House Projects Galore

Today marks one month since we arrived at our new home in Columbia, Missouri. We've absolutely loved it and we've kept ourselves busy at night and on the weekends with lots of projects. Some of you have been asking for updates, so here goes.

Here's the house from the front at dusk. Our neighborhood is better than we ever could have expected in terms of kids to play with. We spend lots of time in the front yard.

Now, to the before-and-after pics:

First, the dining room. Brant's parents were here the first week we were so they helped us a ton with projects. Rich and I painted the dining room blue and Rich and Brant put up the crown molding. I was going for a little more of a gray-blue, but the pastel blue makes it look really bright and welcoming right when you walk in. 

The kitchen has been the longest project, but we just got things finished up today! I absolutely love it. Spencer thinks it's "too white" but I know better :) I still want to do a little decorating. Maybe add some kind of backsplash on the wall by the new cabinets or some things on top of the cabinets. 

The laundry room was pretty void of storage space, so Brant and Rich put two sets of shelves and a bench in to make it more user-friendly.

We haven't done a lot to the living room except for putting blinds on the upper windows so it doesn't get so hot in the afternoon. We put together a little entertainment center with a couple of bookcases from Target with a tv stand in the middle. We haven't hung any pictures yet, but we'll get around to that soon hopefully.

The kids LOVE having a basement to run around in (and we love that they have it, too!). It stays nice and cool during the day and they can be as loud as they want.

Now, to the outside, which is totally Brant's domain. The house had been empty for about 9 months, so to say the landscaping was overgrown is an understatement. Here's a before-and-after of the rose bushes...

...and the tree/bush/thing in the front yard.

By far Brant's biggest project has been in the back yard. The tree had overgrown the stairs, so he took the tree out and in its place he built a big retaining wall. It took him a solid week of nights and two full Saturdays, but he finished it today! We'll find some nice plants to put in in the spring.

We feel very blessed to have landed in such a wonderful home in a fantastic city. We have a lot more projects planned and I'll try to keep some pictures posted. I'm really excited about getting the kids' rooms decorated, especially a little girl's room. We miss being far from family and friends, but we're hoping we gets lots of visitors!

Gavin turned 5!

Our Gavin turned 5 years old in June! We had a ninja training birthday party for him (complete with pirate cupcakes since that's what we had leftover from his party last year).  Gavin is such a fun little boy. He loves to make other people laugh. He is always hugging and kissing Emma and is always eager to help me or Brant with any projects. He loves being outside and playing sports. He especially loves playing with his brothers. 

The first part of ninja training was doing ninja jumps on the trampoline. We only let one kid on at a time since I didn't want to deal with any more broken legs. 

We also did pin-the-belt-on-the-ninja. Here's Gavin with one of his best buddies, Mason. The other game was ninja bean bag toss. 

Opening presents is everyone's favorite part of a party. All the boys were eager to help Gavin break in his new toys. He misses all of his friends now that we're in Missouri. 

Yay for getting Tyler's cast off! He was really unsure about the saw thing they used to get the cast off, but he didn't start crying until it was time for an x-ray. Everything had healed up nicely. It took him a week and a half before he started walking on it again. Now he's running around with only a slight limp. He's one tough kid.

Emma is still such a sweet baby. She can sleep through pretty much anything which is helpful with 3 older brothers. 

We spent a lot of time at Home Depot our last few weeks in College Station making plans for our new house in Columbia. The boys made themselves at home there. 

Here's Gavin preparing for a career as a male model. 

Breakfast in Bastrop

We drove to Bastrop (near Austin) to meet Steve Glover for breakfast before his flight back home. He's helped Brant so much with his research and is a great guy. We had a delicious breakfast at Maxine's and then found a park nearby for the kids to get some energy out. 

Spencer did a great job balancing even though he was nervous at first.

I'm 37 weeks pregnant and feeling huge. Ready for this baby to come as soon as she's ready!

I love how well the boys play with each other. Tyler's favorite thing in the world is when his older brothers play with him.

Christmas and New Years

It finally looks like Fall once December hits in Texas. We've had more leaves this year than normal because of a cold November. 

We got to help Spencer decorate cookies for his 1st grade Christmas party. Gavin loves going to Spencer's classroom.

We spent a few days in Austin before Christmas. The zoo was one of our favorite places. The boys especially loved feeding the animals and riding the train. 

Spencer lost his two front teeth just in time for Christmas.

Christmas morning came and Spencer and Gavin were more than helpful showing Tyler how to open his stocking and all his presents. 

Brant got the game Battleship and we've already played it a few times. Spencer's getting really good.

Tyler loves cars and tracks so he was thrilled with a car track bigger than he is. Brant wasn't so thrilled about putting it together...

Christmas breakfast

We spent a few days around New Years in Dallas and Tyler went bowling for the first time. He was pretty good with the help of bumpers and the rolling thing.

We stayed with the Joneses who always have a little New Years Eve party for the kids. One game was making someone into a snowman using toilet paper. Gavin was so excited to be a snowman and Spencer did a great job wrapping him up.

Before we left they played one last game of Headbandz. We had a great time!

Slushes and Rain

Some days it's really hot after school, but we need to be outside to get some energy out. Then we'll stop at Sonic for half price powerade slushes and take them to the park. Luckily most of the parks are shaded here so that helps keep the boys cooler.  

Spencer was Golden Gator in his class for being gracious and always helping other kids in his class. We got to go to a special assembly and he got an award and a cool keychain to put on his backpack. 

The boys love to play in the rain any chance they get. Usually when it rains here, it pours so they have lots of fun getting soaking wet. 

Colorado Family Reunion

We spent a week in Colorado in August at Brant's family reunion. We had so much fun and it was great getting to know Brant's family better, many of whom we haven't seen in 5 years. Most had never met Gavin or Tyler. We stayed in cabins and spent most of the day enjoying the beautiful Colorado mountains. 

Here is a creek that was really close to our cabins. Just a few feet down there were some hot springs. 

We spent a lot of time at the swimming pool. The pools were all naturally heated by the hot springs so they were nice and warm. The boys loved the 400 foot water slide and went down over and over again. 

The boys were champs on the 7 mile hike we went on. It was definitely too much for a 4 year old, but Gavin toughed it out and only had to be carried a little bit. He was all smiles once we were done. 

Jay and Amy brought a slack line that everyone got to have some fun with. I think it would be impossible to walk on that thing without holding on to something. 

One of our favorite things was kayaking. Gavin kept wanting to go out all by himself. 

Spencer was brave and did some rock climbing. He was fine until he was rappelling down and hit his back on part of the rock. He had a good battle wound to show for it. 

Since it was a 16 hour drive to Colorado (it takes us 10 hours just to get out of Texas), we stayed at a hotel on the way there. We all love staying in a hotel, though we usually try to get one with an extra room so we can actually sleep. It's hard to sleep with Tyler in the same room. On the way home we decided to drive straight through. We were so glad when we made it home safely.