It's a ......

Girl.....So we will have Girl, Girl, Girl, Girl, Boy, Girl.

Boy was I surprised. I just *knew* that God would give me another boy. The ultrasound tech was quite certain that she was a girl.

I don't have any of Ellie's old baby clothes, except her coming home from the hospital outfit/blanket. I think I may use that. So that means I need to go shopping. All new baby clothes? Shopping? What a chore ;)

Can't wait until Hanna Andersson and Gymboree have some big sales....

Here's to good friends...

Yesterday after church we celebrated Maddie's birthday (which was Jan 3). We invited her good friends the Blackman girls, the Barnard girls (and parents) and one of Kreutzer girls. She was so excited and happy.

Our long lost friends, the Armstrongs, surprised us by saying they were coming. We were so excited and happy. We haven't seen them in years and it was so nice to catch up. Brian and I even held their newest little girl, Violet. She is sooooo cute. Now I can't wait to see our little one!

Even though we were all tired from the long day, it was nice to sit and relax and talk. Brian and I pledge to invite friends over more often.

----------------------------------------------------------------
I thought I would outline what we spent last week on home projects. It wasn't as bad as I thought. We completely transformed the look of the dining room.

Antique buffet: $495
Wood for paneling: $130
Paint: $68
Chandelier: $130
Buffet mirror: $59
Flower painting: $8
Red bill organizer: $10
Total: $900

With the extra hundred left over from our $1000 budget we bought the Pottery Barn Kids desk and chairs at Goodwill for $69.00 and a HUGE clock from Target for $49.00 for the living room. So were were slightly over $1000. We also bought a mudroom rug at Costco for $16 as our dogs had peed on our other one.

So not too bad. We had the money set aside so everything is paid for!

I'm giving Brian and myself a week off so we can work on our new website and then back to fixing up. My next project is the hallway. I need to paint and Brian needs to install some trim moulding on the ceiling. Then *maybe* we can start work on making our bedroom pretty before the baby gets here.

Home reno is never ending but I like it that way ;)

We did it!

We finished! Or at least enough for now. I LOVE how it all turned out. I wasn't too sure about the green wall at first (Brian picked the new paint color) but now I really like it. Adds some zing to our dining room.



We painted just the front door portion of the room green and around the front door and closet the same color as our living room.





I framed some Heather Bailey Freshcut fabric. I didn't get around to making the seat cushion for the bench yet. The foam pad I needed was too expensive so I need to wait for a coupon.



Here is a picture with the new wainscoting paneling. Brian did a fantastic job - even though he got a little carried away with the nail gun. ;)





Here is my buffet. It looks really good in there.



And a basket of limes to go with our new green wall. I picked the basket up at Goodwill for $0.99!

We are exhausted from staying up really late working on it. We have my family coming over today and a birthday party for Maddie after church tomorrow so we really wanted it done. I actually like working on deadlines. It forces me to get things done.

A lot going on...

No formal exercising going on unless you count going up and down a step ladder at 11:00 pm every night. We've been bit by the remodeling bug again and are working hard to do a $1000 dining room makeover. We have almost spent that but I think we have everything we need (except a new green paint color as I HATE the one I picked out).

We gave ourselves a $1000 budget and are trying to completely makeover the dining room. It was painted a nice yellow when we moved in but came with a chandelier that was held together by twist ties. It had crystals hanging off and was a brassy color. I lived with it a whole year. We purchased a new one at Lowe's that I don't love but it is temporary until we can afford a nice one.


The wall had bubbles in the paint and we are not sure if it is because the dishwasher had leaked (it is right behind that wall). When Brian scraped the bubbles off, huge sections of paint and plaster came off. So we decided to do some wainscoting paneling. Like this: 1900 Farmhouse blog . It is the second entry down.

Ours will be painted a creamy white color. We painted the wall by the front door a green that turned out way to minty so we need to buy another quart of a more olive color. The opposite walls are a nice apricot color that brings out the rich wood of our new 1940's buffet. Brian spotted this in an antique shop and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. This was half our budget but I have always wanted a nice piece of furniture that I can hand down to the kids. But I love it so much that I might be buried in it.




