The New and Soon to be Improved Chisholm Casa

It's been a loooonnng time since I've posted anything, and I have a good excuse! This whole living with my parents/apart from Brian/not having our own house and space/trying to sell our house/buy a new house/etc... thing has been a little distracting and made me very unfocused to say the least. But I realized today that we'll be moving into our new house in a matter of weeks and I'll probably be even more scatter-brained once we're there, at least for a while. So I got together all of the before pics of our new house to show you, and hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll post a couple of batches of "during" pics, and then ultimately the !!!we're moved in!!! celebration "after" pics.

The funny thing about this house is that the first time we looked at it we were dead set on buying another house, so I wasn't too fond of this one, and didn't pay close attention to it. Then later when the other house didn't work out this one came back on our radar and we ended up buying it before I even saw it in person again. Needless to say, there was a little nervousness--and a LOT of questions on my part ("Was this the one with the leaky roof and the weird door to nowhere?" "No?, OK good.") but I trust Brian completely, and when he gave me his seal of approval I was all in! And now that improvements are under-way I think this house is THE PERFECT ONE for us!

Without further ado....Our new casa...(minus pics of the exterior, we don't have any yet)...



The carport door(on the left) opens into the kitchen, this will probably be the door we use the most. The house came with beeeautiful avocado appliances, brown vinyl tile, and chipped white painted cabinets in the kitchen. Niiiice!

The door on the right leads to the backyard, and the tiny sliver of a doorway you can see behind the open carport door leads to the laundry room.


The other side of the kitchen. Loooove the fun "drive-thru" window looking into the living room! The doorway to the right is into the dining room, that we call the front room, and the one straight ahead is to the living room. That island/peninsula/desk extension gave me hives as soon as I saw it! It has to GO! :)
I really love the space in the kitchen, and can't wait to use it without that hideous desk sticking out into the middle of it! It feels very homey to me, and it has good flow with the laundry room on one side and the living room on the other and access the to front room too. I also really like the exterior doors in here, I have been imagining the kids running in and out through here as I cook and watch them out of the window over the sink.


Laundry room. Avocado and Harvest gold live on! Or at least they will for a little bit longer!




Blog friends, meet hideous thirty-year-old lime green carpet. Carpet, meet friends. Don't you love it? Don't you want some? I know you're jealous. It's ok. :)
Yeah this stuff covers about 80% of the floors in the house. Another case of love and first sight for sure.
Oh yeah, that's the living room. I love how big it is--lots of potential--great fireplace, french doors, and nice big windows. The back part of the room past the beam thing in the middle was an addition, and I'm so glad it's there, it makes this room!


Another view of the living room. The door straight ahead goes the the hallway and there is a doorway leading the the foyer just the the right of the hall door.


The view from the living room into the kitchen. The "drive thru" again and the other end of the weird desk thing.


The front room. I think they used itas the dining room, but it's a HUGE room, something like 23X12, so we'll probably use it differently. This is the view when you're standing in the kitchen right next to the desk.


The other end of the front room opens into the foyer, so it's the first room you see when you come in the front door. Lots of room! I can't go on without commenting on the curtains in here. I mean I thought the avocado/harvest gold combo was bad, but this lime green/dusty pink takes the cake for sure!


The smallish foyer. One of the oddities of this house is that the door on the front of the house is a double door, so you expect a big foyer, but when you get inside you realize that one side is a faux door and you get this entrance. I was a little confused the first time we walked through here. But I really like the double doors on the outside, and I'm glad we're not wasting too much square footage on a foyer we probably wouldn't use, so it's win-win.


The hall/kids bathroom is on the left side of the hall. It's small, but actually bigger than the one in our last house with much more counter space and storage.


The first bedroom on the right with lovely linoleum and scalloped roller shades.


The second, and last, bedroom on the right with the ever-present lime green carpet and another roller shade.


And finally the master bedroom, carpet again, odd and ugly window treatments. Niiice! It does have a large-for-this-era walkin closet and a master bath, but I don't have pics of those yet. It gets a fair amount of light though it doesn't have the nice big windows that the front of the house has and I think there will be enough roon for our king bed. We'll see! :)

So that's our house--or it was our house--it has undergone several changes since these were taken a month and a half ago. Sadly, most of the rooms actually looked better stripped down and torn apart. I'll make a very big effort to have some "during" pics posted soon so you can see the vast improvement concrete, bare windows and stud walls are on 70's decor! I know you can't wait!

Happy Birthday Ali Grace!!!

Ali Grace turns TWO today!!! Can you believe it???

Our Ali Grace.

We love this little girl so so much! She is our wild and adventurous girl. Our "let's go here" and "let's try this" girl. She's our "let's cuddle for hours" girl and two seconds later our "let me go explore" girl. She's all girl.

She has huge inquisitive, expressive, draw you in, beautiful, sweet blue eyes that she uses to let you know what she thinks and how she's feeling without restraint. In fact, she is totally without restraint in all that she does. She is determined and persistent whether she's trying her hardest to get into something she's not supposed to touch, or she's hugging and kissing on you.

And as she's getting into everything all at once, she somehow manages to fall down 10 times more than anyone else one earth! We named her Grace, and yet she did not get much grace at all. She is not dainty! HA HA! Instead she lumbers and bounces around. I think she's going to be a tomboy.

