Chinese leftovers for lunch ... at 10am

It's official. We have a move in date. I repeat, WE HAVE A MOVE IN DATE. And I'm so stinking excited!!! I've known it was on the horizon for a little bit now, and there was even possibility it would be this weekend. But, it's scheduled and the movers are on the calendar ... Wednesday, July 19! And therefore I can focus on NOTHING but that thought. Which include all things life ... like getting the dog food, preparing summer camp lunches ... all the things I'm responsible for have completely gone by the wayside.  It's been a long time, and I can't believe it's finally coming to an end.

If you need to catch up, here ya go:

• We announced we were moving home - September 2016
• We shared the realtor images from the house we purchased - October 2016
• We worked to draw new house plans and finalize the designs - January 2017
• We worked on selecting some finishes and decided on a farmhouse theme - January 2017
• We began demolition and pouring a new foundation for the addition - February 2017
• We finalized framing, plumbing, HVAC and electrical - April 2017
• We shared some cabinet design sneak peeks - April 2017
• We talked drywall and exterior paint colors - May 2017
• We chatted the home stretch of the renovation - June 2017

And here we are today with the final installment before the big reveal once we're all moved in!!  Back to the slacking at life thing for a minute though ... My poor family. I gave up on the grocery store, cooking and really all things domestic a little over a month ago ... I blame it on the fact that we haven't had a working stove in well over two months, but I think we all know that really isn't the honest reason :) Therefore, I'm eating Chinese leftovers at 10am. Sigh. We are getting to the point though where even takeout doesn't taste that good anymore.  And we're all really craving some back-to-normalcy and a lot of that is my fault.

It's kind of like that point in your first couple of weeks at home with a new baby ... everyone you know is bringing you food and goodies and the first couple of weeks you're like GIVE ME ALL THE THINGS. And then you hit that point where you really just can't continue to eat cheesy noodles for every meal; and it's totally time to get your booty back in gear. We're pretty much there (and have been there for a little too long), but in a different sense. But the end is in sight ... ONE WEEK AWAY! And that means Lainey will actually have a bed again and no longer has to sleep with Maggie in the dog bed!

(Guys, I'm TOTALLY kidding!)

I'm so excited, so overwhelmed and working my tail off to get all of my ducks in a row. When we moved from Nashville we were still in transition back here in Kentucky (ahem, we still are) so we didn't have a "home" per say to put all of our belongings inside. And therefore, EVERYTHING we owned was placed in the garage of our new house. No climate control, no order, just literally unloaded off the truck into a heaping pile of mayhem. So I'm currently trying to wrap my head around having to orchestrate the unload of the garage into the house and all of that hooplah.

Amidst the madness, I'm working on securing furniture plans for each room. This couch will go there, that chest goes to that bedroom etc. And - hoping to narrow down some furniture purchases as well. I've been eyeing these couches for the new great room. And I think I'm going to pull the trigger this week. I couldn't decide for the longest time whether or not I wanted to choose a new fabric and have them made - or if I wanted the ones they have in stock (pictured below) and call it a day. And I think I've finally decided we're going to go with the in stock sofas and call it a day. YippEEE! So, I've got the chair dilemma to solve, but couches - check yes.

Other happenings include, choosing the stain for the refurbed floors. I had the hardest time for a couple of reasons. One, my cabinet color combo made it a bit more challenging to match. With the dark island and side bar, I knew I didn't want to compete too much with the floors. Also, when we moved into our home in Nashville I LOVED our floors. They were dark, rich and beautiful when we moved in. Fast forward to two months of living in our house and OH. MY. DIRTY! I literally couldn't keep those things clean to save my life. Every spec of dirt and dust  (hello crumbs with two toddlers) showed up constantly and it was always a hassle. So, I knew without a shadow of a doubt I wanted to go lighter this time around. And I was trying to force myself outside my comfort zone so I told the flooring guy - all grey all the way.

We started on the top right of the picture below -- and if you look REALLY close you can see a white wash stain. He was telling me all about how great it is, and how much I'd love it and he put it on the floor and I just kind of stood there. Until I realized he was finished and I audibly laughed out loud. Uhm no. While I agree, I think that would look cool on certain spaces and floors, when I said I wanted to go lighter I didn't mean THAT light. I was cordial, but wow really missed the mark.

Second we tried gray (top middle of the above photo) and I took a deep breath - whew that maybe we would accomplish what we'd come to do. Third we tried ebony (bottom right) and I loved it, but had to tell myself "REMEMBER KATIE, you're going for something DIFFERENT"- so I nixed it. Fourth we tried walnut (bottom left above photo) and it was just entirely too warm and drastically clashed with the cabinets. So, while pretty, it didn't work in the space and we nixed it. At that point we were basically left with gray and I liked it but I felt it was missing something - so we cured it with both a water based poly (bottom half of the top middle stain) and an oil base (bottom half of the top middle stain above photo) and decided the oil base pulled too much amber and we lost some of the gray. But, I was still not 100% sold. I wanted a little more of the grain, so we added 50% of the ebony I originally liked (but nixed for some change) and 50% gray and made our own color (top left above photo) and whew it certainly popped the grain! But, once again it was coming through too warm and it got tossed out as well.  ~ is anyone able to follow this story?!

