Our House

New house

2018-03-02T20:42:00.000-05:00

Not the best pictures bc well winter and cold and iphone plus crappy photographer. Anyways this is house 3 and the next big project! This 1985 baby has nice bones and space but needs some love and tlc and major updating. More on that in another post. Before pictures to come. :) in the mean time we have moved in and settled in. The kids have switched schools and are doing really well. We love having everything close by in the small town ( believe it not we are actually closer to the grocery store and library and school than we were when we lived in the city) Everything is just a few miles away. Its very nice especially after spending 2 plus hours a day in school pick up and drop off. That is over #thankyouJesus

2018 update- New house and new baby

2018-03-02T20:36:00.001-05:00

We have been MIA since Dec because well.. Sept we listed our house. November it sold. We closed after Christmas on Jan 19th. We moved into a temporary rental house for 3 1/2 weeks and then moved into our new house Mid Feburary. It been a crazy few months with the 2 moves and in between it all we found out number 6 was on the way despite all our efforts to be " done". Ooops. Number 6 has been like all my other pregnacies to be summed up as awful awful so far. So much nausea and vomitting. Pretty horrendous. I'm 14 weeks now and still not feeling great but definitely better than I was a month ago. We know the baby is a boy and we are working on names because we all know that takes us FOREVER. Can we take a min to to just laugh at the pattern we have going here with the babies sex? G,B,G,B,G,B is that not hilarious?

Christmas 2017- a few months late

2018-03-02T20:29:00.001-05:00

part 2

2017-12-02T19:23:00.007-05:00

Fall photo dump part 1

2017-12-02T19:20:00.000-05:00

Israel turns 8

2017-12-02T19:14:00.000-05:00

Oct 10th this kid turned 8. He wanted to go go carting for his birthday and have pizza and cheesecake for dinner with pink lemon-aid.

completed house head to toe

2017-09-15T21:15:00.000-04:00

So now that we have lived here for 6 years we have completed most of the projects we had on our list so its time to move on to the next project... just kidding... We have other reasons for moving ( mainly school district) but we are on the hunt for our next project. :) in the meantime our current house in all its finished and decluttered glory and in random mixed up order

Kitchen remodel before and after with crappy Iphone pics

2017-09-15T21:04:00.001-04:00

Before... Oak cabinets, almond counter tops dark and dreary

After... white cabinets and granite counter tops and yes a much better camera

summer projects

2017-09-15T20:50:00.000-04:00

staircase carpet redo. Very dirty old carpet in desperate need of some love..... Before

After

I'm not a fan of carpet on stairs at all but putting in hardwood would put us back around $3500 and because we do not think we will be in this house much longer we went with the more affordable option

First day of School 2017

2017-09-15T20:42:00.002-04:00

First, second and 5th grade

Catholic Family Weekend 2017 + a few extras

2017-09-15T20:40:00.004-04:00

Family vacation 2017 Bar Harbor / Acadia National Park

2017-09-15T20:37:00.000-04:00

The kids first National Park experience

Acadia is amazing. So much beauty.

thunder hole @ Acadia

jellyfish

Cadillac Mountain

Sand Beach in Acadia.... crystal clear icy cold water. 56 degrees!!!!

Family Vacation 2017 Boothbay Harbor part 2

2017-09-15T20:22:00.001-04:00

The lighthouse on the Maine quarter. Pemaquid Point

Absolutely stunning views of the rocky coast

Kids were thrilled we found a lighthouse where they could actually go inside it and up to the top

view from the top

the light bulb inside

Boothbay at dusk

Smores with Mikes parents ( they came up for 2 nights)

Popham beach

the tide does strange things in Maine and the kids got to walk to this island at low tide

signs of a good vacation

swimming at the Boothbay YMCA

Family Vacation 20017- second stop Boothbay Harbor ( part 1)

2017-09-15T15:33:00.004-04:00

Boothbay Harbor was awesome. We went on a harbor cruise, checked out local libraries from 1799, saw lobster traps, view lighthouses lighthouse and more lighthouses, went on a whale watch in the icy Gulf of Maine on a 50 degree day in the pouring rain, went to the beach and local playgrounds.

View from our screened in porch- watching the sun set every month

lobster traps

we caught a baby lobster

So cold on the whale watch! Wishing we had brought hats

Cutest library EVER

Family vacation 2017- first stop LLBEAN/ Freeport

2017-09-15T15:26:00.001-04:00

Instead of our usual week at the beach in Cape Cod or RI we ventured up the coast of Maine for 10 days. Starting at Freeport, renting a house in Boothbay and then continuing on to Bar Harbor/ Acadia National park. It was an awesome vacation and we were able to see and do so much. I'm a big LLbean fan ( who isn't?) so we stopped at their flagship store first to buy a new backpack for our middle schooler.

