Where have I been?

The answer to that is...

whew. It's kind of a loooong answer. :) Last time I posted I was telling the sad tale of a flooding at my house. Well, two weeks later I got in a car accident in my *new* car. The car had extensive damage (I was broadsided) and I was given a rental. It was all very very complicated by the fact that the guy who hit me avoided contact by the insurance companies for close to 3 weeks. When he finally gave his statement I was deemed "claimant" and they could begin the work on my car. That was in September and I still haven't gotten my car back.

We have been living at my parents house. They have been so generous to let us stay in their spare room and my brother's bedroom. My brother has been sleeping on the pull out couch this whole time. He is not so thrilled that we are still here. I can't blame him! My kids have been sick at least half of the time we've been here! The worst was on Friday. They both came down with flu-like symptoms which I discovered yesterday (in a visit to the Ped) are probably caused by their double ear infections and throat infections. Poor babies!!!

So, my life is turned upside down right now. You know, being away from home with sick kids and two insurance (home & car) situations. Our house is nearly ready for us to move back in. The kitchen is installed, the baseboards are in, and we removed the popcorn ceiling and painted. The carpeting was replaced with tile laid on the diagonal. It looks incredible! We're just waiting on our counter top installation so we can have a plumber come by and hook up the sink and dishwasher.

Here's a few pictures of our life these past few months:
Gracie loves the swings... especially when Ben is the one pushing her!

This is the newly painted & tiled livingroom looking into the dining area. The paint in the living room is Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray and the paint in the dining room is Benjamin Moore Silver Fox.

Dining Room/Kitchen. I am in love with the new cabinets!!! I wanted white cabinets at first and was a little nervous about the cognac cherry color, but I'm glad I listened to Aaron. They are so warm and beautiful.

Benjamin is really into basketball lately! I think we will enroll him in B-ball for ages 3 and up at the local YMCA.

Grace has grown soooo big. She crawls like crazy, eats finger foods, and even can say "duck".

At the pumpkin patch. Good thing we went and Ben got to dress up in his tiger costume because he was so sick on Halloween and didn't get to Trick or Treat.

He was the cutest tiger! He was in character the entire time the costume was on.

Here's Jack! Aaron and I designed a few options for his face on a sheet of paper and let Ben pick. He picked this face. It's the first time we carved a pumpkin with Ben... he hated the pumkin "guts" removal. LOL. I think it disturbed him! :)

In other news, I've still been scrapbooking for Mosh Posh. I am really loving the kits Kristen has been putting together the past few months! It's been tough to find the time, but it's always a great mental break to just sit in front of all the supplies and get crafty. It takes my mind off of all the stress going on in my life.

Here is the Mosh Posh November kit & add-on:



Oh man, this kit is delish! I love love love the colors. Those Cosmo Cricket papers are so fun and playful. I actually love the back side of them more than the patterned side, though. Each paper has a different faux wood grain in a different color. We posted our layouts to the gallery last night. Here's a link: Design Team Gallery, take a look. :) More stuff will be posted by Frances and Estee... and our Guest Designer Linda Albrecht. :)

Anyways, gotta feed the kids some lunch. I'll post some of my recent scrapbook pages in a day or two. :)