and just like that...

2014 is 3/4 of the way over (almost).  There have been so many times I wanted to or was inspired to post to the blog.  And then there wasn't time, and so a photo went up on Instagram or via text instead.

Since this year has been one to remember (that's nearly laughable at this point!) I thought I should at least try to capture the milestones.  And will photo dump later.  Love my iPhone but hate that I don't take more pics with the camera or make more photo albums.  We will work on that in 2015...

So, here goes nothing...

2014
based on Sara's memory...which is bleak.  Disregard any errors :)

January

• Sara and kiddos survived the polar vortex with David traveling
• Sara conquered Whole 30.  

February (so far, this month takes the cake!)

• Sara, Grammy, Hads & Brady ventured to Boston.  Travel was a success!  
• Sara enjoyed not being on Whole 30 in Boston! Hello wine...
• Hadley's 1st trip to the ER and 1st stitches
• Sara interviewed for and accepted a new job, managed two weeks of overlap between new and old jobs and said goodbye to her LLS family after 6 years (whoa)
• After only a week on the new job, a discovery was made - B3 was on his or her way (WHAT?)

March

• Seriously cannot remember much happening in March (phew) aside from normal 1st trimester stuff, the discussions on "um, should we move??" and prepping for April vacation
• We told the Lehman's about B3 and started car shopping for a third row vehicle!

April

• Sara and David jetted off to Mexico with the Evernhams...what was already their babymoom became one we shared.  The announcement to them was priceless...
• And, while telling the Wannamakers about B3 via Facetime from Mexico...we learned baby W #2 is on the way - yippee!
• We told David's family about B3 and started to tell our friends too!

May

• We make an offer on a house and it's accepted!!  Get ready Carmel, here we come!
• Ramsey drive on the market!
• Memorial Day Weekend getaway to Greensboro...the big girls had a blast as always, Brady survived the girls and a connecting flight and Sara & Cameron sat around and chatted pregnancies. So fun to have kiddos close in age!

June

• Brady turns 1! 
• Sara is 20 weeks pregnant at Brady's 1st birthday (we are still in shock to some extent at this point)
• Ramsey Drive sells!

July

• Close on both homes, within a week, David is a GC for a week and managed vendors and the move like a rockstar
• Sara leaves for a week of business travel right after moving in (poor timing!)
• Hadley starts sleeping in a big girl bed!
• Hadley enjoys two weeks of swim lessons
• New house gets so much needed love...floors, paint, updates, etc.  So much more to come!

August

• The Glenns and Lehmans sneak off to South Haven for a week - so much fun!  
• A third row car is now ours...whoa!
• Hadley turns 3!
• We continue to settle into the house and enjoy the pool a bit more
• The Waldners come to Indiana!  Hadley's best 2 weeks ever!
• Hadley is rocking the big girl potty!

September

• Labor Day weekend pool party is a blast.   This weekend is the start to Sara feeling "different" for some reason
• We have a walker - finally!  He's been able to walk for weeks, but wouldn't use it as his primary mode of transportation until literally 15 months exactly.  Silly boy.  
• Sara is put on bed rest - a shock to her, our home and our work-lives.   

That's all for now...I think I should just continue to update this list to keep to laugh at one day.  One day..

sneak peek

The nursery is coming along - so much so that David claims we can bring a baby home - no problem! I know he is right (sigh) but there are still "touches" that will happen eventually.  Maybe after the little one arrives and we know the sex and name.

FROM THIS

Builder beige and all empty! 

another angle.  cute dog not included. 

TO THIS

 new wainscoting, wood trip and paint

crib and rug from Decor 4 Kids (love that place!)

 the other side of the room - dresser/changing table

good ol' Costco for the closet organizer with canvas bins

and Mr. Harley Pants staking his claim.  At first he was just intrigued, and now he is lounging on the rug centered under the ceiling fan. Can you blame him?  It's 95 degrees outside...

thirty

weeks.

How did that happen? 

The nesting bug has hit our house, and not just for me. While I feel the constant need to clean/arrange/move things around/piddle around the house - David has been motoring on projects inside and out.  The 4-5 nights in the last two weeks that we are still awake at midnight have me a little concerned.  But - I have promised myself that July is the month of saying NO to commitments. Wish me luck :)

In the past week, David re-edged our beds/trees, built up the beds in front, spread 4 yards of mulch (until it was dark!), secured the carpenter and painter for the nursery and oversaw that project.  Not to mention all of the other stuff like mowing, etc.