At that point I was just about ready to commit to the gray, when our flooring guy suggested we add 50% true black and 50% gray to a mix - and we would be able to pop more of the grain, but still keep the stain cool and expose the gray I wanted -- see stain bottom left in picture below. And he was right. It kept it on the "cooler" side and the grains were certainly more pronounced and I thought maybe we'd nailed it. But this thought in my head kept creeping up that the finish was pretty dark and was I going to be super disappointed after the first snacks were dolled out on move in day?! So you know what I did, I made a game time decision, trusted my guy and went back to our original gray stain (top left picture below)

I'm nervous about it. But the decision is made. The floors are being poly coated as we speak and I get to see them tomorrow! Fingers crossed I'm not super disappointed when I get there. I've been going to the house every day to peek in the windows - but I can't get a real feel for what's there without actually being in the space. And I'm nervous because in the window they look really brown and not grey. AHHHHH! Lol :) so these are the obvious reasons why I can't grocery shop right now :)

However, my builder did send me a picture of the stained banisters (old stain is still on the steps and floor in these pics) and I'm super happy with those, so that makes me feel a lot better!

And aside from my crazy house projects, I may bite off an ever bigger project all my own if I can get the courage to actually pull the trigger. I've been thinking about it a lot. Talking about it with my family a lot. Praying about it a lot. Drawing, googling, and planning about it a lot. But will I ever share with you about it a lot?! HA! I don't know ... that depends on if I do it or not ... but either way it involves a really cool space, a really fun idea, and a potentially really fun venture on the horizon that involves this really cool space.

So, let me get my ducks in a row, get moved in ... think on this space for a while longer and I'll get back to you. I've got a soggy egg roll to finish and that's enough for me right now :) Have a great week gang!

Santa, Silliness and Sentiments

The holidays are in full swing around our Nashville/Louisville life. We're packing our days with all of the cookies, Santas, snowmen (silly putty ones of course), shopping, New Kids on the Block Christmas Album and more that we possibly can and I LOVE it! Bennett is over the moon excited about Christmas this year. He really understands what is happening, he races down the stairs every morning to look for his Elf on a Shelf, CoCoa, sings along with me to Christmas Carols in the car, and talks about Santa and Baby Jesus on the reg. It's a happy holiday around here for certain!

We got back from New York (NYC part 1, NYC part 2, NYC part 3) and hit the ground running. Bennett headed off to school and his teacher assured me he was in the Christmas spirit. She sent me a note telling me he was walking down the halls looking at all of the Christmas decor and asking for his photo to be taken in front of all decorations :). This kid love Frosty the Snowman. Teehehee.

And here is his little class around the Christmas tree!

I plan to share a full recap on all the fun places our Elf has been around the house this holiday season, but at the beginning of December he dropped the kiddos off some fun Christmas PJs with his face all over them and they were so excited. They've obviously been on repeat at bedtime for weeks now.

We hit up the Nashville Christmas parade with some friends and got an up close glimpse at this year's Grand Marshal, Kelly Clarkson and her daughter! It was a chilly morning, but the kiddos loved it.

After the parade, we met up with my cousin Jordan and his fiance, Rebecca and we all headed to our first NFL game to see the Nashville Predators. The kids were on a sucker and cotton candy overload and we had a BLAST! Hubs and I used to go to hockey games at our Alma Mater, The University of Kentucky, and they were always so loud and fun. This was exactly the same and I'm so glad we checked it off our bucket-list before we move.

And because Lainey is rocking her first pair of Jordan's, it had to be documented.

We've had a way too many jammy parties and Christmas movies screenings than we can count, and we LOVE it.

Hubs and I even took a small parent break and had a night out with some pals to see The Nashville Symphony's rendition of Home Alone. My friend, Andrea, invited us to join in their tradition and it was really cool. You watch the movie on a giant projector and every time there is music in the movie the symphony plays it live instead of on the sound track. A great little night out.

Here's a look at real life though, with extra fun comes less sleep and more sugar, which can often lead to more meltdowns. So, there is also this ...

But nothing a cookie can't fix?! :) Or a little visit from St. Nick! I've mentioned before we're raising our children in a Christian/Catholic home. And anyone who is Catholic knows St. Nick is one of the best kept secrets of Catholicism (as a kid anyway, ha!). There are many ways to celebrate, but essentially is a stocking full of goodies. Some of my friends used to leave their shoes outside, some would fill their actual Christmas stockings. In my house growing up we never left anything outside, we just always received one white tube sock filled with goodies on our doorstep. And per tradition, in our house St. Nick still comes in a big white tube sock on December 6th, every year.  The kids were so excited and surprised to find some fun goodies in the morning!

