Our Post-Tornado Renovation Reveal!

 

Hello everyone!  I shut this blog down to edit the web address, title and descriptions to remove our last name for privacy (we had viewers from all over the world and realized it would be wise).  But I wanted to get back on here now that its been edited, and show our house reno!  Posting them here is way easier than email or facebook and lots of people have been asking for pics.  I am so proud of Nick, other than flooring and plumbing he has pretty much done all of these repairs.  We were blessed with help in the way of friends and family who helped out in a variety of ways.  You readers that helped us know who you are, and we are incredibly thankful for you.

Here we go!  Not every room is done, but I’m posting pics of the rooms that pretty much are. The bedrooms in the house that are not pictured are my kids rooms, and I don’t want to go deep clean them right now, and you’re not really missing out because all they got was a fresh coat of paint and new carpet…

 

First up, our room.  This is the part of the house where the roof was completely ripped off by the tornado and there was extensive insulation, Sheetrock, and subfloor damage.  Nick ripped out everything (including that old insulation) and redid everything.  The first pic reminds me of late 3 am summer weeknights, the smell of roasting bugs on halogen task lights, windows open, the taste of energy drinks being guzzled, sweaty face masks, clouds of drywall dust, talk radio blaring while the kids slept on pallets downstairs… those were some really good and rough days.

 

Here is the finished product (minus trim), Nick did amaaazing.

 

 

This pic was taken after our “door that led to nowhere” in the kitchen was removed.  

We replaced it with a window and it makes the kitchen feel a lot homier.

This nasty pic is of our dining area ceiling, the empty space in between the joists is where a soaking wet air vent was.

Nick replaced it, moved the lighting, sheet rocked and put in new crown molding.

This is our northern living room wall, which Nick reframed in order to have our wood stove installed on the center of the wall (because of course there was a 2x4 in the way when we busted it open for the stove installers J)

Here’s the after pic, the living room also lost its popcorn ceilings got new texture and trim everywhere…  We love our wood stove and have already lit it this fall, and made hot tea on it!

 

These lovely pictures show the state of my house during the time period where I think I did literally go insane… this shows where our laundry room was, nick demo’d it, took out the door opening, worked with professionally experienced friends to reframe the load bearing wall and plug up the plumbing.

We now have a lot more space in our living area. He rewired the electrical so I could have my barn lamps, and mounted those 90 year old barn doors that he ripped off an old barn in Marshall, OK. This part of the remodel had nothing to do with the tornado, but when everythings being repaired, you get everything done that you can in the budget that you have, and since Nick did all the work in the house, we got to do this. We now have a mudroom that is under construction but operational, meaning, I avoid going in there as much as possible, which is hard to do with a family of 6 that needs their clothes washed...

 

This is the downstairs bathroom, there was water damage in the old vanity from the upstairs roof leek.

Nick busted out the fur down.  He also removed popcorn, textured the whole room, had new flooring installed and put in a new vanity, toilet, trim, and light that we spray painted to spruce up.

This is the upstairs bath, it had subfloor damage and some sheet rock damage along the ceiling...

Here's the new vanities (our friend installed new plumbing for the second one)

New flooring, sheet rock and trim...

 

 

 

We are blessed at all we were able to do with our house due to our insurance claim, and I am basically showing off what Nick has done.  I'm a *little* proud of him.  The process was incredibly difficult and trying for us, but we are thankful.  I often think of the family a few miles up the road that lost their 2 small boys that day.  We are so thankful that we were all safe when we climbed out of that storm shelter and saw the path of destruction running right through our neighborhood with demolished 30 year old homes that were right next door to ours. 

 

Thank you so much for looking and I will eventually post pics of our addition and our other little projects.  I love before and after home remodel pics and I hope you enjoyed ours!

I am still here-- just busy! Our family has been up to so much, and we are getting into the swing of things that is life with 4 small children including a 3 1/2 month old!

I just wanted to share the name of an incredible book I have been consuming in my free time and share how it has changed the way our days run around here.

God gave me this book at the perfect time and used a very dear friend to put it into my hands. If you are reading this and have children and homeschool and are looking for a book that helps you structure your days so that you can focus more on your children's hearts, this is an excellent one!

It has helped us in having regular school and reading aloud times, keeping our house and it's contents under control, and developing a philosophy behind the work ethic it takes to run a household of 6 where all but 1 of it's members are here all day everyday!

Sorry, LOTS of run on sentences going on in this blog post!


This is is it:

Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman

With the tools this book has given me, our days are more like a well-oiled machine instead of the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants that they used to be. I can not implement every suggestion in this textbook sized resource, but I can tell you I recommend it with all of my heart. Prayer, God's word and this book are where I turn when I need an attitude check and some help with my days, because no one ever says life with 4 little children is easy.

Here is a daily schedule we pretty much stick to everyday, for anyone interested:

6:10- breakfast and movie, because Mommy ain't functioning yet.

7:30-morning chores

8:00~ish- Savannah works on spelling, reading and math, sometimes Liam has a school activity

9:30~ish- time for fresh fruit mid-morning snack and usually a bible verse is read aloud at the kitchen table. (usually means if there are no screaming babies on me or at my feet).