I am super excited about the molding and paint in the nursery - and that the furniture gets delivered TODAY!  Happy 30 weeks to me!

It could be a short or long 10 weeks - who knows.  But, so far feeling great still. I did realize this week that my bending over to weed the beds (which I love to do) is short-lived as it not only hurts, but is hard to stand up from.  lovely.  despite feeling old, the heat hasn't been bad and I have yet to swell!  woo hoo!

Stay tuned for photos of the belly and nursery!

Fall Leaves

Aren't the only thing changing around here!

Maybe it was a busy summer schedule for me? Or that David was pretty much gone all summer? Regardless, we have done just a few house projects in the past month...

• We painted {or hired someone to paint :)} the den, upstairs guest bath and our bathroom
• David painted the laundry room
• We had cabinets installed in the laundry room
• I planted {with some help from mommy and daddy-o} 40 tulip bulbs, 7 hosta, 4 iris plants
• Today we have 4 trees going in and a new mulched bed in the back
• ••David had to remind me - new exterior light fixtures and soon-to-be-installed new house numbers!

YAY for completing some projects. Maybe 2 years is the magical mark for us? We will have most of our projects done by our 2-year anniversary in the house.

Now, if only I could find a steal of a dining room table :) {that comment is for David when he reads this! ha!}

I have no pictures of these projects, but will try to get some of the landscaping once they are done.

when the wife is away...

the husband will work tirelessly on the landscaping!

from shrubs in pots and a pile of soil/compost:

to a freshly tilled, built-up bed with the old crappy builders shrubs removed (bye-bye!) and new ones put in!

and the other bed built up to combat the sloping yard!

In early May I was in Fort Wayne for work and came home to my beautiful garden being put in! Going away is starting to have its perks :)

The Lights are Lit

Not much else is decorated at the Glenn home...waiting on the perfect ribbon for the tree and garland...but the lights are up!

not a great picture, but you get the idea!

Oh, and Harley says Merry Chrismukkah!

new hobby?

probably not, but at least I used the canvases that Padge and I bought more than 6 months ago. I had a big plan for the guest bedroom but then couldn't commit to my colors so the canvases went unused, until now...

you remember the before:

green canvas

painted damask print

yes I also think the bottom half looks like a bug...but I like them and appreciate the work it took to paint, trace and paint.

a big thanks to Padge for continuing to push me to do something with the canvases. She is the ultimate maker of her own art - just see for yourself...click here and here.

weekend warriors

you know the show...well we had some real life warriors at our house this weekend. My mom and dad are the BEST!!

The projects: guest bedroom and half bath

My parents spent their Friday afternoon at our house painting the guest bedroom (while I was at work! woo hoo!) and then my dad came back on Saturday morning to tackle the half bath. My mom joined us on Saturday around lunch to help hang curtains and blinds and put the guest room back together. I did the 2nd coat on the half bath today, but then they even stopped by and dad helped hang some "art in progress" in the bathroom while my mom watered my flowers!

before

after

after
the half bath - hard to take a picture of such a small space, but the dark color is SO dramatic! The brown matches our living room couch and the green matches the accents in the living room too. Oh I love GREEN!

Yes, seriously-they did ALL of that!! I can't wait for David to get home and see it! Maybe he should go out of town more often :)

A Growth Spurt

No, not us....but my vegetables!! I returned home from Florida to see tomatoes and a orange pepper starting! YAY!! I am really excited about the peppers. I figure that if I get 3 per plant, they will pay for themselves vs. the cost of peppers at the grocery. And who doesn't love grape tomatoes!

It's summer! Fresh veggies!

Little grape 'maters showing their lovely faces!
An orange pepper, or at least it will be soon!

The Deck

The new section of the deck was finished on Friday, just in time to have people over to enjoy it!

From nothing

To This!All together now!

Riley (standing) and Harley taking a break from their wrestling match. Not pictured: Referee Jeter who was just fine watching from the deck. The fence is great!

Step 2

Enjoy new fence!
Yay the fence is up! Harley is still working on his understanding of freedom. I don't know if we can call a large wood cage freedom, but it isn't a lead so he should be happy!

We are so excited to enjoy this all summer long! And Harley's friends are invite too!

Step 1

Put up fence posts

Yay!! We are on our way! The fence should be installed in its entirety by the middle of next week. Come on over and bring your doggies!

