Garage Sale Goodies!!

Isaac and I were coming back from dropping Elijah and Karlena off with our new daycare and we stopped at a neighbors garage sale.

I love finding good deals and we found some great things today. Almost everything was for Karlena...but Isaac did get away with something he is excited about.

This dress is just the perfect size for Christmas 2011!! I think I paid $5. It doesn't even look worn and I can't wait to get it on my girl this winter!

I am loving that I finally have a girl to put dresses on....this was $0.75 and is perfect for these hot summer days we are now having.

Well now that we are officially Minnesotans we are going to have to fully support our Vikings team and what better way to do that than with Karlena's first cheerleading outfit!!

 (I know I am sorry Beth and Jeff....but I just can't put her in a Bears outfit in this country! :) )

And this is Isaac's special find....and at a cost he liked even better! It was free! It is an old adding machine. I think Isaac gets his interest in stuff like this from my dad and he is already talking about how he might get it working again!

I got several other things for Karlena and spent less than $20! YAY for great finds!! What is the best deal you have found at a garage sale??

Old photos and new spaces

I came across some old photos today and because my scanner isn't hooked up to our laptop right now I had to take a photo of them so I could share them...they are a little hard to see clearly - but I think they are great!

This was my mom holding me after I was first born!!

Dad I have to say you are rocking that mustache big time! :)

Ok this said 6 mo on the back of the photo. I think it is me but WOW do I look like a boy or what?! :)

Maybe it was the blue outfit....because I think I look a little more "girly" here.

And I am not sure who the crying baby is in this photo but what I loved was the very obvious irritated expression on my face!!

Besides looking at old photos I have been working really hard on Isaac's room.  I have 3 walls finished and 3 more to go. He has a big space to paint! But I wanted to give you a sneak peek at the colors...

I think as the maroon dries I like it more and more - but we bought that 1 coat paint and so far I have done 2-3 coats in places.

I might try and post some more old photos later....I found some doozies of me. I really was an awkward and kind of homely teenager. Let's hope that Karlena doesn't go through that phase!!!

Anyways - we are trying to stay cool here. How did you spend your day?!

While I'm Waiting

I have found myself in a "season" of unknown. I wish that I could get into details but I really can't share much until I know more.

We took some big steps making this move based on some information I was given for months...and now there is a possibility that some of that is changing.

I have made mention of it in prior posts and I honestly do believe that something good will come of all of this and God WILL get the glory for it.

I am a control freak. I like to know what is going to happen next. I like to be certain that tomorrow will be ok. But in the past couple of weeks I haven't had that comfort in all areas. I don't know what will happen with this specific situation and it can be scary.

But I am choosing to see this as an opportunity to trust God in all of it. I KNOW that He knows what the outcome will be and I KNOW that whatever that will be, He will be in the details.

The lyrics to this song I am posting have even more significance to me recently.

How am I choosing to live in this time? Am I praising God, am I serving Him during this time?? Or am I questioning His plan for my life?

How about you? Are you in a season of waiting? What is God showing you during this time? I'd love to hear from you...and pray for you. So please leave me a comment and let me know how I might lift you up!

Visitors!!

My parents came for a visit Sunday through today!! Our first "official" house guests!

This afternoon grandpa and Elijah were sitting out on the front porch watching the older boys ride bikes.  The photo didn't turn out great because it is through the screen - but I thought it was cute anyways!

And the next several pictures are of grandma feeding Karlena. This was her first time in the highchair. She seemed so bitty to be in it and kept sliding down but she did pretty good overall!

She loves her food!!

Apparently grandma wasn't feeding her fast enough because she had to stop and eat the highchair tray for a minute. It just cracked me up!!

Then she had to take matters into her own hands all together and hold the spoon too!

Gotta love peas and green beans for dinner!!

6 months old!!

Karlena is 6 months old!! (Well and a few days - but who's counting?!)

We had her 6 mo check up this week with a new doc here in Marshall.

She weighed 16lbs 15oz and was 26 1/4 in long! At this age Elijah was 22lbs so our girl is a lightweight!!

She has a plugged tear duct in her right eye that gets gunky every few weeks - but other than that she is happy and healthy!

She has adjusted pretty well to the new home and new daycare too.

She rolls all the time from her back to her tummy but never the other way!

Everything goes in the mouth at this stage too. She has started solid foods and loves everything we have tried. She watches like a hawk when we eat so I think introducing new foods will be no problem!

I can't believe it has been 6 months since you joined our family. You are my sweet pea and I am so grateful that you are here!

Fun with a box

A benefit of having to move....fun with boxes!!

Random thoughts

This is the view from my office space window. I love the birch tree in our front yard.

This is such a wonderful neighborhood and I feel truly grateful that we are here.

One of our favorite things about this house is its beautiful woodwork.

I promise I will take more "revealing" photos later but we still haven't hung anything on the walls and until we do it doesn't feel completely like our space yet!

