What's More Fun Than Dirt?

Mud, of course! Of course it hasn't rained, but the boys made their own mud next to their little pool.

Dirt and Other Fun Things

What's fun? Sittin' in the dirt...

I already posted this on facebook so I won't retell the whole story, but in a nutshell, the boys climbed their bookshelf, made it snow, then went to sleep in a blue wonderland. Clean up time with shop vac: 2.5 hours.

Who doesn't love a little filth?

Saving a snack for later...

Who needs paper?

Birthdays

We did have a birthday party for Seth (7) and Cullen (2) back in May, but I never got around to blogging about it. They had a great time, but I didn't get very many good pics of birthday cake etc. b/c the person assigned to the camera took blurry pics. No pic of cake or even Seth! Fail! Oh well, here's what I got:

Cullen at 2 years

Me and my friend Alison

Mom and Andy. Keep those prayers coming for healing! I truly feel such a peace about her trial with cancer, that she will be healed and look back on this as a trial and a testament.

We actually got an inch of rain in July and this is our creek with water in it! Usually we have a pretty small pool about 10 feet long. After the rain, all the pools fill up with 2-3 feet of water and the whole creek had an inch covering it. And that with 1 inch of rain in an extreme drought! Imagine a wet year...

We moved Cullen to his big boy bed when we moved to the cabin.

It gets mixed results - this is nap time. We are training diligently! Really, I just take a pic first...

We got to go on our annual trip to the houseboat in Arkansas with our Aggie friends. This has become a yearly tradition that is only missed because of having babies or other major things! Our first trip was in 2002 and I meant to scan a pic of that trip but it has been misplaced somewhere (buried in a pile on my desk). I love these friends! God has blessed me so much through the years. While recovering from surgery Colleen (2nd girl from left) came and did my laundry, and Sarah (2nd girl from right) came down, took care of me, and froze me several meals.

I am recovering quite nicely from surgery. I got to keep both ovaries, a major victory. The doctor said my endometriosis was not bad at all - very different from my last few surgeries! It is weird, but with endometriosis, pain level does not correlate with amount of endo. I have had a tremendous amount of help from everyone. Such a testament of God's love! My sisters-in-law took care of my kids for a week. My boys did not miss us at all (a good thing!) they just had an awesome vacation. Then my church family and friends swooped in with meals, housekeeping, visitors, laundry. I have been so blessed. I am a month out now and as long as don't overdo I feel great. I can walk around, do laundry, cook, etc. but I still don't sweep or mop or scrub anything! I know my limits. Thanks to everyone who prayed me through. My endo pain is completely gone.

Front door and bedroom before and afters

My cabin is about finished! At least with phase one... I feel like I have gotten enough done that when I am recovering from surgery, I will be able to sit around and enjoy the cabin, instead of looking at all the things I wished I had accomplished. So working like the dickens for the last few months has paid off! By the way, this Thursday is my surgery, so keep me in your prayers. Pray specifically that my Dr. can save an ovary for me! I really don't want to start hormones this young if I don't have to. We had a housewarming party last night and it went great. It struck Kyle and I as kind of funny that the flow of people was so much better here in the cabin than in our rent house, which was much bigger. Then we did the math and figured out we have nearly 400 square feet of porch. Awesome:

See my lights? Aren't they lovely? Okay, I knew I wanted the front door to pop, but I wasn't sure what color to do. I would normally choose red, but it didn't feel right. My good friend Sarah took one look at it, and said it should be turquoise. She was right and it looks fabulous. I seriously get excited every time I look at it. She showed me the door on this blog and I blatantly copied it. I even used Benjamin Moore Paint and I wish I hadn't. Because now I know what it's like to paint with nice paint. Will I ever be able to go back? Probably. I'm pretty cheap. But it was like painting with the smoothest pudding that doesn't drip and does exactly what it's supposed to do. Here's the before of the door:
After:

No before photos of the boys' rooms. And I'm not done with Seth's drapes, but here's the current pics:

My "Office":

The loft before:









Who knew all I ever wanted was a charming little cabin? I certainly didn't, but I guess God did. We have absolutely fallen in love with this place. It is a cozy, cheerful home.

Now, on a serious note, most of you probably know this by now, but in case you don't: my mom has been diagnosed with colon cancer. Oncologists have said she is not a good candidate for a surgical cure, and not much hope for remission. She has chosen to be treated by Dr. Truitt, a well respected doctor whom I have researched thoroughly even before she knew she had cancer (I was hoping he treated endometriosis, but he is too busy healing cancer patients...). I truly feel a peace about all this. I feel uplifted and carried through by the spirit. I know the healing power of God, but I know all too well that sometimes the answer is "No." Regardless of the answer, I know where my mom has stored up her treasure, and I know God holds her in the palm of his hand. It is my fervent prayer she will be healed and enjoy many more years on this earth! It is driving both of us crazy not to be able to help the other. She begins treatment this week, same as my surgery. I am so thankful for Katie and Beth, my sisters-in-law for stepping up to fill the gap. They are taking my kids and taking care of me after surgery, since Mom can't. I can't wait to recover enough to go be a help to her.

More cabin updates

We are blessed to have so many awesome friends. We had friends help Kyle with all sorts of labor, friends help me paint many times, friends who helped pack us, and friends who moved us. Thank you so much! We feel very loved! Now, on to cabin pics. Here is the downstairs bath when we bought it:
After:

Vanity area before:

After: You can't tell that much of a difference in paint color, but believe me, the before was really gross, remember a ringtail cat had been living there.... and the paint color after has a sheen, like pearl.

Inside of vanity drawers before:

After:

My dear friends from Kaufman, Debbie, Stefanie, and Crystal, whom I miss so much, came down and unpacked me. They hauled lumber and trash, bathed my children, did laundry, and were generally all that and a bag of chips! We worked so hard we didn't get a single picture, so this is an old one. They brought some of their kids with them, so there were 10 kids running around making messes and having a blast while we worked.

This is the old dining room table from cabin, you can see it in the living room pic in the previous post. I decided to use it for outdoor dining and painted it the same color as the downstairs bath. And below is the dining room chair before the redo: Why am I switching posting above or below the pics? Who knows, just can't seem to decide today...

I got the fabric 50% off online and everything turned out great, but only because Will Kraft graciously cut me new cushion bottoms and Crystal put the foam together and then gave me explicit instructions on how to finish the rest. Last night we had our first friends over for dinner and ate outside and talked while the sun set and listened to Nate play the guitar and the kids ran around and we yelled things like "Quit lettin' all the paid for air out!"... I have to admit it was as great as I hoped it would be. We have an awesome little home and a fab front porch!

We're In!

As of Saturday night, we are officially in the cabin! Things are starting to look good around here! We had a Bennett work weekend the weekend before we moved in, and then Kyle's family came down to help us move. We got a ton of work done:

My brother Andy worked on an extra support for the stairs, and a dozen other things

Mark Blankinship trying to keep the cabin from falling over...

Kate and I painting the bathroom

Chuck painting the little boys' bunkbeds

Carlton working on the roof to the well house. Many other people came and worked hard, but didn't get their picture taken...

I know you've seen some of these pics before, but here is the progression of the kitchen and living room renovation:

Look how good a job Kyle did on the floors. They gleam!!

Here is how it is now. Much better, but hopefully will have curtains up soon...

Many more pics to come :)