The Big Reveal!!

Okay, okay....I know some of you are getting anxious about seeing the big reveal, so here you go:):)

Here are several before photos (again, not bad, but we were definitely ready for a change!)

And then the work begins. There were so many phases of painting that we thought it would never end.:) We joked that Noah must be so confused because when he would wake up each morning, the house would be different or rearranged.

Noah loved having such a big open space to play and run around.



When we started painting the brown, we were a little scared. It was a little more gold than we were thinking it would be. And the wet color was definitely a lot more yellow gold than the dry brown color. We decided to paint all the brown color before we could make a true opinion of it. Once we finished, we decided that we really liked the color. It makes the room feel so warm.

We even wore Noah out in the process:)

The front entry way, and hallway are a lighter shade of the same brown.


I thought you'd enjoy seeing what it was like to paint above the stairs. Thankfully, some friends of ours had built a platform that we could put our ladder on to reach the whole wall.

The Big Reveal!!

And the infamous entertainment center:)

(more to come in a future post:))

Our big helper

Noah wanted to show you how he says 'please'

We have decided that Noah isn't afraid of much. And quite often during our project, we would have to pull him off the ladder. He's a great climber:)

Oh, Car!!

Can I mow, Daddy?

You will begin to notice a pattern...when we ask Noah to smile for the camera, he immediately opens his mouth as big as he can and sucks in a huge breath. So there are a lot of pictures with Noah's mouth wide open.:)

Noah's new favorite way to greet Daddy when he comes home is to help drive the car into the garage.

We had Chipotle the other night and let Noah at it. He gets his own bowl with rice, black beans and tomato salsa. He went CRAZY!!! There was food everywhere, but he was eating tons and loving it. I guess all that Chipotle when I was pregnant really got into his system:)

He LOVES to talk on the phone. He gets excited whenever the phone rings and then he talks on whatever is available (peanut butter sandwich, blocks, cars, play phones...) while we talk on the phone. We have given him the phone several times with family while they are on speaker phone and he holds the phone to his ear, wanders the house (we often have to chase him) and babbles away.

Such a little helper! He didn't want to get off Daddy's lap.

Butterfly Gardens

We went up to the Butterfly Garden in Grand Rapids last weekend. It was amazing! There were so many butterflies! And the plants and flowers were beautiful too! There is one butterfly that looks very camoflauged from the bottom, but the top was this beautiful iridescent blue color. But every time they landed, the folded up their wings so that all you saw was the camaflauge. But because I thought it was so beautiful, my sweet husband kept camera ready and tried the whole time to get a picture of the top of the butterfly. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get a picture, but I thought it was wonderful to him to try!!

What are we doing here, again? And what is a butterfly??

What do you think? I think I'd make a pretty good butterfly.

The whole time we were there, I just kept thinking...if God loves these butterflies enough to make them all so beautiful (and there were a ton of different species!), then how much more must he love you and me?

OHHH...there goes another one!!

Mommy and her lovebug!

Look at me! I can do it all by myself!

I thought this was a cool plant...not sure what it is, but the petals were the same "material" as the leaves.

Our friends...PJ, Lai & Bowen

Doesn't he looks so big?!?!?

To remind everyone that he is definitely not perfect!

Our sculpture in progress...

Noah's amazing Discovery!!

WOW! What's that?

Let's go check it out...

Its a giant horse!!

Think I can ride it, Daddy?

This thing is enormous!!!

Hi, Bo-Bo!

He's wants to be so independant.

My best friend, Bo-bo

Sunshine!!!

The sun has been shining and we have been taking full advantage. There is nothing that compares to sunshine after so many grey days! Noah is loving the outdoors and I am getting glimpses into what our summer will be like. (and I'm excited about it!) He, of course, is moving rock by the ton. I think we have to stop and inspect every rock anywhere near where he is. And whenever an animal comes our way, it must be acknowledged loud enough that everyone around knows where it is. The train is reported as choo-choo everytime we hear it pass (which is surprisingly often now that someone keeps pointing out when it comes by-the things your child can teach you to be aware of!)

We have had a cat hanging around the deck the last couple of days and Noah is often over by the windows talking to it. So I have been hearing a lot of..."ooo, ooo kit-tie!" I love his little voice.

Check out my rock collection!

This one is my favorite. Uh-oh...hold on...its falling!

I love you!!

Rocks, Expressions & Progress

We have been enjoying some amazing weather! Finally! And with it has come a realization for me. This will be my summer of rocks. Well, I suppose I have many of those ahead of me, but this will be the summer that starts it all. We were out for quite a while on Sunday afternoon and all Noah wanted to do was put rocks into his dump truck.

Noah has been making so many funny faces lately. His latest is when you say smile, he makes it sound like hes sucking air in with his mouth wide open-like this...

or when he gets really excited, he clenches his fists and his whole little body shakes and he looks like this...
or this...

And when he gets particularly excited, he likes to pretend he's on a roller coaster...


Just checking out what's happening in the neighborhood...someone's got to keep a watch out!

Enjoying the crackers in the designated cracker area.

And of course, there is no better helper than one with little hands!

We are finally making some real progress on the living room and kitchen. We finished painting the major bulk of the room this past weekend and now we are just waiting for the cracks to be fixed so we can finish painting the entry way, hall and down the stairs. We are moving furniture back and installing the new light fixture. And it looks great! Here is a shot to give you just a taste of the whole picture...

and you'll finally get the big reveal hopefully next week once the rest of the painting is done.