Our old new home...an introduction.

Our New Old Home
There she is...and we've got the keys!

I’ve always loved old homes, so when we decided to downsize in attempt to simplify and put our lives  and future into perspective, the adorable town of Pitman stood out to us as an obvious place to begin our search...and apparently end our search!

Renovating, design, and decorating is a gigantic passion of ours, and we plan to renovate almost the entire space. Our new home is very cute, but requires lots of love, creativity, whimsy, and personality. Built in 1925, and almost all original, it already possesses amazing charm and craftsman character - something that I find intriguing. We plan to stay loyal to the vintage craftsman feel, but add fun modern touches with french cottagy farmhouse flair, which I love! 

We went to settlement this past Friday, so it's official - We have the keys to our new home! Despite the crazy business of spring concert season, and stress and detail of wrapping up the school year plan to begin remodeling right away, in order to take advantage of all the time we have before we move in. Let me tell you - we need all the time we can get before moving in! I’ll definitely post “before” pictures prior to enthusiastically jumping head first into this new project. 

Most important thing I need to abide by is staying under budget! Most frightening exciting thing is that I have no experience with homes built during this era and have never lived in any home over 30 years old. There will be unforeseen challenges I'm sure of it, but I calmly remind myself that life is one big unforeseen challenge, and we never know what twists and turns lie ahead. All we can do is prepare, better ourselves, sharpen our skill sets, and pray - and know that where we are in life, God has carefully placed us there for a reason...and we need to trust in him.

The 1^st phase of our renovation/remodeling plan consists of refinishing all the floors, repainting the entire house, which may be the most complex part because I want to paint everything including all workwork, built-ins, moldings etc, redoing our entire kitchen, and super-organizing all the closets I the house, of which there are many, and hopefully redoing the downstairs powder room, which is charming, but dinky! I haven't allotted a time frame because this could take anywhere from the summer months to a year.

We will go from there onto phase 2 this coming fall or spring. Another thing we would like to purchase is an amazing good quality swing set for the backyard. Our new backyard is small, but perfect for us! A huge challenge we’ve had in our current home is keeping up with our landscaping and dealing with all the trees in our backyard.
The backyard we're coming from is beautifully enchanting no doubt, but a lot of maintenance for a house hold with 2 extremely busy adults and 2 toddlers. I look forward to having an easier to maintain backyard, although I’ll definitely miss all the space, but we will need to adapt. (Below: Photo of Carson in our current backyard, mesmerized by passing airplanes) 

As for our porch swing, priceless! The thought of warm summer evenings spent in a historic town, enjoyed from a large porch with a swing pleasantly fills my head with majestic happy thoughts of Williamsburg, The Notebook, my favorite book since childhood "Emily Climbs" and pursuit of a simpler and freer life.

This, my friends, is my dream...

 This is our new and only bathtub! They love it - clothes, shoes, and colorful unicorns! Hope you enjoyed our post! Please stay tuned for all our renovation and design updates! Many more photos to follow! God Bless and as always, thank you so much for stopping by!

Hands of time, purpose, productivity, letting go, fairies dancing after dark, and a swing

Taking full advantage of a small but promising blogging window of opportunity before Clara wakes up and curiously exclaims "I need to check what mommy's doin in the offiss" Our lives have been insanely busy lately - I'm sure everyone is experiencing the same exact feeling! I've made blogging a priority lately and I'm sticking to my priorities, so I'm going to do a couple quick updates and thoughts! I know all of you are in the same boat! Prioritizing is sometimes a battle in itself isn't it?

Time flies by incredibly fast doesn't it? I can hardly believe my sister's wedding is this August, after her 2 year engagement, (although she and Dan have been together for an eternity, hehe) and that her bridal shower was several weeks ago! What a fabulous day! It was wonderful spending some quality time with "Aunt Ashley" while she visited for the weekend!

 
Can hardly believe that Carson is turning 2 this summer! I can't even picture him as a new born anymore and when I look at him, I see a strong little boy, curious, innocent, honest, not yet tainted by doubt, worry, disappointment (except for when Clara watches a "wideo" on the phone and he states "Mah turn, mah turn!"

It's sad...bittersweet, but awesome at the same time. He's not a baby anymore, and I'm super excited about what lies ahead and the wonderful discoveries he has to experience.

I can't believe we're moving into a 90 year old home with a million projects, and in 5 days we will own two homes! If someone would have told me that 6 months ago, never would've believed a word of it! I look forward with enthusiasm as June fast approaches, and our lives take an unexpected, but much anticipated detour, but tell me, where has the time gone?

