Budding Musicians

Sam and Elle have started piano lessons this year. To say they are excited about it, is an understatement. I literally can't keep them off the piano! I often hear, "Mommy, can we play just one song??" They are already playing duets together, and duets with me! Sam is slightly ahead of Elle, but not by much. I'm very proud of their accomplishments in the 3 short months they have been taking lessons. Sometimes I see so much of myself in them, it makes me anxious to see where God will take their musical abilities.

Then...there is Jack. Many times I hear the piano playing and I think it is Sam or Elle, only to find out it was Jack! His musical ears are hearing what they play and he figures it out and plays it too! It freaks me out a little. Like..what do I do with this? He's only 3! Time will tell.

The picture you see above is the picture I was telling you that is going over my piano in the new red room (see previous blogs). It is enlarged to a 20 X 30 poster and framed. You can't find that picture at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Those are my 6 sweet little hands playing over the keys of our very own piano. This picture makes me smile every time I see it. If I am ever a music teacher again, I'm getting another copy to go up in my classroom!

(photography by Gramps B)

New Entry Way

Picture this: You walk through the front door of a house to be greeted with cream colored walls, decorated with mauve sponge painting splashed all over the 2-story foyer. You look above the stairs only to see the most horrible brass and crystal chandlier you have ever seen. It seriously belonged in the hotel lobby of a cheesy vegas hotel in the 1980's. The sconces that lined the 2nd floor hallway were of the brass candleabra family, belonging in the same hotel as the chandelier.

That was no entry way from my imagination, no sirrrrreee. That was our entry way in our new home until we painted the 2 story foyer and replaced the chandlier and hallway sconces. Unfortunately, the before pics I have of this lovely entry way would not go on the blog. Oh well...

So. Here you see the newly painted entry way! For those of you familiar with our IL home, the paint is the same color we had in our fireplace room/entry. Doesn't it look so much greener here against the wood trim?? I still love the color. We live in a treehouse. Why not be greeted with a little green on the inside too!?

Friends

Without a doubt, the most difficult thing about moving is not leaving the beloved town or house, but leaving dear friends. To my friends reading this blog, know that you are missed and thought of daily. Poor Dean, my social husband, keeps wanting to invite people over to hang out and we have but a few people to call on. I wish I could have taken all of you with me to live here with us. The lot next to us is for sale :o)

With all that being said, I'd like to introduce you to someone who I have met in the last 3 months and I would consider my first real friend in Wausau. She's the best. Sometimes I joke with her that we live the same life. Seriously. Beth, and her engineer husband who loves excel spread sheets as much as Dean...Nate, have also just moved to Wausau. They beat us here by about 6 months, and in their move, they also suffered through apartment living. Beth was a teacher until she had her children, then stayed home to be with them. Her children consist of a 2nd grade daugher, kindergarten daughter, and 3 1/2 yr. old son! Elle and her daughter are in the same class at school! The list goes on and on how similar we are, but the most important thing is that she is a genuine, real, easy going, fun-loving person who I can see going through life with for a long time. Beth and Nate have definately helped ease the pain of leaving our friends behind while creating our new life here in WI.

So...the children you see in the above pictures are her children with mine on Halloween. We trick-or-treated together and had so much fun. Both of our families bought down-hill ski passes and skis for all the kids, so we plan on doing lots of "skiing" this winter...i.e. time on the bunny hill teaching them to ski :o)

Enjoy the pics, and stay tuned for more "before and after" pics of the house!!

The Piano Room - AFTER

Here you have it! My "crackled" piano room! It is still unfinished, as I have an awesome picture to go above the piano (you will see it posted soon!) and the other picture (currently resting on piano) still needs to go on the wall somewhere. But you get the idea. I hope you like it :o)

Check out the next blog for the great "before" pics of this room!!

BEFORE

Here you see the piano room "BEFORE" it's makeover.

The top picture we took the first time we went through the house. Notice the pink wallpaper. love it....

The bottom 2 pictures were taken after we moved in, with our stuff in it, with pink wallpaper gone, but still not painted. (btw...the pink wallpaper came off the day we closed on the house!!)

Croup, Colds, and Crackle

I'm still here. I haven't left you.

*My absence began with Jack getting croup.

*Then, I decided to paint my dining room and do a crackle finish with it. Took a whole week. Jack still had croup.

*Then, I got the most major cold ever. EVER. Knocked me out for 2 days and I am still recovering.

So that's where I've been. I'm dying to give you a before and after of my new, fabulous dining room (really, it's a piano room) but I'm waiting for a couple finishing touches to be completed. So keep watch, the pics are coming!!

Ramblings

We have the most beautiful tree across the street from our house. Seriously. Sometimes it is truly glowing.

The other night we took our first family bike ride in our new town. I guess you could say it was a family bike ride-walk. We live on top of a hill, and although it is fun to go down, it's not so fun to go back up. The weather was as crispy warm as fall gets and the smell of leaves hung in the air. We had a great time, rode about 7 miles and in the end, as we were "walking" up the hill home, Jack fell asleep in the bike trailer. Strange place #57 where Jack has fallen asleep.

There are so many trees in our backyard, sometimes as I look out the window, it appears as though it is raining leaves. Really, it's quite magical.

I painted room #2. Sam's room. No longer pink. Yippee! It is similar to his old room except 2 walls are a deep red and 2 walls are a crisp khaki. Looks great with his blue beds and pottery barn quilts.

Something happened to me during this move. I can no longer stand the beds not made and my house not clean, at the very least, picked up. I used to feel so relaxed about that and I fear I am turning into my brother-in-law. No...I'm not that bad...but the clean house sure is nice. Maybe it helps having kids in school again.

Apparently, we are now a skiing family. We just bought 5 new pairs of skis and season passes to Granite Peak. Now I just need some lessons :o) Really, I just need some cute ski clothes :o) The kids are so excited though. For a week straight, the first thing Jack asked me in the morning was "are we going skiing today??"

And how about those Packers anyway!!???? I love Wisconsin.