Sweet and Sour

My parents visited this past week from Florida.  I had not seen them since December so I was really looking forward to their visit.  I was especially excited for them to see our new home, considering they financially assisted us with the down payment.  Of course I wanted the house to be perfect.  Talk about motivation to get your home finally unpacked and clean!!!

They arrived last Tuesday and stayed for 8 days.  Each boy took plenty of turns sitting on Poppy's lap being silly and playing with his mustache.  Also, much time was spent talking and snuggling to Nana.  We were a bit cooped up in the house because it rained nearly every single day they were here.  My parents have yet to see much sunshine in New Hampshire because all three times they have visited it has either been overcast or rainy.  I don't think they believe that the sun even shines in New Hampshire. 

As I mentioned, it had been about almost 7 months since my last visit with mom and dad, but this visit was hard.  It was hard to see my parents in pain from arthritis.  It made me yearn to live close to them again.  Although I don't know just how much help I would be with 4 kids to parent. 

Before my parents came, my dad and I had talked about his desire to purchase some apples trees and plant them in my yard. He wanted the boys to be involved with this process because he wanted this to be something that he specifically left behind for his grandchildren after he is gone.  Each year as we pick apples from our fruit trees, the boys will have a sweet memory of their poppy.  As hard as this was to talk about or imagine, it was such a tender time spent with him and the boys. 


Our friendly New Hampshire snake

Saturday morning, the only somewhat non-rainy day we had, the whole family went to the nursery in search of the "perfect" apple trees.  We had fun.  We spotted our first New Hampshire snake, which is a big deal.  In Florida, snakes are everywhere.  You have to be educated on which ones are poisonous and which are not.  Now, what's that old riddle that most Floridians commit to memory.....“Red on yellow, kill a fellow; red on black, venom they lack".  Well, anyway, we are happy to know that there are no poisonous snakes native to New Hampshire (at least according to he Internet).  The boys also found a little pond with lots of fish that entertained them for a bit. 


The boys trying to spot the snake again!

The little fish pond


 

Family shot



We quickly found 2 beautiful apple trees and Zander chose a pear tree and brought them home. 

Oliver loved the water plants



Our apple trees

When we got home from the nursery, we quickly ate lunch and all 4 boys were excited to plant the new trees.  My heart was overjoyed to see them working hard on this project.  I was proud of them and I think poppy was too.  Beau and Zander worked well as a team and the three little ones "helped".  We didn't have enough shovels, but apparently plastic Lacrosse sticks worked just as well. 

 

 

 

 

 

In one of the holes, Beau came across a large rock.  Of course the boys wanted to be "The" boy to remove the rock.  First Will tried and then was followed by Oliver.  Neither one succeeded.  Then came Carter!!  That boy, with little effort,was able to reach in there and pull that rock out.  Beau and I have our fingers crossed that Carter will be our retirement plan!!!



This was the supervisors' section

 

 

Zander took a little break after the trees were planted

William brought me flowers....how sweet

Nana and Will time

 

 

 

 

The rest of their trip was nice.  We went to Parker's Maple Barn one morning for breakfast, we had an early birthday celebration for Will, and we spent the last morning playing games.  Their visit this time was sweet and sour because new sweet memories were made but sour because the thought of nana and poppy not being here anymore is hard.  I guess like apples from our apple trees, we will experience many more sweet and sour moments.  But for now, we will relish the sweet ones!!!

 

A  little game of pass the pig

 

 

***Title of this blog was the sole creative idea from Zander*** 



 

My Country Charmer

Beau and I have had the good fortune to own a few homes.  With each house, there was great joy and excitement as we looked forward to all the memories we would share.  Our first home, 1500 square feet, 3 bedroom, 2 bath brick house built in the 70's with harvest gold fixtures, was the home we brought Zander to from the hospital.  Such sweet memories.  Beau and I honestly thought we would live there for a very long time.  We had envisioned walking Zander to school, as the elementary school was literally beyond our back yard fence.  However, we celebrated Zander's 4th birthday in that home and shortly after, we moved. 