Time up to lunch is spent playing blocks, coloring, play doh, or painting. Or playing mommy and spider which is the kids current fave game to play with each other, Liam's the spider, and Savannah is the mommy wearing high heeled dress up shoes while riding on his back as he crawls. Or doing hairstyles, dress up, playing cars, etc...

11:00- Lunch

After lunch, read with Felicity at some point, and put her down for a nap.

12:30-1:30- Quiet Time for everyone, sometimes the kids play alone or find a constructive activity to play with each other, but they must not fight, yell, scream or whine.

1:30-3:00~ ish- fit in read aloud time, which is Savannah reading aloud to me for a short period, then me reading to Savannah and Liam from a selection of books. Our chapter book right now is Little House on the Prairie. Read aloud time also encompasses learning about history, geography, literature, etc. It just happens! Yesterday we read from our Compassion International magazine during this time. We learned how people can help impoverished children. We learned how a little girl that grows up in a city dump in Guatemala can eventually be taken care of, schooled and taught the love of God and know she is not trash, like she once thought she was. This time is invaluable.

3:00-ish- Felicity awake, snacks and free play time, another movie is usually on the agenda to ward off a toddler fit. Weather permitting, outdoor playtime.

4:30- Afternoon chore time where we all just simply clean, pick up toys, fold laundry, vacuum, sweep, clean bedrooms, all of these things have to be done everyday.

6:00 Dinner with dad

*See the book in the background?


My days usually fit the above schedule, sometimes they are off due to trips to town, and sometimes they are off because we are off our rockers and can't get back on.

I am not showing off or bragging about my somewhat structured daily schedule. I know there are more things we could be fitting in, and I know some days things don't go as planned. If anyone were to ever see my blogs and think "Man, she sure has everything together" I would truly be saddened. My main goal everyday is to be a loving mom and educate my children in a way that is fitting for them, our family, and our faith. My other main goal is trying to keep a somewhat clean house and keep clean socks in every one's drawers and keep everyone fed. This book helps me accomplish my goals!

It's a wonderful life...

Merry Christmas everyone, here are some glimpses from a fall that I will always cherish and look back on with a heart that is bursting with contentment and love.

And hopefully I'll forget about the 645 loads of laundry I've done since fall started, the 7021 dirty dishes I've washed, the 90 trillion crumbs I've swept up, the 111 fits I’ve calmed down, the 330 poopy diapers I've cleaned, and, I guess I’ll stop there.

But seriously, this is now, and my life has never been as wonderful as NOW.

Plans for the 2010 School Year

(First day of homeschool co-op.)

For those of you interested in what we are learning around here on a regular basis, here is the inside scoop:

With Savannah we are working on:


Building her repertoire of little reader books, while working on sight words and phonics rules as they come up as we read together. Today she read an entire book all the way through that wasn't even an early reader-- we were so proud of her (not to mention how proud she was)! I love teaching her what exclamation points and apostrophe's are! It's just so much fun and she delights in learning to read and is so proud of herself.


Hooked on Math- we were given this curriculum from a friend and since my main goals this year are keeping her up to speed with reading and math, this is a great go to of songs, worksheets and games. She is really enjoying it!


We will be implementing some geography unit studies- where we learn geography and about other cultures around the world. We also learn about history, other cultures, landmarks, and indigenous flavors. I think these unit studies are a great way to learn and do some fun activities while the kids get a cornerstone understanding of the world around them. We will plan these randomly (as I'm 2 weeks out from having baby number 4, and when you homeschool, structured planned learning like this happens in seasons, especially when mommy is growing more future pupils :)


Continue working on penmanship, upper and lowercase.


Working on character and household responsibilities/ chores, bible stories and memory verses, crafts.


So far she's learned to count by fives and read time on a clock with hands- which was one of our goals for the year.



She is also taking a PE class, and Arts and Crafts class, and a "Globe trotters" class at our homeschool co-op. You can check our co-op out at http://www.ignitecoop.com/


Chemistry for little kids!

With Liam we are working on:

Playing lots and reading to him lots!

He will also come along for the ride when we delve into our unit studies.

He is working on drawing letters, but has a hard time with it so we never push it. He is so different from Savannah, but we know his pace is much slower and since he's not even pre-K age yet and is a boy, our main focus for him is creative play and working on character.

He knows his ABC's and many of the letter sounds and adds numbers in his head a lot. He is learning so much everyday just from being around when we teach his big sis.

He is also taking a Five ina Row class, a Music and Movement class and a Games and Recreation class at our co-op.


So those are our regular activities for the most part, that we will implement throughout the school year. I'm sure I'll let you in on of our geography based unit studies soon. I think Nick is itching to do one on Asia so he can have an excuse to order Chinese takeout, learn how to make something Asian at home (other than stir fry), watch Anime with the kids and take them to the Super Cao Win supermarket. He loves Asian culture.

We are excited for another "school" year!

We made donuts on the first day of school!!

