a sneak peak

I have been absent from blogging for over a year now. yes, i have kept up with some updates from all my peeps when time has allowed. :-) our life has changed drastically over the past year. the past year to this date actually. We have experienced heartbreak and celebration. i've included my favorite picture with my oldest as a little sneak peak to see if anyone can guess what our celebration was. i will be back with a longer post soon.

2011

Each year New Years Eve is bittersweet for me. I am not a big fan of change, and I actually have never had a year that I was ready see end. But this year, I was ready to see end. This has been a big year of change for our family. We have been remodeling our "new" old house, my baby started pre-school, my Grandy passed away, and I have been ill pretty much since the end of September. So much of this year has been living in limbo because of our house situation. At times it feels as if we are living between 2 homes. Through all of this I have not spent much time with Him. So many times I have started to spend time with my bible, only to be torn away with other duties, or to actually fall asleep before I have even had a chance to begin. We have had friendships that have really changed this year as our children have grown older and their activities have changed. We have also been blessed by having old friendships restored.

In 2011 we are going to be moving into our "new" old house and making it a home, celebrating our children, hopefully finding a diagnosis for my health issues, and spending more time with Him. But first and foremost I am praising Him and putting Him back in the lead. I can not wait for the winds of change in 2011!!

Our Life Today.....

The craziness of my life right now has not allowed me to keep up with my blog as I would like. With many of my friends from home, this is our main link.

Yes, we are still remodeling our "new" old house. We are hoping to move in sometime before Christmas. The last date we were given was Thanksgiving. We will see.

Soccer has actually stolen any extra time that I have had. Today I am in Memphis waiting for our second game to start. This kiddos are watching Ramona and Beezus and Chris has made a quick run to get some much needed soccer supplies for Clark. I am stealing this time to update everyone on our life. But I am watching a little of the movie.... it is just so cute.

Bella Ruth is in full swing with dance and gymnastics. She is loving school and just seems so happy at the end of each day.

Will Henry is waiting for his turn of playing soccer, basketball, and baseball. He started pre-school this year with an amazing teacher. We are just so blessed. He only attends school 3 mornings a week, but he is getting used to the independence from us and his siblings.

I will post some pictures of our house as we are now getting closer to moving in.

Hugs,
Chesnyes

Our 10th Anniversary

Well, we had great plans for a wonderful anniversary weekend..... but an awful virus hit our household at 3 that morning. We had to postpone our little getaway, but at least we are almost back to normal. I just have a summer cold now but I know I will be back to blogging soon.
Hugs,
Chesnye

A Little Time Away

We are vacationing in Florida for the next week. The weather looks to be rainy the whole time, but at least we will have a little break from the house renovation! :) Praying for lots of sunshine and smiles!!!
Hugs,
Chesnye

Our Little Men

Last Sunday was a big day for my oldest and his classmates. We celebrated his First Communion. It was such a special time for our family and friends. I remember at my first MOPS conference realizing the impact my mothering would have on my sons spiritual journey. How awesome, but how humbling is that! One of the speakers was discussing how important the role of a Godly Man is, and that begins with his parents. In fact, our influence and guidance will have a direct impact on our grandchildren too. My prayer is that my sweet hubby and I will give each our children a true spiritual foundation.

I would like to thank my dear friend Amy for the darling picture. I'm going to beg Chris to download our photos from the past 6 months. (hee hee)

Grieving

My dear, sweet friend Sharla lost her battle with breast cancer early this morning. She fought this battle with such courage and grace. She found out she had cancer while 7 months pregnant with Dane and has been a true pink warrior since that day. Her story is one of true inspiration. She leaves behind a husband, Wally, two precious boys, Samuel and Dane, a brother and sister and her parents. You can read her story at www.sharlasangels.org

the princess sleeps here......almost

I haven't updated in awhile and I thought I might give you a little glimpse of what is going on in our renovation today.
This is where our princess will sleep someday. The first 3 pictures are from a couple of weeks ago and the last 3 are from the day we bought the house. Today the crown molding is going up and the first coat of paint is on. The paint is Ben Moore Elephant Tusk and I'm going to paint the trim a soft pink. The ceilings have been my largest concern, either elephant tusk, a light cream or white. I am leaning towards white. What do you think?

Friend Birthday Party

Bella Ruth celebrated her 6th birthday with friends at the "Fun Factory and Laser Tag". It was lots of fun, and a great place for the kiddos to run some energy off. It has been very snowy and everyone was a little stir crazy.

It was a c0-party with one of my best friends son, Nicholas. He was turning 9.

Waiting on Mama to light the candles.

Blowing out the big 6!

Look who can't wait for cake. ;0)

Riding on the train is lots of fun for the little ones.

Brothers just hanging out.

Miss Rhea brought the babies for their first official outing!

Papa and Nana just watching all of the fun.

Reese, Bella Ruth's cousin.

And Anna, her other cousin.

Bella Ruth loved opening all of her presents. We waited until we got home because the kiddos were having too much fun to take time to stop and open gifts. Thanks everyone!

Bella Ruth turns 6!!

Bella Ruth turned 6 on January 23rd. We had a small family party on her actual birthday, and then a celebration with friends later that weekend. She requested a cake from a little local Bake Shoppe that she loves their sweets and salads.
First we had a basketball game and then it was time to eat cake.

