New Paint

When my dear parents were here a couple of weeks ago, there was no easy going vacation for them. As soon as they got here, they went to work beautifying my house. My mom painted all the trim inside of the house and the front door. My dad scraped all the exterior paint, caulked the wood, washed it, and painted the entire non-brick front. Thanks so much Mom and Dad!

I picked out the colors and we even changed the main exterior paint 3 times before finally just leaving it like this. I am not sold on the colors together, or even the wall color alone. But, they did a wonderful job and it is painted nicely and protected from the elements. We aren't changing it anytime soon, (Dad isn't coming back in the near future. :) Ha ha ha!)but please tell me your honest opinions. Thanks again Mom and Dad. We miss you and can't wait to see you again!

Happy Anniversary

Wow-4 years. The first 3 felt like regular years, but since having Nolan, I think I measure in weeks or months instead of hours and days. Time is just flying so quickly!

I was trying to think of something to write about for our anniversary, but I've done what I like about Ted, our "story", and many of the things we've been through in our marriage. I decided that I would try to think of 3 things that I've learned since marrying Ted.

1. Compromise means truly more than just Ted compromising to give me what I want. I get mad because I think that he won't compromise enough, but that is only because I am rarely willing to budge. It is a big work in progress, but I am trying to appreciate his opinions, individuality, and let go of some things that I truly need to stop trying to control.

2. It isn't all about love. Faced with some big hurdles in the beginning of our marriage, we went forth on faith and love for each other. There is WAY more to marriage and living together than just fluffy love stuff. I've learned that loving him doesn't always make it easy to like him. And also, I don't need to be madly in love with him everyday to have a happy marriage. Those days really are nice, though.

3. I really love living with Ted. It is so nice to know that after whatever our days bring, we end up together in the same bed. I love that I don't have to worry about what I am going to do each weekend or who I am going to hang out with. I have a built-in buddy. He actually always likes being with me, too. It isn't always easy to have a permanent roommate, but who else will ask me to play Schmear, or Tick, or Cribbage at 10:00 at night? Or watch recorded House, Chuck, and NCIS episodes with me?

I know that the list of things learned, things I am trying hard to learn, and things that will be taught for years to come doesn't end here. I am glad that I have my best friend to share all this with. I love you so much, Ted. Happy Anniversary!

Pay it Forward

Pay It Forward .....

So, here's how it works: the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Please submit in an e-mail or on the comment, your address, if I don't have it already. Remember that only the first 3 comments will receive a gift from me, so be quick!

Have fun!

Feeding Time

Nolan has 2 favorite stuffed animals, Bear and Kitty. (Original, I know. He isn't old enough to name them, so we are practical.) He has just recently started feeding them. I got this little video mostly for grandparents and out of town relatives. Enjoy!

Basement Furniture

I have a big weakness in my marriage. Compromise. I have an idea of how everything should go in our home (or, let's face it, in all situations), how the furniture should look, what decorations we should use, the colors everthing should be, etc. You know how it is. Ted has just as many ideas and opinions as I do. That complicates everything. So we have gotten a lot of practice with compromise during this basement project. We are both stubborn, but I finally feel like everything is coming together to please both of us. We had the new furniture set up a different way, and I was ready to send it all back to the store. With gentle persuasion Ted moved everything around, and now I feel really happy with it. What do you think?
The other side of the room is open for all of Nolan's toys.
We love it!

Our New Basement!

Our basement is finally finished! In a little under 3 months, we have been totally transformed. We had a completely unfinished basement (except for a small bathroom) and now we have tons of great new space. We have almost doubled our square footage. I have tried to take some before and after pictures from similar locations. First, our floorplan.Next, the family room and staircase. Notice how icky the stairs were before. What a change!
Bedroom and office:
It is kind of hard to get a good picture, but the walls are the same color as the living room. See floor plan for room layout.

We are so excited to be done and I can't wait to get decorating. Maybe we need some furniture first! We'll show more when we have gotten some things in our rooms.

Welcome Back Blogger

I finally figured out how to get pictures onto Ted's laptop! (OK-Ted really figured it out.) I am going to just give a sampling of what we have been up to lately.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Christmas with the Joneses was fun as usual. I actually did some crafty things to decorate our house.

I painted the sign, and the stockings were hand-stitched. My mom helped me with the pattern and stitched one of them for me, but I did much of it. Thanks for the help and fun ideas, Mom!
Then we needed the ever-popular Santa Claus shot. I thought Nolan would love him.There's always next year!

We were very blessed with thoughtful gifts. Nolan enjoyed opening everything, and we are looking forward to a finished basement so we can actually make use of all the new items.

A first for me this year was Christmas away from my family. I have spent every Christmas in northern Minnesota with my parents and siblings. This year was finally a year to be with Ted's family. I missed everyone in Minnesota (and Colorado!), but we Ted's mom wanted to take everyone on a special Christmas trip....FLORIDA!!! We were able to spend a week (poor Ted only got 4 days, but someone's gotta pay the bills) in sunny, warm Vero Beach. We had a great time with aunts, grandparents, and the ocean. The day before we left, Nolan suffered (or was it mom that really did the suffering?) his first walking-related injury. He was playing in a closet (I was there with him, but probably not a great idea) and was heading out. The door had a metal piece sticking out from it and Nolan tripped and landed on the metal with his little eye.His little eye got all swollen and it looked like he was going to have a huge shiner. I underestimated the healing power of children. 5 days later, barely a mark where the scab used to be. No shiner ever. Whew! That was a close call.

We are grateful to be safe, home and settling into our routine again. Today is the first day that Nolan and I are alone in almost 2 weeks. I'm loving it! Here are some random pictures of random fun things.In other Jones family news...our basement is nearing completion! It is being painted as I type. It was measured for the carpet this morning. We are almost done. Our living space will be almost doubled. Of course, if you double 850 square feet, you still don't have too much, but we'll take it. I can't wait to post the transformation.