Before and After!

Railings - CHECK, patio - CHECK. We are so in love with these two home improvements, we've been grinning ear-to-ear. I think updating our stair railings might be my most favorite home reno, EVER. What a simple and fairly inexpensive update, that completely transformed the feel of our house. At the last minute, we threw in the painting and wainscoting of our dining room, and my gosh! We've really loved our house from the beginning (well, Brian's 2nd visit ;) but now we realllllly love our house!

 BEFORE - Railings

AFTER

BEFORE

PATIO!

Last minute add on... painting and wainscoting in the DR!

BEFORE

AFTER

PARTY TIME!!

Anyone who has done a home reno knows its exciting, and exhausting... and we didn't even do anything. The coming and going of different people, picking up materials, meetings after work, shuffling the dog around so he's out of the way, etc... it gets old. So we're pretty happy that we're done for a while now. 

I'm scouring sales online looking for the perfect patio set but so far, I haven't really found one I'm sold on. I think that's the final piece of the puzzle. Our current one is a hand me down, that we toyed with spray painting black, but the crazy sleep deprivation in our house has nabbed any energy lately! Plus pretty new patio sort of calls for pretty new set ;) ha! 

Happy Hump Day! XX

My new wheels!

After a few weeks of lots of negotiating - we picked up my new car! Isn't she pretty?!

 

 Back here I shared that we had a few months left on our lease and we went to the car show to see everything up close. Staying true to that, as the time got closer I reached out to dealerships to get pricing. We test drove the Atlas and the Infinit since they were the real top two - but I also requested quotes on the Honda Pilot, Nissan Pathfinder and Lexus GX460. 

These cars range in MSRP from roughly $36,000 - $56,000. Surprisingly, 2 of the cars in the high 30's came out with lease payments astronomical (almost $200 more a month than what we pay) and the $56,000 and $48,000 car were way more reasonable. I think this is part of the reason I find cars so fascinating! You just never know.

My only requirements with this car, were leather and a 3rd row. I'd like to think we're not alone in the state of our car, with small kids and a dog. I honestly didn't want to get too nice of a car, because I don't feel worthy! We kinda trashed my old car - although it looks beautiful now, all ready to be turned in. But I was hoping to be able to have leather, for the first time :) It's the little things, right?
At the same time, I notice a car's pick up and handling of the road (like a crazy person) so I'm sort of picky when it comes to those things.

I wanted to like the VW Atlas but I was pretty disappointed at the test drive. We dragged the kids immediately following to Infiniti so we could check out the two top contenders back to back. What.a.difference. I mean, they almost didn't even compare. All the heart eyes for the QX60. It's a teeny bit smaller than the Acadia, smooth ride, good gadgets and leather, sunroof and power-everything, in the base model. I was sold as we pulled out of the dealership for the test drive!

I test drove the car at the original dealer that I'd reached out to, in April. They were so happy to actually meet me (us) after talking over email for so long. After they gave us their best price trying to get us to get the car that day, we agreed to think it over and be in touch. I reached out to 2 other local dealers and game on. I gave them all the opportunity to beat the other out. One came in $75 less a month, then the front runner, but was SO strong on the pressure we decided to say bye-bye. But, I used his quote, as leverage with the other dealers. Back and forth and back and forth - literally for days. It was sort of exciting and I was totally in control of all the negotiating. We ended up getting the car at the original dealer where we test drove it, and everyone was super nice and patient with two bored-crazy kids bouncing off the (glass!) walls. The price is right and the car is awesome - win, win! 

One of my Dad's best piece of advice is 'you never get more than you ask for'. Sometimes easier said then done but it relates to so many areas of life. If you might be in the market for a car soon, have some fun with it and don't be afraid to ask for it all!

Happy Friday!! XO

AUGUST

Ahhhh August! A co-worker just called August, the Sunday of the Summer. How true - its the perfect way to describe this month and the wind-down of the season. I had to share :) In June it starts to warm up and everyone is so excited for the warmer months, but it's not until July 4th to me that it reallllly starts to feel like summer time. The longer days, hours outside, swim, and play, play, play. July was wonderful and it just flew!

