Before and After

 When we moved into our house a year ago, we knew that there would be a few things that we wanted to change. It has been a busy busy year with all those changes and we are all excited to have them pretty much complete. I just thought I would do a few before and after shots.

Originally we had a large L-shaped family room



We built a wall across the back half of it and made another bedroom. 

 

Grace and Rebecca share this room now.  Making the window larger made this room feel much brighter.



We had the boys in this room when we first moved in.

Now, Anna and Sarah share this room.  Adding a window here made a world of difference as well.

What was a girls room......

....is now a messy teenager's room.

We used to have two kids crammed in this tiny room.

 

Now, Gideon has his own room.  His sleeping habits improved dramatically with him having his own space.

Yucky, ugly before kitchen....

Beautiful new kitchen -- my FAVORITE!!

Some of the other projects that we had completed this year are:
1. Install a new garden door
2. Re shingle the roof
3. Replace the gutters and downspouts
4. Put in a playhouse in the backyard
5. Put in a garden
6. Add a sidewalk in the front

It has been a wild and crazy year that is for sure, but it has been such a great experience making this our home.

Fun Flying FHE

I saw a cute idea the other day and decided it would be a great activity for our Family Home Evening.  I tied it in with a spiritual message by talking about eternal marriage.  I related the two rings of paper to wedding rings and told the kids that when a man and a woman get married and work together they can accomplish many things.  It was really fun watching everybody work to make these little airplanes and fly them all over the house.

 Grace wanted to name her airplane and gave it the call letters of C-Grace.  She was so excited that her airplane had almost the same letters as her Grandpa Murray's which are C-GRPA.  I think there is a bit of aviation blood running in our family Grandpa!

Of course we had to have an awesome treat afterward too.  I made a batch of my Grandpa Webster's famous gingersnap cookies as they are a family favorite!  It was such a fun evening, and to top it all off, we made it through without anybody breaking another arm!

Poor Little Buddy

Poor little Gideon did not have a fun time at our family home evening this week.  It was a typical FHE at our house, full of wild and crazy kids.  We were attempting to talk about gratitude and the spirit of giving at Christmas.  As we were drawing names for the kids to see who they were giving a gift to this Christmas, Gideon took a bit of a tumble off the coffee table.  Totally obvious place to be during FHE, of course.  Actually he was "helped" off the coffee table by his big sister Sarah.  He landed just the wrong way and ended up with a greenstick fracture of his arm. Gid did NOT want to sit still for the cast to be put on, and he is still not quite used to having it on yet.  It should be a long three weeks!

10 Year Anniversary

How can it be ten years since I was married?? I am blown away by how fast the time has gone by.  Granted we were pretty busy having and raising our kids during that time.  By year 8 we had 6 kids already, so I guess it should be no surprise that the years have flown by!  Matt was able to take the week off of work and it was really nice to have him around, especially when the kids started getting sick!  We had a whole lot of flu going around our house and by Wednesday it was my turn, and then Thursday (our actual anniversary) it was Matt's.  I was so glad it was only a 24hr bug, and that everybody got back to feeling somewhat normal quite quickly.  Matt and I were able to get away for the weekend (thanks Mom!!) and we went to Calgary for some alone time.  We were able to get out for dinner and a movie, and then the next day did a bit of shopping and exploring Calgary.  We were only gone for about 24hours, but it was great to have that time alone.  Happy Anniversary Matt!!  Love you forever!!

Dancing kids