etc., we'll be the happy owners of a house straight out of 1970! it'll be retro house update, volume 2. however, this time we won't be using money we don't have to fix it up. ca$h, what a concept, huh? we'll be sticking with the same color scheme that we had in the other house (grays, teal, lime green, and whatever else struck my fancy), but will have a little more time to do the fixing up work before we actually move in. it's always easier to paint before the furniture is there! and speaking of furniture, all of our worldly possessions are being stored in a moving truck. i hope it doesn't catch fire, cause we don't have homeowners insurance anymore (a downside to being homeless, you know.)

a wishlist of pretty things.

i haven't gotten to browse etsy much over the last few weeks/ months, but these things have caught my eye. some are new finds, some have been on my favorites list for awhile. and since i'm reading (and planning to implement) "the total money makeover" by dave ramsey, they're probably not things i'll be getting anytime soon. i can wish though, right? i want one of these sweatshirts! so pretty. the seller is annajoyce

i want this print! it'd be so pretty with my living room decor. seller is freshline

a lovely necklace. seller is birdznbees

this print is something i've been wanting for awhile. i love the colors and the message. seller is persimmonpink

happy birthday to ashton

here i am, the mother of an 8 year old! we celebrated ashton's birthday recently, but it seems a bit surreal. i remember being 8! i remember second grade! it's just weird to me when i have distinct memories from the same age.

ashton chose the decor for his cake on his own, so army cake it was.

it was also a big day for him because we held his baptism then too, as well as evvie's baby blessing at church. we knew our extended family would want to come to all of those things, so it'd be easiest on them to have them all on the same day.

he chose the menu for dinner too: hawaiian haystacks, his favorite.

i change up the recipe a bit, so it's chicken cooked with cream of chicken soup, dijon mustard, lemon juice, and garlic powder. served over rice with toppings like pineapple, chow mein noodles, cheese, etc.

everly is here!

it all started the morning of valentine's day, when i was induced at 8:00 am. i'd been induced with my other two and was ready to get this baby out. my due date was the 13th, and since my dad's birthday is the 14th i thought it would be nice for them to share.

things were progressing well and i asked for an epidural when the pain got to the point where i didn't want to deal with it anymore. an hour later the doctor comes in to place the epidural, which didn't even work. thirty horrible, excruciating minutes later, my little girl was born! i was still trying to deal with the most intensely painful experience i'd ever had. it took an hour or so before we got any pictures!

day 1:

day 2:



welcome to the world, evvie!

my human valentine card

guess our dog just isn't cutting it.

i'm writing a blog during the superbowl. i lost interest after halftime.

a recent conversation between me and ashton:

ashton: when Jesus comes back, can i have a pet lion?

me: what are you talking about?

ashton: when Jesus comes back and all the animals are nice, can i get a lion?

me: um, sure. when Jesus comes back you can have a lion.

wyatt: can i have a fish?

it's called "marrakesh"

i just ordered new bedding from target! since we're at my parents house and our house in hobart is still staged with our stuff, my mom is helping me make the room we're staying in more in line with our (or maybe just my) style.

i'm thinking either light grey or light blue-ish walls to coordinate. hopefully there will be enough time to get this done before baby girl is here!

it's been awhile...

i've been absent from the blogging world for a good 4 months now and i think it might be time to break my radio silence. i'm actually sick today and T has the kids out at his parent's house for dinner, so i have a little time to myself.

quick update:

we're still waiting on our house to sell, so we are living at my mom and dad's house. they're tolerating us well and we're trying not to let our kids destroy their nicely decorated home. we all miss our house though. we miss the independence it gives, we miss our yard, we miss our beds, we miss the colors of the house (well, mostly that's me), and we miss our friends up there.

but i'm thankful for the time we get to spend here with our families now! my sister and her family came for christmas. i miss her! here's a pic of the girls:

and in other news, we're told that i'm having a baby girl! i'm due on february 13th. chrissi is coming on the 18th, so hopefully baby is here before that! i'm slowly accumulating girl clothes and will be attempting to use cloth diapers when convenient (like, at home).
T and i are disagreeing about names for this little lady! he says that he's known her name since he was 14 (claiming some sort of divine revelation) but i'm not a fan of it. i guess we'll see what kind of compromise we can work out?

anyway, i guess that's enough for the time being. buh bye.

brimming with confidence

i forget how this conversation started, but recently ashton said to me

"i can fly a plane".

i said to him (a bit callously),

"no you can't".

he replied

"it's easy. it's just like driving a car".

sure thing, kid.

let me know when you've got that mastered.