This year with a school aged child, summer vacation had a whole new feel, and for the first time in a years, made working full time, very hard for me. Although we call it "school" the girls programs are full day daycare. I am content that while they are there, they are learning and having fun and with lots of other children whose parents are working like us. When school let out for the summer, and we're left to organize camps to fill majority of her days, plus help from my mom and sister because camp gets out at 3:30pm, I feel guilty. I wish I could get her on those days. I wish I could take them for an afternoon swim, to the beach, to the park, out for ice cream. We cram all those things in on the weekends, but someday I hope to be a mom that is around a bit more in the summer for some of that carefree F-U-N. Someday... <<sigh>>

Anyway, August. I have a feeling that a new ritual might be beginning and Brian leaves tomorrow for a Member-Guest golf tournament in Maine. He went last year and had a great time, so I have a feeling it might become a regular thing for him to be gone for the first few days of the month each year. I'm looking forward to QT with my ladies, and hope they sleep OK for me, because these last two weeks have been BRUTAL - each one taking turns up every few hours.... BANANAS! We're going to the local carousel, out to dinner, a baptism and i'm sure we'll squeeze in a trip to get ice cream :)

The work is being finished on our house this week too, so then things will be nice and quiet. In time for some family birthdays and end of summer gatherings. We're squeezing in one last trip to MV for a few days around the 25th and then POOF! We'll be talking about pumpkin lattes, fall fairs and fleece!
I LOVE Fall and I do sort of look forward to a more structured routine... but I'm not in a hurry. I really hope for lots more summer-fun in the coming weeks!

Happy toasty-Tuesday! XO

Coming up next!

On Tuesday they finished the installation of central air - and it was an amazing night in our house! When we bought the house in October, we agreed -we can deal without, we grew up without a/c - no.big.deal! Then we had a really hot day in April and we questioned our prior confidence in dealing without. The layout of our house would have required at least 6 window units and by the time you go through all that, we seriously considered just going for it now. SO SO SO happy we did. The heat was one thing, but the humidity, oh my - it literally made me angry.  I'm sorry I sound like such a brat, because I know we're lucky we were able to do it. We had fans going in our bedrooms, and most nights it was up near 80 degrees, regardless of the outdoor temp. We slept at my parents on the crazy-hot nights and made due, but phew - I'm glad we went for it! 

In the next week, we're having a patio put in, and our stair railings updated. We're still sort of on a high from the a/c and fence, but happy there are a few more things to come :) The patio will give us a place to hang/eat outside which we've really missed so far this spring/summer. The railings are as much about aesthetics as they are safety. In addition to dating the house immensely, they are wobbly and definitely not to code. 

After these projects, it'll be a quiet year or two for us, LOL! There are a handful more things we want to do, recessed lighting, a few new windows, then of course bathrooms and kitchen reno. No hurry though, we'll likely be in this house a while, so for now we had to pick and choose what was most important, and I think we picked pretty well :) I think I need to start planning a party because I can't wait to entertain this summer! 

This is a before of our fence from the back of the house:

and AFTER - you can sort of see the extra green space we gained from pushing everything out into the woods. At the bottom of the stairs, among the mess ;) is where the patio will be!

Some before pictures of our railings.... eeeek! Can't wait!

Happy HOTThursday! XO

Just trust me!

When it comes to stuff around the house, I think I have a pretty good eye. I'm not talking like designer quality, but little things - furniture placement, wall decor, etc. My sister and BIL just designed their new kitchen per my suggestion, and are thrilled with the new layout ;) So, whether you agree or not, is totally fine, but I'm confident in it anyway.  Based on said confidence, I ALWAYS consult with Brian on stuff, but if he disagrees, can't say I always listen! Sometimes, I think he disagrees with me, just because he doesn't like to admit I am right. Plus, I can't figure out why someone who is oblivious to details thinks he's a know-it-all when it comes to home decor/design... just saying ;)

One of the first things I noticed when we looked at our house was layout of our fence. It's an old split rail and covered about 80% of our backyard, mostly from our house, straight back in a rectangle. My suggestion immediately, was to open it up a little for bigger yard, and a better look. Using white picket lining our driveway, for improved curb appeal. Brian didn't even consider it, for one minute, he said no way, I like it how it is. I also think he thinks I just sit around thinking about ways to spend money... which isn't true. BUT I'm always brainstorming ways to improve/update, both inside and out.

