laundry room transformation

I am pleased to announce that after owning our house for just about 5 years, we have finally made-over our laundry room. I have despised our laundry room since day 1. The biggest issues I had with the room was that it was waaaayy too white for me and the placement of the washer and dryer were ridiculous! We made a few improvements over the years but, of course, I was never satisfied. Finally, our washer and dryer pooped out and we were forced to buy new!! And that's when my husband decided to get to work on it. Soooo {drumroll please} here is the new and improved laundry room:

We did everything ourselves (meaning my husband did most of it!) so we saved a lot of money! Here's a complete list of everything we did to the room:

Paint, new flooring, bead-board wall with crown, old door on wall with hooks, new trim all throughout, new washer and dryer, new countertop, raised cabinet and put on feet, bead-board backsplash, corbals and rope lighting under cabinets, crown trim above cabinets, took cabinet doors off and organized... and I think that's all!

These are the only before pictures I could find of the room:

we were moving in...
the 'in-between'

what's new with us....

I have been a bad blogger, I know. So here's me playing major catch-up on what's been going on in our lives.


These past 2 months have been expensive months for us....
First, our basement sort of flooded! And it wasn't from any natural disaster either! Jordan was doing a water change with his 90 gallon fish tank (which involves emptying the tank by about 30% and then refilling it with a hose) and it overflowed into the basement for about 3 HOURS! It was only by chance that he went down there when he did (3 HOURS LATER!) and discovered what had happened. Lucky for us, we had some friends over and recruited them to help. Half of the padding under the carpet was drenched so the guys ripped it out. Thanks to a bunch of fans and the shop-vac, we were able to dry the carpet over the next couple of days. We had a carpet man come to relay new padding and restretch the carpet. It only ended up setting us back about $300. I'm not blogging about this to make Jordan feel bad (because I know he felt bad enough) but more of just for the memory! And usually I'm the one to make stupid mistakes so I've gotta record this for future leverage :) And the reason none of my mistakes get recorded is because I'm the blogger and I can write what I want :)


Second, our washer died (and our dryer had been on its deathbed for about a year) so we invested in a new pair of front loading washer and dryer. With that came the 'remodel' of the laundry room that I have been anxiously awaiting for 4.5 years. And I am so happy with it! (Love my talented husband so much!)

Third, Natalie dropped our laptop so we had to invest in a new hard-drive... and then I dropped it like a week later but our friend Best Buy was kind to us and let us exchange it for another one! (There. There's a stupid mistake of mine!

So what's new with the girls... and the fetus!

Natalie will be 3 soon and she is such a teaser! Lately, she loves to play with barbies, ride her bike, swing on her new swingset Jordan built, and she is always singing (either 'Jesus songs' or made up songs about what she is doing!) Between Natalie and Jordan bellowing songs out, sometimes I feel like I'm living in a musical! Natalie's favorite movie is Beauty and the Beast so she loves to dress up in a (Snow White) costume and twirl around like Belle while singing. We've been having some attitude problems with Natalie off and on... I can never figure her out! Natalie loves to read her Bible and she is constantly talking about Jesus and God... it is so rewarding to see that at such an early age! It brings new meaning to the phrase 'faith like a child'. And her prayers are so precious and heartfelt! I can't believe she's going to be three!

Ruby is 19 months old now and such a hoot. She has changed so much since the last time I blogged 2 months ago. Somehow, she went from a full-time sweetheart to a wild child! She's so boisterous and rowdy... just a whole new person! Ruby is stubborn. She needs the occasional spankin' but she is unmoved by it. We'll tell her to stop and she will stare us down and say a firm 'no'. If we didn't go through that a hundred times a day, it would still make me laugh! She has this new little language that we can't figure out but she knows exactly what she's saying! Ruby stills likes to cuddle sometimes and I love that! I have definately babied her more than I did Natalie. Natalie or I will do the 'thumbs up' and Ruby crosses her index and middle fingers and thinks she's doing it (but it looks more like a gang sign!) Ruby also likes to sing and dance, and she loves to play with her babies! And it's funny when Jordan prays at dinner time, Ruby will cover her eyes and peek at us and mumble along as Jordan prays! Too cute :) I'm hoping to get Ruby semi-potty trained by the next baby. She's interested in sitting on the toilet but she hasn't ever gone on it yet.