We have a bench underneath the front window and I bought this amazing fabric to match. I'm going to make a padded seat cover. The fabric is from Heather Bailey's Freshcut line.


We also painted one wall of our living room red. I love red and this is a deep dark red paint we bought at Lowe's for $5.00 for a whole gallon. It was labeled "mistint".


Oh and I went to Goodwill last night and spotted this desk and chair set for $69.00. It is from Pottery Barn Kids and retails for $350 for the set on their site. It is in excellent condition and is now displayed proudly in our school room.


And here is the newest member of our family. Captain Jack Sparrow.

Not much happening...

I did not exercise yesterday as I was way too tired. I was so tired that for school we put together a 300 piece United States puzzle. The girls had fun and so did I! I attempted to climb Mt. Laundry but instead taught Lauren how to do her own laundry.

Today I felt pretty good so I did 25 minutes of Taebo Advanced and 15 minute upper body weightlifting. Then I put Graedon down for his morning nap, had a shower, good breakfast of 2 eggs and 1/2 cup raisin bran, tea and checked my email.

I finally climbed Mt. Laundry but didn't get all of it done. The cleaning bug came over me so I organized the baking cabinet, cereal cabinet, canned food cabinet, mud room pantry and my sewing room. I also did some sewing during Graedon's afternoon nap while the girls made chocolate chip cookies. What were the girls doing all morning? Cleaning their rooms of course. How they get so messy, I don't know. They sure feel good when everything is cleaned though.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to go for a walk with Grae & Ellie and take Brian with me. Then we are going to paint our dining room. We meant to get it done before Christmas but we both hate painting. So we are just going to do it and get it done.

I'll post some pics when we are done.

Snow day!

Yesterday I got out of bed with every intention of going for a walk. However, when I looked out the window there was 3" of snow and it was still falling. Snow in Oregon is a HUGE deal. We maybe get one light dusting of snow every year so this is a treat. Brian decided to stay home rather than risk his neck driving in this.

Instead of exercising, I made waffles for the kids, cleaned the living room, looked for the gloves and hats that were somewhere in the house. Lauren found them in our shoe closet so we set out to go play in the snow. Let me tell you, chasing an 18 month old in the snow is excersise! Grae loved the snow but didn't like that it got on his boots. At one point, I couldn't find him but since he was constantly saying "snow, snow", I found him pretty quickly. He was wiping snow off the van.

Here are some snow day pictures. Oh and I did excersise today. I went for a 30 minute walk on our snow covered sidewalks.
That is a workout. I was huffing and puffing by the time I got back. No weights today though.

Trying something new...

Even though I'm in my second trimester (almost 5 months along), I still feel very tired. Part of the problem was my thyroid medicine wasn't strong enough but that is straightened out now and I'm not feeling so bone tired. Yesterday after church, I fell asleep in the car on the way home and then crawled into bed and slept another 1.5 hours. I'm wondering if I really started exercising again if it would make a difference.

Sooooo - I'm going to start my excercise program again and to keep myself accountable, I'm going to post what I did everyday. Even if it is just a walk.

This morning I did 35 minutes of TaeBo advanced and am planning on going for a walk with the kids this afternoon. Tomorrow will be a 1.5 mile walk in the morning pushing a double jogging stroller filled with 60 lbs of kids and some weight lifting. That is my goal anyway.

----------

On another note - we got rid of our puppies. We made it 38 days before I had a melt down. The puppies weren't terrible or anything and the girls tried really hard to take care of them. It was me who couldn't deal with one more thing on my plate. We contacted Lori of Free Range Whippets (a whippet rescue place) and she took them on Saturday. Lori thinks she may have already found a home them in Canby! I feel so guilty for buying them in the first place but I really wanted to make the girls happy. Last time I do that ;)

We did get more pets though. We are now proud owners of Captain Jack Sparrow- the betta fish, Barbosa-the black snail and Davy Jones-the golden snail. Much nicer pets and easy to care for. We plan on getting another betta fish and seperate the tank (as the betta will kill each other if in the same space). The girls are going to name him Norrington. These names won't mean anything to you unless you have seen the second Pirates of the Caribbean.

I'll post pics later of their set up.

My Ellie

Ellie, age 3 1/2.

Happy Birthday Maddie!