We're getting ready to put a patio in at the end of this month - which Brian is 100% into it, and we can't wait for that outdoor space. What transpired from the conversation with the contractor, was the best place for a stone wall (extra seating) was along the existing fence. It was the perfect change to reiterate my original vision for the fence and now doing it would be for a reason, not just because. So, I got a quote. When our fence guy got to our house, he quickly goes "that's ugly, why would they do it like this?" That made me feel a whole lot better, that he agreed with me and he's not the type just to appease. Brian hesitantly agreed and I didn't give him any opportunity to change the plan :) He'll use our existing fencing and just had to buy a few sections of new white vinyl to open up our yard. I AM SO EXCITED I could scream. It'll be a few more weeks before the patio work begins, but for now we'll enjoy this.... and I'll revel in how right I was ;)

BEFORE

AFTER

Island Time 2017

Oh re-entry.... It's always tough, but I'm cruising through today sort of happy to be back and getting into a routine after a great time away together. I'll spare you all the details, but we missed our boat over last Saturday (because it took us 7 hours to get to the Cape!).  After another 2 hours of waiting and being promised a stand by ride over on the last ferry at 9:45pm - we were left driving around exhausted and starving to find a (dog-friendly) hotel ON A SATURDAY NIGHT IN CAPE COD BEFORE THE 4TH OF JULY! Shocking, really, that we found one! So anyway, after that start... it was all good and fun. Beach, boat, adventure, ice cream, etc! Martha's Vineyard is such a beautiful spot, and we're lucky to get to go there to vacation. We got back yesterday, and the girls have already asked when we're going back :) Hope you had a nice 4th and are enjoying the summer! 

Not holding back

Next Wednesday is the last day of school and Madelyn wraps up her Kindergarten year. Just like the weeks leading up to the start of Kindergarten where I was unexpectedly emotional, I'm feeling the same way at the end of the year. The growth in our sweet girl this year is enormous and I am so proud of her. I am equally as happy and confident in our decision to send our 4 3/4 year old, off to Kindergarten.

I know I've shared before that Madelyn is a butterfly in my eyes. She's beautiful inside and out, she's sweet, sensitive and delicate. Her 5th birthday fell on Nov 1st. Two days after moving into a new house and just a few weeks after switching elementary schools.  I can't quite put into words how impressed I am with her and her resiliency through all of this. Everyone said "she'll be fine" "harder on us than her" "kids are resilient."  Which I appreciated and do believe is partially true, but sometimes those saying it didn't really know our Miss M. Everything that is something, is even bigger to her. She loves big, fears big, cries big and feels with such intense emotion sometimes she just gets so overwhelmed. So we really went back and forth with concerns if she could handle all of this at once.

Add to that, the fact that we know a lot of teachers - family and friends. I have an aunt and uncle who both adamantly advised us not to send Madelyn to Kindergarten. After that, one of their kids (my 20 year old cousin) who was young for his grade, chimed in on how much he hated be young and how hard it was for him. Others would sort of say with surprise - "oh you are sending her to K?" So without them saying so much, I knew what they thought. We were very conflicted and with Madelyn's personality, really weren't sure it was a good idea (literally up until the weeks leading up to registration!). We finally decided that we'd ask her preschool teachers for their honest opinion. Ultimately, that's what sealed the deal for us. Without hesitation they said she was definitely ready. Madelyn had been at this preschool for 2 full years, so they knew her well and that was enough for us. That, and I'd be lying if I said her size didn't matter at all in the decision. She's been in the 95th percentile since birth, and at her most recent check up, still is. So, I was a little worried about holding her back and having an already tall girl, tower over other kids in her class.

So, off we went. At the beginning of the school year a handful of new friends had 6th birthday parties. It was a frequent topic of conversation that she was younger than everyone, and she was turning "only" 5. After more weeks went by and she settled into her new school, new house, new routine, I think she grew more and more confident that she could spell, write and understand just like her friends. She was keeping up (in some cases excelling :) and suddenly age didn't matter at all.

Even into the new year it was like we could see her growing before our eyes, both physically and mentally. Her sleep was disrupted, and there were behavioral challenges at home but her mid-year conference at school was just glowing. Just like when an infant has a growth spurt - they may be more cranky, have disrupted sleep, and act out of the ordinary. I wish someone had warned me that these kinds of things aren't just with babies. It makes perfect sense but at the time I was exhausted and so overwhelmed with the tantrums and fighting, I didn't know what happened to my sweet girl. Kids are so smart and so much more perceptive than we give them credit for, it's really such an amazing thing.

I feel like in addition to Madelyn's growth, I grew up a lot this year too. Rather than being defeated by behavior that I didn't know what to do with, I began to really tend to Madelyn individually. Unintentionally, I just softened up. Rather than being so hard on the discipline, I gave more hugs, empathized more and encouraged her to talk more.  I had been fighting with her so much and it wasn't until I realized that her (negative) behavior was a result of her needing more from me, that it all subsided.

So who knows what next year will bring, and all the years to follow. I know there will be more excitement and more challenges. I'm just thrilled with how far we've come and how well M did this year. For now, we're going to celebrate our little girl who crushed Kindergarten, just like her Mom and Dad thought she would! <3

TGIF - have a great weekend!XO