Our little family photo. Looking at this photo makes me just smile, this was the first birthday that I hadn't dressed everyone in matching outfits. I have learned to just enjoy the moment and not worry about the little details. Now don't let me fool you, this does not happen often.

Mama and the birthday girl. Also baby brother has to be included in all pictures. Too funny.

Daddy with the birthday girl. Little brother too!

Time for cake!!

Look who wants to blow out the candles with his big sister!

But she will stop that......

with a little hand action.......

until he gives up!!!

Now he wants the candles with all of that yummy icing!

Little brothers!!!!!

Happy Birthday Princess! I love you to the moon and back...... 1,000,000,000 times.

Family Room Update

I thought that I would give you a little update on the new house. I decided to paint all of the ceilings and walls in the Family Room Benjamin Moore's Antique White. I am SO happy that I could talk my hubby into painting the walls because it really feels like a new room. I'm a little worried that the paint I decided to go with has a little too much pink, but I think that once I have everything in place it will be fine. I almost went with Linen White but was worried it just didn't have enough color for such a huge space.

You are probably wondering when we started since it looks nowhere near finished. Well we started November 2nd and the room is a little more complete than this, but not much. We have had some major painting issues, plus the painter has been prepping the rest of the house. Our painter is a very kind person but has a hard time showing up for work. We are now hiring a new painter to either "help" him or take over the job.

Back to the room.....I have ordered a tight Berber that is called basket weave. It looks like a sisal and I really do love it. My sweet hubby was insistent on carpet in this one room so I happily ;) gave in. I really could see a beautiful slate or brick floor in here. I am going to paint the bar cabinets either a dark blue or antique white. I also want to cover the spiral stairs in an animal print carpet. I'm starting to think about slipcovers, new furniture, and a mounted elk or deer head over the fireplace mantle, which is going to be a piece of driftwood from the Mississippi River since it is so close to us. Enjoy the pictures and I'll be back with the progress we have made in the kitchen soon.

Heels for Hope

Bella Ruth holding Violet at Heels for Hope. Rosemary is in the boa and my Mom is passing out the meter reader for the runners.

This past September Bella Ruth and I participated in a run/walk in OKC. The walk was for Ovarian Cancer research in honor of our dear friend Rosemary. Rosemary and her husband have lived next door to my parents since I was 6 years old. Our families are extremely close. My children love her children and we all spend lots of time together. Rosemary was diagnosed with stage 4 Ovarian Cancer in April 2008. She has been through various treatment courses and has proven to be an extremely resilient patient. We can't wait for "Heels for Hope" in September 2010. I think that even the "boys" in our house are going to participate!!

My friend, Amy, and I are off to Memphis... let the first real day of shopping for the new house begin! Yipee!!!!!!!

New Kitchen....the before

Well the remodeling is in full swing at our new "old" house. Contractors, painters and electricians are all working daily. We have begun the painting of the den, all antique white, with the exception of the beams which are staying dark.
This house was built in 1850's and we just love it. It actually was an alf-alfa farm during the civil war and provided the feed to the donkeys in the south. It has a great history with even a secret room that was used for the underground railroad. As many of you know we were about to begin building a house and even had the lot and contractor all ready when this house became available we actually couldn't pass it up. We still have our lots and our house plan so who knows what will happen someday.

Here is the kitchen. This room is under major renovation right now. We are going to choose the counter tops in the next week. I am thinking of using white moon quartzite on the island (looks like marble but is very tough) and either black honed granite or black soapstone on the actual counter tops. Does anyone have any suggestions?

The cabinets are going to be a creamy white and the island a rubbed black. The floor is staying (wide plank walnut) and the walls are going to be palladian blue by Benjamin Moore. I am going to have a farmhouse sink in the island and a 6 burner cook top. We are also tearing the ceiling out and raising it about 18 inches. Can't wait to hear any ideas that you may have:)

Hugs,

Chesnye

Does Anyone Know What Fabric This is?

I have had this fabric sample for a long time and I'm wondering is anyone knows who the designer is. I really want to use it but I can't find any information on it.

Thanks so much!

Hugs,

Chesnye

Our New Family Room..... the before

Well, here is our new house story. We have been working with an extremely talented architect in Memphis for the past 2 years. We finally finished our plan and started the waiting game for the contractor that we wanted. Our start date was set for June of this year. At the beginning of June our time was set back to September/October. We started thinking that we should maybe wait until the Spring because the thought of an open basement all winter long was not appealing. The last of September we heard about this home. It was a Wednesday. We saw it on Thursday. Another bid was placed on Friday. We bought it on Monday. WOW! We love it!!!! I have always wanted an old home but in our town they do not become available very often. So now to the fun part... the restoration has begun. The house was built in the 1850's and has beautiful pine floors throughout. That is with the exception of Walnut in the addition that was built in 1968. My first project is the Family Room. I am going to include some pictures and would love to hear your ideas. (In these pictures the old owners had still not removed all their items.) I have 2 ways that I am leaning...the first way is leaving the paneling but painting the ceiling and fireplace a creamy white and having a Bohemian theme, the second is painting the whole room creamy white except for the dark beams. I can't wait to hear your thoughts. Enjoy the before pictures:)

A little side note... the paneling is 3/4 inch tongue and groove wal-nut. Very expensive. OH MY!!!!