New House....Almost

We had our walk-thru inspection this morning and we are beyond thrilled and so excited.  I had no new pictures to post but really there is not much new to see until we get in there and change everything :-).  We were so hesitant to build again after our experience w/the builder in GA but this experience has been far less stressful and we are very satisfied thus far w/the final product...very much unlike our GA home.  That being said that doesn't mean we don't want to go through and put our personal touch on the property, which may seem odd for a brand new house but there are certain things that either builder didn't offer or his cost to high so we figured we would go in and do ourselves after we closed.   On the change list is we are taking out the carpet in some of rooms in the basement and replacing w/laminate, replacing the vinyl flooring in the master bath and kitchen w/tile as well as  adding a backsplash to the kitchen and wet bar areas.  We had the builder do the 2 hall baths w/tile as the cost wasn't too outrageous but the cost to put tile in the kitchen and master bath were about 4 x what we could do it for ourselves so that is our first DIY project we will be doing. We are also painting the entire interior the builder only offers to shades of white so we hired a painter to paint all the common spaces a nice taupe color while we will paint all the bedrooms, dining room and play room w/different fun colors.  Also a first for us is we will be adding some wall paper to the back wall of the master bedroom for a feature wall.  The last major project we have is adding crown molding, chair rail and wainscoting to different spaces in the house.  So excited to make these changes as I think it will really warm the place up and make it feel even more like HOME!!!!  Other smaller projects including, epoxying the garage floor, hanging ceiling fans and window treatments.  Not sure how long it will take to get everything done but we will prioritize and do one project at a time and thankfully we have reinforcements coming in...Chad's parents are coming  for a week to help coral the rug rats while Chad and I focus on our house projects.  Moving weekend is officially 12-14 May and  there is no flexibility on that day as we have renters moving into the condo on the 15th so I guess we best get to work LOL.  I'm sure i will have lot of pictures and updates to share along the way....wish us luck on all our DIY projects :-)

5 Months Old

Pictures to follow, but had to share an update on our little beauty...Annaliese is 5 months old as of last Saturday (21 April).  Seriously though, where has the time gone?  Cant believe 5 months have gone by since we welcomed our sweet little angel into this world.  She has been such a gift.  Annaliese has such a sweet disposition, ready to hand out smiles and giggles every chance she gets.  She is a great eater and sleeps well, even w/the inconsistent schedule she has been on, she just rolls w/the punches.  I am so grateful for her ability to adapt as life has been crazy and unpredictable and little all over the place the past few months.  Im definitely committed to getting her on a good schedule once we get settled in the house and I don't have to stay out all morning 2x a week for the twins while they are in preschool and Chad and I aren't running around all weekend getting things for the house.  Im looking forward to thing settling down a bit and I'm sure Annaliese will be forever grateful for that moment too.  We started spoon feeding baby oatmeal last week and added apples this week.  She is doing great w/spoon feeding and once she figured out it was food she was all for it.  She has slept through the night a few times for us but usually is up one time to feed during the night...most nights she wakes around 11-11:30 which  Chad and I haven't gone to bed yet so it works out perfect, I will feed her and then she won't wake again until 7:30.  See I told you she is a good girl :-).  I look so forward to watching her grow and see her little personality emerge more and more.

Happy Easter

Wishing All a very Blessed Easter!!!!

Easter Sunday was a beautiful if not slightly cool day here in MD...but really we could not have asked for anything more. Kids had a great day, going through their Easter Baskets and we did a little egg hunt for them in the little green space in front of our unit. A nice quiet Easter Sunday for us :-)

Annaliese's first Easter basket (clothes, bibs, socks and a book)

LOVE HER!!!!!!!!!!!

House Update #4

The house is coming along nicely. New this week we have wood floors, the stair case is finished and stained, most lights are in and most of the plumbing fixtures...we are almost there!!!!

Finally a sunny day to take a picture of the house

So excited about my big sink :-)

Guest Bath Shower

Guest Bathroom

Kids Shower

Kids Vanity

Fun Rain Shower Head in Master Shower :-)

Kitchen Cabinets almost done...still needs the crown molding

(love my double oven!!!)

Foyer/Staircase

More Cuteness

I know its the twins birthday but I couldn't resist posting all this cuteness!!!!

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Twins

I can't believe my babies are 3!!! It has gone by way too fast...but has been so fun to watch them grow and learn and become the little people they are.

Evan is: Sweet, Handsome, Kind, Loveable, Social, Friendly, Inquisitive, and Talkative

Taryn is: Loving, Sweet, Independent, Cuddley, Shy, Analytical, and Headstrong (she's a woman who knows what she wants :-) )

It has been such a joy and blessing to be their momma and I'm so excited to see what 3 brings us!!!!

We started the day at Port Discovery...we hung out for about 2.5 hours then headed next door and got the kids one of their favorite treats a smoothie or shamu as they call it :-). From there we headed home to take a nap. While the kids were napping, I made dinner and set up the table w/their cakes and gifts. For dinner we had Mac n Cheese (homemade and gourmet so YUMMY) w/ Pigs in a Duvet so YUMMY too :-) and a favorite of the kiddos. After we ate we had the kids open their gifts then we sang to them and had cake. It was a wonderful day and despite not having a party I think the kids had a wonderful day :-)

YUMMY Dinner :-)

3rd Birthday Cake

Evan and Taryn's cake is so cool this year that it deserved it's own post LOL. Because "Cars" is about the only thing that exist in Taryn's world right now and Evan likes them a lot too we decided to do a "Cars" theme birthday for them. We aren't having a party but wanted to make them a fabulous cake anyway. However, so we don't consume hundred and hundreds of unnecessary calories Chad is taking the large 12" cake to work and we will put the 8" in the freezer for another day and each will enjoy a pice from the top tier.

I baked and baked all day Saturday making all 3 cakes plus 4 cupcakes and a sheet cake for the cake pops I will be taking to their preschool when they do their birthday celebration on the 11th (no school this coming week, Spring Break :-( ). I made a bunch of batches of butter cream and all of the fondant on Sunday. I was the cake assembler and icer and Chad cut all the fondant decorations....he did an amazing job. I was so happy to have his help and his skills :-).

I think we were both pleasantly surprised on how it turned out. This was my inspiration:

http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/coolest-cars-birthday-cake-43.html

She covered her entire cake in Fondant which looks really nice but fondant terrifies me, I was scared to even attempt to make it, but I gave it a whirl and it actually turned out...even with that I think I will stick to butter cream for the cakes and fondant for decorations :-)