Winter Fun!

Sam and Alex have been having tons of fun this Winter with all of the snow that has been bestowed upon us.  Besides the multiple trips to South Lake for sledding, they have built 2 snow sculptures with our neighbor.  

Both Sam and Alex helped construct this frog about 2 weeks ago, but today Alex wasn't feeling up to par, so she didn't take part in the building of the turtle that you see below.

Drumroll Please...

Here is the finished project!  We have been working on the house that sits on the 4 acres adjoining our existing six.  It was a complete disaster and we have been getting it ready to rent out... here are some pics.  Just in case any of you have forgotten what it looked before it got my make-over, take a look at my previous post!

 Living Room

 Dining Room

 Dining/Hall

 Kitchen (as you can see, we haven't gotten the doors back on yet because they need shaved to go over the new carpet.

 Dining/Bar/Living Room View

 Master Bedroom

 Dining Room/Staircase

 Attic Bedroom

 Attic Bedroom

 Dining/Kitchen View

Downstairs Bedroom

Our newest project...

As most of you probably know, we have 6 acres that we keep our horses on.  The adjoining 4 acres, barn and house was recently foreclosed on  so we decided to purchase it.  We are closing on it at 9 a.m. in the morning and going directly over to start renovation on the house.  It is a 4 bedroom, cape cod style home that was built on 1916.  The home has been badly neglected so we really have our work cut out for us!  We already have a renter waiting to move in so our goal is to get is livable within a few weeks.  I am really excited to get started, I absolutely love fixing up old homes.  Here are a few "before" pictures to give you an idea of what we are starting with!

 This is the dining room.  I will be painting this room and having new carpet installed.

 This is the living room.  I will be painting this room as well, and having new carpet installed.

 This is the kitchen.  It actually has custom, amish-made cabinets so I expect that they will look very nice when I get them cleaned up.  I had to have 2 replacement drawers made because the former owners took them when they left.

 This is one of the downstairs bedrooms.  I will be installing new carpet in this room and just doing some general clean up.  The upstairs has 2 attic bedrooms in it.  We have to insulate due to the fact that the home has absolutely NO insulation and we also have to build closets in these 2 rooms as well as paint them.

This is the front of the home.  For now, general clean up is all we are going to be able to do because of the bad weather.  In the spring I plan to power wash the siding and paint the shutters.

Sam's Sleepover!

Sam had her 3 best friends over for a sleepover.  We ordered pizza then treated the girls to a night of pampering at our "spa!"  We did mani/pedi's, foot soak, facials, make-up, and hair.  A very special thank you to Janice and Chrissy for helping me!

 We draped the furniture in white sheets, sprinkled 200 rose petals all around the room (yes... 200!) and lit tons of red and white candles.  Each girl got their own robe, pillow and a gift bag full of beauty essentials.

 We served sparkling grape juice, chocolate covered cherries, and chocolate cream puffs.

 Chrissy is a hairdresser and was nice enough to do each girl's hair... they looked beautiful!