Trip pics!

Here are some pictures from our trip to Florida!

The Country House...

 So, it's been a year since I've posted anything but Instagram photos to this my lovely little blog.  I want to start to document our family adventure which we have deemed "The Country House."   It has always been our desire to have just a little more space for our kids and family and friends to roam and explore so back in November when this gem came on the market we decided to take a look at it.  With much help of our good friend and Architect Stephen Jobe he planted a vision that we could not pass up, and of course my husband who is very much a dreamer.  The adventure began...I am going to show some before and after pictures starting with the kitchen, one of my favorite places in the house.

Our house is 36 years old, the bones of it are great.  It had seen a lot of love over the years and was just simply worn out.  The picture above is of the kitchen, it was small, we wanted it bigger, it had tile floor and old cabinets a doorway that opened to what was the dining room and sliding glass doors that opened to a very small back deck.  The laundry room was also in the kitchen as seen by the doors above to the right of the picture, by the nice camp chair.

Before of the back wall.  The wall on the right of this picture got knocked out, we opened up this space to what was the old garage/ rec room (more on that later.)

After of the back wall, we closed in the opening to the dining room, it was turning into Matt's office. 

 This is the after view of the first picture above.  We knocked out the wall on the right where the laundry room was to open up to the den.

This is the view from the kitchen into the den.  I love this big island, I somewhat planned the kitchen around it.  It will have an overhang eventually but we are still finishing all the details, we'll also add a tile back splash eventually.   We have loved the openess of this!  I had the time of my life putting together a kitchen from start to finish.  Pinterest was/is my go to.  I am blessed beyond measure to have a husband who is so incredibly handy, he did most of the demolition in this experience.  We had a great team of workers who helped but Matt was the main man in all of the supervising! 

Kitchen Details:
Paint Color: Sherwin Williams Chatroom
Granite: Azul Platino (from Home Depot)
Wood countertop: Ikea
Lights: Ikea
Kitchen Faucet: Home Depot
Cabinets: Lily Ann These came in boxes and my live in handy man assembled them and put them up.
Hardware: Home depot
Bar Stools: Ikea
Flooring: Came from this site.   We love how dark they are, we put in 1000 sq feet!

Camping...

A harmonica kept the kids entertained last weekend when we went camping for a night at Rocky Knob campground in VA. Even though it was memorial day weekend we had to pull out our warm clothes, a cool snap had blown in!  We had a fun time, made some new memories! 

still here...new blog look...

Been literally a month of Sundays since I've last posted anything on this blog.  I didn't even know my background wasn't working! Alas, I've fixed it and added some new and updated side pictures!  We are enjoying the spring weather here lately, enjoyed a trip to the mountains last weekend, and are looking forward to the start of our family's favorite season...SUMMER! School gets out in 17 more school days...but hey, who's counting?!

A hiking we will go...

 This past weekend we headed to the hills near Stuart, VA for a little afternoon picnic and hike.  Here are a few pics I took along the way.  SC in the car, she said, "look I have a mustache!" Not so sure what the deal is with mustache's these days but even our 3 year old is in on it!

 Practicing yoga or ballet, in the woods...such a free spirit.

 Ollie practicing his rock skipping skills.

 SC has all her gear, Dora backpack, hiking stick and a Daddy's hand.

 Ok this was too funny, Olls lost his pocket knife and Sarah Claire and I sat down to chill while they went to look for it.  For real the girl, picked up this big rock, started pushing button and then began to talk to it like it was a cell phone.  She talked to all her friends and all her grandparents.

 So...very...cute...she would end with ok, bye,bye!

Ollie in one of his "caves!"  We had a fun time on our little outdoor adventure!

Mini-me...

 

Matt has started calling this girl my "mini-me." Sarah Claire is growing into a little lady right before our eyes! She doesn't leave my side for long these days.  She was there at the war re-enactment but stayed on my hip most of the time.  I did manage to persuade her to letting me snap a few pictures in the beautiful morning sunshine!  So sweet and funny she is with all her expressions! Love my mini-me!

Boys and swords...

 We are so very fortunate to live in the part of the state where we do, tons of history! Last weekend we headed over to Guilford Military Park for some Revolutionary War Re-enactments that were taking place.  It was pretty cool!

Soldier Oliver with his weapons!

 And a dual with friend, Isaac.

 Here Olls is looking at this guys gun, has George Washington's name on it!

 Here's the whole crew of soldiers!

Oh my I love this picture...boys will be boys on a Saturday with swords!