Spring Soccer

I don't have any house pictures to share with you quite yet, but that doesn't mean we've been slacking! This week we have been busy taking care of some detail work (painting baseboards, cleaning very dirty windows, etc.), making shelving for the closets, painting (of course!), and so much more. I am waiting to take care of a few more details before I share pictures, but I promise they are coming soon. 

While I cannot satisfy your curiosity with house pictures, I can share Max's spring soccer pictures with you. I am always proud of my kids, but Max truly shined this year on the field. After some mental coaching from mom and dad, the game finally "clicked" in his head. He played very strategically, and quickly became one of the star players on the team and in his age division. 

His hard work and strategy paid off when he scored his first goal during the second game! He continued to score throughout the season, and received many compliments on his game.  One parent even said he should play for The Netherlands national team one day! He didn't even know Max was Dutch... too funny :) 

Without further ado, here is our rising star and perhaps the next van der Vaart or Robben!

Movin' on up

This past weekend we moved into our house! We truly couldn't have done it without the help from MiMi and Opa who drove 7 hours from Alabama, Matt & Jess who put down the floor in the boy's room, and Ryan who donated his truck, trailer, and free labor. So a HUGE WARM AND FUZZY THANK YOU to all of you that helped make last weekend possible!! 

After two days of non-stop packing, moving, cleaning, and unpacking, we took MiMi and Opa out to brunch at the Blue Dog Cafe. It was hands down the best brunch we've ever had. Then we headed out to St. Martin Parish for our first-ever swamp tour. I've never seen an episode of Gator Boys, but I'm sure we could have been on one! We had a very knowledgeable guide on board, and another passenger who claimed to know the weight of every alligator in the swamp. Every few minutes we'd hear, "yuuuup, that right ther be one them seee'vn-hundrd pound gaaators." Between the Cajun, Dutch, and just plain country accents on board, it was quite a multi-cultural experience to say the least! 

The swamp is so beautiful, and the pictures I took do it no justice!

 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am working on getting the house a bit more organized, so more before and after pictures to come!!

Kriss Kross Will Make You Jump, Jump!

Spending everyday from dawn til dusk working is making us a little crazy. (Yes, crazier than we already were). Tonight, Rob and I were painting the hallway together and I was jumping to reach a spot on the wall. I know, perhaps not the best idea given my poor back, but I'm sure it was a funny sight. Anyway, Rob started singing Jump, Jump, and well... let's just say I feel embarrassed for our children! 

For those of you who have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, here is the music video. This song is from 1992, the year our house was built, so it must be a sign. (Of what I am not sure!) 

On a more sane note, I did finish painting the walls in the boy's room yesterday. The board and batten looks amazing, and I am so happy we went for it! 

I managed to find a mini picture of this room before we bought the house. It's not great, but it can give you an idea of the transformation it has undergone! 

Tomorrow brings more paint, tape, and nail-hole filling! Hopefully we will be done with the majority of the painting by next week!! We can't wait to move in! 

Out with the old, in with the new!

It's been 10 days since we closed on our house, and we have been working non-stop to make this house our home. It's safe to say our European style didn't quite match the previous owner's taste, so we are busy with an entire home makeover. We have a couple of weeks until we need to be out of our rental house, but we aren't wasting any time. I'm not sure what the previous owners would think of our modern flair, but we are in love with the way our house is transforming! 

                                   

Clearly we have polar opposite ideas on design! 

This picture was taken on closing day. A clean palate! 

Originally I was going to make this a dark grey accent wall, but since our furniture is grey/ black I thought the room needed some color. I was terrified to go "bold," but I figured that it's only a quart of paint, and can always be painted over if I hate it. 

Luckily Rob and I LOVE it and it matches lovely with the soft grey walls. I have to say, I'm not pleased with the way it looks in the pictures, but every time I walk into the house I love standing in the living room drooling over admiring the new life this room has! Eventually I plan on replacing the brown tile around the fireplace, but right now we have enough projects going on! 

Unfortunately I don't have a good before picture of the boy's room, but it was pretty plain and unremarkable. We are currently working on creating board and batten on the kid's side of the house. Sherry and John over at Young House Love provided a great tutorial on how to make your own board and batten since buying the actual boards was out of our budget. 

We screwed large screws into the trim and used a nail gun and a little bit of wood glue to secure the lattices, or battens.

It took a while to decide if we liked the battens 16 inches or 32 inches apart. After much debate, we went with 16 inches, and I'm glad we did!

 

Tonight we began painting the batten. It will need another coat of paint tomorrow, but I am thrilled with the way it's turning out. 

A closer look. My goal for tomorrow is to finish the board and batten and hopefully paint their room! I can't wait to see the white and blue contrast on the wall. 

Now it's time for bed. Late nights, early mornings, and being pregnant = one tired mama :)