House Reveal - Dining room

Our existing house had one large room which had the living room on the east, the dining room in the center, and kitchen on the west - all as one large room.  We now have a formal dining room attached to the kitchen and a separate living room.  Our kitchen table is small, but when we purchased it...that was all the bigger table our tiny house could hold.  We would like a new table, but as they say...all good things come with time.

(Above) looking east

(Below) looking west

The only change made to the kitchen is the hole where you see the beige used to be a door to the back porch.  Now that is the entrance to the addition.

House Reveal - Master Bedroom

Our master bedroom was green (Shelby's room) and had the same furnature in the pictures below.  We just now have room for both of us to walk all the way around it at the same time, side-by-side.  It was all our old bedroom wanted to have a queen sized bed, dresser, chest, and trunk. 

The orange-ish colored spots on the wall are from the 8 can lights. 

The trunk in the picture below is the hope chest that my Grandpa Gumbel gave my Grandma Gumbel when they were courting.  It was made in Evansville and handed down to me while both my grandparents were living.  It was one of their "special" pieces of furnature that they wanted to make sure got handed down to one of the grandkids - me specifically. 

Master bathroom is behind the left door and master closet is behind the right door.

I still have decorating of walls and window treatments to do, but everything is up and functioning and that is what is important right now.



House Reveal - Shelby's Room

I am sorry I haven't gotten house reveal pictures posted sooner.  We wanted to wait until we had Jenna's birthday party so the family could see it first. 

Shelby moved into what was the master bedroom.  We had the contracter repaint the room since it was empty and the walls had several marks since they were painted in 2006.  Her room was "ready" on the 6th but she wasn't allowed to move in.  She has been potty trained for a while, but would get busy and forget to go unitl it was too late.  So we told her she had to be dry for 7 days and 7 nights before she could move to her new big girl bed.  She made it to her new bedroom on the 13th and has been dry both day and night since! 

Bed, night stand, hamper 

Dresser, closet, bay window 

New bedding decor!



Shelby's bed is the "bottom" of a set of bunk beds.  We intend on when baby brother eventually moving into Jenna's room and bunking the girls in Shelby's room. 

You Just Gotta Love that Girl

After supper one evening, I had a pile of dishes, things that I prefer not go in the dishwasher.  So as I am cleaning off the table, Jenna grabs her stool, the sponge and starts on the stack.  As I find more things around the kitchen, I drop them in the "dirty" sink.  She says, "thank-you, mommy!"  Seriously????  You just gotta love that girl!

Forgive me I am bit of a control freak and noticed several of the dishes were not clean, so I ended up washing them again, but I thought it was adorable that she not only wanted to help, but was happy to do all the dishes!

Then on Sunday, as we were eating dinner she asked if she could talk to her baby brother.  Lance and I looked at each other and smiled.  I laid down on the bed and Jenna started talking to my belly button.  It was adorable.  She told him she loved him at least a dozen times.  Meanwhile, baby brother was kicking around responding to Jenna & Shelby's conversations.  Unfortunately, I am the only one who can feel baby brother's kicking, but that will change soon.  What can I say, you just gotta love that girl!

Intelligence

I never seem to be amazed at the intellegence of my daughters.  I never seize to be amazed at the things they come up with and do.....

Since we have moved into the new part of the house, we have had to lock our bedroom door.  Jenna and Shelby like to play on the floor in our closet, which means re-arranging all the clothes on the bottom racks.  Their second favorite play place is the bathroom.  All I am going to say to that is YUCK.  Then there is my jewelry.  One of my diamond earrings was missing for 2 days, because some little girl wanted to play in mommy's jewelry.  Therefore, the door gets locked from time to time.

Jenna gets frusterated becase she cannot hide and play in our master bedroom/bathroom/closet at her leisure. 

Lance and I started noticing that not only our bedroom was locked, but our bathroom door was also locked.  Strange, but okay.  Neither Lance nor I know how this was happening, but it was.

Sunday night, Lance was putting Jenna to bed when he realized she had something in her hand.  She was obviously trying to hide whatever she had and she went to bed with no fight whatsoever (rare).  As she was climbing into bed, she dropped something.  Lance wasn't sure what it was, but at this point had a good idea.  He felt around with his foot as he was tucking her in.  However, he didn't feel anything and wasn't sure exactly what she had/what he was looking for. so he said goodnight and went on about his way.

A few minutes later we see Jenna has sneaked back into the living room next to our bedroom door.  Immediately, she got put back to bed.  Lance and I start to explore.  He said, I think she had a key and has been unlocking our door to go into our room to go to the bathroom, then locking the door back so we were none the wiser.  We started hunting, was that what she was doing?  If so, where has she been hiding her key?  Better yet, what kind of "key" has she been using? 

So we start looking around the end-table sitting next to the couch and the bedroom door.  Under?  Nope nothing there.  Magazine rack on the back?  Nope, nothing there.  Top drawer?  Nope nothing there.  Bottom drawer?  BINGO, there was a mini screwdriver.  Now, what do Mommy and Daddy do with her key? 

