busy busy busy!

Hey everyone!  I wanted to start out by saying that I’m so sorry I haven’t updated sooner, with the moving and unpacking and everything, things have been very hectic! I also want you to know this is going to be a rather long entry with all the catching up I have to do!

I want to start out with showing you some pictures of the new house!  I’m posting everything but the master bedroom and master bath because those are the last to get cleaned and right now they are both covered in dirty and clean clothes….which I should be folding but I’d rather jump on here and update first :) This is a picture of the front of the new house, everything is starting to bloom and the old owners had the most beautiful landscaping so I’m thrilled that its all coming back again this year!  All we have to do now is keep up with it, which shouldn’t be a problem considering Jimmy’s favorite new toy is his lawnmower and edge trimmers!  This second picture is a picture of PART of the back yard, we have a HUGE back yard which will really come in handy when the boys get a little older but for right now this is the best part about it, Jimmy’s new grill! (and the strawberry patch off to the right that’s barely showing)  Jim loves to come out to the patio (which we do A LOT since the weather has gotten nice) and grill dinner…its fast, easy, and DELISHIOUS!  What more could you ask for! 

This is our beautiful Kitchen! (taken from the hallway)  We decided to paint it a dark red color and we just LOVE how it turned out!  Please excuse the dirty dishes in the sink, the dishwasher was running and those wouldn’t fit!  Which, by the way, doesn’t happen often, that dishwasher has a much better layout than the one at the apartment, thank goodness! I also love the dark counters and counter tops!  The stove cooks at the CORRECT temperature which is just wonderful since the one at the apartment had to be set for 50 degrees lower than what the recipe called for and the top burners didn’t work, this one works like a charm!  I am also very surprised that I like our kitchen table in here as much as I do.  The table was my dad’s and I liked it okay but wasn’t super happy with it and always planned on getting a new one eventually, however, I think it matches everything in the kitchen perfectly, including the blinds, and am having second thoughts on replacing it.  I think what we’re going to do now is just buy new chairs since the ones we have are actually folding chairs.  (Not like anyone knows the difference)  You can also see the beautiful chandelier that my wonderful husband bought me for my birthday…and the awesome bar lights Jim and his brother Don installed for me to hang over my bar!  I must say when its all said and done, I just truly LOVE my new kitchen.  Its perfect for our family and Its perfect for me!

Our living room was a stressful adventure.  We could not agree on a color to save our lives and finally came across this dark golden color.  On paper it was beautiful, the paint swatches of the red and gold looked so good together, but Jim and I were super skeptical on how it would look on all the walls in the living room, entry hall and hallway…we didn’t want it to be gold overload. Thank goodness that once we took the plunge thinking “its only paint, it can be changed” we LOVED it.  The color isn’t something that I would normally pick out but its not over powering like I thought it was going to be!  Our second challenge in this room was how to set up the furniture, we wanted it to remain open so the boys would have room to play, but since the couch couldn’t really go against a wall it had to be placed in the middle of the room.  After rearranging the furniture a MILLION and one times, we finally found a layout that we both really enjoy, not to mention one that lends itself to plenty of crawling space.   Please excuse the massive mess of toys in the floor…I take them out to play every morning and put them away every night, so during the day they litter my floor…oh well.  The living room has turned out better than I could have ever imagined it being.  Its wonderful and it works really well with the kitchen.  I just love how open and welcoming it feels when I walk in!  I love my home and I love being here!  That in itself is a HUGE step in the right direction considering how miserable it was being at the apartment all the time.  Being here all the time is nice, and I don’t feel over crowded!

This is the bonus room…right now its being used as a guest room.  It makes a wonderful guest room, mainly because it has its own thermostat and since its the only room upstairs it offers some privacy to our guest.  Eventually we would like to make this into either the  guest room/office/playroom/ sewing room, OR if we have another boy (and no, we’re not getting pregnant any time soon) we’d like to make it into an all boys room and put Wyatt and Lucas up here with their *possible* brother.  However if we have another girl then the boys will stay where they are now and this will become the multi-purpose room I’m secretly hoping it becomes! Hey, a girl can dream right?!?

This is our current office/playroom/sewing room….although to be honest not much play goes on in here yet, the boys spend most their time in the living room…which is fine with me being as this room is just full of things they can get into at this point.  I’ve kind of taken over this room for myself.  This is where I spend most of my *free* time, when and IF I’m lucky enough to get any.  Jim and I made a deal that if I quit smoking then he would buy me a sewing machine…I wanted that sewing machine so bad!  I’ve made 3 bags so far and am looking forward to making a few more then altering the style, making it my own, and possibly selling diaper bags eventually.  I’ve got a long way to go before I get to that point, but for now, I’m really enjoying learning how to do everything.  Much thanks to my wonderful grandmother who gave me all her old scrap fabric to play with and practice on.  I’ve had so much fun with it already!