I'm finishing the 1st year of my new job, which has made a difference in my life, emotions, and overall well-being. Of course everything comes with challenges and learning curves, and long nights of SGO tweaking, lesson plans, and newness of 1st-year-teacher-all-over-again-emotions, musical rehearsals, but I've settled in, and things are going well. No job is ever perfect, and you'll always face struggles, obstacles, and that feeling of "is what I'm doing making a difference for anyone?" Switching jobs has been a difficult but well-worth-it decision and process, and I feel that I've been more purposeful, creative, and musical in the last 10 months than I've been in a long time. This summer, I plan to refresh, tweak, and plan plan plan for next year now that I know what to expect and what the pace is like, and am planning on tackling some super challenging and gorgeous music next year in choir, which I'm excited about!

With all that said, it's difficult to be truly present in the midst of life's constant demands and deadlines, and I try to freeze moments in time because I know every minute spent with my little angels is precious, and I yearn to live more intentionally and purposefully always. Isn't it hard to not stress and to learn to let go...to put the phone down...to leave laundry in the dryer, to say it's ok if this doesn't get done today.

 

Sometimes, being unproductive might just be more productive. There's something to be said for spontaneity...putting your to-do list aside...just being present...like a child, imagination full blast, lost in the moment, in a world that doesn't need to make sense...where Puff the magic dragon lives in the manhole down the street, magical fairies name Roseflower dance after dark

Days last long, hugs are real, mommy and daddy are super heroes, home and family is a safe haven, like a warm blanket that calms your fears, and covers you...

and for a moment, life is a simple as you...the sun on your soft skin...
and a swing.

Thanks for stopping by, God Bless!

The wild, sticky, wacky truth about...Toddler Hair! and what to do about it??

Toddler Hair!

Toddler hair is crazy! Let’s face it! Sticky with pancake syrup in the morning, boogies during colds, and lots of lovely knots! My child has fine straight hair, super long for her age, but difficult to deal with because her nervous “thing” is twisting and tangling her hair until she looks like morning “Anna”. I figured It'd be a fabulous idea to post about the toddler (hair challenges, ideas, and remedies for tangled-filled little heads), and you (the busy mom, one foot out the door on your way to work at 6:00 am, attempting to obtain a “put together” look for yourself and your “unable-to-sit-or-stand-still” child.) This is not a tutorial by any means, just a summary of different quick (10 mins or less) hairstyles that have worked fantastically, accompanied by a million photos of my child - yes I that mom! 

 

And a question...always a question: What hairstyles have you guys experiences great success with, having tried it on your toddler?

 

The braid is back! Traditional, French, dutch, cascading, down, up, sideways, you name it! Braids are awesome – and all our favorite Disney characters are sporting them, so your daughters are all about braids! If your child’s hair is sticky, flat, crazy, wild, stick it into a quick pony tail and braid it!

Buns are beautiful - short hair, long hair, curly hair, it all works! Grab an adult or kid sock, or a “bun thingy” as we like to call it, and either stick hair through the end of it, and keep flipping outward or wrap their hair around it covering the “bun thingy”. Excess hair at the end? No problem! Twist or braid the excess hair and wrap it around. This doesn’t even require bobby pins – Just a hair tie for the original pony tail and one to wrap around at the end to secure loose ends and tighten the bun. Throw in a sparkly bow!

 

A fabulous idea if you or your moody toddler can't decide how they'd like to wear their hair, or which "princess" hairstyle they'd like you to magically poof together, make it a combination! French braids going up, bun at the top, and pink accent roses, which can turn it into a formal look, perfect for the theater, baby shower, church, or fancy birthday party!

 

Sponge rollers – When I was a kid, my mom would wrap my freshly shampooed and dried locks around a sponge roller, setting my whole head before bed, and the next day I’d wake up, and excitedly unwrap each roller to discover these amazing goldi-locks curls that would last for days. The process takes about 10 minutes, and you can put all the roller on the very top of your toddlers head so that they can’t feel a thing.

 

Voila! Awake with gorgeous cascading curls or waves! (depending on size and tightness of the rollers you chose) I would recommend buying large and small. We utilized these for several fun occasions, and she hasn't experiences difficulty sleeping yet - I've succeeded in convincing her that they're like sleeping on a big fun spongy pillow!

Of course Carson had to make his way into this post!

 Thank you for visiting us on this dreary lovely inspirational Saturday morning! Let's hope the sun comes out soon...The sun will come out tomorrow! Have an amazing weekend and if you're involved in the gigantic Monroe twp yard sale thingy, I'll see you there!

If none of the hairstyles above work, I suggest this...Pinky Pie hair day!