This is one intellegent kid.  She has a problem - door locked.  She finds a solution - key.  But cannot get caught with her key in the open - so hide it.  Gets caught in the act - cover it up.  Needs key to get in again - hide it so again!  Now that's a stinker thinker!  I can only wait to see what the next 16 years have in store!

Appointments

I took Monday off because I scheduled 5 appointments on Monday.  I took Shelby to daycare and took Jenna with me all day.

Jenna went with me because I scheduled a dentist appointment for me and the second appointment for her.  She has never been to the dentist before.  I had a good check-up with a compliment from the dentist that I have "nice but boring teeth."  I will take it. As for Jenna, she was terrified and refused to open her mouth for the dental hygentist.  Tonight, we had a minor breakthrough!  She went in and started brushing her teeth (without me telling her and without my help) before she put her pjs on tonight!

When we got done at the dentist we went to visit the accountant.  Not a fun appointment, but something that has to be done.

After the accountant we visited McDonalds for lunch - per Jenna's request.  We killed a little time and visited Menards to return some left-overs from the building project and purchase a few minor missing items.

The last two appointments for the day were the ultrasound.  Lance met up with Jenna and I at the hospital parking lot.

Head, shoulder, torso

Sucking thumb

During ultrasound the lady asked if we wanted to know the gender.  We agreed we did, so she looked and found external genitalia.  The lady said, it's a BOY!  Jenna said "NO!" and started crying.  Jenna had been telling everyone that she wanted a new baby sister.  Daddy, on the other hand, was very excited to learn it would be 3 vs 2 and not 4 vs 1. 

Buttox, leg, leg, boy (sorry for the rated X picture, but Mawmaw and Poppy asked if we were sure)

We got done at ultrasound and then went to see our OB.  Everything checked out great.  After the appointment Lance, Jenna and I went over to explore Labor and Delivery to learn where we were to report on the big day. 

He crossed his legs/ankles during the ultrasound. 

One of my Blogger friends did a little survey everytime she had a baby doctor appointment, so I borrowed the below survey from her. 

How far along: 20 weeks

Have you started to show yet: Yes!! I am finally starting to look pregnant instead of just like I am just plumping.

Total weight gain/loss: I lost a little weight originally so I am now up 1.1 pounds from my starting weight.

Belly Button in or out? In

Rings on/off: On with extra room as of right now.

Size of Baby: About 7 inches and estimated at 12 ounces - The size of a banana!

Weird Changes: Just about everything is giving me heartburn.

Sleep: The girls keep me up more nights than being pregnant at this point.

Best moment this week: Ultrasound revealed a healthy baby.

Movement: The movements are becoming stronger!!!

Stretch marks? Nothing new yet

Food cravings: rice!

Food aversions: Fish, shrimp, and anything fishy smelling!

Gender prediction: The ultrasound revealed external genitalia

What I miss: sleeping on my belly

What I am looking forward to: Letting Lance and the kids feel the babies kick.

Milestones: We made it to the half way mark!!!! 

It's a......

Jenna's Birthday Party

Today, March 3, we celebrated Jenna's birthday.  This was a month after her actual birth date, but we wanted to have the house done enough to celebrate in our home, instead of a public space.  There were 18 of us in the house today.  This is the most people we have ever invited into our Clay City home at one time!

Jenna was insistant on having a Hello Kitty party. 

Getting ready to sing to the birthday girl.

Opening presents.   

 Grandma and Grandpa Rentchler got Jenna the game Candy Land.  After the party was over and daddy was returning chairs to Ivan and Angel's house, the girls played two games.  Shelby won the first game and I won the second.  Jenna has a knack for pulling a candy card for the beginning of the game during the very end.

The kids had a good time helping Jenna open this gift from Grandma and Grandpa Hofmann - a little tykes basketball goal. 

 Thank you to all who attended to make Jenna's birthday party special.  Thank you to Ivan and Angel for letting us borrow chairs.  Thank you to Mom and Carla for helping get all the food put away and dishes done.  Thank you to Lance for dragging the tables and chairs up and down stairs and helping me get everything put together for a nice celebration. Thank you all for the nice gifts you gave Miss Jenna.

February Birthdays

We met up at my parents to pick up the kids and ended up celebrating the February birthdays with chili and corn dogs.  Jenna turned 4 on the 3rd, Carla turned 33 on the 14th and Grandpa Rentchler turned 81 on the 15th.  Mom, Jenna, and Ciara made and decorated the homemade icecream cake.

The girls were all anxiously awaiting the sweet taste of ice cream cake.  Yes, there are three candles on the cake, one for each  person celebrating a birthday.  We didn't want to have to have a milk puddle from 118 candles burning on top of ice cream!

Jenna and Ciara got to spend a little time playing a game together 

The group socializing while waiting for the cake to be served.