Little violin player

Little A has now had four violin lessons. So far she has just learned how to hold the violin and bow correctly, and she gets to start learning a song next week!

Musical cousins

We had B's family over for dinner on Sunday night, and Little A and Cousin E turned into rock stars:




Loving on Riley the cat.


Cousins on the front porch: Sweet and silly!

Happenings at the house

Last weekend it was time to bring home the rest of the family. Zippy and Harmony (Quarter Horses) and Skip (Paint Horse), along with Molly, our Lab, all joined us thanks to some hard work by B and his dad. B's dad has worked very hard to help make things nice in the barn for B. He even gave B the panels to build a corral in the field. I think father and son are enjoying working together on "their" barn! It is fun to see them enjoying it so much.






Big A loves to help her Daddy in the barn. Here she is helping to prepare Skip's stall.


Unloading the horses!



Big A is finally reunited with her dog. She has visited Molly frequently over the last year and a half, but with the horses and dog living over on the flood property, it hasn't been the same. She is ecstatic about having her dog home.






Oh, and let's not forget that the weekend's activities also included hanging my Heartwood Creek shelf. Now, it REALLY feels like my kitchen.


B is really home now ...

Turning a house into a home -- "Before" and "After" photos part 2

Welcome to a tour of the downstairs. Here in the entry way we have a lovely bull skull. A nice touch by the seller, but not exactly the look we were going for. So, we replaced it with the ever popular "big clock" look. I think this space still needs something, but I'm not sure what.



Now we have a few shots of the living room and kitchen "before" the Zoefamily added its touch:



And "after." ... The window still needs something. We definitely want to get wood blinds eventually. Not sure what to do in the meantime. Drapes? A valance? Nothing?




And now we have the living room "accessories" we like to call Little A and Big A (on their second day of school 2009.)



The kitchen is coming together.


I leave you today with a photo of the "office" before we moved in, followed by a shot of its current status (lest you think we have everything done at this time.)

Moving day photos

Moving OUT of the duplex! Our LifeGroup friends were there to move us out, just like they moved us in a year and a half ago.


Our friend S brought these housewarming gifts for the girls.



I'm going to just share pictures of the girls' rooms today because I was so determined to get these finished before school started (today). At first we weren't going to attempt to paint before moving in, but some girls from LifeGroup talked me into it when I expressed concern about the difficulty for the kids to adjust to a new school year and a new home all in one week. I think they were correct that finishing their rooms would go a long way to giving them the sense of security they have needed. It was hard, but we pulled it off ... and they are SO proud of their new rooms.

Big A's new room. She loves it!



Little A's room. Perfect for the little pink princess.


"Before" in Little A's room:



And "before" in Big A's room.



Check back later for more before-and-after photos.

First day of school!

Well we made it -- we got moved in by the first day of school (my self-imposed deadline). Here's our new fifth grader and first grader, all ready for school and posing on the front porch of their new house.



So excited for first grade. Watch out world, here I come!


Fifth grade and almost 11 years old. How did she get so grown up?


Boarding the bus!

Swine flu? Nope ...

So I went to the doctor today after five days of this crud. I couldn't shake the fever, which has been as high as 102.5, and I could tell the bronchitis was settling in ... so I went to the doctor. What I didn't anticipate is that they would assume I could have the swine flu. I guess the nurse told the receptionist to be expecting me, because she asked if I was Ashli when I walked into the office.

As soon as I said yes, she handed me a mask. Yes, the mask of shame. I had to sit there in the waiting room wearing it (hiding behind a magazine). But I wasn't there long. I guess they didn't want me getting my swine fluness all over the waiting room, so they shuttled me back quickly (note to self: describe swine flulike symptoms in the future for shorter waiting time.)

The nurse explained that because all my symptoms were characteristic of the dreaded HINI, they had to assume I had it until they could rule it out. So I had to get swabbed (OUCH ... and my mommy wasn't there to hold me and promise me an ice cream cone the way I do my kids when they must endure such trials. So sad.) Then I had to wait half an hour for the results, which were negative.

After that the doctor made quick work of diagnosing bronchitis and sinusitis, which is what I could have told him when I walked in the door. Oh well, at least I left with a Z-Pack.

Getting settled

The Zoefamily is settling in at our new home. Things have been somewhat complicated by me getting sick the day before the big move (this is what I get for not sleeping for a week straight getting ready for moving day I suppose). Yesterday morning I had a fever of 102.5, which let me tell you if you haven't had one like that in a while, it feels like DEATH.

But we are getting settled in amazingly well under the circumstances ... as evidenced by Internet restoration. YAY! We still don't have gas here (thankfully the hot water heater is electric; unfortunately the stove and dryer are not.) And B hasn't hung my Jim Shore/Heartwood Creek shelf yet, which means it's not really looking like my house yet. But, I have to say that overall things are going very well. We are simply ecstatic about this house.

Photos of the progress coming tomorrow. And the next day is the first day of school for Big A and Little A!

One day closer

B and I spent last night working at the new place while the girls stayed home with their favorite babysitter (you know who you are!). There are no exciting photos to recount last night's events. Mostly we cleaned. B also hung a curtain rod or two and did some fix-it jobs like that.

Not the stuff of great photos, BUT ... it's all getting us ready for TOMORROW, which is officially moving day!

Living room furniture arrives!

Bringing in the new couch.


This is the love seat in the room that is currently without a name. I am calling "the office," but I'm not sure that quite fits. It is really just a second living area. Will have this love seat, the computer desk and eventually shelves. (It is technically a formal dining room, but that's not how we want to use it now.)


Trying out the new recliner.

Painting progress

Warning: If you don't care so much about seeing the decorating process of my house, you're gonna get tired of this blog .... I plan to chronicle every step of making this place our home. It's a great journal for me to go back and see all the "before and after" photos to mark this exciting time for us. So it's much as to create history for me as it is to share the process with friends and family. So, welcome to the "Decorating La Case Zoesphere blog!"

Worked last night on adding another coat of yellow in Big A's room and pink in Little A's room. I am frustrated that we ran out of pink paint, so we weren't able to finish in there last night. We are mostly done in Big A's room, but need to finish up the trim and corners (where lime meets yellow.)

BUT ... I was able to sort of finish one aspect of Big A's room. The window seat. Got three coats of yellow in the little wall spot and added the curtains and pillows to give us a sense of completion. We'll still need to add blinds. But here is the before and after.

Here you can see the window seat before:


Here are the throw pillows I bought to spruce up this spot, plus I've placed one of her pillow shams there so you can see how the bedding will match the color scheme. As you can see, there are lots of bright colors going on!