I'm a little late in posting about you. You're birthday was on January 3 and you turned 10. I had a harder time with your older sister turning 10. I couldn't believe it for a long time. It just seems natural that you turned 10. You still seem like the same Maddie Joy that you've always been. Helpful, cheerful and extremely talkative. Maybe a little less clumsy ;)

You were always a bright spot in our days when you were little. You had your own language and we would ask you questions just to see how you'd answer. I would be talking to you and the next minute you would be on the floor. I still have no idea what you tripped on but I suspect it had to do with the fact that you couldn't talk unless you were jumping up and down.

Now you are my go-to-girl when I need someone to entertain Grae. You expertly handle the DVD player, VCR and the computer. Electronics are your thing and you flock to them.

I'm glad God gave you to us. We weren't sure when you were younger that you would live up to your middle name of Joy, but you did. Thanks for you help everyday. Happy Birthday.

A year of change

2006 was a huge year for the Shearer family. As the kids, Brian and I were playing UNO and the Game of Life:Pirate version on New Years Eve we reflected that 2005 New Years Eve we were waiting for a call from our realtor. We put an offer on this house and were waiting to see if it was accepted. So we decided to put Grae and Ellie to bed and play UNO to pass the time. It was really fun and we ended up getting a call that the house was ours.

Fast forward one year and Grae and Ellie were in bed in my room and we were playing games again. Bri and I were so tired but the girls kept us awake with their giggling. About 9:30 pm the girls went to bed and shortly after Bri and I followed. We are such party animals, lol. I did taste my first champagne though (our friends gave us a bottle of it last year). Not bad but not so good either.

As for changes: we moved into our first house, I didn't kill Grae or myself (which is really a good thing since he has developed into a super fun boy that I couldn't live without), we got two dogs (let's see if they live to see 1 year), ramped up homeschooling and made a consistent schedule, purchased a 12 passenger Chevy Express van (last week), got the flu really bad in our house and worked on remodeling and found out we were expecting our 6th child (hence the new van). The beast.House projects accomplished:
Gutted and rebuilt the bathroom.
Paint bathroom 3 times.
Decorate bathroom.
New roof.
New gutters.
Chimney rebuilt.
Front side of the house siding pulled off, dry rot repair, replace with new cedar siding and paint.
Painted sewing room.
Painted school room.
Painted living room.
Painted fireplace mantle - still need to tile it.
Painted stairs and banister - still need to carpet them.
Painted upstairs.
Painted hallway.
Purchased curtains and 2" wood blinds for downstairs windows.
Started landscaping front and backyard.
Laid brick path in backyard from old chimney bricks.

There is still so much left to do. Our big project is redoing the kitchen. The floor is rotted in one place and we may need to pull out the kitchen cabinents and replace them.

We feel really blessed with this house and are enjoying fixing it up. It is nice to be able to go at our own pace.

Now about the kids:
Lauren, our 11 year old took up knitting and loves to read and write stories. She is a big help around the house and regularly fixes breakfast and lunch for all her siblings.

Maddie, 10 years, is also a big help. She loves to play with Grae when I need to do something and will entertain and baby him. She loves dogs and is being pretty responsible in taking care of Marco and Finn. She also loves to read and is learning how to keep her room clean.

Ava, 8 years, is whacko. She constantly keeps us laughing whether she intends on it or not. She is a delight and has really taken responsibility for the dogs. She is learning patience in playing with Ellie and loves to play with Grae.

Ellie, 3 years, is becoming quite the little lady. She is quickly leaving toddlerhood behind. Ava is teaching her to write and draw. She asked for crayons and a sketch pad for Christmas and has provided us with 1.3 million drawings. She adores her brother and it is neat to see them playing together.

Graedon, 18 months. What can I say about Grae besides I'm totally in love with him. It is hard to believe that he was such a hard baby. He talks all the time and gets so excited about cars, trucks and balls. In church the other day, he clapped and said "yea" everytime we finished singing songs and would yell "Amen" when we were done praying. And I mean yell. He is a delight to all of our family and we fight over who gets to carry him around.

The new baby is growing strong. At the end of the month is another ultrasound so hopefully we can confirm we're having a boy and I can go shopping!

We are a blessed family and God has been good to us. Happy new year!