9 Months Old

Taylor Elyse turned 9 months old today! We'll post some new pictures soon. Our apologies to those who tune in mainly to read about and see pictures of Taylor. We've been in house mode and haven't been posting much about Taylor. We do have lots of new pictures of her, though. She has been so fun lately and her personality has really been blossoming these past few months. She's very smiley and happy most of the time. She continues to be a good eater and the pictures will show that! What happened to our scrawny little baby? I think she was tired of everyone saying how little bitty she was. Her 9 month check-up is still a couple of weeks away because I switched to a different pediatrician who has been on her honeymoon. As for crawling, she is close. She's done the typical baby thing where she rocks back and forth on her hands and knees, and she's also figured out how to move from a sitting position to her hands and knees or her tummy. This is not good as our house is nowhere near baby-proof - (don't worry, grandparents, we'll take care of it soon and in the meantime we'll watch her closely). Ok, that's it for now.

Before & After 3

I kinda felt bad about cutting down a tree just before earth day, but I think I'm justified since it was dead.

Before & After 2

This didn't take nearly as much time as the first project. Rob did a good job picking out the hanging baskets.

Before & After 1

This weekend's main project was installing new countertops. We picked out the new countertops to match the new tile floor. Robyn's dad was a huge help and volunteered for most of the day and night on Saturday and Sunday. One of the harder parts was putting on the bar countertop because the new one was longer and not nearly as deep. It took a good while to get the whole project finished but looks great.

You may notice that none of the cabinets have doors...that's one of our next projects.

The fun part of moving

We've found some awesome stuff whilst unpacking. Don't be hatin'.

What a difference new blinds make

This is the main project that I (Nick) worked on this weekend. Earlier in the week we bought faux wood blinds for all the windows on the front of the house and this weekend I painted the window casings (five of them) and hung the blinds. I'm not sure that the picture does it justice, but we think that they look really good. Taylor is especially happy to have new blinds in her room.

A Weekend to Remember

Last weekend was very busy and eventful! But we enjoyed it...most of it. This is how it went:

Friday: We ripped up the stinky dog carpet in the den after after spending almost $300 to have it professionally cleaned twice! On our way to Birmingham a truck driver tried to run us off the road and then motioned for Nick to pull over on the shoulder so he could pick a fight - I'm not kidding. We got lost on the way to the church and totally missed the rehearsal. Finally made it to the rehearsal dinner and enjoyed seeing lots of old college friends. We stayed with our dear friends the Comptons.

Saturday: One of Nick's good friends from college got married and Nick had the privilege of being one of his groomsmen (Congratulations, Courtney and Ivan!). Taylor attended her first wedding and reception and behaved like an angel! Again we saw lots of old college friends. It was really funny to see the guys make a fuss over Taylor and want to hold her. Taylor smoked her first cigar (see picture).

Sunday: I (Robyn) found a four leaf clover. I was standing by the fence and looked down to see a patch of clovers. Jokingly I said to Nick, "Ooo, I'm gonna find a four leaf clover." So you can imagine my surprise and excitement when I actually did! No, I'm not superstitious and do not believe that they bring good luck, but I was excited because they are so rare. Now I'm going to search for the Mobile Leprechaun :)

Our New Home

Here we are at "our new" house. This picture was taken as we arrived home after closing. I put our and new in quotations because 1.) the house is not really ours until the year 2038 or until we pay off the loan and 2.) it was built in the 50's and isn't new at all. Doesn't 2038 sound like some unrealistic space-age year, like it should flash on the screen at the beginning of some Sci-Fi movie? It's crazy how much more you would actually pay if you keep your house for the full life of the loan - I didn't really pay attention to the number but I'm quite sure it was more than twice what we bought the house for...YIKES! We have been quite busy over the past couple of months with the many projects we have going on and unfortunately there is no end in sight! From watching the many house flipping/do-it-yourself/makeover shows on TLC, HGTV, A&E, etc. I (Robyn) was fully expecting a.) our projects to take longer than expected, and b.) to run into many roadblocks along the way. I was right about both things. Daddy said the other day that the Lord is teaching us patience and I think he's right. I also think I'm supposed to be learning that things don't have to be perfect all the time. For those of you who know me well, you know that in some areas I am a perfectionist. This house is not perfect. Most, if not all, of the projects we have completed so far are not perfect. I have a little book that I bought (or it may have been given to me) years ago titled "The Art of Imperfection". If only I could embrace it! I will say that I am slowly, very slowly, learning to accept some imperfection. Perhaps this little life lesson is not so little at all and will teach me much about my perfect and holy God and remind me over and over again of just how imperfect I am! Ok, the many boxes are screaming loudly for me to unpack them.