Josiah's Bug Birthday Party!

I can't believe my little baby is turning 5. It has been such a joy and a blessing to see him grow into the little guy that he is, with unique interests of his own. Currently, he is obsessed with insects. So what better way to celebrate his 5th birthday than with a bug party!

Party favors: bugs, bags and magnifying glasses!

 It was so much fun to entertain in our new home for the first time! We had a "bug hunt", where the kids had to search the backyard for bugs (plastic!).

Face painting (bugs, of course!)

Josiah chose to have dirt cake with gummy worms as his birthday cake, yummy!

The birthday boy was allowed one WHOLE pop to himself...a first (and a last...for a long time at least!)

 

Josiah is in the Burger King Kid's Club and the ToysRUs Birthday Club...so he was able to get lots of birthday goodies for FREE...$3 TRU giftcard, crowns, balloon, free kids meal, etc! 

Josiah chose to buy a "bug playground" with some of his TRU gift card...

Josiah had so much fun at his party, hopefully something he'll remember for years to come. Happy 5th birthday, my sweet little buggy boy! 

Time to make it ours!

We're slowly getting around to transforming this green house into OUR house. It takes a lot of work, but boy is it FUN to have the freedom to paint the walls whatever colors we want, landscape, and decorate! Christian's parents have been a huge help, lending themselves and their experience to our projects!

                                                              The boys' room!



before



the boys loved helping tear the wallpaper down!




the finished room!



The boys picked a space theme for their room. They loved being involved and having a say in how their room was going to look! They even created the artwork for the walls. We bought space decal stickers off of Amazon....they're awesome! You can peel and stick them anywhere...and remove and re-stick whenever you want. It makes it so much easier for re-decorating in the future when the boys' interests change.

The boys' bathroom used to be a shocking yellow....we changed into a Finding Nemo theme (again using wall stickers) :)

We chose to turn the third bedroom into an office. I tried to get Christian to keep the walls this way....so he could feel like he's studying in a park (ha, ha). But....it just wasn't his taste, lol!

before!

after!



  




          And the living room......



before!




after!

 

 




We've got lots to do on our house, but we feel so blessed to have a home to make our own!

Boards and our Backyard

 Time to transform the yard! One of the major selling points of this house was the big backyard. There was just so many possibilities of what we could do with it (all of which involved our boys getting as much exercise and energy out as possible! :)  We started by building a french drain around the backyard, as it had a bit of a flooding problem.

The boys were thrilled with the mountain of rocks in our driveway!

Then we moved on to preparing the area for the kids' playstructure. There had previously been a large garden in that spot, so we were able to just flatten it out (gasp! Don't worry..it had been neglected for quite a while, so we didn't destroy anything that could've been eaten!.) The boys definitley were able to entertain themselves in the mud (which was a cheaper option than the playstructure) but the muddy laundry that accumulated each day was getting a bit of a hassle!

We were able to find a fantastic deal on a playstructure at ToysRUs, and it ended up being better than we had planned! It took 2 days to install, including lots of sorting of the boards and hardware and 32 steps to put it all together. Whew!

To keep things as simple as possible, I sorted the boards and hardware according
 to each step so we could just grab and go (sorting took about 4 hours)!

Papa had some helpers when we moved in all the cedar chips!

The finished product! Of course, Daddy had to push them on the swings right away!

Home Sweet Green House

After over a year of house hunting...we finally found the house! I have to say, taking the plunge is a little intimidating. But with Christian's massive CPNE exam out of the way...and the kids gaining a larger capacity of energy by the hour....it was time. Not that we didn't like our sweet little apartment, but to be honest, we were looking forward to sleeping in a bedroom where we couldn't hear our neighbor snoring every night...



                                

                                      Thank goodness we had little movers to help us!

We learned that there are many perks to moving a few doors down from your parents. Here's a prime example! 



They selflessly let us move everything we owned into their garage, and stay in their home until we closed on our house so that we could get out of our apartment sooner!

And here it is....our green house. Funny to think it's been four houses down from where my husband lived throughout his teenage years! We are so blessed to have such a great home (for such a great price!).  Thanks to Christian's incredibly hard work and dedication, it's truly a dream come true.

Now on to making this house feel like home....lots of painting, yardwork, etc to be done! :)

                                  

Passing and Planning!

After flying across the country (and back!), and three stressful days of incredibly intense testing, Christian PASSED the CPNE exam! Praise God! I am so proud of him and his dedication to his family and his schooling! It is such a relief to have him home and know that he never has to undergo that kind of pressure again! WHEW!

Judah at the airport, watching for his dada to come off the plane!

This is also exciting as he can now turn his full attention to the home we are buying. With the inspection and appraisal behind us, we are counting the days til they hand us the keys to our "green house"! We're so thrilled to find a home that was affordable, and most of all....has a huge yard for our energetic little guys!  I'll be posting before and after pics of the rooms in our house after we get all settled in :) But for now....we're trying to wait patiently......and dream about what we're going to do with the place!




Male bonding!



Love Day and Lessons Learned

It has been a hectic, crazy week in our little household! Between going through our house-buying process, various doctors appointments, playdates and birthday parties, and Christian doing a final cram before his CPNE (Clinical Performance in Nursing Examination) in New York, I'd say we made it through the week rather well!

Christian has spent the last 8 months studying, testing and preparing to become a Registered Nurse (did I mention he has been working full-time as an LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) at the same time?!). My wonder-man is about to travel across the country to New York, to take a 3 day exam that entails thousands of dollars, countless hours preparing, time off of work, and dare I say the stress equivalent to taking several years off his life! He is to spend 3 days performing labs, as well as treating and caring for actual patients in a hospital he is unfamiliar with.....while a clinical examiner watches his every move. The chance for failure for anyone taking this exam is huge....with only a 68% pass rate! Let's just say that we are taking Philippians 4:6 to heart: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

In the midst of all this, the boys and I found time to make a turkey. Random, yes...but I guess the motivation of not having to lug a frozen turkey to our new house when we move was enough to fit it in the schedule. Judah had recently obtained a stuffed-animal turkey from his grandma...which had become loved and slept with him in his bed at night. Needless to say, both the boys learned a thing or two about the circle of life during this activity!

  And then, there was Valentine's Day. One of the last days before Christian left for New York, he didn't have a lot of time to focus on mushy love stuff. The boys and I made heart cookies, and they each recieved a small gift (Josiah got his very first watch...hot wheels themed, of course! And Judah got a license plate with his name on it for the new bike his grandparents gave him for Christmas).  It was a sweet day!



Monkey Party!

Judah decided he wanted an "Ah-ahh"(monkey) party for his 3rd birthday...(coincidentally, he also had an "ah-ahh" party for his 2nd birthday!) Excitingly enough,we found a party store that was going out of business and had the entire store on sale for 75%-90% off! Jackpot! We were able to get so much more than we had planned this way! His grandma and grandpa graciously let us use their home as the party spot for about 18 rambunctious little boys and two sweet girlies. He had a blast....I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking!