Two weeks after moving in, Shaun's parents came to visit. Initially when they bought their tickets, we were supposed to have been in the house for a few months, but with the delay in moving, it ended up becoming what I like to call a "Weekend Warrior" visit. Let me preface the pictures to come by saying that Shaun's parents, my lovely in-laws, are AMAZING! They seem to have boundless energy, they are fantastic "do it yourselfers," and they could market themselves as contractors they do such a good job. Shaun's talked so much about his dad and his ability to fix just about anything that now when anything in our house breaks Ella will say, "I guess we need Grandpa C to come and fix it for us." Even if it's one of her toys that's broken she will say this, it's really quite cute.
So they came, they worked, and then it was time to leave. They did in three days what would have taken us ten days to do on our own. Oh, and on top of all of that, we threw Amelia a birthday party, and we threw a Thrive Food Storage Party. We really only provided the kitchen. My mother in law hosted it. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Thrive Food Storage, it's amazing food that will keep for forty years if you do not open it. A good investment for a rainy day. Anyway, we did all that too.
The girls with their dad and Grandpa
My beauty queens and the horse Grandma C bought Ella. Her "prize" as Grandma liked to call it.
One of my favorites of all time of Amelia and her Grandma
Our bedroom is starting to take shape. You can see my paint samples to the side of the bedpost. That will be a later project. Also note our fan with a bit of bling on the end. Love that little detail.
One of the biggest projects of the weekend were these bookshelves. Shaun and his dad assembled the shelves (thank you Billy bookcases from IKEA) on Friday, and Shaun's sister, mom and I decorated them Saturday. I have to give most of the credit to Shaun's sister, Heidi. Seriously the talent that runs in his family is limitless.
Another big project was converting the wall on the side of the oven into a chalkboard wall. That meant buying sheet metal, cutting it to size, screwing it in place, and painting the whole thing with chalkboard paint. Finished project= magnetic chalkboard wall in my kitchen that's turned into a great place to display art, the girls to draw, and for me to keep organized. Priceless! See below.
Among other things, Grandma painted our kitchen and living room, they did our bookshelves, arranged a photo wall, did the chalk board wall, went shopping for many items you will see in later posts, hung fixtures, and helped us discover and fix a leak in our dishwasher. My goodness if only I had half the talent they possess. I'm so grateful for all of their help. We are extremely blessed that both of us have very supportive and loving parents. We couldn't do a lot of what we've done without my parents too. They just help in a different way.
And remember we celebrated a third birthday party in there too. Amelia loved having a party with her family there. She had BOTH sets of grandparents, her Aunt Heidi and Uncle Paul, her cousins Maddie and Quincy, and her friend, Riley. It was a super success! We had a rainbow birthday party with a rainbow cake and rainbow decorations. She was thrilled.
The girls enjoyed getting to know their Aunt Heidi a little better too. She was so good with them and loved reading them stories and teaching them some sign language.
So there you have it, it was a whirlwind of a weekend, and we filled it with about a week's worth of projects. We needed another week with them here just so we could actually visit. Hopefully we can see them again soon. It's no fun having family so far away. It does make us appreciate what time we get with them though. So thank you Pat and Craig for coming and being our "weekend warriors" with special help from Aunt Heidi and her family too. We miss you guys!
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