A lovely day

This is February in San Diego...even during an El Nino year.  I'll let the pictures from our hike speak for themselves.  I hope we are still living here when we are old and looking back at these blog books.  Oh...and for historical purposes...future selves...this is the day after the giant 8.8 earthquake in Chile that resulted in our first Tsunami warning since living on the coast.  (It was tiny.)
Please Note:  The happy pictures at the end are the result of M&M bribes.

The Family Room

Back in October, Keith and I decided we were ready to decorate our family room.  We hoped we could get it done in time for the holidays.  Silly us...we had know idea what a project we were starting.  This was a big decision because we had empty spaces the builder had included in the floorplan for built-ins.  Built-ins cost some bucks.  I thought we would have had them done after a year of living here.  Then we made another human and that costs some bucks too.  So we waited.  The next year we needed a new car.  The next year I was laid off.  There was always something but we continued to try to save for it.  So, here we are doing our part to try to get the economy back on track.  Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware should send us Thank You cards. 

Here is the evolution of our family room.

This is right when we moved in.  We were using our furniture we bought when we first got married and we were living in our 900 square feet rental.  That leather chair was our second big purchase with my Pottery Barn discount.  We still love it...but in a different room.

This was a couple months of living in the house.  I bought this sectional against Keith's advice...he thought it was too big for the room but I was pregnant and excited to sit my growing bootie in that corner seat.  Notice the walls are still white and we have nothing on the windows.  The other two boys you see in the picture are the Bowman twins on their first visit down here.

Next we have the walls painted and the furniture has been moved around.  The sectional was moved to the living room.  The sectional moved back and forth from this room about 33 million times.  Don't ask me why...it's just something I do.  I like to rearrange my furniture when something about the layout is just not working.  It makes it feel new without spending money.

Last March, Keith put trim all around our windows.  Then he installed some wood blinds too.

Before the work started on the built-ins, I let Sam and Elise paint the inside area and sign their names.

The building begins!

Santiago and his team did the final paint job once everything was installed.  The next morning was an adventure to the Children's hospital emergency room for Sam.  He was in major pain.  I was wondering if it was related to the paint fumes.  The doctor's office thought it was appendicitis.  The official diagnosis from the ER doc was that it was a "giant poop ball."  A $350 poop is what it was.  But that's a story for another time.

This is the side angle of our coffee table.  The rug under it has been returned. 

It was fighting with our chairs so it had to go. 

The new rug on its way is something like this.  Plain and shaggy and thick and soft.

So the rug, one more plant to fill an empty basket and something over the fireplace are the last things we need.  Other than that we are done!

I am now the owner of real living houseplants. 

Which for me is more frightening and intimidating than owning two little people. 

There it is!  We love it!  It feels very adult....but the kids love it too. 

Sam said, "Mommy, that could be in a catalog, I am serious." 

Feel free to let me know what you think!

Recap

Since my last post we have been very busy, a little sick, and for some reason not very motivated to blog.  We have really been enjoying our time with Papa and Curly who are slowly getting settled in their new home.  Thankfully, San Diego has been showing off with good weather which I think is making the transition easier.

We started the month by celebrating Curly's birthday.

My sister, Kerry, made the adorable cake topper.  She made one for Ayla for her first birthday...I thought one for a 67th birthday would be cute too.  I casually mentioned it to Kerry and a few hours later she sent me a picture of the Curly doll she made.  I love it!

With a red velvet cake mix, I made and we ate lots of cakepops for the Valentine's parties at the kid's schools. 

The kids are enjoying getting to know the neighborhood around Papa and Curly's new house.  While supervising the monkeys on their scooters, I keep myself entertained taking pictures of what they leave on the street. 

Over the long holiday weekend, we spent a day at Legoland with some friends...

and some of our cousins and aunts and uncles.

Three nights ago, we played May I  with Papa and Curly.

May I  is a card game that my grandma Moon taught us years ago. 

We have been teaching anyone who will play with us and we have Papa and Curly addicted to the game.

I kept score... Papa won and then guess what happened.

He went into his famous "Vapor Lock" as Keith calls it.

I have also been busy taking pictures of Sam's class for the school Yearbook.

And we have been working on decorating our family room.  It is almost done.

I'll post pictures of the finished room when it's all complete.

(That's Gramma Moon in the picture on my bookshelf.  She fell down last month but has been making a slow and steady recovery.  She is quite remarkable, a polio survivor and she is fighting to keep walking in her young 90's.  I am convinced she must hold a world record for being the oldest walking polio survivor...I am still researching but can't find any statistics on the subject.)

I am so excited to have an actual decorated room that looks like it belongs in this house. 

It looks like it was actually decorated by an adult and not just a hodgepodge of furniture that we tried to make work.  It took four years to get one room done. 

Maybe we'll look all moved in by the time the kids are moving out. ;-)