update: I'm in love. AGAIN.

It's amazing how you can fall in love. Three times. So completely that you lose your breath more than once per day. I knew when I met Lauren I'd found love. Then we had AC...I had no idea what I was in for. She completely blew me away with her sweetness and grace. I thought that was it, how could I possibly love yet ANOTHER person this much?

and then we met her:

Stunning eh?

This is why I haven't been on here in ages. Coming home at night, I've been completely consumed with having both kids and trying to get everything done that needs to be done to keep this life afloat.

I guess at some point I'll have to get my butt outside and finish re-painting the outside of this place, eh? oh well, maybe after Christmas...

yes, yes, yes

Yes, it IS almost September. And yes, it's been over a month since I posted. I promise I've been busy. No, really. I've been working on the house and playing catch-up with other things in life. Plus, I had a *ahem* procedure done, so I'm a little doped up and out of it. So I will be back soon. Promise.

oh yeah, this thing...

Bad blogger! Bad. Blogger. OK, I'm not really a blogger, but I happen to have a blog which I'm too lazy to keep up. I never understood why people always said life got so busy when you got older. Until I got older...I'll be 30 in a few months yaknow?

Lately, life's been full of diapers, feedings, and just plain trying to keep up. A little extended time off for L meant a bit less pay this summer. While it was worth it for her to be off with Emmy for 3 months, it's slowed progress down here quite a bit. I STILL haven't ordered the remaining glass for the kitchen cabinets. It's also going to be a while before the new floor and lighting make their way in.

I have, however, started working on the outside of the house. Sigh. What a project! I've scraped a large section of the back of the house and washed sections. Once I get a couple of dry days, I'll sand it all down, putty what needs it, then prime and paint it. Stay tuned, there'll be pictures coming eventually. Until then, enjoy this:

Catching up...

Whew! It's been a crazy month or so around here. We got the majority of the kitchen done juuuust in time for Emmy's un-prompted 3-week early arrival. There are still plenty of small things to do: get the glass for the upper cabinets, adjust a few knobs, sand here, paint there, fix the trash can drawer, etc. All little things that only I notice, but things to do anyway.

First things first:

Emmy enjoys a nap. Pure sweetness.

The simplified cabinets and new dishwashwer.

The simplified lower cabinets. Clean and timeless!

The bar with the updated cabinets!

The trash can drawer...love this thing!

Our world has grown a little bit more

God has blessed us yet again! Emery Kate Lemoine was born at 7:37pm on May 3, 2011 weighing in at 5 lbs 15 oz, 19.5 inches long.

I must say I feel like an extremely lucky man to have been given such riches in life. Now it's time for me to start showing how thankful I really am.

My bathing beauty...just before things got REAL.

Our first picture as a family!

Emery Kate Lemoine (yes, I'll put better pics up later)

This weekend was a banner weekend in the ongoing 2-year renovation of the kitchen. We FINALLY installed a dishwasher! Also, we re-faced all of the bottom cabinets, stained the butcher block top, and re-ran a new copper line to the fridge (over a year after it burst during a cold snap and flooded the kitchen while we were away).

There are still tons of things to do, like sand, paint, finish installing hardware, new magnetic catches, add braces to the bar and re-frame the bar door, but he majority of the heavy lifting is over!

My nanny, mom, Lolly, & AC spend the weekend painting in AC's big girl room too...those pictures are at the end.

Below are a few pics of progress in the house:

New drawer fronts & door faces

newly stained & varnished bar top

New cabinet faces and dishwasher!

The tree & owl Owl behind the old window

it's getting there..

We drove up to mom & dad's Friday night to spend Saturday working on the cabinets in preparation for moving them to the house Sunday. One small problem: we realized about 1:15 into a 1:30 drive that I forgot the paint. Whoops! Oh well.

Saturday we got up, sanded everything down, put the cabinets together, and drove to BR. We spent a good majority of the day Saturday putting the cabinets together and installing the hardware. The doors need a little adjusting to line up all the reveals perfectly and there is still glass to be bought for the top doors, but overall it looks great!

Sunday, we drove to 3 different Home Depots to get the cup pulls we wanted (each store had 2 or 3...except for the last store in BFE which had about 100,000). I finished the day off by putting the baseboard back, putting in shoe molding, caulking, and doing some touch-up painting throughout the house. What you see below is essentially finished, minus the stain on the butcher block top. Overall, I'd say quite the success. I have the best dad. ever.