Now I know everyone has been waiting to see this room, Its the guest/boys bathroom!  LoL…don’t worry, the nursery is coming up in a minute! We decided on a nice blue color in here for two reasons, first, we wanted it to have good coloring for when we do have guest (putting on makeup is important), second, we wanted it to be kind of boyish also since it IS the boys bathroom. We went with the polka-dots because I didn’t want to do anything too “childish” and I wanted it to be cute but still classy…I’ve really come to enjoy this bathroom, its calming and best of all I hardly ever have to clean it cause no ones uses it regularly! (at least not yet, I realize this will change when the boys get older) But for now it stays clean and the only time I have to mess with it is after we have guest or after the boys take a bath.  Not bad in my book considering the rest of the house gets SO messy EVERY SINGLE DAY…then again, I wasn’t expecting anything different!  We also hung Jim’s vintage fireman pictures in this bathroom which I was very skeptical on at first thinking that they wouldn’t match, but they have really grown on me and for some reason I LOVE them in here….I’m even considering buying him more prints from the same collection to add to the decor.  Just a thought.

Okay, I wont tease you any more….Its time for the nursery!   We picked a “Texas” orange for the boys room…very hard for me to do considering I’m a Tennessee fan, however, it goes so well with the cowboy theme we’re going for.  At this point the only “cowboy” stuff is on the walls, mainly because cowboy bedding cost an arm and a leg and I had to buy two bedding sets…um, they can deal with farm babies, after all, its close right?!?   We were a bit concerned after we painted because before we got decoration on the walls the black furniture made it look like Halloween in there, thank goodness that once we got it all finished it doesn’t look like a picture in an October magazine LoL.  I made the name plates that are hanging over their cribs and Honey and Poppie gave us the wonderful sheriff badges and cowboy boots!  We got the cow humidifier from Grandma Daveluy and it has seriously saved the boys…It made a HUGE difference.  She also gave us the beautiful little barnyard lamp to match the boys bedding…although I have a feeling it will be around long after the bedding is gone!  The bookshelf was one of many projects that Jim and I took on before the boys were born, we painted it black with a gold background…it matches the name plates I made, but not much else…regardless it provides priceless storage space that we desperately needed for their room, therefore, it stays! :)

Well folks, that would be the end of the tour.  Like I said, I will eventually post pictures of the master bedroom and master bath but right now they are covered in clothes and to be honest its a bit embarrassing.

Now that that’s out of the way,let me fill you in on everything that has happened since my last update. I’m going to start with Easter Sunday since that was the next major event in our lives.  That was the day we finally found a home church.  Some of you may know that Jim and I have been searching for a home church for a long time now.  We began looking when I found out I was  pregnant and never found a church that spoke to both of us.  It was always either he liked it and I didn’t, or I liked it and he didn’t, sometimes it was we both liked it but it was missing something we were looking for (like a great nursery and awesome youth group)  We really wanted to find a place that fit us perfectly.   Both of us agreed that we wanted a smaller church but we wanted the benefits of a larger church, not something easily come by.  When we moved out to Arlington my grandmother told me about Bellevue Arlington, its a satellite church to the MASSIVE Bellevue out in Cordova.  We never visited there because it was so big, but we thought that since Bellevue Arlington only has 300+ members and is directly linked to the “main campus” and therefore offered all the same services of a massive church with 5,000+ members we just might be getting the best of both worlds.  We LOVE it there.  It has everything we’re looking for!  We’ve already joined a small group that meets on Sunday nights and we’re going to start going to a young married couples class on Wednesday nights!  We’ll have to find a babysitter for our Sunday night meetings, but on Wednesdays they offer childcare for free while you meet with your class.  Jim and I are both very excited to get involved with a church and even more excited to meet other young married couples with children! Anyways, back to Easter Sunday.  That afternoon after church we went and visited my grandparents, Great Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell.  We took a few pictures but the boys weren’t really in any mood to be photographed so we went back later in the week and got all dressed up and took our Easter Pictures.  Personally I think we got some really beautiful pictures of us with the boys!  My whole life I’ve been taking pictures at Grandma’s house in front of the azaleas and now I’m so excited to start that tradition with my own children!  I hope they grow to enjoy it and appreciate it as they get older, I know I wish I had taken more time to enjoy it when I was younger.

