Adventures with the Wallentines

 The Wallentine's, some friends of ours from GA, came out and stayed with us back in April and May while Ryan did a rotation for PA school at Arkansas Children's Hospital.  It was a crazy time (with moving and the construction on the house) but it was a FUN time! 

 We went to different parks and grilled out frequently. 

These pics are taken at Pinnacle Mountain Park.

The girls would rather play in this little creek than on the playground.

 Cute Carter (I LOVE THE FOHAWK!)

If I ever have a little boy he WILL have this hairstyle!!!!

 For Ryan and Kristen's anniversary they went to the symphony here in Little Rock- courtesy of the Myers- and we had a fun movie night with the kiddos.

These two are what we like to call DOUBLE TROUBLE and LIPGLOSS QUEENS... the list goes on

Kristen and I have decided the best description for these two would be "Frienemies"

When they were having fun and sharing they were the best of friends BUT when they were arguing we wanted to string them by their toes off the balcony;)  (not really of course)

 We went to see Belle at the library for storytime.

 Avery loved her!

 Pic of all of us with Princess Belle

 So you'd think that if one of these two were to be the bully- it'd be Carter- I mean he's twice her size!

But no, it was all I could do to keep Ansley from being too rough with him!!!!!  She loves him:)

 We also celebrated Easter together!

 We made a trip down the park on the river with Abigail and her girls
(& this is what Kristen would look like with 6 kids hehehe)

 & Avery wants us to get a minivan now!

 We couldn't let them come to LR without seeing the Ducks at the Peabody Hotel

 Lunch at the Rumba Room on the river- CAN NEVER GET ENOUGH MEXICAN FOOD!

 More fun times at the park

 & this $8 kiddie pool occupied many hours of our time!!!!

 They all loved splashing around in this

 We also took a weekend trip to Memphis and the girls were excited to have a slumber party!

 We love our daddies!!!!

 & love when they get home!!!!

Our last night we made a fun trip over to Chuck E Cheese.

 It was a FUN 2 months!

We miss them and these CUTE kiddos!

 

The working video!

LOOK WHO'S WALKING

(the other one, from the previous post is not working for some reason)

At this point... all you can do is laugh:)

So our kitchen first went from looking like this

& this:

To this:

We were welcomed into our new home by a pesky little or should I say big rat! (it still makes me shudder to think about it)  If you put your two fists together that was the size!  

This was no ordinary rat- I kid you not this stinker was SMART

I had Terminex come out 3 times

We originally set out the sticky pads- we found his paw marks on it- but NO rat

We set out peanut butter on the snap traps- peanut butter licked clean off but still NO rat

One night I left the trash on the floor  and he went for the banana peels so...

we loaded every trap with banana around the trash, set up the baby monitor so we could hear when he came, and took shifts trading off to catch the darn thing! Problem was as soon as he heard us coming he would escape.

After this DIDN'T work- we set up our own trap and used the two lap tops to set up a video. 

 We wanted to see exactly where he was and where he was coming from.  

The rat would enter and exit under the dishwasher - so Joey set up this speaker box with a rope connected to a wooden spoon that came out to the living room.  When we saw the rat come out the plan was to pull the rope so the speaker box would drop and block off his escape route.  It almost worked and Joey got a couple of good hits on him but the box didn't drop flush with the dishwasher so he got away again.    It was like Ratatouille in our kitchen.  (I started thinking maybe we should just find a trap like the one Gus-Gus was caught in in Cinderella)  But after the night we almost got him he hasn't been back.

So after all this we NEVER caught him.

Unfortunately, there was a terrible smell for about a week and I'm pretty sure it was him.

He must have tried the rat poison Terminex put out on their 3rd visit

This went on for a week; Avery named him Squirt and apparently prayed for us to catch him when asked to give the prayer in her primary class.

After the big rat fiasco we now are in the process of redoing the kitchen and a lot of other things, but this is the main focus now.

The demolition crew came out today to take out the cabinets 

 & unfortunately this is what they found:

(No not a dead rat- that would have been better)

The particle board under the sink and dishwasher is rotted from a previous leak

The bad news:  

We have been so good about sticking to our budget without having to use the Contingency $ and now we'll have to use it- but at least we have it left to use.

They will have to rip up all the old particle board and put in new subflooring as it extends into the parque so we will need new floors too.

Also the guy who is to install the cabinets leaves to go on vacation Saturday for a week and then they are booked with appointments for a couple weeks after he returns.

That means 3 weeks without a kitchen

We also have been working on the bathrooms and the tile guy ripped out all the vanities so for the time being we are brushing our teeth, washing our hands, and drinking water from the tub faucet :) 

 However,

The Good News is:

At least we found the problem and can make things right

I'm pretty excited about new floors

Its a good thing Joey and Avery could live off pizza because for the next 3 weeks we'll be having lots of Little Ceasars Pizza :)

 In the meantime my beautiful new cabinets will sit in these lovely boxes until things are taken care of-

At this point all we can do is laugh- it will be funny to look back on and laugh too!