Our second home was a 1980's brick home with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and about 2000 square feet.  I LOVED this home.  It was nestled on 3/4 acres and surrounded with almost 100 azalea bushes.  They were beautiful in the springtime when they were in full bloom. 



Family photo in front of some of the azaleas

Hunting for Easter eggs was especially fun with so many spots to camouflage those brightly colored eggs.  It was in this home that we decided we were ready to adopt privately.  So, naturally, we began looking for a larger home to accommodate our growing family to be.  We lived in this house for 3 years. 

Then we moved into a beautiful brick home on a cul-de-sac in the back of a large neighborhood.  We had a large fenced lot.  The house was 2900 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  It was in this home that we felt led to foster and continue to grow our family. 

This was the home where we lovingly hosted so many events; lots of baby showers, many small group family worships dinners, New Years Eve celebrations, and Halloween get togethers.  We always opened our house up to guests and were so happy to do so.  It was in this house that we felt God leading us to be open, transparent, hospitable, and willing.  When you foster, you have to have the mindset that privacy is no longer an option.  Visits from case workers, inspectors, guardian ad litems, and others (sometimes scheduled and sometimes not) were a way of life.  This was such a sweet time that we felt God was stretching us and we sure did grow.  We lived here for 5 years.  Our family grew by 3 in this home.  I became a stay at home mom in this home. So many life changing events occurred in this house and we are so thankful for each one.   


Painted Mural on the wall of Will's room

Then the next phase of our life took us to New Hampshire.  We have lived here for almost 2 years now and just recently purchased a lovely home that I affectionately call the Country Charmer.  This 2800 square foot, 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath house was built in the 80's, so it is neither modern nor old.  But it certainly has some of the charming country things that I love.  We have exposed beams in the kitchen, our living room ceiling is all wood, all the wood staining elsewhere is dark., 2 brick fireplaces, lots of mature trees and shrubbery that gives us privacy and shading, and beautiful hardwood flooring.  But then we have some modern things like 9 skylights, large deck, open floor plan, garden tub, and large windows that allow much natural light.  I am not a contemporary girl, although I love the houses that my friends' own that are modern and beautiful.  I am not a true country girl, but there is something appealing about log cabins.  In my opinion, this house offers the best of both worlds. 

Here are some of the before and after photos of our new home.  We still have a bunch of projects to complete like painting, removing more wallpaper, updating. But for now, our home is unpacked, organized, clean, and presentable.  Just don't look in the basement!!!

Before

See all that natural lighting!

Living Room:  Before

After

After

 

Eat In Kitchen

My Kitchen

Dining Room:  Before

Dining Room:  After  Still needs wallpaper removal, new paint, and new curtains

Office:  Before

This room is part office and part play area for us

Foyer:  Before

Foyer:  Our version

Master Bedroom:  Before

Our Style

Our Bathroom I love the garden tub!

Zander's Bedroom:  Before

You can take the boy out of Florida, but never Florida out of the boy

Oliver and Carter's room:  Before

Remember the mural from the old house?  Beau made this for the boys
The wall isn't really black, just a bad photographer

Will's Room:  Before

We were initially going to place Will and Ollie in the same bedroom and let Carter have the small room to himself.  However, just before our move, William came to us and very seriously expressed his desire to have his own room so his brother's wouldn't "mess with his Star Wars stuff".  He being the 2nd oldest, we felt that we needed to allow his request.  So far, it has worked out wonderfully.  He shares his stuff freely, but knows that at the end of each day, everything is safely put back into "His" room. 

 

My favorite room in the house is also the smallest room in the house.  It it known as the loft.  This room serves many purposes.  It is to be used as Zander's homework area, my scrapbook and craft room, and also the boy's art area.  I just know lots of time will be spent in this room.  I can not wait. 

 

And this is my 2nd most favorite place, our back yard and deck.  We have already spent a ton of time out here and have shared many dinners on the deck.  Beau has been grilling each week and the boys have enjoyed playing in the backyard.  Already, we have had several neighbors come and introduce themselves and so far, those new families have children.  It's so nice to hear the giggles and conversations between all the kids in my backyard.  I am so thankful.  I think this house and this phase of our life will be known as our peaceful retreat in our little Country Charmer.