New Year, New Addition!

Happy NEW YEAR!!!!!!

2015.  You know you're getting old when the new year reminds you of a sci-fi movie!!! ;)

First, Some Christmas hi-lights.  We had Christmas as a family Christmas eve morning, had Andy's family over Christmas evening, and my sister's family the day after Christmas:

My four mischievous sweet little 2 1/2 year olds!
Lauren, Tyler, Hannah & Tanner

Eating cookies after Church the Sunday before Christmas

~Best Friends~

"Look at dat, Lolo!"

Showing Mimi their cool noisy, powered trucks.  (We were in desperate need of some boy toys!)

Jenna is a pro at doing the 2-baby hold!

We had a lovely Christmas, and yet I was very ready to pack up all the Christmas gear and put it into storage for the next year.  There is something about the start of a New Year that makes me want to organize, de-clutter, and try to maintain order!!!  But this year, I have a whole new reason who I am trying to organize, de-clutter, and maintain order:

OUR ADDITION IS FINISHED!!!!!!!
So for those of you curious, here are pictures of how our house transformed over these last 6 months: 

The "old" kitchen and dining room area.  Note front door is to the left.

And the "NEW" kitchen:

This view is from the front door.  The entire positioning of the kitchen was turned around.

This view is from our front door and reveals the new addition in the back.

The old siding and back view of our house (right after foundation was poured for new addition)

Building the addition

And the finished exterior!

Meanwhile, inside...

The upstairs new room

Our Under Construction lifestyle for a while

During the construction the upstairs and downstairs were partitioned off, so the kids literally had one room (the living room) to live and play in.  I also would make their bedroom a fun zone, but I had to get all the toys out for naps because you don't want nap time to turn into play time!  Of course, the main living room where we spent most of our time was right next to our master bedroom- where daddy had to sleep many days because he works third shift.  That was not fun.

Try telling 5 kids to be quiet.  It doesn't work!!!  So poor Andy got very little sleep and knowing we were being loud with little options just seemed to add to my stress levels.  Many a days it was just so much "easier" to pack the 4 kids up in the van and go to Costco or Target rather than getting in the worker's way and waking daddy up!

The downstairs addition playroom

The new bedroom (a.k.a Jenna's room, first studs, then drywall view)

Not only did we add on space, but we also did some bedroom shuffling, arranging, and changing.  Jenna got a whole new room, and even picked out her own paint color.  Somehow the toddlers who slept in cribs this summer became little monkeys who enjoyed climbing out of their cribs as the Fall wore on.  SOOOO, now we have 5 BIG KIDS with big kid beds and thanks to the addition, now have separate girls/boys rooms.  No more toddler beds---- ever!!!  At first I was a little sad, but now I am more use to it- my little babies are growing up! (insert choking sob here).

Annnnd- the finished product!!!!

Our upstairs addition

View from the back slider doors, you can see my lovely kitchen in the background!

Jenna's old room is now the girl's room.  Hannah & Lauren share the full bed.

The only problem with having monkey children is that they like to climb wherever they can!

Peek-a-boo, Tyler!

The boy's room.  Despite the 2 beds, the boys still share the one bed right now.  Our kids snuggle- they know no different!

Jenna's room!  Her walls are pink and she LOVES the trundle bed from Mimi & Papa's house.  Perfect for sleepovers!

The play room downstairs

Life's a ball!

It has been a long 6 months and I am so very glad it is over and now we get to enjoy our new space.  But man, suddenly it feels like sooooo much space!  Instead of being squeezed into one room, I find myself loosing track of where everyone is, and you KNOW with four toddlers silence is often anything but golden!

As we get to know our new house and I spend my extra time organizing toys, clothes, & figuring out what furniture should goes where, we eagerly await a visit from my mom tomorrow.  She will be coming back to town and staying with us for 2 whole weeks!!!  We are all so excited to see her and just wish Grandpa could visit too, but he is busy volunteering in Arizona and picking up the slack for my mom while she is with us ;).

Hope you New Year is off to a happy, productive & safe start!

Hugs!

Becky