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 :) 

House Hunting

Rob calls me a pessimist, but I prefer the term realist.  So many exciting things have been happening in our lives over the past few months, but I have wanted to wait until things were certain before sharing them with the world. Like the exciting news of our little bean on the way! Who, by the way... if you haven't heard, is a little GIRL!

Also, we have been working on getting a mortgage. Since Rob is not (yet) a U.S. citizen the mortgage process was a little more complicated. However, we met a great mortgage guy who helped make the process as painless as possible. In no time we were pre-approved for our loan and the search could begin! We quickly found a beautiful home that we all fell in love with. We made an offer, and it was quickly accepted. Perhaps a little too quickly.... During  the inspection week we found out that the house would be  be in a revised flood area starting this March. That meant that we would have to obtain flood insurance which could cost upwards of $2,000 per year! We were very disappointed, but we decided it was wisest to retract our offer and continue our search.

Only a couple weeks later we came across a home that couldn't even be compared to the last home. It had recently been reduced in price, so it hadn't come up in our searches before. We went to visit it, and it was love at first sight! 

After making sure this house was not in, and not going to be in a flood zone any time soon, we made an offer. Our offer was accepted and the long waiting process began. I think it took a little over a month for all of the paper work to be completed, but finally, on March 23rd we became homeowners! 

The past few days have been filled with spackle, sanding, and paint. I can't wait to share the before and after pictures with you! And as always, thank you all for your support over the past year and a half. We couldn't have made it without you! 

Life on the Bayou

I know, I know... I said I was going to start posting regularly after I graduated because I thought I would have all of this free time to do whatever I pleased. Well, let me tell you folks, being out of school hasn't been a field of tulips with rays of sunshine for me!

One week before graduation we found out we were expecting this little dude or dudette:

Needless to say we were ecstatic! However, I did not realize that 12 weeks of essentially being on bed-rest lay before me. I'll spare you the gory details, but let me just say that my bed, toilet, and I have become good buddies over the past couple of months. 

Thus... I have not been too motivated to blog (or cook, or clean, or do laundry, etc etc) lately! So please accept my apologies and welcome me back into the land of the living as I am starting to feel a little more human these days.

We've been so busy since my last post. We left Enterprise, AL on December 20th and started our new lives in Lafayette, LA. Everyone is adjusting very well. The kids are enjoying school, and Rob is loving his new job. Our family is finally back together and man, does it feel good! 

In February we got into full Cajun swing and celebrated Mardi Gras. The kids had a great time at the parades, and collected tons of necklaces!

This past weekend we decided to take a small getaway to New Orleans (post Mardi Gras and Super Bowl insanity) to enjoy the zoo and aquarium.

Max was fascinated by the parakeets. Even after he got pooped on! 

Bird man tried to convince me how cool it would be to have these animals in our house... We will get a puppy before that happens! (And I don't think we will ever get a puppy! *insert sad face*)

Lucas enjoyed the non hands-on approach with the birds

The boys were so sweet to each other this weekend!

Best attraction at the zoo! This little monkey was a riot!

I told Max that I got licked by a giraffe once, he was rolling on the ground! 

Just like this little monkey enjoyed rolling on the ground!

This little dude has my heart!

He climbed a huge tree all by himself!

Did I mention how sweet the boys were this weekend?! 

We took a street car to and from the hotel. It was a fun ride, but it probably took us close to an hour to ride 7 miles!

The boys in the street car

A view of our hotel (the Marriott). 

Rob had a surprise day off for President's Day, and the boys had school. So we enjoyed our first solo time together in quite a while! Such a nice treat! This weekend Max starts soccer (weather permitting) and hopefully we will make it back out to our local Children's Museum.

I hope everyone is doing well! We miss our family and friends all over the world! 

Birthday Goodness!

Hiepidipiep HOERA! Our little Lucas turned three yesterday! 

We celebrated with a lasagna dinner and lots of cupcakes! 

How did my baby go from this...

To this?!

All he wanted for his birthday was a chocolate cupcake!

My crazy boys 

Three candles!

Love this little boy!

Sisterly Love

With MiMi and Opa!

Sweet puppy dog eyes!

Max went shopping by himself and bought Lucas a present, he was so proud!

Brotherly love

A new scooter from Mommy and Papa!

Cheesiness overflows in our family!

DSCN4485 from Whitney Geenen on Vimeo.

Thanks to all of you who sent birthday love to our little man!

Sinterklaas kom maar binnen!

Tonight the Geenen family celebrated Sinterklaas's birthday. It was 70 degrees (21 C) here today, so we weren't really in the "warm fuzzy" Sinterklaas mood, but that didn't stop the kids from being excited about their presents tonight!

Trying to get this child to sit still and take a picture is impossible! 

Digging in "de zak van Sinterklaas"

Admiring Mommy & Papa's gift, a Toblerone bar. Thanks, Sinterklaas!

My husband is just awesome. Period. :)

A Telescope! (found on a second hand website for $20! woo!) Rob and I always wanted one, and never got one. Something about living vicariously through your children...!

Pirate ships, and lava lamps

Apparently my kids just don't understand how to smile! :/

Now that Sinterklaas is over I am preparing for my final exams, graduation is in exactly 12 days! 

And lastly, a video of the Sint-shenanigans from this weekend :) 

DSCN4400 from Whitney Geenen on Vimeo.