Between these two girls, we have a lot of drama! Ruby is tough and brutal and a pincher, Natalie is sensitive and hot-tempered and a hitter! It's a challenge to know how to deal with their misbehavings. I can get stressed sometimes about not knowing the best way to handle them. At the same time, I just love each of the stages they are in and I just LOVE them! They both are so playful and they love to laugh!!

Baby #3 is doing well also. I really think this one is a boy (we didn't find out this time). This pregnancy has been completely different: I never had the morning sickness, I get heartburn daily, I think I'm carrying this one more out in the front than with the girls, and the baby's heartbeat is about 20 beats slower than the girls' heartbeats. So let's just call this baby 'he' for now :) I have 7 weeks left and I feel like I need all the time I can get before this baby comes! We're unsure of whether or not this will be our last baby so part of me never wants the pregnancy to end!! I think I actually love being pregnant in spite of how uncomfortable I am, how hard it is to sleep, and the occasional charlie horse in my leg that I only get when I'm pregnant (and the heartburn, and clothes not fitting...!). But it saddens me to think that this could be it! I love to feel 'him' moving inside me. It never gets old! He is a VERY active little bugger! I'm so excited to meet him (or her)!!

Jordan has been keeping busy at work which is such a blessing! We've been going to Engedi church for a year now and we couldn't be happier there! And every Memorial Day weekend marks the anniversary of our first date! This year was our SEVENTH anniversary! I cannot believe how fast time goes! I wish I could do it all over again. And these have definately been the very BEST years of my life! I think they will forever be the most life-changing years for us!

Is that enough of an update for one post?!

memorial day weekend

This was Jordan's and my 6th year of camping with friends over the holiday weekend. We had such a blast. Once again, we were at the Silver Lake State Park. The weather was AMAZING! Everyday, our friend Brad hauled us over (on his brand new boat) to the dunes and we laid out and played in the water. The girls loved it! This was the third year I've done this camping trip pregnant but it couldn't have gone better. I think Ruby only woke the campground up twice the first night! I love to camp for this one weekend but since we're in a tent, I don't have much of a desire to camp any other weekend during the summer. Here's some pictures:

Spring Flings....

In the busy month of May, we always attend...

First (and foremost) The Dandelion Festival in our hometown of Borculo! The girls had a blast this year playing on the bouncy/blow-up stuff and Natalie rode on a pony. They have the best parade and we got tons of candy! Jordan did the 5k run again this year and he takes great pride in the dandelion t-shirt he gets for running it :)

And then there's Tulip Time which we mostly enjoy for the junk food. Natalie and Ruby sported the dutch costumes and we went to a parade but it wasn't nearly as enjoyable for them as the Dandelion Parade! We didn't get 'official' Tulip Time pictures of them by some tulips because I know Ruby would have picked some... so here are the ones we did get:

florida

At 3:30 am on Friday, March 5 we left for Florida with the girls. We were hoping that they would sleep for a good portion that morning while we drove but they didn't fall asleep until 6. We drove until 5 pm to Atlanta, GA and we spent the night there. The next morning, we went to the Georgia Aquarium (the nation's largest). We had a good time there. They had everything you could imagine an aquarium having, including 4 huge sharks in HUGE aquariums. It was the best aquarium we'll ever go to but I think we just decided that aquariums aren't our thing. Nowadays, the discovery channel is top dog! But if you like Shedd's Aquarium in Chicago, this one will blow your mind (we never liked Shedd's much!)

