Going Green...

Just a little update on our "Monster Makeover"...this room is fondly called the "Star Wars Love room". Every picture on the wall is of a kiss or someone we love...and its the room the kids get to watch star wars in on Friday night. Taking votes on what color I should paint it...
Consider this a "before" dining room picture. I am quickly coming to the opinion that anyone that wallpapers this many square feet of house with repulsive wallpaper should suffer a thousand years of purgatory scraping gooiness off of plaster walls. This roughly about how long its going to take me to get all of the paper off of these walls I believe:) Our kitchen cabinets are even wall papered...but I digress...
Here is the color we chose, "Army Vehicle Green". Not many people would walk into Menard's and request that color for their living room (or so the sales associate told me), but we aren't most people...
So now that we've gone green, on to the next project. Tonight it will be setting our new toilet...ah the thrills of living in Casa Conderman...stay tuned till next time. I need to sign off for tonight. The kids are eating cereal in the bathtub and I need to wash the green paint off of the dogs head.

The New Family Member

His name is Bailey. Ness and I were looking for a puppy for the family. You know, a "loyal fun-loving yet will protect the property from mean destructive teen-agers" kind of dog. And we found this guy in Anderson.
We are also currently keeping Sir Reginald AKA Reggie (AKA "Tard"). He is Carissa's dog and we got to have him for a little while. They are now the best of friends - constantly fighting but also playing outside. At first, Reggie was dominant, but the bigger Bailey gets the more that dominance is in question. I think it's just a matter of time. Cuz Bailey is just going to double Reggie's size by the time Critter takes him home.
Did I mention BIG? Look at those paws!!!!! Doctor said if he grows at 2.5 lbs/week (which would be normal) he should max out at about 80 lbs. Well, 3 weeks later and he has put on 10.2 pounds! And he is NOT overweight. Vet now says we should expect closer to 100! AWESOME!
But he is also very sweet. I worry about his being a protector since he doesn't bark at anyone. But I suppose his sweet disposition is better than having a mean dog. And as we now have 2 parents, 2 children, 2 dogs, and 2 cats, we are officially done making our family. (Until Ava wants a snake!)

The "Doctor" is in...

On Tuesday, Eli got to go to work with me in Richmond due to the weather. He happily watched movies on my laptop, "did homework" in his preschool work book, and even answered the occasional phone call (fortunatly my patients had a sense of humor about that!). While I was in my triage room talking with a patient, Eli wandered in. He struck up a conversation with my patient (Eli never knows a stranger!) and told her that he was going to be a doctor when he grew up. "Really?", my patient asked. "Yeah", said Eli, "But not the kind of doctor mommy is. I'm actually gonna help people." He then turned on his heel and marched back to my office. I'm pretty sure my patient didn't stop laughing until she got home. Makes me wonder...what do my kids think I do at my clinic all day....?

Playing catch up

So...yeah...it's been awhile. Life is at full tilt in the Conderman house(s). In November we celebrated birthdays, bought a 104 year old house, and introduced Eric to the joy and mystery of Black Friday Shopping. The kids have been Obsessed with Star Wars. I made not one, but two Luke Skywalker costumes for Halloween and created a Jedi training camp themed birthday party to celebrate my little padowans' birthdays. This particular picture is of all the newly trained Jedi's attacking Darth Vader...
And yes...I dressed as princess Leia...but there will be no pictures of that...
It's a light saber cake...don't worry...not too many other people knew what it was either...
At some point the kids decided that beating Darth with their foam light sabers was just not punishment enough...so they stole his evil cape and mask as well. And the empire is safe once again...
I would love to say we are completely moved into our new home, but the heap of summer clothes on the back porch, couches in the garage, and eclectic collection of other things taking up most corners of the house would tell a different story. However, we are moved in enough and enjoyed celebrating our first Christmas in our Dream Home.
While my very clever husband was insulating the attic, he took the time to create a lovely skylight from the bedroom into the attic. All joking about Eric's "multi-tasking" abilities aside, he has become an excellent ceiling repairer and quite the ace with the mud and trowel.
Consider this the "before" picture of our master bedroom. The "after" picture does not have a release date as of yet...
The pretty hard wood and pocket doors are part of what made us fall in love at first site with this house. The pink walls, odd wall paper, and The Chandelier are all part of the "fixable charm".
So much potential...this house is meant to be a lifelong project, just like our marriage and family.
Give these kids a scrapper and a license to destroy and no ugly wall paper stands a chance!

So...I do solemnly promise to be a more reliable blogger as I chronicle the story of us and our beautiful monster of a house and beautiful gift of a family. Enjoy!