She enchants everyone that meets her. She has magical hugs and kisses and smiles that light up everyone around her.

We love love love love love her!

Happy birthday our Ali Grace!

This and That

Lots and Lots of pictures...sorry, I'm not too good at editing. :) Enjoy.

The Perfect Summer Afternoon

The kids had a great afternoon today! Nana took Jack and Ali Grace out in the backyard for a Frosty (from Wendy's) picnic that led to playing in the sprinkler, which then led to a fun picnic on a blanket in the yard. (Kate joined in the picnic and had some fun talking to Nana, then she conked out.) Could a kid ask for anything more?

Long Time, No Post

It's been a while since I've had the time/desire to get on and post. As most of you know things around here have been pretty crazy! Yet we have been so incredibly blessed in all the craziness! Brian started a new and fabulous job June first and since then he has been living in Starkville while the kids and I live in Madison with my parents all the while waiting for our house in Arkansas to sell. So it's been hectic to say the least! Brian is now working for the Catch-A-Dream Foundation on campus at MSU and loves it! He plans all of the details of hunting and fishing trips given to terminally ill children and their families all over the country. To say that the job is rewarding and fun and encouraging and challenging would be an understatement! It is all of those things and more and I am so proud and happy for him! And incredibly grateful to OUR LORD for putting this all together for us! Because He sooooo did! A year ago we were praying for a way back to Mississippi and never ever thought we'd be here today!

So...in the midst of all of this we're doing good and God is stretching us big time! Being apart is hard, especially for Brian who misses the kids sooo much! But we've been able to take a step back from the day-to-day together and really look at some things we want to do/change/improve in our family life when we are all under the same roof again! And that has been such a blessing! Also, I was able to do a Bible study with my Mom and a group of women here that was sooo great and encouraging--it was a Deeper Still study with Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shierer, and Beth Moore--if you have a chance to do one go for it! It showed me where I've let myself get in my spiritual life, and what I need to do more than anything--get into God's WORD!!! Plus we've been exceptionally blessed by some of our dear friends and family who have given us advice, a place to stay free, fellowship, help, and much needed prayers during this time! You know who you are and we are soooo incredibly thankful and grateful and touched by your love for us!

So....here's what's been going on with the kids....



Improptu haircuts.



Doesn't he look different? It took a while to get used to it! :)



Fun on the Coast for the Fourth of July!





Spending time with family. Ali Grace is Papa's girl! He will do anything she wants and it is hilarious!



Sleeping. Sweet time with Daddy! :)



Playing ouside.



Mostly digging up Nana and Papa's front yard. haha



Cleaning? while rocking the baby???? She's creative!



And of course being super duper cute!!!!!





The kids have been having tons of fun staying at Nana and Papa's house!

Ali Grace had made things challenging at times though---the girl gets into EVERYTHING! So far she has gotten into and eaten some of my Mom's prescriptions (we called poison control and everything was fine), been elbow deep playing in the toilet, poured rubbing alcohol over her head and face (yes in her eyes too--called poison control again and took her to the doctor and everything was fine after some eyedrops), put play-doh up her nose, and came to me with both hands filthy after putting them in her dirty diaper. FUN TIMES! Thank the Lord she's tough! She's also absolutely hilarious--and she knows it! The girl has a personality the size of Texas! She's starting to really love playing with her dolls and she imitates all of the things I do with Kate. She puts them in the baby rocker, the swing, on the floor mat. It's so sweet until she starts swinging them around or throwing and hitting them--those she's not imitating! :)

Jack is FINALLY potty-trained! After trying and trying and trying to get him to tell us before he had to go I just declared it Potty Boot Camp Week and he had no diapers unless it was nap or bed time. We had a few accidents and he's still getting the hang of it, but he is doing grrrreat! I'm even considering going with no diapers at night now which is wonderful! He's obsessed with watching shows like Monster Fish, River Monsters, and Whale Wars--Brian and my Dad's influence there. And he likes to "go spick-sploring" (exploring) and "go help someone in trouble" and "go on adventures." His favorite toys right now are a flashlight, stick, and caribeener.

Kate is getting so big! She's filling out and getting those Chisholm cheeks that both Jack and Ali had. She talks and cooes and squeals all the time. And she rolled over twice for the first time today!!!! We don't think she has reflux anymore--if she ever did--because we haven't given her any medicine in about a week and a half and she's fine! YEAH! But now she's teething so that's tough on our sweet girl! We're about to start putting her in a pack and play to sleep, she's been sleeping in a swing for about 2 1/2 months and loves it. And we're looking into getting some physical therapy for her soon--she has a condition called torticullis that means that she holds her head in one position all the time and the muscles on one side of her neck aren't stretching and developing as they should. We've been doing excersises with her and not seeing much improvement, plus she screams through them every time which is sooo hard to deal with! She's such a sweet heart! She smiles and laughs at you when you talk to her. I love getting her out of her swing when she wakes up, she's so happy and smiley and warm and cuddly! We love our Baby Kate as J and A call her!

We're hoping for an offer or two on our house, and we've found a lead on a possible house in Starkville, so hopefully our family will all be together again soon! God has been so good through this whole process and it's so amazing to look back and see how He has worked! We are truly blessed!