After the aquarium, we headed on to Florida to stay with our good friends, Brian and Dorothy. We got to their house around 7. We were there for 6 days and had so much fun. We went to Daytona Beach one day, St. Augustine, shopping in Orlando, and Gemini Springs which is an awesome park in Orange City where Brian and Dorothy live. We also volunteered a day for Disney through Habitat for Humanity. What a joke! We were supposed to work for 4 hours. We were at this house for 2 hours and probably only accomplished a half an hour of work. It was very unorganized. And after 2 hours, the guy in charge said we could just go home since there wasn't anything left to do. And we got 2 free Disney tickets for it! So with those tickets, we decided to go to Disney Hollywood Studios. We were very thankful that we didn't pay to go there. There was just a lot of shopping and only 2 good rides to go on (which I didn't go on since I'm pregnant). We had had enough of the park after 4 1/2 hours. Wow, I sound like a downer!

We had 4 warm and sunny days and 2 rainy days. We left on Friday night and drove through the night. We got home 22 hours later on Saturday. The ride there and back could not have gone better with the girls. We had invested in tv/dvd players for the girls which was a big help. We had a great time! Brian and Dorothy were so good to us and there could not be a better couple to live with!

And here our some boring pictures. Our camera needed new batteries and we kept forgetting to pick some more up, so these are pretty much the only ones we got! They are in no particular order...

a children's bible

Looking through Ruby's children's Bible the other day, I came across the story when Jesus teaches us how we are to pray. I love this children's Bible because it's so easy for young children to understand and for myself! This is how The Lord's Prayer is worded in this children's Bible:

Hello Daddy!
We want to know you. And be close to you.
Please show us how.
Make everything in the world right again.
And in our hearts, too.
Do what is best - just like you do in heaven,
And please do it down here, too.
Please give us everything we need today.
Forgive us for doing wrong, for hurting you.
Forgive us just as we forgive other people when they hurt us.
Rescue us! We need you.
We don't want to keep running away and hiding from you.
Keep us safe from our enemies. You're strong, God.
You can do whatever you want. You are in charge.
Now and forever and for always!
We think you're great!
Amen!

I thought this was a refreshing way to look at this prayer.

And this is another excerpt from the story of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the dessert. Jesus had just been baptized and went to the dessert to 'be with his father to get ready for his new life' (which is similar to how I should make time to be with my Father since I am new creation). The devil tempts Him but Jesus refuses to be tempted. This bible says,
"Jesus wasn't like Adam. Jesus was a new kind of man. He would not believe the terrible lie that the enemy spoke. Jesus knew God loved him. And he would trust God. No matter what. It was just as God had promised to Adam and Eve all those years before. Jesus had come to do battle against the snake's work. He would get rid of the sin and the darkness and the tears. And He would suffer - but He would win."

Isn't that a great way to word what Jesus was all about?! And if we are a new creation in Christ, we should go to war with the devil just like Jesus.

This is from 'The Jesus Storybook Bible' by Sally Lloyd-Jones and I would highly recommend it for children. The stories are laid out in black and white that makes it easy for kids and adults to understand. It's brought some further realization into my own thoughts. Just thought I'd share :)

patience, anyone?!

I've heard that you shouldn't ask God to give you patience because He will give you the occasions to practice patience. That being said....

My girls have been making me laugh and rip out my hair all at the same time lately. I have been losing my patience with them lately and I don't know if it's because I'm slightly more irritable since I'm pregnant (I'm only irritable when I'm pregnant :)) or if they are just acting up more. Natalie verbally abuses me and Ruby quietly gets in and destroys everything. You'd never know that this silly little girl can scream her lungs off at me:

And don't be fooled by this innocent face:

Look what she accomplished in 5 seconds right behind my back while I was busy at the stove:

That's RICE all over the kitchen floor! Do you know what a pain it is to try to get every last grain of that swept/vacuumed up?!

Natalie doesn't get into things that she shouldn't too quick and Ruby hasn't been talking back... until today. She said 'no' for the first time and she will do a single scream while staring me down when she is upset with me. It's been quite a week! But then Jordan comes home, and they put on their sweet innocence and he can't understand what I'm talking about!

ahh, but I love them! I'm trying to remind myself while in the chaos, to enjoy it and find humor in it. They are growing so fast and I am going to miss even these bad days.