The weekend after Easter was our big Branson trip.  Jim and I had so much fun celebrating our anniversary and even though we deeply missed our children, I wouldn’t have changed that weekend for the world!  We left Memphis Thursday afternoon and made it to Honey and Poppie’s house in time to feed the boys their 4:30 dinner.  We spent the night in Beebe on Thursday night since we weren’t going to be able to stay very long on  Sunday when we picked up the boys.  We wanted to make sure to spend some time with them, we miss them a lot and don’t get to see them as often as we’d like, plus we wanted to make sure the boys were settled in before we left them.  Early Friday morning Jim and I left Beebe for Branson.  When we arrived we found The  Bradford Inn, where we were staying.  It was WONDERFUL but check in time wasn’t for a few more hours so Jim and I visited the Stone Hill Winery where we went for a free tour and wine tasting.  We ended up purchasing a bottle and enjoyed it the rest of the weekend!  Afterwards we checked into our hotel and headed to Branson Landing for a little shopping and an awesome cocktail cruise with a beautiful view of the fire and water show on the shore.  We really enjoyed our evening together.  The next day we headed to the Big Cedar Lodge Spa for a relaxing couples massage.  It was so cool, first the lady gave Jim a massage and showed me everything she was doing, then she gave me a massage and showed Jim everything she was doing!  Now we can give one another amazing massages at home if we ever have any free time.  It was so relaxing and honestly my favorite part of the whole trip!  Afterwards we headed to the strip and enjoyed a tour of the Hollywood Wax Museum.  We  decided to do the wax museum because we had taken a similar tour in Gatlinburg on our wedding weekend and thought it would be fun to do the same in Branson.  We also had the opportunity to play a fun virtual reality game with lots of shooting!  I think that was Jim’s favorite part of the trip.  After that we went though a mirror maze which was so much fun…The whole time I was thinking how difficult it would be to build a mirror maze….I’d get lost trying to put up mirrors!! LoL.  After that we went straight to the Dixie Stampede, we got there in time to enjoy a very funny pre-show.  We went to the Dixie Stampede in Gatlinburg the night of our wedding, and we both really enjoyed it so when we realized there was one in Branson it was a no brainer that we were going to attend a show there and once again, we weren’t disappointed!  The show was wonderful and as usual the food was delicious!  Once the show let out everything was closing and Jim and I decided that we wanted to have a little fun so we went to a hole in the wall karaoke/dance bar.  We had a blast!  I even got  up and sang a Dixie Chicks song!  We got home pretty late that evening but enjoyed every minute of our time in Branson.  The next morning it was time to leave and as much fun as we had I think we were both very ready to be back with the boys!

That night we got home about two hours before Jeff and Meghan and their beautiful daughter Grace arrived, just enough time to unpack and put things away!  The week with Jeff and Meghan was a blast.  We hung around the house on Monday and just relaxed then on Tuesday we went to the zoo!  It was so much fun to go now that the boys are a little older, they really enjoyed looking at all the animals!  Grace had fun too which was really nice.  I was surprised at how well Grace got along with the boys.  I didn’t know how well they would hit it off being as they haven’t had much time around each other, but they played nicely most of the week and we truly enjoyed having them here.  on Wednesday we were lucky enough to get to go to the Botanic Gardens with my Grandmother.  Everything was in bloom and we had a delightful time walking around and taking pictures.  Even the boys seemed to enjoy it!  Later that evening Meghan and I had a girls night which turned out to be a blast.  We left the boys at the house with the babies and we went down to Ubees on the Highland Strip.  It was so much fun!  John showed up and we partied for a while (don’t worry, we didn’t do too much drinking) then we went to John’s house for about 30 minutes before heading home.  It was an awesome evening and Meghan and I became a lot closer which is something that I’m really enjoying! :)Thursday Meghan taught me how to sew on her sewing machine.  She makes these wonderful baby carriers and sells them on her website, they’re called the Perfect Papoose.  She was even nice enough to design and sew a twin carrier for the boys!  I <3 my carrier and I use it all the time now….most everyone who sees me in it stops me and asks me where I got it.  I love showing it off as I’ve never seen a carrier quite like the ones she sells.  Anyways, she taught me how to sew and after making my deal with Jimmy, Meghan and I went to Hancock Fabrics and the Memphis Sewing Machine and Vacuum Co. and got me started.  Like I mentioned above I’m planning on making diaper bags and eventually opening up my own online store, but that will be down the road a bit, I need to learn a little more first! :) Thursday night Jeff and Jim got to have their boys night since Meghan and I were allowed to have a girls night…I’m not sure what they did but I think they went to the Peabody for the Rooftop Party.  Friday we didn’t do much other than hang around the house, Meghan and I spent most of the day sewing and the boys spent most of the day playing the Wii.  Saturday was like Friday in the sense that we just got to hang out and visit at the house…It was nice to have such a low key week and just get to visit a lot since we don’t get to see them near as often as we’d like  to.  Sunday was a sad day.  It was Jim’s first day back at work after vacation and Jeff and Meghan spent the day driving back to Michigan.  I was stuck at home with two very fussy babies who I’m sure were very confused as to why I was the only one around again.  oh well.  Life goes on and I wouldn’t want it any other way!  I do however really miss Jeff and Meghan and Grace being here and would LOVE to have them come back and visit again ANYTIME!  Only 9 more weeks until Jim’s next vacation and we go to Michigan to see family and of course Jeff and Meghan! :)

The last thing I want to share with you is the boys progress in everything!  Wyatt is army crawling and Lucas is actually crawling!

  They are all over the place!  I have constantly been chasing down babies for about 2 weeks now.  We are in desperate need of a baby gate! (or 4 LoL)  Anyways, they are all over the place and have gotten SOOO big!  They’ve been really fussy this week and this morning Wyatt was SCREAMING and I looked and he has officially cut his first tooth!  I’m so excited, even though its the reason I haven’t had a quiet nights sleep all week!

Anyways, if you made it to the end I’m very surprised and can’t believe you actually read it all!  Hope everyone is having had a wonderful day! (seeing as I started typing this post at 10 this morning and its 10:30 in the evening, I hope your day tomorrow is wonderful also!)

~The Daveluy’s