Elsie is 4!!

I can't believe this little girl is 4 years old. I think I'm going to say that every single year on each child's birthday, because it just doesn't seem possible how quickly time goes any more. I feels like not too long ago, we were living in California preparing for her to arrive, but in a way, it also feels like forever ago. It's very strange.

We have started the tradition of celebrating her birthday while camping, so I guess that will continue which I have no problem with. She really wanted a kitty cake, so I whipped this up in my parents' camper and it didn't turn out too bad.

 She really likes cats right now. We went on vacation to South Dakota and after going to the Laura Ingalls Wilder house and doing so much fun stuff, her favorite part was the kittens in the barn there. She has also requested to be a cat for Halloween. Now to figure out a way to make a cute cat outfit.

I am posting this late, but she has started Pre-K, one day down, and she loved it! She was a little nervous, but when I asked her if she had fun, she responded, "a little too much fun" haha, where does she come up with this stuff. Another thing that makes me laugh lately is that she never wants to go to bed. One night, she was telling me about how she likes to stay up late, and she said, "Why am I so different than you people?" Well Elsie, I don't really know. Some day, you'll appreciate laying in bed at 8pm. 

She's just lots of fun and only occasionally has meltdowns, but I like to think that's normal?

She's going to learn a lot at preschool, and I can't wait to see how much she keeps changing!

Some other pictures from the camping trip at Lake Anita where we celebrated her birthday with Grandpa and Grandma Berndt, Becky, Harper, Ryden, Scott, Christy, Braden, and Cael.

Ryden learning to ride with no training wheels!!!

Ceiling fan makeovers

I was originally thinking these fans had to go! But after seeing some successful spray painted ceiling fans on Pinterest, I decided to try it. Easier than taking the lights down and re-attaching new ones and much cheaper!

Here are the problematic fans, they're so shiny! There was one in each half of the large front family area of the house:

First, I took the light bulb, glass shades, and fan blades off.

I taped around the light sockets, and put plastic up on a large area on the ceiling. Then, spray painted the whole thing oil rubbed bronze.

Then, I cleaned the blades and painted the little metal things that attach the blades.

I'm not too crazy about these fan blades, and the other side had weird wicker inserts on them. But, I may paint them later or something.

All reassembled with new glass shades from Home Depot:

I think it looks so much better. Total cost was about $8 for spraypaint, and the glass shades were about $4 each, so $32 total! It would have been cheaper if I wouldn't have needed to replace the glass shades, but the floral purple things were not good.

These rooms need a little work, like something done to the ceiling and some different paint, and trim paint, but those are projects for another day.

We bought a house.

So, we bought this house. We were sick of paying rent to someone else and decided it was time to buy a house and pay towards our own mortgage and build equity. Is our financial situation perfect for buying a house? No, but we did it anyways. Here are some pics. It needs a little work, but it's what we wanted in our starter home.

This isn't pictures of every room, but I will add more as we make changes. I need to upload some more pics, but here's what I have for now. Theses were all right before/some after we moved in and before we made any changes:

Our bedroom....probably the ugliest room in the house.

Back living space

Messy kitchen.

Dining room

Dining room from another view.

Stairs going upstairs.

Upstairs bathroom....also in contention for ugliest room.

How will I ever make this door normal?

Front living space

And I guess that's all I have for now. We have already made so many changes though. I have pretty much totally remodeled our bedroom, the dining room is different, and tons of little changes here and there.

Abbott turned 2! (2.5 months ago....)

I've been awful at keeping track of things the last year. When I post them here they don't get lost, so I need to post this before he turns 3 and I don't even realize it! It's so hard to believe he's a little 2 year old. He's just the sweetest little boy (usually). He's even changed so much in the last couple months since his birthday. He didn't really start saying a ton of words until after his birthday, but he's getting some phrases down now. Each day, it seems like he's saying something new. He loves to play with toy guns, cars, animals, fingernail polish, and anything that Elsie is playing with.

We didn't have much of a party on his birthday, just a cool truck cake at home:

 

He weighs 28lb and is " tall.

 

Overall, he's a pretty good kid, he usually only gets in trouble when playing with Elsie. He loves to help and is just such a sweet little guy. My favorite word he says but mispronounces is "shep-up" for ketchup. It's adorable. I can't wait to see how much he changes before he turns 3!

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