& I know it will be worth it.

For a fun and beautiful kitchen remodel to glance at check out my cousin Suzette's!

Now ours won't be near like hers (that'd be awesome if it were) but I love looking at her ideas and how well everything coordinates!!!
Its Beautiful!

On a more positive note

Avery is loving helping with the house and her room is coming along nicely

 My dad (Grandpa) is very proud!

 My sweet 92 year old Grandma asked if there was anything we needed for our new home.

I quickly remembered all the paintings she painted herself that hung in her home.  I asked her if she had any extra and told her my color schemes.  She sent a big box and I chose this one for Avery's room.

I plan on sanding and repainting the dresser white, the front face of the drawers pink and leave the knobs white.  Its all coming together a little at a time.

& BIG NEWS Ansley started walking a few days shy of being 10 months!

She AMAZES me multiple times a day!!!!!
We sure love this girl

Lil Miss

I've been feeling a little guilty lately...

I didn't get to making Ansley an Easter dress, she gets all the hand me downs, I haven't been as good about posting her progress each month like I did with Avery...

2nd kids get the short end of the stick-

So here is a post of Lil Miss Ansley

who is getting into EVERYTHING!

 

<9 mo. stats>

she weighs 16 lbs 8 oz

and is 27 3/4 in. long
She also now has 4 teeth!

She is Avery's #1 fan and is ALWAYS trying to keep up with her!

Sweet Sisters

Ansley is a very determined little girl- she does not let big sis push her around!

I always know if Avery or one of her friends has taken something from her because she lets out this really loud grunt/shriek, tries to get the toy back on her own and if that fails she comes quickly crawling or looking for me!

 Already a little flirt!  

 She knows the meaning of the word "NO" very well!

After she hears me say it she quickly avoids eye contact and buries her head in her lap or the ground.

UNLESS she has something I don't want her to- in this case she quickly sticks it in her mouth or tucks it in her hand and bolts as fast as she can in the other direction! - Cute Little Stinker

During the move all she wanted to do was climb all over the boxes

She loves to play and have FUN!  & is such a SMILY little girl:)

 Joey really is Super Dad!

Such Cute Kiddos!

She has also figured out how to move these chairs to more easily reach things she wants-

it makes me so nervous!

But she thinks its HILARIOUS

 I could just eat her up ALL. DAY. LONG.

Between her and Avery I am one busy Mama

Lastly, she is Sooooo Close to Walking its scary!

She puts herself in a bear crawl position then pushes up off the floor in a standing position and has taken 2-4 steps several times.  {First time was 5/6/11}  It is only a matter of time...

Step By Step

While the house construction and renovations are far from being complete I thought it'd be fun to track our progress-

These are some pics I took while we were first looking at the house

 This wallpaper was the first thing to come down once we closed on the house!

Joey and I could see it had potential and have been working on it since we got it.

 I'm becoming quite the "handy-manny", Avery tells me.

 Not complete- (I'm searching for the perfect rug, lamp and antique chair within my meager budget!)

But Still there is something satisfying about turning an ugly (or not so attractive) area into something more beautiful ~sigh~

More updates to come!

ps If anyone wants the ceiling fan- its yours (now don't everyone fight over it at once;) 

Easter

We began the festivities with an Easter Egg hunt Good Friday with lots of our church friends

It was very muddy, but made for some good puddle jumpin' for the kiddies!

Avery and a few of her buddies 

Off to hunt eggs!

I actually forgot my camera for the egg hunt-- But some of my good friends got these great pics of my kiddos!  Thanks gals:)

Ansley and Theo

His mom and I had the same due date... He is two weeks older!

& Sunday the Easter Bunny paid our new house a visit!

**I really wanted to be moved into our new house for Easter so- we moved in Easter weekend.

In my mind it all worked out nicely and envisioned us being all settled by Easter morn.

This was not the case and yet again my unrealistic expectations didn't turn out as planned

BUT I did finish Avery's Easter dress by 3am Sunday morning (in time for Easter) and we had a Fantastic Easter morning. (Despite boiling water for baths and our big key fiasco- but we'll save that for another post)

 This is not how I pictured Easter morn in my head but still good:)

We also talked about the resurrection and in my primary class I ventured from the book a little and let all the kids talk about Jesus (their favorite stories and how they feel about him)

It was such a refreshing Sunday and yet another reminder of how grateful I am for our Savior's sacrifice for each of us.

 The girls and the goodies

 Our friends from GA shared Easter with us and it was a treat!

I would have never stayed up til 3am to sew alone...

 Pics of our CUTIES

 It must be impossible to get 4 kids to look at the camera all at once

 Ansley and Carter

I know she loves having a play date all the time like big sis

 Avery and Aubrey

 Neither are looking

But this is them:)

 Ansley was loving huntin' the eggs

 Such a big girl-- makes me a lil sad

 & of course lovin' the chocolate