Free time? What's that?

What were we thinking? For some reason we thought redoing a house would be fun and I don't know... stress free under no real time constraint, but we, well, I, was wrong. I guess I didn't factor in being pregnant, trying to now keep up with 2 houses, keeping the kids happy while painting and what not.  Ugh! However, today we have hit a major point in that we are nearly done with a room. Just have to touch up the floor boards and touch up paint and I think we're good. Our living room got carpet today and not only that, it was 2 days early! A first. So here's the original:

And here are 2 of the nearly finished. I'm happy with how it's turned out so far. I realize that I haven't put up many pics, so you can see out the one window there's a side porch. It's  a nice size and covers to the back of the house. It's well shaded too which is nice. I just love all the big windows in this room.

This is our kitchen. It was the main starting point. All the doors off and are all ready for, if not already, painting. We removed the amber glass above and will leave that open. We need to get a stove/oven to replace the cook top. I painted the countertops white and the bar area black with light glitter in it. It turned out okay. Not as great as I would have hoped, but it'll work until we get the new ones. Now we just need to get the doors on, the drawers sanded, primed and painted and the floor in. That should take, oh I don't know.... forever!

This is a built in that's in the dining area (which is open to the kitchen area). My sister Caroline took this on as her project. I painted the countertop black like the bar. The blue parts on both the kitchen and this piece will stay open. And yes.... the intercom does work. :)

This has been a familiar pose for Brian lately. He's amazed me at how much he can get done and so fast. He always does though. He spent a few hours taking out all the staples out of the particle board, and the just 2 days ago started ripping up that same board. Realized now that it was a waste. Oh well. You learn as you go right?!

Amidst all the house work, I realize that I just wasn't going to be able to get as mu;ch done as I wanted to during the day. I've managed to paint a little here and there or plant a few things in the garden, but my patience is already so thin that trying to do all the things I need to and being constantly "interrupted" just isn't worth the frustration  and getting upset with the kids, so I've cut back. It'll all get done eventually.  We went down last weekend  and picked up our hardwood flooring. My parents came back up with us and as we neared the house to drop off the wood, the kids got a little ride with Papa John on the trailer. Highlight! Even if they don't look like they were having fun... they were.

We took a little hike, and it was quite little. I should have left the kids at home. A few minutes after walking the girls were upset with rocks getting in their shoes, so they took them off and complained the rocks were hurting their feet, so we carried Caroline, Liz toughed it out, and then a few minutes later Bri ran back and got the car and met up with us to take the kids home. Good thing the trail is only a 2 minute drive up the street.

Thought this one was cute. This sweet little girl seemed to have been abandoned on the trail, so we took her with us. Okay, just kidding. I just didn't do anything with Isabelle's hair for like 2 days.

Caroline found a beautiful "flower bouquet".

At one point, I came home and this is how I found Cooper and Papa John. I thought Cooper was asleep, but I'm assuming they just took a break from wrestling.

This one was cute.

And so was this. :)

Well things are going  well, and eventhough slow, we are making progress. Brian is such a hard worker and I'm impressed with his handyman skills. Some day this will all be worth it! At least that's what everyone keeps saying. Brian read something online where this lady was talking about redoing her cabinets and the guy was like, "you either have only 3 cabinets or you've been watching too much HGTV". We're one of those who watch too much HGTV and think we can do it all! We'll see.