Happy Mother's Day!!

A big YAY and THANK YOU to my mom who spent her mother's day helping us in our yard.

We love it and couldn't have done it without her and her eye for where to put all of the stuff I bought :) Well, she and I bought it together really :)

Before (not very close up-but boring!)

Before (trying to rake up the old mulch to make it look better before we could plant!)

Welcome Home!

Looking Good!

I love new mulch!

25 bags to be exact (and we still need more!)

My mom's planter creations!

I am so excited that we have yellow and orange bell peppers growing (my favs) and grape tomatoes---love them!

My fav pot!! Gotta love the color!

David is super sore, but I am sure he thinks it is worth it too!! I am pretty pumped that the front is done (in one day!) and we can't sit back and wait until the fence is installed to work on the back.

Oh yeah, the fence co. is coming on Tuesday for the walk through! We can't wait...it will be great to keep kiddos out and this guy in...

Harley says "stupid lead, when's the fence coming??"

Hooray for Spring!

What a great weekend! The sun was out and the Glenns finally made some headway in the long list of outdoor tasks we have!
The yard was mowed, the grass "toupees" in the front landscaping are outta here, new bulbs in the flood light out back, new grill, new grill cover finally unveiled (after being in the package for a year!-thanks A. Ronda!) and new (to us) patio furniture (thanks Bob!)

GO IU!

The red grill matches great with it's new cover!

Look at those lines! We can't wait for a fence-soon hopefully!

What makes a house a home?

to me? paint, color, warmth and furniture (okay, of course on the last one). And our house is slowing becoming a home! We have made a lot of progress since moving in the weekend after Thanksgiving, I think. I think our house is done for a while now...with only some projects (like painting the dining room table chairs, right Padge?) left to do.

Check out our progress!!

Just moved in and getting some paint on the walls

to moved in and painted, but still waiting on our furniture
to new couches and tables, and a new entertainment center and TV (not pictured)

from a dining room just starting to get some TLC

to new paint and new molding

and a new desk in the den (thanks David for spending the entire Sunday putting it together!!) it really makes the room complete

a new place to eat in the kitchen!! I still prefer the couch during Wheel of Future-but it's nice to have options :)

Needless to say it does feel like home now and we are so thankful for our new house, the people that have helped clean/put together/carry stuff in/etc. It will continue to feel more like home when we hang stuff on the walls, finish the other bedrooms and add some color. This is so much fun!!

Other big news? We have a RENTER FOR THE CONDO!! It really allows us to enjoy our house more now that we have a renter. She will be there for 6 months, then will revisit the lease to maybe stay month to month. But, who knows, we might sell it in that time too.

The TEAL REVEAL

I have had a few requests for a picture of the new teal wall in our bedroom. I know this picture does not provide the grand announcement this color deserves, but at least its a try!!

Again, I stressed about this color too!! Now, I am on the hunt for accent pillows and a cozy throw to go on the bed to bring the color down from the wall. But, I don't think those are such a priority right now.

The Red Plate

Thanks to Jenny & Matt, our family can enjoy the tradition of the RED PLATE. The description below accompanied the plate and a little red journal.

The Red Plate :: A Family Tradition

Whenever someone in your family does something worthy or note or something in which to take pride, his or her dinner is served on The Red Plate.

The event, the date and comments are recorded in the special journal that is kept with The Red Plate.

You will have a permanent record of special moments in the life of your family. Special moments can be big or small such asa new job, a job well done, an award, a goal obtained, or whatever. You might also take a picture of hte event and add it to the journal.

Enjoy your celebration!

Well, we had our first red plate moment! We celebrate our move and our accomplished work tonight by sharing our side dish on the red plate. I cooked my first dinner in our new home and love love loved the counter space!! (**note, check out the costco cookbook called "In the Kitchen the Costco Way" for great recipes!) I made key lime chicken and chili lime potato wedges-YUM-O!!

Our dinner set-up. The dining room is not complete and we do not yet have a table in the kitchen nook, so we have reverted to our "condo" ways and ate on the coffee table. The red plate is front and center with candles, champagne toasts and SURPRISE flowers from the men in my life (Harley & David).

This is me (duh) in my pink apron (thanks Melea!!) holding our first "red plate" meal, cheesy potato wedges! And yes, I am really this pale in person :) Doesn't the tan color behind me look perfect!! I spent way to long stressing about shades of tan, but we love it!