One of the best parts of our kitchen is this huge pantry. Overall this house has tons of storage space and I have been able to take things that had previously been in boxes or totes and store them in cabinets so that I can access them easier.

We are taking a big load of things over to the Goodwill today to donate.  Nice that we moved it across state lines and then decide to give it away! :)

This is the project I have been slowly working on all week.  This will be Gabriel and Elijah's room. It was a lavender color before...not quite what our boys were in to!

So I bought this "supposed to be 1 coat paint" that went on like thick glue. It was terribly difficult to work with and did not coat in 1 try. Hopefully we have enough paint left for the touch-ups!

The white paneling is either a plastic-like material or was painted with a high gloss paint that I couldn't just paint over. We had to buy this Zinsser primer stuff that adheres to any surface. I did my first coat of that yesterday and hope to get another on today so that we can get the final top coat on. It should look great when we are all finished!

I had HIGH hopes to get way more accomplished this week and it is Thursday and I am feeling a bit bummed that I haven't even started on Isaac's room yet - which is also a pretty light blue and green :)

As soon as we get a little more settled I will take some more pics and post them. We are grateful to be here and together again.  We ask for continued prayer about a few uncertainties we are still dealing with. Hopefully I will have more to share next week!

Oh and if anyone would like to do a favor for me - Gabriel REALLY wants some mail sent to him at our new address. He checks every day and is always sad when he doesn't get anything. If you are willing send me an e-mail at kasmith03@gmail.com and I will get you our address. He will be thrilled if he got a card in the mail!!

Happy Thursday!!

A new skill learned!!

Guess who has learned a new skill this weekend??

Gabriel didn't know how to ride his bike last week...

But a new town, a new driveway and a safe place....

And this little man has taught himself how to ride his bike!!

Gabriel I am amazed by you!!

Tongue sticking out and all!!

A "working" Father's Day

Alright - first I need to say that Dominic is a wonderful Father. It is so great that we can be a family again full time and he can see the kids during the week and not just on the weekends!! 

 It is so fitting that we put an offer on this house in Marshall on Mother's Day weekend and were able to move in on Father's Day weekend! 

It has been a crazy busy few days and we really didn't celebrate Father's Day the way we should have....but my husband is a trooper and spent the day doing things that I wanted instead of maybe doing something more fun like relaxing before the work week starts again!

So after a LONG day of unpacking I asked if he would set up the bed in the spare room....for all of our guests just waiting to stay over you know!!

But of course there were a few "issues" which required a trip to Menards and the use of this....

One great thing about Dominic is that he is great at coming up with solutions to problems...and this was no exception!!

What are they building you ask??

Any guesses where these will be going? (Dad you can't guess..you already know!!) :)

Have you figured it out yet??

You see I got this beautiful headboard and footboard at a used furniture place for $100!! But the bed rails didn't fit like they should and the boxspring wasn't supported correctly. So Dominic went and got some wood and designed these supports for the bed!!

Isn't he handy?! :) I am so proud!!

And after all of his hard work we "dressed" the bed and I am so happy with how it looks! (We got the comforter set at a garage sale for $25!! And I don't believe it was even opened - score!!)

Guests will be coming from miles around to stay in our extra room I am sure! :)

I hope that you enjoyed your Father's Day and had a chance to spend it with someone you love...even if it meant working on some projects you hadn't anticipated working on!

Blessings to all of the dads tonight!

Saying Goodbye....

This is the first home that Dominic and I bought together.

Isn't it cute??

We lived in that house for almost 13 years.

Number 606!

I wanted to share a couple of my favorite spaces in our home.

Although our kitchen was small it was open to the living room and dining room and was one of the places that we all spent most of our time.

Our basement was also a big open space.

We watched thousands of movies together in that basement!!

It is probably weird to post a picture of our laundry room...but it had tons of storage and I just repainted the walls and the shelves a few months ago and still like how it looked!

This was 1 of 2 trucks that we loaded with all of our stuff. (And 2 large loads are sitting up in Dominic's rental in Tyler too....) Crazy!

I cannot believe how much stuff we have accumulated in 13 yrs!

We had some great help today from family and friends.

Isaac's good friends Christian and Zach helped a ton.

My BIL Aaron came and drove the 2nd truck and worked like a horse all day - Aaron we couldn't have done it all without you!

And my mom came down and helped me clean while they loaded. We just can't say enough how grateful we are for all of you!!

We took this just before we left town.

I still can't believe that tomorrow morning I won't wake up in my room....

Saying goodbye to the daycare was so hard and I cried on and off all day!!

I pray for the new owners - that God would be felt in the home and that they would grow as a family like we did. God has been so good to us and blessed us for many years with that home.

Tomorrow we start a new journey in Marshall. Closing on both homes.

Please pray for this transition...especially for Isaac as this hits him especially hard.

And although I can't currently share the details I ask that you please pray for my employment situation.  I will say that I feel at peace with the uncertain and really believe that God is working something special in this also.  I am anxiously waiting for the time when all is revealed (even to me) and God will get the glory in all of it. Stay tuned!! :)