( the pile to be tossed in the car)

Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire

2017-09-15T15:18:00.002-04:00

While the big kids were at camp we spent a day visiting friends at their lake house on Winnipesaukee. We had a great day fishing and riding around the lake on their boat.

Summer Camp 2017

2017-09-15T15:13:00.000-04:00

Keira and Israel both spent 14 days at Catholic summer camp this summer. Keira's second time and Israel's first time. They were at different camps but saw each other on occasion. They wrote letters home to appease their mother. It was Israel's first night away from home ever. I was a nervous wreck but they did fine and both loved it. Israel was bunkmates with cousin Will and Keira was bunkmates with our old neighbor. In the end I was so thankful they got to experience summer camp and all that comes with it ( campfires, archery, capture the flag, canoeing etc etc). Upon arriving at camp Keira first set up all her books ( she insisted on bringing 18 books which was less than the probably 30 she intended on bringing). Israel first set up his hair products ( see photo below )

Spring 2017 in pictures

2017-06-24T12:12:00.003-04:00

This kid can hula hoop for more than 20 min straight... we have timed her before!

Finally some signs of spring

Tall enough to mow all by himself. Notice the nice straight lines. Not bad for a 7 year old. Being OCD helps.... : o)

Some Spring rainbows

fun day when they all fall asleep!!!

Nothing like the smell of lilacs

We love to eat on the deck

At a NH winery

Kezar Lake

Beech Hill Farm

Ice cream

She loves the Llama Llama books

Hanging with Kalpakgian cousins in Warner

Pig pile on Daddy

Catching fish

Strawberry picking

Dance recital 2017 with Great Joy School of Worship Dance

2017-06-24T11:58:00.001-04:00

This is the first year we really had a full schedule of extracurriculars. Israel and Nairi each took a tumbling class and Keira took ballet and lyrical. They thoroughly enjoyed their weekly classes and even more so dancing/tumbling on stage. Israel and Nairi now tumble more than walk and are constantly somersaulting and cartwheeling their way through the house.

Portland Maine for our 11th Anniversary ( May 12th)

2017-06-24T11:50:00.000-04:00

We surprised the kids by picking them up from school and heading to Maine for the night. We rented a room at our favorite hotel chain ( because they have family suites and an AMAZING breakfast) Homewood Suites. Kids loved the swimming and the next day we checked out Portland Head Light which is the most photographed lighthouse in the world!!! Its absolutely breath taking with the rocky cliffs and crashing waves. So glad we were able to see this gem. Even more thankful for 11 years of marriage. We have something pretty special if I do say so myself. Thankful for Mike ( who totally and 100% gets me) and our 5 healthy kids. God is good.

End of school 2017

2017-06-24T11:43:00.000-04:00

Thats a wrap on Kindergarten, first grade and fourth grade!!!

DIY farmhouse table built by Mike

2017-06-24T11:42:00.000-04:00

We have been busy with life and kids and work and haven't done too many projects lately. Mike however did build me this kitchen table with the help of his friend and co worker. Our old table only had room for 6 and being that we are a family of 7 we knew we would have to upgrade at some point. Avila sat on our laps to eat but now that she is a wiggly toddler that kinda got old. After seeing how expensive farmhouse tables are Mike decided to just build one. We found a picture online of how I wanted it to look and then we just built it to match. I absolutely love the way it looks. It seats 8 so perfect if one of the kids has a friend over.

Keira turns 10

2017-06-24T11:37:00.001-04:00

This smiley girl is now a decade old. Thankful for her sweet spirit and joyful disposition. She still loves books and crafts and she enjoyed her 2 dance classes this year. Moving on to middle school next year.

Easter and Holy Week 2017 ( A few months late )

2017-06-24T11:34:00.000-04:00

Their first time doing the Holy Thursday procession and singing with candles

Avila 15 months

2017-04-11T12:15:00.002-04:00

These pictures were taken exactly 1 year apart. Avila at 3 months and 15 months. She is our serious girl. We call her our little engineer. She studies people/toys/things. She is very handy with her hands. Opening ziplocks bags and unscrewing caps of all types such as toothpaste caps and spice containers. She climbs everything. She is starting to talk and has a handful of works besides Mama and Dada... words like car, eat, ut-oh, baby.