And Mr, CoCoa brought one of Bennett's favorite Christmas toys this year again - The Melting Snowman! We build this guy 1400 times a day and watch him melt, Bennett loves it and we get really silly with the placement of his arms and eyes sometimes. Three year olds :)

And since the littles were sick in NYC - we skipped the big Macy's Santaland production this year, and instead visited our mall Santa. And we cheesed a little at home before we left because they're just so darn cute when they have little people clothes on.

Bennett LOVED Mr. Kris Kringle and Santa was very impressed with his eye contact and articulation #ThanksSanta - momma needed to hear that today. He again asked Santa for a blue yoyo and told him he could bring a red one for his baby sister because she can't talk yet. My heart :) Lainey on the other hand, was less enthused.

We've been knocking out our Christmas list left and right, which includes tons of shopping lunch dates.

Anda few mid-morning big brother pep talks on dealing with overly crowded stores.

Along with LOTS of Hallmark movies, gift wrapping and late night laughter with my boyfriend.

My little helpers and I mailed out our Christmas Cards - which I will share later this week, or next once everyone receives them.

And we wrapped this weekend with some good friends and walked through Bethlehem. Woodmont Christian Church does an AMAZING rendition of the streets of Bethlehem and what it would have been like had we lived when Jesus lived. I'm talking real fish on ice at the fish market, actual potters spinning wheels to make clay, real animals, the whole to-do.

Throughout the markets you can make gifts ... dolls, clay pots, etc. and at the end when you meet Baby Jesus your child decides if they want to keep their gift or give it to the newborn King. And ya'll to watch these littles part with their masterpieces to bless their baby Jesus is simply the sweetest! No tears, no hesitation, one by one each of them happily gifted their precious creations to baby Jesus. Melt me!

Whew!!! It's Christmas around here, and we are loving every minute of it. But, switching gears a bit - if full disclosure I need to share something in the same breath, Christmas is hitting me hard this year. I've always watched movies, or heard how the holidays can be hard on people. They've lost loved ones, or don't have people to share the season with, they don't have money to make Christmas magical, etc. However, to be 100% transparent ... until this year, my life has really been butterflies and rainbows. I'll be the absolute first to admit that. Sure, bad things have happened, we've sorted through some tough stuff, but for the most part everything still felt in control.

This year has flipped "control" on it's axis and it's left me vulnerable and in places I never thought I would be. For the most part, I've usually been able to keep it all together. But this year has really changed my perception. And it truthfully has my heart aching. Not always for me. But for everyone else. I don't know if it's motherhood, growing older, or maturity, but I feel like my eyes are opened to so many more things. So much more heartache, so many tragedies, so many hardships that others are facing and some days it honestly feels like more that I can physically process. Shane and I have talked A LOT about what this year is calling us to do. What all of this means, why have we faced these challenges, and how can we come out on the other side doing more.

On one of our shopping trips this week, Lainey had fallen to sleep in the backseat and Bennett was playing quietly in the passenger seat.  While we let baby sister get a quick cat nap before tackling the store, it was silent. And the silence in this particular moment, was deafening and I started to cry. Real choking tears that were coming from a deep place. Some were coming from a place of mommyhood, wanting to freeze time and keep my Santa-believing babies little and at home with me. Some were coming from a place of fear, fear of the unknown, fear of being out of control and knowing we're still in the midst of fighting a health battle. And others were coming from an unknown place, a place where I could truthfully feel the heartaches of strangers. It called me, it pulled at my heartstrings - and I wanted to share some sentiments.

I could be overly tired. I could be stressed to the max with health stuff. I could be pushed to limit with hearing my name 400 times a day. But, I think it's more than that. We've all be given talents. Some of us are amazing athletes, others are amazing mommies, some are talented entrepreneurs, and others are simply good at drawing a picture. At the end of the day though, why have we been given these "talents"? I don't believe it's solely so we can feel good about ourselves at the end of the day. Sure, there are some days where that is why - because making it from my bed to the kitchen means I should win a real trophy. But our talents are God's gifts to us, and what we do with them is our gift back to Him.

And I do believe there is more. And I do need to do more to figure out what that is. God gifted us this beautiful and messy life. And He intended us to do more. He meant more for me. And He meant more for others. And it's time I really start listening in those moments of silence. Because He's calling us. Calling us to help, calling us to heal, calling us to hug, calling us to say "I'm Sorry", calling us to tell someone they're doing a heck of a job instead of criticizing how we would have done it differently. We're being called my friends, but are we listening?!

And again, maybe it's the holiday brain ... but I know I can try harder. I know I can better utilize my time, my platform, my day to day for the betterment of others. Because I am not the only one fighting a battle. My battle may be different than theirs, but it is a battle all the same. And finding a way to bless others, blesses me far greater in the end.

So, I'm off my soapbox ... But I want anyone who is reading this to know, I am praying for you. I am praying health, happiness and wholeness this holiday season and beyond. Because we're all in this together and it's a heck of a lot better when we lift each other up!

Have a happy week my friends! Cheers to more Santa, Silliness and Sentiments :) all year long!