Sweet Home NJ: One Year Later

As of October 31st, 2012 we moved into our first house here in NJ! Halloween marked our one year anniversary and we have come a long way from where we started... Here are some pictures of all our projects and a tour of our home! I have been enjoying HGTV a little too much, so for dramatic effect I posted 'before and after' pictures!

Entryway Before

I am pretty sure wallpaper removal is my least favorite home improvement chore.

Entryway After

Paint, no more textured wallpaper!

 Den/Playroom Before

That TV is making me nervous...

 Den/Playroom After

Paint & curtains do wonders :)

Dining Room Before

Dining Room After 





Close up of our gorgeous fall tree!

 Powder Room Before

 Powder Room After

Removed wallpaper and painted

Here's some pictures of our kitchen... it is the reason we bought the house! I love the range, soft-close cabinets and wine fridge. We plan on getting stainless steel dishwasher and fridge eventually to complete it :)

 

Love to cook on my range



Wine fridge and glass front cabinet

Living Room Before

The previous owners were huge music fans... those shelves held tons of cd's and records.

 Living Room After

Paint, Roman Shade and Furniture

 

Loving my built ins :)

Master Bedroom Before

The windows made it hard to arrange the furniture in the room.

 

Master Bedroom After

 

We centered our bed under window, added curtains and paint.

Master Bath Before

No storage, leaking pink 50's tile...

Master Bath After

Still tiny, but brand new with storage and no leaks!

Girl's Bathroom Before



Tiny sink, no storage and peeling bathtub



 Girls Bathroom After

New tile and tub, clean and white with storage!

Lindsay's Room

Madison's Room

Her room isn't always this dark... it's just a dark cloudy day!

Guest Room

Found a place for all my navy blue Pepperdine décor...Bed is comfy and ready for visitors!

 I can't believe we have lived in our home for a year...in some ways it feels like we just got here, and others like we've been in for years.  Over the past year we have made NJ our home, and jumped into our new lives with gusto. I am pretty sure we suffered from a bout of insanity while we feathered our nest. We completed 2 bathroom renovations, painted the entire house (including closets), removed wallpaper and hung pictures in our home all within 3 months... with two young kids!!  Needless to say, there was a lot of painting during naptimes and after the girls went to bed.  On the weekends one of us would do a project, while the other one watched the girls, then we switched! It feels SO fantastic to simply live in our house and enjoy it without seeing projects everywhere. I have new appreciation for all the home renovation shows and the huge undertaking it is live in a construction zone. Jarrett and I both agree we will not be spending our retirement flipping houses...LOL. Thank you again to Papa for coming to help out with our renovations... couldn't have done it without you! A special thanks to Grammie for coming out, too, and babysitting so we could get a few projects done! And thank you to Gigi and Nonna for helping make it all possible.  (:

Happy Halloween 2013

We had a busy October, filled with Halloween celebrations and sweet friends!

The Mom's Club I joined earlier in the year had their annual Halloween Party, and Lindsay and Madison were so excited to wear their costumes and play with their friends.  

One of the craft tables... Lulu loved the playdoh! 

 Lindsay and her buddy Patrick

 Sweet Madison being a ham...

When our Tuesday friends came to play we had a little Halloween party at our house with a couple crafts and pizza!

Madison aka Minnie Mouse

Lindsay aka Fairy Princess

Happy Halloween!

Love, The Fishers 

Grey Hairs & Ice Cream

My youngest has been giving Mama & Daddy a ton of grey hairs lately:

TA-DA! Look at me Mama!

Unloading the dishwasher and I turn around and see this:

I help you Mama!

Our sweet, funny girl loves ice cream... Since her last well-baby visit we have been trying to help her put on some weight and we got the ok from the Dr. to give her lots of high calorie foods: avocado, cheese, eggs, butter and ice cream! In the beginning of the video J captured her saying "I-Keem" .

Funny story: Our family took a drive after dinner one evening to check out some cool houses in our neighborhood all decked out with lights and Halloween decorations. We happened to pass our neighborhood Rita's Frozen Custard stand to see if it was still open even though it was fall. The last time we had been was in August, and we drove by slow, and saw the sign, "See you next year!". Bummer. We turned back onto the road, and Madison was apparently watching closely and said clear as day, "Hey! I-Keem!" and as we kept going she said it again, "HEY! I won I-keem!!" (I want ice cream) One of her first full sentences, and yes, it was about ice cream. LOL.

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we finally made it to the pumpkin patch! Between birthday parties and busy work schedules, we were so happy to have an easy-going weekend to hang out and enjoy our sweet girls and the season. Here are a few pictures I snapped with Jarrett's phone...

 

Next weekend:  A little cold weather, and that means it is time for our annual family walk-along-the-canal to enjoy the fall foliage with Bent Spoon Hot Chocolates!!

All about Lulu

Lindsay Diane, 3.5 yrs

 Our sweet first born will be FOUR in a few short months... what a beautiful, loving and smart little lady she is! I have been meaning to write this posting for awhile now, but it shocks me how fast time passes. I saw a quote online about being a Mama, "Days are long, but years fly by"... how true!! 

Over Labor Day weekend we took advantage of all the fantastic sales and picked up a full size mattress for Lindsay's final conversion of her crib to toddler bed and now to a full size head board.  

We put all the bedding on her bed and told her to come inside, "Surprise!!" (Don't you love the black church shoes? She was 'tap dancing'...LOL)

"I LOVE my new bed!!"

One day in Homegoods Lindsay saw the ballerina quilt and said, "Mama! Look those ballerinas have blonde hair like me! I love ballet too!" We were lucky enough to find all the matching coordinates so I made the executive decision (or Lindsay actually) to just go ahead and get it!

Lindsay slept great, and told us, "Now I have room for all my friends!!" We limited her slumber party stuffed animals to 3-4.

I made some blackout panels in lavender polka dots, and her room was finished! I have some frames I want to put a couple ballet pictures in, but I am waiting for the perfect photos.  Madison loves to climb in bed with Sissy and read stories together. Lindsay already let me know when her cousins come to visit, she wants them to sleep with her...I doubt there will be much sleeping going on!!

Lulu has been into anything ballet lately, and been loving her little ballet class at the YWCA on Monday afternoons. They are putting on a mini Nutcracker in December, and I am looking forward to watching her perform...LOL. Hopefully this time she won't be the last kid on stage needing to be pulled off..

Inside her dance class... SHHH! I was sneaking a pic.. no parents allowed!

Little Miss Sasafrass!

I have been watching 3 kids for a few hours on Tuesdays, and Lindsay and Madison have loved having a play date every week at their house!  Their Mamas are leaders in our chapter of Community Bible Study, and I watch the kiddos while they can meet and plan on Tuesdays. They are fantastic, sweet little ones and we love having them come hang out every week. It gets a little crazy, but it is so much fun! Lindsay is a great hostess, and shares her toys and mediates among the kids.

Hello Leaves! Pretty hard to rake leaves with 5 kids running through your pile... but it sure is fun to jump in!



Popcorn snack time with kiddos... Peyton (5 yr), Jack (4 yr.) Madison (20 mo.) Lulu (4.5 yrs.) Tegan (3 yrs.)

Lindsay is inquisitive, and always has questions about the world around her. She has been doing great in our "preschool practice" during the week, and has been learning so much! We have been working on using scissors, writing her name and letter sounds. We went to a friends birthday party on Saturday and she was so proud to write her friend's name on the card, then sign her name at the bottom!! I hope she will be a lifelong lover of learning!

Concentrating hard doing "Preschool Practice"

Love you my Lindsay Loo! xo