What? Don’t they look delicious? They’re donut holes. OK, they're a little burnt. You’re NOT planning on coming over anytime soon to eat our homemade donuts? :)

Let me tell you about our tradition that started last year. On the first day of real “school” in our town, we celebrate at home by doing something we would never be able to do if we were rushing around, packing lunches and getting first-day-of-school snazzy and flying out the door to fight school traffic.

Just so you understand, I think the first-day-of-public-school excitement is wonderful. It’s a mixture of flutters, a crisp new outfit, that new backpack and pencils smell, promise and excitement for what the year will bring, new friends to meet, a cool new lunch box full of goodies. And to be honest, my kids miss out on all this. So to compensate and have something of our own to celebrate on this day, we celebrate along with our town, at home, doing something we could never do if we didn’t homeschool.

Last year we did this in the early morning on the first day of school:

We had a huge rainstorm while everyone in the neighborhood was rushing off towards town, and we sat back and enjoyed it…
And learned about precipitation and evaporation…

How God made this freshwater cycle and how it’s perfect and good…

And I learned that getting to stay home with my 3 small children and teach them intentionally is not only a blessing to me, but a flat-out luxury.

Now that doesn’t mean that being a stay at home, homeschooling mother of 3 (almost 4) is just a bunch of sitting around basking in luxury…

Case in point, the burnt donut holes.

We decided this year we’d do something we’ve never done on the morning of the first day of school, and make donuts from scratch. We were so excited. I had my camera in my hand.

My kids were so disappointed when this is what they got.

This is what came out of the fryer, no matter what I did. I even turned the oil on several different heat settings. They would always burn and be 100% raw on the inside. The baby was fussy and clinging to my legs, my kitchen was covered in flour and that greasy-deep-fry smell. The kids were sad. I was exhausted from just having to stand up for that long.

We grumpily refrigerated the dough and planned on trying it again in a few hours after lunch with a much lower heat setting on the oil.

And they ended up being pretty…yummy. (Donut shop donuts are still way better).

We enjoyed the making of them this time, and the eating of them, too.

And we were able to celebrate the first day of school with the eating of our donuts, and go on to learn a few things and do a few school activities that day.

And that afternoon with my belly full of donuts (hey, I'm pregnant and I can eat as many donuts as I want, right?) I was secretly able to feel the luxury of having my children home, soaking them in, teaching them how to make donuts from scratch, teaching them so many other things.

Oh, and I also reminded my self several times about my not having to wait for 30 minutes in a line full of running, hot cars waiting to pick up my kids after school.

So the first-day-of-school tradition serves many purposes. The main purpose just might be for this Mom as she realizes that she's able to relax and make donuts from scratch with her children and remind herself of these moments of luxury when things get downright messy and hard around here.

And being humbled that even the moments of luxury, like this one, are never perfect.

Summer Happenings 2010!

Some of the things our gang has been up to this summer...

On the school- front, Savannah and I have been spending these hot afternoons together, indoors while the other two sleep to work on her reading, which includes phonics worksheets and reading games (thank you, Internet for letting this pregnant mom rest while my child learns about reading from cartoon characters). We also spend the most time on reading books together, which at this point means she reads them, slowly to me, and I help out when she needs me. I love these sweet, alone moments with her, and she is so proud of herself.

She has also been swimming like a fish / “mermaid” every chance she gets, picking our vegetables for us, enjoying the new super girly room she shares with her sister, wearing dresses all day, everyday, and organizing her purses like she’s going on several trips at once that will each require separate and certain types of belongings (keys, marbles, lip gloss, hair bands, polly pockets, brushes, calculators, etc.)

Enjoying the fruits of her labor.

We have kicked up the learning activities with Liam, working on his letter sounds and his drawing skills. He feels so important being included in with his sis on “school” activities.

We learned a lot about amphibians this summer, including their life cycle and environmental needs. Liam raised some tadpoles and he a Savannah saw them develop into baby frogs! Here he is showing them off to neighbors.



In his free time, Liam has been in immersed in his summery world full of froggy frog (toad) catching and detaining, baseball with his dad, bug hunting, and finding flowers around here for his sister and mommy. I love that sweaty, sweet boy and all his over-the-top boyishness.
Playing golf, another favorite pastime.

And Felicity- well- she's just a certified big girl now!

She is now walking all over the place and struts her stuff like the big girl she thinks she is..

She is already good at screaming "Mine!" as she runs away from her siblings with one of their toys, squealing a sassy "Nooo!" when I ask her to give me a kiss, and trying to sing and do the hand motions for "Itsy Bitsy Spider".

Baby peek-a-boo!




We’ve also enjoyed a great summer harvest of some yummy fruits and vegetables (did you know anything is a fruit if it has a reproductive structure in or on it? e.g. seeds, kernels, etc)

And I, in the midst of the hustle and bustle, continue to grow this sweet little baby boy that we are all anxious to meet.

And try to find moments of rest, like this one, to reflect and enjoy this summer before it's gone.

Thank you for putting up the hammock, Daddy, we all enjoy it!

Happy Late Summer everyone!