Turkey Recap

Yowza! Is anyone else already up to their eyeballs in The Holiday weeds?! We got hit with a nasty virus/bug/or something or other on Thanksgiving eve and it feels like we are just now crawling out of the nastiness. Mix that with busy season, fourth quarter work environment, and holiday hoopla and you've got typical hot mess Katie around here. Hence why I'm posting about Thanksgiving in the first week of December .... ayyyyiiiyyiiiii! Also - apologies for the formatting, I did this post from my phone and it's not working out too well :/

We had a great Thanksgiving week(s) though! The week before Turkey Day we had a wedding to attend for one of Shane's buddies and it was good to see the whole crew.




Next up was a HUGGGE night and a Championship win for our boys in purple!! SO. MUCH. FUN!
And then our annual Galsgiving:)
Next up, we had little man's Thanksgiving feast at school. Which is always the cutest of days. Each kid brings their favorite thing for the class to share and some of the kiddos favorites are hilarious.
We had to make (another) quick trip to Nashville -more on that later- and this time took the kiddos with us. The weather was pretty great so we made a fun pit stop at Dinosaur World to break up the drive.

And shortly after we loaded up yet car once again to make the trek to Chicago for some fun Turkey day festivities.
 
Cousins table for the win.

We headed back to Louisville Friday and I had a fever the entire time (woof) which caused me to miss out on our final Turkey celebration Saturday ... but all in all it was another year in which we had SO VERY MUCH to be thankful for!

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!

Louisville Life

Well folks, we're finally underway. School routines are back in session, winter sports seasons have begun, surgeries and doctors visits are behind us, we've been to to the grocery more than once and are starting to learn the aisles and all in all we're settling into our little Louisville life. Or well, our New Albany, IN and Louisville, KY life ... because it won't really be Louisville life until the new house is complete. But I can't physically type Louisville life one more time without being annoyed for you that you've had to read it that many times. So, let's just get on with it shall we?

We've been struggling a bit from the "cooped up" winter blues ... so we took the kiddos on a little movie date to see Sing! It was Lainey's first movie (well aside from the one she slept through in her carrier at like 2 months old) and although she didn't make it through the whole thing, she did AWESOME!

 And let it be known, a girl after my own heart. She legitimately ate half a bag of popcorn all by her little self! She had zero self control and made this mama proud.

 We've been back and forth a lot with Bennett's little school and we've had extra paperwork, updated forms etc to get in order and Lainey's been the best little helper. She will start next year, and she's so curious when she roams the halls. I have a feeling she's going to love school as much as her big brother.

 We had our first snow of the year and the kiddos woke up in winter wonderland heaven. I still remember being a kid and waking up to learn you'd slept in a little and school was canceled. It was just a wonderful feeling! And while, my kiddos are a little young to know THAT feeling ... they still wake up with wonderment and it brings me all the feels. And, all the heart eyes.

 Jennifer stopped by for some work stuff just as we were about to take a little play break. Thank goodness for taking turns pulling the sled!

 Little Lou loved the snow ... that is until she fell face first in it. Haha! Does this make me a bad parent that instead of helping her right away I snapped a photo?!

 I cleaned her off and she was happy as could be once again. We had snowball fights, built a tiny snowman, made snow angels and of course ended the day with snow cone slushies. It was a nice little end to the week before having to head back to Nashville.

 Hubs and I got the kiddos squared away and then headed down to Nash for yet another surgery.

 I woke up happy and hungry! Hehe! and this past Thursday we learned: Yayyyy clear margins! Here's your PSA once again - get your skin CHECKED and do it often!

 We were once again reunited with our littles and started one of many snack dates in the kitchen.

 Like really, we have had a lot.

 And baking is a team effort these days.

 Little man started Karate and is LOVING is.

 He was so proud when he earned his Little Rhino's uniform.

 And this week he'll take his first test to earn his white belt.

 We've had tons of picnic lunches at the new house. I'm having to head over there frequently to get the mail, meet contractors, deal with appliances, etc. We set up a bounce house in the basement for little Lainey's first birthday party and have yet to take it down, so it's been a great distraction for the kiddos when we have to be there so often.

 Little miss Maggie Moo has probably taken this move the hardest. Bless her heart, her nerves are SHOT! But she's finding some comfy spots on the new couch and seems to be sleeping off the anxiety nearly every day :)

And, once again we loaded up and headed to Nashville. Lainey was meeting with some specialists and I had my post-op checkup. These kiddos that HATE their car seats because it means they actually have to be still for more than 10 minutes of their lives, have actually become decent little road trippers.

 And this little peanut did EXCELLENT at her visit! We cannot thank our doctors enough for making a terribly anxiety ridden day amazing for everyone. And all praise to Our Father in Heaven for gracing us with AMAZING news! We can finally rest easy on the health journey with Lainey and have been given incredibly reassuring news that our baby girl is A-OK!

 And a huge shout out to one of Bennett's besties and his momma, B had been missing his buddies and while Hubs, Lainey and I bounced from doctor to doctor; Bennett was happily getting in some QT with Jack and his momma (who is 35 weeks pregnant I might add) and keeping our little man happy happy while we took care of some business.

And then for the second time that day, we loaded up and headed home. But not before stopping to celebrate with some corn dogs on the road! Ha!

 Lainey and I have been running errands like crazy to make the most of our time while Bub is at school, and little miss found a hat the other day that she has been wearing non stop!

 Friday, we spent the day with one of my lifelong besties. I've been friends with Jessica since kindergarten. She has twins, you may remember them being born a while back and on Friday's she keeps her nephews. Bennett is directly in between the boys in age, so his after school activity was probably the best ever. Those boys laughed so hard I thought they'd pass out.

 And Saturday, basketball season began! It's a 6 week season and Bennett is in the 3 and 4 year old league on the Puma team - The Mighty Green Pumas. Watching these little tykes play is downright ADORABLE.

 They practice for 15-20 minutes before the game. Which essentially is every kid shooting baskets over and over.

 Little sister and I ate snacks in the bleachers.

 Until she couldn't handle she wasn't a part of the action and wanted to go watch closer.

CHEESE!

 Then all of the teams join for prayer circle before the games begin.

 And when the game began, little miss was back in the bleachers with Grandpa, Susan and more snacks.

 And then the game began and they played their 4 quarters of basketball and we LOVED every minute of it. I failed to get many pics because I mostly took video and was too engrossed in watching these little people actually play real basketball (sort of). But rest assured, being a bleacher mom is totally my jam. And Bennett was STOKED about the after game snacks.

 That night we hung at Chris and Laura's new house and let the littles dance it out.

 And we wrapped the weekend with a little Sunday swim.

 And a sweet snuggle sesh on the couch. This rarely happens anymore, so I cherish it so much when it does.

And that's a little look at our Louisville life lately. Demolition on the new house begins soon, can't wait to report back with some updated pics!